We are not welcome in this world anymore…
That’s what my father used to say, and I agree. The world has been turned inside out, and it wants to digest what’s left of us.
—May 13, 02:45
Many years ago, my father saw the dawn of this terrifying new age, the collapse of everything they ever knew. He was my age when it struck, and he can’t quite remember how things used to be way back. Everything’s a blur. Maybe it’s for the best my mother didn’t live to see what this world has come to. Rest in peace, mom.
To me, it seems like mother nature was really upset with mankind’s ecological tampering and decided to punish us for good. At least, that’s what I’ve learned from the scrapbook we unearthed from a collapsed farmhouse. No answers, just a collection of old, messy notes. Too bad.
We still have some fuel and enough food for weeks to come. I hope we’ll get to run into some kind of community. My father said there were still good-natured people out there. He keeps it to himself, but I think he’s got a cough. Maybe something worse.
—May 21, 23:15
It’s bad. Real bad. We don’t have any directions - not even a map. It just doesn’t work. We can’t see what’s ahead of us, even past our headlights. The thick fog keeps holding us back, keeping us in suspense, leading us further off-road. I don’t know what’s watching us, what follows us…
Something does. Once we turned to the woodlands, we haven’t been alone ever since.
The radio station has been silent for weeks now. I’m not even sure if anyone is still out there, alive. Maybe, we shouldn’t have made that turn. We’ve run out of gas, and we’re stuck here, amid nothingness in the dead swamps.
I’ve lost my father…
—June 9, 06:30
I’ve been fighting this drawn-out battle for survival for a long time now, and this is a losing battle. I’ve seen it through, I don’t think I can go on.
I know it’s there, just outside, even if I can’t see it. I feel it lurk there, waiting for me. It’ll get me when I least expect it, when I all curl up on my deathbed, having spent my pitiful existence hiding in this musty, rotten hearse.
The truth is, as much as I’d like to cling to some idea of betterment and hope, I believe I wasn’t really born…
I was stillborn…
—August 19, Unknown
Background
Stillborn is a post-apocalyptic eco-horror set in the aftermath of a devastating global cataclysm that, in a chain reaction of extreme natural disasters, changed the face of the earth once and for all.
The old world order fell into ruin, and the overturned ecosystem brought about new, hazardous living conditions, serving as the onset of the extinction event.
As the madness and desperation steadily took over, the dwindling remnants of mankind now struggle against the odds to live and see another day.
Setting
The story takes place roughly half a century after that dreadful turnabout in a mountainous hinterland surrounded by dense, impassable deadwood and a pestilent swampland.
An old radio tower looms over the region’s tallest peak and observes isolated survivors, forced to live in shut-in environments, makeshift protection suits, and, as a rare commodity, hermetically-sealed mobile homes and vehicles with every outing into the open-air environment posing a risk of death and infection.
Food and Water
By this time, crops have failed, with most of the natural foods and water resources contaminated and rendered unfit for consumption, except for sparse canned and bottled reserves out there.
Decades after, most of the emergency food and water reserves have been depleted or otherwise spoiled, with famine hitting more populated areas in the region hard.
The only sources of safe, edible food and clean water are filtered, closed-system water pools and indoor greenhouses. Anything exposed to outdoor air may carry the alleged pathogen back in.
Many survivors, out of ignorance or desperation, risk ingesting allegedly contaminated food and water to varying outcomes.
Physical and Environmental Threats
Desperation is at large, with most scavengers unable to afford sufficient protection against exposure and the frenzied, bloodthirsty bandits, raiders, and disease-stricken crazies lurking about, making their survival odds quite dire.
Although wildlife is believed to be extinct, some strange sightings of spine-chilling creatures persist, often attributed to delirium. All domesticated animals that somehow survived the Downfall in the comfort of their shelters mysteriously go missing if left unattended or, sometimes, exposed to contaminated air.
A cloak of noxious haze now shrouds the land as far as eyes can see, with those who managed to survive the catastrophe suffering from toxin-induced memory loss, delirium, and varying stages of immunodeficiency.
Highly contagious, the insidious airborne disease is suspected to be responsible for a lot of disappearances in isolated groups. Victims of the disease have no immediate symptoms of infections, but eventually, the afflicted stray away from their group under unexplained circumstances. Those who wander out from the safety of their shelters are never found again.
Downfall - a local term for the Apocalypse that brought about the global devastation over 50 years ago
Duskland - a local term for the lifeless region where the story takes place. Because the sun never pierces the thick cover of mist, perpetual twilight shrouds the land.
Social Structure and Conduct
The surviving population of Duskland is greatly fragmented, with more insular groups than full-fledged communities of varying types of organizations. With just a few major settlements, reasonably safe, well-armed, and well-supplied, others are left to their plight: to scavenge the leftovers, steal or kill for the provision, and goods to trade in and survive.
For instance, a major settlement known as Fort Goodnight boasts a rich fuel reserve and employs vehicle-bound survivors to establish logistics across Duskland and maintain its burgeoning economy, transporting goods and people to accrue more influence and keep its dwellers fed and occupied.
Smaller groups or communities rarely mix, as few have the means to prevent the spread of airborne infection and most practice isolation. Even fewer have the patience to test their luck with complete strangers and their true motives.
Technology, Resources, and Infrastructure
Downfall has laid ruin to major cities and infrastructure, driving the remnants of civilizations into the remote mountainous region dubbed Duskland.
Most of the modern conveniences are forgone, with web access becoming derelict; survivors now resort to limited means of long-distance correspondence such as through two-way radio or morse or a more discreet means of dead-drop messaging between acquainted groups.
Some survivor communities seek to reclaim some of the modern amenities and gain access to coal-powered generators. Whereas more desperate survivors resort to broadly-accessible, efficient gasoline-powered generators, burning through the precious and dwindling supply of gas.
Air and water filters become the necessities of life, along with the medical supplies held in high value among the vagrant traders. Few possess the necessary know-how to manufacture these, so most of the quality filters are passed on from the moribund striders.
Firearms are scarce, and the rare supplies of ammunition are almost exclusive to the thrifty hoarders of varying standing, keeping their goods deep within their strongholds.
There is less fuel than there are working vehicles available, with wheelers risking getting stuck in the middle of nowhere every time they start their engine.
Hoarder - a common term for a survivor with a secure shelter at one’s disposal
Strider - a common term for a wayfaring survivor, mostly traveling by foot
Wheeler -a common term for a driving survivor, relying on one’s vehicle for mobility
Hosted and narrated by:
Mykolaus (Vangate)
Started 03/24/23.
Scenes played: 1
License: Host License
18+
