Anticosti Island

Home to Nighlock Enterprises

 

Population: 400,000 humans

                             30,000 d-bees

 

                The city of Mener itself has 350,000 people and d-bees living in it, with 80,000 others in the surrounding area in small towns and on farms. The island itself survived the coming of the ley lines mostly intact, but the monsters that come out of the rifts were what nearly destroyed everything on the island. Slowly, as cities along the east coast of what was called the United States began to grow, attention on Mener waned and the city began to flourish again. The citizens of Mener had learned that having a city out in the open was a bad idea, so it was moved into a horse shoe shaped valley where they could better defend themselves, it is easier to defend when the enemy is attacking from only one direction.

                For years many new comers arrived, (this was the name they gave survivors to help them adjust easier). These were mostly humans, but Mener had made a policy, that no one would be turned away so long as they followed the laws set out by the elected officials. Although life in Mener was good, it was still hard. Even with the new location, the city was attacked by monsters and pirates. Some of the time, they were turned back, but most of the time, the city was forced to hide till the attackers left leaving the citizens to start rebuilding what was lost. Then one day, a stranger arrived, not by the sea, but from the air, with her she brought many others. She alone walked into the city, and when the town watch stopped her, she simply asked to speak with the cities leaders. After several hours in the council chambers, she and the council emerged. They introduced the strange lady as Julie Nighlock and that she and the council had just finished an arrangement that would help them both. Julie would set up a weapons factory and the city would get weapons for free in exchange for labor and food. Also, her small group (30) of mercenaries would train the city watch in the art of combat and they themselves would join the watch to help protect the city.

 

The two black dots are the guard towers

Protecting the valley leading to Mener.

 

                At first the citizens were confused at why the council would agree to such a one sided deal, but with in a few weeks, a band 300 of pirates attacked the city. But this time, instead of the pirates beating back the city watch, the watch defeated the pirates and managed to capture their ship. This was the all the explanation that the citizens needed for the councils deal with Julie.

                Construction began on Nighlock Enterprises a month after the deal was made. The building would be constructed right in the mountain so it would be hidden from view if an enemy were to fly over the city. Also, there was a river flowing out of the mountain from an under ground lake at this point which Julie wanted not only to supply the complex with fresh water, but also for a dock for the supply ships and a dry dock for the ships she had designed. Construction took only a year to build the complex and it was up and running 6 months after construction was complete. For 7 years now, Nighlock Enterprises has been producing weapons, equipment, vehicles and other manufactured goods. She sells most of her goods to small communities and farmers. Her range goes as far north as the edge of Free Quebec and as far west as the outskirts of Chi-Town. Her plans are to send out the newly completed NEM factory and expand. This was a great success for them, not only did they expand their market, but they also made some new allies in Captain Nemo2 and the new Navy, as well as many other small communities they found scattered on islands through out the Pacific.

                But, with the tension between the Coalition States and Free Quebec growing, Julie has shifted the complex from building things to sell, to building a naval fleet, air force, and army to protect Anticosti Island and has sent out agents to recruit mercenaries and pirates to train the NEAF (Nighlock Enterprises Armed Forces). They city of Mener was not pleased with this, but when Julie explained that the NEAF was not for attacking enemies, but to defend the Island, they were satiated.

                5 years later and the NEAF have filled its ranks 10 times faster than Julie ever dreamed. The citizens of Mener flock to become part of the NEAF. A training facility has been started because the number of new recruits is to over whelming to train them fast enough. Small mercenary companies joined the NEAF and any member with military training was made into an officer and given the task to train new recruits. By the end of 5 years, the NEAF has reached 43,000 and climbing. Though it is a small force when compared to Free Quebec and the Coalition, Anticosti Island will not fall easily if the war comes to them. In that time, defenses have been constructed around Mener and any likely area for ships to drop troops have had automated defenses built to keep from spreading the NEAF out to thin.

 

Aftermath

 

                With the CS pulling out of the war with Free Quebec to concentrate on Tolkeen, Nighlock Enterprises has breathed a sigh of relief. They now have the time to build a military force large enough to protect their borders and still be able to send ships and men to protect the cargo shipments. They have not slowed productions of their armaments or recruitment one bit. In actuality, they have stepped up recruitment. With all the mercenaries and miscreants in the Kingdom of Montreal they have had to fight off several raid attempts. There is talk by the government of Mener about joining Free Quebec now that it is a separate and free nation from the CS. Many of the views that Quebec has are shared with Mener and the advantages of being part Free Quebec are very alluring. Julie and her management however have reservations about joining Quebec let alone revealing their presence to them. Many of the staff are D-Bees who could not find work in Mener do to the fact that they are D-Bees. Julie has learned that many D-Bees are skilled workers and are very gentle and honorable creatures. One of her most trusted friends is, in fact, a great horned dragon with a passion for creating mystical weapons. Though you never see her as anything other than a beautiful woman in her mid twenties, she revealed her true form to Julie one day 3 years ago, when the two of them were attacked by cut-throats. The Mener government and Nighlock Enterprises are currently discussing the issue of join Free Quebec. Should Mener join Quebec, then Nighlock Enterprises has plans to move the entire factory out of Mener. They will also destroy the complexes and military bases to keep all their secrets.

                The Splugorth is also a driving concern for Mener and the NEAF. They have been fighting off more and more minions in the recent months and have set up patrols to keep them from attacking Mener. They have gone so far as to attack and destroy any Splugorth vessels that travel with in 200 miles of the island to keep it hidden from them. It has just been pure luck that the Splugorth have associated the attacks with those that have occurred at their bases on the main land.

                Since the war, many Mercs have traveled to Mener looking for work. They don’t care about wages so long as they have a place to live, food to eat and weapons to shoot, all of which is supplied by the NEAF. Mercs with families that travel with them are given houses to live in with their families on Mener. This has swollen the ranks of the NEAF to 51,000 with in a few months, resulting in more soldiers than there are weapons at present. Production has been increased and the factory itself is being expanded by twice its size to make up for the new soldiers. Julie is glad to see this because of the increased Splugorth activities in the area.

                Freehold: Even Nighlock Enterprises is in on looting the dragon city. They have sent Mercs to Freehold to search the caverns for magic items, alien artifacts, and treasure. So far, there are 20 mercs in the caverns that managed to sneak in disguised as CS soldiers. In side they found some small treasure troves and minor magical items, but nothing overly powerful or rich. The mercs plan on staying in the tunnels for several months, sneaking in and out with the help of the teams mages. Everything that has been found has been sent back to Nighlock Enterprises for study and to fund the NEAF.