Prologue: Welcome to Deadwood
"Strong in will, come to play,
Enfeebled minds, stay away."
-Deadwood Public Library-
In the far north along the bitter Pacific Coast a great city resides, founded on the strained and broken backs of several generations of entrepreneurs, politicians and day laborers. Its maddening call stretches from sky to horizon, grasping wildly for those individuals who hear its dark whisperings of excess, women, and wealth. As mankind once traded happiness for intelligence, those who venture into the city risk trading their morality for mediocre thrills.
A hard city to reside in, it's inhabitants are resilient and resourceful if not cynical. Seasonal downpours and heavy winter snowfall withers the spirits of its bitter populace like a dangerous cancer, but the city is not entirely without kindness. Signs of slippage abound, deepening the spiral into civic decay and despair, and still the city gropes for more people to join it in it's death dance. However, good people still exist within the decaying concrete jungle, lingering as good people have a tendency to do. Those inhabitants who haven't lost all hope in the fetid bars and back-alley brothels would surely be doomed if it wasn't for the champions of the city, a minority in this day and age.
Though clearly an outsider, a possible champion arrives by train through the rugged foothills that surround this urban blight. Unaware of their mission, their success and failure hinges solely on a single individual.
Author's Notes: I've been hard pressed to finally write down what has been gestating in my mind for what feels like a couple of decades now. Though it has not been quite that long yet, I'm hoping that a series of interlocking short stories centered around the main character would help convey what I can't seem to write out in 'novel' form.
Readers and fans of the series will either be dismayed or pleased to note that a majority of the characters featured in the game series will not be playing major roles in this particular series of stories. I feel that a lot of the characters have been 'done to death' so to say, I'm hoping to introduce some material that is a few degrees fresher than what we're all used to.
Disclaimer aside, I hope that the people who take the time to read my little story walk away with the thought that it was time well spent. Criticism of my writing is encouraged, I'm making this available to the public for pointers, not praise.