~communique transmitted from our secret reporter with approval from Crimson Pirates Captain and Middlesea's Duke Wrath Constantine
***
In my travels recently I happened across a giant flying airbase in the skies over Caledon. The locals know it as the Iron Cloud; a hangout and base of operations for the Crimson Pirates. Aboard this massive structure I met and spoke with some of the crew that guard and maintain day-to-day operations at this facility.
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| Iron Cloud on Approach |
Upon approach, I was greeted on the radio by Anna, IC-ATC and communications officer. Pleasant but business-like, she granted landing clearance and agreed to a short interview. Arriving in the Air Traffic Control tower, I met a bespectacled Leporid with green hair scribbling flight notes on a clipboard.
Anna: "Welcome to the Iron Cloud.", she spoke as she looked up from her notes. "What brings you here today?"
CZ: "We're traveling the lands of Caledon and learning about it's people. Can you tell us about yourself?"
Anna: "Well, I first arrived here three years ago, looking to see the world and try something different. I wasn't really cut out to be a farmer, and was fascinated by radio. The ability to hear voices from distant lands in real time, and speak to them, seems to me like a kind of magic. But not one to be feared. It can bring people, cultures, and ideas together. I studied radio theory from a young age, and built my first shortwave receiver when I was 10.
So I ended up here, having heard of the place from my grandfather who used to be a combat pilot. I monitor the airwaves and guide aircraft into and out of our airspace. I also get to play with the incredible radio equipment here. Did you know there's a 600 kilowatt AM transmitter aboard? It's kinda dangerous to be near when it's operating, so the transmitter and antenna are located way out on the ventral spire of the Iron Cloud. As far as I know, only the Aspidistra Transmitter is as powerful."
CZ: Anna pauses for a moment, twitching an ear towards one of her receivers as a short "vVWoomp" sound comes over the speaker. She quickly scribbles a note on another clipboard as she glances at a clock '14:23.42 - VLF pulse, 4.5kHz, 30Hz tone, 0.5sec'
Anna: "Anything else I can help you with?"
CZ: "No, I think that's got it. Thank you."
Anna: "No problem! Be sure to check out the radio station down on level six while you're here, but I recommend steering clear of the transmitter on level 10."
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| Iron Cloud Anna |
===
Making my way back down from the control tower, I see an armed guard on the flight deck standing watch over a fleet of fighter planes. Black hair waving in the wind as he turns upon my exit from the lobby door. He regards me nonchalantly as I cautiously approach, but I can see his finger on the safety switch of his weapon. I introduce myself from a distance and ask if I can ask him a few questions. The tall Mephitidae (skunk) mutters something into a communicator, pauses, then nods and beckons me over.
Clu: "You have question?"
CZ: "Yes, can you tell us about yourself, what you do, and how you came to be here?"
Clu: "Sisters and I only survivors of shipwreck. Salvage operation went wrong, ja? Load shifted while airborne, brought ship down in West Sea. Bunneh pirates find us adrift, rescue us and give us new job. Place to live, food to eat, and all the ammo a guy could want. Clu is happy here. Much better than salvage job. "
CZ: "What all do you do in this job?"
Clu: "Watch planes, watch sky, watch airbase. If someone try take plane, Clu shoot. If someone try attack, Clu shoot." He looks West, eyes sharpening as he brings his weapon to bear on a stray air kraken venturing too close to the airbase. "You cover ears now." I can feel the air rattle as his rifle erupts in a burst of lead and fire. The air kraken twitches, tumbles, and falls out of view past the end of the runway. I must have had quite the look on my face as I brought my hands down from my ears, judging by the grin on his face. "Is good job, simple job. Rarely boring job."
I thank him for his time, and cannot help but wonder where that tentacled monstrosity landed...
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| Iron Cloud Clu |
===
Traveling down a flight of stairs, I see what has to be the most intimidating woman I have ever laid eyes on. Similarly armed and armored as her brother on the flight deck, just as tall and muscular. Her confident demeanor swings at you like a mace, her gaze penetrates you from under blood red hair with a blond shock that barely covers a scar over her right eye. There have been seasoned sailors more frail than this woman. She already has her eyes locked on me before I'm down the stairs and I spot her behind some sort of barrier door. Restricted Access signs near the door seem redundant as this brawny Mephitidae womans countenance says it all. This time, I'm the first to be questioned.
Bernadette: "You're a journalist, I gather?"
CZ: "Yes? Yes." I can't help but be a little on edge, and I'm not sure if it's better or worse when a smile slowly forms on her face.
Bernadette: "And you would like to know who I am, and how I found myself here?"
CZ: "Yes, please."
Bernadette: "Clu told you the gist of it. We were young, kids really. Orphaned and finding work on non combat ships, particularly salvagers out of Rugalia, our homeland. Our last job didn't go as planned. We got caught in a sudden storm and it threw our medium salvage frigate about like a toy boat in a bathtub. While we were trying to take off to get above the storm part of the cargo broke it's straps and slid forward. It smashed right through the wheelhouse and got hung up on the bow, pulling the now throttled and out of control airship into a nose dive from about a mile up. I was able to grab my brother and sister, and toss them into a crate of packing material we use for artifacts and sensitive mechanisms. We managed to survive only because the ship hit the water at an angle, and our crate floated due to the contents. We were adrift with the wreckage of the frigate for a few days before they found us. We were the only ones so lucky. But I still got this." She flicks her hair up over her right eye, revealing the scar. "My brother likes to joke that I broke the ship with my face."
CZ: "Your brother has an accent, but you don't seem to. Why is that?"
Bernadette: "My brother is older than me by 5 years. He spent more time in our homeland, whereas Ginna and I were very young when the three of us left the orphanage to fend for ourselves. We were around foreigners most of our lives."
CZ: "Got it. Thank you!"
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| Iron Cloud Bernadette |
===
By Bernadette's suggestion, I followed a hallway North out onto a breezy catwalk under the flight deck. I found it a bit nerve-wracking to be able to see straight down through the walkway to the ground almost a half kilometer below, but the view from up here is amazing! Turning right at the first intersection, and right again, I see a fleet of dangerous-looking airships in the crimson and black livery of the Crimson Pirates.
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| CP Fleet |
Another right turn and I come to a large steel iris door, with more Restricted Access signs and another armed guard. Also a Mephitidae, this one is shorter and smaller with two rings in her left ear. She turns as I approach, putting herself between me and the massive door.
Ginna: "You the reporter?"
CZ: "Yes! May I ask you some questions?"
Ginna: "Sure. My sister told me you were coming, and the Captain authorized it. What would you like to know first?"
CZ: "Well, I already know what you used to do, and how you got here. Maybe tell us about yourself?"
Ginna: "I'm the youngest of three children, two years younger than my sister, seven from my brother. These days I keep watch over the ships out there and this door. I like music, and get some great recordings from Anna. That bunneh can find almost anything. When the Captain isn't looking, I'll sing a song in my head and dance to it."
CZ: "I notice you have two rings in your ear. Any significance to them?"
Ginna: "One for my brother and one for my sister, to remind me to listen to them. They're both fiercely protective of me, and I love them both dearly." She smiles softly as she traces the rings with her fingers. "They are my longest-standing family, and I wouldn't be here today if not for the both of them."
CZ: "Thank you. Glad to have met you!"
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| Iron Cloud Ginna |
===
Making my way down another flight of spiral stairs, I find myself in a ballroom-sized art-deco lounge. Works by Tamara de Lempika adorn the back of the stage, situated opposite of a well stocked bar manned by an older Leporid gentleman with tousled salt and pepper hair. His name is Harvey Mathers, but he prefers to be called by his old callsign.
Bulletbait: "Evenin' Miss. What can I get'cha?"
CZ: "An absinthe and an interview, perhaps?"
Bulletbait: "Well I think I can do that." With a flourish he produces an ornate glass, filling the reservoir with the green liquor before placing a flat silver spoon and a sugar cube on the rim. He sets it in front of me, and slides over an absinthe fountain with chilled water. A slight flick on the tap and a trickle of water streams down over the sugar cube.
CZ: "You know who I am?", I ask, watching the sugar dissolve into the liquor."
Bulletbait: "Scuttlebutt moves fast here.", he says with a smile and a tap of the communicator near his ear."
CZ: "So what's your story? How did you get here?"
Bulletbait: "Used to be a combat pilot. Served a few years in the war, had a good career until I got too shot up to fly. Pension's not really enough by itself, and I wanted to stay in the skies as long as I could. So I tend bar here and keep an eye on my radio-nut grand-daughter. Not a bad gig for an old guy like me."
I sip my drink as the dignified gentleman grabs a cloth from under the bar and wipes up some water.
Bulletbait: "The Captain had heard of me and likes to hear old stories of days and battles past. My grand-daughter told him I was looking for work, so he contacted me and brought me aboard. I can't tell you how happy I was to get here. To this day I still enjoy coming to work."
CZ: "And ready access to such a selection doesn't hurt?", I nod in the direction of the bottles, flasks, and barrels behind him. He grins and gives a wink.
Bulletbait: "It's definitely a perk."
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| Iron Cloud Harvey |
===
Back on the flight deck, three young Chinchillidae ladies were just finishing up prepping my airship for departure. They were chittering amongst themselves as I approached, seeming to have an entire conversation in a matter of seconds. Preflight checks completed with remarkable speed and precision. I decided to find out more about them.
CZ: "Hello! Mind if I ask you some questions?"
Dani: "Not at all. We're all done prepping your vessel, so we have some time before the recon wing returns." The short brownish red-head calls the other two over with a quick chirp, and they join us with inquisitive looks.
CZ: "Where are you from, and what events led you here?"
Enki: "We're refugees, originally from Chilea. We left when our home was destroyed." This girl was taller than Dani, with a red accent in her green hair.
CZ: "Destroyed? What happened?"
Dani: "We were invaded. A militant sect came, set on exterminating us."
Feni: "Xenophobes.", the short, purple-haired girl said softly.
Dani: "We weren't great in number to begin with. Now were so few that it's rare to see our own kind anymore. And with no homeland left, we are scattered to the winds."
Enki: "But we'll change that. We used to be isolated, keeping mostly to ourselves. So when the invasion happened, nobody heard about it. Working here we've made friends and allies. We're making contact with or own kind again, regrouping. Some day we'll have the means to rebuild and fortify our home. And help in defending it."
CZ: "Aren't you worried that they will try again?"
Dani: "They already tried again."
Enki: "And they got their butts handed to them." Enki adds with a victorious grin.
Feni: "Whoop-ass." Her soft voice belies the determination seen in her expression.
Dani: "My sisters and I feel safe here, and confident that we can eventually bring this security to our lands."
CZ: "You are sisters? How is your hair color so varied?"
Enki: "In our culture it is customary to dye one's fur and hair. Sometimes it's for style, sometimes it's a color that reminds us of a place that inspires us. It's rare to see two of our kind the same color."
CZ: "What are your fur colors representative of?"
Dani: "Our lands, and the fires set to them."
Enki: "Our foilage and the national flower."
Feni: "The blood of our enemy that persecutes us." Dani, Enki, and I look startled to the soft spoken girl.
Enki: "Jeez, sis, you're being scary."
Dani: "Sorry about that. When the invasion happened, she was very young and saw things nobody should have to see. She never got over it."
I nod in understanding and thank them for their time.
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| Iron Cloud Chincillas |
Editor's Note:
If you have NPCs as an integral part of your role play within Caledon, write their story and submit it to the Zephyr!
