A Tale of Desert Pacifists

Started by Rhadamant, December 20, 2014, 04:13:24 PM

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Rhadamant

A Tale of Desert Pacifists

Background

After writing a story about living on an Icesheet, forum members voted for my next story to be about desert survival. Here we are!
To make the story more challenging all of my starting colonists are pacifists.
Time to meet the new colonists!

Sonja Baker | Carlos 'Doc' Burke | Emily 'Emmie' Young

If you're at all interested in the desert I decided to land in, the seed is 4rsi and coordinates are 76.53E, 0.27N
Colony Landing Site in Fahrenheit | Colony Landing Site in Celsius




Date: June 1st
Temperature: 99oF / 37.2oC

We escaped that horrible prison. For 192 days Sonja and I were held captive by a pirate band. I don't even know how long Emmie was held captive by them as a sex slave. Sonja and I are glad we were able to rescue her from that hell, but it seems we're out of the frying pan and into the fire. We'll need to get a base setup here quickly or we'll end up captured as slaves again.




Date: June 2nd
Temperature: 94oF / 34.4oC

We've started to build a little wooden shack into a nearby mountain that looks to have a lot of metal for us to mine. Sonja is having a hard time helping us build because she nearly lost a finger to a bullet. We're lucky those pirates didn't have better aim or she might be a partial amputee. Today was long and scorching hot and now Emmie is snoring. I got to build her a separate bedroom soon.




Date: June 4th
Temperature: 105oF / 40.6oC

We're hard at work mining away space for more equipment and buildings in our mountain base. Soon we'll have to setup defenses, but today we built a trade beacon and communications console as well as a wonderful air conditioner. Sonja and I got to know Emmie a little bit more, it sounds like she's had an unbelievable childhood. She doesn't even know her real last name, she was given the name Young when she was sold to a Vatgrown slaver.




Date: June 6th
Temperature: 108oF / 42.2oC

A pirate named Noriko visited us today. Despite having a turret to protect us, he shot Emmie and Sonja, but I bandaged them up. I'm going to bandage Noriko up too, maybe showing compassion will help gain favor with them. If not, we'll just build a lot more turrets.




Date: June 8th
Temperature: 98oF / 36.6oC

Noriko is healing well, but we weren't prepared for prisoners this soon so his accommodations aren't that decent. Once he is on his feet we'll send him on his way. We're not sure if other neighbors of ours are hostile or not, time will tell. I've planned on moving us out of this wooden shack, Emmie and Sonja like the idea but it will take a lot of work. We've named our little colony Calescent Shire. We thought the name was fitting considering the desert we're in.




Date: June 11th
Temperature: 94oF / 34.4oC

Emmie has been hard at work making slate blocks for our new base. Sonja and I have been putting those blocks to good work. Our food stores are low, but we're surviving off of some the food we found around the landing site. Emmie confided in us that we're the first family she's ever really had, and we've only really known her for six or seven months now.





Date: July 3rd
Temperature: 110oF / 43.3oC

Our base is really starting to take form. We've not had any hostile visitors since Noriko, but some friendlier neighbors have stopped by to say hi. I promised Sonja we'd have a hydroponic operation started soon, I researched it sometime last week and I hope to put it to practice. We'll need to generate more power in order to grow our food indoors, nothing really grows outdoors in this heat.




Date: July 10th
Temperature: 115oF / 46.1oC

A guy about two years older than me asked to join our group today. He said his name was Logan Grim, but he goes by Log. Funny name considering there are so few trees out here. He's apparently some sort of inventor and he's not a pacifist like the rest of us. In other news I turned 20 today. When Sonja wished me a happy birthday Emmie said it was her birthday too. She joked that Log was her birthday present, I think she has a crush.




Date: July 11th
Temperature: 157oF / 69.4oC

What in the hell is going on with the weather. It is simply too hot. Regardless of the heat we're all hard at work, anticipating another attack. It has been really quiet for days now and we don't want to be caught off guard. Log is really handy at crafting, I'm glad he joined us. Sonja isn't convinced he's useful yet, I think she believes he's a spy or criminal or something.




Date: August 1st
Temperature: 107oF / 41.6oC

A giant nasty robot besieged our base today, the likes we've not seen yet. All of our preparation for a pirate raid has paid off. I've been frantically racing around trying to bandage Emmie and Sonja up, who both were caught surprised by suppressive gunfire from the robot. Log has tried to fire on it, but he's massively outgunned. At least he's shown some spine. Our turrets seem to be winning this fight so we'll just bunker down for awhile.




Date: August 8th
Temperature: 101oF / 38.3oC

We survived the attack last week. The base is coming along, hopefully we'll get started on individual bedrooms, I think that'll help morale. Sonja has finally warmed up to Log after taking gun fire from that robot. Food is a little scarce but we've sent Log out hunting and our hydroponic farm is producing food a lot faster than outside farming.




Date: August 13th
Temperature: 105oF / 40.5oC

I'm happy that summer is coming to an end. I grew up in a sub arctic hamlet, so all of these scorching days are wearing on me. Apparently Sonja grew up somewhere hot because she really doesn't mind the heat as much as I do. Emmie is just so happy to have escaped where she came from that a little heat probably seems very trivial to her. I need to make a point of talking to Log more often.





Date: September 4th
Temperature: 123oF / 50.6oC

Of course my last entry was about how the heat will subside. It's unbearable out and we're right in the middle of big construction projects for the base. We're adding in separate bedrooms, we can afford the extra resources for it and it'll make everyone happy. I think we need to generate some more power, our batteries aren't topping off before nightfall. Log accidentally let it slip that he might of abandoned a colony he was apart of while talking to Emmie. I'll have to have a chat with him about that.




Date: September 14th
Temperature: 81oF / 27.2oC

God damn robot nearly burned down half our base, and Sonja to boot. It creeped up on us and Log, Emmie and I hid in our old wooden shack for shelter. Sonja was caught out in the open and got hit with some flame bomb or something. The robot got shredded by our defensive turrets, but not before lighting our hydroponic farm an kitchen on fire. I learned that Log is afraid of fire today, ironic considering he's the only one willing to wield a weapon. I wonder why fire and not bullets?




Date: October 8th
Temperature: 122oF / 50oC

Who the hell uses spears and arrows anymore? Where in the hell did these idiot cavemen come from? About a dozen of them swarmed our base out of nowhere and had the brilliant idea of smashing two of our turrets, only to have the turrets explode in their faces causing them to flee like roaches from a kitchen lamp. We captured one, Curro, but he's not much of a talker. Maybe showing a little mercy and letting him go once he's patched up will smooth diplomatic relations over. If not, more turrets. That seems to be a reoccurring solution.





Date: November 3rd
Temperature: 107oF / 41.6oC

Our bedrooms are partially done and we've tiled some of our base with Marble, which looks nice. There's still a lot of cleanup to do from the tribal raid, but at least their bodies are buried. We've disassembled the old wooden shack base and now we're fully moved in here. It feels nice to be behind sturdy walls. On the other hand it is still unbearably hot out and its November, so screw this planet. We send Curro on his merry way, but he wasn't thankful or relieved. Maybe he'll be back to attack us again, let's hope not.




Date: November 5th
Part 1
Temperature: 95oF / 35oC

What a strange day. At first we thought we were under siege again, but with no visible damage to our colony I ventured out to find an escape pod had landed near by containing a young man. He was unconscious and had some really strange bruises, not sustained by the landing. I hauled his massive body back to our colony. The moment Sonja started to take care of him, he offered to join our colony. Moments later another pod impact near our colony. She was about the same age as the last guy, but female and much smaller. She seemed to only have a small leg bruise too.




Date: November 5th
Part 2
Temperature: 95oF / 35oC

The guy told me his name was Vincent, but to call him Alaska. He admitted to knowing the girl, Snappy. Snappy still laid unconscious with Alaska looking over her, he was clearly concerned, but not much of a doctor as he needed me to mend Snappy's wounds. Alaska told me he was working on a smuggling ship, ZG Solutions, which pretended to be a weapons dealer but was really trading in exotic corpses, pelts and bones. He said he was a trained Osteologist and that Snappy was just a janitor.




Date: November 5th
Part 3
Temperature: 95oF / 35oC

While Snappy rested Alaska filled in some details. He had been hired by ZG Solutions a few months back, only to realize he was more a captive than employee. He helped them with taxidermy and other gory tasks and Snappy was assigned to help with janitorial duties. He had fallen in love with her, but she was brainwashed by the smugglers. Just as he told me this a hail from ZG Solutions came over the comm. We took Alaska at his word, for a big man to tremble like he was it was clear whoever ZG Solutions were, we wanted to part of it.




Date: November 6th
Temperature: 81oF / 27.2oC

The next morning we explained to Snappy that Alaska had joined us, and despite her brainwashing, she decided to join us right then and there too. We spoke to her separately from Alaska and she seemed to collaborate just about everything he had told us. We put both of them to work in our hydroponics lab together, figuring that might ease their stress. Later that evening we heard another pod land, but much louder than the first two.




Date: November 8th
Temperature: 90oF / 32.2oC

That last pod turned out to be a parting gift from ZG Solutions, or at least that's what Alaska thinks. Log went to investigate with a sniper rifle. Turned out Alaska was right. Log managed to disable one robot and destroyed another, leaving only the familiar big one left. After seeing the massive killing machines ZG sent after us, it helped Snappy realize her friends were, in fact, captors. Log's still working on destroying the big one, might take awhile.





Date: November 9th
Temperature: 101oF / 38.3oC

Log is still at it, picking it apart from a distance. I told him not to rush, haste makes waste. We're working on building proper bedrooms for Snappy and Alaska. We also managed to trade a nearby ship for some berries to cover a food deficit we're likely to experience now that we've got extra mouths to feed. It is crazy to think Log has only been with us fifty something days, I'm not sure how we'd handle this latest robot invasion without him.




Date: November 11th
Temperature: 88oF / 31.1oC

Log finally destroyed the last remaining robot. Snappy decided even the pod needed to be destroyed, I think she was right. We scouted around the pod and it was absorbing so much ambient heat around it that a giant mound of snow had formed, nearly encasing it in ice. Since we figured it was charging up to do something bad Snappy and Log shot it to bits. Good riddance!




Date: November 13th
Temperature: 87oF / 30.5oC

Just as we defeat one enemy, another emerges. According to Log, he ran into these guys while he was hunting. He said they popped out of ancient sleep pods and before he could say hello one had shot him in the gut. Log managed to kill one, scattering the others towards our colony. The turrets incapacitated three of them and the remainder, 2 or 3, fled the area. Sadly one of our neighbors, Johs, bled out during the firefight. Log managed to hobble back to the base and I stitched him up. He should be fine in a day or two, he's lucky.




Date: December 6th
Temperature: 81oF / 27.2oC

We just released all three hostile strangers we had incapacitated a week ago. They never spoke any English and did not even seem thankful that they were released. We are all very perplexed. Log, Sonja and Alaska thinks we should disassemble the empty pods and open any others in the vicinity just so we're never taken by surprise. It's not a bad idea. Our base now generates more power and houses 6. We're even installing AC in every bedroom.




Date: December 11th
Temperature: 138oF / 58.9oC

A dozen or so tribals attempted to breach our colony today. Our turrets held up and Snappy, Log and Alaska helped as well with their guns. We managed to capture two of them we incapacitated. Hopefully by releasing them we can avoid future conflicts. We're becoming a revolving door for injured raiders and invaders, aren't we? We're starting to grow our own medical supplies and I've been working on building up a crafting room. Soon Alaska will have a shirt!




Date: December 12th
Temperature: 118oF / 47.8oC

They're back! More tribals that want their butts kicked. This time they actually did some damage, but mostly to our turrets. We'll just rebuild them. Sonja asked me how many people do I think is in their tribe, if they've thrown a few dozen people at us in a space of 24 hours let's hope they want to make peace soon. Anymore tribal attacks like this and we'll be overrun. I guess we need to invest more in defenses. When isn't that true?




Date: January 1st
Temperature: 78oF / 25.5oC

Happy New Year! That tribal band is finally no longer hostile with us, but now we've got to clean up their bodies. We're rebuilding from all those raids too. We've been here for a year and we're doing pretty well. We doubled in size, we're mostly self sufficient and nobody has been permanently maimed. Sonja, Emmie and I are pretty proud of what we started here.

Rhadamant

#1



Date: January 3rd
Temperature: 101oF / 38.3oC

Alaska is near death, Sonja is critically wounded and Emmie isn't doing so well either. We were completely caught off guard when pirates dropped pods on our doorstep. Our turrets and Alaska was our first line of defense, Alaska nearly died as a result. Log and Snappy got there as soon as they could, but it happened so fast. Hopefully I can bring Alaska and Sonja back from the brink of death. We did manage to capture two pirates, but I won't be patching them up until my friends are healed.




Date: January 4th
Temperature: 106oF / 41.1oC

I managed to get everyone healed. Even Jimmy. Alaska and Sonja both got infections, but we've got medicine, they'll be fine. This last siege made me think we need to change the base a bit, maybe I'll bounce some ideas off of Log. We need to be ready for a real fight, we've been lucky so far.




Date: January 13th
Temperature: 91oF / 32.8oC

Everyone recovered from their infections and we released Jimmy for favor with his clan. We've had a few eclipses recently, so Log suggested we expand our power generation with wind turbines. This will just be a first step towards a more secure colony in the future. I can only imagine how bad we would be destroyed if a siege and a power outage at the same time. 




Date: February 14th
Temperature: 111oF / 43.9oC

Our new wind turbines are walled in and we're expanding the base a lot. Fortunately it has been really quiet lately so we've been taking advantage of it with construction. Alaska and Snappy got in a pretty bad argument last night, let's hope this doesn't hurt morale. Food's running a little low, Log's been trying to rummage up some meat for better meals, but there aren't really animals up there.




Date: March 13th
Temperature: 98oF / 36.7oC

I hate mega scarabs. They taste like crap, they're hard and hell to kill and they bite like a bullet ant. Well something made all of the mega scarabs crazy and a few of us are missing some pinky fingers as a result. God damn scarabs. They suck.




Date: March 13th
Temperature: 98oF / 36.7oC

This is Singer. She's a starship janitor. She showed up to our colony naked. No clothes. What's funnier than that? We don't have any spare clothes too, we make a point of not stripping corpses and there are so few animals with hides around. We're trying to grown our own devilstrand, but they take damn long to grow.




Date: April 7th
Temperature: 94oF / 34.4oC

Pirates are here, and instead of waltzing into our newly constructed kill box they decided to shell us from a distance. Log, Alaska and Singer are headed there with sniper rifles. Snappy wanted to join, but we only had three rifles. I hope seeing Singer streaking will be enough of a distraction that Log and Alaska will be able to whittle them down. I'll prepare the meds and beds just in case.

Snownova

Awesome, looking forward to reading! (ps the Celcius link leads to the Fahrenheit image)

Two empaths and their sex slaves, oh the hijinks that will ensue!

Rhadamant

Quote from: Snownova on December 20, 2014, 05:27:58 PM
Awesome, looking forward to reading! (ps the Celcius link leads to the Fahrenheit image)

Two empaths and their sex slaves, oh the hijinks that will ensue!

I fixed the Celsius link! I can't wait to add to this story!

Element4ry

Can't wait for more :) After reading about ice sheet colony, I expect this to be even better! Also, love that quirky rimworld logic - "we are pacifists, but placing turrets shredding anything in range isn't against our pacifism - w didn't even lifted a finger to kill them, right?".
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Spare74

Yay a new one ! Keep it up !

I love how hardcore you're going, pacifist, not even good miner !

StealthHunterX

I love your stories. Man keep these up. these stories are amazing

Rhadamant

Thanks everyone! I'm happy to write these little stories.

Vaperius

I spy a massive plot hole in the form of Noriko's missing forgot to tell us whether or not he was hired, died of injury, went berserk etc...
I remain Vigilant.

Snownova

#9
Quote from: Vaperius on December 22, 2014, 12:00:05 AM
I spy a massive plot hole in the form of Noriko's missing forgot to tell us whether or not he was hired, died of injury, went berserk etc...

Day 8:
QuoteNoriko is healing well, but we weren't prepared for prisoners this soon so his accommodations aren't that decent. Once he is on his feet we'll send him on his way.

Rhadamant

I'm glad you realized that Noriko was indeed released for favor. If you do see plot holes in the future please let me know!

Vaperius

Quote from: Snownova on December 22, 2014, 12:41:31 AM
Quote from: Vaperius on December 22, 2014, 12:00:05 AM
I spy a massive plot hole in the form of Noriko's missing forgot to tell us whether or not he was hired, died of injury, went berserk etc...

Day 8:
QuoteNoriko is healing well, but we weren't prepared for prisoners this soon so his accommodations aren't that decent. Once he is on his feet we'll send him on his way.

We see what we want to see...I read it and didn't see that part... In any case...I think when and if mechanical defense is updated (mechanical walls namely) , Rhamdamant should get it just so he he trap raiders in a murder room and heat them to death... :3
I remain Vigilant.

Rhadamant

Quote from: Vaperius on December 22, 2014, 10:03:02 AM
Quote from: Snownova on December 22, 2014, 12:41:31 AM
Quote from: Vaperius on December 22, 2014, 12:00:05 AM
I spy a massive plot hole in the form of Noriko's missing forgot to tell us whether or not he was hired, died of injury, went berserk etc...

Day 8:
QuoteNoriko is healing well, but we weren't prepared for prisoners this soon so his accommodations aren't that decent. Once he is on his feet we'll send him on his way.

We see what we want to see...I read it and didn't see that part... In any case...I think when and if mechanical defense is updated (mechanical walls namely) , Rhamdamant should get it just so he he trap raiders in a murder room and heat them to death... :3

I try to make my games more challenging, like having all pacifists at the start, never looting corpses, etc. Having an oven entrance would be too easy. ^_^

Vaperius

Quote from: Rhadamant on December 22, 2014, 11:29:23 AM
Quote from: Vaperius on December 22, 2014, 10:03:02 AM
Quote from: Snownova on December 22, 2014, 12:41:31 AM
Quote from: Vaperius on December 22, 2014, 12:00:05 AM
I spy a massive plot hole in the form of Noriko's missing forgot to tell us whether or not he was hired, died of injury, went berserk etc...

Day 8:
QuoteNoriko is healing well, but we weren't prepared for prisoners this soon so his accommodations aren't that decent. Once he is on his feet we'll send him on his way.

We see what we want to see...I read it and didn't see that part... In any case...I think when and if mechanical defense is updated (mechanical walls namely) , Rhamdamant should get it just so he he trap raiders in a murder room and heat them to death... :3

I try to make my games more challenging, like having all pacifists at the start, never looting corpses, etc. Having an oven entrance would be too easy. ^_^

Still should do it someday in the future just for fun :-3 we can compared notes on how to best roast them alive <3
I remain Vigilant.

Rhadamant

I've already made a visitor oven in one of my games right when last patch came out. T'was fun, but there wasn't enough exotic goods merchants to sell off my loot.