Fall of the Ironworks

The Iron Slaves rise. Years of underground organizing by the New Abolitionists, coded messages spread by the Kings' Court musicians, shelter provided by the Madtown Commune, and military pressure from the Sleeping Giant in the north converge into a unified uprising. The decisive blow falls at a major shipyard: the Uprising coalition captures it and turns its weapons against the Ironworks navy and the Lilac Empire supply fleet. Captain Vincent Douglas of the Conch Battalion masterminds a naval deception using captured colors to sever supply lines. An explosives-laden ship rams the last waterfront stronghold. White flags rise over the Ironworks; radio broadcasts announce the surrender. But in its death throes, the Ironworks releases genetically engineered diseases as a final act of biological warfare. Independent military cells scatter into the wastes carrying weapons of mass destruction. The largest slave system in the post-Fall world is destroyed, but its poison will linger for years.