The Good, The Bad and The Monkeys (oh and some Zombies).

After a sleepless night wondering how to meld all of the diverse figures in my Future Wars Collection together in a setting. I came up with the following.

The Good, The Bad and the Monkeys. (plus a few Zombies)

Some time in the distant future we find that the World is in a mess. This is not the result from Nuclear Fallout (although there have been plenty of accidents and sabotage at Nuclear Energy Plants) or a World War or even Global Warming. The Planet has been ruined by Corporate and shareholder greed. Corporate Scientists discovered that the effects of the Drug Yabber could be controlled and modified to enable workers to maintain high levels of energy and concentration. With cooperation from National Governments the recruiting of the mentally ill and criminals enabled Corporations to maintain a low cost workforce. Other marginalized citizens could also be recruited into the work force when local Police turned a blind eye. The Drug was also under trial on Primates. This had the the effect of making them very intelligent and able to undertake manual labour. The new Labour force thus freed the Corporations of making any pretense of caring for the Welfare of their workers.

After several years of use of the Drug, the Management of several plants started reporting that. “The long term Human workers were showing signs of not taking any rest breaks and were losing any interest in consuming food.” This did not seem to raise any concerns with the Management as they could only see the benefit of the cost savings.

Then the reports took a more serious turn as reports stated coming in that the workers were starting to have a disturbing odour. Then the violence started.

Investigations showed that the long term effect of using Yabber was turning the workers into a Zombie like state. Discontinuing the use of the drug did not reverse the side effects and only seemed to make the workers more inclined to violence. The other side effects were that the workers slowed down and had a craving for food. Any food would do, human food or even Humans themselves if they were not careful. 

Strangely though the Zombies take no interest in Primates and usually just stop and sniff them before moving on. The odour was simply the fact that the workers had started to rot from the inside due to lack of food to maintain their bodies in a healthy condition.

The use of drugged up workers continued while steps were made to find a cure for the side effects. Long term workers showing signs of disturbing behaviour were often taken outside of cities and dumped and left to fend for themselves.

Recruiting of more workers took on a serious note with them often being abducted off the street or from their own homes. This led to the Citizens arming themselves and forming local Militias.

In other plants where the use of Monkeys and Gibbons were utilized reports started to come in that. “The intelligence levels were surpassing expectations and the workers were able to be used in roles normally reserved for Human workers.” Management were pleased that cost savings were better than expected and started downsizing the Human workforce. Further reports started to come in that. ”The Apes, Monkeys and Gibbons seemed to have learned a common language unable to be understood by Humans, and were also cooperating with each other in a manner never seen before.”

Then the escapes started.

Then reports of armed Monkeys raiding supply depots, Gun shops and other useful premises started flooding in. They were also freeing other Primates from slavery which meant their use was being discontinued and replaced by Human workers. The escaped Primates suffered no problems with withdrawal from the drug and maintained their intelligence levels forming new societies of mixed types.

From this point the Planet became a very unsafe place with Cities being divided into Armed Camps, Factory Zones and slums. The suburbs became zones of conflict and rural districts became either walled off communes or entirely deserted.

Most communications became localized as Satellites became either unreliable or unserviceable. The Internet and Cellphone Towers became inoperable most of the time and Radios were in short supply. Armies became fractured and split between local Warlords or became independent entities.

Factories have produced their own security Robot Drones of various types. Several models have gone rogue adding to the general mayhem.

Lack of National and International Security also seemed to be an open door invitation for Alien activity. Reports have surfaced of several incursions by various types of creatures who sometimes initiate communication with local leaders. Other visits have been of a more violent nature.

The Good – Local Citizens just trying to live a normal life. Often formed into armed communes, but sometimes wandering independent groups trying to find a safe location to live.

The Bad – Corporations, Local Warlords, The Man etc.

The Monkeys – Apes, Monkeys and Gibbons. Some have escaped and seem to be setting up settlements far away from prying Human eyes. Others are still enslaved working for Corporations.

The Rotten – Zombies in various states of decay usually wandering freely looking for anything to fulfill their endless hunger.

The Aliens – Greys, Predators etc.