P_R_O_X_Y: Europa

[Dutch Thriceman]

The world of P_R_O_X_Y was originally created by Flickr user Immediate~C and I highly recommend everyone who looks upon this thread to go and read his, practically a novels worth of, story and lore accompanied by much better Lego scenes then I could ever make over here.

And incase your not a reader, I do still recommend to atleast give a look at his wonderful scenes, which may tell a large part of his world and story on their own. The following is my own spin-off series which is set in the world that he built.

Index:
Prologue - Tibor the Terribly Unlucky
Chapter 1, Part 1 - What goes down, must come up
Chapter 1, Part 2 - Better to wear out than rust out
Chapter 1, Part 3.1 & 3.2 - Lets roll out
Chapter 1, Part 4 - Let's keep moving

______

In the distant future, society barely holds on. Global atmospheric density has undergone a sudden and unexplainable change, turning toxic to majority of human beings. While some lifeforms have found ways to adapt and evolve to the changing planet, human life on the surface is all but non-existent. Any surviving fragments of humanity have resorted to living within closed ecological outposts or self-sustained bunker complexes. Few are willing to risk the long-term health implications of regularly venturing to the surface. As an alternative, pockets of survivors have begun deploying Proxies; homebrewed robotic droids built and operated by a small number of technologically savvy specialists. A Proxy serves as their pilot’s avatar in the outside world, being contracted for jobs ranging from mundane scavenging expeditions, construction operations, or military presence patrols. Each pilot is responsible for their own Proxy, and as they embody their drones on a regular basis, it isn’t uncommon to develop a personal attachment to their bot. Many take to decorating and dressing their robotic doppelgangers as they would themselves.
- Immediate~C

Prologue - Tibor the Terribly Unlucky

Disgruntled Tibor walked out of the mine, the rumor of a ripper stash being hidden there was bull@#$%. If he didn't get a payout soon his cheap Rostec 'industrial rig' was going to fall apart, again!

"Damnit, that bastard Stefan and his lead, rock solid intel he said. Guaranteed payout my @$$."

Tibor expressed his displeasure into the void, nobody else was on his channel but he tended to talk to himself every now and then, it can get lonely out there after all. The Proxy emerged out from the dark tunnels back into the bright daylight. The old rig creaked.

"Shit, I really need to give the old girl a tune up, better get a good lead fast."

It was an old East Europa design labor model, ment for construction work and the like, with many parts replaced or scrappily reinforced. On it's back a jurry rigged power pack with long range receiver and floodlight hung so loosly it almost seemed likely to fall of at any moment. In it's right hand the Proxy held a high caliber rifle with an half empty mag.

"I better find a paying job, fast!"

Chapter 1, Part 1 - What goes down, must come up

A little gremlin of a man sat behind a large desk, the creature occasionally took a swig from his amber liquid filled glass or a tug on his half-smoked cigarette. On it's face sat a shark like smile, showing a shiny gold tooth. And behind the little man stood a buff tall man, with a horribly scarified face and a cold uncaring expression. The gremlin let out a slight, barely audible, chuckle as Tibor entered. "Tibor, my favorite scavenger, how was the trip."

Stefan was the bunkers local arms dealer and also doubled as info broker, he mostly delt with the independant Proxy operating scavengers of Bunker 17. "Stefan you old bastard, that mine was completely empty, no rippers stash and my Proxy is practically falling appart. I REALLY needed that stash to be there Stefan..."

"Oh my dearest Tibor, I am sorry to hear that-"

Before Stefan could continue Tibor somewhat angrily put his Hecate Avenger high caliber rifle on the table. "Well I am broke now and I need to fix my Proxy Stefan, so give me a good deal on the rifle, you owe me that much at least."

Stefan almost started drewling at the sight of it. "Now that rifle of yours is lovely... yes tell you what, with that last venture being a bust I feel like I owe you now and I don't like owing people Tibor. So here is what we'll do, for that rifle I'll make sure your Proxy gets fixed up, talk to Sasha for that And I'll give you the best new lead I've got, free of charge."

Tibor looked at Stefan with suspicion. "Free of charge, that's unlike you Stefan."

"Yes well like I said, I don't like owing people, see one of my boys came in the other day. With a very interesting lead, found some stashed away military documents. Not much of interest however one of them had a set of base coordinates."

Tibor was getting impatient. "So what, all military installations have been picked clean years ago, everybody knows there ain't scat out there."

"Yes well, that's the thing, one of the sets of coordinates just leads to an empty spot on the map. Nobody knows of it, so that means a potential absolute treasure trove and you can get there first. I'll be selling this to the other scavs but you, my friend, will have a head start."

Chapter 1, Part 2 - Better to wear out than rust out

Bunker 17's Makerspace was something else, sure strongholds around the area almost always had a machine workshop dedicated just for Proxy's however Bunker 17 being one of the largest outposts in all of the Eastern Badlands, has a massive hall dedicated to Proxy building and maintenance.

Tibor saw that Sasha had already started a maintenance diagnostic on his Rostec Industrial Rig, next to his Rostec he noticed his childhood friend, Alina, had set up her Proxy 'Siren', unlike his old heavy rig Alina was making use of the Bolt class chassis for her Proxy.

"Greetings Ali, Siren's looking purty like always."

Alina laughed wholeheartedly.
"And your Rostec is looking one loose bolt from falling apart, as always Tib. Word around 17 is your last outing was a bust?"

The hearty smile on her face changed to a concerned look.
"Don't worry Ali, I already got a new gig from Stefan, I'll be heading out as soon as Sasha finishes up the repairs."

Sasha just grunted as he continued the diagnostic and started picking out his tools.
"You're not going to make it out there if you go on another trip solo Tib, let me and Siren come along this time, please."

It was the same old same old, however this time Tibor was down bad. From the state of his Proxy this might actually be his last scavenge hunt, ever.
"Alright Ali, you can come along, we'll meet up later at the usual spot and I'll give you the deets okay."

Alina looked pleasantly surprised.
"Great! See you there."

Chapter 1, Part 3.1 - Lets roll out

Tibor took seat in the Control Pod, there were a few different methods of operating a Proxy but the direct interface method was definitely his prefered way, using two food pedals and two joysticks to operate the proxy's arms and legs was not something every proxy pilot could get used to. The blue light of the monitor reflected on his face as the camera feed was starting up.

Initializing . . .

PR0X.OS_ROSTEC version_3.26.1
. . .
Labour model 2.1 [modified]
System ID = 01924665093

User ID = 17-02210
. . .
[ W E L C O M E ]

Operator: Tibor Venger

Log on date: 2132/09/01 15:25:32
. . .
ALL SYSTEMS = OK

PLEASE review SECONDARY MONITOR for full systems diagnostic and TERTIARY MONITOR for SAT-CON. Thank you and have a NICE day.

Chapter 1, Part 3.2 - Lets roll out

Tibor stepped his Rostec out into the sun while the outer vestibule's reinforced roller shutters descended. Alina's custom Proxy, callsign Siren, was already waiting for him. At first he wasn't sure about her tagging along but with the current state the city was in, it was definitely safer to travel in a pack rather then solo. Alina called out over the com-channel.

"Hey there cowboy, looking good, they cleaned old Rosty up nicely huh." Alina remarked.

Tibor chuckled "Rosty, that is a ridiculous nickname."

Alina snickered "Well if you gave old Rosty a proper callsign instead I wouldn't have to come up with one for you now would I? Seriously I bet if you got a dog you'd just call it dog."

Tibor's chuckle turned into a fullblown laugh "Alright, alright enough banter, we're wasting precious time, lets roll out."

Chapter 1, Part 4 - Let's keep moving

The old city was, for the most part quiet, the occasional animal aside. Tibor and Alina quickly made their way due west. Navigating the old city wasn't easy, collapsed streets and other impassable terrain made old maps fairly useless and travelling takes much longer then before the Choke. As they came upon an old market square their audio receptors picked up noise of powertools. They readied their weapons, odds were high rippers were about.

Alina was on edge "Shit, you hear that, do you think..."

"Easy now, keep your rifle down, we don't know what's ahead just yet." Tibor was a bit more relaxed, he had a few run-ins with rippers before. It was a price paid by making a living out in the lawless territories, rippers were essentially criminal gangs who preferably picked off lone Proxies to scrap for parts for personal use or resale on the black market.

As they entered the square their suspicions were confirmed. "Let's get them, we got to help!" Alina exclaimed.

"It's too late for that poor sod, no point." Tibor remarked calmly, he noticed one lookout was keeping it's camera on them while the other two were busy dissecting.

Alina however was pissed "But we've got to.."

TIbor cut her off "NO we don't, let's keep moving. While they're still bussy. And make sure we're not being followed."

Upset Aline agreed. "Ok, fine."

Such is life, in the badlands. Freedom, at a price.

______

That's it for the story so far, I hope you'll enjoy it. I'll keep adding to this thread as the story continues, hopefully I'll improve as a MOC (/Scene) maker and story teller however helpful advice and friendly comments are always greatly appreciated.

As a bonus here are my 'Proxybarfs' feel free to check out my Flickr for more bonus shots and other builds I have made:

Edited September 3, 2022 by Dutch Thriceman

[Feuer Zug]

Incredible work on this story. Each scene is highly detailed and well thought out. The Proxies are cool and nicely designed as well. Can't wait to see more.

[Peppermint_M]

As awesome as all this is, I think SciFi might be a better fit? I don't mind either way, it is your call here as there is a fine line between the themes in SciFi and here in A&A.

Regardless, fab builds, cool characters. Thanks for sharing it 

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

I like the flamethrower dude

[Dutch Thriceman]

On 9/6/2022 at 2:39 PM, Feuer Zug said:

Incredible work on this story. Each scene is highly detailed and well thought out. The Proxies are cool and nicely designed as well. Can't wait to see more.

 

On 9/10/2022 at 11:21 AM, Peppermint_M said:

As awesome as all this is, I think SciFi might be a better fit? I don't mind either way, it is your call here as there is a fine line between the themes in SciFi and here in A&A.

Regardless, fab builds, cool characters. Thanks for sharing it 

 

On 11/15/2022 at 5:01 PM, Viper Knight said:

I like the flamethrower dude

Thanks so much for the kind words, ya'll. Yeah my logic was it's kind of a Last of Us world but with Boston Dynamics robots so I felt closest to Adventurers vibes, but I can totally see why the thread should be in Sci-Fi also.

[Krol Zmija Sebastian]

The orange person, too. I just brusquely scrolled through the stuff, but I didn't get confused so I still like the flamethrowist. Now that I have come to terms with my composure on how it is that I like myself with what I see I also like the orange person at chapter 3, quite rogue space mercenary walk right there. I like that stuff. That's what my theme is for my Profile. Mercenaries vs monsters. Space mercenaries account towards the better imaging of characters, and your two qualify well for my tastes in that matter. And you're welcome.