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Log inThe Black North
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The Black North
by Inukpak Thu Aug 13, 2020 6:19 pm
INUKPAK RAILWAY DRAFT
Imperial Board of Works - Year 518The Imperial Board of Works, under mandate by our Everlasting Emperor and the Child of the Bear God Semqiujuk, dictates the following:
- This mandate only applies to the Province of the Extreme North.
- Men and women of the age 25 to 46, shall report for the Railway Draft in the Provincial Capital of Kuuktaliaqaaq.
- Each man and woman shall be pressed to construct the Inukpak Northern Railway, thus breaching centuries of lawlessness, inaccessibility, and inconvenience that has plagued the well-mannered peoples of the Extreme North.
- The steel mills in Altaaiinga, Qitalikajunga, and Asillasooq shall be contracted to construct the rails, cumulatively 200 miles long.
- The men and women shall be divided into work units of 8 persons, and be granted supplies and provisions worth 8 day's of work. They shall work at laying down the rails at a pre-determined stretch of the path, with distance ranging from 600 meters to 1,400 meters.
- The Board of Works shall provide the tools necessary for the continuance of work.
-----------
Amaruq looked at the notice. It was just mailed to his household several hours ago. How did he know, you might ask. Well, it's quite simple - when it comes to mail delivery in the Extreme North, paper mail always tends to be a tad bit dank from all the snow and ice. The mail vans always pass through the precarious mountain roads in the fjords to the south, which are largely flooded for 8 months of the year. The mail will always be inundated whether you like it or not.
He showed the notice to his parents. They were nice, he supposed. One was a whaler, the other a fur trapper. Both made an 'okay' income - enough to send him to a school, where he just finished studies on railway construction. It was a growing profession in the Kingdom of Inukpak nowadays - the Highway Act of 1966 meant that only one railway line was ever operational in the country, and it was the one traversing across the Great Island, from the capital of Tuungusik to the eastern terminus at Buk.
However, as more people migrated up to the north for work in the mines. Silver, gold, tantalite, iron, diamonds, you name it. It was a quick pathway to riches. Now, the demand for more transport infrastructure was needed.
"It's easy money, pa," he said. His dad nodded.
"I'll drive you to Kuuktaliaqaaq", he replied, wishing him well.
That was eight weeks ago.
Now, he was sitting in the cold tundra.
The white snow fell on top of him like water. Little specks of frost clung onto his face, The sky was fading away into a bright orange light, as the sun crept to the west. A painting of clouds and colours was held over his head, with dark, pinnate shapes occluding the perfect sky. A series of coniferous trees surrounded him in loose formation, their roots sinking into the snow. He felt a gentle tingle at his boots from the cold.
The snow was quiet. He could hear his own breathing, his own heartbeat. It was a peaceful, tranquil scene, unmolested by the troubles of the world, housing Hammer inside a little bubble of serenity. The snowflakes dropped calmly on his helmet. They produced a gentle patter on the steel.
Slowly, he pushed himself up from the ground. His hand left a deep indentation in the soft, chilly snow. He looked around, and heard the soft footsteps of a human. He turned around, raising his rifle at attention, only to lower it when he saw who it was.
Or rather, what it was.
(OOC: this may appear to be a news post, but it'll lead to more character RP)
Inukpak- Posts : 4
Join date : 2020-08-13
Re: The Black North
by Inukpak Sat Aug 15, 2020 9:09 pm
7 weeks prior
Amaruq had arrived to the workmen's dormitories. It was...well, shit, quite frankly. Quite shit.
There were 283 workmen who were drafted under the Railway Draft. He was divided into a work unit with 7 others, and all 8 were shoved into this miserable hole of a home. There was Atiqtalik, or "Polar Bear Mother" in the local dialect. Quite apt, seeing as how she was a park ranger and raised some polar bear cubs. Cupun was the resident coal miner. Ikiaq was a carpenter. Felix - the only foreigner here - was apparently a second generation immigrant. Kallik and Kumaglak were twins. Totally insufferable. Constantly chattering. Then finally, there was Silla, who was the 'watch commander'. He'd been appointed by the Board of Public Works to lead this work unit, simply because this was his fourth draft.
Typically, they would work 8-day shifts in the freezing cold. It doesn't matter whether or not it was the blistering summer elsewhere - up here in the Extreme North, everything was freezing cold. Earlier, he witnessed Felix sit down to relieve his bowels. The other workmen had to break out a pickaxe and dig Felix out, because his buttocks had adhered to the frozen porcelain seat.
The work system was simple. The team of 8 people would be driven and dropped off in the middle of nowhere, with enough provisions to last for their 8 days of work. In those 8 days, they would start laying down railbeds and rails at their designated 'work sector', which was a stretch of land where the railway would go through. Normally, they would have the 8 days to lay down 600 meters of rail, but it's entirely possible that they may be forced to make do with 1,400 meters.
The dorm was an old wooden hut. Eight beds, an outhouse, and a small stove. The windows were covered by curtains - there were no glass panes. They had broken a long time ago.
"Alright folks," Silla said with a voice of authority, "Work Unit 2 - that's us - will be going in next week. I will brief you for the time being on our work sector and assignment.
"Our work sector is 4,000 meters down the rail. The path is not marked, so we will need to follow the lead of the previous work unit. Work Units 3 and 4 will be responsible for covering the 2,000 meters behind us that link the rail to what Work Unit 1 has done. We'll be all alone.
"The BPW has instructed us to build a rest stop 4,000 meters in. Work Unit 5 will relieve us after our 8 days. So first, we're moving to the 4,000 - then, we set camp, wait, and start building. Is that understood?"
They all nodded. Silla nodded back.
"For now, we wait. Let's relax."
They had to relax at that point. The snow had swallowed up their path back to civilization. Here they were, roughly 80 miles away from the nearest hamlet, with the crappy gravel path obscured by the precipitation. The August snowstorms always happened in this part of the region, plaguing the thousands that lived here. Amaruq lit up the small stove as it slowly radiated warmth. The exterior was eerily quiet, for snow was an insulator. As he watched the snow slowly pile up outside with intrigue, he was suddenly snapped out of it when he heard commotion near the outhouse.
"Fu-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA", someone screamed. The entire work unit ran outside to the outhouse. Amaruq snatched his rifle as he went, while Felix grabbed a pickaxe. Atiqtalik was the first to barge out the door. She headed straight to the outhouse, where the scream emanated from.
"WHO GOES THERE!?", Silla shouted, running breathlessly to the main group. All of the 8 had reached the outhouse. Amaruq did a head count.
"Guys, who just screamed?"
"No one."
"But we heard a scream."
Amaruq pushed open the door to the outhouse with his rifle barrel. There was no one inside.
"Were you sure it came from the outhouse?" Cupun asked. Atiqtalik nodded.
Ikiaq turned around. It was true - there was nothing there. For the rest of the day, they trampled around their dormitory, looking for signs of tracks, but there was nothing.
"Well, that's not creepy at all," Kallik said sardonically as he walked back into the hut. Everyone else followed. There was some disbelief at first - they had all heard that - but there was nothing they could do. The ham radio that Ikiaq brought over from home was working and powered, so they tuned into the other channels, listening in to some conversations. According to some of the other work units, their camps were breeding sites for foxes. Maybe that was the source of the scream.
Amaruq headed to bed uneasily. It was just so surreal, you know? What kind of fox screams like a human?
Mental note to self: kill game tomorrow, he thought, shortly before he fell into sleep.
Amaruq had arrived to the workmen's dormitories. It was...well, shit, quite frankly. Quite shit.
There were 283 workmen who were drafted under the Railway Draft. He was divided into a work unit with 7 others, and all 8 were shoved into this miserable hole of a home. There was Atiqtalik, or "Polar Bear Mother" in the local dialect. Quite apt, seeing as how she was a park ranger and raised some polar bear cubs. Cupun was the resident coal miner. Ikiaq was a carpenter. Felix - the only foreigner here - was apparently a second generation immigrant. Kallik and Kumaglak were twins. Totally insufferable. Constantly chattering. Then finally, there was Silla, who was the 'watch commander'. He'd been appointed by the Board of Public Works to lead this work unit, simply because this was his fourth draft.
Typically, they would work 8-day shifts in the freezing cold. It doesn't matter whether or not it was the blistering summer elsewhere - up here in the Extreme North, everything was freezing cold. Earlier, he witnessed Felix sit down to relieve his bowels. The other workmen had to break out a pickaxe and dig Felix out, because his buttocks had adhered to the frozen porcelain seat.
The work system was simple. The team of 8 people would be driven and dropped off in the middle of nowhere, with enough provisions to last for their 8 days of work. In those 8 days, they would start laying down railbeds and rails at their designated 'work sector', which was a stretch of land where the railway would go through. Normally, they would have the 8 days to lay down 600 meters of rail, but it's entirely possible that they may be forced to make do with 1,400 meters.
The dorm was an old wooden hut. Eight beds, an outhouse, and a small stove. The windows were covered by curtains - there were no glass panes. They had broken a long time ago.
"Alright folks," Silla said with a voice of authority, "Work Unit 2 - that's us - will be going in next week. I will brief you for the time being on our work sector and assignment.
"Our work sector is 4,000 meters down the rail. The path is not marked, so we will need to follow the lead of the previous work unit. Work Units 3 and 4 will be responsible for covering the 2,000 meters behind us that link the rail to what Work Unit 1 has done. We'll be all alone.
"The BPW has instructed us to build a rest stop 4,000 meters in. Work Unit 5 will relieve us after our 8 days. So first, we're moving to the 4,000 - then, we set camp, wait, and start building. Is that understood?"
They all nodded. Silla nodded back.
"For now, we wait. Let's relax."
They had to relax at that point. The snow had swallowed up their path back to civilization. Here they were, roughly 80 miles away from the nearest hamlet, with the crappy gravel path obscured by the precipitation. The August snowstorms always happened in this part of the region, plaguing the thousands that lived here. Amaruq lit up the small stove as it slowly radiated warmth. The exterior was eerily quiet, for snow was an insulator. As he watched the snow slowly pile up outside with intrigue, he was suddenly snapped out of it when he heard commotion near the outhouse.
"Fu-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA", someone screamed. The entire work unit ran outside to the outhouse. Amaruq snatched his rifle as he went, while Felix grabbed a pickaxe. Atiqtalik was the first to barge out the door. She headed straight to the outhouse, where the scream emanated from.
"WHO GOES THERE!?", Silla shouted, running breathlessly to the main group. All of the 8 had reached the outhouse. Amaruq did a head count.
"Guys, who just screamed?"
"No one."
"But we heard a scream."
Amaruq pushed open the door to the outhouse with his rifle barrel. There was no one inside.
"Were you sure it came from the outhouse?" Cupun asked. Atiqtalik nodded.
Ikiaq turned around. It was true - there was nothing there. For the rest of the day, they trampled around their dormitory, looking for signs of tracks, but there was nothing.
"Well, that's not creepy at all," Kallik said sardonically as he walked back into the hut. Everyone else followed. There was some disbelief at first - they had all heard that - but there was nothing they could do. The ham radio that Ikiaq brought over from home was working and powered, so they tuned into the other channels, listening in to some conversations. According to some of the other work units, their camps were breeding sites for foxes. Maybe that was the source of the scream.
Amaruq headed to bed uneasily. It was just so surreal, you know? What kind of fox screams like a human?
Mental note to self: kill game tomorrow, he thought, shortly before he fell into sleep.
Inukpak- Posts : 4
Join date : 2020-08-13
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