INTRODUCTION
First, thanks to all whose creations have served as a constant inspiration to me; my friends and family, the writers on , and, most importantly, the creators of the Fallout series of video games, without whom this would not exist. (That's right, it's your fault; nothing like a little preemptive blame-shifting.)
Seriously, though, any errors or omissions are my own fault entirely and all criticism should be addressed to me personally. For all of you who took the time to read my writing, thank you for your patience; I hope you enjoyed it.
BACKGROUND
The stories contained here are set in the Fallout universe, but on the other side of the world. Specifically, in northeast China, Manchuria, Mongolia, and surrounding regions. The nuclear exchange in 2077 laid northeast China and Manchuria waste; two thirds of the Chinese population died in the following twenty years.
Now, two hundred years later, Manchuria, Korea (North and South), and eastern Siberia are part of the resurgent Japanese Empire. The Japanese have learned from their mistakes of the past and govern with a light hand, so there is little unrest.
China has fragmented into half a dozen regional powers, of which Jin Wei, encompassing the northeast portion next to Manchuria, is the one which most intimately concerns us.
A new power has arisen in the Khinggan Mountains and surrounding areas; the Oni. Oni (so named by the Japanese; the name has become accepted usage, even among themselves) are mutants; seven feet tall, three hundred pounds, a slight tinge of purple to their skin and hair, and remarkably resilient. They are every bit as intelligent as humans, and tend to the logical rather than the emotional. There are males and females, but their unions are not fertile. Instead they are grown in great cloning facilities in batches of a thousand at a time. There is considerable variance among them; this is a deliberate measure to safeguard against disease or defect.
The Oni, thanks to careful management, have a viable country of their own covering almost a million square miles. They have successfully fought the Chinese and Japanese, gaining territory from each. Mongolia is loosely governed by the Oni; in reality it is too thinly populated to be said to ruled by anyone.
There are ghouls, both feral and intelligent. Intelligent ghouls are tolerated by Chinese and Oni and persecuted by Japanese; in spite of that their radiation resistance allows them to inhabit areas where normal humans could not survive. They form small communities in such areas; as an underprivileged group they tend disproportionately to criminal activities.
At the present time, 2277, there exists an uneasy balance of power between the Oni, Jin Wei, and the Japanese. How long this will last is anyone's guess.
A CULTURAL NOTE
American and European cultures tend to laud individual achievement, regardless of the effect such achievement has on others. Not so Oriental cultures, where the welfare of the group takes precedence. Individual achievement is still praised, but only insofar as it benefits the group(s) to which that individual belongs. As a result Orientals weigh their actions in light of the effect they will have on the group first and on themselves second, where Westerners consider the effect on themselves first and on the group second.
As a result Oriental societies are much more cooperative and much less competitive than western ones. One is expected to devote one's efforts to bettering the welfare of the group rather than to improving one's own lot in life. This is not to say that Westerners cannot cooperate, or that Orientals are completely selfless; neither is true, of course. Rather, it is a difference in emphasis. I have tried to preserve this difference in outlook in these stories; if an individual's actions seem strange or counterintuitive to the reader, this might well be part of the reason.
Enough background; on with the stories.