Prologue
This fueled his hate for Jonas Miller who was at the center of the ARK mission. So in revenge for his sons death, he tried to wipe out Jonas’s entire legacy. His 2nd in command Pascal managed to kill both Linnea and Jonas in cold blood. He almost killed Ruth too. Mathis managed to turn a majority of settlements against Jonas’s progeny, specifically Ruth and Heath. This led to the Mathis War. What Mathis couldn’t get to submit to his authority were slaughtered. This was seen in The settlement of Sigma, now called Mercosur Nova. However his reign of terror didn’t last long as Jonas’s descendants and their friends rose up against Mathis’s tyranny. Though the cost was horrific. They lost close friends, a quarter of the survivors died from either war or disease. But in the end, Ruth’s coalition defeated him, his supporters with the exception of John Forbath and for a period of a few months, Ruth, Jonas’s granddaughter, brought to Heel, all settlements who supported Mathis. One by one each settlement surrendered to the coalition. Peace on Erdos was Mostly restored. Despite a few misunderstandings and disagreements between settlements, The political atmosphere was relatively peaceful.. Up until One year ago...
For the last 10 years known as the interregnum, Ruth, Heath, and several other scientists have been working on doing studies of the planet they call home, Erdos. In those 10 years they have found some interesting things. Storms are stronger, more powerful. Trees have evolved to adapt to the weather. Tornadoes are quite common both south of Xanadu and west of The Andy Warhol Mountain Pass of the Olympus Mountain Range in the Geister Forest and Latham Valley, not far from Pitt Novus. A lot of geographical features were given names. Such as the Sioux Grasslands to the far north, Northwest of Settlement Iota. Hurricanes have a very large ocean to grow and travel unchecked. When it reaches the main continent, its effects are devastating to anyone trying to settle on the eastern coast.
One year ago, It was determined that one of the planets in Cygni 61B might be habitable as well. However none of the shuttles are still operational. When the news broke, some people who supported Mathis in the past now were in uproar. Claiming the other planet probably was more habitable than this one. There was some disagreement and those who threatened to protest the new council’s decision went to voluntary exile, looking to the mysterious island called the Julian islands. However it had appeared that some of those who fled the Pe settlement disaster 12 years ago, had escaped to this island. Ships were built with crude sails setting course towards the mysterious islands. However the western sea called The Emerald Ocean, was treacherous. The moons called Castor and Pollux above Erdos caused tidal forces allowing for extreme tides.
Scientific research and exploration continued. The only problem was. Their equipment was starting to fail and it wasn't just them.. It was everywhere. Batteries don't last forever, Computers eventually fail. ATV's start falling apart and you have to build parts from scratch. But the worst part is... How can you build a complex piece of machinery on a planet with no complete infrastructure, No mass producing factories, No office cubicles where blueprints are drafted by the smartest engineers. The survivors only got what they brought with them. To get back to the infrastructure they had on Earth would take over 150 years. Its a sad reality that humanity had regressed into a pre-industrial state. But there's hope. Steam. With Steam power from heating water, with burning Rubidium by dropping rubidium from an airtight tube into a pool of water. The reaction causes it to ignite and heat the water, which creates steam and turns gears, allowing for movement. While solar power allows for ATV's to operate and could be supplemented with Wind turbines built into the front grill of some vehicles, Similar to the Nemesis or The American Windpowered Car built by Robert Yost.
A new form of gunpowder made from Rubidium Nitrate, charcoal, and sulfur. Surprisingly enough, Sulfur was plentiful inside the caverns near the remnants of the Settlement of Pe. The problem was the Spider like creatures now called Arach's. But if one were looking to harvest a large supply of Potassium Iodide The Arach's Fluid Sac by its heart has a high concentration of it. During the siege of Iota, one soldier experimented with this using a long hollowed out tube, some iron balls, powder and a match. One of the engineers Leah Caruso finished working on a prototype cartridge, using Nitrocellulose. All the advancements made in order to adjust to this hostile environment couldn’t have prepared the survivors of the turmoil they will soon face. As an old foe makes his return.
