| Original Intro | Char Gen | Brainstorming | Technology | Terminology |
| The Map | NCT | Locale | The PCs | |
Coastal Pirates and Primitives. Extremely hostile to anyone. Rumored to be cannibals.
A smaller enclave with a mix of hunters, farmers, and fishermen. They trade foodstuffs to NCT for technology.
Disorganized collective of fishermen, hunters and subsistence farmers. Reclusive but not overtly hostile. They serve as a buffer between Bad Waters and points south. Occasional trading partners and information source for NCT.
Loosely affiliated collection of subsistence farmers. Trade ties to NCT and Liggett Valley. The scattered residents generally inhabit underground bunker-like homes.
A small militant enclave. They provide some security for The Greenies in exchange for foodstuffs. Technologically proficient.
Occasional trading partners with NCT. Limited access to enclave. Secretive but open to trade.
Santa Barbara escaped the general destruction of LA, money used to be good for something. It's a weird place, heavily fortified and isolationist.
Santa Maria is a ghost town, but there are a few scattered inhabitants, and a small enclave survives by maintaining a fortified trade station along 101. South and west of Santa Maria shifts in topography have created a vast salt marsh that routinely floods, creating a desolate break between north and south. Salt Ferry is a neutral trading post for many locals, and the only easy way across the waterways.
Vandenberg AFB suffered an 'accident' during the Fall. No one is exactly sure what happened, but the enclave there is very militant.
During the Fall something happened in Europe (asteroid strike or volcanic eruption, no one really knows) that altered the atmosphere significantly. Some scientists claim the Earth's orbit was actually shifted by the event, others dispute this claim. Locally this has manifested in several ways. The area has a cooler climate with more rain. What was once near-desert is now warm temperate, almost Mediterranean. Though the weather is, on average, more pleasant, there are still significant instabilities in the atmosphere.
Black Skies - Remnants of some great stain in the atmosphere or symptom of an ongoing cataclysm, these self-perpetuating storms appear randomly, darkening the skies for days on end. They are accompanied by hail, lightning and twisters.
Vortex storms - Only a few miles across, pocket storms bring incredibly violent and disparate weather with them when they appear: ice storms in mid-summer, tornadoes in the middle of a calm spring day, tropical downpours from cloudless skies.
The oceans have also been affected:
Dead tides - Occasionally huge die-offs of fish, birds and other aquatic life occur, leaving a slick of corpses, rotting kelp and bacterial mats spread across miles of ocean and beach. Those brave enough to study the remains find no obvious cause for the die-off, though they have uncovered a number of new species and mutations.
Boiling spouts - Massive eruptions of sulfurous fumes and super-heated water, boiling spouts appear and vanish with uncanny speed.
On land there is an increased incidence of earthquakes, though most are minor. Other geological oddities have cropped up however:
Scattered geysers, hot springs, fumaroles, and mudpots have appeared all across the region. Some say these point to a pending geological disaster, others say they are remnants of the quake that altered the local landscape during the Fall.
The climate changes, the escape of many domestic / cultivated species into the wild, and the mutating effects of reactor and chemical spills has lead to a profusion of new plant and animal life, both benign and hostile. Some common mutations include:
Chemical weapons - There are many plant forms that emit narcotic / poisonous fumes for defense or attack. Acidic or noxious fumes drive away predators while soporific vapors lull prey into range of...
Animate plants - Though most plants remain sedentary there are regular reports of plants that shift position, respond to motion, or use spines or thorns for offense.
Hiveminds - Colony insects continue to demonstrate sophisticated behavior patterns, including tool use and multi-colony cooperation. NCT carries out a regular program of burning against certain species of ants, wasps and other colony insects.
Mutants - There are many odd creatures out there. Luckily most do not breed true. Some typical mutations include gigantism, primitive features, minor psychic alterations, and behavioral shifts.
Symbiotes - Parasites have changed along with their hosts. Some insect parasites have become true horrors...
East of the mountains, Bakersfield is a shattered wasteland. When the reservoirs broke the water system that kept it green collapsed, leaving it a barren desert filled with burned out houses, desolate streets and shattered highways. It's a bad place to visit.
This roadway is still used as a trade route, though it is anything but safe. Most of the 'civilized' enclaves along this route try to patrol the nearest stretches when possible. Of course raiders and thugs realize the road is in use and prey upon the weak or unwary.
LA and most of its suburbs are a huge mess, the city is trashed, infrastructure destroyed, Metro tunnels collapsed, leaving behind a maze of broken land. Nobody walks in LA.
The national forest burned to the ground in The Fall. It's regrown into dense wilderness, periodically ravaged by wildfires. portions are occupied, but there are no known organized enclaves there.
Tidal salt flats that shift and flood with disturbing regularity. Inhabited by someone (something?) but avoided by civilized folk.