Cadrea

Fear. That was all that ran through the heads of everyone as sirens across Krilgox came to life. Millions of people grabbing their essentials and running to the various nuclear fallout shelters across the country, while the military went into overdrive and began initiating the Nuke Yearning Hotshot Missile Matrix (NYHMM). The skies above Krilgox were set ablaze as close to 50,000 NYHMM explosives filled the air, and while some missed or blew up other NYHMM rockets, the 27.5Billion Krona project successfully intercepted every nuclear missile targeted at the nation - alongside a couple cities and towns close to the border. Despite the success of the nations defenses, it did little to shield the nation from what was to come.

First was the refugees flooding the nation. While the government did expand their borders to include the cities and towns that were saved by the NYHMM defenses, many survivors began to catch wind of the nations survival. While not everyone believed the rumors and even fewer managed to make it to Krilgox, enough managed to give first-hand evidence that the rumors turned into concrete proof humanity only had one foot in the grave. To avoid stretching their resources too thin, construction of a massive wall split into 39 segments began shortly after the bombs stopped dropping. Though it took roughly 2 years to complete, it has helped reduce the flow of refugees to a manageable and sustainable rate. The wall wasn't perfect however, as the segmented wall built to avoid separating wildlife populations also made it harder to constrict the flow of refugees to one location. Military personnel can be found patrolling the walls for refugees or hostile invaders, with any survivors seeking refuge being guided to one of 8 refugee camps.

Next came the changes in climate, as the planet began experiencing nuclear winter. Luckily for the nation roughly 95% of all of its crops were grown inside greenhouse facilities as tall as skyscrapers, with the remaining 5% being imported exotic foods. However, the worsening winters meant that keeping the greenhouses warm required much more electricity, worst still that these greenhouses were the only source of food the entire nation relied on. Knowing what the risks were, restrictions on fossil fuels were heavily reduced and prices for coal and oil were drastically reduced too. Not only would this encourage electric companies to burn these fuels to meet the new energy needs of the nation, but the Co2 released from it would help buffer the severity of the worsening winter for the foreseeable future. Though the nation only has enough fossil fuels and natural gas to last 5 years, it would give the nation enough time to build the fusion-powerplants needed in the event another nuclear war ever broke out.

In the coming days after the nuclear war, darkened snow began to fall upon the nation as the radioactive fallout mixed in with the snow. While not a lot could be done to prevent the fallout or the snow storms, engineers began coming up with designs for specialized snow plows and specialized water treatment plants. Due to most of the nation residing atop of the worlds largest super volcano, most of the water treatment facilities were already filtering out various toxic gases and dissolved pollutants out of the nations abundant water supply - with most facilities simply needing to update their current equipment to handle a larger supply of radioactive elements in the water. However, there was a hard limit as to how much radioactive fallout could be filtered out, and come the summer months the contaminated snow would melt all at once and overwhelm all of the nations filtration systems. This revelation meant that the nation needed to collect as much of the contaminated snow as possible and create an alternative supply of water before summer began melting the snow. Although it was a tall order, the nations water treatment plants were able to handle the sudden spike of radioactive fallout in the water supply. There was a month-long rationing of water to give the water treatment plants time to filter all of the radioactive fallout from the water, though ample amounts of wine and luxury food were given to its people for free afterward to thank them for their patience. Some people were unhappy with what they were given after a month of rationing, and it was going to make itself apparent very quickly afterwards.

Small riots began to pop up throughout the country opposing the actions the nations leaders chose to take, albeit all of them were peaceful and lasted less than an hour. However, discontent could lead to more severe actions later down the line, and life was already stressful enough as is. And so Evalynn R. Madore personally visited the next riot that rumors foretold would happen. Although her presence wasn't welcome initially, the rioters took their chance to lay out all of their discontent. The wall should have been built differently, fossil fuels were a mistake, water-rations were heavy handed, better medical care for the exposed, the non-existent relief efforts outside the nations borders... And then quiet. When she had the chance to speak she simply spoke her mind.
"Who doesn't have a reason to complain?" Evalynn began, encouraging the rioters to think. "Do the refugees we took in wish nothing changed? Or the civilians of Cinica who perished from the bombs? What about the generals and defense ministers who authorized their missiles be launched? ALL of us have one reason or another to complain, but everyone alive in Krilgox today is infinitely better off than the rest of the world. I cannot pretend to make perfect decisions, but I can do the best I can with what we have. And we have a lot to work with compared to those outside our borders, but it is not enough to rebuild civilization for the rest of the world. It will take decades if not centuries before the outside world becomes remotely habitable again, and even then it will take longer to rebuild everything from the rubble left over. This is the world we live in now, and I don't intend to waste the time we bought ourselves by fixing the mistakes we've made since the war. If you have any complaints or suggestions, you can find me in the capitol building."
Evalynn walked away in a calm manner, and the riot quickly disbanded. Although more riots took place in the months following her speech, they were much smaller and served mainly to vocalize their longing for life to return to normal. This wouldn't be the last time that riots would take place, though they would become more political with time with the increasing number of refugees.

The most devastating blow to the nation that couldn't be completely prevented nor alleviated would be the increase in cancer rates and radiation sickness. Although the nation of Krilgox wasn't hit with any of the bombs, the fallout from other nations reached the jet stream and was carried around the world. Despite the governments best efforts to encourage radiation safety standards to be adopted by all of its population, not everyone was convinced that the nation was the only one still around and went about life as normal. The number of patients rose slowly at first, but gradually worsened as weeks of exposure turned to months. By the time live footage of the other nations from the Crimson Falls Outpost was shown on tv it was too late for some of the most exposed individuals, and those exposed to lesser extents would become sick with time. Although the hospitals had room for those with radiation sickness and medicine to numb the pain or severity, little could be done to change their fate.

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As people in Caldera's Peak went about their lives most could be seen wearing masks, with military aircraft flying past towards their next objective. Almost a year had passed since the bombs dropped and Krilgox was still surviving the apocalypse strong, albeit most citizens were a little tense with fear and uncertainty. Despite surviving the apocalypse and having no bombs hit their towns or cities, fallout from their neighboring countries far and wide had contaminated most of the water supply and radiation sickness isn't such a rarity in current times. However, the nations policies and infrastructure were the primary reason why the nation and its people have survived for as long as they have. Still, even this peaceful nation hasn't been completely untouched by the world around them. Despite Krilgox taking in refugees as quickly as realistically possible, various survivors outside the nations walls have tried and failed to force their way in - whether it be mowed down by machine-gun fire or deterred by a rocket aimed in their direction. Those more cooperative simply seeking refuge will find themselves taken to one of 8 settlements within 'The Buffer Zone', where most refugees live until they die from illness or until they are interviewed. Those that fail the interview are allowed to stay in the buffer zone while they wait for more permanent housing outside of the wall to be built, while those that pass the interview are allowed past the wall and officially become citizens of Krilgox. Any citizen may chose to live in the buffer zone to be with their families, but only military personnel are allowed to enter and exit the buffer zone as needed. And though rumors about the military are completely unfounded, some say that soldiers are preemptively attacking and destroying any and all military assets within neighboring countries - presumably to prevent hostiles from having the assets needed to break through the wall.

Through the window to her office Evalynn was sitting in her chair, bored out of her mind at how little there was to do now. No diplomacy between countries, no worrying about rising tensions from enemies, no negotiations or treaties between countries - the entire world was now within their grasp. But it was not an idea she enjoyed, for it meant bearing responsibility no human alone could bear. The world was too vast and too ravaged to justify claiming it all, and doing so would only invite more chaos and instability. They barely kept their foothold because of their heavy defense spending, and now they have to survive the apocalypse before them before they can start rebuilding. The military can only be so many places at once, with a few operational outposts scattered throughout the continent protecting the construction sites for OTAM landing pads. Although minerals and ores from the asteroid mining facility weren't going to be landing there, the Crimson Falls Outpost did also serve as a safer worldwide method of transportation for excess food and clothing the nation produced. The new OTAM sites would serve as relief stations alongside sites for civilization to rebuild from, though for the time being the OTAM outpost pilots would be exclusively for AI citizens due to the harsh wasteland conditions. As she pondered about building factories near the OTAM landing sites she heard her office door open, as a news reporter and their camera man came in.
"Hello, and welcome to the Presidential Office." Evalynn happily responded as she got up out of her chair, eager to do something besides think to herself. "Now then, what questions do you have to ask me?"

08:19
Crimson Falls Outpost, Krilgoxian Asteroid Mine/Transit Hub
Former Population: 60,000
Current Population: 54,000
Current Orbital Position: Above the former The Dolphin Isles

Operations on the asteroid were proceeding as usual, with cargo shuttles arriving and departing from the asteroid as business for Krilgox resumed as it had for the past year. Although none of the people working at the outpost were in the line of fire during the very short-lived war, it all but killed morale and created a very tense and gloomy atmosphere. While receiving video-feeds from Krilgox helped relieve people at first, the news of what happened on the ground only served to compound their worries. As such, some of the outposts non-krilgoxian personnel took their own lives in the weeks following the war, with others burying themselves in their work to drown out their sorrows and to help bring normalcy back to their life. While operations did slow down due to three of the worlds nations being destroyed in the war, it was the least of the crews worries. Broken parts needing to be replaced, gas vents on the asteroid damaging vehicles and buildings, parts of the asteroid mine collapsing due to low gravity; such troubles that could normally be mitigated or avoided completely began cropping up due to the crews numbers being lower than the minimum required staff. The radiation from the war made it hard to send new miners to the site for months following the war, and as such it wasn't until 5 months ago that new personnel arrived to pick up the work load left behind.

While Connor performed her routine inspections in the mines, a ping quickly caught her attention as she checked her device. A heavy but silent sigh left her mouth as it notified her to head to CFO-Con:13-F6 (Crimson Falls Outpost - Conference Room 13, Floor 6) as soon as humanly possible. It had been over a year since she had been sent to space to help operate the mines, and while she enjoyed the job she despised some of the higher-ups who primarily sat in their offices and kept in contact with officials on the ground. Besides that, they weren't known to do much else to help around the mining site, often being seen drinking and gambling during their breaks and occasionally on the job. They weren't liked by a lot of people, but they were tolerable and lenient enough to deter workers from reporting them. And she had the misfortune to be called to a meeting by the most blatantly lazy operator on site. She walked over to the nearest elevator and caught a ride back up to the surface, disembarking and climbing into a rover before driving back to the main HQ/living quarters of the outpost. The 'ground' that surrounded the magnetized bridge leading between the mining site, shuttle launching tether, and the HQ/living quarters was primarily made of loose sediment with the same rigidness as quicksand, with such low gravity that a simple jump could send you flying into the void of space. As such, various structures that were magnetized were used to navigate around the asteroid, keeping the miners feet on the ground while also making up for the lack of gravity. The magnets used in the outpost also helped protect from solar radiation, with similar amounts of exposure as you would see on the planet many called home. A glance at the planet showed a blue, white, and brown planet, with the only part of the planets surface lighting up in the shade of night being where Krilgox was located. Although the view was still spectacular, the gut-punch of seeing the night side almost completely blackened still hurt. Upon her arrival to the living quarters, Connor prepared herself for what was to come.

Connor made her way inside of the conference room, where one of her many bosses was waiting for her. He looked much paler than usual, sheepishly telling her to make herself comfortable. Something was off. As she took a seat the man turned on one of the screens to reveal the Krilgoxian Secretary of Defense, who seemed all too eager to chat.
"Hello there Connor, nice to meet you." The secretary spoke with a warm and welcoming voice, gesturing for her boss to leave the room. Once it was just the two of them, he gave a slight sigh. "Sorry to disrupt your work at the mines, from what I've been told your work there is rivaled by few and excelled by none. While I'd like to keep singing my praises and award you for your hard work, I have something of importance to discuss." He paused before pulling up a map on the screen, with Xs on various spots of the world map while his face was relegated to a smaller screen to the side. "We're currently planning on re-establishing civilization across the globe, however we're currently spread thin as it is. Our intel suggests that survivors seem to be concentrated to these parts of the world, and so we're going to be building shuttle launch sites in each of these locations. Three of them are nearing completion, and the site you'll be assigned to managing is the site 5-kilometers west from Lakina in The Dolphin Isles. You can choose to pass this up if you wish, but with all three sites operational it will make our plans for the future progress faster." He stopped to give her some time to think, and after a couple minutes of careful consideration she nodded her head.
"I'm interested, what exactly do you intend me to do then?"

07:05 - 3 days later.
Current Location: Skies above Lakina, former Timata Province of The Dolphin Isles

As construction of the shuttle launch site wrapped up, a krilgoxian space shuttle began gliding back down to the ground after being released from the space tether attached to the asteroid. While its re-entry didn't light up the skies above the remnants of Lakina, the sonic-boom created by it's super-sonic speeds were enough to alert everyone in the city. The shuttle flew through the air and slowed down as it descended, coming to a safe landing at the site as it cruised down the run-way made for it. By the time it came to a complete stop the shuttle doors began opening up, as AI citizens of Krilgox began unloading the cargo from the shuttle Connor emerged from the front shuttle doors - inspecting the site fully covered in a protective suit. All in all it was a good start, but they'd still need to do a lot of work before the site could become remotely self-sufficient. With a crew to work with and plenty of materials to do so, their work began while one the AI workers prepared the shuttle to be sent back into space to resupply.

Applause rang from the forum of the newly constructed capital city of Nicator, where the newfound Republic of Seleukosia was proclaimed amidst the fallout that was old Cadrea. It started as a small refugee camp, but continued to grow as more and more people began to flock to it, and after much time they have begun to build a nation of their own.

But just where is Seleukosia in this troubled world?

08:20
Lakina, former Timata Province, former The Dolphin Isles
Former population: 2,934,744
Current population: unknown

Maleko woke up from his bed with a plodding start. It had been just barely over a year when he had nearly died out in the wasteland of post-nuclear Cadrea. For a brief period, he had seen what seemed to be an alien civilization, those proclaiming to be of the space colony of Krilgox, set up a small camp in the city. This colony lasted but for a few months though. Almost all the settlers had retreated to their homeworld (asteroid? Maleko never got a clear picture in his head.) Some of those that stayed behind buoyed the numbers of his small tribe, still living in and around the couple block radius of a subway station. However, this was the peak of his village. What had peaked at a population of over 200 people, his humble "urban village" had now fallen to well below 100 adult survivors.

This was of no concern to Maleko today though. Today, he had to bring home special artifacts from the pre-war era, preferably textbooks, so he grabbed his backpack from the corner of his room. He then continued out the door and onto his great journey on the quest for knowledge.

Overhead, the roar of F-36 Eagles drowns out all else, as soldiers march in formation down the main avenue of Elkhart. The crowd’s cheers blend with the rhythmic pounding of boots, each step echoing the pride of a nation. But for Ansel Merrick, the noise is a distant hum, a backdrop to the memories that weigh heavy on her mind.

She stands at the edge of the crowd, dressed in a simple black dress that rustles softly in the spring breeze. In her hands, she clutches a small bouquet of wildflowers gathered from the fields beyond the city. Today isn’t just a holiday for her—it’s a pilgrimage.

When the last echo of the aircraft fades and the final drumbeat of the regimental band rolls away, she turns and slips into the quieter side streets, away from the pomp of the parade. Her destination is the National Cemetery, where rows of white headstones stretch out in solemn precision.

Each step down the winding path is a quiet prayer, each breath heavy with the memories of her husband who never made it home. The laughter and music of the parade recede into the distance, replaced by the soft sigh of wind through the trees and the hushed conversations of other visitors.

As Ansel walks among the graves, she sees other families gathered in small, solemn clusters. Some stand silently, hands clasped, heads bowed. Others murmur soft words of remembrance, the weight of loss etched into their faces. Small children wander between the headstones, their laughter a gentle discord in this place of stillness.

A little girl tugs at her mother’s sleeve, her brow furrowed in innocent confusion. “Mama, why can’t Grandpa come home?” Her mother’s eyes glisten with unshed tears as she kneels to embrace her daughter, murmuring an answer too quiet for Ansel to hear.

Nearby, an older man stands with a young boy perched on his hip. The boy fidgets with a toy airplane, oblivious to the grave that bears his father’s name. The man’s lips press together, his eyes fixed on the name carved in stone as he gently strokes the boy’s hair.

At last, Ansel reaches her husband’s grave. She kneels, tears welling in her eyes, and lays the flowers gently against the cool, white stone. She begins to whisper, her voice low and trembling, sharing the small stories of her life and the struggles she’s faced since her last visit. The words come like confessions, a quiet balm for her aching heart.

Around her, the city’s reverence is palpable—faint strains of music still drifting on the breeze, children’s laughter carried from far away, and the quiet prayers of those who understand the true weight of the day. Here, in this small act of devotion, she feels the profound truth of Memorial Day: a day not of celebration, but of honor, memory, and love that endures beyond loss.