Another guest post, this time from Michael Pickard. Michael submitted through the online portal having never read anything from our work before. With a little effort we managed to fit his ideas easily into the world of JUNO. Thanks to Mike for this excellent addition and the creation of our first city! This is also the first foray into the more modern ages of JUNO, and all in all a welcome addition. You can find more of Michael’s work on Amazon!

A century ago, in an attempt to distance themselves from the urban population who resided in technology-laded compounds on the planet, members of multiple species clustered in a remote but fertile area that came to be known as Jothbrek. For some, working the land was as natural as breathing. Others earned calluses for the first time, using what the evolved would have called archaic tools best exhibited in museums. Without animals, teams of volunteers pulled plows that split the ground for seeding. Two nearby lakes fed by mountain runoffs provided water for irrigation. At first, bucket by bucket, until an artificial stream to service the fields was cut into the ground.

The residents of Jothbrek were so successful in their farming that they produced more than their community could consume. While trying to determine how to prevent the excess food from spoiling, a message was delivered from their closest neighbor just over the mountains. Was Jothbrek willing to trade some of their produce? The message was a surprise but timely and welcome. What would they demand in return? Livestock was an obvious choice.

They’d been prevented from taking any beasts at the time of their original departure. Now, with brute animals pulling updated versions of the same tools, Jothbrek had become the source of food for many tech compounds. The urban population had learned the hard way that ever more complicated electronics and robots could not produce what they required from arid soil. The demands for ever more from Jothbrek's farms weighed heavily on its residents. Many were too old to work in the fields. Not every Jothbrek offspring wanted to live a rural life of hard work and departed for tech compounds to seek their fortunes. But the council was adamant and refused to import technology for farming. After all, that was what their founders had escaped from when the village was established. They understood that automated farming equipment was the start of a slippery slope from which there would be no escape. 

Soil that was once benevolent tired with annual demands for the same necessary crops. A few more inventive villagers, in the stillness of night, would experiment with techniques to refresh the weary soil and lacked the proper nutrients to produce viable crops. Others, who refused to leave the only home they’d known, read about technologies they’d never experienced. The books were not banned from Jothbrek citizens, but pursuit of the concepts they contained were forbidden. Still, the human mind has no boundaries, and thoughts foreshadowed deeds.