[center] [h3][color=13A082] The Trappers[/color] [/h3][/center]

[hider=Name] The Trappers, The Trapper Clans, Trapper Culture [/hider]

[hider=Flag] WIP, but many Trapper Clans have their own symbology. [/hider]

[hider=Territory] The Trapper Clans are scattered throughout Maine, but state borders are rarely visible in the wasteland. Especially in the rural and verdant upper northeast. Thus, loggers and hunters occasionally cross into New Hampshire or Canada. New Hampshire's panhandle and White Mountain National Forest have seen some significant forays. However, the densest population is at the coast of Maine, where fishing is the lifeblood of their clans. Coastal-southern Maine is the region they dominate in, concentrating in Portland, Brunswick, Belfast, and Rockland. They navigate up and down the Kennebec, Androscoggin, and Penobscot Rivers of Maine, as they connect to the coast. Settlements and camps follow the rivers, with the former major cities of Augusta, Bangor, and Lewiston now humbled as fringe frontier hubs. However, as the coast becomes more crowded, younger, more innovative clans move to these cities. [/hider]

[hider=History] 
The Trappers’ history is mostly lost to legend and tall-tales, but a roughly coherent line can be followed from the Great War to the present. Their history is basic and moralistic, often up to debate and varying based on who you ask.

In the years just after the Great War, stories speak of people attempting to return to the land and fishing. No missiles directly targeted Maine, so the Rich Ones (common term for Pre-War Americans) hoped to live on in a humbled way of life for a time before reclaiming the Pre-Bomb way of life (war has been a part of life for them for centuries, so really the most defining aspect of the Great War for history was the nuclear bombs to them. Thus, ‘Pre-Bomb’ and ‘Post-Bomb’). Legends speak of heroic and self-sacrificing survivors who grew gardens, hunted, and shared dwindling food supplies to keep this dream alive. However, the Rich Ones’ hopes were dashed when the Collapse came. Legends differ on the nature of the Collapse, but most agree fighting between nascent survivor factions played a large role, as well as starvation. Refugees from Boston and the overpopulated northeast attempted to rely on a land and ocean already exhausted by pollution and urban development. Too many mouths to feed, not enough game in Maine for them all.

The result was a sinking population and vast drop in the standard of living. Decades passed as Maine once again became a quieter place, but by the 2160’s survivors in the region began to coalesce into an identifiable Trapper culture. The Trapper culture prizes warrior-hunters or warrior-fishers typically called Trappers. With the dangers of raider gangs, mutants, and abundant mutated wildlife in Maine’s waters and forests, a person has to be able to defend themselves while hunting. Trapper culture came to glorify these people, and they quickly became leaders, elites, and brotherhoods. Decades into the Post-Bomb and after the Collapse, the oceans, rivers, and forests of Maine would once again teem with wildlife, offering opportunity and danger for these Trappers. Wooden longships, as well as a variety of other sail and oar powered craft helmed by Trappers, navigate Maine’s rivers and coast.

Their system of government and societal organization is somewhat unimaginative, drawing from the lingering American imagination of rustic culture. Descending from bands of survivors and refugees disjointed from family and thrust together by desperation, the people of Maine and other lands came to form Clans led by Chiefs. The Chiefs are typically Trappers of martial renown, as well as skill in governance. Faintly remembering American values, these Chiefs and a supportive Council are elected by universal suffrage by everyone 17 or above in the Clan. The Clans often have quixotic names based on their founder, region, or a particular speciality. All members of Clans are not related by blood, but instead keep their Clan name as a secondary surname. Their society is staunchly meritocratic and discriminates no-one on the basis of gender, sexuality, race, or class. There is an individualist bent to their culture of every person prizing their accomplishments through a personal honor roll, which usually includes great feats of hunting and warfare, but also honorable actions to support their clans. Indeed, the Clans balance this pride-based system of achievement with a communal culture. A “good” Trapper must balance their thirst for achievement with actions for the common good of the Clan. 

As of 2210, the Trapper Clans tentatively unified under a Grand Chief and Grand Clan, which make some overarching decisions for the Trapper Clans as a whole. Nevertheless, the reality is that most clans are independent and isolated in the Maine wilderness, operating lucrative and dangerous fisheries, logging camps, and hunting lodges.

The challenges facing Grand Chief Amel Roberts-Bearkin in 2298 are myriad. Unable to hold off the adventurism of Chief Liam Carter-Spearshark and the Spearshark Clan any longer, the vengeful and curious Clan heads towards Far Harbor to discover the whereabouts of their lost kin. The assaults of the Grand Clan Army have been continually frustrated by the Iron Giant super mutants holding Bath Ironworks, leaving the valuable pre-war ship manufactory occupied by dangerous mutants in the heart of Trapper lands. Tensions continually grow between coastal, fishing clans and interior, logging and hunting clans. More land claim arbitration issues come before the Grand Chief everyday. And as the Trapper Clans expand and trade abroad, who knows what perils the outside world holds… [/hider]


[hider=Pressing Issues] [b]The Unfinished Conquest- [/b] Bath Ironworks was the last great ship manufactory of Maine in the Pre-Bomb times, producing new and advanced ships for the American military. It would be a prize to hold for the Trapper Clans, who mostly build wooden ships powered by wind or muscle. However, Bath Ironworks and parts of the surrounding area are currently held by the Iron Giants super mutant, ghoul, and raider tribe, who use the Ironworks to equip themselves with heavy steel armor. The Grand Clan Army has had it under loose siege for some time, but attacks have been frustrated or achieved with huge losses. Once a minor conflict, all the Trapper Clans now watch with interest or send warriors to aid the battle. The Grand Chief’s honor and reputation is on the line with this war, and she plans to prove herself.

[b]Far Harbor Fascination- [/b]Unbeknownst to the other Trapper Clans, the Trappers exploring Far Harbor and hunting its beasts went mad from the effects of the Fog and turned into crazed raiders. Several Trapper Clans had kin who went with them, but none more so than Clan Spearshark. As the years have passed, the island’s perils, beasts, and the mystery of the missing Trappers have fascinated many. Much of Clan Spearshark is organizing an expedition to investigate and renew hunting on the island.

[b]New Hampshire, New Land- [/b] The hunger for land by new and existing Clans has turned towards Maine’s nearest neighbor. The exact parameters, opportunities, and dangers this holds must be understood.

[b]Disunity- [/b] The Trapper Clans are practically and politically disunited by geography and economic initiative sending them further and further into the wilderness. Fishers on the coast have less and less common cause with those travelling far into the interior. Centralized control is usually limited to the coast and rivers, and ends when one strays too far from a settlement. A political map of the Trapper Clans would resemble a confusing morass of spheres of influence.

[b]Cultural Divide- [/b] With the growth of riverside and coastal settlements, there is a growing population of outsiders, clanless, and more “normal” people who chafe with traditional Trapper culture.

[b]Snow, Rain, Woods, and Rivers- [/b]The natural barriers to quick transportation offered by Maine’s verdant “wasteland” are many. Despite the individuality of the many Clans, some are recognizing their interest may lie with the Grand Chief organizing a protected and maintained road network.

[b]Animalia Mysticus- [/b] Just as the Wasteland seems to get predictable, new mutated beasts and other dangers appear. Mysterious and dangerous monsters finding shelter in Maine’s sparsely settled wilderness offer fresh challenges to Trappers, but also threats to their fragile civilization.

[b]Backwoods Delirium- [/b]Word has spread from the backwoods of an eerie, robed man leading a legion of ghastly, glowing figures in strange rituals on high, remote hills on blackest nights. Half-decayed animals move with dreadful intelligence, wyrd lights bob in the dark, men blended with beasts wander on the fringes of the treeline, and strange effigies and totems are found deep in the woods with no explanation. Surely this is all the result of tall tales and the backwoods, isolated Clans’ famed propensity for madness and cabin fever? [/hider]


[hider=EDIT- Map Draft:]

[img] https://i.imgur.com/BnnJHsb.png [/img] [/hider]