NaNoWriMo 2023
EXpatriot: 2nd Degree Happiness
The oldest file in EXpatriot’s folder is from 2009, though the file outlining the plot of the first few stories is from 2014.
IIRC, 2009 was when I had a harddrive explode quite spectacularly, so that’s probably why the gap is so weird. That sound was brutal—I still hear it in nightmares.
Remember to back up your files to multiple places, people!
Tropes & Stuff
- super soldiers (sort of)
- Big Brother government
- organized crime syndicates
- underworld rebels
- wild west and cyberpunk aesthetics
Project Stats
Here is a link to the Google Docs file… and a link to the NaNoWriMo page.
| Date | Total Word Count | WPD |
|---|---|---|
| 11/01 | 2935 | 2935 |
| 11/02 | 5578 | 2643 |
| 11/06 | 9951 | 4373 |
| 11/07 | 17124 | 7173 |
| 11/08 | 19249 | 2125 |
| 11/09 | 19724 | 475 |
| 11/10 | 20858 | 1134 |
| 11/14 | 22368 | 1510 |
| 11/17 | 24803 | 2435 |
So, you’d like to know more?
Blurb
An unquestioning soldier created to die in the forever war. But when that war ended, she was ordered to live.
Some twenty years after the end of the Global Conflict, Sand owns and operates Thunderbird Requisitions alongside her silent partner, Shi. Their most frequent client is Dominic Lozen, whose idealistic sisters offend at least one gang or cult on a monthly basis—though the propensity of Apache Break’s resident archaeologist to dig in places every sane person avoids comes in a very close second.
Wanting a break from being the local rescue service, Sand takes a transport contract from a Cityman to haul a European artifact to his wealthy buyer on the west coast, no questions asked. But the trip is interrupted by a mercenary crew hired to retaliate against the Cityman’s boss, and they discover they’ve been scammed into hauling human cargo.
Goaded into doing “what’s right” by Shi, they continue to the metropolitan fortress of Acropolis, pinnacle of civilization in the post-Conflict world, to help the kidnapped child find her family. But with secret police disappearing any who question the new world order, a diverse array of well-heeled monsters who’d do anything for prestige and power, and a network of criminals that facilitate the debauchery of the appropriately patriotic, the task proves to be more complicated than driving out into the Expanse and shooting whoever draws a gun.
Is reuniting one family, among thousands of others broken by war and enforced peace, worth the risk to her own?
Places
- Apache Breaks: a quasi-independent settlement at the eastern edge of the Rust Expanse, located in the Unincorporated Territory of Unified North America.
- Red Dawn Saloon: owned, built, and run by Dominic “Cochise” Lozen, where Rule Only is “don’t start shit in the bar.” He enforces this rule with a myriad of hidden weapons and traps, though it usually only takes the shotgun he keeps behind the bar to get the point across.
- Lozen House: the orphanage run by the Lozen Sisters, which sits at the east side of the Breaks and is surrounded by corn and squash fields. Home to a diverse array of children who, under most other circumstances, would have disappeared into the UNA Youth Care System.
- The Rust Expanse: a massive desert of shifting sand that’s mildly radioactive and prone to violent sand tornadoes that can strip flesh from bone, among other things. Despite this, it sees frequent use, typically as a highway between Central American and Alberta enclaves for people dealing in everything from outlawed technology to sex slaves.
- Acropolis: a macro-city seeking to emulate its Athenian namesake, Acropolis was constructed after the signing of the Resignation Pact and spans from Fort Bragg in California to Vancouver, British Columbia. It is the only high-density population center remaining west of the Mississippi and south of Calgary, and typically reached by airship due to its massive walls and offshore fisheries.
Main Characters
- Sand: a cynical ex-soldier who has gone by several names and lived in several places since the end of the Global Conflict. She currently resides in Apache Breaks as owner and operator of Thunderbird Requisitions, a transport company that ferries “select” goods across the Rust Expanse. While generally apathetic about the state of the world and very content to let people suffer for their stupid choices, there are a few circumstances which can prompt her to bring the full scope of her skills—and ruthless nature—to bear.
- Shi: an escapee of a human trafficking ring, legally known as Uriel Blacklock, exceptionally skilled at playing the piano and flute, and Sand’s normally optimistic foil and business partner. He possesses the PK ability of areokinesis, allowing him to fashion vortexes or vacuums capable of slicing flesh, and will often lose control of it when he loses his temper. He communicates exclusively in sign language, and no one really knows why he refuses to speak, despite being physically able to.
- Gear: born Arthur Grenhelm, the Lozen Sisters and Shi guilted Sand into adopting him after his parents died of radiation poisoning to prevent his ending up in the Youth Care System and having his nacent PK abilities discovered. He has a passion for photographs, many of which he takes and develops himself, and lines his walls with them.
- Cochise: born Dominic Lozen, he owns and operates the Red Dawn Saloon, the only community fixture in Apache Breaks. The Red Dawn functions as a bar, courtroom, voting booth and occasional party house. He was originally a Retrieval Agent tasked with finding missing or abused children for the Youth Care System, but made himself disappear after his partner abruptly committed suicide. He will often claim he’s the voice of Sand’s “atrophied conscience,” though he can be just as ruthless as she is in certain situations.
- The Lozen Sisters: Cochise’s three sisters, usually referred to as a singular unit, because they very rarely do anything alone. They run a self-funded orphanage, Lozen House, to keep their wards out of the government’s sight. Rosalie is younger than Cochise by four years, while Isabel and Pilar are fraternal twins and seven years younger than their brother. Sand routinely bails them out of sketchy situations in exchange for free drinks at the Red Dawn; it happens so often, he maintains a sliding scale based on what she’s rescuing them from, and how many sisters needed rescuing.