No More Usa; Pirate Time - Microsoft game studios CRIMSON SKIES-HIGH ROAD TO REVENGE Manual

No More USA

I miss the United States.
I remember when you could
drive from state to state...
before Texas seceded from
the Union and when the
U.S. was whole.
But America no longer
exists. She's split into
regional nation-states; the
militias that formed to defend
each nation haven't stopped
fighting each other. As they
isolate themselves from their
neighbors by demolish-
ing roads and bridges, the
airplane and the zeppelin
have replaced the car and the train as the only reliable way to
move passengers and cargo from one nation to another.
As the nations make war in the air, so too have air militias
and air pirates taken to the skies to seek—and steal—their
fortunes. There is no federal law anymore; whoever can
protect him- or herself wins—which, looking on the bright
side, makes it great for me and my gang, the Fortune Hunters.
Newspapers and magazines write about me—they seem
to think I'm some kind of hero. "Fighting for the sense of indi-
vidual freedom and adventure that was lost during the Great
Depression and the collapse of central government," blah blah
blah. I don't know about all that—I'm just trying to even the
odds for the underdog and make a little money along the way.
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Pirate Time

Money. People like mega-millionaire William Harriman
have a lot of it, and my air pirates need some of it. We're not
greedy—we only take from those who can afford it. Sure, it's
not an entirely honest living, but since the stock market crash
and the Great Depression, you have to do what you can to
make it, and what we do best is fly rings around other pirates,
militia, cops, and private security in our souped-up planes.
Anyway, rich people just love to tool around in those big,
lush zeppelins. Zeps fly along in stately procession, providing
a great aerial platform for operations, or for plundering. Our
Pandora is one of 'em. It's got everything our pirate band
needs: shelter, sustenance, and space to plan the next caper.
But I still catch myself eying all those other zeps flying around.
Most of them look like they're holding some tempting loot...
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