Subject 1, Letter 2:
Dragontech:
Now, these are items of rare providence in these parts. Made by some company that joined the Dragons in the Last Days, learned their secret weapon-making skills, and started making their own for a profit. And when the Dragons found out, guess what they did. Gave ‘em a contract and started commissioning stuff! Expanded into armor soon after, powerful and heavy. Impressively hard to… erm… liberate.
After the Dragons finished talking over Japan, Dragontech started making ships too, biggest anyone’s ever seen. Enough guns to gut most normal ships in a minute, and on top of it most can carry a dozen or six of those funky fighters too. Not the highest quality, most of them, which is odd compared to the rest of the stuff the company makes, but there cheap I hear, and there is certainly a lot of ‘em.
They sell things to the common man too, mostly tools actually, something based off the ol’ Swiss Army knives, best machete I’ve ever used, and a couple other nifty things. Supposedly they’ve worked out a deal between themselves, the cybernetics company, can’t ever remember what it’s called, this third one that mostly makes guns, and then I don’t remember what that last one is.
Anyway, the new blades are in, so if you want a good one you better get here quick.
-Gabe Redeye, Head Technician of Spice End
Subject 1, Letter 5:
Las Vegas:
One of the few real cities left this side of the Misses River that ain’t part of the big Empire on the coast. Absolute hive of villainy and scum though, the likes of which were never seen in the Old Days. I know it used to be quite a place for gambling and gangs, but that pales in comparison to what we have now.
The old stuff was razed during the “Reclamation” as the Dragons call it. Then a few years after some shady Dragon that didn’t want to be involved in that stuff in the Pacific came in with his army and started rebuilding. Attracted some people from around who thought it would be an opportunity, and before you know it they were slapped into chains and used as slaves.
The gambling district’s now one big building, I hear. Each octant has its own theme, based on some part of history. Even a prohibition section supposedly. Imagine, no booze allowed in there unless you can smuggle it in yourself. Whole silly rigmarole to get in too. Anyway, there’s whole portions of the city that have been rebuilt now, with the help of that first bunch of slaves and those that lost a bit too much to the house.
The Dragon in charge calls himself “Don Dragos”, fancies himself a crime boss and master manipulator, though he’s definitely not much of the latter. Has a dozen different gangs, mobs, and yakuzas all fighting each other just for his own entertainment, and to see who gets to control some random thing, don’t remember what ‘xactly. .
Enough for this letter, running longer than I wanted. Watch out for those Eddies now.
-Gabe Redeye, Head Technician of Spice End
Subject 1, Letter 6:
Empire Defence Force/”Dragon Army”/”Eddies”
The Dragons call ‘em peacekeepers, and I suppose that they’re good enough at that. The Eddies are the Dragons’ most dangerous soldiers, fiercely loyal, well armed, and, of course, theres probably more of them that can fight than there are people between the Misses River and the Great Rocks. Though now I think of it that’s no real feat, north of Big River anyways. They are armed with some nifty rifles, with built in electric prods for crowd control, and those are just the standard ones walking around in the cities this side of the Pacified! I hear that the one’s fighting in China are armed with all sorts of fancy gear, and can probably spit acid to boot. Anyway, the ones here mostly keep to the coast, and Edmonton up north of course. I hear the Don in Vegas kept the loyalty of a few, despite his goin’ rogue. The last time any came near here it was, oh I don’t know, five years back? They got in a bit of a kerfuffle with the Mors, over some disputed theology. Left a few towns burned and about three-thousand dead, only lost two-hundred odd of their own. But I suppose that’s what happens when highly trained mutant commandos go up against some nuts that live around a lake that you cant drink outta. Thanks for that bit of Uranium by the way, we all laughed about my little joke. Well, except for Doran of course.
-Gabe Redeye, Head Technician of Spice End
Subject 1, Letter 13:
California
Ah, California. Great weather when it’s not on fire. After the “Reclamation” or whatever the Dragons call it, the West Coast was split up into three territories, with California, or “Lower Colonial Pacifica,” as the southernmost. A lot left from Before, because instead of burning it to the ground like they did some places, they conquered and moved into the biggest buildin’ they could find, or built one if there wasnt one to their tastes. Population’s still lower than it was Before, but I hear it’s gettin’ close now, despite what happened with that whacko. Word has it ‘e got ‘is hands on a bio-weapon, said it could kill draconic spies, and built up a bit of a cult following. Eventually let it loose in downtown San Francisco. Not bad compared to the Singapore Disaster, only about a third of the people dead, with a decent bunch sterile as well. This was before the Dragons even finished Hawaii, mind you, so when they did show up, the people that were left practically bowed at their feet, since the government had lost control by then. Nowadays its the least dangerous of the three colonies, if you don’t mind the surveillance and constant military patrols taking dissenters to the Governor for lunch. And I mean his lunch, since Governor Draco is a Dragon, though a pretty lazy one by most accounts. They’ve got quite an army due to the “frontier” but they mostly stick to the coast, apparently they aren’t too fond of deserts, except when the Mons get too frisky. Not much else to say, but the people there have adapted to the state of things by always being up to some intrigue or another, even if it is just elaborate revenge for minor slights.
-Gabe Redeye, Head Technician of Spice End
Subject 12, Survey 3:
Ireland
Ireland is a land of treacherous fey and duplicitous devils. It is protected from the might of the true Lords of the World, the ever-lasting Dragons, by the same forces that bedevil us trying to take the ancient City of Londinium. From our scouts that return relatively coherent we know that it is primarily savage forests and inhospitable hills, with only two cities, barely larger than towns. The northern city, Bell-Fast, is a bastion of Christianity against the heretics and devils to the south, though it does occasionally light aflame thanks to infiltrators.The southern city, Dublihn, is the capital of a petty kingdom ruled by a pair of evil fae that lead the people astray into believing that the ancient trees are gods. Many people there identify themselves as Elves, and some as Gnomes, or Halflings, or Dwarves, and all of these peoples would require purification before joining the Empire. We estimate that there are less than one million people on the island altogether, with perhaps one in three living in Bell-Fast.
Scribe Parthos
Royal House of Amsterdam
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