Canon James Orion
Head of Public Works
Trinity Council Chamber
New Jerusalem
Week 1, January 2223
"Last week, 14 injuries occurred when a portion of the still setting mortar on the eastern wall gave way under strain and collapsed. 3 were injured when the motor on a concrete mixer gave way and detonated after a reported 17 hours of sustained use. Another died after inhaling carbon monoxide in an unventilated room with three generators. Four were inj-"
"We get the point, Orion."
James looked up from the binder to the 30 others assembled, most looked about fed up with the reports of damage and injuries on the Third Temple's construction. yet he simply sighed and closed the book, it wasn't incredibly important to tell the council of said casualties explicitly, they already knew there was damage.
The patriarch seemed sad, but the look in his eyes had been seen before. He didn't care... or rather he cared more about the completion of the temple over the health of it's workers. It was demoralizing to put it simply.
A voice spoke up from the rear rows, "Orion, how are we on the logistical side of things?" the man looked up at the sole woman in the room, the head of the Hospitaller, Mosaic. She was simply staring down the patriarch.
Orion sighed as he grabbed another binder, "Well um. Everything is still pretty much the same as last week, bricks, fuel, and, you know, general construction materials are all things we're running out of. All of it is still pretty strung out between the Temple, the Canal, and the Dam... Again, we have to drop one of those projects. I would say the Dam... but...."
At mention of that, every head in the room turned to him, and for a moment Orion felt very small, "But?"
"But... we're going to run out of fuel for the reactor."
Silence reigned. For seconds everyone was silent as they looked at one another. The sole nuclear reactor the Order had was... barely a reactor really. Sure, it generated heat that boiled water and spun a turbine, but it wasn't made efficiently, the nuclear fuel could barely be considered fuel, and it had to be supplemented by stocks of wood burning and biofuel burning generators to keep up. But it was still the vast majority of power generation during the winter when the solar panels taken from Arizona and Utah had snow on them, and when the water screws were locked in place with ice. For safety the reactor didn't even run in summer, and the parts for it were hard to obtain. They hit the motherlode when they found that construction site for it in Utah, but that was close to 80 years ago. They needed to find a way to produce proper reactors if they wanted to stay here. And most definitely a better way to obtain fuel than mining it like the are now.
Orion spoke up, "This winter, was notably harsh. While the normal power draw from homes and emergency services was, well, normal for the most part, having the Temple be worked on all year round caused the reactor staff to ramp up fission rate quite a bit due to all the power tools, lighting and whatnot. While they're starting to catch up now, there'll be a period in..." the man checked the paper, "About March where what we'll have to replace the fuel and there won't be enough rods to replace those we take out, and brown outs will be inevitable."
The patriarch was silent for a few moments, "So, cancel the Canal then?"
Orion rubbed his brow as a few folks in the room muttered to themselves, this was one of Curtis' main problems. The only time he was truly decisive was in regards to the Temple, and it was always in the project's favour. It was becoming tiresome.
The logistician took in a deep breath and was about to speak, when the sound of Mosaic standing up took center spot in the room. The woman was... abnormal, the whole of the family line of the Khan was, men and women, children. All had the piercing blue eyes that seemed unnatural, all of them were extraordinarily tall, and hardy. Seeing them at a doctor, or hospital, or even with the sniffles... it just never happened. It was known the Khan had lived in Denver for some time before coming to the order armed and with a wealth of military equipment... but he never divulged why exactly he was as he was.
The woman then spoke, with a tone that was delivered with finality, "Patriarch, I'm giving you two weeks to decide which project to shut down, put on hiatus, whatever, that includes the Temple. Three public works projects of that size working at once are killing our economy, our infrastructure has fallen in to disrepair, and our workers are getting injured, in some cases crippled, because you're having your foremen rush a job that's not even ours. If you haven't decided by then I'm locking off the Temple's work site and putting it under Sentinel guard until one of the other projects is done. Even if it takes years."
It was somewhat ironic. The Dam and the Canal were supposed to help the economy, not drain it like a vampire. The Dam would provide proper year round electricity after it's reservoir filled, the turbines would be deep enough not to be affected by the top ice layer; and the canal would finally connect the Rio Grande and Colorado basins, meaning a passage from the Pacific to the Atlantic would once again be viable after the absolute loss of the Panama Canal, and inability to traverse the Northern Passage, both of which were now unreachable for one reason or another. Of them all, the Temple was the only true vampire, as heretical as it was to say.
While normally, the rest of the council would at least silently nod to whatever it was Mosaic would propose to get the Patriarch to relent for at least a few weeks, this was the first time she'd gone for the jugular, and exerted the authority she had in order to force his hand. Was it illegal? Perhaps. Did it get a reaction? yes. Definitely yes.
The moment the words left her mouth, the chamber descended into some mild bickering for a moment on both sides of the argument, before the almost shrill holler of the Patriarch cut through the room like a sword.
The older man was red in the face, his finger projected like a bullet at Mosaic, and spittle flying from his mouth. "You can't do that!"
As the yelling continued and the ambient volume in the chamber rose to migraine inducing levels, Orion simply stacked his things, grabbed his cane and left. Today was going to be brutal, he could tell.
Summary of Events:- The Order of St. John of Jerusalem takes no actions.
NEW EVENTSA White Winter
In times long gone, a blanket of snow over the land was seen as a blessing, a sign of a holiday season filled with joy and cheer. That was a long time ago, now all snow brings is a sense of dread. Humans don't hibernate, so the first sign of snow means the first sign of grabbing whatever food you can and hunkering down, anywhere from 3 to 5 months. Sometimes, people don't make it, and end up doing the unthinkable...
Not to mention the floods that sometimes occur afterwards.
This event slows population growth and troop movements by half, and outright ceases crop production. Poor management can lead to widespread starvation.
This Events Ends in the Second Week of February
Affected Factions: Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, The Purified Republic of Amerika, The State of Harvard, Mississippi River Trading Co.
Dormant Signals
The world after the downfall of man is not always easy to ascertain. Things sometimes weren't easily understood, some times things were just outright nonsensical in nature, even to the educated. And sometimes they have an explanation, but are still just... odd. This is one of those times. Someone, somewhere is sending a repeating radio signal that isn't much more than garbled static and sometimes discernable numbers.
Triangulating it wouldn't be especially hard, but actually knowing to do that would be for some.
This event ends when the source of the issue is dealt with
Affected Factions:All Factions with a Working Radio