The chef stared intently into the rough, hastily built oven. It was a new addition to his kitchen, a monstrous dome of still drying clay and old bricks that dominated a whole corner of the already crowded room. He'd never used a wood fired pizza oven before; he'd never even made a pizza before. The old Baron had lived on a simple diet- mostly vegetables, salads, roast game. The kind of diet that everyone had resorted to after the Fall.
He shuddered thinking about it. The years of brutal international war over resources dragged on, steadily escalating until finally nuclear force was used and there was so little left that the fighting turned internal. National armies returned home to their devastated nations to quell uprisings and civil wars and eventually so many were dead that the conflict just slowly stopped. The last major battle in the region had been nearly 20 years ago now.
Villages and towns had either been rebuilt or newly founded by the few survivors. A patchwork of communities with varying degrees of access to the luxuries of former modernity now existed. Those who managed to control key pieces of the former infrastructure grew powerful as civilization struggled to reestablish itself. The old Baron had managed to get a local coal fired powerplant up and running, had repaired powerlines and accumulated as many solar panels as possible to provide power to his people. He became known as the Solar Baron.
This new Baron was different. He wasn't content to live on the diet that was the norm for everyone since the Fall. He was the logical successor to the man that had brought power back to the small chunk of upstate New York and negotiated with neighboring Baron's to bring in fuel and other goods. He had been the old Baron's right hand man. A ruthless negotiator and competent diplomat. No one could imagine a better successor.
Everyone expected great things, but his first command had been a strange one.
"Bake me a Pizza, I want a taste of the world we have lost."
A seemingly simple thing perhaps. But more difficult than one might think in a devastated world. For one thing power was only used for lighting and essential infrastructure. He'd had to bake the pizza's over an open flame on his first attempts... Not easy! And cheese! How many of the survivors knew how to make a good cheese? Next to none! Eventually he had found an old man that claimed he could make a serviceable mozzarella if he was given enough milk. And that was just the start! The Chef had never imagined just how many ingredients went into a pizza. Hardly anyone baked bread in those first few years after the fall. Now of course there were wheat fields and millers but the dough had to be just right. The new Baron had not been at all pleased with his first attempts.
So there he was. Staring into the fiery depths of a clay oven that had taken over his kitchen, trying to bake a taste of modernity in a desolate world for a man who had made pizza his prime focus. The Baron had already begun negotiations with the farmers to the south to begin growing more tomatoes, basil, oregano, peppers and zucchini. That was just for the sauce! He'd contacted the swineherds as well to demand a portion of their monthly tax be paid in pepperoni and sausage rather than whole pigs. He'd demanded someone figure out how to successfully grow mushrooms. Thank goodness they had found a pallet of canned olives in that old warehouse. The chef didn't want to think about what would happen when they ran out.
People had begun to talk. They believed the new Baron should have been working on a better agreement with the Oil Baron to the west so they would have enough oil to keep the people warm through the frigid winter. Or the Lake Baron to the east for better transportation and trade with other communities along the shore. He was single minded in his focus though, and kept pushing the Chef to try harder, to create a perfect Supreme Pizza, worthy of a Baron.
And so he became known to his people as the Pizza Baron.
Finally, after months of effort, a pizza that pleased the Pizza Baron was produced. Immediately invitations were sent to all the neighboring Barons, Town Mayors and diplomats from communities further afield.
Attend the Feast of 10000 Pizzas- a taste of life before the Fall
signed
The Pizza Baron
So the chef baked... and baked... and baked... desperate to meet the exacting standards of the Pizza Baron and huge volume of pizza necessary for such a feast. He baked until he was covered in flour and sauce. He baked until his eyebrows were singed off from staring into the clay oven, nervously watching to be sure not a single pizza burned.
And still he baked.
With that I am going to be starting a new ongoing $PIZZA contest!
Here is my poor attempt at worldbuilding in 700 words or less. I'd like to continue building on the story of the Pizza Baron and his post apocalyptic world. Each week I'll pick a winner that becomes the next piece of the story and wins 20 $PIZZA and a 5 SBI sponsorship from me.
In my post announcing the winner I will write another chunk of the story and then open it up again for the next weeks competition. I'll compile the winning entry for each week. If we reach a conclusion of the epic tale of the Pizza Baron I'll divide another TBD amount of PIZZA among all the winning entries throughout the whole story and publish the finished story here on Hive with all the contributors as beneficiaries. If this goes well we might have the first open source blockchain novella on our hands! 😂
Bear in mind this is an experiment as well as a competition so we will see how many entries I get and how well it goes!
Rules:
Entries must be more than 200 words but less than 1000.
Entries must use the hivepizza tag
Entries must comment on this post with the link to their entry
Entries must fit in the world/scenario I've started here. You are free to develop characters, introduce new ones, invite aliens to the feast, I don't care as long it makes some kind of sense in the context! The Pizza Baron should remain relevant to the plot!
(I've named it a Tale of TWO Pizza's for a reason HINT HINT)