Oddworld: Actra's Oddysee
Oddworld: Actra's Oddysee
Introduction from the author:
This begins as a hypothetical story. What if Abe's persistence finally caused the Glukkons to give up and free his people? Well, the industry and everything that they had someone else work for would be ruined. They couldn't ask the Sligs to do the dirty work, since in the eyes of the Glukkons, Sligs are incompetent and lazy and only skilled at haphazardly wielding a rifle. They would have to find a new work force.
Chapter song: Rob Zombie: "Dragula" (The scene where the Sligs ravage the city)
Prologue
The Exodus of the Noctero
Abe the Mudokon's constant attacks on the Magog Cartel had wounded the flesh of the Glukkon's empire, so most of the Glukkons surrendered, freeing the majority of the Mudokon slaves. Abe's lot in life was completed, and it was time for the Mudokon Messiah to retire.
Being the unscrupulous cads that the Glukkons were, they decided on finding a new work force, one that the Mudokons wouldn't care to try and defend. Their search led them to a dark and stormy part of the Mongo river known appropriately as the Mongo Rapids, where the water flowed with rage, the weather was unusually cranky, and the skies were dark.
Uncomfortably deep canyons that had been flooded millions of years before that day warily followed the erratic twists of the Mongo Rapids. Perched on an outcropping was a very tall and foreboding door, locked by an ancient, lichen covered statue that inaudibly told others to stay out and go away. On the statue's forehead were hieroglyphs that translated to "Never forgive, never forget, never leave."
The door may had been locked, but the thousands of huge caverns that went on for decades still housed an abundant supply of life. This was the lost city of Noctropolis, a relatively primitive town with cave homes literally dug into the massive mile-high coulombs, each hole collectively lighting the cave.
This was the home of the Noctero, a race of ancient warriors who had hung up their spears and shields for nearly three centuries. It was a peaceful time for these social creatures. Each one of them knew someone else, and there was relatively no conflicts, aside from the occasional quarrel between youngsters about who got to toss the ball next.
Yes, it was the best of times for this tribe. It was, until the Magog Cartel had wrapped its cold, clammy fingers around the neck of their society.
One day, the kind of day where you don't expect anything out of the ordinary to happen, the Noctero heard a low rumble from outside their door. Almost half of the population gathered to the ancient entryway to see what was up. Then there was a loud blast, and the door crumbled to the ground. The Noctero nearly felt the painful rush of light as it swept in to replace the cold darkness that the residents were so accustomed to.
A strange, green figure with a mask over his tentacled face and mechanical legs slowly walked in past the debris. He spoke the words that would hail a new age in Noctero history.
He spoke with a very nasally and almost mechanical voice. He picked a parchment stamped in five places and read from it.
"Ahem. By order of Her Majesty Lady Margaret, Her Majesty Queen Skillya, and the High Magog Council, and due to the recent emansi...emanisi...whazzt word? Um... emancipation! Er, due to the recent emancipation of the Mudokon pond scum, the Magog Cartel humbly requests your presence to ensure that our economy don't go down the crapper an' stuff. We apologize for the inconvenience. If you's don't comply, we will have to take you..." the creature chuckled, "by force."
You can imagine the dismay on the poor Noctero's faces. What manner of being had the power to take them from their own homes? Were the deities angry with them?
The Noctero hesitated, shifting nervously and glancing at one another and avoiding the green thing as if he weren't there and none of this was happening.
A larger, more muscular version of the green creature with four legs and a very large weapon stepped from the unsettled dust. It spoke in a much deeper variation of the smaller one's voice.
"If you primitives is too dumb to understand, lemme make it clearer for ya's."
He pulled a lever in the back of his weapon, making it click twice. He then pulled another lever under the weapon, making the front of it blast a projectile into one of the smaller stalactites and shattering it.
The large green creature continued to speak. "If ya don't come peacefully, things are gonna get real bad for you."
The Noctero stood their ground, in both defiance and fear.
The small green creature spoke. "All right, but don't say we never warned you's." He just glared at the Noctero and held out his arm. The Large one tossed him a small, black box, and the small one spoke into it. "They ain't gonna do this the easy way. Send 'em in."
A crackled voice replied with the word "Roger."
Suddenly, the sky outside rumbled and filled with hundreds of flying machines with wings that rotated very fast. The machines threw off metal ropes, and more of the green creatures slid down from them, carrying longer variations of the large one's weapon. Some of the green creatures rode from the sky in harnesses equipped with the same spinning wings as the large machines.
With the smaller one standing where he had been, the army of green creatures gathered behind him.
"All right, boys. Let's flush these little bastards out and am-scray. I got a meeting to get to at four." the smaller one said.
With that, the army literally poured into the cave. It was awful to watch, the Noctero were taken by the arms and pulled from their homes.
One little Noctero and her family tried escaping. They took a path deeper into the cave. Unfortunately, one of the large green creatures saw this attempt and aimed his large weapon at the little Noctero's mother. In a flash, her chest spewed blood and she fell.
The little Noctero's father glared, and he ran at the brutish green monster, screeching with anguished rage. The monster aimed and fired, but missed, as the father leapt from stalactite to stalactite.
The father Noctero lunged at the green creature, a fatal mistake. The brute aimed its weapon and fired right between the father's eyes. He fell back and laid dead on the cold, slippery cave path.
The green thing turned and saw that the little Noctero was gone. It had ran back to its home, something all Noctero children are taught to do in dangerous situations.
She scrambled in through the damp and smooth doorway and found her way to the family bed. Underneath the hay that covered the bowl-shaped crater bed was an elegant case that was to be given to her on her next age celebration. She opened it, and inside was a strange necklace with a jewel in the center.
The little Noctero stared at it. It was so beautiful, lighting up her hand with green and red. Strangely, something seemed to be staring back at her, which was very strange since jewels don't normally look back at a person.
She heard the mechanical whirr of the brutish green monster's legs stomping toward her home. She quickly wrapped the necklace around her neck. The tiny, red eyes of the monster shone through the dark cave.
"Come on, now," he said. "I don't wanna have to kill a kid. Get up there in the line with yer other buddies."
The little Noctero may have been young, but she knew that she was out of choices. She complied and the brute grabbed her hand rather harshly.
"Good girl," he said as he led her to her people, all of them in a line, leaving the cave.
The small green commander spoke up. "Okay, so this is how we're gonna do this. We're gonna lead you outta here. Anyone tries anything stupid, like running, and we full ya full-a lead. We got a long way to go, so everyone on the airship like good little 'employees.'"
And with that, the Noctero were shoved onto the mouth and belly of a gigantic flying machine, condemned to be put to work for someone that none of the Noctero knew, taken from their homes for reasons that nobody would ever explain to them.
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Last edited by Dipstikk; 06-26-2005 at 10:01 PM..
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And I knew Actra was a Nocturo, but I did'nt know what Nocturos (or is it Nocturi?, anyhoo...) looked like then. Thanks for clearing that up Dipstikk. And bring on the next chapter! 
). What a face!
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