The Rat King

Boston, Massachusetts; the first blackout city in the United States after the anti-technology revolution. Anti-technology cult radicals took over the city, and instead of dealing with them, the government closed it off, declaring Boston as a 'blackout zone'. No technology, machinery, or advanced devices permitted.

Avel Vysotsky will do anything for money. He's Boston's famed moneylender, a loan shark, and he will do anything to collect what's his. Those living in the blackout zone have named him 'King of the Rats' because his methods are dirty, but his intelligence is sharp. He hides in the shadows, always waiting, always watching to get what he's owed.

Sterling Fakara is a hired hand. His skills in combat outmatch most, and he's not subtle about it. When Avel hires him to be his own personal 'guard dog', Sterling jumps at the chance, because what Avel doesn't know, is that Sterling is an undercover cop, on a mission to rid the blackout parts of the country from crime before it begins to bleed out of the blackout zones.

When a new moneylender suddenly appears in Avel's territory, an all-out war breaks loose. Avel refuses to make room for any other lenders, he never did like sharing, and Sterling decides to stick with Avel, wanting to take down both lenders at once.

Both Avel and Sterling are greedy for two different things, and Sterling quickly realizes the effects of Boston, and of a blackout zone in general. With every day he spends with Avel, his morality twists into greed, and it isn't long before Avel's grip on him begins to change his desires for the worse.