[Introductory Letter]
(newest updates in blue.)
[He's not handing it out right now. Don't worry, it'll come back. ;)]
So, you've been brought to Mayfield. I won't be welcoming you in this letter, because this is the last place you'd want to be welcomed to, but you are going to be here for a while, and as such there are some things you need to know to survive and be of use to myself and your fellow captives.
For those of you brought in from other planets or universes, you are on a world called Earth, in a country called, uncreatively, the United States. Beyond that, our precise location is currently unknown. None of us are able to leave; should you walk or drive to the city limits, you will loop back into the other side of town. Flying is similarly pointless; I've tried.
The supposed authority figures of the town are the Mayor and and Officer Grady. Do not trust these people. Grady in particular is often actively malevolent towards us, and is quick to violence for petty reasons. Cooperation with them will at best earn you a reprieve from punishment, not status, favors, or privileges.
The Postman is a wildcard; he is thusfar very unpredictable and it's unknown whether or not he allies with us or with our captors. He is the one who gives us our things from our own worlds, but that doesn't necessarily imply trustworthiness. Proceed with caution.
Mayfield is populated by two kinds of people: prisoners like yourself and people we call drones. Drones are shells of a sort; they seem to have been here forever, and genuinely think Mayfield is the best place in the world. Temporary droning is often employed as a punishment for acting out, and occasionally a prisoner will be turned into a drone permanently. The prevailing theory is that all drones once had free will, like we do, and presumably were also imported from other worlds; it follows that Mayfield would thus have no true "natives."
There are two people who appear to be drones at first glance, but upon closer inspection are just as dangerous as the others. Jack and Lucy Smith should not be approached unless it's extremely necessary, and it's very unlikely that you should ever need to. Lucy Smith has been thought by many to be the true ringleader in Mayfield, above even the mayor, and she tends to be pointlessly cruel, even more so than the actual authority figures. All of these people have reality-warping powers and will not hesitate to use them against you should you draw their attention. As a side note, Billy Smith has shown an ability similar to mind control, causing obedience in those he decides to manipulate, but has not shown any ability to truly twist the physical reality of Mayfield.
Speaking of powers, you may have noticed yours, should you have any, are gone. Your possessions have also been taken from you. They are not lost forever, though; this town does occasionally return them to you, typically after something significant or strange happens here(many past important events will be detailed at the end of this letter). The other way to reclaim your belongings is at the Post Office. Simply go to the postman and request your desired item. Be aware, however, that a price will be exacted, and that price could be a body part, memories, or one of your belongings or powers that has already been returned to you. I suggest you only use the post office when you are in desperate need of one of your things.
----
The following is a list of the major events that have happened since the first of us were brought here. Suffice it to say that this place can completely change its reality at any time, and the more prepared we are for that the better. Of course, strange things are par the course for Mayfield, but I've determined that the listed events are the most relevant to new arrivals as opposed to the most complete list possible. Many of the odd occurrences you'll experience here are essentially, depressingly, meaningless.
-Year 1
In mid-September, there was an outbreak of a disease called Red Asian Flu. This would normally not be significant other than that it was the first appearance of creatures we call hazmats. They distributed vaccinations, however some were faulty and caused strange effects instead, such as hallucinations. Others worked but had severe side effects like high fevers and vomiting. Suffice to say that hazmats are not to be approached under any circumstances.
In early November, somehow the Milkman was elected mayor. This triggered a series of disasters; first town hall burned down, followed by the only foul weather encountered before or since. Days later each street began to experience flooding, acid rain, burst plumbing, and other such things. Once the prisoners were permitted to vote again, the old mayor was re-elected and thus far has not left office.
-Year 2
In the middle to the end of January, Officer Grady went on a brainwashing and, presumably, killing spree. Many prisoners were found dead in their beds and others were listed as suspects in the killings. This went on for roughly a week before the prisoners awakened, good as new, and everything was returned to normal. This marked the first mention of the town of Westport, broadcasted on television as having all of its citizens found dead in their homes.
Early May marked what we call the Westport Incident. The road to the neighboring town of Westport was opened briefly, and the town was confirmed as being an empty, ransacked, bombed-out war zone. The road eventually closed and the hazmats made their second appearance, hunting down and killing anyone trapped there, either directly or with poison gas. No one was spared; it was only after everyone was killed that they were returned to Mayfield. The road to Westport has not been open since.
In early July, Mayfield experienced a complete transformation into an entirely foreign dystopian city, referred to as Maipole; most of the prisoners here were assigned factory work while the rest were given impossible tasks to complete and were generally shot or otherwise severely punished when they could not finish. A group of us managed to blow up the factory that had become the town center, and shortly thereafter the city returned to the state you see it in now.
In late October the hazmats made their third appearance. A citizen of Maipole, apparently someone very dangerous in the eyes of Grady and the mayor, was observed walking the streets in an injured stupor, though he was capable of a kind of teleportation. He hid in many prisoners' houses, mumbling and bleeding, and when no one consented to give him up the hazmats were called in for more aggressive measures. Many citizens were gassed and murdered with axes in their search for the man, who was eventually captured, given to Grady, and hanged in front of town hall.
-Year 3
December of Year 2 and the following January were closely linked. In December, the prisoners were compelled to transcribe their wishes onto letters and send them off to "Santa Claus;" almost everyone instead received something grisly or otherwise dangerous in return. In January it was revealed that the supposed Santa was actually the Postman, who attempted to get the prisoners to collectively vote "yes" or "no" to being returned to their respective worlds. When the votes didn't come in unanimous, we were told that they would not be counted at all, though many, yours truly included, doubted that they ever would have been in the first place.
In March, nothing with long-term implications happened, just a stupid joke by a filthy bunch of cowards!
In March, the highway circling Mayfield was opened. There was a complicated plot that would be pointless to detail here as it was apparently a prank played on us by our captors; what pieces of information we managed to glean from it are in all likelihood irrelevant, as the clues were almost universally linked to the prank itself. Notably, however, the highway is still there, though the small town we found on the other side of it, Deadman's Gulch, is no longer accessible. The Gulch was abandoned like Westport, but there were no hazmats and we were free to come and go until it closed off.
---
Maipole and Westport are the only examples we have seen about what the outside world has become, and it's not a pretty picture. More clues are periodically given, but other than that a war has probably taken place it's hard to piece them together. Clues that we find are generally broadcasted to all of the prisoners over the phones, so as long as you pay attention you shouldn't be left in the dark.
This is by no means all there is to know about the wretched prison you have currently found yourself in, but it is the basics you will need to get by. Having uninformed newcomers only hinders our organization efforts; yes they are there, but for obvious reasons I will not be publishing the details here. For this and other information, find those among us who have been here for a long time. I myself will be able to answer many more specific questions, but going into them here would make this list endless.
Don't drink the milk.
-Dist the Rose
[He's not handing it out right now. Don't worry, it'll come back. ;)]
So, you've been brought to Mayfield. I won't be welcoming you in this letter, because this is the last place you'd want to be welcomed to, but you are going to be here for a while, and as such there are some things you need to know to survive and be of use to myself and your fellow captives.
For those of you brought in from other planets or universes, you are on a world called Earth, in a country called, uncreatively, the United States. Beyond that, our precise location is currently unknown. None of us are able to leave; should you walk or drive to the city limits, you will loop back into the other side of town. Flying is similarly pointless; I've tried.
The supposed authority figures of the town are the Mayor and and Officer Grady. Do not trust these people. Grady in particular is often actively malevolent towards us, and is quick to violence for petty reasons. Cooperation with them will at best earn you a reprieve from punishment, not status, favors, or privileges.
The Postman is a wildcard; he is thusfar very unpredictable and it's unknown whether or not he allies with us or with our captors. He is the one who gives us our things from our own worlds, but that doesn't necessarily imply trustworthiness. Proceed with caution.
Mayfield is populated by two kinds of people: prisoners like yourself and people we call drones. Drones are shells of a sort; they seem to have been here forever, and genuinely think Mayfield is the best place in the world. Temporary droning is often employed as a punishment for acting out, and occasionally a prisoner will be turned into a drone permanently. The prevailing theory is that all drones once had free will, like we do, and presumably were also imported from other worlds; it follows that Mayfield would thus have no true "natives."
There are two people who appear to be drones at first glance, but upon closer inspection are just as dangerous as the others. Jack and Lucy Smith should not be approached unless it's extremely necessary, and it's very unlikely that you should ever need to. Lucy Smith has been thought by many to be the true ringleader in Mayfield, above even the mayor, and she tends to be pointlessly cruel, even more so than the actual authority figures. All of these people have reality-warping powers and will not hesitate to use them against you should you draw their attention. As a side note, Billy Smith has shown an ability similar to mind control, causing obedience in those he decides to manipulate, but has not shown any ability to truly twist the physical reality of Mayfield.
Speaking of powers, you may have noticed yours, should you have any, are gone. Your possessions have also been taken from you. They are not lost forever, though; this town does occasionally return them to you, typically after something significant or strange happens here(many past important events will be detailed at the end of this letter). The other way to reclaim your belongings is at the Post Office. Simply go to the postman and request your desired item. Be aware, however, that a price will be exacted, and that price could be a body part, memories, or one of your belongings or powers that has already been returned to you. I suggest you only use the post office when you are in desperate need of one of your things.
----
The following is a list of the major events that have happened since the first of us were brought here. Suffice it to say that this place can completely change its reality at any time, and the more prepared we are for that the better. Of course, strange things are par the course for Mayfield, but I've determined that the listed events are the most relevant to new arrivals as opposed to the most complete list possible. Many of the odd occurrences you'll experience here are essentially, depressingly, meaningless.
-Year 1
In mid-September, there was an outbreak of a disease called Red Asian Flu. This would normally not be significant other than that it was the first appearance of creatures we call hazmats. They distributed vaccinations, however some were faulty and caused strange effects instead, such as hallucinations. Others worked but had severe side effects like high fevers and vomiting. Suffice to say that hazmats are not to be approached under any circumstances.
In early November, somehow the Milkman was elected mayor. This triggered a series of disasters; first town hall burned down, followed by the only foul weather encountered before or since. Days later each street began to experience flooding, acid rain, burst plumbing, and other such things. Once the prisoners were permitted to vote again, the old mayor was re-elected and thus far has not left office.
-Year 2
In the middle to the end of January, Officer Grady went on a brainwashing and, presumably, killing spree. Many prisoners were found dead in their beds and others were listed as suspects in the killings. This went on for roughly a week before the prisoners awakened, good as new, and everything was returned to normal. This marked the first mention of the town of Westport, broadcasted on television as having all of its citizens found dead in their homes.
Early May marked what we call the Westport Incident. The road to the neighboring town of Westport was opened briefly, and the town was confirmed as being an empty, ransacked, bombed-out war zone. The road eventually closed and the hazmats made their second appearance, hunting down and killing anyone trapped there, either directly or with poison gas. No one was spared; it was only after everyone was killed that they were returned to Mayfield. The road to Westport has not been open since.
In early July, Mayfield experienced a complete transformation into an entirely foreign dystopian city, referred to as Maipole; most of the prisoners here were assigned factory work while the rest were given impossible tasks to complete and were generally shot or otherwise severely punished when they could not finish. A group of us managed to blow up the factory that had become the town center, and shortly thereafter the city returned to the state you see it in now.
In late October the hazmats made their third appearance. A citizen of Maipole, apparently someone very dangerous in the eyes of Grady and the mayor, was observed walking the streets in an injured stupor, though he was capable of a kind of teleportation. He hid in many prisoners' houses, mumbling and bleeding, and when no one consented to give him up the hazmats were called in for more aggressive measures. Many citizens were gassed and murdered with axes in their search for the man, who was eventually captured, given to Grady, and hanged in front of town hall.
-Year 3
December of Year 2 and the following January were closely linked. In December, the prisoners were compelled to transcribe their wishes onto letters and send them off to "Santa Claus;" almost everyone instead received something grisly or otherwise dangerous in return. In January it was revealed that the supposed Santa was actually the Postman, who attempted to get the prisoners to collectively vote "yes" or "no" to being returned to their respective worlds. When the votes didn't come in unanimous, we were told that they would not be counted at all, though many, yours truly included, doubted that they ever would have been in the first place.
In March, nothing with long-term implications happened, just a stupid joke by a filthy bunch of cowards!
In March, the highway circling Mayfield was opened. There was a complicated plot that would be pointless to detail here as it was apparently a prank played on us by our captors; what pieces of information we managed to glean from it are in all likelihood irrelevant, as the clues were almost universally linked to the prank itself. Notably, however, the highway is still there, though the small town we found on the other side of it, Deadman's Gulch, is no longer accessible. The Gulch was abandoned like Westport, but there were no hazmats and we were free to come and go until it closed off.
---
Maipole and Westport are the only examples we have seen about what the outside world has become, and it's not a pretty picture. More clues are periodically given, but other than that a war has probably taken place it's hard to piece them together. Clues that we find are generally broadcasted to all of the prisoners over the phones, so as long as you pay attention you shouldn't be left in the dark.
This is by no means all there is to know about the wretched prison you have currently found yourself in, but it is the basics you will need to get by. Having uninformed newcomers only hinders our organization efforts; yes they are there, but for obvious reasons I will not be publishing the details here. For this and other information, find those among us who have been here for a long time. I myself will be able to answer many more specific questions, but going into them here would make this list endless.
Don't drink the milk.
-Dist the Rose