Excerpts from the Nea History Handbook

[A Note From The Author]

This text is an excerpt from a larger collection of information from my project The Artifex, a narrative-based game exploring how objects, specifically trash, can be used as a medium for storytelling. Creating this narrative was a part of the worldbuilding process I did in order to build the logic of my game. The goal of the player is to uncover this narrative through the inspection & analysis of artifacts. The text appears in the game as reference material to aid the player in the discovery process.

Excerpts from the Nea History Handbook

A mysterious disease had wiped out the western countries of the land of Nea. Multiple incidents across the western countries were reported to have started with people developing bright purple patches on their skin. The discoloration was initially thought to be benign, but as the purple spread across the skin, those affected started coughing up blood, losing hair, and eventually dying due to excessive internal bleeding. The cause was unknown, and everyone died before doctors were able to conduct further research on infected citizens. The governments of remaining countries in the eastern half of the planet allied together to close the borders to prevent the spread of the disease, and removed all publicly accessible information about the ruined countries.

100 years have passed since. The population has risen significantly in the past century and the world is now facing an overpopulation crisis. The eastern countries are no longer able to house the growing number of people and the allied governments have organized research into the habitability of the ruined territories. You are a researcher working for a professor at the University in Andyland. The professor has been asked to aid in ongoing research on the ruined territories. You’re not sure what exactly the research is for, but you don’t really need to know. He’s passed some of his work off to you. He’s also sent you notes and relevant files on each territory pre-disaster for context. This is an excerpt from that larger collection of information.

Tabitha

Tabitha was an island territory located off the coast of the main continent, northeast of Andyland. The territory was best known for being home to one of the largest pharmaceutical companies, TabCorp, in the world. A fatal attack by a suicide bomber on a TabCorp factory destroyed most of the territory and killed the entire population as a result of the bombing and its aftereffects.

Andyland is currently in control of Tabitha’s ruins. Scientists have determined that the land is too contaminated to safely enter.

Geography

Being surrounded by water creates a mild tropical climate fitting for plant growth, ██████████████. The island is mostly flatlands, forest, and beaches. A small mountain sits in the center of the territory and is ███████████. ███████ poisonous █████████████████. 

History

Tabitha was one of earliest territories to be settled by the incoming space explorers due to the abundant and diverse plant life. The island was mainly inhabited by scientists and researchers attempting to learn about the flora for human consumption. 

As the population grew and infrastructure needed to expand, a portion of that population migrated across the ocean to Tabitha’s nearest neighbor, Andyland. Consisting of mainly flatlands, Andyland provided the necessary space for development and subsequently grew to establish itself as a land known for scientific research and learning. The two countries maintained a strong friendship as Andyland grew in size and power.

Those that remained on the island eventually formed The Union of Tabitha. As technology advanced and populations grew further, the Union grew to become a corporation, ultimately formally renaming and restructuring as TabCorp.

The Attack of Jacob Jacobson

On 12th day of the 5th month, a suicide bomber attacked one of TabCorp’s waste processing plants near the center of the island. The incident was fatal, ████████ ████████ █████████████████ ████████████████. Andyland officials stepped in to conduct a brief investigation soon afterwards. The investigation found that a total of 5 bombs were placed around the waste processing plant. The initial explosion caused a chain reaction among the factories, causing much more damage than what the bombs itself would have done. Toxic waste was released across the territory as a result, killing the citizens. The bomber was later identified as Jacob Jacobson, a therapist employed by TabCorp. He was the sole therapist employed for the entirety of the company, ███████████ a high stress position and purposefully ███ by ████ officials as an insurance measure. Jacobson had ██ connections to ████████████████████████, ███ a history of ████████████████. The investigation concluded that stress was the main trigger inciting Jacobson, ███████████████ involvement and ██████████ of Tapsoquin’s production process. 

Government & Politics

Tabitha was governed wholly by Tabcorp with a board of directors as top leadership. Board members had 10 year terms with no term limits. Citizens employed by TabCorp were able to vote for representatives within the company that would participate in decennial meetings to instate leadership for the next term. 

Tabitha and Andyland maintained a strong political friendship, with many advisors from the other country participating amongst each other’s leadership. ████████████ █████ █████████████ ███████████. On the surface, the two countries were on equal footing, ████████████ ███████████████ at the time of Tabitha’s demise.

█████████████ a one-party government, ██████████████ █████████████, ███████, ███████████████████ ███████████████████. There have been multiple times throughout the existence of TabCorp where the ████████ attempted to organize and fight back, but ███████████████████████ how widespread TabCorp’s presence was throughout the country.

Economy

A majority of the territory’s wealth came from TabCorp, being mainly revenue from TabCorp medicines and exporting various herbs cultivated by TabCorp Labs. At its peak, 98% of Tabitha’s workforce was employed by TabCorp. Eligible citizens not employed by TabCorp were typically independent craft-makers or ████████. 

Almost all business and infrastructure on Tabitha was connected to or operated by TabCorp. Independent craft-makers were required to obtain a license from TabCorp to sell goods or services, and ████████ needed to arrange work on their own.

TabCorp

TabCorp was the largest pharmaceutical company in Nea by annual revenue. The company produced medicines and processed herbs developed from unique flora found in and around the Tabitha territory by TabCorp Labs. They were best known for Tapsoquin (Taps), a fatigue relieving medication. Tapsoquin was made from tapacine, ███ found in the flower █████. ████ was found to reduce the feeling of pain and fatigue by ████████████ ██████ ████████████████ when ██████████, frequently stimulating hair growth as a side effect as well. Repeated █████████ ████████████ ███ █████████ ████████, ███████, ██ death as result of ███████ ████████.

TabCorp was also well-known for its exceptional employment benefits, one of the key factors in maintaining its high employment rate of the territory’s citizens. Benefits included complimentary therapy sessions, daily full-body massages, 24-hour meal services available within the company buildings, discounts to company products, and more. Additionally, ​​TabCorp employees were reportedly ███████████████████ █████████████████ ██████ in its buildings, ████████ high employee retention rate.

Culture and Society

According to the yearly census, Tabitheans averaged a 98% happiness rate. Most citizens led satisfied lives, as portrayed by ███████████ ██████. The company’s employment benefits ████████████████ the mood of the people.

Due to TabCorp’s flexible hiring guidelines and the range of occupations connected to the company, citizens not affiliated with TabCorp were of the minority. They were ████████████████████ TabCorp affiliates, ███████████ ███████████ viewed as ██████ ███████████ ██████████ and ██████████████████ ███████. Additionally, as part of the widespread presence of TabCorp on the island, all holidays, celebrations, recreational activities, and public spaces were part of the company’s ecosystem, contributing to the division between the affiliated and non-affiliated. This ecosystem was developed to create a sense of community and ████████████████████████, improving the lives and standard of living for citizens █████████.