Izbor Karet Dam
Northern Takika
March 30 2016
The Karet dam was a grand edifice of concrete and metal that had cut through the Lepod, a harsh, sadistic mistress no longer worthy of the name of a 'mother river', right at its beginning flows, liberating the Takikan people of the horrors of floods and consequential destruction and granting them new benefits with the hydroelectricity produced. In the days of its construction, the workers had toiled endlessly in an effort to free the nation of potential water disasters, and with the erecting of the grand edifice lead the nation to prosperity harnessing the Lepod's rushing waves. They dared what even the bravest Stakhanovites would hesitate, crumbling mud and dissolving rocks they stepped on, great heights at which they laid bricks and fought the waves. Many fell, swept by cruel cascades or collapsing from the cliffs, yet they continued on. Finally, after months, the dam was completed, christened with the dictator's name, he was of course worthy of the name with the common recognition of his role of brilliance in guiding Takika to prosperity and greatness from a backwater plagued by natural disasters. Though petitions were made to rename the dam, most still believed that Karet was worthy of the barrier's name.
That was of course, the older days.
Many thought the coming of Democracy would signify Takika's elevation into yet another stage in its miracle, its success, and many had that spirit in mind when they cast their ballot at their local offices in December 1987. The first government was largely capable of sustaining Karet's success, but later generations slowly wore off as many issues came to public light. Corruption, political dishonesty, even with the shaming light of scandals politicians could not be removed from their positions. However the country was open to foreign investments, these could not prevent the economic figures from going downhill in the long run, the indecisive career-politicians could not solve the social and economic problems they unleashed with shock therapy and liberalization yet still pocketed the money while the country fell into decay.
The people were of course not dumb. They had witnessed and experienced this all by themselves, they paid dearly for this, only to feed a few oligarchs at the top who lacked strong will. Dissatisfaction grew. Many movements had rose to protest this unfair leeching of the nation, what was essentially theft of Karet's achievements and the country's hard-earned prosperity.
The seething grudge would remain sealed, dangerously growing stronger and getting closer to rupturing open its container every day. And indeed that moment had came early as the goddess of the earth herself shook herself with her much-loathed might, dissolving this monument of the old days of prosperity to finally ring the bell that Takika was essentially back as it is, before Karet.
Great rumblings came from deep under the ground. Workers and maintenance personnel - reduced to a skeleton crew due to budget cuts - at the Karet dam were immediately warned and had rushed quickly to monitor what might be going on. Many of them had worked here since the first days of the dam, and had swore their lives, devoting them to the continuous standing of the great edifice. But indeed they had grew old like the dam and were not as capable as they were before, their wrinkles revealing and their muscles less powerful than before, the speed of them rushing down the hallway was even slower. The younger ones were first apathetic, but recognizing what an earthquake would mean they too had panicked alongside the older ones.
"What is it?"
"Confirmed by observatories elsewhere, earthquake, source in Tordos, 8.8 Richter-"
"What was the threshold estimated when they first built the thing?" a young man with glasses interrupted impatiently.
"...well Yeker I'm afraid it's only going to serve as psychological comfort but-"
A violent shake struck through the room, the roofs visibly about to compromise even with individual slabs falling down. The lights had went out, along with the power source. Screams from the female workers, as usual. Everyone that had huddled here ducked per instinct, their hands twitching as the fingers joined above their heads.
"-9.2 at original design. However, the maintenance these years have gone badly, most of the cement-"
Yet another rumble, with several parts of the roof collapsing and causing numerous non-major injuries to the attendees.
"-let's just say that the dam's not guaranteed to survive." the scientist concluded, grimly. He gazed at the dam which could fall at any moment, melancholy written all over his aging, unshaven face.
After around half an hour of mental agony, paranoia and fear over the inevitable fall of the dull-grey construct visible from the complex's windows, the earth had decided to end the suspense by striking with appropriate force at that exact moment. Before the crew's very eyes the disintegration of the dam was carried out, the cement and the concrete melting into sedimentary sludges as water poured from the first cracks. Falling chunks of grey were dismembered and the roaring waves devoured them swiftly, spitting out the remains. Pouring over the rapidly falling edifice, a long-suppressed seething force had displayed its full prowess, submerging any traces of the dam that once stood and cutting away great chunks of the rocks around. No more. Even sections of the attached complex had been swept away, as if they never existed.
The waters never seemed to fade as they roared over where the dam once stood. Maintained constant was that great force which had smashed what humans could have thought be able to stop the forces of nature, and now, a long-suppressed devil released, few had any idea what would happen to the downstream towns and cities.
That was of course, the older days.
Many thought the coming of Democracy would signify Takika's elevation into yet another stage in its miracle, its success, and many had that spirit in mind when they cast their ballot at their local offices in December 1987. The first government was largely capable of sustaining Karet's success, but later generations slowly wore off as many issues came to public light. Corruption, political dishonesty, even with the shaming light of scandals politicians could not be removed from their positions. However the country was open to foreign investments, these could not prevent the economic figures from going downhill in the long run, the indecisive career-politicians could not solve the social and economic problems they unleashed with shock therapy and liberalization yet still pocketed the money while the country fell into decay.
The people were of course not dumb. They had witnessed and experienced this all by themselves, they paid dearly for this, only to feed a few oligarchs at the top who lacked strong will. Dissatisfaction grew. Many movements had rose to protest this unfair leeching of the nation, what was essentially theft of Karet's achievements and the country's hard-earned prosperity.
The seething grudge would remain sealed, dangerously growing stronger and getting closer to rupturing open its container every day. And indeed that moment had came early as the goddess of the earth herself shook herself with her much-loathed might, dissolving this monument of the old days of prosperity to finally ring the bell that Takika was essentially back as it is, before Karet.
Great rumblings came from deep under the ground. Workers and maintenance personnel - reduced to a skeleton crew due to budget cuts - at the Karet dam were immediately warned and had rushed quickly to monitor what might be going on. Many of them had worked here since the first days of the dam, and had swore their lives, devoting them to the continuous standing of the great edifice. But indeed they had grew old like the dam and were not as capable as they were before, their wrinkles revealing and their muscles less powerful than before, the speed of them rushing down the hallway was even slower. The younger ones were first apathetic, but recognizing what an earthquake would mean they too had panicked alongside the older ones.
"What is it?"
"Confirmed by observatories elsewhere, earthquake, source in Tordos, 8.8 Richter-"
"What was the threshold estimated when they first built the thing?" a young man with glasses interrupted impatiently.
"...well Yeker I'm afraid it's only going to serve as psychological comfort but-"
A violent shake struck through the room, the roofs visibly about to compromise even with individual slabs falling down. The lights had went out, along with the power source. Screams from the female workers, as usual. Everyone that had huddled here ducked per instinct, their hands twitching as the fingers joined above their heads.
"-9.2 at original design. However, the maintenance these years have gone badly, most of the cement-"
Yet another rumble, with several parts of the roof collapsing and causing numerous non-major injuries to the attendees.
"-let's just say that the dam's not guaranteed to survive." the scientist concluded, grimly. He gazed at the dam which could fall at any moment, melancholy written all over his aging, unshaven face.
After around half an hour of mental agony, paranoia and fear over the inevitable fall of the dull-grey construct visible from the complex's windows, the earth had decided to end the suspense by striking with appropriate force at that exact moment. Before the crew's very eyes the disintegration of the dam was carried out, the cement and the concrete melting into sedimentary sludges as water poured from the first cracks. Falling chunks of grey were dismembered and the roaring waves devoured them swiftly, spitting out the remains. Pouring over the rapidly falling edifice, a long-suppressed seething force had displayed its full prowess, submerging any traces of the dam that once stood and cutting away great chunks of the rocks around. No more. Even sections of the attached complex had been swept away, as if they never existed.
The waters never seemed to fade as they roared over where the dam once stood. Maintained constant was that great force which had smashed what humans could have thought be able to stop the forces of nature, and now, a long-suppressed devil released, few had any idea what would happen to the downstream towns and cities.
Otiver
Takikan west coast
June 12 2016
Otiver sat at the mouth of the River Stazhos, one of the few prosperous cities that had been that way before Karet's revolutionary years. Long before. Here, wealthy merchants from other countries unloaded their goods, their great ships testimonies to their financial might as well as Otiver's status as one of the few 'port towns' that had made a fortune purely from trade. Now, even with the loss of interested merchants due to the obvious civil conflict going on, it lasted as a seaside resort with its sun-shone beaches forever golden, a high content of shiny silicon crystals creating one unique property which had been successful in attracting tourists. Few remained, tourists or businessmen, though.
Kaner Berun gazed outside. The environment did not at all fit with his current emotions, it in fact contrasted starkly, although one point of similarity could be found in the lack of anyone present on the beaches for the purposes of leisure. He had been deposed two months prior by General Navony, who had pronounced the death of the status of Takika as a democracy, and all the evils that had came with it. Come to think of it, he was extremely lucky the soldiers didn't shoot him and the entire cabinet right on the spot.
Maybe he did think about changing things. But the earthquake kicked in, at the wrong time.
He turned his eyes back into his room, his hands concurrently gripping onto a remote controller. The big red button he pressed without further thinking.
The arrow button was thumbed quite a few times. Finally, an international news channel, something that wouldn't be filled with news on Takika's civil conflict.
But it didn't look right. Why is it also playing that footage of the Technate rebels firing a mortar in the outskirts of Buskeja? He direly tried to compare the logo of the channel, obviously not something out of Takika, with that of the footage. Indeed, the news channel was broadcasting exactly content on the fight outside Buskeja.
He thumbed the switching button again. Another channel, pretty much same thing. The third one had just ended on a report on the conflict and had started its finances programme which Berun couldn't care less about. The fourth one was probably some state news service of a socialist state, judging from the unholy amounts of red on the screen and the star in the channel's logo, what it broadcasted was basically a clip advertising the LATP's deeds in all but name. The name of the LATP was brought over rather quickly and commendations of another group came up, but these were all sufficient to prove that the conflict has been gaining...significant attention.
Heh, we've gained celebrity status.
Kaner Berun gazed outside. The environment did not at all fit with his current emotions, it in fact contrasted starkly, although one point of similarity could be found in the lack of anyone present on the beaches for the purposes of leisure. He had been deposed two months prior by General Navony, who had pronounced the death of the status of Takika as a democracy, and all the evils that had came with it. Come to think of it, he was extremely lucky the soldiers didn't shoot him and the entire cabinet right on the spot.
Maybe he did think about changing things. But the earthquake kicked in, at the wrong time.
He turned his eyes back into his room, his hands concurrently gripping onto a remote controller. The big red button he pressed without further thinking.
The arrow button was thumbed quite a few times. Finally, an international news channel, something that wouldn't be filled with news on Takika's civil conflict.
But it didn't look right. Why is it also playing that footage of the Technate rebels firing a mortar in the outskirts of Buskeja? He direly tried to compare the logo of the channel, obviously not something out of Takika, with that of the footage. Indeed, the news channel was broadcasting exactly content on the fight outside Buskeja.
He thumbed the switching button again. Another channel, pretty much same thing. The third one had just ended on a report on the conflict and had started its finances programme which Berun couldn't care less about. The fourth one was probably some state news service of a socialist state, judging from the unholy amounts of red on the screen and the star in the channel's logo, what it broadcasted was basically a clip advertising the LATP's deeds in all but name. The name of the LATP was brought over rather quickly and commendations of another group came up, but these were all sufficient to prove that the conflict has been gaining...significant attention.
Heh, we've gained celebrity status.
![[ National Flag ]](https://i.imgur.com/7vADKOP.png){kind=link}