Eve of Destruction Part 2: We Didn't Start the Fire by The Bird

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Link: https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/eve-of-destruction-part-2-we-didnt-start-the-fire.129070/

(Day by day the eve of destruction grows closer. Follow Edgar McCoy as he finds himself yanked out of isolation and forced to contend with an imminent apocalyptic future, an oppressive authoritarian government, and a shadow organization of superterrorists.)

Region Selection

You dreamed of fire, rising high into the sky: a great burning cloud, expanding over the city that lie before you, consuming it. All around you, you heard the scream of man, woman, and child as people futilely attempted to escape.

Those closest were luckiest, vaporized by the white wall within moments, leaving behind only shadowy imprints on the wall. Those who weren't in the blast radius close enough to be obliterated were instead burned to death, skin, muscle, and organs flash frying, then burning, then boiling, even as buildings found themselves demolished by an invisible wave of force emanating out from the wall slightly quicker than the flames, shattering them into splinters.

Unable to move, you helplessly waited for it to consume you, your vision going white…

_____________

Gasping, you started up, woken by a combination of your nightmare and a strange beeping noise. Looking around, disoriented, you realized you weren't in your cabin: you were-this was-

A hospital? Blearly, you realized you felt the sort of hangover you only really get when someone shoots you with a chem-tranquilizer.

"Good, you're awake," Came a familiar voice, causing you to blink as you realized you weren't alone, next to your bed a familiar looking woman sat, one who you hadn't seen in years meaning, the only reason you couldn't immediately place them, though unfortunately that wouldn't last long.

Blinking slowly, you frowned as you realized who it was, and your mood soured as you realized you had not in fact finally been black bagged in the middle of the night by the nefarious agents of the state. Or at least not the ones you had been expecting. "Clancy," You hissed, eyes narrowing as you realized you seemed to be handcuffed to your bed: typical. You began to scan the room for pencils or any other long, narrow object. "You want to tell me why you kidnapped me?"

"What, no hel-"

"Cut the fucking shit Clancy, if I wanted to hear the mouth noises of a fascist goon I'd talk to the person who killed Rog," You said, venom dripping from your voice. "Oh wait, I guess I am!" You said, causing Clancy to rear back, shock and hurt evident on her face, if only for a moment. Good.

She took a deep breath, reasserting her iron composure. "Charming as ever, I see," she said in a voice that most people would think toneless and neutral, your familiarity with the person across from you the primary reason you were able to recognize the slight tremble in her voice. "Alright, I'll get to the point then. I have good news and bad news. The good news is, you've been pardoned for possessing seditious material. The bad news-"

"I'm under arrest for possessing seditious material," You finished, causing her to frown. "Let me guess, someone sent the cops an anonymous tip that there was a cabin in the woods full of communist literature, someone who SOMEHOW knew exactly where said cabin was despite there being zero foot-paths and being two days walk from the nearest road."

"...I didn't sell you out, Edgar," She said, frustration openly leaking into her voice. "Christ, I know you hate me, but do you really think I'd screw over my only remaining brother?"

"Yes," You said flatly. "I think you would do so in a heart-beat, especially if it benefitted you. Besides, I'm not stupid, Clancy: no one else knew where I lived except Rogers wife, and we both know she wouldn't snitch. Plus, y'know, I know you well enough to tell when you're lying through your teeth."

"...Believe what you want," Clancy eventually conceded. "Still, if it wasn't for me calling in some extremely heavy favors, right now you'd be facing down the barrel of a work camp-"

"Get to the fucking point."

"Fine!" Clancy finally snapped, filling you with a surge of satisfaction. "I have a facility that needs a manager, and as part of your pardon and me erasing the fact my brother is a goddamn Pinko, I expect YOU to do the job."

"Thanks, but no thanks."

"You don't have a choice here, Edgar," Clancy emphasized. "Its either you do this to me or no deal and no pardon. No is not an option." For a moment, silence reigned between you…

Broken by you giving a derisive snort. "Not an option my right ass. Unlike you, Clancy, I'm not a fucking coward," You said, slowly enunciating and taking some small degree of satisfaction in the look of shock on her face. "I'm not going to roll over and work for the people who murdered Rog just because the alternative is a gun to my face."

"Do you hear yourself?" Clancy demanded, incredulous. "You're going to kill yourself the exact same way Roger did, and for what? Fucking meaningless goddamn spite! You dying isn't going to accomplish anything, Edgar!"

"You should have thought about that before you ratted me out," You said flatly, causing Clancy's eye to twitch in frustration. "And if the alternative to death is serving as the cog in the fascist death-machine that is the USA, yeah, I'll pick death, because again, I'm not a fucking coward."

An expression you didn't recognize passed over Clancy's face. "Alright, Edgar, fine, you win," she admitted, voice sounding exhausted. "I'm the one who sent in the tip. I didn't have any other option: you won't answer my calls, you won't respond to my letters, and when I sent an agent you literally chased them off with a shotgun."

"Oh gee, I wonder why," You responded dryly.

"If I could leave you out of this, I would. I don't like this any more than you do," Clancy admitted, and you were grudgingly forced to note she was probably telling the truth here. "Unfortunately, you are literally the only person available for this that I trust."

"My answer is still no. You aren't going to get me to work for you, Miss Patriot, pardon or no pardon," You responded.

"No pardon is off the table. I'm serious here, Ed: you don't get to say no to this," Clancy emphasized. "If you won't accept the stick, I'll have to use the carrot, it seems." She steepled her fingers together. "I have ten SPD tickets. You, Rogers wife and kids, and seven other people of your choice."

You paused. Fuck. If it was just you you'd probably reconsider: all things considered, atomization wasn't the worst way to go. But if you could help Andy and Clara… "Really fucking cold using your own blood as a bargaining chip," You said dryly. "Fine, I'll bite: what exactly are you wanting?"

________________________

War, war never changes.

In the months in the wake of NEXT's attack on the pentagon, the DoP would see a period of expansion and contraction, as funds ebbed and flowed, reallocated to other departments seen as more needing with only some of it to be partially re-acquired by the diligent work of the Departments head, Clancy.

At some point in the Spring, however, she would contact her estranged younger brother, Edgar, a man who had contented himself to spend the last days of civilization in an unknown corner of the wilderness only to be dragged back kicking and screaming into the machinations of his sister, the Director of the Department of Preservation.

Little does Edgar know that his sister has more secrets than he realizes.

Welcome to Eve of Destruction Part Two: We Didn't Start the Fire. For those of you who were with us during Part One, welcome back, everything is how you left it, slowly exploding as the world sits on the brink, just the way we all like it.

For those of you just joining, salutations. You're likely wondering what to expect: Eve of Destruction is a quest set in an AU of the Fallout Universe, set prior to the bombs dropping where you play as someone who hates America tasked with saving it.

A post-atom punk political thriller meets biting satire of Americana in various stripes, Eve is a quest that deals in multiple themes, like the slow decay of jingoism and capitalism into base american exceptionalist themed authoritarianism, the ethics of terrorism under a fascist regime, and the societal nihilism of a world where the Bomb dropping isn't an if, but an increasingly close when, among several other topics. It also deals with the future, what comes after the world ends, and how the actions taken in the present can affect, for good or ill, the lives of people centuries later.

I'm going to go ahead and disclaim: this isn't a game where you can save the world. It isn't a game where everyone is going to make it out alive. Your actions WILL hurt people, either directly, or as a consequence of your decisions causing thousands of small butterflies. All you can do is try to save what you can, and attempt to prepare for the future in the hopes your legacy might be able to save whoever comes after you.

Unlike the first game, we're going to have a generally smaller scope here. Instead of running the entire department, you're going to be tasked with overseeing a particular piece of infrastructure and it's management and growth, at least to begin with.

First, let's narrow down what region we're going to be stationed in.

[ ] New York: Boston, New Jersey, New York: merely three of the cities of importance in the new england region. Most of the development had been focused on the Commonweath sub-region, though apparently the Department's Logistics Division and ACME Transport were both looking to expand.

-Start with an additional Business dice, a [CRIME] Dice, and +5 to Business.

-Major Themes: The Machined Apple, Morte De Cosa Nostra, Urban Collapse

-Employment Options: ACME Transport, DoP Logistics, New York City Government

[ ] Louisiana: The DEEP south, containing not just New Orleans, but also a large amount of wetlands. Apparently, the EPA were working on dealing with dumping and pollution clean up while ACME and the CIT were also investing in the region for as of yet unknown reasons.

-Start with additional Civilian dice, +1 [GOVERNMENT] Dice, and +5 to Civilian.

-Major Themes: Mother Earths Wrath, No Good Corporation, Science Can't Save You

-Employment Options: Environmental Protection Agency, Cambridge Institute of Technology, and ACME Realty

[ ] Oregon: A heavily forested, sparsely populated state. That made it a natural place for the DoP to begin expanding it's less savory departments, like the weird science cryptid research divisions second major installation. For some reason, ACME Entertainment had also been sniffing around, buying various plots of land throughout the state.

-Start with additional Construction dice, +1 [MEDIA] Dice, and +5 to Construction.

-Major Themes: Small Town Apocalypse Blues, Weird Horror Tales!, the Men In Black

-Employment Options: C-Files Division, ACME Entertainment, AlviCorp

And, since you didn't get to pick what character you played (the original plan was a selection of people Clancy had burned, but I decided Edgar was the most interesting option), you get to pick what exactly makes Edgar McCoy so interesting.

For a little context, unlike his sister, Eddie here isn't a spy. He never served with the company: much like the late Roger McCoy, he went a more intellectual direction. Unlike Roger, however, he isn't some stuffy political academic. No, our friend Edgar is what you might call a mad scientist, emphasis on 'Mad', a graduate of the CIT itself. And not the happy go lucky kind of mad either, but the kind of pissed off, angry mad that comes from being a communist living in a degenerating fascist dystopia.

Your choice, instead of character, is instead what field of technology that character specializes in. Each offers a handful of specialist dice.

[ ] Genetics: You specialized in genetic modification and veterinary medicine. Back when you still worked at the CIT you had been on some of the projects projects for the envirobiology division, like Silverback Gorilla DNA Preservation. You still had some of your old research notes for the project: you weren't sure if Cambridge was still running the program, and even if it was, there was no harm in redundancy when it came to species preservation.

+2 [Ecology] and [Chems] dice. +1 [Genetic] Dice

-Start with Gorilla DNA Library special science project

[ ] Robotics: You were a robotics expert that had been put on Cambridges General Humanoid Labourer project. Before you left, you had successfully developed a working prototype for a simple, theoretically cheap to produce variety of robot. You had called it the Model MSL-12 Android: the battery life was awful and it wasn't much smarter than your average protectron, but it hadn't been perfected.

+2 [Prototyping] and [Programming] Dice. +1 [Robotics] Dice

-Start with MSL-12 Factory special construction project.

[ ] Engineering: Cambridge was on the cutting edge of most technologies, and that included fusion, but did not include power armor. The latter had been something you had been attempting to rectify at the Polymer Labs, using the former to design a high performance, if high power cost set of power armor. The prototype was still probably in a shelf somewhere in one of the archives, but you still remembered the schematics.

+2 [Fusion] and [Gear] Dice. +1 [Power Armor] Dice

-Start with Personal CIT Ultrafusion Power Armor Suit special military project

Oh, and four hours moratorium.

Employer and Old Save Bonus

Howdy! My name is ENFERR! That stands for Exceptionally and Naturally Friendly Electronic Robo-Recorder, a digital assistant that's been assigned by the Department of Preservation's wonderful Director by the good code-monkeys at AlviCorp to help you manage your life!

First friend, let's talk about your most important tool. No, I'm not talking about your PIP-Boy, silly, I'm talking about you! At the end of the day, the only person you can rely on ultimately is yourself.

Remember that, Edgar. Trust no one.

Now, there are a million and one ways one can measure their capabilities, but we at AlviCorp have collaborated with The DoP's own Dr. Doc Warney to devise a means of measuring not just your own, but also the ability of all your major subordinates we like to call the BRAIN (Brute Resolution through Advanced Intellect Networking) system!

(Backronym pending.)

Now, before I explain the system, lets demonstrate what a basic BRAIN card looks like with your own!

EDGAR WRIGHT

BRAIN Rank: 4

BRAIN Categories - [SCIENTIST][BIOLOGIST]

PERKS:

Eureka!- +2 to Personal Dice used on [Prototype] Projects.

CIT Graduate- +1 Science Die.

Multi-Disciplinary- Can spend personal die on projects that do not fit their BRAIN Category for a -5 penalty.

Genius- Personal Dice explode.

Wright? Wait, I thought-

Oh. Ohhhhhh. I see, friend. Don't worry, I'll be hushety hush! Now, as you can see, you have a BRAIN Rank of 4! Think of the BRAIN Rank as a persons overall aptitude when it comes to tasks you assign them. Each rank grants a personal dice the character can spend on projects determined by their BRAIN Category: their field of expertise! For instance, you're a scientist, specifically one specializing in biology! That means you can spend your dice on the following categories and tags: [SCIENCE], [CHEMS], [GENETICS]! Each rank also grants a perk, which have various beneficial effects, like bonuses to personal dice in specific contexts, additional dice, altering mechanics in various ways…

There are ways to increase your [BRAIN] rank, don't worry, but those will come later.

For now, we need to figure out what your place of employment will be! Director McCoy needs you in Louisiana: for a basic overview of the region, I suggest purchasing a guide-book! I would also suggest purchasing a diving suit, a house-boat, some mosquito nets, and we'll make sure you get a plasma rifle when you get there to help the alligator situation.

For a condensed version, global warming hasn't been kind to the state. New Orleans has to raise the height of their sea-wall every two years, and have all the way since the early 30's! The good news is that the 2058 Hurricane Survival Act means they don't have to widen them: the entire city is surrounded by an irregular circle of solid concrete! I hear that when the years super-hurricane comes in it makes for an incredible sight!

Sadly, the rising sea level means a great deal of historic wetlands have been destroyed. Such a shame: the remaining ones continue to shrink year by year by year. The DoP trying to lobby for them to be declared protected sites and plans to begin construction of a regional Auto-Menagerie in the next two years, so the situation isn't all bad! And thanks to ACME Insurance and ACME Construction, many towns have begun flood-proofing themselves across the state! Yes, things ARE looking up!

Hmm? A job from Clancy? Oh, I think I know what you're talking about: don't worry, it's not super duper relevant here, friend: this is just your day job! The project Director McCoy wanted you for is one of those things that are going to be hushety hush: don't worry, all will be revealed in time.

We have a few different job titles lined up for you, Mr. Wright! There are a LOT of open positions left in the region thanks to recent NEXT attacks! Hmm? Oh, did Director McCoy not tell you about those?

I wonder why, friend.

A good sibling would have told you.

[ ] ACME Community Manager: ACME Realty was opening a town in Louisiana, located deep in the swamps of Houma Bayou. You will be tasked with managing the town and it's growth, as well as assisting ACME in various programmes, starting with the Toys for Townies initiative, which will help ACME Toys develop better means by which to delight and overjoy children for decades to come!

-Gain position as ACME Community Manager: you will not only be tasked with managing ACME Houma, an ACME Township, you will also be required to contribute to various company initiatives.

-Must successfully complete ACME Toy Focus Testing (0/100) within three turns

-+1 Science Die

-Warning: This is likely to be the most cynicism inducing option.

[ ] Team America Coordinator: Originally a DoP initiative tasked with helping non-critical areas prepare for a potential apocalypse, the Team America project had recently found itself partially taken over by a combination of the NOAA and, most relevantly for you, the EPA. I'm not going to lie to you, the funding is terrible. The EPA needs someone to head up the Lousiana office and help coordinate the agents: someone has been dumping chemicals in the swamp, and they need to find out who so they can be stopped and brought to justice!

-Gain position as Team America Coordinator, in charge of conducting various investigations as well as fulfilling various government set mandates and goals.

-Must successfully complete Northern Atchafalaya Chemical Dumping (0/50) in two turns. The perpetrator is unlikely to be punished or stopped.

+1 Agent Die

-Warning: This is likely to be the most soul crushing option.

[ ] Dean of Cambridge University of Louisiana: The Department of Preservation, under its subsidiary the Cambridge Institute of Technology, wished to open a new campus in Lousiana, and want someone properly certified to act as its Dean and not only help run the place, but improve it, starting with constructing a laser tower to help protect the campus.

-Gain position as Cambridge Dean, tasked with managing the education of students and improving the campus as well as embarking on various programs set by the main Campus and wider DoP.

+1 Facilities Die.

-Must complete Campus Laser Tower Phase One (0/250) in five turns.

-Warning: This will be the most frustrating option.

And to help you get settled in, the Director has generously decided to loan you one of her top assistants. Sadly, Doc Warney isn't available: other work commitments. But you still have access to some of the most brilliant minds in the Department available to you! Just keep in mind friend that this is going to be their night job: after all, they still have work to do for the Director!

Pick one, Edgar. Each will have different means required to cultivate their loyalty. Do not confuse this with the mission required to elevate their service. They all start at Rank 2.

[ ] Joe Ivanovsky: Head of the Business Division, Joe has been severely rattled by the events of N-Day. It had finally clicked how close we all are to annihilation, and now Joe is desperate to actually accomplish his job- and escape judgement day himself in the process, of course. Instrumental in numerous lobbying and finance related successes in the Department, he will likely be crucial in keeping your funding situation in the black.

-Joe is a [BUSINESSMAN] character, which means their personal dice can be spent on (among other things) [Finance][Loans][Networking] tagged actions.

-BRAIN Mission: Achieve the second phase of an ACME Targeted Survival Loans Program (0/200/400)

Agenda: Promoting Liberty Party approved methods to increase regional survival rates.

[ ] General Frayn: Chief of the Departments Security Division, Douglas Frayn was a man who was mostly satisfied with what life had given him: his family were already tucked safely in a vault, and Frayn himself was well and content to die in a nuclear blaze of glory when the bombs finally dropped. Until then, however, he needed to help prepare for the inevitable communist mutant cannibal uprising that was sure to follow nuclear armageddon. This profile was written by Douglas Frayne, to be read in lieu of a resume or obituary.

-General Frayn is a [GENERAL] character, which means their actions can be spent on [Security][Military] and [Combat] tagged actions.

-BRAIN Mission: Reach the second phase of a Project Turtle Arms Depot (0/200/400)

Agenda: Increased military readiness and improved anti-communism programs and infrastructure.

[ ] Wilbur Ashton: A reclusive former millionaire, when we learned Wilbur was still alive, we were VERY surprised. The man doesn't technically work for the Department of Preservation, but Director McCoy has convinced him to lend you a hand. He should be a great help: the man is famous for his business acumen, yes, but he's even more skilled at outreach and media, and his philanthropic skills are nothing less than the best!

-Wilbur Ashton is a [POLITICIAN], which means their actions can be spent on [Outreach][Media] and [Charity] actions.

BRAIN Mission: Reach Phase Two in a Community Broadcast Tower project (0/200/400)

You have 24 hours to think it over before the time comes to render your decision.

Turn 1 Planning: Welcome to the first day of your new job, Edgar!

Warney stood on the sidewalk, waiting, holding an umbrella to keep him dry from the torrential rain: even with the great flood-walls, New Orleans found itself drenched during the yearly superstorms. Behind him was the down-town regional Department of Preservation headquarters, located in the heart of the cities downtown area. Three stories high: not exactly big, but most of the work Team America was doing currently was investigative at this point in time. The brick-faceded structure had written on its front the name of the department, and the official symbol: an eagle atop a hourglass, inside an open vault door. Lining the bottom of the currently darkened sign were a series of lights pointed at the street, illuminating it in a greasy flickering electric glow. The other buildings on the street were a mix of various governmental facilities like the post office or dilapidated failed businesses, rotting storefronts whose wooden facades were starting to rot.

The scientist looked down at his Pip-Buddy, checking the time: currently the devices onboard artificial intelligence was in sleep mode. The time was 2:07. The man he was waiting for was seven minutes late.

He didn't know what kind of person he was dealing with: an avowed communist, supposedly. One smart enough to have gone into hiding somewhere nice and remote, which made sense considering they were supposedly a CIT graduate. Other than that, Edgar McCoy- or Edgar Wright, as he was currently named- was a complete mystery. The few documents he could find indicated a cold, calculating and highly intellectual mind, and witnesses were few and far between.

Hopefully he was everything Clancy promised and more. But right now, Edgar was late. The water lapped at Warneys ankles: it was as low as it could get, and the scientist regretted wearing loafers.

The street in front of him was as buddy as it ever was: Louisiana was out of the way of the war, relatively, and hadn't yet had any real NEXT activity in it yet. That had made it appealing for investors, even if Baton Rouge was more popular with businesses. That and the local automotive industry adopting power peanut engines resulted in a handful of cars and occasionally buses passing by, occasionally spraying the sidewalk with water rivulets.

A dull roar filled the air as one car in particular began speeding down the road, clumsily swaying back and forth, making a too wide too fast turn and causing another car to spin off the road, slamming into one of the various dilapidated buildings, before it came to a skidding stop itself, right next to Warney. The door opened itself and a somewhat shorter man emerged, dressed in a rumpled, poorly fitted dark navy colored suit, with a loose hanging clip on tie attached to their collar.

The person had red hair and a widows peak, trimmed shortly. Their beard was in better condition than their suit, at least, being merely somewhat bedraggled. "Ah, Mr. Wright, I presume," Warney said to the man, who turned to stare at him with a barely concealed look of disdain. "My name is Doctor Warney- If you're wondering about the first name-"

"I wasn't." The man replied flatly, making Warney flinch. Right, less than friendly.

"...Fair enough," Warney agreed. "Anyways, I'm your official liaise with the wider Department."

"In other words, Clancy's spy," The man said flatly.

"...I also lead the wider science division…" Warney muttered, already somewhat dismayed things weren't going how he expected.

"Alright, her spy AND her chief researcher," The man responded flatly, voice marginally less clipped, giving a dry- and still very unfriendly nod. "I assume she's keyed you into our arrangement: you want to tell me what the hell I'm supposed to be doing?"

"...Yeah," Warney admitted: no point in hiding it. "The Directors brother. As for your other question, at the moment the Director wants you to learn the ropes." For the other thing…Well, that could wait. First, he needed to understand how the guy worked.

Alrighty friend, it's me again, ENFERR. We're now in PLAN mode: using this unique interface designed by the brilliant minds at AlviCorp, we're going to plan out operations for the upcoming month.

First, let's cover the basics, starting with Communities.

PLAN Mode is based primarily on the same algorithms and analytical systems used by the wider DoP's analysis division: unlike prior editions, however, it's been modified to work with a smaller scope. Instead of abstracting the post-nuclear condition of entire (poorly defined) regions, PLAN Mode instead measures the likely status of singular communities.

As you pursue investigations and expand operations, you will unlock Community Cards. Each Community represents a different location in which you can construct facilities, pursue initiatives, and accomplish goals. For now, here are your three starting Community Cards, chosen for the optimal relevance to the DoP and the nation at large. Over time you will gain additional cards, and unlock more information on each community.

Spoiler: Community Cards!

New Orleans: The Big Easy! Protected by a series of super-levy's known as the Great Floodwalls, the continued misfortune of the rest of the country has marginally improved the cities safety. Home of the DoP regional headquarters, where Team America works to help protect EVERYONE'S future!

Community Stats:

Domestic Security: +

Institutional Knowledge: +

INFRASTRUCTURE:

DoP Regional Headquarters Phase Two [DoP, Administration, Facility]

New Alexandria: A more northern city in the state, New Alexandria was a fairly quiet city located in a swamp located above the underwater ruins of the old Alexandria. It was home to several fisheries, as well as the DoP's main power peanut farm in the state.

Community Stats:

Renewable Energy: +

Infrastructure:

Power Peanut Plantation Phase One [DoP, Agriculture, Facility]

Baton Rouge: The capital of Louisiana, a bustling port city that found itself the center of Liberty Party interests in the state thanks to its port, industrial district, and the experimental mega-reactor that provided the city with almost unlimited free power. Team America currently had no facilities or programs running in the city.

Note that Community Cards only measure the changes you yourself have caused. Further, there is no universal set of stats: instead, each community will have a custom selection of stats depending on what infrastructure is built. Some infrastructure will have different effects depending on which community it's placed in.

Now, let's cover your resources.

TEAM AMERICA RESOURCES

FUNDING: 1

INFLUENCE: 5

WRATH: 16​

As you can see friend, the system is very simplified. Funding represents the liquid wealth you have to work with. It is used to fund expansions to operations, certain initiatives, and finance expensive projects.

Influence represents your overall diplomatic cache with the rest of the DoP and affiliated organizations. What it's used for is something we'll go over later: for now, you should take my work when I say you'll want to get as much of it as possible.

Wrath is a measure of your overall mental well-being: the higher it gets, the more you'll be prone to certain outbursts. It…Hmm. According to the vitals coming off your Pip-Buddy, you'll gain about 5 points every turn: once it hits 100, you'll probably be upset enough to do something regrettable! You, uh, you'll probably want to look into anger management, by the way: most peoples Wrath meter go DOWN over time. I'm surprised you don't have high blood-pressure with how this is reading, though you do apparently have a permanent tension headache and irregular heartbeat. Being that angry is very Not Normal. And probably not healthy!

And now, your subordinates!

Spoiler: Subordinate BRAIN Cards (And also Edgars again)

Wilbur Ashton​

BRAIN Rank: 2

Category - [POLITICIAN]

PERKS:

Poker Face: This character gains +5 to Suspicion Rolls.

Tax Write Offs: One [Charity] tagged project will receive a 1 point funding discount. Whenever it's completed, the discount will switch to a different project.

BRAIN Quest: Reach Phase Two in a Community Broadcast Tower project (0/200/400)

Agent Mulley Skulder​

BRAIN Rank: 1

Category - [AGENT]

PERKS:

Cold Case Specialist: This character receives +2 to investigating cases that have gone cold

BRAIN Quest: Complete three investigations with the [WEIRD] modifier

Agenda: Strong Anti-ACME leanings. History of bigotry towards various minorities: will disapprove of actions that benefit them.

Janet Benoit​

BRAIN Rank: 1

Category - [ARCHITECT]

PERKS:

On the Bones of the Old: This character has a +3 bonus to actions targeted at New Alexandria

BRAIN Quest: Construct Fortified House of Worship in any community but New Alexandria.

Agenda: Fundamentalist evangelical: unlikely to approve of any activity considered unchristian, like feeding the poor or providing the sinful masses shelter from gods nuclear wrath.

EDGAR WRIGHT

BRAIN Rank: 4

BRAIN Categories - [SCIENTIST][BIOLOGIST]

PERKS:

Eureka!- +2 to Personal Dice used on [Prototype] Projects.

CIT Graduate- +1 Science Die.

Multi-Disciplinary- Can spend personal die on projects that do not fit their BRAIN Category for a -5 penalty.

Genius- Personal Dice explode.

Hoo boy, as an emotionless artificial intelligence I'm incapable of feeling anything, but gee howdy, do I not envy your job! Your subordinates stink! A BRAIN rating of 1? Not to mention the fact that these agendas are genuinely the worst thing I've seen since the peanut incident back in Detroit!

…Oh, uh. It seems your wrath meter just jumped by seven points. Let me just adjust your display a bit…

FUNDING: 1

INFLUENCE: 5

WRATH: 23​

There we go! Now, lets cover the final few details: BRAIN Quests and Agendas!

To put it simply, BRAIN Quests are the tasks you need to fulfill to increase your subordinates' aptitude as well as bring their values closer in line with your own. By completing these projects using the subordinates own dice, the BRAIN rank increases, and their agenda evolves!

Agendas meanwhile are the rules required to maintain a healthy working relationship with your employees: by doing something they disagree with - especially by assigning their dice to it- you run the risk of increasing that subordinates SNITCH FACTOR! The higher the SNITCH FACTOR, the more they'll be driven to sabotage you, which has numerous negative effects.

Oh, and you probably want an explanation for what their brain categories mean: [AGENT] means that the character can be assigned to [Agent] [Investigation] and [Combat] projects. [Architects] meanwhile are [Facilities, Construction, and Real Estate]

Now that we've got the basics of PLAN mode (acronym pending), it's time to move on to your actual job! Each turn of PLAN mode lasts a quarter of a year, divided into three months. You have a variety of D100 dice divided into separate categories and attached to subordinates you can assign to projects. Your job as the lead on Team America is to help prepare the region for nuclear war, especially it's environment.

Let's go over your mandates: missions assigned from on high. Each one needs to be completed in a certain time-frame. Failure reduces your Influence- which, as mentioned, you'll want as high as possible, especially around the year mark. Success in and of itself grants no rewards.

Your current mandates are as follows:

Complete Northern Atchafalaya Chemical Dumping Investigation in two turns.

Pretty simple! You should get the swing of it pretty quickly. Note there are still inactive features of PLAN Mode, but I figure it's probably best to let you have some time to adjust to the water temperature before we send you swimming into the deep end.

And for the part we've all been waiting for, the actions!

__________________________

SECURITY

1 Dice, +0 to rolls

Hire Security Guards [Combat, Personnel]: The solution to a terrorist with a gun was a security guard with a gun: by hiring security guards to man a facility. With the worries about NEXT, it'd probably be covered by the department. 0/100. Increases Facility Security. +WRATH

Scouts of America [Combat, Charity]: The scouts were one of the great American institutions, teaching young patriots life skills such as identifying potential communists, national self-defense, and how to pledge allegiance to the Flag! By supporting a communities local chapter, that community would become not only safer, but a higher quality source of future soldiers, should the war drag on long enough. 0/100/200, SELECT COMMUNITY. Gain Patriot Scouts in area, increasing Youth Mobilization Stat. Second phase costs 1 Funding to complete. +++WRATH

K-9 Kennel [Personnel, Ecology]: A K-9 Kennel: it would allow the DoP in the region to begin training its own K-9 units rather than importing them from the training facility in Montana. 0/75, headquarters gains K-9 Kennel, allowing for the creation of K-9 Teams in regional communities.

Police Surplus [Combat, Charity]: Local PD was less militarized than those in New York or Washington DC: that needed to be fixed immediately by assisting them in purchasing used military equipment, which would be costly. 0/200/400/600, SELECT COMMUNITY. Police Militarization stat increases. Each phase costs 1 Funding to complete. ++WRATH

Identifying Communists (For Kids!) [Education, Government]: By helping children identify communists, our children became safer! By having schools include weekly seminars on the subject taught by senior TAPP analysts you'd almost certainly help protect our kids! 0/200, increases Ideological Security. ++++WRATH

Self Defense Courses [Combat, Education]: Not everyone could afford a gun, and the DoP lacked any firing ranges at the moment: the solution? Hand to hand defense courses to help every red blooded american survive attack by communists! 0/100 SELECT COMMUNITY, increases Self Defence.

Project Turtle Arms Depot [Military, Combat]: The military was willing to help finance DoP operations if they helped contribute to Project Turtles: by creating a secure arms depot that army officials could access after a hypothetical apocalypse, Team America would get a little more grant money. 0/75/150/250/500, SELECT COMMUNITY, increases Military Storage in community. Increases Funding by 1 for each phase. +WRATH

____________________________________

AGENT

"Mmmf. You're the new guy in charge, huh? Names Skulder: I'm in charge of your investigative team. My job is to coordinate the team to look into the cases you assign us. If you're looking for my life-story, you're in the wrong place. Anyways, you probably want to know what cases we have open. You've been briefed on the Atchafalaya situation: some company has been dumping waste. Personally, I think it's the bastards at ACME Medical, but I don't have enough proof yet. The dumping has been occurring near a small rural community: we're already seeing a spike in cancer diagnosis from the place: goes by the name Gecko.

Otherwise, it's just a bunch of dumb tree hugger crap, mostly."

1 Agent Dice

Northern Atchafalaya Chemical Dumping Investigation [Investigation, EPA]: Someone has been dumping toxic waste in the Northern Atchafalaya and making local communities sick. This had to stop, and the perpetrator had to be brought to justice. 0/50, gain Gecko Community Card. Immense Wrath Gain.

Kisatchie National Forest Logging Operations [Investigation, EPA]: There have been signs of illegal logging in Kisatchie National Forest. This needed to end: Americas forests were national treasures! 0/100, gain Kisatchie National Forest Community Card. +WRATH

ACME Investigation [ACME, Investigation]: ACME are up to something, according to Agent Skulder. He wanted to look into their medical department to try and figure out what their plans were. 0/100/200/300, gain assorted ACME Community Cards. +WRATH

Digging Up Dirt [Investigation, Crime]: Every small town had its crooks. Investigating them was sure to bring some heat, but it'd give Team America ammo in the war on crime. 0/100, SELECT COMMUNITY. Learn more about its underside. Increases Influence. +Wrath.

The Sunken Parish [Investigation, Weird]: The super hurricanes had caused significant portions of the state to sink in the past five decades or so. Recently, fishermen looking to catch their dinner in the shallow, watery plains that rested on formerly dry land had reported their boat being attacked by figures in what appeared to be diving suits. 0/250, gain the Sunken Parish Community Card.

_________________

FACILITIES

"Hmm. The new manager, huh? I hear you're a graduate of the Cambridge Institute of Technology. How…lovely. You can call me Mrs. Benoit, and yes, that's MRS.. I'm the team facilities manager: in other words, I'm in charge of construction and material infrastructure. Charmed, I'm sure.

I'd invite you to church, seeing as how you're new here, but in my experience you men of science are too busy playing god to believe in him, but don't worry, I'll make sure to pray for you.

Now, onto business, as I'm sure you're a VERY busy man. Our investments into this region are dire: we only have the regional headquarters and the power peanut farm up north in New Alexandria. When god's chosen people eventually emerge from SPD's, they will have almost nothing to inherit in this state but blasted wilderness and whatever dregs of humanity survive the bomb.

0 Dice, +0 to rolls.

Supply Depot Warehouse [Logistics, Construction]: The bread and butter of the department: these warehouses stored massive quantities of material shipped from various DoP factories for use in case of nuclear armageddon. 0/100/200/300, SELECT COMMUNITY. Increase General Supply stat: third rank increases additional community specific stat.

Department Motor Pool [Logistics, Administration]: By purchasing vehicles department employees could use, the team could greatly simplify transportation and shipping for various department assets. 0/200/400, increase Departmental Mobilization. Required for further vehicular development such as DoP Garages. Cost 1 Funding to complete each rank.

Fortified House of Worship [Population, Construction]: For once, the justification for this one isn't wholly propaganda: analysis indicated that when the bombs drop, churches and other holy houses were likely to be the first place civilians without any substantive options are likely to flee. By reinforcing one of these sites to be bomb-proof, it would significantly raise the odds of survivors in the community. 0/200/600, SELECT COMMUNITY. Increases Divine Sanctuary stat.

Power Peanut Plantation [GWCFAAAT, Agriculture]: Power Peanuts were a very experimental development by the George Washington Carver foundation (with Department assistance): they were a 100% renewable source of electrical energy, albeit one that was somewhat inefficient compared to nuclear or even fossil fuels: thankfully, the market was always looking for more sources of energy. 0/200/400, SELECT COMMUNITY. Increases Renewable Energy Stat. Each phase increases funding by 1.

AutoMenagerie Complex [Ecology, Genetics]: The department was planning to construct one in the next few years: why not get a head start? Having a functional AutoMenagerie would be vital for restoring life to the wetlands. 0/500. Gain Louisiana AutoMenagerie Community Card.

___________________________________________________

SCIENCE

1 Dice, +5 to rolls

"Howdy! It's me, your best buddy ENFERR again! Welcome to your personal lab! Here you'll help research technology to aid you, prototype designs for wider adoption, and organize various science related initiatives!

I can't WAIT to see what you create, Edgar.

Gorilla DNA Library [Ecology, Genetics]: It had been part of your research at Cambridge: cloning real, living silverback gorillas into the world again. You didn't have the equipment to do that, but you could at least preserve their genome by creating a DNA Library in the lab, in case you ever did acquire the equipment. 0/250, unlock Gorilla Genetic Template, unlocking additional projects. -WRATH

Power Peanut Genome Sequencing [Power, Genetics, GWCFAAAT]: Power Peanuts were fascinating: while the design had been refined by department labs, the George Carver foundation were no slouches either when it came to genetics. It might behoove you to try analyzing their genome: at the very least, you could send the science division and the foundation your notes. 0/250, unlock Power Peanut Genetic Template, speeding up national Power Nut research and increasing influence by 2.

Atomicrops Research Notes [Genetics, Agriculture]: The Atomicrops program: you hadn't been party to it, but you had followed it's development with a fair bit of interest until you went into hiding. It might be worth it to refresh your understanding of the project and send in your notes to Warney. 0/100, unlock Atomicrop Genetic Template, speeding up national research and increasing influence.

Construct CERES Unit [Construction, Robotics]: The general term for the DoP's standardized model of AI manager, intended for inclusion in agricultural facilities. By upgrading a facility with one, its overall output would increase by a fair amount. 0/150, SELECT COMMUNITY WITH AGRICULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE. Agriculture tagged infrastructure gains primary stat increase, along with an infrastructure-dependent secondary stat.

Community Data Cache [Construction, Education]: The Data Cache model of knowledge retention infrastructure had been selected by top DoP analysts as the optimal means by which institutional knowledge could be preserved in the region. 0/150/300/600, SELECT COMMUNITY. Increases Buried Knowledge stat.

TAPP Analysis [Government, Education]: One of the worst things your sister had ever done: countless people had been thrown into jail. The actual criteria it worked to determine who was a 'true american patriot' and who was a 'godless red in waiting' was a black box: if you could figure out how the algorithm worked, however, you might be able to game it to help people avoid falling afoul of it. 0/300, gain TAPP Manipulation projects. Massively increases Wrath.

Garden of Eden Sanctuary [Ecology, Charity]: If you could scrape together the funding, you might be able to help support one of the various communities in the state while also preserving endangered wildlife from around the globe via financing a sanctuary. 0/200/400. SELECT COMMUNITY. Increase Biodiversity Preservation stat and a community dependent secondary stat. Cost 1 Funding to complete each phase.

Community Seed Vault [Ecology, Agriculture, Construction]: After the bombs dropped, it was likely numerous species of plant would go extinct: by establishing a series of seed vaults, this could be prevented. Obviously the priority would go to more human useful cultivars, but some wild flora would be preserved if conditions permitted. 0/400/800. SELECT COMMUNITY. Increase AgriPreservation stat. Second phase also increases Biodiversity Preservation stat.

________________________

OUTREACH

0 Dice, +0 to Rolls

"Hello, Mr. Wright.

Apologies we couldn't meet in person: my health, such as it is, makes leaving my home quite taxing. If this makes you worried about my ability to perform the duties you've assigned me, don't worry: I'm very skilled at accomplishing what I want through the medium of letters. Unseen, but not unheard.

Thankfully, modern medicine is quite the miracle: my doctor says I might be able to join you in less than a year.

Of course, I've kept myself informed: you're in for a rough one, Edgar. Every day, we grow closer and closer to the chaos of oblivion and the final night over the USA. Our leaders are…less than rational, shall we say. And the people are getting angrier and angrier. And you, my friend, are stuck in the middle of it.

I'll do what I can to help, of course. First, I'd advise doing what the robot told you and building that broad-cast tower: a constant feed of propaganda will at least buy you a little public good-will. And besides, once you have people absorbing what you tell them, you can start conditioning them to accept the values you deem appropriate. Don't underestimate the power of media manipulation.

Cheers

Wilbur Ashton

Community Broadcast Tower [Education, Media]: Radio, then television. These facilities would play on loop various Department created materials, largely a mix of patriotic reaffirmations and edutainment material aimed at both adults and children. 0/200/400, SELECT COMMUNITY, increase Public Preparedness stat. Costs 1 Funding to complete per phase.

Local Philanthropy [Charity, Government]: Firefighters, hospitals, public transportation and other services were generally deeply underfunded. By contributing to their finances, it would both help that community develop important infrastructure to help weather disaster, as well as buy some local good-will for the department in that community. 0/100/200, SELECT COMMUNITY. Increases Team America Goodwill and Responder Preparedness stat. Cost 1 Funding to complete each phase. +Wrath. TAX WRITE OFF APPLIED, FIRST IS FREE.

DoP Disaster Training and Response Facility [Education, Personel]: The civilian disaster preparedness program was a new initiative by the DoP: they wanted to start training populations in various methods that can be used in case of disaster to survive. 0/200, SELECT COMMUNITY. Increases Responder Preparedness. Cost 1 Funding per phase.

Co-Op Garden [Agriculture, Population]: Anyone who seriously thought co-ops were the herald of socialism were idiots. Despite the stigma, however, they did serve a purpose: the most obvious was reducing food insecurity and self sufficiency for a community, but more important was helping that community start building the institutional knowledge required for rebuilding agriculture should civilization collapse and supply lines disintegrate. 0/100/200, SELECT COMMUNITY. Increases AgriPreservation stat. Modest Suspicion.

Luxury Bunkers [Population, Construction, Liberty Party]: Funding was hard to come by, but one way it could be obtained? Earning Donors by constructing various Liberty Party officials and other wealthy individuals their own private, DoP maintained bunkers. Sure, it would be helping some of the worst people avoid the fate they have so richly earned, but the funding would be worth it. 0/150/300, increase funding by 2 per phase. ++Wrath Gain.

Targeted ACME Loans [Population, ACME, Finance]: This wouldn't save anyone. Not on its own: the infrastructure developed might save someone, but the effect would be marginal compared to other, more efficient tactics. The only benefit this gave was money. 0/100/200/???, SELECT COMMUNITY. Infinite phases, every phase increases a random stat. Every two phases, gain +1 Funding. +Wrath.

_________________

24 hour moratorium.

2074 Q1 Results

[X] Plan: Dipping Our Toes

-[X] SECURITY (1 dice; +0)

--[X] 1 die: K-9 Kennel (0/75 --> 28/75)

-[X] AGENT (1 dice; +0)

--[X] 1 die: Northern Atchafalaya Chemical Dumping Investigation (0/50 --> 61/50) COMPLETE

--[X] 1 Skulder: The Sunken Parish (0/250 --> 17/250)

-[X] FACILITIES (0 dice; +0)

--[X] 1 Benoit: Fortified House of Worship (0/200 --> 25/200)

---[X] Baton Rouge

-[X] SCIENCE (1 dice; +5)

--[X] 1 die + 1 Edgar: Construct CERES Unit (0/150 --> 91/150)

---[X] New Alexandria

--[X] 2 Edgar: Gorilla DNA Library (0/250 --> 128/250)

--[X] 1 Edgar: Atomicrops Research Notes (0/100 --> 57/100)

-[X] OUTREACH (0 dice; +0)

--[X] 2 Wilbur: Community Broadcast Tower (0/200 --> 136/200)

___________________________________

K-9 Kennel [Personnel, Ecology]: A K-9 Kennel: it would allow the DoP in the region to begin training its own K-9 units rather than importing them from the training facility in Montana. 28/75, headquarters gains K-9 Kennel, allowing for the creation of K-9 Teams in regional communities.

Construction begins on an expansion to headquarters: a K-9 Kennel intended to help train dogs for your security teams as well as help train security teams in the correct use of dogs. Progress is slow, however, due to bureaucratic issues: namely, it takes most of the quarter to successfully purchase the plot of land.

The street has numerous unoccupied buildings just waiting to be plucked up and converted to something actually useful (or at least as useful as one could convince the powers that be to allow them to be). Unfortunately, those buildings aren't unowned, and while its not particularly difficult to convince the landlords to part with a building they weren't making any income on other than tax breaks, someone at city hall would, OVER EIGHTEEN TIMES, lose the ownership transfer paperwork.

You'd assume malice, but the reality was it was probably just incompetence: the issue only resolved itself once you extremely publicly confronted the city mayor whilst having lunch, politely explaining the problem. The whole debacle ended with city hall finally sorting out the paper-work issue, a public apology from the mayor, and the Department agreeing to pay for the reconstructive surgery for the blown out ear-drums for the twenty one people, including the mayor, who were in the room while you politely explained the problem.

Still, ground is broken. Progress is being made. You obviously can't take much pleasure in it, considering what the dogs are likely to be used for, but out of all your options, additional K-9 units are probably the least terrible way you could expand security.

The Sunken Parish [Investigation, Weird]: The super hurricanes had caused significant portions of the state to sink in the past five decades or so. Recently, fishermen looking to catch their dinner in the shallow, watery plains that rested on formerly dry land had reported their boat being attacked by figures in what appeared to be diving suits. 17/250, gain the Sunken Parish Community Card.

March 2nd, 2074

"New boss has us investigating reports of fishermen getting attacked in the region that used to be the St. Mary Parish: the place has been underwater for damn near twenty years since the Flood of 56. Past five years, however, people have been coming back from the place with injuries: bites, claw marks, bruises. A few say they were nearly drowned: that's the people who come back. The ones who don't come back probably wind up gator food.

No great loss, considering most of them are the dregs of society.

Apparently, the attacks only happen at night: victims- largely drunken creoles without a fishing license- report creatures that resemble living corpses crawling onto their boat and trying to drag them under.

Sounds like Centralia Zombies. Dunno how they got there. Bigger question is why the boss cares about a bunch of mixed race hicks going missing: 'black person dies doing something stupid' isn't news, its tuesday. Still, I'm going to go ahead and call this case closed: the boss will probably be satisfied with the ruling of zombie and issue a travel advisory for the area."

Northern Atchafalaya Chemical Dumping Investigation [Investigation, EPA]: Someone has been dumping toxic waste in the Northern Atchafalaya and making local communities sick. This had to stop, and the perpetrator had to be brought to justice. 61/50, gain Gecko Community Card. Immense Wrath Gain.

"The fuck do you mean we can't do anything?" You growled over the phone, knuckles white, a familiar pounding sensation in your skull.

"I mean we can't do anything," Clancy said neutrally in that 'we've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas' tone of voice she uses to explain why she's not only going to keep doing something evil, but not even consider alternative ideas. "ACME is one of the Departments most important allies: we're not going to jeopardize that for a small town of less than 500 residents."

"Clancy, we have numerous reports of people getting CANCER. Genuine actual LEUKEMIA, for fucks sake," You emphasized, currently seated in your office, which was bare of any decorations other than a fake diploma on the wall: just a desk, a terminal, and a chair in a room with grey walls and beige carpet. "Several victims are minors: kids, Clancy. ACME poisoned children. We've already identified twenty seven cases where it's probably terminal, and we have almost three times that many confirmed cases."

"There isn't any significant evidence linking ACME's waste disposal operations to Gecko's current health problems," Clancy responded, tone bored, and for a moment, you saw red. "For all we know, the town just has a history of health issues: either way, legally ACME isn't liable."

"That's bullshit and you know it!" You growled, standing up and beginning to pace back and forth angrily, . "27 people from the same coming down with terminal FUCKING leukemia at the same goddamn time isn't something that happens by COINCIDENCE, even before we factor in the non-terminal cases!"

"Truth is subjective, Edgar. It doesn't matter what you believe, what matters is what answer allows the Department and ACME to continue turning a profit and, more importantly, what the papers will believe."

"So that's it then: ACME kills these people, and they get no justice," You said flatly, and you could hear the blood pumping through your veins faster and faster as the receiver began to deform from the strength of your grip. "Lives- entire families- destroyed, and the company that did it doesn't even get a slap on the wrist."

"Be realistic, Edgar: even if we decided to prosecute ACME for this, what do you expect the outcome to be?" Clancy said in a patient voice that really, really made you want to punch her. "Best case scenario, a few middle managers go to prison, ACME gets hit with a fine that WILL be waived, and they get a little bad press in the papers. Absolutely none of this you'd be happy with: you'd just complain that the people 'really responsible' be punished, you'd complain that the fine wasn't high enough, or some other issue you'd find with the ruling. I know how you work: there's nothing that could happen that you'd be happy with. Worst case scenario, you get what you want: ACME gets serious financial penalties and collapses. The Department loses most of its funding, meaning we have to cut several programs and initiatives and massively slow expansion. Millions of people lose their jobs, dozens of communities go under, and that's before what would happen to ACME City. Food prices skyrocket because ACME Agriculture goes under, meaning the current rationing gets worse, and the government might have to start doing triage."

"Oh fuck off: just because prosecuting ACME MIGHT have some bad outcomes is no reason to not try. Have you considered what'll happen if you DON'T prosecute them for this?" You countered, practicing your breathing exercises. "They'll keep dumping their waste, killing ecosystems, making it harder for them to bounce back if the bombs fall, to say nothing about poisoning more communities and, because I know how you work and need a fucking practical reason to justify anything, increasing the amount of pollution caused disease burdening our medical systems AS WELL AS those post bomb!"

"Our analysts have considered those factors and have dismissed them as acceptable costs."

You let out a slow breath, hand loosening around the cold metal of the phone receiver. "Fine," You said as calmly as possible. "If you can't prosecute ACME for this, you're at least going to make them stop dumping in Lousiana-"

"Thats-"

"No. Shut up. Either you do or I do, Clancy, and if I do it it will be by marching into ACME Headquarters and telling their reactor to start counting down."

"Jesus Christ, Edgar, what the fuck!" Clancy said, clearly rattled. "You can't be serious-"

"I am not arguing with you about this," You hissed. "That is my ultimatum, Clancy: either ACME stops by your hand or by my hand."

"Edgar, you're really trying to tell me you'd kill hundreds of innocent ACME employees over this? That's insane! Not to mention you'd DIE in the process. And for what? Petty revenge? Be reasonable."

"I've considered those factors and have dismissed them as acceptable costs," You said coldly, throwing her words back into her face, making Clancy sigh.

"Come on, Ed," She said, opting for a different tact, voice cajoling. "I know you: you're an asshole, but you aren't a killer."

For a moment, you were silent, before you let out a deep sigh. "You really don't know me, Clancy." You said, flatly. "Maybe you did back when I was in Cambridge, but it's been a very, very long time since then."

You heard Clancy give a growl of frustration. "Fucking- Fine, Edgar, have it your way: I'll lean on ACME and get them to cut it out. Any other demands, your majesty?"

"I have a ton of people sick with disease. I know the Department has a cure for cancer. I want enough doses for every resident of the town."

"Absolutely not, a single vial of what you're asking for costs over seven dozen million dollars to create," Clancy responded flatly. "Beyond that, all available doses are already bound for specific destinations."

"Clancy-"

"I'm not arguing with you on this, Edgar: I'm already doing you a favor, don't push it. If you want to solve the community's cancer problem, do it on your own dime."

"Fine." You growled. You didn't like it, but you guessed you didn't have any choice but to live with it. Slamming the phone down back onto its base, you sat back down, leaning forward to type at your keyboard, causing your terminal to begin playing the soothing sound of jungle noises to help calm down.

You were going to need a lot of headache medication for this job.

Unlocked Gecko Community Card:

Gecko: A town poisoned by ACME. Population 481, this small cajun village was located in the Northern Atchafalaya Bayou. It's primary industry was crawfish farming, it was named for the highly abundant population of wild geckos in the region, and roughly 104 people in it had been diagnosed with leukemia.

+30 Wrath.

Fortified House of Worship [Population, Construction]: For once, the justification for this one isn't wholly propaganda: analysis indicated that when the bombs drop, churches and other holy houses were likely to be the first place civilians without any substantive options are likely to flee. By reinforcing one of these sites to be bomb-proof, it would significantly raise the odds of survivors in the community. 25/200/600, Baton Rouge. Increases Divine Sanctuary stat.

"Why the long face, honey?"

"Ugh. Wright has me reinforcing a synogogue. I don't know why: there are several perfectly fine christian churches in the area. He says that it's because the site is more suited for it, but I'm not sure I believe him. Unfortunately, he's refusing to hear my suggestions for alternative sites. I think the man is a secret jew-lover or something."

"Isn't he a college graduate? Doesn't surprise me: those people practically own the universities. I still don't know why you work there."

"Please don't start this again, Dear-"

"I'm just saying, Jan, its not right: a womans place is at home, minding the children, not in a den of sin helping a bunch of k-"

"JEREMY."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! But look, you can't deny that some of the things that place gets up to are less than godly. The church-"

"Is helped best by me working in the Department: besides, without this job, we wouldn't have the SPD tickets."

"Are you sure we need them? The Church is pretty secure, and Pastor Ben has been stockpiling food: if the bombs do drop, we could just go there, duck and cover until it's all blown over."

"Jeremy, trust me when I say that unless the church has been reinforced to survive a bomb dropping- and no, it hasn't-, the Personnel Depot is our best bet: it will have enough food to feed gods chosen- including our children- for decades and thick enough walls to keep them protected through the worst sort of catastrophe. Now, that's enough: I have enough to deal with at work, I'd rather not deal with it at home."

Benoits SNITCH-FACTOR has risen by 5!

Construct CERES Unit [Construction, Robotics]: The general term for the DoP's standardized model of AI manager, intended for inclusion in agricultural facilities. By upgrading a facility with one, its overall output would increase by a fair amount. 91/150, New Alexandria. Agriculture tagged infrastructure gains primary stat increase, along with an infrastructure-dependent secondary stat.

Gorilla DNA Library [Ecology, Genetics]: It had been part of your research at Cambridge: cloning real, living silverback gorillas into the world again. You didn't have the equipment to do that, but you could at least preserve their genome by creating a DNA Library in the lab, in case you ever did acquire the equipment. 128/250, unlock Gorilla Genetic Template, unlocking additional projects. -WRATH

Atomicrops Research Notes [Genetics, Agriculture]: The Atomicrops program: you hadn't been party to it, but you had followed it's development with a fair bit of interest until you went into hiding. It might be worth it to refresh your understanding of the project and send in your notes to Warney. 57/100, unlock Atomicrop Genetic Template, speeding up national research and increasing influence.

Being the only qualified scientist slash engineer on the team this quarter has somewhat slowed the amount of research you can conduct. Still, you make fairly decent progress both overseeing the construction of the New Alexandria CERES unit as well as looking into the atomicrops genome.

The former involves constructing an annex to the power peanut plantation, located on the outskirts of the city on the Bayou. A small fusion core-powered facility, designed to house for- hopefully- centuries a CERES AI, the facility has most of its power infrastructure finished and part of the mainframe constructed: another good quarter of construction should finish it off.

The latter is fairly easier, but comparatively receives a little less effort due to your prioritization, meaning that the rate of progress isn't particularly different. Already, you've noted a few different ways they could probably improve the program, mostly minor tweaks to some of the crops they use. They could also probably improve crop health by 2 to 3% by altering some of the plants symbiotic bacteria.

And, on your own time, you dig up your research and get to work on the Gorilla DNA Library. This one is mostly a matter of constructing the hardware- a computer 'server' built using the latest and greatest in DoP data-technology- and then carefully transferring the data across mediums.

It's a lot of data. The good news is, its serving as a helpful refresher: some of the data you had actually forgotten. The bad news is you find yourself running into a completely different problem than what you had anticipated: your tendency towards perfectionism when it came to topics that you gave a shit about.

There are a few places where the advances in technology in recent years means you have the tools to refine past experiments, forcing you to requisition tissue samples from the institute to replicate some of the experiments with updated conditions. This, combined with the AMOUNT of data, means the process of copying it over takes a fairly long time, especially since all your research data is stored on papers and punch cards, to say nothing of your general lack of familiarity with modern computer technology.

It would be a little while longer before you were satisfied with the updated experiments, and even longer before you were entirely finished.

Community Broadcast Tower [Education, Media]: Radio, then television. These facilities would play on loop various Department created materials, largely a mix of patriotic reaffirmations and edutainment material aimed at both adults and children. 136/200/400, Baton Rouge, increase Public Preparedness stat. Costs 1 Funding to complete per phase.

"Coming Soon: The Department of Preservation Public Broadcast Service of Baton Rogue. Keep abreast of Department initiatives and programs as they're announced, listen to financial expert Igor Salamance rate which companies are likely to produce a reliable product with your investments to help plan out your purchase of apocalypse preparation, and the Mathew Lewis Build-A-Bunker show, among other offerings. Stay tuned to FM 109.7, Baton Rouge!"

-Ad in the Baton Rogue Times.

____________________________________________________

Howdy, it's me again, your friend ENFERR! Sorry about the turn: golly, I guess you can't win em all. But it's not all bad! I've managed to acquire you some Sponsorships! Now, in prior versions of this program, we utilized something called Joint Projects, based on the very same Joint Projects that the Department has used to enrich both itself and its many partners and affiliates such as ACME!

The history of the former enabling the latter goes back further than you think.

Of course, this wouldn't work for the version you're using, so I took the initiative and…tweaked it a little. You'll now be able to secure deals with various organizations, corporate entities, private interests and other notables! In exchange for fulfilling various criteria, you'll be given funding, infrastructure licensing rights, useful assets, and even potentially highly skilled personnel.

Normally, friend, you'd have to complete the Sponsorship mission to gain the benefits of a sponsorship, but just this once, since you seem to be struggling a bit, I'll do some smooth talking for you so you can get the payment up front.

After all, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't help you out when things are looking a little down?

You'll find I'm a very good friend indeed, Edgar.

Pick. One.

[ ] ACME Burgertorium Project [ACME]: ACME wanted to expand- into fast food! However, to get prices low enough for anyone to afford it, they needed a factory farm. That's where you come in, Edgar: you help build ACME Burger a few factory farms, and not only will you help create livestock rearing factory farm infrastructure that could help feed the community in case of bomb, you'd also get access to a great deal of very handy ACME brand construction equipment. All at the low low price of destroying more of the states ecology to support human agriculture and subjecting countless animals to cruel and inhumane conditions where they'll most likely never see sunlight!

Unlock ACME Burger Factory Farms (0/200) [Agriculture, ACME, Facilities]

Must construct 1 ACME Burger Factory Farm

+1 Facilities Dice

[ ] Hubology Research Outpost [Hubology]: Hubology is a PERFECTLY RESPECTABLE AND LEGITIMATE religion that is HIGHLY REGARDED. They have through PERFECTLY LEGITIMATE CHANNELS requested one of their regional communities receive its own research laboratory, which they would repay by providing the Department access to several highly qualified scientists.

Unlock Pluto Compound Community Card and the special Private Research Lab infrastructure (0/200/600) [Corporate, Charity, Construction, Science], which must be built in Pluto Compound at phase 1 before it can be built elsewhere.

Pluto Compound must gain a second phase Private Research Lab for this sponsorship to complete.

+2 Science Dice

[ ] Power Armor Engineering Workshop [Department of Preservation]: The Department of Preservation wanted to establish a power armor engineering workshop in the region. If you help build it, it will not only benefit much of departments security division, both nationally and regional, it will encourage the Department to invest more into your department.

Unlock Power Armor Engineering Workshop (0/700) [Power Armor, Gear, DoP, Security].

+1 Security Dice

[ ] Lil Patriots Military Orphanage [Patriot Party]: The orphans of today were the patriots of tomorrow! The Patriot Party wanted to help preserve the future of America by constructing a military orphanage for the children of veterans who had perished in the line of duty, and help prepare these sons and daughters of heroes to follow in their parents footsteps, no doubt as they would have wanted.

Unlock Lil Patriots Orphanage (0/100/200/300) [Construction, Education, Outreach]

Must construct two Lil Patriots.

+1 Outreach, +2 Funding.

[ ] Camp Freedom [Military]: The military was currently running out of space in its current facilities for those of chinese descent. They want you to build an additional holding facility in northern Louisiana to house these individuals where they would be unable to act as potential traitors on behalf of their parent nation.

Unlock Camp Enduring Freedom Internment Facility [Population, Military, Security] (0/150/300/450/600)

Gain Captain Rock as a subordinate, a rank three [Interrogator] who can work on the following tags: [Security, Investigation, Military]

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Six hours moratorium.