by E. E. Knight
REAPERS—The avatars of the Kurian Order, Reapers are very powerful humanoids that form the basis of most of our vampire legends. With only a vestigial reproductive system and a simplified digestive process based on the consumption of blood and a small amount of flesh, Reapers are fast, strong, and deadly, particularly at night when the connection with their Kurian master is strongest. They are strong enough to tear through metal doors and hatches, can jump to second-or sometimes third-story windows, and can run as fast as most cars can move on all but the best-maintained roads. Hunters find Reapers most vulnerable during daylight hours, when the Kurian connection is weaker, especially directly after a feeding, when the Reaper is sleepy from the blood intake and the Kurian is distracted by the absorption of aura.
TWISTED CROSS—A military faction of the Kurian Order, the members of the Twisted Cross use trained humans to operate fighting Reapers in a manner similar to a Kurian lord’s. The Twisted Cross activities in North America were stillborn when the Golden Ones revolted and destroyed their base in 2067. There are reports of more-successful Twisted Cross military formations operating around the Black Sea and in Southeastern Europe and Asia Minor, the Asian subcontinent, and Japan.
VITAL AURA—The energy created by all living things, but enriched and refined in sentient, emotionally developed creatures. Thus a human will have much more vital aura than, say, a much heavier cow or pig. This energy is what sustains Kurians over their extended, and seemingly limitless, life span.
WOLVES—The great guerilla fighters of the Hunter class, Wolves are famous for their endurance, senses of smell and hearing, and ability to operate without logistical support. They are the most numerous of the Hunter classes, trained by the Lifeweavers to be a match for the fearsome organs of the Kurian Order. They can cover long stretches of ground in their all-day runs, often evading even mechanized opponents. They often act as the eyes and ears of larger operations, or provide a communications link for Cats operating alone in the Kurian Zone and Bear teams needing support and guidance on their way to hit a key target.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES
BALTIC LEAGUE—A collection of Scandinavian and Baltic-shore countries composing the largest freehold in Europe. While the Kurians do control the major cities of the coasts, extending as far north as Trondheim, they rule with a very light hand and their position is precarious. Much of their vital aura comes through trade or headhunters who steal victims from farther south. While not militarily powerful in its own right, the Baltic League has what is perhaps the best information-gathering network in the world. It builds and distributes electronics that allow the freeholds to communicate, maintains a shortwave news network (often jammed locally by the New Universal Church or contra-programmed) and manufactures arms to be shipped to rebels elsewhere. While the Baltic League is probably strong enough to get rid of the Kurians entirely, it prefers the very weak hold of the present Kurians to whatever scorched-earth tactics might be used if it were to execute a coup to get rid of them entirely.
FREEHOLD—Any area in active resistance to the Kurian Order. Every man, woman, and child in a freehold tends to be familiar with the use of a variety of weapons to secure their homesteads, and highly motivated to keep out of the grasp of the Reapers.
KENTUCKY ALLIANCE—Ranging over three states, the Kentucky Alliance at this time includes some of the mountainous coal-mining areas of West Virginia, much of Kentucky, with influence spreading to North-Central Tennessee all the way to the mountains north of Nashville, and of course the small industrial city of Evansville in Southern Indiana on the Ohio near the operating area of Colonel Lambert’s Southern Command brigade assisting the new freehold. It is a mixture of legworm clans, who ranch their enormous mounts and smuggle goods from Missouri across the Appalachians to the Virginia tidewater, townsfolk, farmers, and miners, with a few bourbon-bottlers thrown in for flavor. It is unique among the freeholds in that it accepts Xeno species introduced by the Kurians as allies, making the first instance of Human/Grog cooperation in the history of the Resistance.
KURIAN ZONE—Any area controlled by the Kurians and their Quislings. Some are as small as a county, while others span an area that covers several states. The level of organization and militarization varies wildly. In much of the West, the New Universal Church is a common denominator, organizing social services and political propaganda for the subject people.
UNITED FREE REPUBLICS (AND THEIR MILITARY ARM, SOUTHERN COMMAND)—While not the largest of the freeholds in North America (that would be Alaska and the Yukon) or the best organized (that would be the flinty Green Mountain Boys with their town-hall system and county-by-county headquarters), they were, up until the 2070s, the fastest-growing and most aggressive of the freeholds in North America. The Free Republics have mini-territories in Missouri, the southeastern tip of Kansas, Arkansas, Eastern Oklahoma, and Texas save for a few spots on the coast, some of the Rio Grande valley, and a good deal of drier country bordering New Mexico. The political structure is very similar to that of the old United States, and it uses a slightly modified version of the Constitution to govern the “several states” that it includes. Self-sufficient in food and energy, and with a well-armed populace that is capable with even support weapons that are handy in most homes and garages, it lacks only advanced, high-tech manufacturing capability and air resources to control the Mississippi and the skies over the central portion of the old United States.
