Tales from the Rim

[BlueWinds]

It's a pleasant spring day. The birds are chirping, and crops are growing, and in the midst of it all sits Sparkles, the Psychopathic Volatile Brawler. She's watching the five other colonists go about their work while she carves a statue out of a granite block.

Suddenly, the raid alarm goes off. Scrambling madly, everyone dashes for the security room to gather their gear. All except Sparkles - she stands up and dusts herself off, a twinkle in her eye, and ambles off away from the colony, into the hills. One of the other colonists shouts at her, asking where she's going, but she just flicks on her personal shield and salutes. He shakes her head and runs. A few minutes later, she's out around a hill.

In the distance the sounds of battle erupt, sizzles and screams as five colonists in power armor unload their plasma rifles into a horde of pirates, the booming retort of a rocket launcher and barking assault rifles. Sparkles ducks into a crevasse and waits.

----

Picture the scene.

Two pirates - grizzled veterans, survivors of many a raid, both of them with scars and plunder aplenty. One holds an assault rifle casually across his chest, armor vest and wicked grin. The other carries a plasma rifle - a little younger, a little braver, he has a suit of power armor more patch than original metal, loot from the last ship they downed. Facing them, a young woman in homespun cotton jacket and worn devilstrand pants. She's carrying a knife.

The pirates brought automatic high tech weaponry. Sparkles brought a knife. Poor pirates.

[falconbunker]

Damn, that's one crazy good melee char. you have there.

[BlueWinds]

"Sparkles, where were you? Most of the crew's in medbay - this was a nasty one. Head over and help rescue the prisoners. We'll treat them and send them on their way as usual.*"
"Oh, prisoners?" Sparkles cleaned her blade on the grass, absentmindedly rubbing her cheek, wondering if she'll have bruises. "We wanted those?"

----

I may have exaggerated a teeeeeeensy bit because of drama. I think in the actual game Sparkles had armor too? But yeah. I sent her around the back to get a head start on the enemy once they broke (it's much easier to catch a fleeing enemy or two when you have a melee-er already in position), and two of the pirates moved around to get in behind my sandbags (or maybe they just got distracted, had the same effect), and Sparkles dispatched them both.

* Yep. Anyone who survives a fight is taken in, healed, and then either recruited or released depending on their skills / my mood. I like a colony of 5-6, and get rather attached to my individual pawns.

[linkfanpc]

I also have a girl named Sparkles who is also good at melee and ALSO taken down many a raider. (Well, 5. But it's a new colony.)

[BlueWinds]

Kristina shuddered as she tugged at the radiation suit gloves, the rubber still wet from the decontamination dousing. A month ago this had been a verdant jungle - jaguars and monkeys and more exotic things that Allison kept going on and on about. They'd been cute and fluffy though, even if Kris couldn't remember their names. Boarding the transport ship just a year ago... no, 150 years, she reminded herself... she wouldn't have believed that a place with so much life existed. It had been so magical, waking up in what had seemed paradise compared to the dusty caveworld tunnels that had been her home. Now, nothing moved. Even the colony's hastily constructed air-scrubbers couldn't entirely remove the stink of rotting vegetation and decaying animals. Allison had said it would recover, and Kris believed her because Allison was never wrong, but it was still horrible.

Allison loved explaining things to her, and Kris loved listening, even if she didn't understand most of it. The voice was enough, melodious and with that cute squeak when she was surprised... Kris shook her head and returned her attention to the radiation suit. Even covered in radiation, infested by mechanoids and rotting, this jungle wasn't so far from paradise after all. Tonight, she promised herself. I'll ask her after dinner.

----

To go along with this thread, I thought I'd include a rimance* story of my own. Kristina is sanguine, beautiful and gay, from a caveworld and a capable of little more than hauling, cleaning and construction. Allison is pretty, too bright and gay, from a glitterworld, and currently hovers around Research 16. They've just decided to be lovers, in the midst of a toxic fallout. Suit is from this mod.

* See what I did there? Eh? Eh?

[BlueWinds]

Day 0

I don't really know what happened - one moment I was entering the crypod, on my way home after a grueling assignment (it was a mess, involving at least three separate revolutions occurring in the same city at the same time, only one of which was funded by us. Don't ask), the next I was stumbling to my feet as alarms shrieked and the ship tumbled. I grabbed a couple of lost looking kids and high-tailed it to the escape pods.

Just in time, too. We were barely away when another set of missles hit. No idea who attacked us or why. I hope it wasn't mechanoids.

Anyway, here we are. Good thing all my gear was nearby - I'd hate to be stranded here without it. I gave the one of the kids my knife and the other a pistol - not much, but better than nothing. The redhead looked terrified of the prospect, but I gave her my knife anyway. Better than nothing. The other gets my pistol.

No radio chatter in the area. Either my armor's on the fritz or we're alone in the vicinity. Either way, time to get to work.



Inspired by this thread, I thought I'd start a day-by-day account of a new colony. From a different perspective though - this is the story of the grizzled veteran who has to shepherd a gaggle of unruly kids through life in a dangerous new colony. I'm playing Randy Random, Challenge - my very first go with Randy ever, despite having played Rimworld obsessively since a12. A slightly modded Randy, though - desired population 4-7, critical population 8. I like my colonies small and personal.

Samantha is a Childhood Spy turned Government Agent. She's Gay, Industrious and Iron Willed. She has her power armor and assault rifle from the last job - thanks Prepare Carefully mad! - and in addition to kicking ass and taking names, she's enthusiastic to put her hands to work building a new colony. Also, is that a hint of artistic talent lurking way in the back of her hardened, bitter soul?

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[BlueWinds]

Day 1

Fuck. We've been here two days and these kids are already making moon eyes at each other. I mean yeah, Emmie, I like women too, but for goodness sakes girl, wait until we have bedrooms, will you?

Also, that... thing... laying near the foot of Emmie's bed? She gave it a bottle of my beer. We're god knows how many light years from the nearest brewery, and all I have is this one six pack... and she went and fed it to three hundred pounds of teeth and muscle. Does it even have taste buds?

It's now named "Shigeko," and it won't stop follower her around and wagging its tail. She loves it. It loves her. Raven loves Emmie. Emmie loves Raven. I'm a bitter old bitch, and no one loves me. Fuck.

I did a brief survey of the area yesterday. Tundra, flat and boring as far as the eye can see. Plenty of time to see anything hostile coming though, so I can take off my armor. It's quite a relief - that stuff can save your life, but let me tell you it gets unpleasant living in the thing day in and day out. Emmie says she'll wash it for me as soon as we find a source of water. She's not a bad girl, even if guns do seem to scare her out of her wits.



Emmie and Raven, with mutual opinion of 100, have decided to become lovers on the second day. And my warg has formed a bond with Emmie. :blinks: Killing machine + girl incapable of violence. This will go so well.

I don't actually know who drank the beer, but I like to think it was the warg. Building my base right here because  there's a patch of rich soil right nearby and it's near the center of the map. Steel walls (almost no wood on the map) and wooden doors (until I can replace them with auto-doors).

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[BlueWinds]

Day 1.5

I was just going to do one journal entry per day, but... well, this is worth writing down. I was out on patrol again when the wreckage of our late ship started blazing a trail of fire just to the north. I shouted and roused the girls - still asleep, lazy things, then ran to see if there were any survivors or salvage to be had. Smelling burning flesh ahead, I gestured the other two to head for the engine pod, try and put out the fires there while I forged ahead.

Bodies, bodies. I've seen bodies before, but it's never pleasant - especially these, soaked in ruptured fuel and starting to... anyway, you don't want the details. I pulled one guy from the wreckage just in time to pass him off to the girls, who'd already put out the engine section. Emmie took one look at the scene and blanched, but snapped out of it when I yelled at her. She hauled the survivor back to camp while Raven and I beat back the fire.

The girls quite sensibly wanted to bury the corpses, and I agreed, though our reasons differed. They wanted dignity for the dead - I was mostly worried about attracting predators and disease.

Raven nearly threw up when I started stripping them. Synthread is valuable, especially in a cold climate like this. I ordered them to take care of the guy back at camp, get them out of here, but I'll be surprised if I don't find them sobbing in each other's arms by the time I get back. Fuck this planet. They're nice kids.

----

Crash Landing mod provided me with an oportune crash landing, even though I wasn't playing that scenario. Managed to rescue a bunch of steel and corpses from the flames - all that synthread clothing is too damaged to want to wear, but it'll still be worth something once I get some traders.

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[BlueWinds]

Day 2

I came back from mining some more steel to expand our little compound this morning to find Emmie and Raven planting rows of seeds. Apparently they rescued some from the burning ship - a good thing too, since I'm not sure there'll be enough game around here to support us long-term. I just hope it grows befor the first snow. This place promises a brutal winter.

Baffin - the fellow we rescued from the burning wreck yesterday -  wanted nothing to do with us, and left as soon as he could stand. I don't blame him. The way Emmie shied away from his presence you'd think he were a murder in a dark ally, rather than a crash survivor like us. We ate some berries together on the ground, and I slowly drew part of her story out of her.

This whole thing is all very confusing - apparently she's from the /22nd century/. Holy shit. I've never heard of someone in cryosleep for that long. Humans had barely even left the surface of Earth when she went to sleep. It was just supposed to be for a few weeks while her master fled a war... Oh, yeah. She was also a sex slave. And after looking at some of the scars... Fuck me. No wonder she winced away from Baffin.

I feel bad for yelling at her yesterday.



You can't see it in the screenshot, but Emmie has a burning passion for: Social, Animals, Cooking, Growing and Artistic. She's Beautiful, Gay and Dislikes Men. That, combined with her backstory and the fact that she has a variety of knife scars... well, let's just say that her past is not a happy place and leave it at that.

I'm not actually using a mod that requires seeds, but the crash yesterday seemed like an opportune excuse to explain why I suddenly made a bunch of growing zones. There's still some more synthread clothing up to the north of the colony I haven't finished hauling yet, and Samantha's started mining a deposit of steel to the east.

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[BlueWinds]

Day 3

It was nice to sleep in a real bed. Well, mostly real anyway. A steel frame with burned escape-pod cushions strapped to it is still a hell of a lot nicer than sleeping on the ground. And I bed Raven and Emmie were glad to have a room to themselves at last.

The sun didn't come out today. An eclipse. Emmie and Raven spent the day planting more seeds, I spent the day mining.

As night fell (not much of a change due to the eclipse, a beeping from my radio caught my attention - distress signal. I sent the girls to haul more steel donned my armor. You can't trust distress beacons. This one turned out to be safe though - another victim from our ship. "Herman" had been stuck in a slowly decaying orbit, pod's thrusters blown out. He looked at me. I looked at him. I thought about Emmie. I'm not bringing another man near her until she's had some time to heal.

I made a little lean-to, right out there in the middle of the tundra, and patched up his injuries. The girls don't need to know where I found my new jacket.



Day 4

Woke up this morning to giggling. Emmie's decided to name the colony after her... thing. Shigeko. And here I was worried they were going to decide on "Flowerville" or "Hope" on some other inane shit - I suppose there are worse things to name a colony after. And as much as I'm not sure I like how quiet three hundred pounds of genetically engineered super-predator can be when it's trying to sneak up on me (it wanted pets, apparently), I do like knowing that there's still a hardened killer looking after my girls when I'm out and about.

My girls. Damn. I guess it is how I think about them now, isn't it?

Anyway, today I laid out wiring while Raven put in the solar panels. She's quite clever with the soldering iron, that one. Anonther crashed pod - Naomie McLaughlin, a counsellor. I brought her back to base for treatment this time - no bad memories for Emmie here. She considered staying, but since she wasn't good at... well, much of anything really, I didn't really press the issue, and she decided to head south for a warmer climate and to see if she could find civilization. We all wished her luck and asked her to send help if she finds any.

P.S. Another crashed pod. It's raining people. I rescued Alyssa "Sparkles" Orchard and started treating her. Emmie came in and peered curiously over my shoulder. Without warning, Sparkels grabbed my knife out of Emmie's belt and tried to take her hostage. Bad mistake - I was half expecting it, and had sparkles pinned before she could complete the motion. I've locked her in the storeroom until we can decide what to do with her.



Sparkles. My second favorite premade character, right after Emmie (who I Prepare Carefully'd into my group). The thing with the knife is made up because a) Sparkles has a burning passion for melee and b) I wanted an excuse to arrest her so she can be recruited.

Planting is done. I like to sew a variety of crops, to vary harvest times in case of blight, fire, cold snap, etc. Also finally starting to make power + production buildings. Going to need more food here rather soon, and I'd rather not spend my precious wood on camp fires when I could just build an electric stove.

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[BlueWinds]

Last post for tonight.



Day 5

Since my usual bed was occupied by our prisoner, I spent the night on the floor in the girls' room. They tried to be quiet, but... well, teenagers in love. Fuck. I don't care if food is running low, I'm building them their own room today.

Emmie went and visited Sparkles first thing in the morning. I don't know what she said, but it wasn't five minutes before she and Sparkels walked out together, smiling and chatting. Guess Raven isn't the only one who thinks she has a talented tongue... no, bad Samantha, stop thinking about that. Anyway. Looks like I now have /three/ teenagers to shepherd. At least Sparkles isn't completely helpless - I gave Raven my pistol and Sparkles my knife, since she has pretty good reflexes. Emmie seemed more relieved than anything, to be unarmed.

Raven asked me to build her a desk. We chatted a bit while I welded and she fiddled with a pad she's been keeping secreted under her bed. The screen's crached, but it works well enough. Girl's damn bright - part of the memory was corrupted, but she poked around and got it working in no time flat. She's working on fireproofing our cables so the electricity doesn't go out if things start burning.

Some traders came by this afternoon. Emmie wanted me to go with her to speak with them - she's a good girl, but really I wish she'd have more confidence sometimes. On the other hand, it's probably for the best that I was there - they tried to sell her an assault rifle, but I tested it out a bit and the aim was just /awful./ We settled for buying more medicine (I have a nasty suspicion we'll need it). I left Emmie negotiating price while I went back out for more meat.

Raven asked if she could come with me to hunt some muffalo. Sure - I can't say no to someone wanting to learn to use a gun better. Guns are fun. I was hauling back my kill when I heard her panicked scream - her prey had turned on her, and my pistol isn't really meant for stopping a one-ton herd-beast. No harm done though - I gunned it down as it roared past chasing her. We talked a bit, and I pointed out that she'd done just perfectly - three shots, heart lung and finally leg to slow it down as it charged her. Not her fault my pistol just isn't meant for taking down one-ton herd beasts. Maybe we should have bought that assault rifle after all - she's 17, high time someone gave her lessons in high caliber weaponry.



Samantha's a bit nuts. Child Spy and government agent, remember. ^^;;

I really like the PowerSwitch mod by Happlo. A timed switch makes sunlamps way more power efficient, and invisible power cables are a must for people who can't stand seeing cords everywhere. Plus, fireproof cables are really nice.

Sparkles has her usual backstory - trans, core-world jeweler. She has a quite impressive set of starting skills, many of them with burning passions - welcome to the colony, you'll make a very fine addition to our cast. Plus, another teenager for Samantha to herd around.

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[BlueWinds]

Day 6

Raven managed to turn scrap metal and one of the discarded starship components into a diamond saw. That girl is not to be underestimated. I moved my bed into the storeroom to escape the incessant giggles. Sparkles started construction on the dorms while I hunted more muffalo. Emmie can sear a steak to such perfection that you don't even notice there's no salt. Nothing really worthy of note today.



Day 7

We're not going to starve.  This pleases me greatly. Our very first bit of rice came in today, and Emmie was so excited that she didn't even stop to haul it to the storeroom, just left most of it laying there in the mud while she rushed to the stove.

Muffalo meat pilaf. It was delicious. Fuck that girl can cook. And clean. And she loves plants and animals. She'd make a fine housekeeper on a civilized planet, but all I can think about is those scars on her arms. I'll have to do something about them soon. She just stared at me in confusion when I suggested it - she accepts everything around us so easily that I forget she's almost pre-spaceflight. Medicine hadn't even advanced to point of curing scars, back in her days though, that was a shock. Sure, on feudal worlds people forget how, but...

Anyway. Sparkles mounted the diamond saw in a table, and used it to cut stone blacks. Excellent - I hate using all this valuable steel for walls. Plenty of stone around here, but no good mines. Also finally finished the bedrooms. I gave Sparkles the one next to Emmie and Raven. She can deal with the noise for a while.

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[BlueWinds]

Day 8

Emmie... is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I saw her running in and out, in and out... when I finally asked what she was doing, the response was "cooking." Why, I asked, did that necesitate running from the kitchen to the fields and back repeatedly? Obviously, she responded, because she needs rice for each meal she's going to cook. Why, I asked again, didn't she just carry a whole bunch of rice in next to the stove in a single trip? Obviously, she responded, because... there was a long pause. She considered. "Okay!" she smiled, happy that I'd been so helpful. :facepalm:

Raven asked for a bigger desk. And more electricity. What for? Well, she wants to look into machining guns and making gunpowder. I put Sparkles on it right away - always good to see young women taking a healthy interest in guns.

I found another vein of ancient machinery. Spent the day picking it apart for steel. We can always use more of that.

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[BlueWinds]

Day 9

Oh god. I hate myself right now. My hands are shaking as I try to write.

Emmie lay down so trustingly, Raven holding her hand while I promised this was an easy operation, I've done it dozens of times, nothing to worry about, just a touch of the medical laser and then regenerative cream to remove those awful scars...

She spasmed. Even unconscious, I think the pain set off bad memories. Arched her back right up into the laser, knocking it askew and pressing my finger down harder on the button...

Emmie's ok. I'm not really a surgeon, and clearly I'm not anesthesiologist, but I've saved a lot of bleeding people in my time. Raven was screaming, Emmie was bleeding all over from a gash running diagonally across her entire back and almost through the bone of one leg, Shiegeko was growling at me with burning red eyes, but I work best under pressure.

She'll be fine.

I even finished the original operation. She'll never have to see those patterns burned into her flesh by her 'master' again. I'll never have to see them. Good thing the fucker's three thousand years dead or I'd break his neck.

Still, I'm writing with shaking hands - I'd never forgive myself if I'd killed her. I'm going soft. Fuck, I need a beer.



DE-surgery salutes you, curing your colinists old injuries. Or sometimes nearly giving you a heart attack when you see the "failed catastrophically" message, as the case may be - either way it's a positive addition to the game.

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[BlueWinds]

Day 10

I returned from deconstructing more ship parts out in the tundra to find a suspiciously silent base. Nothing seemed amiss, but still... quiet is not a good sign. I unslung my rifle and stepped through the door, ready for trouble. The girls all stood up from behind furniture, looking a little chagrinned. They were going to surprise me, but... well... no one wants to surprise someone carrying a an assault rifle with the safty off. Good decision. I wouldn't have hurt them of course, but caution is good.

With the surprise failed, the girls still threw their party - both for Emmie, who's doing wonderfully, and for me because apparently I looked like hell after yesterday's 'incident'. I suppose I must have. But Emmie's even more cheerful than usual, running around full of joyful energy and kissing everyone on the cheek (except Raven, who gets a bit more). It's good to see. She doesn't appear to hold a grudge against me at all. I wish I could be so forgiving.

Potatoes. We have potatoes too, and lots of them. Definitely not going to starve, even though we had to throw out the rest of the muffalo meat - at this point even our wonderful chef couldn't make it palatable. A shame too, since Sparkles just today managed to construct both a set of batteries and turn one of the rooms into a walk-in freezer.

Also, heaters, both for the workshop and for the bedrooms. Sleeping in the cold doesn't bother me much, but the other women were all exceedingly happy with this development.

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