by E. E. Knight
KURIAN AGENTS—The Kurian answer to the Hunter class, Kurian agents are very trusted humans, often trained from early childhood to utilize psychic powers similar to those of their Kurian masters. There are reports of Kurian agents able to assume the appearance of other races and genders, confuse the minds of their opponents, and even read minds to uncover traitors.
LEGWORMS—Long, centipede-like creatures introduced to Earth in 2022 that reach lengths of more than forty feet and heights of eight feet or more. They are a useful but stupid creature, able to bear heavy loads, but can be urged to move at a pace above a walk only by a skilled rider and constant prodding. Their chewy flesh from around the hundreds of clawlike legs is high in protein and edible, barely, and the skin from their eggs makes a tough, breathable form of leather that is a valuable trade good if harvested before the newly hatched legworms consume it. They lay eggs in fall and become sluggish and torpid in winter, when they gather together in masses to shelter their eggs.
LIFESIGN—An invisible signature given off by all living organisms, in proportion to their vital aura. Reapers can detect it, especially at night, and are able to home in on humans from miles away. It is possible for a human to train him- or herself to reduce lifesign through mental exercises or meditation, and it is possible to camouflage lifesign by hiding in densely wooded areas or among large groups of livestock. Earth and metals do tend to block it. There are some who maintain that a sufficient quantity of simple aluminum foil can conceal lifesign, especially if one keeps one’s head properly wrapped, but empirical evidence is lacking, since individuals who try to sneak past Reapers by relying on layers of foil rarely return.
LIFEWEAVERS—A race thought to have populated some nine worlds, modifying or creating an unknown number of life-forms. They appear to be some form of octopus crossed with a bat, equally at home in the water or gliding between treetops. A faction of Lifeweaver scientists on a planet called Kur created a schism when they began to use the vital aura from other living creatures to extend their own life span. Soon open warfare broke out. The Lifeweavers were successful in keeping the Kurians confined to Kur for millennia, but the Kurians managed to break out and invaded Earth and an unknown number of other Lifeweaver-populated worlds in 2022, our time.
LOGISTICS COMMANDOS—A branch of Southern Command that concerns itself with acquiring difficult-to-obtain supplies, mostly medicines and technology. They do this by purchase, trade, and outright theft. It is common for veteran Hunters to go into the Logistics Commandos as a form of retirement from fighting.
MOONDAGGERS—A religious military order that fights for the Kurians. They were created and closely directed by a branch of the New Universal Church that is more patriarchal and theocratic than the typical churchmen. Famous for their brutality, they were key in putting down the revolts in the Great Plains Gulag in 2072. They were nearly destroyed, however, when they resorted to similar tactics against the legworm ranchers in Kentucky in 2075–76.
NEW UNIVERSAL CHURCH—A religious order of trusted Quislings who help manage the spiritual and intellectual needs of the human subject populations in the Kurian Zone. Much of their time is spent rationalizing the deaths of those taken by the Reapers and keeping the human breeding stock quiescent. Higher-level churchmen are often trained by the Kurians in similar psychic skills as those used by Kurian Agents. The New Universal Church might justly be compared to the older Anglican one in that there is a “High Church” of important intellectuals and decision makers who provide executive-level direction to the Church’s activities. They gather intelligence and carry out their operations through their agents and small but deadly Special Forces units. Then there is a “Low Church” of foot soldiers, so to speak, who provide day-to-day service to the human population in the form of hospitals, entertainment centers, and organizations such as the Youth Vanguard and the Women’s Army Auxiliaries. The Low Church organs also act as one of the filters for selecting candidates for the Reapers, especially among the sick, unemployable, and troublesome. The New Universal Church, for all its talk of “redeeming mankind, and reclaiming our promise,” is resolutely unforgiving of physical weakness and social misfits.
QUICKWOOD—An olive tree–like plant that acts as a catalyst in a Reaper’s bloodstream, freezing it in place and killing it quickly. The only drawback to Quickwood is its rarity, as the small supply that Southern Command managed to acquire was virtually destroyed by Solon’s forces, though some seeds were saved and a few plants now thrive in both the wild and in controlled and defended environments. The Kurians are working on modifying their Reapers to be immune to Quickwood, but for now the Reapers deal with a Quickwood wound by a fast self-amputation, if practicable.
QUISLINGS—Humans who work for the Kurian Order. There is a great deal of dispute as to what exactly constitutes a Quisling, but usually someone at the bottom rung of the social ladder who follows orders is not considered to be actively supporting the Kurians, even if he or she happens to drive a collection van for the Reapers. Quislings are more commonly held to be those actively working for their master Kurians in pursuit of immunity for themselves and their families. Quislings who do great service in the name of their Kurian lords are sometimes awarded a “brass ring” granting immunity from the Reapers to themselves and their immediate families.
REAPERS—The avatars of the Kurian Order, Reapers are very powerful humanoids that form the basis of most of our vampire legends. With only a vestigial reproductive system and a simplified digestive process based on the consumption of blood and a small amount of flesh, Reapers are fast, strong, and deadly, particularly at night when the connection with their Kurian master is strongest. They are strong enough to tear through metal doors and hatches, can jump to second- or sometimes third-story windows, and can run as fast as most cars can move on all but the best-maintained roads. Hunters find Reapers most vulnerable during daylight hours, when the Kurian connection is weaker, especially directly after a feeding, when the Reaper is sleepy from the blood intake and the Kurian is distracted by the absorption of aura.
TWISTED CROSS—A military faction of the Kurian Order, the members of the Twisted Cross use trained humans to operate fighting Reapers in a manner similar to a Kurian lord’s. The Twisted Cross activities in North America were stillborn when the Golden Ones revolted and destroyed their base in 2067. There are reports of more-successful Twisted Cross military formations operating around the Black Sea and in Southeastern Europe and Asia Minor, the Asian subcontinent, and Japan.
VITAL AURA—The energy created by all living things, but enriched and refined in sentient, emotionally developed creatures. Thus a human will have much more vital aura than, say, a much heavier cow or pig. This energy is what sustains Kurians over their extended, and seemingly limitless, life span.
WOLVES—The great guerilla fighters of the Hunter class, Wolves are famous for their endurance, senses of smell and hearing, and ability to operate without logistical support. They are the most numerous of the Hunter classes, trained by the Lifeweavers to be a match for the fearsome organs of the Kurian Order. They can cover long stretches of ground in their all-day runs, often evading even mechanized opponents. They often act as the eyes and ears of larger operations, or provide a communications link for Cats operating alone in the Kurian Zone and Bear teams needing support and guidance on their way to hit a key target.
GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES
BALTIC LEAGUE—A collection of Scandinavian and Baltic-shore countries composing the largest freehold in Europe. While the Kurians do control the major cities of the coasts, extending as far north as Trondheim, they rule with a very light hand and their position is precarious. Much of their vital aura comes through trade or headhunters who steal victims from farther south. While not militarily powerful in its own right, the Baltic League has what is perhaps the best information-gathering network in the world. It builds and distributes electronics that allow the freeholds to communicate, maintains a shortwave new
s network (often jammed locally by the New Universal Church or contra-programmed) and manufactures arms to be shipped to rebels elsewhere. While the Baltic League is probably strong enough to get rid of the Kurians entirely, it prefers the very weak hold of the present Kurians to whatever scorched-earth tactics might be used if it were to execute a coup to get rid of them entirely.
FREEHOLD—Any area in active resistance to the Kurian Order. Every man, woman, and child in a freehold tends to be familiar with the use of a variety of weapons to secure their homesteads, and highly motivated to keep out of the grasp of the Reapers.
KENTUCKY ALLIANCE—Ranging over three states, the Kentucky Alliance at this time includes some of the mountainous coal-mining areas of West Virginia, much of Kentucky, with influence spreading to North-Central Tennessee all the way to the mountains north of Nashville, and of course the small industrial city of Evansville in Southern Indiana on the Ohio near the operating area of Colonel Lambert’s Southern Command brigade assisting the new freehold. It is a mixture of legworm clans, who ranch their enormous mounts and smuggle goods from Missouri across the Appalachians to the Virginia tidewater, townsfolk, farmers, and miners, with a few bourbon-bottlers thrown in for flavor. It is unique among the freeholds in that it accepts Xeno species introduced by the Kurians as allies, making the first instance of Human/Grog cooperation in the history of the Resistance.
KURIAN ZONE—Any area controlled by the Kurians and their Quislings. Some are as small as a county, while others span an area that covers several states. The level of organization and militarization varies wildly. In much of the West, the New Universal Church is a common denominator, organizing social services and political propaganda for the subject people.
UNITED FREE REPUBLICS (AND THEIR MILITARY ARM, SOUTHERN COMMAND)—While not the largest of the freeholds in North America (that would be Alaska and the Yukon) or the best organized (that would be the flinty Green Mountain Boys with their town-hall system and county-by-county headquarters), they were, up until the 2070s, the fastest-growing and most aggressive of the freeholds in North America. The Free Republics have mini-territories in Missouri, the southeastern tip of Kansas, Arkansas, Eastern Oklahoma, and Texas save for a few spots on the coast, some of the Rio Grande valley, and a good deal of drier country bordering New Mexico. The political structure is very similar to that of the old United States, and it uses a slightly modified version of the Constitution to govern the “several states” that it includes. Self-sufficient in food and energy, and with a well-armed populace that is capable with even support weapons that are handy in most homes and garages, it lacks only advanced, high-tech manufacturing capability and air resources to control the Mississippi and the skies over the central portion of the old United States.