"What Madness Is This?" Volume II: Prophecies in the Dark
- Thread starter Napoleon53
- Start date
Madness!PureFlix would be an absolute nightmare. At least Old Fashioned probably won't get made ITTL, if only because the NUSA is so sex-crazed.
I’m getting real The Death of Stalin vibes from this chapter. Everyone is plotting against one another to become the new man of the house when old Joey finally kicks the bucket. Meanwhile, they’re also trying to hide their own secrets from their political enemies, and avoid getting purged by Steele for whatever reason. Lovecraft’s “possession” seems like a ploy by the Council of Jehovah to deflect Steele’s suspicion while removing Marcus Aurelius from the list of possible competitors.
In fact, since the movie was based off of a French graphic novel, we might eventually see La Morte de Steele playing in Europan theaters.
In fact, since the movie was based off of a French graphic novel, we might eventually see La Morte de Steele playing in Europan theaters.
I'm not sure about the "Lovecraft is faking" theory. He's a dyed in the wool true believer (and unlike the actual Council of Jehovah he holds the position of Atheling in incredibly high esteem as Defender of the Faith).
For some reason i can easily see Oswald screaming "Right, what's a war hero got to do to get some lubrication around here? " during Steele's funeral.
This. From everything we know about Lovecraft, the man believes. I find it much more likely that all the electroshock fried a cortex or something, and he falls into some multiple personality fugue state when he wants to "converse with the Other Side."
So, the President of the Republican Union (one of the most powerful men in the world) is literally taking counsel from a raving madman... There is no way this could possibly go wrong.
He might be schizophrenic as well, given his "visions." He's a true believer, insane no doubt, but a true believer.
Go Wrong?! Have you been reading this series, everything can, has and will go wrong in the worst possible way!
Also the drugs. I am 99% sure that the clegy of AFC use too much drugs even for the RU's standards
And maybe their 'visions' are just drug-induced allucinations. If this is the case, I'd really like to meet their pusher.
Is that derrotist talk I am hearing? Something a godless papist infee could have said! Everything is absolutely perfect in the Republican Union.
"You do not see a 100ft wall of soot. There is no 100ft wall of soot."
In a delightful narrative entry on the expanded universe thread some high ranking Council members get together for a summoning to learn the fate of the (then) upcoming Great War, and their sacrament was a blend of sacred lake water, blowfish poison, peyote, and the Pinnacle blood of the Blind Christian Gentleman.
Billy Sunday got the death he deserved, utterly undignified and humiliating.
Great start, can’t wait for more. 👍
HOLY HELL: PROJECT BLISS
HOLY HELL: PROJECT BLISS
A plane takes a photograph of the Black Bliss Sootstorm near Sweetwater, Oxacre, 1937
Despite the fact that Manifest Climax was in every sense a war and that anyone with half a brain cell was well aware that there were clear steps being taken to move forces south long before the Neutrality Pact's Sunday punch, the Republican Union government refused to even refer to it as a war. From Uncle Sam's Talkiebox Station to newspapers to internal memos, Manifest Climax was a "continuous national security operation dedicated to the purpose of purging foreign subversives and manpower from rightful American soil." Advisors had warned Steele that calling the "counterattack" after Point Pierce a declaration of war could be a mistake, as the American people were still recovering from the Great World War over twenty years later. This move to "normalize" a never-ending slog in South America would prove to be the right one, logistically speaking, as the government knew that even if victory was eventually assured, it could take ten or more years before the final South American governments would fall.
But if it was up to the brass at the secretive Fort Lincoln in the frozen north of the Boreal Territory, it would take much less than that. What Fort McClellan in Texas was to mind control and what Reeducation Camp 222 in Chersonesus was to biological warfare, Fort Lincoln was to chemical warfare. At the time of Manifest Destiny, Fort McClellan was very much Supreme Chief Patton's pet project and was considered a haven for crackpot psychiatrists and Camp 222 was considered one for serial killers and sadists, but Fort Lincoln was known as a place of legitimate research and was home to some of the brightest minds in the American armaments community. To understand the story of Fort Lincoln and the Black Bliss chemical weapon used in South America during the 1930s and 1940s, we must examine the story of Fort Lincoln itself. From chemical weapons to massive orgies to worshiping an ancient demonic deity, the saga of Fort Lincoln is a bizarre one, indeed.
THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING BIG
Legate General Arnold Blooker circa 1925
Following the Union occupation of Canada and Quebec at the end of the Great World War, new states were formed. Keybeck (formerly Quebec), Newfoundland, Hudson (formerly the Manitoba region), and Custeria (formerly the Yukon region) entered the Union as states like any other, however depopulated, while the snowy wilderness formerly known as Nunavut became the Territory of Boreal, named after the gorgeous Northern Lights. By the time of Manifest Climax, Newfoundland, Keybeck and Hudson were carrying on business like most other states, while Custeria and Boreal remained mostly empty, save for hidden pockets of Native Americans, wartime refugees and former members of the Canadian and Quebecois military. Moose Factory, Keybeck, would see the rise of Phoenix Oil and the Oswald family. Old Kinderhook grabbed up the former property of the Hudson Bay Company and rebuilt most of the new state of Hudson in their corporate image. With the use of hired mercenaries, O.K. Industries took over much of the policing and occupation duties from the Union government. Finally, the 1925 Gold Rush brought Custeria into the modern world, with small cities and modern roads popping up almost over night. This left the Territory of Boreal still empty and with no promising future.
And where there are vast empty expanses you will find the Union military ready to establish secret bases away from prying eyes. Fort Lincoln was constructed at the behest of Army weaponry expert Legate General Arnold Blooker, commander of the newly created Army Group VII. Blooker, born in 1877, was a native of Trenton, New Jersey, and was a second-generation Prussian-American. His father Konrad traced his ancestry back to Prussian field marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher and his mother was a choir songstress and devout Fundamentalist named Elizabeth Sands. In 1898, Arnold had joined the Grand Army of the Republic as a private in the 1st Cohort, 2nd Legion, Army Group I, the legendary Lincoln's Hammer. During this same time, he was involved in the new Chemical Weapons Program established in 1900 and was going to the Philadelphia Military Academy free courtesy of the 1890 Service Bill, with a major in chemistry. By the time of the outbreak of the Great World War he had established himself as an excellent soldier and in 1910 was appointed Colonel of the 1st Cohort.
During Acme Ashton's days as Legate General of Army Group I, Arnold Blooker proved himself both at the Battle of Peterborough and the Kawartha Lakes campaign, leading several charges into almost certain death and surviving a gas attack with no protection. By the end of the war, thanks in part to casualties and purges, he had been promoted to Major General in charge of the 2nd Legion and was placed in command of the Occupational Government of the Hudson Bay Occupied Zone, serving as its military governor until 1919, when statehood was officially granted. 1919 would also see Blooker take command of Army Group VII, the newest unit of its kind since Army Group VI was created in southern Old Mexico following the Great Immolation. Group VII covered the entirety of Old Canada west of Keybeck, drawing manpower from far and wide to try to come even close to the goal of 120,000 men for a proper Group. Keybeck was initially lumped into Army Group I with Newfoundland, but in 1922 they separated into Army Group VIII, which would remain under the control of Legate General Larry Canterbury until 1950.
When construction began on Fort Lincoln in the middle of the wilderness of Boreal, few eyebrows were raised because of regional underpopulation and general secrecy. The only people who would occasionally see the base were hunters and explorers, many of whom were sent packing by armed guards long before they had time to take a picture or anything of the like. The base was ring-shaped, with very high walls and a central structure in the middle. It looked over a roughly six square mile patch of snowy forest land with numerous bunkers, buildings, and depots. When Blooker first pitched the idea for Fort Lincoln to Supreme Marshal Ambrose Jansen, he billed it as the "future of chemical weaponry and biological warfare." According to Blooker, the glory days of mustard and chlorine gas were in the past and while they could still be used effectively, too many armies and even civilians owned modern gas masks in the modern era for them to make an actual difference in warfare. Instead, Blooker wanted to create "Bliss," a neurotoxin that was odorless and colorless and could be absorbed easily through the skin and would kill in seconds. A scientist named Bobby Peters had convinced Blooker of the viability of this "superweapon" the year before when he demonstrated it on lab rats, who fell over dead within ten seconds of the gas being vented into their enclosure. The gas was almost painless as it destroyed the brain's ability to recognize pain itself within a second or two. Despite a huge amount of guesswork involved in making Peters' tiny original batch, which was more a fluke than genuine science, Jansen finally gave in and consented to large-budget testing in 1923.
Bobby Peters circa 1920
Bobby Peters was an absolute quack who had lucked his way into the creation of the Bliss, but he was too deep now. For the entirety of the time between 1923 and 1929, Peters struggled to figure out what had made his initial batch so successful and even Blooker himself would venture into the lab and trade his dress uniform for a silver biohazard suit. While work continued on the Bliss project, Blooker involved dozens of other scientists in research of other weapons and programs. In 1926, while experimenting with different types of rubber to use in gas masks, a sort of yellow glue was discovered. Despite the many future uses of this new "Ultraglue," including as liquid wound sealant during Manifest Climax and beyond, the government was growing tired of Peters' failed experiments. It would also be the basis of new research into what would become "bullet-proof" glass.
During one test March 15, 1927 on death-row murderers, what was supposed to be a quick and painless death devolved into one of the most horrific events in the history of the Union's Chemical Weapons Program. Ten convicts were bused all the way from Moose Factory Prison for the "most promising test of Bliss yet." They were loaded into a cell measuring about twenty feet by fifteen feet and strapped into chairs. As they begged and pleaded for their lives, Army brass and even elderly RUMP Supreme Chief Henry Willow (Thomas Custer's successor who had controlled the organization since the latter's 1921 death) joined Blooker and Peters in the observation deck, gazing through an installation of one-way mirrors. Promising up and down that the honchos were in for "the show of your lives," Peters slowly turned a crank that pumped Bliss into the execution chamber. Nothing happened. Confused, everyone watched closely for any sign of the gas taking effect. When nothing happened for over ten minutes, Peters tried to reassure everyone that it was all a technical difficulty and that he would have it sorted out quickly. Equipping a biohazard suit and wielding a service pistol, Peters stepped down to the main level, opened the massive steel vault door that sealed the room, and ventured into where the convicts sat strapped to their chairs. After taking a few moments to check their temperatures and general signs of life, he frowned and proceeded to the nearby utility room, which contained the massive drum of Bliss being used for the experiment. He checked the duct work and the wiring and found no problems there. Confused and nervous about embarrassing not only himself but also Blooker and the entire program, he returned to the observation deck and once more turned the crank that should have released the neurotoxin.
Several officers, including Supreme Chief Willow, were showing signs of growing disinterest or even anger. Willow, a gaunt man in his mid-70s with cheekbones that could cut apples and a decorative uniform that looked like it was from the last century, asked Peters, "Why don't we all leave and come back when you create something useful at this slip-shod icebox, Peters?" Incensed by the jab, Peters turned the crank even more and angrily declared, "It'll fucking work! I know it will fucking work, you pompous ass!" Everyone was taken aback by his flagrant disrespect of one of the most powerful men in the country and the room fell silent as Peters continued to spin his little metal wheel over and over and as the cries of the convicts below begging for salvation could even be heard through the thick glass. As men began to file out of the observation deck, Legate General Blooker stepped over to Peters and reportedly told him, "Confound it, man, you can be shot for disrespecting the Supreme Chief like that! What the hell is wrong with you? I'm shutting this down. The whole Bliss project. I'm not going to have my reputation dragged through the gutter anymore!"
At this, an incensed and out-of-control Peters shot Blooker in the abdomen at point blank range before turning his gun on Supreme Chief Willow, hitting him in the shoulder and sending the old man crumpling to the floor. As soon as they could register what was going on, armed guards leveled their rifles and riddled Peters with holes. This had the side-effect of blowing a crater through the one-way mirrors and thus allowing airflow. A sensor on the wall began rapidly beeping and everyone watched in horror as they thought their lives were ending. Scrambling to his feet, Blooker raced out of the room alongside Willow, who was being carried by several other officers and scientists. It would turn out that it was not the oxygen sensor going off but rather an overheating sensor signalling a massive problem in the delivery system. As medics and scientists helped Blooker and Willow on the snowy ground outside and checked everyone's vitals, relief came over them as they realized they were unharmed. Just then, at approximately 12:01 pm, the Bliss delivery system exploded from a cross-fed hose, killing all of the convicts inside and causing absolute mayhem on the base. Fort Lincoln went into Code Red, with everyone equipping gas masks and biohazard suits and a several ambulances whisking high-ranking personnel away from the blast site. After three hours, scientists gave the all-clear. The small amount of Bliss had actually been destroyed by the heat of the initial explosion.
Now began the investigation. Under-Chief of the Military Police Huxley Foreman demanded that RUMP conduct a total and complete examination of the program, of Peters, and of Legate General Blooker. After two weeks of leave, Blooker was cleared of any wrong-doing. But with Bobby Peters, there was much more than meets the eye. Rather than a momentary lapse into insanity triggered by stress and humiliation, Peters had actually planned a suicidal terrorist attack upon all the officers and staff present. Just a week prior, he had been given an ultimatum by Blooker to produce something within the next month or his entire program would be defunded and he would be sacked from government payroll. Knowing he was in far, far over his own head and was facing total humiliation and a loss of years of research, he had planned to blow himself up with as many government officials as possible. This was all discovered in a note laying on his bed in his personal quarters in Fort Lincoln. This was unacceptable. The third most powerful man in the Union had been shot by a deranged scientist who had attempted to blow up many other powerful men.
On March 28, President Steele boarded the new Trans-Canadian Railway after flying to Moose Factory, Keybeck. He arrived at Fort Lincoln on April 4 to "personally inspect the base and review whether or not Fort Lincoln was fulfilling its purpose of producing superweapons for the Grand Army of the Republic." Blooker, his torso still in a brace to help his gunshot wound heal, met Steele at the Fort Lincoln train depot and gave a straight-arm salute, fully expecting to be purged at any moment. His blood ran cold when he saw ORRA Supreme Chief Patton come rolling out behind Steele in his wheelchair. Over the next ten hours, the dictator of America and his lackies poked and prodded at every aspect of Fort Lincoln, criticizing the lack of progress, and in general making Blooker feel a firing squad or a Redemption Maniple was coming swiftly his way. At the end of the day, Steele and Patton simply boarded the train once more and left, leaving Blooker feeling completely at a loss as to his own fate. He was actually preparing his own suicide the next day in his personal library when a telephone rang on his desk. Sighing, he removed the noose from his neck and stepped down from the chair to answer it. He could hardly believe it.
"This is Supreme Chief Ambrose Jansen, Grand Army High Command. Despite recent setbacks, President Steele has given me the go-ahead to reinstate funding for Fort Lincoln. Parcels will be incoming with research that needs to be completed, but the President trusts that you will be able to create a viable superweapon within one year. This is your last chance, Legate General. That is both a threat and a vote of confidence in you by the President. You should be flattered. All hail." After several moments of heartfelt thanks and gratitude, Blooker inquired as to the health of RUMP Supreme Chief Willow. "Oh, him," Jansen replied. "Supreme Chief Willow has retired to the Goodyear Islands as of two days ago after submitting his official resignation. Huxley Foreman is now RUMP Supreme Chief." Instantly, Blooker knew that Willow had been purged. "Retired to the Goodyear Islands" was Army slang for being purged. Willow had served loyally for decades and even attended the Kissimmee Conference. Blooker would never find out the whole story, but Steele and Foreman had been planning a "new era" of RUMP for some time now. In actuality, Peters had almost done them a favor, but he had aimed too high. While recovering cleanly from the assassination attempt at a military hospital in Ruperttown, Hudson, located right on Hudson Bay, an agent walked into the room and suffocated the old man with a pillow. His death was never listed or written down and his body was fed to the hospital furnace in the deepest corner of the basement. Overnight, some 376 members of RUMP were purged and replaced. The next morning, papers said that Willow had retired to a tropical paradise with his wife Shirley. Shirley was also purged.
CULT OF SUCCESS
"Father of the Black Bliss" Leo Merkwürdigliebe, circa 1940s
"Father of the Black Bliss" Leo Merkwürdigliebe, circa 1940s
The story of the Black Bliss superweapon cannot be told without also telling the story of the Merkwürdigliebe family. Descending from a long line of shoemakers, Friedrich "Fred" Merkwürdigliebe dreamed of a better life and left the Nordreich in 1890 at the age of 20 with only a suitcase and enough cash from his father to put him through Benedict Arnold University of Boston, where he was to study art. BAUB was offering a very generous scholarship to Better-blooded foreign-born students as part of a wider attempt by the Union to keep growing the population. Rejecting his staunch Lutheran father's wishes, he converted to Fundamentalism and majored in racial science and hygiene. In 1899, the immigrant landed a job working for the Boston branch of the Office of Racial and Religious Affairs. There he proved adept at his job, coming up with innovative new methods to track and monitor Inferiors of Society, the "unpeople" who he was rapidly beginning to believe had to be "dealt with" sooner or later. In 1905, he would return to BAUB disgusted with the current state of the Inferior population and determined to change things. He accepted a position as Professor of Racial Science and Hygiene and began to communicate with officials high up in the Custer government on the possibility of "limiting the future growth of the Inferior population."
Around this time he also paid for his younger brother Leonhardt "Leo" Merkwürdigliebe (born 1890) to travel across the Atlantic and join him in America. Leo proved as adept at science as his brother, but was much more... unique in his religious views. While publicly proclaiming faith in Jehovah, Leo was an ardent follower of ancient paganism and mythology from a young age. He kept his unusual beliefs to himself for the time being, though, and excelled at his studies. In 1909, he was offered a scholarship with the Philadelphia Military Academy to study chemical warfare, just as Arnold Blooker had done. Fellow students described Leo as "odd" and "reclusive" and even "a bit insane," but no one doubted his genius or his tremendous skills.
In 1912, Fred Merkwürdigliebe would attend the Kissimmee Conference, hosted by Dr. Midas Israel Goldstein, and would help propose ideas that eventually led to the Cleansing Month and the genocide of the Inferior population. Fred himself was still championing forced sterilization, and many present at the Conference were of like mind, but Goldstein and Joseph K. Finch would eventually win them all over to the idea of a weaponized cure for the Beckie Flu. He would actually help organize vaccination efforts in the ghettos of New England and Pennsylvania, a monolithic task, and he threw himself into it with aplomb and dedication. He spoke in a heavy German accent but he was always the first to call himself an American, and he could be seen most days out on his front lawn in a button-up plaid shirt, brown cardigan, khaki slacks, and a pipe in the corner of his mouth, tending to his garden or trimming his hedge. A Union flag waved proudly over his backyard gazebo, where he and Leo would routinely host get-togethers with their wives and families. Following Midas Goldstein's promotion to Supreme Chief of the Office of Health and Wellness, Fred would leave his wife Mary and their five children in Boston while he became Chief Camp Counselor of Reeducation Camp 222, just south of Crawford, Chersonesus. He would perform thousands of morally bereft and sickening, charnel experiments there, able to so easily shut off his outgoing, friendly personality and replace it with one that could put living Inferiors into a giant vacuum or freeze their limbs and smash them with hammers. Despite the seemingly random nature of the "experiments," these actually produced some invaluable information for the Union, in particular laying the groundwork for the future Space Force to put men into space in the 1950s. Fred would remain at the facility during the winter and early spring every year before returning to Boston to spend the rest of his time with his family.
Leo, on the other hand, served on the frontlines of the Great World War, fighting in Lincoln's Hammer as a corporal. He served aboard then-Legate General and future Supreme Marshal Acme Ashton's personal aeroship, dropping chemical shells onto the Quebecois below. He would eventually become Ashton's personal adjutant and errand boy. Once, during the Kawartha Lakes campaign, when the crude field telephones couldn't transmit far enough Leo had the bomb doors opened and he personally descended a rope with no parachute some 1200 feet to the planet below. After trudging a mile and a half through a shell-pocked hellscape with a bullet hole in his right arm and wearing only a dress uniform and a gas mask, he reached the officers he needed to find and they coordinated their attacks. Leo was awarded the Order of Valley Forge his wound, the Pentagon Star Second Class for valiant heroism, and several other lesser medals.
After the war, he would return to his studies and eventually became a professor like his brother, only this time at the Philadelphia Military Academy. There he would remain until 1927, when Legate General Arnold Blooker sent him a letter asking him to take command of an effort at a top secret chemical weapons facility somewhere in the far north. Accepting immediately, he was at Fort Lincoln inside of a month. It would turn out that Leo had actually met Blooker once before, during his fateful mission repelling from the Ashton's aeroship. The officer he had handed Ashton's orders to was none other than then-Colonel of the 1st Cohort, 2nd Legion, Army Group I, Arnold Blooker. This served to be a catalyst to a lasting and successful friendship, and the two hit it off like they were lifelong friends. Leo would even get Blooker to join him in doing LSD in a brightly lit room, his favorite hobby. It would be during one of these acid trips in July of 1927 that Leo hit upon an idea for the next great superweapon.
Plans for Orange Bliss were quickly drawn up. It had little to do with Peters' original failed Bliss experiments at all, but Leo said he liked the codename all the same. The purpose of Orange Bliss was to blanket a region with a chemical fog that served as a defoliating agent, killing all plants and rotting them to their core. This could prove very effective for rapid deforestation along borders, in wartime, or during large-scale construction projects. Orange Bliss was actually white, but to fulfill his acid-induced visions he had an orange dye added to the mix that gave it its name. "It MUST be orange," Leo was quoted as saying to his staff many times. Leo was by this point a devout follower of the The Worm, or the The Great Faceless One, as the supposedly indescribably ancient deity was sometimes described. The Worm was a bizarre hidden and idolatrous cult created by Charles Dexter Armitage at the turn of the century that had found believers in some high-ranking military brass, scientists, and politicians.
"With this power I will become death, able to smite entire valleys, forests, and make even the mightiest oak crumble before the wheels of progress. Our enemies will have nowhere to hide. Not a single leaf to cower under."
-Prof. Leo Merkwürdigliebe
-Prof. Leo Merkwürdigliebe
The first small-scale tests of Orange Bliss were carried out in enclosed rooms full of potted plants. Phase 2 began some fifty miles from Fort Lincoln in the middle of the frozen tundra. It went off without a hitch and the trees and plants at the test site were dead within 48 hours. Over thirty square acres were destroyed. Orange Bliss was deemed a success and ready for Phase 3 tests, the outcome of which would determine whether or not it would be accepted by the Army as a new superweapon. For this, Leo believed a different climate was needed to show the true potency of Orange Bliss in any environment. Much thought was given as to what would be the best and yet most remote location for this test. After several months of planning, several Navy ships carried Bloocker, Merkwürdigliebe, and a crew of Army photographers and filmmakers to Pitcairn Island in the Pacific. Pitcairn Island had been the site of the 1790 mutiny on the HMS Bounty, and the descendants of those villainous crewmen had since bred with local Inferior savages. Pitcairn had been a pretty tropical backwater that most Americans didn't even know existed and if they did it was because of the Bounty story. From some ten miles out to sea, cameras were rolling as ship guns blasted Orange Bliss shells onto the island paradise. No warning was given to the inhabitants. Within the hour the whole island seemed to almost glow with an orange hue. Everyone retired to quarters to wait and see what the effect would be.
It was devastating. Two days later, only a handful of Pitcairn Islanders remained, most in critical condition, and the island itself was a wasteland of brown, black, and gray. Breadfruit trees were crumbling, the grass was withering, and the air itself hung very heavy with an acidic, carcinogenic stench. To Leo, it was as if his weapon was a gift from The Worm, to which he had prayed these many years. Despite literally risking execution or life in a reeducation camp, Leo then decided to share his beliefs in the ancient Worm deity with Legate General Blooker, who he saw as a fellow intellectual almost on his own level. Blooker essentially said "thanks but no thanks" and swore he would never out Leo as a heretic. That was not all he would swear not to out Leo for. He promised to keep Merkwürdigliebe's incredible list of murder victims to himself. Leo performed dark rituals with the bodies of random people he would kill and used his political power to shield himself. Using this method he believed he could live forever with the blessings of The Worm. He also organized "sexual magick" rituals, sometimes with as many as thirty women. Quite simply, Blooker thought if he was found to be consorting with another kook, a dangerous one at that, he was sure he would not only lose his job but his life as well. He might as well start tying his own noose again if he ratted out Leo. Leo would go on to replace Midas Goldstein as Supreme Chief of the Office of Health and Wellness in early 1937, when Midas decided to focus full time on atomic weapons research.
Thus the origin of Orange Bliss has been told. But what of Black Bliss? Was there another chemical weapon developed by the insane pagan doctor? No, Orange Bliss was one and the same with Black Bliss. Even when it was deployed to the frontlines of Manifest Climax in 1937, it was still quite well known by the Union government as Orange Bliss. The name-change was unofficial. When the ORRA Torchboys used their powerful Liberty Torches to set fire to the South American jungle after heavy use of Orange Bliss, the fires grew out of control very rapidly and the smoke from the poisoned vegetation turned black as night and rose far, far into the air. This was deemed acceptable and the saber-rattling high command pushed for more, more, more use of the defoliant to make the advance against the Neutrality Pact move even faster. Leo himself was pleased with the results of his handiwork and privately praised his occult master for this success.
When the Monsoon season uncharacteristically began to blow the Black Bliss north, into Old Mexico, the Union government began to panic. In June of 1937, as the future Prophet Billy Graham descended into New Canaan with his friend, the future Apostle Andrew, they would see just what Merkwürdigliebe's and Blooker's superweapon was capable of. Monolithic 100 foot-tall walls of soot would wash up over the land, reaching as far as Southern Texas. Black ash would roll in with the Lewisiana tide. Metropolis, Gem of the Southwest and City of Tomorrow, would be swarmed with refugees, as the Metropolis Valley largely shielded it from the direct storm but made it a target for those seeking salvation. Whole cities would disappear or empty overnight. Corpses could be seen along the Destiny Road, which would be completely shut down in late July for all of Old Mexico for anything but vital military traffic. Roaming gangs of outlaws and hooligans would rob, steal, rape and murder. But through it all, despite the rapid breakdown of society, the country boys of Old Mexico would survive and emerge as the toughest, most resilient, and dare-say most truly American people of all time. And at their head would be the Prophet Graham. In 1938, Graham would receive his first divine visions from Njarl, the Angel of Destiny, and he would begin rebuilding Old Mexico in his own image.
"They don't even know it yet, but this 'god' they worship in this country, this 'Jehovah,' it is not the Christian Yahweh. It is not Jesus Christ. It is something darker, far more ancient, and much more destructive. Something which has been and always will be. Since the first primeval ape men clashed with rocks and sticks it has been with us. It provides and nourishes from its blood-soaked teat. And when the times are hard, sacrifices and rituals in its name make us strong once again. I sacrificed an entire fucking island in its name. -It- is The Worm, the Great Faceless One, the Crowned and Conquering King. And it is with this country, and one day the American people will realize who truly has been listening to their prayers."
-OHW Supreme Chief Leo Merkwürdigliebe to Legate General Arnold Blooker, 1937
-OHW Supreme Chief Leo Merkwürdigliebe to Legate General Arnold Blooker, 1937
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I spent ALL DAY creating that update, and I hope it entertains you as much as I had fun writing it. It's got everything, from military heroics to minor characters returning, to mad scientists, to ancient death cults. Let me know what you think guys! 
I gotta say a LOT of things inspired this update, particularly with Leo's personality being inspired by Jack Parsons, while his battlefield heroics were all Mengele.
Also, this isn't the first time Leo has appeared in canon. In the WUSN Metropolis radio broadcasts I did on YT, he's described repeatedly as OHW Supreme Chief. Yep, that's right, the guy who invented the Bliss itself is in charge of pretending all is well as it backfires horrifically.
I gotta say a LOT of things inspired this update, particularly with Leo's personality being inspired by Jack Parsons, while his battlefield heroics were all Mengele.Also, this isn't the first time Leo has appeared in canon. In the WUSN Metropolis radio broadcasts I did on YT, he's described repeatedly as OHW Supreme Chief. Yep, that's right, the guy who invented the Bliss itself is in charge of pretending all is well as it backfires horrifically.
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farmerted555
Banned
I'm sorry, but there is no soot. Must be an optical illusion.
A plane takes a photograph of the Black Bliss Sootstorm near Sweetwater, Oxacre, 1937
I'm in absolute awe at this Napo
I see no way in which this could possibly turn out badly for anyone. Lovecraftian New England in Mexico!
I'm fucking speechless. This is so balls to the wall insane that his fucking testes might as well be stuck to said wall with super glue. Just Jesus Christ.
*Prays for salvation with Presbyterian intent*
I see no way in which this could possibly turn out badly for anyone. Lovecraftian New England in Mexico!
I'm fucking speechless. This is so balls to the wall insane that his fucking testes might as well be stuck to said wall with super glue. Just Jesus Christ.
*Prays for salvation with Presbyterian intent*