Calbury Disaster

The Calbury Disaster, or the Incident at Reactor Five, was a nuclear accident that occured in the city of Calbury, Suntterland. It caused catestrophic damage, in both monetary costs and deaths, as well as long term diseases, such as cancer. Due to the secretive nature of Suntterland, and the nature of the Ascendancy, the full details, and casualties, shall never be known to the outside world. The Essotori government kept many of the details as state secrets, most likely in the Palace of Origins's underground archives.

The Calbury Nuclear Power Plant was a class Zilbon Reactor, constructed hastily on the orders of the Nashley Noble Family, who were the primary stakeholders of the Ascended Leap Program in Suntterland. The Zilbon Class contained many notable failures, employing poor control response time, an inefficient cooling system, and a sensitivity to corrosion. The Zilbon class maintained five reactors, of which, only three could be used safely at once. More, would strain the already poor coolant and moderation systems beyond tolerable levels. These factors, combined with corruption and incompetence, led to disaster. Suntterland's rapid industrialisation since it's annexation into the Ascendancy caused a huge degree of acid rain, and the already powerful heat, corroded and decayed the mechanisms of the reactor beyond tolerable levels. When the Plant Manager commanded the Calbury Crew, composed primarily of Esso servicemen, with most of the native Suntterlandish employed as lower ranking workers, to 'increase efficiency' by activating all five reactors at the same time at full power, the strained defences broke. Reactor five, activated first, and gained the most momentum and time to build power. After the activation of Reactor one and three, reactor five's cooling system failed, and the crew, poorly trained to deal with such a situation, attempted to shut down the reactors, though this failed, as the control rods were equipped with cheap materials that in fact, increased radioactivity. The spike in activity broke the already fragile reactor lid, and caused an enormous explosion in the reactor core. This spewed out abnormally high quantities of radiation, that poisoned Calbury, and has left it entirely desolated since that day. The radiation had negative impacts on agriculture, as well as the sea life to the west, and Essotori itself issued an ordnance that those in Radon must remain indoors.

The government of Suntterland actively frustrated relief efforts. The true relief force was conducted by the Reconstruction Commitee, a coalition of Promulgators and Scientists. Calbury's immediate deaths were exaccerbated by the government's slow, and actively hostile response, characterised by Lord James Nashley's slogan: "Each Crownslave survives endless tribulations, and shall continue to do so." Eventually, Essotori itself was made aware of the full extent of the catestrophy, and the Ascendancy sent in further reinforcements, around two weeks late. By now, evacuations were being conducted by the Reconstruction Commitee, and many acts of heroism were undertook by locals, as well as volunteers. Calbury was completely evacuated, and cleansed of the remains of civilians by 1972, though most of the bodies were buried under cement, or burned. The remaining reactors were able to cool down successfully, which was used by the Suntterland government to downplay the extent of the damage. Essotori's responsibility in the disaster is a matter of fierce debate within the Ascendancy, while the government in Radonstinatle was only partially briefed two weeks after the explosion, they certainly had representatives in Suntterland for the response. The Nashley family, who benefitted dramatically from investment in Suntterland, cut many corners in construction and maintainance, and did not wish to lose their privileged position in Essotori itself. James Nashley, the man responsible for much of the plant's failure, infamously was asked about the reactor from the capital of Suntterland; "Is the homeland predicted to experience the negative impacts of this most unfortunate incident?", his secretary simply said "No." To which, Nashley responded "Then there is no need for any Crownslave to worry, the masters in Radonstinatle shall be satisfied. Suntterland is a poor country, and must fend for itself." Upon hearing of the damage, the Nozerod Unquenched Wrath commanded the Duke of Suntterland to commit suicide, so that he may join his countrymen in death

## Background

With the annexation of Suntterland into the Ascendancy, Suntterland was ruled by a strenous mix of local officials, the existing bureaucracy and the Esso administration from the mainland. To assist independent development, it was decided in the Radonstinatle Conference (1945) that each member of the Ascendancy would make the leap to provide their peoples with "the utmost luxuries, unseen around the world", while also increasing military capacity. Suntterland had already began converting to heavy industry during the war, with a civilian economy based around mining, and to facilitate advances in civilian development the Ascendancy passed the "Great Autonomy Act". This allowed native Suntterlandish officals, as well as Essotori representatives, to have wide sweeping powers free from Essotori itself, that was struggling economically. The move to heavy industry and the rapid insertion of cars into Suntterland had caused huge levels of polution, and programs against this were suspended and banned by the Ducal government. The Nashley family, a mining cartel since the days of General Suntter, gained significant prominence, being appointed to various positions in the government. The family, led by patriarch James Nashley, established a series of ten Zilcon reactors, named after Duke Zilcon of Suntterland. The Zilcon Class was poorly designed and built with Essotori in mind, with much lower temperatures and a much more heavily environment. Corners were cut in construction.

## The Incident

### 21:03

The reactor's constraints and cooling systems fail, and the overheating prevents effective responses. Reactor five explodes, emitting a violent quantity of radioactive material. The explosion awoke the people of Calbury, who left their homes to observe the smoke and ash raining down from the sky, playing in it. The purposely obfuscating nature of the regime meant that most of the population was unaware of the dangers, and happily enjoyed rolling around ashpiles, mistaking it for snow. Some more knowledgable, made an attempt to leave, though most of these people still perished from cancer.

### 10:16

The local Promulgators moved to the outskirts of the city, with every scientist they could find in the town that had not fled. They began assembling volunteers to contain the damage and put out fires, though adhoc crews had already began the ultimately futile yet iconic task of searching the reactor itself for survivors, as they were under the impression it was a mere fire. These men, and the firecrews, were posthumously declared as without fault, beings of pure Ritella, sitting with the Nozerod.

### 16th Octomber

Reports of the incident reach Radonstinatle, and the Ministry of Health commanded all subjects residing in Radonstinatle to stay indoors and close their windows. Volunteers and scientists were sent to New Tamenford to assist the government, as well as regulators. The Nozerod Unquenched Wrath fell into a rage, even in his advanced age, he was prone to outbursts. He commanded the Duke Zilcon to die, so that he may join his most loyal subjects in death. Zilcon, a lifelong friend and ally of Unquenched Wrath, complied, via visiting the reactor itself, absorbing a lethal dose of radiation, before injesting poison. The Reconstruction Commitee was joined by Scientist Ronald Hamstead, and Lord Alexander Nardsen, who conducted experiments and represented Essotori itself in the Commitee.

### 17th Octomber

The Ascendancy placed a total lockdown on Suntterland, evacuating any remaining residents from the town, and begining a proper cleanup. To prevent international intervention, Essotori also declared the event 'contained', and swept it under the rug. The equipment required to clean up the area, purging it of wildlife and civilians was already in production in Suntterland, thus the Reconstruction Commitee was placed in charge of the cleanup, and were designated witnesses in the trial against the Nashley family.

## Aftermath

### Essotori

Faith in an independent Suntterland shattered throughout the Ascendancy, with even the masses of Suntterland itself calling for direct rule by Essotori. As such, the 'Resurgence' faction in the National Mistery was able to assume majority support to form a new government, after the prior government resigned. This new regime was led by Prime Minister James Mcharren, and sought to reign in the Duchy's independence, as well as stem the stream of Suntterlandish immigrants to mainland Essotori. He effectively turned Suntterland into a true colonial possession throughout his tensure. The Mcharren Ministry nationalised all nuclear and energy assets, and created the Ministry of Energy for Suntterland, appointing firm allies to regulate the expansion of nuclear power into Suntterland. Throughout the 70s, Essotori began the process of adapting all Zilcon Class Reactors in Suntterland with heat resistant materials, and issued legislation preventing the overpolution of the Duchy.

The Trial of the Nashley family, and many of the government officials within Suntterland, was more publisised than the actual disaster. The Nashleys were scapegoated heavily by the outgoing administration, citing their dipassion for the people of Suntterland, and putting profits over the safety of the reactor. They were charged with criminal negligence, abuse of power, defiance of authority, subversion, and treason. Treason was the most serious charge, and was justified on the basis that cutting corners on reactors was a deliberate attempt to stunt the Ascendancy's economic growth, and against the Ascended Leap Program. This charge was the most heavily contested, as treason allowed the state to legally subject the condemned to exaggerated, cruel punishments. James Nashley spoke in his own defense against this charge, stating that if the court would charge him with treason, they would need to declare every single politician one too. The Court used the doctrine of ESP (Efficient, Specific, Precidence), a Cultist doctrine based around punishing the perpetrator in an ironic, meaningful way to truly make them regret their decision. The sentence was particularly harsh, all noble titles and family possessions would be seized by the state of Suntterland, and used to help the poor, while James and his closest family, would be fatally exposed to the radiation of Calbury, with no medical aid or painkillers administered, causing a slow death. This harsh sentence was designed to appease those callling for blood, though the idea of punishing the innocent, especially the child, in such a violent manner repulsed not only the crowd, but Ronald Hamstead, the head of the Reconstruction Commitee. After a small speech, and a reminding that collective punishment violates the uniqueness of each soul, the Court simply sentenced James himself, as well as those directly involved in the accident to death. The Nashley family still exists, though they have been thoroughly discredited by the disaster. The only prominent member who still participates in politics is Emily Nashley, representative of the Footwear Mistery of Acropo.

### Suntterland

Duke Zilcon, where the name of the power plant class came from, was commanded to commit suicide by Nozerod Unquenched Wrath, despite the former's personal lack of power or decision making ability in the disaster. The Duke complied, killing himself via poison, after personally visiting Calbury, most likely radiating himself. He ingested poison as soon as he returned to the Diamond Palace, writing a suicide note, containing an apology to his subjects. Suntterland was held under the Spirtual Authority Act, repealling virtually all autonomy, until the late 1980s.

## In Culture

While the disaster is not too known outside of the Ascendancy, inside there was a deep, long lasting legacy. Personal failures of the Prime Ministers could be used in slang with "Is the Crownslave X's Calbury?" or "Does the Honourable Crownslave detect Calbury dust? Oh, it's just the Crownslave X's Ministry." There existed a Mistery between 1970 - 1982, calling for the Ascended One to forcefully change the family name Nashley to 'Calbury' in pennance. This was played as a joke, but had some genuine support. It was dissolved by Grandmaster Brian Liningham. The disaster is still controversial in Suntterland, and the 'Calbury Ghost' still haunts the population.