The Prologue (storyline)

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Delta V did not have a name until someone put a price tag on it.

The planet was the fifth chosen for seismic scans in an effort to find valuable minerals. Baelius, a powerful interstellar travel magnate, sought, through Project Delta, to increase the galactic influence of his organization. Interstellar strip mining was yielding enormous profits for Baelius’ benefactors, and the tycoon wished to dip into the honey pot as well. Within no time at all he had organized expert geological surveyors whom he hired to look for any rich deposits of tungsten, platinum, and even gold.

What they found was Varium.

Baelius started Project Delta with funding from many different investors, but the initial funds would never have time to accumulate interest. Baelius’ profits, even after the first few years of the project, were already far in excess of the goals set by the financial committees of each company involved. Varium was more valuable than anyone could have ever imagined. A living metal. It was the stuff of science fiction.

In waves, massive jump-ships strode across the void to be part of a space-age gold rush; interstellar 49ers with dreams as bright and bold as any star. The global population of Delta V grew exponentially in only a few years and Baelius’ work force hit staggering numbers as people from across the galaxy arrived in search of fortune. All the while, Baelius’ bottom line grew healthily, as did his consituents’.

But Baelius was not satisfied. He saw far more potential in Delta V than any of his investors, and with the discovery of a strange new gene that granted certain humans a unique simpatico with electronic and mechanical devices he sought a new project to further increase profits and, of course, power.

For Baelius, much of the workforce needed to transport Varium from mine to port was unnecessary. Plans were made for an automated train system. On the other hand, why spend money on transporting materials over land when you can bend space and time?

Tech Mages had proven capable of teleporting themselves short distances with the help of machines. Machines that they had manipulated through the use of Varium as the primary constructive element. Enormous jump-ships had this same capability but needed massive drive systems to create the kind of quantum energy needed for a “jump” through space.

On the other hand, with the use of Varium, Baelius and his Tech Mages had discovered a simpler and more practical means to teleport nearly anything from place to place on a planetwide scale. The purpose? To eliminate the need for overland shipping and the labor force needed to run it.

But, of course, there was a problem.

The investors saw Baelius’ vision for the future of Delta V as a zealot’s fanatical dream. They felt that he had become obsessed with the ways of Tech Mages and their ability to manipulate the world around them. He had even gone so far as to have Tech Mage surgeons integrate mechanical augmentations onto his body. The investors were becoming uncomfortable and the warning signs were all laid out on the table. Baelius’ mind had clearly gone somewhere that most could not follow.

But now, it was too late.

Every major investor, including the original twelve organizations that placed their trust in Baelius’ Project Delta, had signed a contract with Baelius. In that contract there was a tiny stipulation regarding the ownership of a major share of the organization: You had to have permanent residence on Delta V.

Some wonder, now, if Baelius had planned this from the start. Some wonder if he was truly that calculating, if he truly had the foresight that was clearly exhibited by the decision to keep the investors so close to their investment.

When it became clear to Baelius that his constituents were going to take their money and run, he struck.

In one night Baelius’ Elite Guard rounded up the investors and threw them into gulags where they were tortured until the information Baelius needed regarding their money and their companies was drained from them like dingy water from a sponge.

Once his constituents had been taken care of, Baelius started a campaign to “cut spending.”

The years that followed were dark ones. Baelius made it impossible to leave Delta V, cutting the work force in two and training one half as his Military to enforce newly instituted slave labor. Slaves worked day and night to mine Varium for Baelius while soldiers looked on with a mixture of brainwashed contempt and residual self-loathing. Meanwhile, Baelius’ teleportation system was working without a hitch. Nearly.

The strain on the planet was clear. The magnetic fields created by machines capable of bending time and space were taking their toll on Delta V. A once lush and beautifully forested planet was slowly becoming a dust bowl. Endless fields of Varium strip mines and wastelands that sprawled toward the horizon with Teleportation Towers at their epicenter had befouled the planet’s surface. Soon, it would be all but unlivable for the human slaves on Delta V.

Of course, at this point profits had been optimized. The workers were slaves, and the Soldiers were kept in line with fear, receiving just enough incentive to keep them under control and loyal to their master, lest they disobey and be forced to join the slaves. Baelius’ power was now nearly absolute.

But humanity will only stay oppressed for so long. There is something that burns deep inside our souls. Something that drives us against the bonds of those who would enslave us. The massive labor force that Baelius had accumulated over years of beckoning with money-filled hands for all to migrate to Delta V was standing on its hind-legs again. Even Baelius’ brainwashed military had returned to its senses. The time had come for an uprising. The time had come for WAR.

Unfortunately, Baelius was prepared for this. A genius such as he would have thought of all possible contingencies. The war waged on for as long as Baelius would allow it, until finally he gave the order for a mass banishment from the surface of Delta V. Every Tech Mage loyal to Baelius worked together to dismiss hundreds of millions of Miners, Soldiers, and even other Tech Mages, from the planet. Using the teleportation system they had developed for transporting Varium, Baelius’ Tech Mages exiled the Uprising into unknown dimensions between time and space. Dimensions of chaos and darkness, where things were only meant to travel, never remain.

Baelius’ teleportation system was never intended as a prison. It was a link from one point to the next. A way to move valuable Varium shipments across the planet from mine to docking bay where they would be carried across the galaxy to buyers from all points of space.

When a door was opened on one end, another became unlocked somewhere else. It was only a matter of time before the knob turned. Now we’ve returned from exile. Hundreds of millions of slaves and soldiers! And although the planet has moved on and the war is over for Delta V, it was never over for us! We’ve returned from realms of chaos with one intention: To bring that chaos to Baelius’ front door.

It’s time to finish this war.


© Epic Inventions, LLC 2009 (Made by BigTuna)

Storyline
The Prologue
The Classes
MercenaryBounty HunterTech MageBlood MageTactical MercenaryCyber Hunter
The War
The LegionThe Exiles
Character Bios
TitanNightwraithBigTunaThaddeusAlydriah DescarlMirvTalia
UlyssesSelinaThe LawmanCadenOzHankThe Armor Hazard
The Imperial Tech MageCinderellaMechachillidsThe Slayer
Locations
Central StationJumernaFortune CityThe BazaarThe BioDomeOld Fortune City