Welcome to Gaia! ::

The Duchess's calm demeanor and inviting tone put Morgan at ease, but with that ease the last weeks hard traveling overwhelmed her. She sighed heavily as she began to descend her rear toward the log, but before her butt quite made it to the seat, her knees buckled. Her rump hit the log with more force than her moderate frame seemed capable of producing in its short drop.

Chris laughed at her, and she smiled and even giggled some, but She was to tired to feel embarrassed. "Sorry," she said to her seatmates with but little meaning.

Well, I suppose I am unconditioned for sucha long walk, maybe even lazy. I spent a good deal of time a few years back experimenting and modifying gasoline engines to run on water. Now we have a small taskforce modifying existing vehicles to do much of the work for us, and this time they do some good for our environment as well. We use waste water to fuel them, and the we can dispose of the dry waste that is left as the emissions are pure oxygen. We don't have enough cars to trade... yet, but we hope to someday.

An excited light returned to Morgan's eyes as she twisted around to access a large leather bag strapped to her back.

"I have drawings and schematics right here... If I can get to them. I apologize that that is the most I can bring to our gathering today. The rest of what we had was in the truck, but surly it has been scavenged by now."

She continued rummaging through the bag occasionally pulling a tube out and peering at its end, only to replace it back into her bag.

Finally she fished out what she was looking for. "At the moment we focus on the older models, the ones without computers and fuel injected engines. The newer models were all meant specifically for gasoline, and we have problems with the sensors shutting the whole thing down. The fuel injection systems themselves are a bit of an obstacle, but nothing like the computers. Hopefully by next year we will have working examples of later models." She passed the tube to Suri.

"I had several copies in the truck to pass around when we got here, but for the sake of our hike, I ended up just grabbing one of each set of plans. I guess we'll just have to find a way to copy them here, for people to take back to their colonies."

Well, I would love to get these to her as soon as possible. These are yours to keep, I do not travel with originals.

We are looking for similar technologies to take back with us, but so far I have found that most people are just struggling to hard to survive. They are so far in their own despair that they can't imagine life any easier.

Name: Avery McKnight

Rank: Acting Colony Leader

Colony of Origin: The Nomads

Backstory: Christina lived in drumheller. A small town just outside of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She was just on a plane to visit her family in Ireland, she only had enough money to send herself, her husband was at home. Sleep had just begun to sweep over her when the pilot came on air saying they would have to plan an emergency landing somewhere in france, due to reasons they would not explain. Everyone was panicking. Christina looked out the window, everything looked fine. It wasn't untill they started to approach land that there was an unusual color to the clouds.

There was a bump, then another, and then it wouldn't stop. The oxygen masks came down and the seatbelt sign turned on.
"This is your captain speaking. ... There's no easy way to say this. I've been trying to reach every major tower in range... No-one is responding. I was hoping that once we got to mainland, we would hear something. I was wrong. I can only say that we won't be landing anywhere close to a major city, we don't have enough fuel to get anywhere at this point. So please, fasten your seatbelts, put on the masks and hold on to your butts. This is going to be a bumpy ride."

She would later learn from other survivors that everything had been destroyed. All of the major cities, gone. She cried for days. Christina knew her family was dead. If they hadn't been killed by the immediate explosions, the radiation would have killed them by now. Her colony started in a small town just south of Limoges, and they have been traveling and growing ever since, gathering whatever they can. Christina has also met a new love, Marc. They met in Marsales shortly after the crash. They have been teaching eachother different languages, and Christina is now four months pregnant.

Needs: Medical supplies, non-perishable food items, Textiles/clothes, Portable housing (ie. small tents)

Wants: Thick socks, Better carrying devices, Better tools, Fruit, Matches, Rice, ect.

What we have to offer: New maps, Knowlege of other places, Iron/Steel items, Loot, three hens.

Andrew chuckled a bit at the idea, "I can understand the caution towards kudzu, but it is far easier to grow than most crops are in the aftermath of our transgressions. We have always relied on the dependable method of slash and burn when the plant stretched out to far, after harvesting of course." Andrew paused for a moment to smoke a bit more before continuing. The smoke smelled sweeter than normal tobacco, "We had a problem with bandits and the like too," Andrew chuckled a bit more, a grim smile crossing his lips, "But that doesn't happen any more. So how have your colonies tended to the criminal element that this apocalyptic environment has produced?"

Avery heard voices not too far off, she could now see the lake through the trees. If there wasn't so much nuclear fallout, she was sure that lake would be beautiful. She paused for a second, letting herself imagine a nice cold breeze off the lake on a hot summer's day, the sun glittering off the surface of the water. For a moment, she could smell clean air, and that was all she needed. That one moment.

Taking a deep breath, she straightened up, and continued on. Her curly dark red hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail. Upon first look, one might actually think Avery was an impovershed roamer, untill they notice the fact that she's clean. Her pants were dark green, thick fabric cargo pants, taken from an abandoned army surplus store, the same with her boots. She wore a yellow tank top which was starting to get tight around her belly and a warm aviator's jacket.

Stepping into the clearing, she noticed there were only three others, and she had anticipated alot more. Unsure of what to do with herself, she approached the very small congregation, noticing that one of them was smoking. In a normal life, she would have tried her best to avoid the second hand inhillation, but it was probably far healthier for her baby then many other things she had been around.
Overhearing them talk about criminals made her uneasy. She had never taken anything from a living colony, but she had looted many abandoned houses. Did that count? She hoped not.