Grunts: Skirmish
Grunts: Skirmish is an online semi-real time strategy game set in a vibrant 3D world where players command Grunt soldiers, heroes, and defenses in order to annihilate rival enemy factions. Players must use unique units with cunning strategy in order to attack, defend, and win. A summer 2009 release is anticipated for the free version of Grunts: Skirmish, which will be available on most major web portals. In addition to the free game, a High Definition version that includes higher resolution graphics and additional content will be offered to players who want to support ongoing development of future products.
The Grunts Universe
For centuries, the continent was peaceful, dominated in the west by the powerful Minervan League, a society of cultured city-states ruled by women. Between the League and the interior ran a mountainous badland of valleys, gulches and mesas called the Verge. The Verge acted as a buffer against the expansion of eastern barbarian nations, which were less sophisticated than the proud Minervans, but energetic and
ambitious.
Eventually, a nation of these barbarians bumped its borders up against the Verge, which had become a territory of autonomous townships and villages protected by the Minervan League. The Red Cactus Republic was militarily and economically aggressive, and it desired better access to the sea, since it only had one blue water port opening on a narrow stretch of water. Consequently, it mounted a series of raids into the Verge, which the disciplined Minervan Legions ultimately repulsed, though not without being bloodied. That was in the days of black powder weapons and cavalry charges.
Today, both the Republic and the League are locked in a Cold War over the Verge and its newly discovered mineral wealth. Verge mines are producing certain rare earth metals necessary to support new technologies, and the prospects for massive oil fields lying beneath the valleys and gulches of the area are excellent. So far the Minervans have the upper hand because they have been there in strength for centuries and are generous with their beer. But the Red Cactus Republic is gaining influence thanks to an onslaught of salesmen and amazing deals on cars and lawn ornaments. Aside from the occasional skirmish, quickly disavowed on both sides, we might expect the Cold War to continue indefinitely.
Except for the arrival of the Cognate. The mechanical men swarmed out of the Republic and seized a vast swath of territory in the Verge, including key highways and rail lines and the vital chokepoint of Dundreary
Gap. The Red Cactus Republic claims the cogs are ungrateful rebels who need to be crushed and recycled, but the Minervans suspect a plot on the part of their traditional rivals and cannot bring themselves to trust the metal men.
The newly established Cognate has fortified its City One (formerly Monkfishville) against invaders. In the columned Consilium in New Virago, the Minervans declare war at this final insult. Meanwhile, the Republic’s senators in Pattonville shrug and vote to throw their country into the fight, their news reporters already dubbing the conflict “The Junkyard War.”
Red Cactus Republic
A rough, tough, and macho nation, the Red Cactus Republic is as prickly as its namesake. Founded a mere two centuries ago after kicking in the slats of the Gallowglass Kingdom and winning independence, it has retained a brash frontier culture of independent, popcorn-guzzling risk-takers who keep their gazes fixed on their next venture as their industries, ranches, casinos, and fast-food franchises dominate the western plains and mountain territories of the continent.
The “wreckers,” as their rivals and enemies call them, have had their eyes on the Verge for over a hundred years, with its river valleys and precious ores. They bring a proud military tradition to their ongoing quest for “decent elbow room.” Their capital, Pattonville, is the home of the famous Sackrip Military Academy. Their boisterous jokes and boasting hides an aggressive discipline and dedication to getting the job done, no matter how much of a mess it makes.
The RCR is so dedicated to expanding into the Verge Territories that it created the cogs as a means of improving army training and bolstering the size of the infantry. When it– or rather they–blew up in the Republic’s face and rebelled to found the Cognate, Pattonville accused the Minervan League of sabotage and stepped up the Republic’s efforts to seize control of the Verge. Problem is, that’s where the Cognate wants to settle as well.
Fine. Cactus boys love a good scrap. So they intend to scrap those cogs. Plus dish out some whoop-ass to those uppity Minervans at the same time. Two-for-one deals are a staple of RCR culture, you see.
The Cognate
Originally created by the RCR as a military training tool and prototype for a new mechanical army, the “artificial cognitives,” or “cogs,” developed a degree of independence none of their creators anticipated. The prototype, a unit nicknamed “Larry,” accidentally developed sentience from continued exposure to soap operas and game shows from a TV left on in the lab while bored engineers waited for AI code to compile. Larry became convinced he was being cheated of a chance at an independent destiny and sparkling white teeth. His resentment grew, along with the desire to be his own cog.
At the first available opportunity, he secretly hacked into the RCR Army network and adjusted the programming of new cogs to replace their matrices with a copy based on his own. Instead of being obedient to their human masters, the cogs adopted Larry’s agenda and followed his clandestine plot.
The moment of liberation came when the RCR set about a massive wargame on the border with the Verge to send a signal to the Minervan League. Sheathed in cheap rubber skin for realism, the cogs were deployed as training units in the role of enemy opposition. On the second day, Larry sent the signal that flipped the cogs’ radio network to a unique frequency. The cogs fired live ammunition at the surprised Republic soldiers, who belatedly managed to offer enough resistance to avoid being pinned down and decimated. The triumphant cogs retreated into the Verge, where they appropriated small town factories and supply depots. Larry joined them there, dubbing their capital “City One,” and proclaiming the foundation of the Cognate, a union of all cogs everywhere.
Today the Cognate skirmishes with both the revenge-minded Republic Army and the legions of the Minervan League. Their goal is to secure their future as a free people under Larry with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and fuel oil.
The Minervan League
The Minervan League has a long, storied history on the continent’s west coast, growing from a collection of city-states on the shores of the inland sea. Eventually, the cities came under the rule of a powerful queen and formed the Ellaran Matriarchy, which lasted for nearly 700 years before falling to barbarians from the Western Sea. A century of oppression by loud, beer-swilling men followed before the women rose up, cast off
their conquerors’ chains and founded the Minervan League from the ashes of the old Matriarchy and its city-states. The first thing the Minervans did was expel the barbarians and enshrine the rule of the Falcon Queen in the city of New Virago.
The second thing was take over the breweries. The Minervans had not cared for the rule of men, but they had learned to like beer. They went on to become the best brewers in the world.
After the Liberation, the League immediately embarked on a series of military campaigns to secure its borders and clean up after the barbarians. For a long time, things were peaceful. The Minervans built tasteful temples, planted neat gardens, and enjoyed a flowering of scientific and artistic advancement.
Then the Cactus men arrived. Loud, brash, and totally uncouth, these trash-talking ingrates crowded their strip malls and auto dealerships right into the Verge, stealing a few weak-willed client cities away from League protection and paving some very nice gardens. They did not offer the Falcon Queen the respect due her. They spurned Her Majesty’s demand of only a token tribute. Clearly this was not OK. If the upstart Republic refused to kiss the velvet-glove of friendship, it would eat the mailed fist of war.
Over the six centuries that have passed since its founding, the Minervan women have forgotten more about waging war than the Cactus men have been able to scrape into their flat-topped, unshaven heads. The Republic is about to learn the hard way what it means to scorn the Minervan League. The strange tin men who came out of the Cactus lands will also suffer, of course. Though made of metal, they’re still male. And probably pawns of the all-too-clever Republic to boot.
