This is a little scene that I added and then decide that it was way too much information for the characters to be sharing. I really liked the scene. But Chronos is much more circumspect about her extras’ and as soon as she realizes this is a low tech society she starts making an effort to not revel too much.
Chronos’ arm
“oh the arm.” I flex my arm and hand for her to see. ” This my friend is the RKKZ-29711-0 Cybernetics enhance appendage.” I do my best salesman pitch. “Full range of motion,” I rotate my wrist, and flash my fingers in a piano exercise “min -backup battery. Enhanced strength, a electronic link to my eyes. Plus, a score of pin point chameleon circuitry. Full awareness control and a lifetime quasi skin coating.”
“Quasi?” Gwen sound dubious.
“yeah, do not ask.” I am not even sure what they used a coating. Some people say it is a live epidermis, but is not human, the skin can take a lot a abuse before it breaks.
A View of the Compound
The compound is an enclosed 5 acre lot of land about 75 miles west of the Missouri River and about 100 miles south of Saint Louis. On the maps of today this is mostly farm land and subdivisions and parks. Where else would you build a survival camp. Right?
The walls are all one and a half stories high, with 3 foot walk ways all the way around. This may not be as big as the Romans would have built but then who is that crazy anymore.
There is only one entrance to the compound through the west wall. A small portcullis is in the center with an an actual block and tackle system to open the gate from above.
When entering the Compound you will see two small orchards north and south, masking the entrances to the bunkers. in the center there is a small rise masking the library bunker.
Moving toward the center of the compound you will see a number of small cabins. in groups of three all the cabins face the same north south long wise orientation. and each of the groups have a small outhouse in the center.
A view of the Compound Part 2
Standing in the center of the compound if you look to the right you will see the protectors training grounds against the south wall. The area is cleared of any large trees or other obstructions. There is a firing range, a sparing ring. and some remains of an obstacle course. At the southern center is another mound housing the weapons, lots of weapons.
If you travel east to the edge of the cabin clusters you will come to another set of orchards again flanking north and south. The eastern area is family garden plots, at the back of the east wall is a small stream that run out the eastern wall.
As you walk to the northern end of the east wall you will come to a grove of bamboo hedged in the corner. As you turn left and follow the northern wall you will see the larger portions of communal crops; all cozied up against the wall for that southern sun.
Now as you step back to the housing commons you will see a large house with three chimneys the bath house. Then a short walk in the middle of the northern side another large building that has two huge cooking fireplaces on the outside. This is the common eating hall, and under the hall is the bunker used to house the food: acting as the a root-cellar, drying house and distillery.
The Bunkers
There are 5 bunkers not including the car port where the hummer was hidden.
(At first I was going to have 6 and they could form a nice even triangle, but that was one bunker too many. Besides I like prime numbers. )
The first set of bunkers are the dorms. Mens dorm on the north side of the eastern part of the compound. The women’s dorm is on the South Side. The two of them are a set of 3 interlocking 10 by 20 rooms. There is no power to either of the dorms so most of the inhabitants will do much of their work outside or on location.
The Library is smack dab in the middle set back from the eastern gate by about 50 yards. This one doesn’t have the camouflage covering that the others do. But it is difficult to get to without completely invading the Compound. the Library is the largest of the Bunkers. It is 6 rooms almost all filled with books. There are books crammed into every space. The librarians are very picky about what goes on in the library. And there is a no borrowing policy. They can not afford to have even one book lost or damaged.
The next set of Bunkers or the two storage bunkers at the West wall. In the north we have the weapons bunker. The Kindred stocked this bunker with as much ammo and weapons as they could reasonably get their hands on. They wanted to make sure that even if the guns ran out of ammo that their descendants would be able to defend themselves. The stock pile includes knives, swords and other hand held weapons as well as design instructions on building things like bows and arrows and crossbows. And a few other interesting things like catapults.
The last bunker is food storage. The original use for the bunker was to stock pile as much food as they could. things like grain and seeds. The idea being: When it happened they would be able to start farming and keep people feed before anything else. The Farmers are by and large the largest guild in the Kindred. They hold sway on most issues.
The Ma’hy Order of Defenders
The Ma’hy believed that nothing in the universe happens by just coincidence. If a star dies then there is a reason. If you trace the many different threads of the stars life you will learn why it died. And once dead what is the effect on the surrounding area? If you have this answer then you can A. stop the death or slow it’s advance. or B. acknowledge the death and help anyone who would have suffered for it.
To this end the Ma’hy believed there is no chaos in the universe only threads and patterns that have not been discovered.
More about the Ma’hy Order of Chaos.
As Chronos told Nimrod, she has perfect control over her body. She will not get pregnant nor will she get sick. This is part of her training, learning to control the internal before all else. But there is a price. The down side is it takes a lot of energy to maintain a perfectly functioning body. Defenders are not known to live a very long time.
The Ma’hy solution to this was replacement body parts, augments as they are called. The idea being that if you have fewer parts to control you will use less energy and will not wined down as fast. Ma’hy’s have augments to one degree or another, as Chronos can tell you.
Did this work? Well, yes the Ma’hy order did seem to have members that were longer lived than many of the other orders. But the down shot being there were far fewer Ma’hy than any other order. And many of them could not survive without their augments at all as they became more advanced.
This, in the end, served as their down fall.
