Blood-stained gloves, gas masks and cattle prods greet the new slaves. Raw fear at the knowledge of their fate seeps into damaged brains. Re-animating the dead to serve the overlords of the final industrial revolution. Serving beyond the grave.
Death certificates already signed; the rights of the living are denied. Screams of the half-destroyed minds of society’s victims. Destinies sealed to exist in squalor, to serve the corrupted elite, to fight wars they did not understand, to test the latest nanites, to suffer until their bodies are ruined beyond repair.
The scientists rejoiced. The powerful nodded approval. Those on the edges applauded, simply glad to avoid the fate. The slaves hung their heads in the hazed knowledge that they were already born into hell. Even in final body death they served. Like the farms of the 20th century the bodies were reprocessed and served to the slave populace.
Some slaves escaped their fate. First-lifers and those who survived the re-animation with minds relatively intact. And there was always the madmen. All who escaped had only one place to go, wastelands.
In the wastelands surrounding the cities, the toxic landscape, cultivated from decades of man-made catastrophes, kept the elites in their urban cradle. In these areas where no-one else would dare venture, small communities of slaves developed. Death and pain are abundant, but one word keeps the slaves coming, Freedom.
Near the massive labor camps of what was once called Tokyo, a new escapee community has risen. Stealing decades-old technology from the ruins of the old city, the community has built a rogue lab to remove bio-circuit tags from the bodies of new arrivals and treat what can be cured. Known among the warlords controlling the area as Brain Scan Laboratory, it is viewed with fear as a challenge to the slaver system in the local region. The first riots ignited in the city three months ago.
Already named by historians as the Slave’s Midnight Riot, it is seen as the first direct attack on the elite since they took control decades earlier. Melting into the landscape after inciting the first of the Slave Riots, the guerrilla leaders have waged skirmishes at times and locations of their choosing.
The guerrilla leaders have already been marked for collection and reprocessing. The ex-slave units in charge of the first riots have been named in official and unofficial media: , Baal, Demonoid and Scorpions Death Rock. Individuals, including 666Fox, Undermine and Doom Spider have also been implicated.
Official reports within the warlord councils point to a new uprising likely to occur in late January. There appears to be a movement towards the new action in the URGA district no later than January 21, 2006. Unconfirmed reports suggest the rebels will be led by the unit known as Baal, with tactical support from 666Fox, Undermine and Margath Orgia from another underground unit known amongst sympathizers as Golgotha.
While the warlords are seeking to secure the zone surrounding URGA, matters have been complicated by continued unrest in this and other areas.
