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Page 1 This is the story of Seeker, a resident of the world of Dark Zion. It is a fan written story, and does not pretend to be a true portrayal of the Dark Zion gaming experience. On the other hand, I have tried very hard to accurately show the types of actions and events which might come to pass within the game. Wherever possible I have included other members of the Dark Zion fan community. I hope you enjoy it. One other note: It reflects the game as well as I can understand it. I reserve the right to update or not, as I learn more about the game. As it is a journal, additions will be made as Seeker journeys through the world. Day 1 I am awake. I am alive. I am. Beyond that, very little. I have language. I know things, but not how or why. I know I woke in what appeared to be a cryo tube. I know that name, and that it kept me alive. But I don't know who I am, how I got into the tube, or how long I had been there. I climb out of the tube and just lie on the floor too weak to do more. I am in a featureless room, maybe three by four meters in size. While I lie there, the tube disappears into the floor, and a small bundle appears in one corner. I crawl over to it. It contains a breechcloth and food. I eat, and feel stronger. I sleep. When I wake there is more food and drink in an edible container. I eat, and put on the clout. I feel much better. My strength has returned, and I feel restless. I still have no idea where I am, how got into the tube, or long I spent there. The air flow changes, and I turn around. One wall has disappeared. My room now opens onto a large open area. There are others, there milling around, so I move to join them. As soon as I clear the room, the wall reappears from the floor. I still have no idea where I am, just that there are many here, and more appearing all the time. We can speak to one another, but no one seems to know more than I do. Here, appears to be a large cave. But we are surrounded by highly advanced technology. So advanced as to be useless. We cannot damage or affect the floors or walls in any way. As we are decanted our tubes withdraw into the floor. When we are feed and alert, we are allowed to join the general population. As long as anyone is in an arrival room it is part of the main area, no detectable difference. Once it is empty and the entrance is clear, the wall returns. It's obvious it was planned this way. We are stranded here, with nothing but modesty wraps, our minds, and our bare hands. Our minds; we can communicate with our minds. We can speak aloud, for all to hear, but we can communicate individually mind to mind. I must think on this. *** Someone found a pathway outside. So we followed it. Now we can't go back. Not sure why, just can't go back inside. Not a problem though, nothing there we could use anyway. I don't believe this is earth. Where did that come from? I know and understand things, but do not know how or why. It doesn't matter. Survival does. Gravity is earth-normal, but the sun is not quite right. There seems to be vegetation, but I don't recognize the species. So far no mammals or birds, but there are LOTS of bugs. Not ready to try em for dinner, but may have to soon. Will look for seeded grasses in the morning. We did find a bamboo surrogate, so I am armed with a spear I sharpened on a rock. Tomorrow I will look for grains or flowering grasses. Where are we? Why are we here? What is going on? Tomorrow. Day 2 There were attacks last night. Someone tried to attack me. I had scattered to thorns in the dust around my sleeping site. The yelps of pain woke me. A spear thrust to the throat stopped the yelling, but I took a hit getting up. I was lucky his throw was hurried. He hit me with a glancing blow to the meaty part of my thigh. A bit bloody, but I am just slowed down a bit. The bugs hit us just before dawn. It was a pack attack of eight to ten creatures. They we about the size of large dogs, but quicker. They remind me of giant preying mantises, but the upper arms end in three fingered hands, rather than the slash/grab arms of the earth-style mantis. The mantis pack had grabbed four of our number, and was dragging them away screaming, before we even knew they were there. I have to admit I am proud of the response. After a moment of stunned hesitation, almost half of those nearest the attack picked up the nearest weapon, and stormed screaming after the mantis pack. Those of us farther away followed almost immediately. Shades of the stone-age tribes. We caught up with the pack almost immediately. The ones carrying our compatriots were burdened, and we swarmed them under in seconds. The others attacked us, and we killed them all. No one was killed. The kidnap victims were bruised and abraded, but not seriously hurt. In fact, the worst injuries were suffered by friendly fire, rather than by the bugs. By the time we got back to "camp," there was an active discussion going on about how we should organize ourselves. At this point, there appeared to be about 500 of us. Yikes! What a mess! It might have been possible to have a real meeting if we had known one another more than 18 hours. As it was, things quickly degenerated into a chaotic shouting match. I noticed a few small groups forming at the edges of the mob. I decided to join one. There were seven people in the group I chose. I started to introduce myself...and realized, again, I didn't know my name. I finally blurted out: "Call me Seeker, may I join you?" There were a couple of frowns, a couple of smiles, and at least one snicker at my clumsy introduction. Finally, one member of the group said, "You can call me, Voodoo." She was cute, in a pasty, grimy sort of way. But I am sure I didn't look any better. Voodoo had broken the ice. I heard the names Tigger, Rogan, Koshmar, Voggarth, Melor, and Ghalidrim. Ghalidrim volunteered, "Doesn't look good for mass organization soon." "I have to agree." We soon came to a consensus, we may never organize the masses, but we could organize ourselves. The question then became, How? After considerable discussion, we agreed to accept Voggarth as our temporary leader. He set us the following priorities: food and water, fire, shelter, & weapons improvement. By this time our group had grown to nearly 25. I was given two assistants, and set the task of finding water, and any other useful items. My first thought was to get some idea of the lay of the land. The terrain seemed to be almost completely flat, except for a small hill covering the cryo vault. First stop, the top. There, to the North we see a line of trees. Best chance for a stream or riverbank; we will try that first. We start off at a slow trot. That doesn't last long. Cryo-stasis is not conducive to great stamina and muscle tone. We will walk, with frequent breaks. We reach the trees by midday. They appear to be some sort of hardwoods. They do signal water. Maybe 150 meters beyond the edge of the plain we find a bluff overlooking a large river. It seems to be flowing towards the East. We work our way to the river's edge. Water never tasted so good. Almost as importantly, we found clay. Then, nearby, we found imbedded nodes of rock. My heart began to beat like a trip-hammer. I sent Troy, the stronger of my assistants back with a message: QUIETLY, round up everybody. Sneak out of camp after dark, and get here as soon as possible. We would have a fire to guide the group into the site. We have a city site, and we may need to defend it. Neeley, my other assistant, and I set to work. First we found digging sticks, and dug out several of the nodes. We carried them several hundred meters upstream, and hid them. Then back to bluff above the node site. We searched for deadfalls, and began to drag them into position to form a breastwork. If we had flint, and I was almost certain we did, we had the basis for a civilization. I am willing to share that power, but not willing to trust others to share that power with me. Back to the river, and bring some nodes up to the camp. Bang them together. Crack them. Break them up. It is flint. We can make fire, and edged weapons. We are firmly into the Stone Age. The rest of the group arrives around midnight. Voggarth thinks they got away clean. We posted a guard, and I show him the flint and a sample of the clay. Tomorrow we begin to BUILD a new world. Day 3 At least some of the bugs are not only edible, but also quite tasty. We were hit by another mantis pack just before dawn. This time, they didn't get back over the barricade. Someone had the bright idea of sticking a haunch into the coals of last night's fire. Tastes like lobster. Now if we could only find a little drawn butter or lemon. I started my day's work looking for a striking pad and a bone or antler substitute. The fire-hardened end of a shaped branch works. By midday I was producing reasonably good cutting edges. A few could be used as axe heads. Some had sharp points. We now have flint axes and spears. We may never produce arrowheads as good as those of our ancestors, but we will try. Bows will be nice, but someone suggested we go for the spear thrower first. Voggarth agrees, as do I. A spear thrower will improve range and penetration power, without the skill requirements of a bow. A lot of other progress was made today. Some of our scouts lead by Voodoo, found some fruit trees, and a sort of birch analog. We may be able to make canoes if we can find something to seal the seams. Tigger remembered something about bark cooking vessels not burning if they are full of liquid. He was right. The first axes were put to use felling trees to clear the center of our compound. Some of us set to work trying to build a shelter. The weather has been good, but ripe fruit trees probably means winter is on its way. Initially, we will use a long-house/barracks system. Voodoo has taken to calling the place Hope, and the name seems to be catching on. I got my first real, small, well-shaped spear point just before dark. My hands and knuckles are bruised and sliced bloody, but I am on the track of efficient production. Sleep will be welcome. What I can get, I have second guard shift. Ruminations: One nice thing about this new life: there is a lot of time to think. I have been wondering about how and why we got here. I can only guess, but I have a theory. No doubt, my guesses are wrong, but I think I have it figured, at least it explains most of what's been happening. It goes as follows:
Humans are the ultimate predators. We are the ultimate generalists. We don't have the biggest teeth, so we make weapons. We can't see the farthest, so we make lenses, and telescopes. If we can't adapt to the environment, we adapt the environment to us. I suspect we were sent naked to improve our chances. That may sound crazy, but we are isolated. We cannot depend on anyone else. If we develop our technology from scratch, we will not be dependant on equipment that can wear out or break without being able to replace it. If it breaks, we can replace it. If we can't make it ourselves, we don't get it. More importantly, we don't build a society on a technology we could lose at any time. Instead, we are given the most powerful tool of all, our memories and intelligence. We may find out in time. Either earth will send us another ship, or maybe they left us other clues somewhere here on the planet. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For I am the toughest SOB in the valley. Amen.
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