Kingdom

Hello and welcome back.

Time for a inspiration recommendation. I got this 2000AD graphic novel as a Christmas present (did I say that my Wife is a keeper?). I have been a long fan of 2000AD and it has given me lots of inspiration. At the time these stories were in the comic I wasn’t a regular reader for many reasons.




The premise is 
‘Earth, the far future. Mankind has been all but destroyed, those still surviving forced into hiding by Them – insectile creatures that have taken over the world. Charged with protecting humanity are genetically engineered dog-soldiers like Gene the Hackman – savage warriors that patrol the wilderness, directed by Urgings from their Masters.
Now without a pack and having the responsibility of protecting young Leezee Sower, Gene has to survive in the kingdom of Auxtralia, where if Them don’t kill him, the ‘Wild Bunch’ just might!
Written by best-selling author Dan Abnett and featuring the stunning art of Richard Elson.”

I found the comic full of great Post Apocalyptic ideas as a setting. Overgrown ruins, giant insects (I guess from the odd human comment that they might be alien to Earth), the genetically engineered dog solders (mix of dog and human dna with certain improvements), feral and mongrel dog soldiers and the odd human. All the humans (the Masters) are hidden away in cryogenic storage until the bugs go away. Apart from the two in the story that is. The problem is the bugs haven’t gone and those cryo units are getting a bit old.

You will need lots of giant bugs - get down the toy shop! For the Dog Soldiers Orks could be used at a push. Or maybe frostgrave Gnolls with Stargrave arms. Not sure on the mongrels but no doubt some inventiveness could knock something together. If the gang at Warlord and Rebel publishing are reading this - hint hint please! 

I really enjoyed the adventures of Gene Hackman in the comic and will be adding the later issues to my collection. 

Keep an eye open for it. 

Thanks for reading and stay safe out there.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all my readers a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope you all have a wonderful time. 

Zone Raiders - life in Megastrata 170622B on the post singularity Matrioshka

Hello and welcome back. 

I am getting my background fluff together for my Zone Raiders setting. Zone Raiders is a small skirmish game by Tony Xano that is set in a Matrioshka sphere in the post singularity. It is a high tech post apocalyptic setting on what is essentially a unimaginably sized space station. 

The Matrioshka sphere is a thinking machine powered by a Dyson sphere built around a sun (possibly our sun the background doesn’t specify!). It is constructed with many spheres built over each other, each split into uncountable continent sized Megastrata. 

The post humans built Matrioshia to develop a fully automated thinking machine that would enable them to join together as one consciousness in the Singularity. This took a long time and the post humans used humans as workers, companions and possibly pets. During the time taken to develop, construct and perfect the brain, the post humans entertained themselves by creating genetic constructs, sentient robots, machine animals and many new technologies. When the brain was complete the post humans vanished into the singularity leaving their creations and humans to survive in the Matrioshka alone.

Megastrata 170622B - is over 12,000Km x 12,000Km in size. The floor of the Megastrata is littered with all manner of dead machines, ancient 4d printers, pipes, ducts, vents, tanks, vats, cables, towers, domes, biodomes, toxic lakes, radiation pockets, ruins, rust deserts and more. What townships or city’s that exist in the Megastrata are hundreds of kilometres apart. The city zones are the only true safe spaces from the dangers of Matrioshka. Although the city zones have the other dangers usually associated with civilisation. Beneath the floor of the Megastrata there are many hundreds of levels filled with tunnels, pipes, ducts and travel tubes. Legends speak of old domes and storage bunkers deep below the ground of Megastrata 170622B. 

The Megastrata ceiling is some 10Km above the floor. Massive inverted towers hang like stalactites from the ceiling filled with artefacts of the ancients (the post humans) and possibly supplies. These towers are incredibly difficult to get at. Old disused mono rails hang from the ceiling. There are hundreds of levels above the ceiling reaching the upper edge of the Megastrata. No one knows what exactly is hidden in the levels above Megastrata 170622B. All of the outer bulkheads of the Megastrata are hyperdense and impenetrable although that doesn’t stop attempts to break into the neighbouring Megastrata.  

In addition to the many environmental hazards in the dark zones of Megastrata 170622B there are wild tribes of Morlocks, prowling Immunocytes looking to attack for anything sentient , sentry nodes, out of control ancient industrial machines, wild electrical discharges, unmapped Immunocyte nodes, nano-swarm leaks, strange plants, toxic fungi, strange creatures and technobeasts. 

There will be future posts with more detail of Megastrata 170622B. Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.

Stay safe out there.