Tales Of Well: On The Run - Blog Posts

Post-"Tales of Well" Longfic Basics

Premise and some lore and characters for longfics that will follow the end of Tales of Well. However many one-shots Tales of Well ends up being. Honestly, shorts will probably keep being added even after the longfics are done as inspiration strikes me, until I fill out as much in-universe time as is possible within the fics’ timeline. I’m loving writing about these characters; they’re honestly some of the favourite OCs that I’ve created over the years. I just wish my non-fandom OCs and their stories could hook me as hard D:

Anyway, longfics! Both will be more dramatic and serious in tone than the majority of the one-shots, though I’ll do my damnedest to keep them from getting downright depressing. First is “On the Run”, which will directly tie into TF2 canon and feature (*hides face*) canon characters. Honestly, that’s the most intimidating part of writing this one: actually making sure I don’t completely destroy the canon characters that show up.

The second longfic is “Great White North”, and will have even more OCs! (I have a problem please help me…) Will still tie in with canon, though it’ll shift to the back burner a bit. There’s more “lore” behind this one, and a bunch of new additions to the cast :) It’s also the one I’m more excited to write, so it’s more fleshed out (and takes up the majority of this post o.o).

Infodump under the cut! Enjoy!

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Tales of Well: On the Run

Premise

After years of growing steadily more and more disillusioned with the RED/BLU “war”, and multiple unsuccessful attempts, the BLU Spy and Wrenches (the RED Engineer) finally manage to break open the intelligence briefcases. Inside are samples of a strange, glowing liquid element, unnerving medical and technical reports, and reams of classified documents that shed an uncomfortable light on the reasons the mercenaries are fighting.

They had been told they were being hired to “test new weaponry and battlefield technologies”. What they hadn’t been told was that every moment of their lives under RED and BLU’s employ had been watched, recorded, and neatly packaged for the amusement of wealthy investors… and the morbid satisfaction of the Administrator, one “F.P.”. Every triumph, every trauma, every private moment over their years of fighting: it had all been on display for countless strangers, a violent, candid soap opera to entertain the rich and unscrupulous.

Aside from gaining this unsettling knowledge, there is another, more pressing consequence to opening the intel: both teams have been marked for immediate termination. The mercenaries are forced to flee for their lives, with robot "termination teams" hot on their heels. They decide to take out the snake at the head, and set course for TF Industries HQ for the fight of their lives.

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Great White North

Premise

[Spoilers for the end of “On the Run”, I guess lol]

Having barely escaped the Administrator and her minions by the skin of their teeth, with the aid of Olivia Mann and former members of Team Fortress, the runaway mercs take Olivia’s suggestion to change targets, and go after what the Administrator really cares about: Canadium. The strange element only found over the northern border has been being mined, experimented with, and jealously guarded by the Administrator, for reasons the mercs are only just beginning to understand.

Olivia puts the Well mercenaries in contact with Team Great White North, former TF Industries mercs who (with Olivia’s help) have been working to wrest TF Industries’ massive Canadium stockpiles out of the Administrator’s hands. Together, they may be able to put an end to the Administrator, and, hopefully, the entire pointless, endless RED/BLU war.

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Lore

Canadium: In its basic state, Canadium is a transparent, faintly glowing red-and-white liquid roughly the same viscosity as maple syrup. It remains in a liquid state at room temperature and solidifies at -30 degrees Celsius into maple leaf-shaped crystals that have roughly the same hardness as quartz. It is extremely difficult to provoke a chemical reaction from Canadium, but reactions are often exceptionally violent when they do occur. 

Canadium shares many of the effects of Australium, and has a few unique features of its own. It does not extend life to the extent Australium does, but it increases general health and hardiness exponentially, and can revive the recently deceased. Signs of prolonged exposure include increased politeness and tolerance of others, a love of fighting and drinking, and increased muscle mass. Heavily exposed men also have their chest hair grow in a maple leaf pattern. There are different varieties of Canadium, depending on where in Canada it was found, and the degree of the effects of exposure varies between the different types (Rocky Mountain Canadium gives greater muscle mass, Maritime Canadium increases love of fighting, Quebec Canadium [blue-and-white rather than red-and-white] increases love drinking, etc).

[Originally, it was just pure self-indulgence having the new "magic element" being from my home country, so I'd have an excuse to make an all-Canuck mercenary team. In doing research for ToW, though, I saw something from the Engineer Update background art that made me very happy:

So yeah, I am 100% latching on to one tiny little piece of background art as an excuse to expand on my self-indulgent integration of Canada to the TF2 universe! I know it's only talking about gold, but I'm going to ride this little bit of background art straight into Hell!]

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Team Great White North

Originally formed to defend TF Industries’ largest Canadium stockpile without being told exactly what they were guarding, but the mercs broke their contracts and went into hiding after discovering it and what the Administrator was using it for. Olivia Mann offered to help them hide from the Administrator and her robots in exchange for help siphoning off the Administrator’s stockpiles, and she provided them with a hideout “base” in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. They have been performing smash and grab raids for a little more than a year before being joined by the Well mercs.

Nick: Scout. 24 year old male. City kid from Toronto. Uses a lacrosse stick instead of a baseball bat. Really likes his hats; has several “favourite” toques that he cycles through.

Danny: Scout. 22 year old male. City kid from Halifax. Uses a hockey stick instead of a baseball bat, and wears a hockey helmet in fights. Missing left lateral incisor.

Colin: Demoman. 23 year old male. Cape Bretoner (L’Ardoise). Friendly, as long as you don’t take away his booze. Makes grenades out of empty Moosehead beer cans.

Hank: Heavy. 36 year old male. Team leader. Lumberjack from northern BC. Wears plaid flannel and uses a big axe. Married to Madeleine.

Quinten: Engineer. 25 year old male. Third-generation Japanese-Canadian from Vancouver. Alvin’s son, not happy his father joined the team with him. Total sci-fi and computer geek. Dating Marshall behind Alvin's back.

Kacey: Engineer. 24 year old female. Half-Mi’kmaq, Haligonian. Full name is Kimberly Cecilia, but she hates it, so she just goes by Kacey. Big sister to the younger guys on the team, especially Colin.

Alvin: Medic. 53 year old male. Second-generation Japanese-Canadian from Vancouver. Quinten’s father, joined the team with him to keep an eye on him and keep him safe. Uses the “Healing Hands” rather than a medigun: gloves that, when activated, heal on contact.

Marshall: Sniper. 28 year old male. Rancher from Alberta, not far from Calgary. Was kicked in the head by a horse when he was sixteen, is still a little “goofy” as a result (has some minor brain damage that mostly manifests in excessive cheeriness, lapses in attention, poor impulse control, and “rage blackouts” when provoked). Uses a modified cattle-prod as a melee weapon. Dating Quinten behind Alvin's back.

Madeleine: Spy. 35 year old female. Quebecois. Former CSIS recon officer, and cat burglar. Wears a white pant suit, a white fedora with a red band, a red domino mask, and a red scarf. Married to Hank.