by Kyle West
Bunker Program, The: The United States and Canadian governments pooled resources to establish 144 Bunkers in Twelve Sectors throughout their territory. The Bunkers were the backup in case the Guardian Missions failed. When the Guardian Missions did fail, the Bunker Program kicked into full gear. The Bunkers were designed to save all critical government personnel and citizenry, along with anyone who could provide the finances to construct them. The Bunkers were designed to last indefinitely, using hydroponics to grow food. The Bunkers ran on fusion power, which had been made efficient by the early 2020’s. The plan was, when the dust settled, Bunkers residents could reemerge and rebuild. Most Bunkers fell, however, for various reasons – including critical systems failures, mutinies, and attacks by outsiders (see Wastelanders). By the year 2060, only four Bunkers were left.
Chaos Years, The: The Chaos Years are the ten years following the impact of Ragnarok. These dark years signified the great die off of most forms of life, including humans. Most deaths occurred due to starvation. Crops could not grow in climates too far from the tropics due to mass global cooling. What crops would grow produced a yield far too paltry to feed the population that existed. This led to a period of violence unknown in all of human history. The Chaos Years signify the complete breakdown of the Old World’s remaining infrastructures – including food production, the economy, power grids, and industry, all of which led to the deaths of billions of people.
Dark Decade, The: The Dark Decade lasted from 2020-2030, from the time of the first discovery of Ragnarok, to the time of its impact. It is not called the Dark Decade because the world descended into madness immediately upon the discovery of Ragnarok by astronomer Neil Weinstein – that only happened in 2028, with the failure of Messiah, the third and last of the Guardian Missions. In the United States and other industrialized nations, life proceeded in an almost normal fashion. There was plenty of hope, and good reason to believe that Ragnarok could be stopped, especially when given ten years. But as the Guardian Missions failed, one by one, the order of the world quickly disintegrated.
With the failure of the Guardian Mission, Archangel, in 2024, a series of wars engulfed the world. As what some were calling World War III embroiled the planet, the U.S. and several of its European allies, and Canada, continued to work on stopping Ragnarok. When the second Guardian Mission, Reckoning, failed, an economic depression swept the world. But none of this compared to the madness that followed upon the failure of the third and final Guardian, Messiah, in 2028. As societies broke down, martial law was enforced. President Garland was appointed dictator of the United Sates with absolute authority. By 2029, several states had broken off from the Union.
In the last quarter of 2030, an odd silence hung over the world, as if it had grown weary of living. The President, all essential governmental staff and military, the Senate and House of Representatives, along with scientists, engineers, and the talented and the wealthy, entered the 144 Bunkers established by the Bunker Program. Outraged, the tens of millions of people who did not get an invitation found the Bunker locations, demanding to be let in. The military took action when necessary.
Then, on December 3, 2030, Ragnarok fell, crashing into the border of Wyoming and Nebraska, forming a crater one hundred miles wide. The world left the Dark Decade, and entered the Chaos Years.
Guardian Missions: The Guardian Missions were humanity’s attempts to intercept and alter the course of Ragnarok during the Dark Decade. There were three, and in the order they were launched, they were called Archangel, Reckoning, and Messiah (all three of which were also the names of the ships launched). Each mission had a reason for failing. Archangel is reported to have crashed into Ragnarok, in 2024. In 2026, Reckoning somehow got off course, losing contact with Earth in the process. In 2028 Messiah successfully landed and attached its payload of rockets to the surface of Ragnarok in order to alter its course from Earth. However, the rockets failed before they had time to do their work. The failure of the Guardian Missions kicked the Bunker Program into overdrive.
Ice Lands, The: Frozen in a perpetual blanket of ice and snow, the northern and southern latitudes of the planet are completely unlivable. In the Wasteland at least, they are referred to as the Ice Lands. Under a blanket of meteor fallout, global cooling sent temperatures on Earth plummeting. While glaciers are only now experiencing rapid regrowth, they will advance for centuries, and perhaps millenniums, to come, until the fallout has dissipated enough to produce a warmer climate. In the Wasteland, 45 degrees north marks the beginning of what is considered the Ice Lands.
L.A. Gangland: L.A. Gangland means a much different thing than it did Pre-Ragnarok. In the ruins of Los Angeles, there are dozens of gangs vying for control, but by 2060, the most powerful is Black Reapers, who usurped that title from the Lost Angels.
Lost Angels, The: The Lost Angels were post-apocalyptic L.A.’s first super gang. From the year 2050 until 2055, they reigned supreme in the city, led by a charismatic figure named Dark Raine. The Angels were different from other gangs – they valued individual freedom and abhorred slavery. Under the Angels’ rule, Los Angeles prospered. The Angels were eventually usurped in 2056 by a gang called the Black Reapers, led by a man named Carin Black.
Oasis: Oasis is a settlement located in the Wasteland, about halfway between Los Angeles and Raider Bluff. It has a population of one thousand, and is built around the banks of the oasis for which it is named. The oasis did not exist Pre-Ragnarok, but was formed by tapping an underground aquifer.
Raider Bluff: Raider Bluff is the only known settlement of the raiders. It is built northeast of what used to be Needles, California, across the Colorado River, on top of a three-tiered mesa. Though the raiders are mobile group, even they need a place to rest during the harsh, Wasteland winter. Merchants, women, and servants followed the raider men, setting up shop on the mesa, giving birth to Raider Bluff sometime in the early 2040’s. From the top of the Bluff rules the Alpha, the strongest recognized leader of the raiders. A new Alpha rises only when he is able to wrest control from the old one.
Ragnarok: Ragnarok was the given name of the meteor the crashed into Earth on December 3, 2030. It was discovered by astronomer Neil Weinstein in 2019. Ragnarok was about three miles long, and two miles wide. It is not known how it eluded detection for so long.
Recon: A Recon is an all-terrain rover that is powered by hydrogen. It is designed for speedy recon missions across the Wastes, and was developed by the United States military during the Dark Decade. It is composed of a cab, in front, and a large cargo bay in the back. Mounted on top of the cargo bay is a turret with 360 degree rotation, accessible by a ladder and a porthole. The turret can be manned and fired while the Recon is on the go.
Wasteland, The: The Wasteland is a large tract of land comprising of Southern California and the Western United States. It extends from the San Bernardino Mountains in the west, to the Rockies in the east, and from the northern border of Mexico to the south, to the Ice Lands to the north (which is about the same latitude as Sacramento, California). The Wasteland is characterized by a cold, extremely dry climate. Rainfall each year is little to none, two to four inches being about average. Little can survive the Wasteland, meaning that all life has clung to limited water supplies. Major population centers include Raider Bluff, along the Colorado River, the settlement of Oasis, supplied by a body of water of the same name, and Last Town, a trading post that sprung up along I-10 between Los Angeles and the Mojave. Lost Angeles flanks the Wasteland’s western extreme, while Las Vegas flanks its eastern extreme.
Wastelanders: Wastelanders are surface dwellers, specifically ones that live in the southwestern United States. The term is broad – but generally it means a surface dweller who is forced to wander, scavenge, or raid for sustenance. Wastelanders are feared by Bunker dwellers, as they have been the number one reason for Bunkers failing.
Xenofungus: Xenofungus is a slimy, sticky fungus that is colored pink, orange, or purple (and sometimes all three). Whether
benign or hostile, no one knows – and that is part of the focus of Dr. Steven Keener’s research.
Xenovirus: The xenovirus is an agent that attaches itself to DNA, acquires it, and mixes and matches it with the DNA it has already collected. It mostly affects microbes, and more recently, plants, but it is thought to be benign.
Also by Kyle West
The Wasteland Chronicles
Apocalypse
Origins
Evolution
Watch for more at Kyle West’s site.
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.
APOCALYPSE
First edition. December 5, 2012.
Copyright © 2012 Kyle West.
Written by Kyle West.
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