CYOA: Rustwater Chronicles Intro
Here it is, the intro to the Choose your own Adventure project. Our first choice will start off as a doozy, who would you like to see the story unfold as? Each individual character has different personality traits which might alter certain choice paths. So please post as a comment what your vote is and we can get this thing rolling:
A) Enek, human male
B) Lily, feline female
C) Scarlet, fox female
D) Jin, avian male
Welcome to Eden, a once beautiful planet. It had everything from deep green forests that spanned for miles, to clear blue oceans with sandy white beaches, sweeping mountain vistas, and all the way to chilly tundras. Now however, the world is more one giant wasteland as dusty plains and bombed out ruins dot the landscape. This was a planet that had an evolutionary curve that not only created humanity but varying groups and species of anthromorphic races as well. Millennia passed as this sentient beings grew along side one another. Though while separate cultures exist, suspicion and hatred for those that are different are soon to follow behind. Warfare became the common solution, and the voices of the cool-headed and tolerant on both sides were rarely heard.
Neither side knows who fired the nuclear rocket salvos, either because those in charge are long since gone and dead, or if someone is left who know's the truth... they're certainly not telling. The final day of the war brought the world to a shattering halt though as the strikes were global. No matter the race, every major city center was swept up in the blasts, civilizations were wiped clean over night. The radioactive fallout and following irradiation zones forced once bitter enemies of all races and creeds to seek what unsteady survival and comfort they could from one another.
Several decades have passed since that catastrophic day, shining cities are replaced with welded scrap walls, riveted metal plates, and as much scavenged tech that hands could get a hold of.
One such object, a refurbished military troop transport vehicle, sped through the desert. The metal groaned with each bump hit but otherwise held together. The driver was an older armadillo-morph male, his leathery hide sun-bleached a grey color further adding to his aged form. He looked at a rear-view mirror that had been set up to check on his passengers during the journey. Mr Granite kept his transportation business as professional and safe as he could, and this latest batch of travelers sent shivers through his tough shelled back.
The first figure to catch the bulk of his attention was actually a human male. His hair was cut into a mohawk, he had a few rough scars on his face, and piercing hazel colored eyes that seemed to bore right into you as he watched. The old armadillo recalled when the young man had paid his way aboard, he had introduced himself as 'Enek' but didn't allude to anything beyond that. Taking a better look in at the human, Mr Granite noticed he wore a damaged flak jacket like a vest along with a wear of army issued desert camouflage pants. It was a fair guess from this make that the man was either ex-military or he had raided a surplus somewhere. Mr Granite suspected the former, rather than the latter considering the muscles on the man.
Though Enek sat quietly in the back of the bumpy transport, the next of the passengers was most definitely not. A curiously pink and white colored lynx-morph female sat in her seat, drumming her hands on her thighs and humming some tune only she seemed to be hearing. A smile was spread across her face as she rocked out to the apparent beat. This one had registered under the name of 'Lily', and even as she bounded happily towards the driver when they first met, he had thought she was rather energetic. Likely something of a youngster, her clothes were scant and rather revealing with only a pair of ripped jean shorts that may as well have been called panties instead and white tank-top shirt that just begs the eye to do a double take with the way it blends in with her chest fur pattern.
This next traveler caused him to squint his eyes to try and see her, and the only reason he had known she was female was by her voice when they spoke. Her tone had a sultry, mature quality to it that seemed to match her bright blue eyes. He was lucky enough to get her name, 'Scarlet', considering how reserved and quiet this one wanted to be. He couldn't much tell details about her with the long travelers cloak she had wrapped around her body. A matching scarf and hood were around her head as well, though Mr Granite suspected he had seen hints of a fox-morph beneath it all. She had given everyone in the transport a careful once over as if analyzing them all before settling down into the corner and sinking as far into the seat as she could.
The final member of this mismatched group had been a familiar face to Mr Granite. A younger, blue bird colored, avian-morph man that wore a custom pair of spectacles on his face. His name was 'Jin-Ba-Lee', but everyone who knew him or did business with the man simply called him 'Jin', and he was something of a new age merchant prince. His family controlled holdings of several major trade routes and farms before the apocalypse, and quickly sought to reestablish them after it had all settled down. Jin was a bit of a figurehead, taking place as the company representative whenever contracts were being signed. There were no rags or ripped clothes on this one, just a finely tailored suit custom cut to allow his wings to remain free in the back. Jin pushed his glasses back up his beak as the young avian flipped through a book to pass the time.
Turning his attention fully back the road, the old armadillo let out a sigh of relief as one of his stops became viable just on the horizon. An outpost constructed around a fortunately uncontaminated water source that had been affectionately named by the locals who built it as Rustwater, on account of the water tasting a little rusty. The town itself was mostly built underground, into a series of caverns and tunnels to get at the water reserves beneath the surface, though there were watch towers that rose into the sky. This area made Mr Granite nervous. Yes it was a bastion of civilization, but it always attracted the attention of outlaws and bandits. Careful marauders would lay in wait for caravans or travelers heading to for the safety of the town and hit them just minutes from the gates sometimes. His fingers gripped the steering wheel as he scanned the environment a little closer.
The drive was thankfully uneventful as the transport vehicle pulled up to the outpost gates. Putting the brakes on, the armadillo driver turned around in his seat and faced the crew sitting in back. "Rustwater station folks, who is getting off?"