I meticulously journaled my most recent session. It lasted only 7 in-game days. I present to you, dear readers, The Complete and Accurate Journals of Cogsbronze, Junior Bureaucrat (Colonial Grade) (Discovered in the bony clutches of a skeleton in a tattered uniform) Today, our merry band of colonists, consisting of a motley assortment of honest working men and women, the Queen's soldiery, and shifty-looking convicts, set foot on our new home. I am cautiously optimistic. I am quite certain tales of scaly monsters and disease-infested jungles are only the working of the overheated imaginations of idle sailors and fishwives. Herein are summarized the events of each day, so that the record of the founding of New Antipodia may be preserved for the edification of future generations. Day 1 Colonists: 17: 14 assorted workers, 3 soldiers, 1 Naturalist. All lower class. We disembarked from our steamer this morning, and were met with rolling, grassy fields, and small clumps of trees that dot the landscape. As the Colonial Office has seen fit to provide us only eight loaves of bread, I have directed the colonists to begin hunting the local dodos and harvesting the rubbery black fungus that seems to grow everywhere. Veins of gold are visible only a short distance from our landing site - this abundance of wealth will be stockpiled for the greater glory of the Holy Cog. I have postponed the construction of our town square until we can extract this treasure from the ground. Nearby, there are ugly black clumps of oily eggs. I do not like the look of them, and have instructed the Colonists to give them wide berth. View attachment 5557 I have instructed the Overseers to till the land for cabbage patches, as our bread dwindles and fungus cannot sustain us indefinitely. As we have chopped down several trees in order to clear the land for our town, New Antipodia has begun construction of a Carpentry Workshop, suitable for the production of Planks. A strange, scaly beast wandered into town today, clutching a crude club of warty red coral. Perhaps the tales are not entirely baseless fantasy after all. No matter, the town guard made quick work of the ugly, waddling thing. Planting the cabbage fields proceeds apace, but some of the Colonists have reported that a strange, spiky plant grows there, and occasionally emits a purple glow. I shall send my Overseers to investigate. Bellis Cogsbronze has uncovered the source of the disquieting glow: a strange, spiky plant that our Naturalist has named Malfeasant Clawbulb. Its quiet chiming and purple glow are distressing the farmers, so I have ordered it uprooted and burned. View attachment 5558 Another fish-beast has wandered into town! Perhaps his curiousity was aroused by the sounds of industrious mining, because he entered the town square from the direction of the gold mines. The soldiery did their duty for Queen and Cog. Their crude fish-clubs are no match for the Empire's firearms! Rumour and dissent threatens the harmony of New Antipodia - Overseer Ada Brazenston has been riling the working classes with her talk of the (hypothetical, I am sure) necessity of ritual murder, cults, and assorted strange things. I am forced to tolerate her - for now - as she has also shown herself to be a shrewd and capable Overseer, and we can sorely afford the loss of one, when we have only five in total. Sharp eyes have witnessed Ada furtively planting another evil sapling amongst the cabbages. I have instructed the farmers to quietly uproot them and take no further action. For now. The Carpentry Workshop was completed on schedule, and we now have the means to produce the timber we will surely need in days to come. Cog Save the Queen. View attachment 5559 I have instructed the soldiery to begin construction of a low Gabion wall on the north east edge of New Antipodia, as the fishmen appear to originate in that direction. Thus ends our first day in the New World, by the grace of Cog and the Queen. Cogsbronze, Junior Bureaucrat (Colonial Grade)
Day 2 Our intrepid Naturalist and Explorer, Eunice Steampoint, has uncovered a wealth of Lingonberry Bushes further inland, the distance of a short walk to the south west. Most fortuitous, as our bread is nearly gone, and my own ear is preferable to this rubbery, flavourless fungus. I have ordered construction of kitchen facilities, to contain two stone ovens and two small ovens. We have sufficient parts for more of the sophisticated ovens, but I feel we must be frugal with our refined metals, as we have discovered only traces of iron and copper. To that end I have sent Work Crews to mine the Rhyolite Boulders. They, at least, are plentiful. A small herd of four Aurochs and a handful of Dodos trampled our cabbage patch today. We will eat well tonight. Our scouts report sizable deposits of Clay and Rhyolite to the south west. These will be valuable when the time comes to build a Ceramics Workshop. Still only minimal metal ores to be found, though. View attachment 5560 We welcomed our first immigrants to our fledgling colony today! Three intrepid souls have joined their cause to ours. Cog Save the Queen. Disciplinary note: our colonists have taken to falling to sleep, exhausted, inside our only two functional buildings, the Carpentry Workshop and the Kitchen, despite my instructions to the contrary. A shameful display of idleness, and a great hindrance to our cooks and carpenters. View attachment 5561 I have ordered up a great quantity of stew, somewhat optimistically, for the benefit of the colony. Even I grow tired of a constant diet of raw berries and this accursed fungus. Thus ends our second day in the New World, by the grace of Cog and the Queen. Cogsbronze, Junior Bureaucrat (Colonial Grade)
Day 3 At my request, the Homeland has reluctantly airdropped materials suitable for construction. While we can make use of the bricks, I fear there has been a miscommunication - the shipment contained none of the iron plates we so desperately need, but instead, buckets of brass cogs. We have begun construction on housing for the lower classes. View attachment 5562 The food situation in the colony is dire; our fine citizens are as busy as ever, but our cabbage patch is a dry wasteland of brown stalks. Our bread stores are a memory, and we have appear to have hunted the aurochs to extinction. Fate, it would seem, has a sense of humour - the stone ovens are now complete, but we have precious little to cook. View attachment 5563 Our crops are stunted and failing, and our food stockpiles are gone, but for some reason I cannot fathom, the colonists refuse to retrieve the precious few bushel baskets of lingonberries left in the fields. Hunger stalks the fields, and madness follows in its wake. Thus ends our third day in the New World, by the grace of Cog and the Queen. Cogsbronze, Junior Bureaucrat (Colonial Grade)
Day 4 Fatigue widespread, workers dropping down in exhaustion where they stand, too tired to think. View attachment 5575 Three new immigrants arrived in our hellhole today. I envy their idealism and naivetee. More grist for the mill. The will of the Holy Cog is ineffable. Miraculously, construction on our Lower Class Bunkhouse has been completed. It is constantly full, and the colonists have queued up to use the beds contained therein. View attachment 5576 I have halted all new construction so that we may concentrate on chopping wood, and hauling food. Our colony barely has the energy to subsist, without the additional complications of expansion. On a rare positive note, the construction of the north east low gabion wall continues apace. Thus ends our fourth day in the New World, by the grace of Cog and the Queen. Cogsbronze, Junior Bureaucrat (Colonial Grade)
Day 5 23 colonists, (16 lower class, 7 middle class) Our prospects seem bleak. Our cabbage patch is still dry and lifeless. I will admit my faith has been sorely tested, but we will stay the course; we will continue maintaining the settlement as best we can while we hope for the success of the farms. Everything hinges upon cabbage. There have been whisperings amongst the underclasses. They say it was unwise of me to turn back the supply ship, cargo still loaded. But I know better - I have passed the test of faith in the Holy Cog and Queen, and I shall be rewarded. They will see, and I will be vindicated. Cabbage cabbage. When the last of lingonberry preserves go, we shall be wholly dependent upon the cabbage drop. The latest survey has been completed - it seems some of our colonists have been getting Ideas. We have a burgeoning Middle Class, and Naturalist Eunice Steampoint counts herself among them. Cabbage! Someone has been planting Malfeasant Clawbulb in the cabbage fields again! View attachment 5579 Thus ends our fifth day in the New World, by the grace of Cog and the Queen. Cogsbronze, Junior Bureaucrat (Colonial Grade)
Day 6 We are on the verge of famine; and there is no relief in sight. The cabbage fields are still dusty and brown, and we are considering boiling our bootleather. Nonetheless, I have placed a large order of stew with the kitchen staff, somewhat optimistically, in the expectation of food. It does the lower classes good to see their leaders looking to the future. With little choice, I have sent explorers out in every direction, to scrounge what we can from the land. We are seriously considering the evil-looking eggs that dot the beach. Cog grant that one of them is able to locate some morsel to sustain our hellish, tortured existence here at the arse-end of the world. One of the explorers has located a lingonberry bush of moderate size. That should be sufficient to feed the colony for one or two more days. Discipline in the town is breaking down, people are irritable and bicker in the streets. I have ordered new construction to keep the troublemakers occupied; housing for our Middle Class, and a Ceramics Workshop - although given our present dire state, I fear they will not see use. Thus ends our sixth day in the New World, by the grace of Cog and the Queen. Cogsbronze, Junior Bureaucrat (Colonial Grade)
Day 7 The stockpiles are full to bursting with precious ores, cut timber, construction materials and sundry. But I would trade it all for a mouthful of juicy aurochs steak. It seems so long since I have had anything but a meager handful of dried lingonberries and a gristly sheet of fungus to eat. In my dreams, I feast upon the delicacies of the Empire, so long ago; bread, cabbage, perhaps half a boiled potato. My nightly repast is always interrupted by the cruel light of another hungry morning. The guards are shouting. They are always shouting. Today it is fishmen. I can hear screaming. Cabbage, oh cabbage, why have you failed us? There is something in the land that will not allow this humble crop to flourish. I have poured forth the toil of my labourers, but the earth will not yield up a single leaf. I hear gunshots. The shadow of an airship! Cog be praised, the Motherland grants us her succor! Crates of food, and an expert Overseer! The flags mark them as sausages and whiskey. Sausages! Even as I write this, I can taste them on my tongue, hear their sizzle. All is well, and all will be well. Cog and Queen shine their love on me. The sounds of fighting and screaming grow more bothersome. Where are those guards? Why are people always shouting at me? I go now to the quartermaster, to sign the bill of lading. Sausages. Sausages! View attachment 5598 [These are the logs of the Administrator, as recovered by our expeditionary force, written in an increasingly shaky hand. The entire population of the colony at New Antipodia is either dead, or unaccountably absent. There is evidence of a struggle. A crate of sausages remains badly decomposed but unopened, in the ruins of the stockpile.] [Filed with the Colony Office, September 7, 1857. Cog Save the Queen.]
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