The Doomed Lands

 

(The Doomed Lands are the setting for BaDoom! by Sirk9. Check it out by clicking here!)

 

Other Appellations:

 

Lung Worms World (Alpha), Universe 52919 (Universe 161)

Fox Harmonic

 

Beta-Delta

 

Astral Connection:

 

L0 D0

 

The Doomed Lands haven’t demonstrated any Astral connectivity, and that’s probably for the best. Given how fragmented their civilization is, I doubt they would be able to benefit from the Astral without harming themselves in the process.

 

Caution Rating:

 

2

 

The civilization-destroying flying neuro worms are the main reason for the 2. Travelers are to observe class C decontamination protocols when traveling from the Doomed Lands–assuming they find themselves there, because the Doomed Lands are inaccessible through conventional methods. Our probes observe this universe from a neighboring universe.

 

Multiverse Activity:

Inactive

 

Keywords:

 

Quantum, Sleeping, Analog, Observe Only.

 

Description:

 

Sometimes, things just go wrong in other realities.

 

Let us not use the state of other realities to feed our ego. Did we not thread the needle back in the Worlds War? If not for this or that, we could be living on an Earth much like the Earth of the Doomed Lands.

 

In some realities, the apocalypse comes from superweapons. Man plays with fire and not only burns himself but his entire world. In other realities, it comes from a natural disaster. A starseed lands on the planet and in a few days it’s nothing more than an accretion disk of rubble floating between the roots of a massive flower now drinking heat from the star that once nurtured an entire world.

 

In this reality, the apocalypse came from flying neuro worms.

Without filtration, these worms fly into the lungs and necks of humans and other mammals and nest. By attacking the nervous system, these worms prevent their hosts from feeling any pain as their necks swell and bodies deform. In advance stages, hosts may even be unaware anything is wrong with their bodies even as the worms prepare to hatch, and when they hatch, they do so explosively, nearly severing the neck from the body.

 

These worms caused the total collapse of civilization on this world, though survivors still manage to eek out a living among the ruins. Lifeforms have also adapted to live with the worms. Watermelons have become enormous and defend themselves with lashing tendrils. Rats have become what can best be described as “ratpigeons,” which when domesticated can be sent as carrier pigeons between settlements. Rabbits have undergone what is perhaps the most radical transformation. They have become enormous, humanoid bipeds who prey upon humans and are in turn preyed upon. By their actions, these rabbits seem to demonstrate a degree of sapience. They care for their wounded. They form deals with the few humans that tolerate their presence. They hold grudges and repay debts. They are similar to the Homo Lepus of our world who live in the Hyzenthlay region of Sub-Terra, but are a much younger, far less developed race.

 

Humanity has changed to, if not physically then certainly culturally. The Doomed Lands are not a place for the weak. The strong take what they will. Warlords are the beginning and end of government. Even relatively advanced settlements like The Bastion, which includes doctors, engineers, centers of trade, and even restaurants, are controlled by warlords. The Batsion, which styles itself the last Bastion of mankind, is controlled by the matriarch Inanna, who in her time was a highly successful warlord. Inanna became the bride of several warlords, uniting their disparate factions by the blood of her progeny. Because of Inanna’s strategy, Bastion is prosperous, safe, secure, and despotic.

 

But a girl and her dog could upset all that.

 

Her name is Gasolina. Her dog is named Krunk. And while their reasons for coming to Bastion have nothing to do with Gasolina’s past, the reason they will have to fight tooth and fang will have everything to do with Gasolina’s fathers–both of them.

 

Individuals of Note

 

Gasolina

 

 

In Bastion, citadel of Inanna and her children, it is whispered that the mechanics guild once plotted mutiny and was purged. Not a man, not a woman, not a child survived Inanna’s wrath, and those that took their place were far more cowed.

 

But they didn’t kill everyone.

 

The mechanic Guzman survived along with his daughter Gasolina and fled to the wastes. Unfortunately, Guzman ran afoul of raider warlord Headroom, named so because of his penchant for wearing an old television set as a mask. Guzman killed Headroom, but at the cost of his life, and Gasolina was adopted by Guzman’s fellow mechanic Poppy, who felt indebted to Guzman as in his cowardice he watched him fight Headroom from the shadows.

 

After Poppy passed away, Gasolina wandered the wastes with her dog Krunk, armed with little but her wits, her will, and the knowledge of how to deliver a good liver punch. She loves being mobile. She never wants to settle down because she believes deep down in he heart that somewhere out there lies the lost paradise of the old world. She will never stop looking for it.

 

Recent events have brought Gasolina back to the very city her father fled so many years ago. ARGO can only speculate how events will resolve…

 

Raw Power 6

Durability 6

Speed 5

Sanity 6

Intelligence 3

Skill 6

 

Krunk

 

 

Krunk is Gasolina’s dog–a talking dog–which is something not uncommon in her world. Long before the worms, dogs were modified to be intelligent and to speak. It seems this world had the same idea as Elaine Crow’s world.

 

Krunk was adopted by a young Gasolina under Poppy’s care who found the poor creature alone and wounded in the wasteland. She nursed Krunk back to health, and after she learned the hard way that dogs can’t eat chocolate after feeding him a Krunk brand candy bar. After nursing Krunk back to health again, she named him after the candy bar he survived, because he was sweet.

 

Though sarcastic and needy, Krunk is willing to make friends with anyone that will give him a little food. He is well aware of how much he needs people–and how little people need him.

 

Raw Power 0

Durability 1

Speed 1

Sanity 3

Intelligence 2

Skill 1