Welcome to Gaia! ::

Location:

About sixty seven kilometer southwest of Durem. Tucked amidst rough Terrain bordering the mountains. To the southwest are high mountains while the rest of the terrain surrounding the city is rough hills. There is a highway to and from Durem. Outside the city it is still an isolated, barren area. The city is an artificial creation, a planned develpment of the Yaits Corporation during the glory days of Edward Yaits, the city's founding father and first mayor.

People:

About 700,000 people live work and play here. The recent war had cut the population down from the one million mark, as many people decided to leave afterwards.

Many of the people who live in West Fall City are either workers for private enterprises, Casino workers, or just dreamers hoping to make it big. The city has many small business owners, have flooded the city to acommodate the burgeoning population. Municipalities still provide a government based service economy as well.

The people of West Fall city are of no distinct racial or ethnic trait. They are immigrants from all over Gaia. There are a significant number of meta-humans who reside here.

The order of Charitable Monks brings clergy to the city, there is a small district for them outside the temple grounds.



Directly to the east of the HQ Pentagon is the Comercial District, commonly reffered to as the Casino district. Gambling is legal here, it is even encouraged. There a several major casinos here.

Two police stations exist to combat the crime and vice accompanying the introduction of the casinos, but have done little to stem the tide. Prostitution is practically legal & black-marketeering is rampant as the laws pertaining to it are rarely enforced.

Fights break out commonly, both within and without the casinos, but are dealt with quickly either by police or casino officials.

The Casino district is connected to Durem by rail, the city station is located off the center of the district. But Durem is the only city connected directly to West Fall City by rail.



A series of penthouses built into the cliffs overlooking the city from the east, below this are wealthy neighborhoods filled with mansions and estates. The penthouses overlooking the city are supremely expensive prime real estate, costing upwards from ten million credits.



To the west is an expansive suburb of middle class homes for people who've decided to make their life in the new city. Many of the homes are of simple modular construction. This part of the city has all the comercial advantages of suburban utopia, mini-malls, gas stations, convenience stores, restauraunts. Central mall of the Regulars district is one of the largest malls in Gaia with over two-hundred stores for everyone's shopping convenience.



To the south of the headquaters is the temple district. Centered on the temple itself. Around the temple is the white, square, stucco housing of the temple devout, forming a labyrinth of narrow streets. On the border of the temple district and the regulars district is a ten story hospital run by the Order of Charitable Monks, a hospital gaining affluence for its personal relationships with the patients sent there.



To the far southwest of the corporate headquaters is a newly built international airport connecting West Fall city to the rest of Gaia. It has all the major amenities of an international airport. Its large size is built to accommodate the tourists interested in gambling.



Cheap land and laxed environmental codes has fueled an mini-industrial revolution to the west of the airport district, land zoned for industrial use quickly developed into a slew of heavy industries on the far edge of the city. Much land in the far desert is being developed with the prospect of finding oil or valuable minerals. Stone from the desert is already being used in the manufacture of cements. Other industries include chemicals, refining, bottling, machine tooling, and even an automobile manufacturer has a plant here. Most of the high pollution industries that have trouble in other cities can find a safe haven of sorts here. The industrial sector is slowly gaining a reputation for rivaling Aekea itself, but still lacking the high-tech edge of that industrial city.



In the center of West Fall City is a massive pentagon, only two stories high, yet over two kilometers in diameter from east to west and north to south. A massive headquaters, technical lab, and fortress. The outer wall of the structure is four meters thick, with three layes of protection built into it. The first layer underneith the cement is rust-proofed steel coated with titanium and laced with depleted uranium, the second is refined adamantine, and the the third is orichalum. The outer walls of the building are built to survive even a massive nuclear assault.

Inside, the functionality of the building is layered via concentric rings starting from the core of the structure, each ring being separated securely from the others. The very outer ring holds various offices such as public relations, marketing, accounting, purchasing, record keeping, and the conference rooms for meetings and such. The next ring is for the research and develepment for pharmaceuticals. medicine, and biotechnology. The third ring holds the substations that control the buildings air-defense systems, it is also a training hall for security forces, which aims to help the police keep law and order in the new city. The fourth ring is actually a manufacturing & testing center, where the R&D of weapons for police and military use was once conducted. Unlike the pentagon, the building has no courtyard, instead, there is the core. It is by far the most protected portion of the Citadel headquaters. Here is the central office for whomever is in charge here, surrounding it is the security control for the entire building. Then there are the sub levels, underneith the outer portion of the building they are merely parking garages, but under the interior is a manufacturing center designed to mass produce weapons.

The Pentagon is still the dominating feature of the city landscape, and the city is basically defined by it. The new leader of the Western Republic are confused as to what to do with it. And of course, there is the temple, which seals away many of West Fall City's darker secrets, secrets that would devestate the world if they fell into the wrong hands.

The Temple of Ymir. (Property of the Charitable Order.)

Description:
An imposing temple stands in the southern section of West Fall City. It is a gray, square, marble structure modeled after the great Greek and Roman temples. Ten marble columns line every side of the structure. In the front, the relief above the columns consists of an image representing Ymir in glory. At the right hand of Ymir are representations of Loki and his children; Fenris, the Midgard Serpent, and Hela who rules the dead while at his left hand are the brothers Odin, Vili, and Ve depicted being tramped under the feet of the cow Audhumbla. The side and back reliefs depict the various giants of ancient times, the enemies of the Gods.

In the front of the temple is a long series of steps, each step is made of five stones, and each stone depicts a different creature. As the ground is cursed, the only way to enter the temple without being attacked by the curse is to ascend the steps in the right order, stepping on the right stone for each step.

A door of solid marble encloses the entrance. On it is carved a giant portrait of Mercenary Forsooth, the Follower of Ymir and keeper of his incarnation. He is a dark man with slick hair and a sour look, a twisted grin stuck on his mouth. His clothing is a hooded cloak and there is a depiction of an aura around him, shaded in darker marble rather than lighter. This door will only open for those who utter Ymir's praises properly in ancient Norse language.

The minor sanctum is the directly inside of the temple, it is a small lobby with decaying statuettes of Forsooth taking refuge in the hands of giant Ymir statue on both sides. No one has graced the inside of the temple since the suicide of Forsooth five hundred years ago.

At the sides of the minor sanctum behind the great statues are the doors leading into chambers of the monks. The left door leads to kitchen and bathing facilities while the right door is a chamber with bunk beds high enough for ten beds, each bed large enough for two men. Behind this chambers and office of the great Forsooth.

Behind the chambers is the office. The chambers is lined with amazingly well preserved furniture. A bear rug stretches across the entire room, an exceedingly great bear before its death. There is a plush bed with a luxurious down mattress, curtains line it to block any draft. There is a library at the side full of books on magic and spells of all types. There are also great histories of Gaia. And the records of the achievements of the Giants and Gods. In the office the polished oak furniture is of the finest craftsman ship and is amazingly well preserved. There is a pile of personal papers, as well as ancient maps of Gaia scattered about in which almost every corner of the Globe is represented.

In the main sanctum is a gold statue of Ymir holding a mortal body, but this body he is holding is not Forsooth, but an unknown representing the form Ymir has chosen for his incarnation. Before the alter is a gold pan for the burnt sacrifice to Ymir. To the side is the podium for Forsooth, the leader of the compound and high priest of the Dark Monks.

Behind the alter is a staircase that leads below the temple. Down there is a wine cellar, one of the many shelves has a secret, which opens a passage to the catacombs further under the table. There are many traps down here. Rats the size of large dogs have their nests here.

The first level of the catacombs is a torture chamber. Devices of torture of every make and model are scattered about. There are piles of coal. Beds made of nails. Tables covered with rusting tools and needles and weapons of torture. Whips hang across the wall. There are post to tie prisoners for flailing. Vats of acid and lime still hungry for more victims. The prisoner cells are in a hall behind the torture room. They are in the wall are tiny stone cubbyhole designed to keep a person cramped in a tiny ball. There are enough of these cells to accommodate five hundred prisoners on either wall.

The second level of the catacombs is found at the edge of the prisoner hall. It is a labyrinth that is inhabited by a foul beast that is the runt offspring of the Midgard Serpent. There are also traps of all kinds scattered about everywhere.

At the lowest level of the temple is a laboratory of quite high technical standards for its time. Amidst the containment tubes and stasis fields await many sights and a wealth of information on the Ymir incarnation project. There are also hoarded of documents of which there had been no time to burn. No one has seen this place in over five hundred years. The laboratory consists twenty rooms of 100 meters long by 100 meter wide, one on top of the other as each room descends deeper into the bowels of the earth. The deeper the rooms, the darker the secrets.

General Bakkar's plane landed in the dirt airport and the General stepped himself stepped out first, accompanied by a single staff officer. Colonel Sallea greeted him with a swift salute.

"Everything is prepared, sir." he belted, "The men are on full alert notice, sir."

"Did the Raven Ops get here?" the General asked.

"Not yet, sir."

"Well, I actually beat them here. Are all the watch towers manned and gunned. Is all the information catalogued and mapped out?"

"Everything you have requested, sir!"

"At ease, Colonel," the General said, "All we have to do now is wait for the calvary to arrive. Thought they'd be here sooner."

Amazingly, the Colonel remained calm as the bird landed on his shoulder and spoke. On the other hand, it was amazing the General didn't wet his pants. He was about to realize this wasn't the golf course or the office anymore. The General jumped with an exclaimed shout at the talking bird, then yelled again when he saw the assembled R.I.O.T. force. He was irate, to see the least, but he took his anger out on the Colonel.

"What kind of F@*&$$$ circus are you running here, Colonel. You said they weren't here yet," he yelled.

The Colonel snickered, trying to get the crow off him with gentle sways of his shoulders.

"Let's just say they finaly arrived," he said. "It'll still look like you beat them here on the official report."

"Tell them to meet us at the central lookout tower," The Generel said, ignoring the R.I.O.T. force and jumping into an armored humvee specially sent for him.

"Yes sir," The colonel shouted with a salute, but by the time he turned around R.I.O.T. was gone. "Damn showoffs he muttered as he climbed into his jeep."

The Raven was still perched on his shoulder as he put the key in the ignition.

"You mind," the Colonel asked as he turned the key, "I'm not big into the pirate look. Hey bird brain, plenty of good perches on the temple!"

The Colonel found himself wishing he had joined R.I.O.T. instead of the military. The thought ticked him off, especially since he was being shown up as a chump in every way. And wishing the stupid talking crow would have hung out with someone else.

The cement baricades around the compound were over twenty meters tall and five meters thick at the base, thining to a meters thickness at the top. The gate itself was made of two interlocking peices of hardened stainless steel, seven centimeters thick. Biohazard warnings were plastered along the cement wall.

All the towers, two at the gate and six more surrounding the perimeter, where manned by two soldeirs. Each with a heavy machine gun mounted on the tower side. Besides the gate was a force of seven hundred highly trained special forces from the first division, these were forces beside those at the checkpoints they had passed to get here.

Dust flew from the friction of the of the halting convoy of military vehicles as they reached the front gate of the baricade surrounding compound, which was only a few kilometers from base. The General hopped out of his vehicle and slammed the door, his trusted staff officer exited from the other side and attended the General slavishly. R.I.O.T., of course, was doing whatever they needed to be doing to set up. The Colonel's jeep followed shortly, and the Colonel himself parked a good fifty meters from the gate and walked the rest.

"I didn't know Raven Industries was into the toy business," the General laughed, "They have some nerve using a trick like that to scare me."

"Indeed, sir," said the aide.

The Colonel saluted, but was promptly ignored. The General trodded over to where R.I.O.T. was assembled and pointed his finger while giving them the hairy eyeball.

"You'll be dealing with the Colonel and his forces from here on out, he'll have full authority and approval of everything you do, as I'll be busy at the base organizing exercises. I just wanted to inform you that the first Division is conducting routine training operations in this area. That puts several thousand additional well trained men in the general area. Always good to be prepared if things go wrong. Right?"

As the General said this, several flottilas of military aircraft flew overhead, including several warplanes and big recon aircraft. There was also the sound of Apachee helicopters approaching from the east.

He dismissed them with a quick laugh before turning away with a wave of his hand, "Good luck to you all, you'll need it."

"First thing first," said the Colonel as the General sped off, more worried about his own saftey than planning exercise. In reality, the compound scared the living crap out of him, to put it nicely. "Open the gates!"

The iron seperated, withdrawing into slots within the concrete barriers.

"Okay," The Colonel yelled, loud enough for everyone to here. "The R.I.O.T. squads, three and eight as I don not know the official designations will go in first and do whatever they see fit to dispel the curse. We will provide any assistance they request in doing so and remain outside the gate and along the perimeter as backup. Once the curse is dispeled R.I.O.T. will take the perimeter and our forces will enter the compound. Only one R.I.O.T. representative will be allowed in the temple with us unless I see fit for a change in plans. Do I make myself clear."

He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket, lit it against the wind, and put it in his mouth, then turned to the R.I.O.T. Captain, said, "I've been here five years and haven't been able to figure this thing out. Do your stuff."

Before them were the steps to the temple, the key to dispeling the curse.

It would all depend what steps landed on. In ancient runes, unreadable to the untrained eye, was an inscription. It said: Show the proper respect to the one that deserves it.

Twelves steps. Five depictions along each step. Each stone being about 250 centimeters long and the depictions going from left to right.

Here is the key for the first half.

1. A raven, A chimera, A phoenix, A harpie, A griffen.
2. Loki, Utgard-Loki, Odin, Skrymir, Svadilfari's master
3. The runic letter for Mistletoe, Hela, Baldur, Loki, Baldur's funeral Pyre
4. Fenris, Loki, Midgard Serpant, Hela, Thor
5. Jotenheim, Asgaurd, Niffleheim, Midgard, Bottomless ice deep.
6. Plant, Dark, Earth, Light, Frost.

Choose wisely, or all hell will break loose.