Decontamination

Formerly the areas of the Foreign Quarter and Fort Tempus in the capital city of Shirekeep, this section of the north coast of Brookshire was reconstituted as a royal city by Kaiseress Mira Raynora Minor.

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Mira Octavius-Aryani
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Decontamination

Post by Mira Octavius-Aryani »

Woodshire Village District, Lichkeep

Rattling in the evening breeze, one sign among many was slowly being consumed by rust. It read "INDUSTRIAL HAZARD ZONE -- NO ENTRY". This sign, like its brethren up and down the street, stood almost a meter in front of the barrier fence, which itself bore regularly-spaced signs that read "WARNING -- ELECTRIFIED FENCE".

The barrier fence ran along the northern side of Amatex Way, a road that led directly from the western channel of the Shirekeep Canals to the old grounds of the Lukedu Center. The footpath on that side, while regularly maintained, was not heavily used. When the roadside consists of electric fencing for five blocks, there is little reason to walk beside it. Parents were wise to keep their small children on a short leash when venturing near the fence and its presence was an understandable bane for the neighborhood economy.

Amatex Way was the most prominent face of the Woodshire Village Industrial Hazard Zone; the streets that ran around its other edges were by no means high traffic areas. It was also where one could best look into it from the fence. Here, one could easily see rows and rows of dilapidated brickwork that have slowly been eaten away by weather and weeds over the centuries. Along the other edges, collapsed structures and reclamation of the land by woods prevented passers by from seeing into the zone's depths.

The disaster was contained, that much was clear. It was never made clear to the public just what it was that was contained, only that the land itself was contaminated and deemed unusable for generations. Extreme precautions were made to contain it and to maintain that containment and to keep the public safe from it. Electrified fences. Perimeter CCTV cameras. Patrols both outside the fence and inside the fence. Regular readings to ensure containment efficacy. Questions about the nature of the contamination tended to be rerouted through a tangled net of local and imperial agencies that seemed almost intentionally designed to frustrate the inquirer. Whenever the loop ran through the offices of John Metzler III University, some professor would suggest signing up for a degree program.

Children were warned by their parents about the zone. Teenagers exchanged stories about "knowing someone" who went in and came back. It was the perfect setup for a scary story. After all, the zone did give off an unsettling vibe. It was quiet, avoided by birds and never infiltrated by land animals. It was abandoned civilization being eaten away in public view. Most telling, however, was at night. A weakly yellow glow pervaded the Woodshire Village Industrial Hazard Zone, like a sodium lamp with no clear source, filling it with ambient light that produced no shadows. The glow was strongest at the zone's exact center, where the containment dome covered the remains of a building that exploded.

In truth, nobody ever entered the zone and came back except for the members of the Worshipful Company of Hazardous Waste Managers Operating Within the Shadow of the Great Keep. Sworn to secrecy and bearing an interminable charter, the Worshipful Company had the task of maintaining the zone in its present state: contamination contained, barriers maintained, and public safety ensured, nothing more. They were given the task back during the reign of Mors IV and have maintained it since. Every few years, they conduct a very thorough, very public examination of the zone, taking scientific measurements at all points within and around the zone using a wide range of fancy looking equipment and certifying that the Woodshire Village Industrial Hazard Zone has continued to be safe.

Most of the Worshipful Company's job these days was security theater, established practice once the real threat was fully contained and word came down for the Worshipful Company to sit on the land and keep people comforted and out. That was several centuries ago, giving them plenty of time to perfect their theater.

The Worshipful Company controlled the only entrance into the zone, and it was not on Amatex Way. It was on a dead-end side street, part of a large compound that contained the local chapter of the Worshipful Company and all of their equipment. From there, they could enter the zone and conduct their regular patrols, pausing at regular checkpoints to "measure levels", trimming back tree growth to maintain a safe distance from the electrified fence, etc. Their uniforms were simple: polo shirts, slacks, and hard hats -- chosen to suggest normality and safety. After all, if it were dangerous, they would wear something more protective, wouldn't they?

And so it was an unusual day when the captain of the Woodshire Village Industrial Hazard Zone Chapter received orders from above: prepare for the arrival of a decontamination crew from the Kezan, accompanied by personnel under the aegis of the Necrarchs of Lichbrook.

Count Palatine of Kezan
Khanum of Cabbagefall

Kaltor Win'Eth
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Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2015 8:02 pm

Re: Decontamination

Post by Kaltor Win'Eth »

Reading about the zone, I can't stop thinking about something like this.
Kaltor Win'Eth
Descendant of Kaiser Mahamantot the First
Count of the Skyla Isles
Director of the Directorate of Cartography

Jonas

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Mira Octavius-Aryani
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Joined: Thu Dec 12, 2013 7:25 pm

Decontamination, Pt. 2

Post by Mira Octavius-Aryani »

Woodshire Village District, Lichkeep

Nobody was outside. Street lights glowed softly into the distance up and down every street. Mae Humber was never one for insomnia, but there was something different about tonight. She found herself wide awake and energized laying flat in bed for what felt like hours. It was a quarter past three in the morning when she finally decided to get up and walk this energy off. She had work in the morning and was certain that this was going to make her morning all the worse if she didn't fix it now.

Woodshire Village was charged with silent motionlessness. The lack of noise brought out all of the other sounds to fill Mae's ears. The street lights buzzed. Traffic lights clicked audibly from red to green and back to red. Somewhere in the distance, Mae could hear a car accelerating irresponsibly. Mae had wandered several blocks from her apartment, feeling like this moment was a gift -- peaceful quiet in a Shirekeep suburb.

In that moment, a silent movement caught her eye. An object the size of a city bus drifted up the street, a low humming sound instead of the usual engine noise. Its headlights were off despite being so dark. It smoothly came to a stop at a red light a block away from Mae and the low hum ceased. As Mae got closer to it, she saw that it resembled a flatbed freight car with a cargo container sitting on top. No headlights and no driver -- not even a cab for a driver to sit in. Instead, there were four cylinders at each corner of the vehicle, spinning rapidly in place. Sitting there, it didn't seem to make any sounds at all. Before Mae could get close enough to see any labelling, the light turned green and the vehicle swung rightward onto Amatex Way, the low hum building as it climbed the hill.

As she watched its red tail lights fade into the distance, Mae could finally start to feel that tiredness she had been hoping for. Her apartment now seemed so far away and the prospect of walking back made Mae cringe. As she turned around to go home, Mae was startled to see another, identical vehicle, turning the corner onto Amatex Way. Mae glimpsed its registration plates, which had the letters CPK in the lower right corner, designating the part of the Imperial Republic where it had been registered. On the side of the flatcar, Mae caught sight of a white flower that did not look like Elwynn's White Orchid. This second vehicle also hummed up Amatex Way and faded into the distance.

Mae turned back towards her apartment. She really wanted to be in bed now and this little mystery would be half-forgotten by the time she woke up in the morning. She never saw the third one follow the same path as the first two. Or the fourth one. Or the fifth.
The last auto-freighter wheeled into the security gate at the Worshipful Company's compound. At this point, the guard barely felt the need to verify its clearance code. Once the gate was opened, the auto-freighter hummed back to life and slid inside the compound and into its pre-designated parking space next to the others. Once it finished adjusting itself, it turned itself off and it was plugged in for recharge.

The Worshipful Company only kept enough vehicles and equipment in the compound in order to fulfill its regular duties. This new operation was by no means regular, and so the decontamination crew sent their own equipment in ahead of them. The heavy equipment was familiar to them: excavators, front loaders, pneumatic drills, etc. The Worshipful Company had their own supply of them, but these would augment the number. The instruments, however, were radically different and the Worshipful Company struggled to identify their function. One such device turned out to be a Δ-Gravimeter, something that the Worshipful Company regularly used. This one, however, was of an unfamiliar configuration.

This operation was definitely not meant for show. They had sent their equipment after midnight, when Woodshire Village was asleep, and the personnel themselves were due here before dawn. They had not disclosed their itinerary to the Worshipful Company beyond that. It made them feel uncomfortable. Were they being shut down, after all this time?

Count Palatine of Kezan
Khanum of Cabbagefall

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