"...what caused the Beanstalk to fall? Shit, I don't know. That kind of thing is luxury to think about, isn't it?
Let's look at it this way: I've lived in Lombard in Snapfield all my life. We had a city here once, Callis City. When the Beanstalk fell, it rained panels from the walls of the thing. They landed on Callis City with enough force to knock over the big buildings and kill thousands. Mass evacuation. Entire thing in disarray. But out here, in Lombard? We just...I don't know.
We have our mechs. We have our guns. Our resources. Our walls. We took in survivors. We lead expeditions to the ruins of the city, of the elevator. We've watched bandits form gangs and dissolve, pirates and mercenary companies try and find purchase and get turned away or turn on themselves.
All we did was take it one day at a time. Through the famines, through the snow, the wars and the silence that followed. They didn't bother setting up an arcology anywhere near here and the Crawlers don't come through. It's our little pocket of world and...we do fine, I guess.
It could be better, sure, and we're working on it, one reclamation run at a time, with every new building raised or gardening plot that bears fruit.
Maybe I'm just naive but I don't worry too much about how we got here. I'm busy with what tomorrow brings. Sorry if that's not interesting but, like. I have chickens to feed, y'know? I have to make sure they're healthy. I need to do what I can. And right now that's feeding my chickens."
On a good day, I was their protégé and they were my teachers. On a bad day, I was their pet and they were...
"My family were farmers. We used to raise, uh, staple crops overseas in the Whitespring Republic. My grandfather, before he passed, used to talk...
Janice and Lillian are done talking with you, and Lavinia, she's dead, and they don't tend to tell tales. That just leaves me. To...