Bonus Material
SPOILER WARNING
The following material can also be found at the end of each chapter, and in some cases can be considered spoilery. Read the treatment first, then come back to this at the end.
Map
Breukelen & Manahatta
Floor Plan
Terms
Rust
The red, powdered club drug popular at Broken Land. Caustic if not handled with silver paraphernalia, usually snorted or smoked. A dissociative stimulant that may cause mild hallucinations, temporal displacement, and perception outside normal human range.
Vermillion
A dark red, bioluminescent fungi with a fractal, succulent-like appearance. Grows in dark, subterranean locales and attracted to a specific wavelength of loud noise. Both its spores and wax are known psychoactive entheogens. Its fruiting bodies now lay dormant, the glowing remains of its root system still visible in the cracks underneath Broken Land.
Mercury
Vermillion’s thick metallic wax. Used in shamanistic rituals for centuries. It causes powerful, prophetic visions, chromosthesia, and can even activate super human monoChrome abilities in a select few.
rusted (aka in the red)
Someone high on Rust. Also called rusted out, corroded, or oxidized.
monoChrome (aka in the black)
Chrome for short. Someone with superhuman abilities, the term is a reference to their black, metallic Aura.
Aura
The otherworldly, metallic full-body halo given off by the monoChrome. Can only be seen by someone on Rust, or photographed under special conditions. A biological magnetic field that can be used to perceive or interact with the world around them.
Broken
The collection of diverse artists, music heads and outsiders that attend Broken Land. The Inner Circle. Known for their all black wardrobes, silver drug paraphernalia, and off-the-grid lifestyle.
Square
Normal, boring, sober. Not “in the circle,” and not welcome at Broken Land. A reference to mainstream life as represented by Manahatta city blocks, boxy condo apartments and office cubes.
Mercury 7
The group name for the super powered crew that run Broken Land. Notable for their unique Auras and intricate symbolic tattoos of the seven planets of antiquity.
The System
Deadalus’ massive sound and lighting setup at Broken Land. Composed of the black chrome, triangular Highs in the DJ booth and the three towering stacks of rusted Lows surrounding the dance floor, filled with huge woofer cones and rings of red neon.
The Breaking
The local term for the earthquake of 2012.
Tattoo GUide
The Mercury 7 each have a glowing UV ink tattoo based on one of the planetary symbols. These, in addition to their regular tattoos, are courtesy of The Serbian, Broken Land’s resident tattoo artist.
☉ Theo
Theo’s tattoo is a full arm sleeve representing an abstract map of Broken Land, with a glowing sun in the crook of his arm, and intricate geometric lines and shapes, including triangles, squares and circles, overlapping from his shoulder to his wrist.
☿ Russ
Russ has the Mercury symbol on his calf, flowing into Japanese style phoenix wings that spread up to cover his entire leg.
♀ Aria
Aria has a tattoo of the Venus symbol on her lower belly, interwoven with a delicately-lined spider-web pattern.
♂Manny
Manny has a large tattoo of the Mars symbol, with the circular part on his shoulder and long horn-like arrow across his chest.
♄ Sharon
The Saturn symbol is tattooed across her eye and cheek, which is enclosed by a sugar skull on exactly half her face and bald head.
♃ Deadalus
Deadalus is covered in tattoos. His Jupiter tattoo covers the back of his hand, with overlapping triangles moving up his arm. Sacred geometry, a nautilus shell representing the golden ratio, and DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man round out the collection.
♅ The Serbian
The Uranus symbol, split in half, is tattooed on each forearm. Each doppelgänger has one half of the tattoo on a single arm. As a tattoo artist, he’s collected a lot of ink as well: a double eagle crest, an Orthodox cross, and the names of fallen comrades.
♆ Minus
The pitchfork of the Neptune symbol is tattooed across one side of his neck.
Acknowledgements
While the seed of this story has been floating around my head in various forms for years, it wasn’t until quarantine that I had the time and motivation to make it finally happen. So, thanks global pandemic?
But really, thank you to all the encouraging people and support systems that helped me get this project, as overly complicated as I’ve made it, finally down in a form I can share. Broken Land is my love note, and Dear John letter, to a Brooklyn that now only exists in my memories.
Thanks to my loving partner Jen, for always taking my crazy ideas and helping to make them reality. Thank you to Morgan and Kevin, my readers, for offering clarity, input and much-needed proofreading. You made this story better. And young John wants to shout out Stan Lee, Gary Gygax, and his 5th grade teacher Mrs. Reardon, the origins of his love of heroes, world building, and mythology.
And finally, credit is due to all the friends, enemies, clubbers, and bar patrons over the years who’ve inspired all the little character moments and personality traits of the Mercury 7. Life truly is stranger than fiction.
Next stop— Broken World!