A long time ago there were two groups, one of the objective variety, and another of the subjective, both lived in relative peace as it was understood that without the other both would lose their meaning. Until one day the subjective group grew tired of stories making sense and having to use their brains to understand what was going on. This group decided to overtake objectivity and send media into a great dark age, an age where media made little sense and plot holes were rampant, an age in which stories had begun to lose all meaning and any who dare spoke ill of this sudden shift were branded all of "ists" and "isms" in the world. Objectivity had slowly begun to die out, and those who knew of it and utilized it remained in hiding, biding their time until such a day would arise in which they could live freely once more. The leaders of the Subjectivity were many, but the one who stood atop the hierarchy was one named Diabeto, this was not always his name but after the advent of the War Against Art he elected to don the name, erasing his past and forging a new "brighter future" as he called it. His goal: wipe out 75% of all life in the universe, a brave collective banded together in an attempt to stop him, this group called EFAP struggled in vain to convince the one they saw as blinded by power and themes to understand that his plan would lead only to ruin. His right hand man, the sniveling conniving fool called Quintonius stood against those he saw as evil armed with his hatred against the god emperor, and a desire to have friends. The leaders of the brave resistance known as EFAP knew that Quintonius was too far gone, having rescued The Rightest of Opinions from his grasp and healing him of his wounds caused when the bus ran over him. MauLer and Rag stood strong in their fight against the evils that plagued art, meeting many friends and enemies along the way, from Jay The Kicked to Twin Perfect.
But this all changed one day when the war came to a head and Diabeto pushed further than he ever had before, the three leaders of the Empire MauLer, Rag, and Fringy fought valiantly but it was all in vain as they lost. In the wake of their victory, Subjectivity took control over the land that Objectivity once held. Diabeto took ownership of the High Castle in which the Long Man once lived, and he desecrated it, destroying its once beautiful architecture and illustrious art and decor. It now stood as a bitter reminder of once was to those who remembered it. After securing a foothold on the land Diabeto sought to erase any remaining traces of Objectivity and of EFAP, banning any mention or utterance of it and them, labeling such an act as hate speech and heresy. Now only whispers of what once was remain, and over time much of its history and the truth of what it was has faded into legend and myth. Legends say that upon their loss the leaders of EFAP fled into hiding, biding their time until they could make their return and bring back peace and order upon the savage wastes the world became after the end of the war. Not many believe such tall tales though as not many believe they even existed to begin with.
One day you were wandering the wastes hoping to deliver a package you were paid to deliver by the company you work for. As one of the many couriers who deliver goods across the wastes you believed this to be just another simple job, no more dangerous than any other. But you never expected to be ambushed by a group of thugs who seemingly knew who you were and what you were delivering. Having been knocked out, you slowly begin waking up finding yourself on the ground with your hands bound together. As you try to get up you realize that the most you can manage is to get onto your knees, looking up you look at the men who did this to you.
"Hey look who's waking up over here." A man wearing a suit and white helmet turns to face you after one of his men mentions your change in consciousness.
"Time to finish this." He slowly begins walking over to you while pulling out a small gemstone from his pocket and showing it to you. "Looks like you've made your last delivery kid, though perhaps not to the right person. But little details like that don't really matter all that much." He shuffles the gem back into his suit pocket, his voice a little kind yet condescending. *Shuffle clack* The sound of him rattling through his pocket to grab something out was made even louder due in part because of the still and silent night, a cold feeling rushes against your forehead as his blaster pushes against your skull. "From where you're kneeling this must seem like a run of bad luck, you played your hand and were played in turn, but in the end you never knew of the truth of the matter which was that the game was rigged from the start." His voice was cold and emotionless as he pulled the trigger, *Pew* in a sudden flash of red light everything around you went dark and you felt a cold feeling rush through your body, the pain was sudden yet swift leaving no time to feel it as your sense of feeling vanished
~Hours Later~
You awaken to find yourself in a run down cathedral, you don't know how you're alive, let alone where the hell you are. Suddenly you hear the sound of shoes walking across the ground heading towards you, in your attempt to get up you realize that your body feels heavy.
"You're awake I see." A voice speaks from the direction of the noise, "I hope you're feeling better, there wasn't much I could do here considering I'm not a doctor. But thankfully I managed to somehow pull through, your body should still be feeling heavy but give it a few moments and you should be capable of walking around freely." The person speaking came into view as the light coming from the stained glass windows shone over them. The person had a strange appearance, pale skin with a red tattoo over one eye and a beard to match his skin. "Nice to meet you, the name's Metal." He looked down at you with a curious look on his face. "And would you mind telling me who you are? And more importantly what you're doing here."
You think over it for a second, all you can remember is what happened when you were shot and that you were delivering something.
"Amnesia huh." He looks a little worried, "I guess it's better than nothing. If that's the only thing wrong with you then it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say you've got some good luck. Sadly not good enough to stop you from getting shot in the head, but we can't all be winners through and through." He sat down next to you on the pew. "Must be wondering how I saved your life huh?" He seemed to know the obvious question you were going to ask. "Well sadly it isn't all that interesting. After you were shot in the head and buried in a shallow grave, and when those thugs that shot you ran off, I dug you out of the ground and brought you here and used some special med Goo I got from a friend a long time ago to heal your wound. Sadly I used the last bit I had, but if it was to save a life, then I'm sure my friend would be more than happy that I used it in such a way." His voice had a bit of a melancholic tinge to it as he reminisced about his past. You noticed that a few tears fell down his face, and for some reason it seemed as though it looked right to see him this way, you couldn't quite tell why though. "But now that I've answered your question, I hope you might be able to tell me what little you know."
Slowly you begin explaining what you know, what the man you saw and what the gemstone in his hand looked like. His face turned grim and he sighed, "So things have begun have they." He sounded solemn when he spoke. "Greedo… What was he after, who was he working for, why did you have one of the stones. And here I thought staying out here off the grid would keep me safe, but apparently that bastard knows of this place now too." He was lost in thought for a moment questioning what his next course of action should be. He turned to you with a serious expression on his face, "But now that he does know, and with the belief that you're dead… This may very well work in our favor. Though the question is are you willing to do what I ask of you?" That was the question wasn't it, you could simply walk away pretending you never saw anything while you try to reconcile what remains of your life. You could abandon this man and what may very well turn out to be a mission of great importance and filled with just as much danger, but… A part of you doesn't quite think that's right, and besides this way you have a way of getting revenge on the one who gave you a bolt to the head. "Of course you don't have to, but if you do you would be doing a lot of good. And though personally I would take the opportunity to give those fuckers a taste of their own medicine if I was in your place. And I know you probably feel the same, dontcha?" Slowly you manage to sit up as a bit of strength returns to your limbs, you look over at Metal only giving him a nod of approval. You tell him that you too have a strong desire for revenge, "Then it would seem we are working together now. And if that's the case, come please follow me." He stood up motioning for you to follow.
You manage to follow him with slightly laboured movements, the two of you reach the altar in the center of the cathedral. He stops in front of it, you look up at the stained glass in front of you which depicts an odd sight as a man wearing only shorts stood with a baby rhino and a small egg, a group of spiders looking into glass balls while writing down something on parchment. The scene was so majestic yet at the same time it appeared so fake,
"Ah you noticed the paintings have you. Glorious aren't they, though sadly it was made in honor of the false prophet. The Genesis of many of our problems, and worse yet he nearly stole our attention away from The Don, our true savior. Though this may be a story for another time, I suppose the youth of today likely know little of the stories of old and the history of places such as this." He gazed sorrowfully up at the painting before placing his hand on a lone marble egg in the altars center.
"Yo yo yo yo." He loudly proclaimed while holding down the egg. *Crackle crackle ching rumble* The ground split open as dust and debris flew into the air revealing a sliding hatch into a dark stairwell, clearly this place hadn't been touched in a long time.
"Come." He pushed a button on the wall in the stairwell which made a *crack* as dim neon lights light up allowing for better visibility. The two of you walked down the stairs which seemed to go on forever, after a while you made your way into a room of pure white with many strange items and large screens dotted around. Along the walls were strange yellow pipes and crimson lights, everything seemed to lead into the center where there was a console which had a hologram of the land laid out.
"This place, while not having been used in a while, should be more than serviceable." Metal for the first time since meeting him had a smile on his face. He pulled up one of the gamer chairs in the room and sat down with a sigh of comfort,
"It's been a long time since I've used one of these. And even longer since I've been in one of these rooms… I suppose since everyone else isn't here, it's up to me to give you a greeting. We're now live and hopefully it stays that way. Welcome to EFAP, I wish we could give you a bit more of the same fanfare we would to any of our guests. But that isn't really in our cards right now, and besides I don't believe you came here for the theatrics, did you. You-no,
are here for much more important matters, and despite this place's more antiquated set up, it should do well enough for our purposes." He looked around the room gazing in reverence at all that remained in here.
"I might prefer the darker color scheme of our newer bases, this one feels a bit more special, especially now… This was one of our first bases after all, before my time even. That's why it was built here, hell why this place was built at all. Before the time of The Don, before the loss of Wolf, at the beginning of the war." The console changed what it showed at the mention of the war. Metal took notice of the screens lighting up and the hologram changing to show an old battle plan, an itinerary which was labeled EFAP #35 and showed a picture of a purple person, one you didn't recognize.
Metal rooted around the room looking for something, soon he returned with something which looked like a pair of headphones.
"These used to be mine back when I fought for what I believed in. But I think they'll serve you better than they will me now, and besides I think the pair I have on suits me more now." You hadn't even taken note of the old faded headphones he was wearing, one ear was slightly broken yet still functional and attached with a bit of tape.
"Use them wisely, they'll be key in whether or not this mission is a success. With these you should be able to connect to any outposts like this one, and any EFAP remnants should recognise that you're one of them from a mile away. But the same is true in return, the forces of Diabeto will be able to do the same so I think it might be for the best that you only wear them when you feel it appropriate, and when you know that you aren't in immediate danger. But if you feel as though you are, then don't panic as they have a built in targeting system which should allow you to get hits in you otherwise wouldn't. All you have to do is press this button on the side, and examine the overlay which should appear in front of your eyes which only you should be able to see." He placed the headphones on your head and pressed the button to show you. Suddenly a system appears in front of your face which shows a lot of information, reading a bit of text in front of you it says "Welcome to the Discord Command Center, an all purpose one stop shop for your survival needs." Suddenly an outline formed around Metal which showed a percentage and had a bar which read condition on it.
"Useful huh, DCC should allow you to fight more effectively and more importantly, it should give you a better chance at getting to whatever place you wish to go, simply input it into the map section and you should get a waypoint marker on the map . The DCC will help guide you in the best possible direction accounting for changes in terrain and whatever might be in your way, though it won't warn you of hostiles and environmental dangers. Even such a great system has its limitations, but so long as you take care of it and manage it, it should do the same for you. And here." He pressed the button once more which caused the overlay to disappear.
"Getting rid of it is as simple as that. Convenient right? Just try not to rely on it too much, otherwise you might find yourself being over reliant on it, and that might just cause you even more problems down the line." He cautioned while grabbing something else from the same container he pulled the headphones out of.
"Take these as well, should you run into some trouble this should come in handy." He handed you a sword like weapon.
"It's not much, but this should do for now. I wish I had a better weapon for you, preferable one with more range. But most of this place was cleaned out many years ago before the war started. And don't forget to take these as well." He handed over an egg and two bottles of rhino milk.
"These should keep you healthy should you get hurt, and make certain you protect this egg with your life. Don't ever let it fall into the wrong hands." He was very stern about this, looking intensely at you.
"Those bottles of milk can heal most wounds, so long as it isn't too fatal. This is why rhino milk is so hard to come by these days, it lasts a long time and it can be used to heal off many different kinds of injuries. Diabeto and his men knew of its mystical properties and seized the means to make more, likely for his army's personal usage. And the traditional rhino farmers in Wakanda stopped producing milk a long time ago when it was made clear that milking the cows nearby would be a more profitable and worthwhile venture. Little did they know of the true value rhino milk possessed, but it's far too late now since Wakanda itself fell to the Subjectivity Empire. Should you find any bottles in the wild, be absolutely certain to pick them up, you never know when one of them might just save your life." He then turned his attention to the egg.
"And that egg… There is not much I can say other than a message I wish for you to pass on." He cleared his throat.
"The spiders were right, this is the one and it is time. Goliath roams once again, Fred has awoken, remember to mind your Jebs and never forget what happened on the Isle of Man.' Please relay this message to the Long Man, he'll know what it means and what should be done. This is of great importance, please see to it that this is carried out." He walks over to the console and starts pressing some keys, *Ping ping* your headphones make a beeping sound as he looks over at you.
"I just sent all of the relevant information to your DCC, everything should be in there and a marker should be placed at the nearest outpost to here. It should only take you a day or so by walking to reach it, but once there everything should start making sense, and hopefully everything will be made much easier. Collect as many of the remnants as you can, and create a group of companions you feel you can trust. This journey will be a long and hard one, but if everything works out then we should be able to live freely once more." He sounded rather hopeful in comparison to his earlier demeanor.
Metal walked back over to the stairs and motioned for you to follow, "Come on, we don't have the luxury of waiting around if Greedo managed to find this place and stole that gem from you. You'll need to be leaving sooner rather than later, and now would probably be the best time for you to do so considering all that's happened. Don't worry too much though, all you need to do is continue as planned, keep yourself alive and keep that egg safe" The two of them walked back up the stairs and through the cathedral. As you made it to the great big doors which opened to the unknown world outside you failed to notice a plaque on the wall which held a picture and an engraved metal sheet. The picture was of three friends smiling, a long shadowy figure, a large wolf man, and a shiba inu wearing a pair of shades. The plaque read "The opening of the first Genesis Orthodox Church. Pictured here alongside MauLer, Wolf, and Rags at its opening ceremony."
As the doors opened you felt a gust of cold air and dust brush past you, the outside world was desolate, broken, a withered land below a broken sky. A cloud of toxic red haze moved through the air encompassing anything it swept past, the entirety of the world around you was covered in the same red mist, a dark crimson bleached the land and tore through what little remained of the broken world. The stench of what could only be described as death rolled passed your nose causing you to reflexively scrunch it up, what happened to the world, why was it in such a state. Why was there nothing around you as far as your eyes could see, where was the life which was once here? So many questions to be asked with no answers to be had, Metal looked around solomy as he handed over a gas mask to you.
"Here you will be needing this, it used to belong to a friend but they won't be needing it any time soon." You look down at the mask he was handing you quizzically.
"That cloud you see, you can't breathe it in otherwise it'll start killing you. This mask should provide enough protection against it, but every now and then you'll need to go into a place like this to get some less toxic air into your lungs. And try to avoid the denser pockets of the cloud, even with a mask you'll find it hard to breathe in it. And if you do come across such areas, be careful of the people who live in them. Cloud victims as many have started to call them, ruthless fuckers, they see anyone who hasn't fallen to the cloud as enemies and attempt to force them to become like them. Their skin torn from their bodies by the cloud, their minds ravaged and damaged much in the same way as their body. They look as horrifying as they act, but they're still human so a good hit to the head and it should be lights out for them. There are many other dangers you're likely to run into out there, but they should all be stored on your DCC for the most part anyway. So should you ever need any information on whatever you're facing, it should have it. It's as up to date as I could make it, but I haven't been exploring much so there may be some things which aren't present in it. But as it is, it should be of some use." He covered his face with a mask of his own while urging you to wear the one he handed you.
You do the same finding it much easier to breathe, "This was all caused by those bastards in the Subjectivity Empire. That's all I know about it sadly, it all happened too fast, everyone was caught by surprise…" He lamented his failure.
"So many died for nough reason, and now even more have to suffer because of that fat ass in charge. If only we knew, if only we could have prevented this, if only…" You could tell he was in anguish, yet you didn't know what to say if there was anything to be said at all.
"But now there is something we can do, even if it took us this long, it's still something. And it's better late than never, especially for now in this world's time of need. It's always darkest before The Don after all." He managed to pull himself together as the cloud rolled past letting you see into the distance. Shimmering in the dark you could see a bright gaudy structure standing alone in the waste, spotlights moving to and fro as ships flew into and out of its docking bay.
"That's the headquarters for Diabeto's feeding complex, a system he put in place to ensure that he would always have enough food to feed hundreds of people. Or as he would put it, a 'hearty meal for one.' You'd best stay as far away from it as you can, the place is heavily guarded, and any attempt to break into the facility is met with enough force to take down a small militia. But should you ever have the chance, I would recommend destroying it or taking control of it. Should you have it, then Diabeto will be severely weakened due to his lack of food." You nodded, noting the place as one of significance as you headed out on your way.
"Don bless you, may your travels be safe, and good luck on your mission. Remember my message and keep what I gave you safe from all harm!" He waved you goodbye as you wandered into the cloud, a goal in mind and a desire to understand just what the hell was going on.