[center][h1]Accentuate the Positive[/h1][/center] [hider=Horace] [center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5d/90/49/5d9049ccb35789b358052138905163c5.jpg[/img] [i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRyrWN-fftE]Bye bye, love. Bye bye, sweet caress. Hello, emptiness. I feel like I could die. Bye bye, my love, goodbye...[/url][/i] [h2][color=BDB76B]Horace Sherman[/color][/h2][/center] In another life, in another time, perhaps Horace would've been a lawman protecting a community that he loved. Or perhaps he would've been a soldier, fighting for his homeland against the aggressors. He could've taken up a flag, made it his own, and put in every ounce of his soul to protect it. God knows he tried many times - so many times - to find a place to call home. But the Wastes' unforgiving nature made this impossible, and nothing more than a dream. Born in the desolate town of Hawthorne, tucked away somewhere halfway between New Reno and Vegas, he could've lived a simple life. He could've taken up the trade of his father, a simple tinkerer, and lived out his days in obscurity and in ignominy. It would've been a pleasant life, if a bit boring. It would've, if God did not turn against the town and blight Horace's life with constant struggle. For at the young age of twelve, the entire town was descended upon by raiders. They spared little, and destroyed so much. A once thriving community, an oasis in the desert, was ransacked and left for ruin. Horace's family, his entire clan, were butchered before his eyes as he hid in a barrel. Some days, dark days, he wishes he would've died with them. A part of him died that day anyway. With his only home in flames, the young boy left and wandered the desert north, towards New Reno. He was picked up by a caravan on its way to Hawthorne, and they brought him back with them to the Biggest Little City in the World. One of the drivers, the eldest of the group by far by the name of Boyce, took him in and raised him as best he could in his old age. He brought him along the Brahmin trails and the caravan routes stretching from New Canaan to Vault City, and soon became an indispensable figure on the long routes. He was quick shot, easily handling a repeater, and soon earned his keep. But it wasn't meant to last. Returning from the Long Haul to New Canaan, they found that the caravan company had been bought out and liquidated by the Crimson Caravan, another victim of the Californians. Forced out of a job, and quickly afterwards out of his home, Horace took up his rifle and what little belongings he could carry and ventured out into the Wastes. He traveled a little bit, until he stumbled upon a Desert Ranger outpost. Welcomed in initially as a simple refugee after telling the story of Hawthorne, he quickly made himself useful and joined up with the Rangers as they patrolled the stretch of highway leading from New Reno to New Vegas. And so he lived the life of a Ranger, protecting the roving caravans and laying down law to the towns along the Stretch. One of these towns, Goldfield - in the shade of Montezuma's Peak, became his regular spot. He grew to love it, to nurture it, and to care for it. Horace even found a lady, and began a courtship that would lead to ruin. He fell in love with this Latin beauty, by the name Eunice, and set out to make her his. But she had been pledged to another, a brutal Brahmin driver, who did not take kindly to the Ranger consorting with his betrothed. The two settled their dispute with a challenge: a duel. And Horace's draw was quicker than the Brahmin driver's. As he lay dying on the ground just outside of town, the Ranger hopped on his horse and rode away, the screams of Eunice cursing him to a life of ruin echoing into his ears. He drifted about the Ranger outposts in relative obscurity until, in 2271, the Rangers merged with the NCR's. This was unacceptable to Horace, who soon left the Rangers behind and set off into the desert. The only thing that kept his life secure, the only thing that made sense, had been ripped from him. He felt insulted, betrayed, and angry. The roads that he followed all led to Vegas, and he soon found himself in Westside. There, he was able to kick his feet up a little bit. These people, they didn't know his past. He could rewrite himself, and so he did. He pretended to be a lawman, roving the Wastes in search of ending injustice. And the people believed him! And they took him in, putting him in with their militia, which was tasked with repelling the Fiend gangs that roved outside the walls. Horace took joy - immense and immeasurable pleasure - in killing them. He imagined that each of them were those raiders who, nearly thirty years before, had killed his family. He ended their lives slowly, making sure they felt the pain that he did. When the Second Battle of Hoover Dam came, and all of the chaos that followed, Horace soon rose to be the unofficial sheriff of Westside. They repelled roving gangs of raiders and pillagers in the chaos directly following the NCR Evacuation, and managed to restore law to that part of Vegas. But it wasn't to last. Soon, bounty hunters from Goldfield came to Westside in search of the fugitive Ranger, who proceeded to shoot them dead. He left that night, heading off towards the south in search of a quiet town where he could retire, or at least kill himself in peace. As he readied himself to leave Vegas, he read the news of the Courier, the Leader of the Free State, calling on volunteers to head East. And with little other option in his tank, he took it. There was no other choice, and besides, he doubted that bounty hunters would cross into the wild lands of the East to come and find it. The caps weren't worth it. [/hider] [hider=The Free State of the Mojave] [center][img]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/vexillology/images/e/e2/NV_Proposed_Flag_Ben_Karnell.png/revision/latest?cb=20141026030329[/img] [i]"Who are you, who do not know your own history?"[/i][/center] Like a shining diamond in the rough, an oasis in the wasteland of the Post-Atomic Horror, the Free State of the Mojave can confidently - and without any reservation - say that it is the last bastion of freedom in the World. The old and diseased Bear of the Lands of the Sunset, with all of its Old World trappings of corruption and bureaucracy, could never claim to be truly as free as Vegas. Nor could the Legion, even at its grandest height in its Reign of Terror over Arizona, ever claim to be as powerful as the Courier's State, backed by an army of robots and a host of loyal country folk at his beck and call. The Free State was formed in the upheaval of the Second Battle of the Hoover Dam. Like an ace in the hole, the Courier forever changed the face of the Wasteland - and perhaps the World. Of all the calculations that Robert House ran, all the millions of predictions he formulated in the silent hum of computer processors, he could never have predicted that a mailman would foil them all. Nor could the NCR have ever guessed that they would be played like a fiddle, the Hoover Dam stolen from them in their moment of triumph. And the Legate, the Monster of the East, was humbled before the Courier, who convinced him with silver tongue to leave the Hoover Dam while he still had a chance. Fending off two great powers was one thing, but maintaining the precarious state of affairs was another. With an AI dealing with the mundane day-to-day operations, the Courier was free to involve himself in the disputes that were rapidly growing throughout the new state. When tensions brewed in Freeside over the evacuation of the Californian squatters, the Courier intervened and used his influence with the King to secure a safe passage out to the Long 15. When the towns in Henderson and Southside began to fight over their shared possession of the Long 15, the Courier stepped up and offered to keep the Long 15 safe and open for all travelers. But the cracks are beginning to show. While the strength and willpower of one man is enough to found a state, it is not enough to hold one together. The NCR breathes down its neck at every turn. With every election cycle, politicians rise up, calling for an embargo on Vegas and a stop-movement on all commerce flowing into the Mojave. While they rarely ever get into office, the fact that they exist at all is troubling enough to warrant concern. And with a population explosion in Vegas itself, the Courier turns East to extend the Free State's influence, and shore up its power. Only history will say whether or not the Courier will be successful, or if his state will be just another failed attempt at power.[/hider] [hider=Prescott] [center][img]https://c4.wallpaperflare.com/wallpaper/443/909/66/sci-fi-post-apocalyptic-building-city-wallpaper-preview.jpg[/img] [i]"Enjoy your stay."[/i][/center] Prescott was once a city like any other in the Pre-War America. Bustling, beautiful, bountiful. People lived, worked, and died in toil to keep her running. As the Sino-American War raged on, and the food shortages grew more unendurable, and the Energy Crisis reached a crescendo, the city popped off in a blur of riots. Not unique in any regard, however, but the reaction of the Arizona National Guard was particularly brutal. In the last months of the World, Prescott was under martial law, its citizens brutally under the heel of soldiers keeping the tenuous peace. When the bombs fell, it seemed that they had spared Prescott. Flagstaff and Tuscon were shocked and rippled, but Prescott only took two hits. Two hits too many, one may say, but it came off significantly better than most others. In the direct aftermath, most of the National Guardsmen deserted from the city and fled back to their homes - or what was left of them. The citizens struggled in the fallout and the aftermath, nearly half of the city dying within the first six months. The ones that survived soon fled into more fertile pastures, leaving a town entombed. Many of the old Army robots and land mines, other traps of the Earth, still lay dormant in their streets. Raiding tribes have learned to avoid the town, the rumors of the military cache in the center not tempting enough to dare the crazed berserker robots that roam the streets. But one day, someone will return to crack her secrets open.[/hider] [hider=Great Hawk] [center][img]https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/apache-warrior-craig-nelson.jpg[/img] [i]"It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand."[/i] [h2][color=FF4500]Great Hawk[/color][/h2][/center] The First of the People, the Grand Chief of the Rainbow Nation, the Great Unifier, the Scourge of the Legionaries, the Hand of the Great Spirit, Night-Walker, Raider-Slayer: the kennings of the Apache War Chief. In his tribal language Itza-chu, Great Hawk was born in the Fort Apache Rez, which was barely eeking an existence out of the harsh land of their fathers. Beset by furious raiders from Phoenix, his life was forever marked by conflict, struggle, and war. By the age of 16, he was already leading war bands on raids against the other tribals in Tonto Forests and even deep into Phoenix, striking fear into the hearts of the White Men. While most of the Apaches had exchanged their traditional steeds for horses made of machines and engines, Great Hawk rode as his forefathers did, with repeater in hand and a bloodthirst in his mouth. They fought dreadfully against Legion incursions, driving back Caesar's soldiers at every turn. Soon, He-Who-Says-He-Is-God (as he is known to the Apaches) learned to leave the Rez alone, as his attention turned towards the Sunset Peoples. When the old chief of the Fort Apache Rez passed on, a brief power struggle ensured between Great Hawk and his cousin Kas-tziden - Broken Foot. The two great figures of the tribe dueled to the death at a tribal summit at Fort Apache. The battle was short, with Great Hawk's club smashing his cousin's brains into the pavement within the first minute. He mourned little for his ambitious, and deeply flawed, cousin. Soon, he turned his attention to greater ambitions than simply remaining content with the current state of the tribe. Mustering all able-bodied men of the Rez, he led a war party into the adjacent Apache reservation at San Carlos, which quickly joined them without a fight. Great Hawk was gearing for an expedition into Two-Sun when the news of Caesar's death. Seizing the opportunity, he once again mustered the war party and attacked Two-Sun and the Rez at Gila River. Both fell to the Apaches rapidly, the Legion soldiers deserting en masse at the sight of the horses and the pick-up trucks of the Apache War Band. One after the other, the communities fell to the power of Great Hawk. The last of the Rez to stand against him, the Tohono O'odham, fell in a wave of tribal power and submitted to the War Chief. Riding back to Two-Sun, the elders of all the communities of the tribes proclaimed him Grand Chief of the Nation, and with all the power the title enabled. No longer was he simply another tribal chief, scraping by an existence based on groveling and trading. Now, he was a warrior-king, with sword in hand and with enemies fleeing before him. It was not long before he turned towards Phoenix, one of the last stands of the Legion left in Arizona. With the weight of the Nation, they fell upon the city and destroyed it, sacking it and leaving the ruins as they had been after the Great War. Legionaries were scalped, ran roughshod by horsemen, and then their barely-lifeless bodies propped up on rocks to watch the city of Phoenix burn. Civilians were enslaved en-masse, sold back in the Rez and further out East to fund the war band. The survivors, what little there were, fled into the North, telling the story of the bloodthirsty war chief who gave no quarter. Great Hawk now looks to the North, to Flagstaff and to Prescott. While Flagstaff interests him, Prescott is far more valuable. Rumors of an untouched city, unlooted and preserved as it was when the bombs fell in 2077, drive him onward. The Apaches now ride to the North, led by Great Hawk, with the burning of the Sun in his eyes and the Lightning in his hands. [/hider] [hider=Claudius Ambustus] [center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/26/aa/2a/26aa2a907874bfaae7cda01585613764.jpg[/img] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsjmWyX2w1Y][i]A cloud has fallen on our shore, The mighty hand and sword of Roman War.[/i][/url] [h2][color=B22222]Claudius Ambustus[/color][/h2][/center] The Legate of Legio XVI Yuma was not always known as Claudius Ambustus, but the old tribal names - like the tattoos and the hairstyles and the history - were washed away with fire and ash. Reborn from the conquest of the 67th Tribe - what was once the Fire-Runners - Claudius became, like all ablebodied men of his tribe, a soldier in service of Caesar. And he undertook this task like any other, with unrelenting energy and commitment to duty. His campaigning with the Legion took his farther from his home he could have ever dreamed about. The Banner of the Bull moved Eastward, spurned by a God in human incarnation. At Albackerkee, the Legion forces fell upon the local raider gangs and tribals with wrath unleashed. Carrying the Icon of Caesar in his hand, the young Claudius was the first of the Legion to storm over the palisades erected by the last defenders of the cursed city. For his valorous act, he was promoted to Decanus and attached to the Legio XVI as it marched up the old I-25 towards Denver. Legio XVI burned its way towards Denver, torching cities like Santa Fe, Raton, and Colorado Springs in its wake. When they reached Denver, the Legio encountered heavy resistance against the tribals there, forcing more Legion assets to move to assist. Even the famed Legate Lanius arrived, and it is there where the Monster of the East earned his epithet. The hounds of the Denver tribals were torched and burned, and they soon submitted without further fight. For his glory earned in brave fighting in the inner city, Claudius was made Centurion and promoted to the staff of Legate Publius Marcius, then sent Westward to fight against the defenders of Yuma, who were putting up a stubborn resistance with the help of NCR Rangers. In the thick fighting, Legate Publius was killed and Claudius took temporary control of the Legio, leading it to victory as the last of the Rangers were routed over the Colorado and the city assumed under Legion control. For its achievement, the Legio was awarded by Caesar with the victory title of 'Yuma' and Claudius promoted to its commander. During the First Battle of Hoover Dam, the Legio held the line southward at Yuma against a half-hearted attempt of invasion by the NCR Army. Repelling them handily, he avoided Caesar's wrath that was unleashed on the Malpais Legate, as he was set alight like the dogs of Denver. It is at Yuma where Claudius spent the rest of his time, until the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, shoring up Legion defenses and waiting for the word to cross over the Colorado. The order, of course, never came. When news came of the death of Caesar, followed the next day by the Legion's defeat at the Dam, Claudius immediately set about securing himself in Yuma. But as desertions grew by the day, the natives growing more restless, and the NCR Army moving to take Yuma, he was forced eventually to withdraw from the city with whatever remained of the Legio XVI. With the army at 1/3rd strength, he fled into the mountains of Kofa. It is here where the Legio XVI remains, in loose contact with Vulpes Inculta and Legate Lucius, declaring itself for the Cult of Mars. Claudius, however, is smarter than them. He knows that the Legion is dead, and will never be revived. But the city of Prescott, with its untouched Pre-War mysteries, is enough for him to start a new age. A new society. A new nation. And so he marches out of the mountains, ready to seize the city for himself and for the Cult of Mars.[/hider] [hider=The Administrator] [center][img]https://img.freepik.com/free-photo/blue-eye-cyber-circuit-future-technology-concept-background_42077-1994.jpg?size=626&ext=jpg[/img] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0][i]01000101 01101110 01100111 01100001 01100111 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01000100 01100101 01100110 01100101 01101110 01110011 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01010000 01110010 01101111 01110100 01101111 01100011 01101111 01101100 01110011 00101110 00101110 00101110 01001001 01101110 01101001 01110100 01101001 01100001 01101100 01101001 01111010 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110 00101110 00101110 01001001 01101110 01101001 01110100 01101001 01100001 01101100 01101001 01111010 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110 00101110 00101110 [/i][/url][/center] [color=32CD32]Login Credentials Accepted Welcome, Administrator Accessing 1st Battalion, 158th Infantry Regiment Data Network Accessing... Accessing... Accessing... [b]FATAL ERROR FATAL ERROR FATAL ERROR DATA NETWORK CORRUPTED Initiating remote terminal shutdown in 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. [/b][/color] [/hider] [hider=Razor & Wire] [center][img]https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYTE2NGZlMmYtMmE1My00YjlmLWE0MjItZTg0NWNkOTlhM2YwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNjUwNzk3NDc@._V1_.jpg[/img] [i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSk5U4oHhu0] Sexy Sadie, you'll get yours yet! However big you think you are, However big you think you are, Sexy Sadie, oooh, you'll get yours yet![/url][/i] [h2][color=4682B4]Razor & Wire[/color][/h2][/center] Razor & Wire, their real names Nelson and Jean, never knew their families. Or their past. Or even where they were born. Most of it was washed away in the trauma of the Legion's assault on their tribe, and in the years of servitude to the Legionaries. Brutally beaten down all their lives, they were subjugated to the worst treatments of the cruelest of Caesar's Army. Razor was used as a live training dummy by the foot soldiers, who practiced their martial arts on him with brutal efficiency. They beat him to a pulp in every way imaginable, from the youngest of the boys to the hardest Centurion. The Legionaries made sure to hurt him enough to remind him of his place, enough to practice their art truly, but also just enough to ensure that he would make a full enough recovery to go again. And again. And again. Wire, on the other hand, was earmarked almost immediately as a Legionary sex slave. Even from a young age, she was groomed to become the local Centurion's whore. It was against Caesar's code of conduct to consort and to have relations with the slaves, to be sure, but every Legionary did it anyway. And the local Centurion was the cruelest and the most vile of them all. She dreaded the day that she would walk through his tent, and when the day came, she vowed to leave. To run as far as she could. Razor and Wire left in the middle of the night, no one but themselves knowing of their plans. They managed, out of sheer luck, to break off the slave collars and ran for the hills of Arizona. They didn't stop until they reached the Colorado, practically swimming across to Port Aradesh. In their last stretch, they were sighted by Legionaries who shot at them from their side of the river. The NCR troopers on watch spotted them swimming across, and exchanged covering fire with the Legion before the pair crossed into NCR territory. There, they were given clothes, food, and a place to stay. The NCR troopers mentioned New Vegas to the North, and suggested that they head there. It was, in the words of the NCR soldier, a place to start over. To win it all. And so the pair went off with a caravan into Vegas, reaching the city in time to find that a new state had been declared. An independent state, free of the NCR and of the Legion. They settled in Freeside for a time, finding work prospecting in the ruins and helping the Followers, but their luck ran out when a gang of thugs robbed them and chased them out of Freeside. With no where to go, they headed down the Long 15, stopping at Sloan. Razor found work as a miner in the excavation pits, working hard to provide for Wire, who worked with the Followers' Doctor who tended to the miners in the town. It was a hard life, but it was better than the Legion. And so when the word came that the Courier was calling upon volunteers to head East, they volunteered at once. To spite the Legion, and to rebuild a life that had gone so wrong at the beginning. [hider= What they don't want you to know]They weren't always known as Razor and Wire, you know? They weren't always drug addicts either, and they certainly weren't born raiders. Razor was born Titus White in the South Vegas community of Enterprise, a few years before Mister House awakened from his Ivory Tower in the Lucky 38. The area was lawless, and became increasingly more depraved as the raider tribes from around the outskirts of Vegas converged on the city, caps in their eyes as the bright lights of the Strip shined through the Wastes like a siren call. These tribes - closer to gangs at this point - soon coalseced around Vault 3, located a little north in the Borough of Spring Valley, killing its occupants and making it their base of operations. His family was killed when he was only thirteen, forcing him to beg in what remained of Enterprise. There, he descended into drug addiction, which beget thievery, which beget even more heinous acts of criminality, which in turn led to darkness. While on the streets of South Vegas, eeking what little existence he could outside of the heavily-guarded district on Gomer Road, he met Madelyn Ostell, who was in a similar spot in life. They became a rather twisted couple, helping each other score and find places to squat as their hangouts would get converted either into raider hiding spots, or NCR Army outposts. One thing led to another, one drug deal too far, and they both ended up running with Driver Nephi's gang in South Vegas. They left their old names behind, becoming Razor and Wire, burning all vestiges of their pasts, and set off in a drug-fueled rampage through their old squatting grounds. For six months, they burned through chems like it was nothing. Meth, heroin, Jet, even the harder chems like Psycho was nothing to them. But like all things, it had to come to an end. While out on a raiding party on his old town on Gomer Road, the damned Courier and the NCR attacked Driver Nephi's camp. When they returned, they found the whole places in flames. Driver Nephi's headless body was nailed to the walls of their encampment, with a 1st Recon beret sitting on his neck stump. The group struck off towards the camp of Violetta, the Dog Girl, finding her body in much the same way, though this time surrounded by the corpses of all her warhounds. Growing desperate, they ventured further north to meet up with Cook-Cook. If there was any man who would beat back the NCR, it would be him. How wrong they were. He was the worst mutilated of the bunch. Headless like the rest, his body seemed like it had been smashed in with a thousand rifles. He had been emasculated, and judging by the blood loss, he was still alive when they did it. With no options left, they fled to the safety of Vault 3. The rest of the Fiends seemed to be congregating there as well, in fear of their lives as news of the brutal deaths of the Three Leaders rippled through their gangs. Motor-Runner tried and tried to appease them, to keep them calm, but to Razor and Wire, it seemed pointless. If Driver Nephi could be killed, then anyone could. No where was safe, not even this Vault. And so the pair set off in the night, carrying with them enough ammo to fend for themselves in South Vegas against all the gangs and the NCR and whoever else might try to attack them, and enough drugs to keep them high for a lifetime. They left not a moment too soon, for word soon reached them - over the radio no less - that Motor-Runner and what little remained of the Fiend Gangs leadership had been slaughtered in Vault 3. They joined up briefly with one of the remnant outfits in the outskirts of Vegas, raiding out on traveling wastelanders and the communities of Vegas. In the aftermath of Hoover Dam, they capitalized on the Anarchy and began to terrorize the South Vegas communities, leading some to fear that the Fiends had returned. But it was not meant to be. Within a year, the Vegas Militias organized, and with Securitron help, restored Order to all of Vegas. The raiding gangs were broken up, and most were killed. But Razor and wire got lucky, barely escaping from a Securitron while raiding in Rhodes Ranch. They took the opportunity, counting their blessings, and went up into Freeside. Masquerading themselves as escaped slaves from Arizona, they found an apartment building to squat at on Washington Avenue. Razor found a slow-going gig at Mick & Ralph's as a hired gun, and Wire prostituted herself at the Atomic Wrangler. It was a pathetic existence, but it was one where they were alive. More than they could say for some of their friends, who had been killed by the Courier. And the Courier! He was now calling himself the Leader of the "Free State!" Whatever the hell that was! After two years of that, their luck soon ran out. A patron in the Atomic Wrangler recognized Wire at once as the raider that burned down his shop and killed his wife. She barely escaped with her life, and her and Razor left Freeside and Vegas with haste, fleeing down the Long 15 to Sloan. Once again disguising themselves as escaped Legion slaves, they found more honest work in the mines, the miners having forsaken their Californian loyalty to stay with the Courier's State. Razor worked in the excavation pits, and Wire helped the Followers' Doctor who was stationed at the town to administer medicine to the miners. They even managed to kick most of their drug habits, still smoking weed and drinking of course, but they still felt the yearning towards the raiding life. But, having had two close brushes to death because of it, they stayed far away. And when the news of the Expedition east came their way, they signed on right away. To escape their old lives, and all of the baggage that it held. But the past dies hard.[/hider] [/hider] [hider=The Local Players] [hider=The Protectors] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/m04WJSj.png[/img] [i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrxePKps87k]Should intermitted vengeance arm again His red right hand to plague us?[/url][/i] [h2][color=556B2F]The Circle[/color][/h2][/center] After the bombs fell upon the world, and Earth was bathed in Atomic fire, the Arizona National Guardsmen at Prescott fled from the city, running with the civilians who survived the nuclear blasts and the resulting aftermath. To contain the dreadful situation, they set up a quarantine zone around the City, allowing what few civilians still alive to pass through, but allowing nothing to re-enter. Some of the Guardsmen deserted their posts, fleeing into the desert and were never seen again. The rest stuck to their oath, holding out hope for relief. That hope turned to commitment, to containing the mess that they had inadvertently unleashed upon Prescott. They had seen, right before the bombs fell upon the Earth, what horrible wrath God had put down upon them - wrath fashioned from their own weapons. The commitment turned to duty, and that duty turned into a quasi-religious dogma, to hold the line around the city at all costs. The Circle, as they came to be called by the wastelanders who found their way heading towards Prescott - named after the simple fact that they literally occupied a circle around the entombed city, were divided into two castes. The Citizenry are the normal civilians - men, women, and children - who are much like the normal wastelanders of Post-War America. They prospect in the ruins along the Route 82, farm with what little they can along their bank of the Willow Creek Reservoir, and eek out their existence. However, the Circle has become known for the Protectors, who carry on the tradition of the Arizona National Guard as best they can. Wearing cobbled-together old kit from their forefathers, sometimes adding in new bits and pieces salvaged, they stand watch along the Circle and on the roads leading into Prescott, to contain the horrors inside, and to prevent travelers from meeting their certain doom in the city. Caravans coming from Yuma, Phoenix, and Flagstaff are rerouted to paths outside of the city, escorted by the Protectors to ensure that they do not enter the City. Occasionally, an adventurous prospector will try to force his way through the Protectors. They enter the City without much struggle, but they are never seen again. Rumors of the untouched city began to spread through Arizona, attracting more attention and more scavengers. Most of them were turned away by the presence of the Protectors, but the ones that enter never return. When the Legion came to Prescott, they came in the form of a Frumentarius. The Protectors attempted to stop him from entering, but when the Frumentarius threatened reprisal, they simply allowed him to pass by. He was never seen again. Caesar, his wrath incurred, sent an entire cohort to the Circle. Advanced scouts, spotting the oncoming troops, evacuated the Citizenry and the cohort entered the city - never marching back out. Finally, just before the First Battle of Hoover Dam, a century led by Centurion Lucius Ignius was sent to investigate and to report back. They, too, marched in and never returned. Caesar was planning to send an entire Legio to the City, but was thwarted by the NCR's victory at Hoover Dam, forcing him to allocate more forces along the Colorado. So went the rest of the Legion's reign, not disrupting the City further. But, as the Legion disintegrates by the day, the Circle feels the rumbling of the City. They feel its gears turning, spinning alive. They know Prescott is awakening. [/hider] [hider=The Forsaken] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/pXEZaSz.jpg[/img] [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR0twl_c_zc][i]You know the love I gave you Is slipping from your hands 'Cause I was born to wander Like the shifting of the sands[/i][/url] [h2][color=BC8F8F]The Forsaken[/color][/h2][/center] When Edward Sallow - Caesar - burned his way through Arizona like a wildfire, whole communities were set alight in the fires of unholy baptism. Some passed the sick test, and earned their way into the ranks of the Slaver Army. Others, however, were forever burned; cursed by the Legion and by the World they once inhabited. The Forsaken is the remnants of these forever-burned. Once, these ghouls had lived in the communities throughout Arizona. Most in the ranks of the Forsaken are Pre-War ghouls, born in the fires of the original Atomic Horror. Some, the unfortunate of them, were given the curse of Atom after the initial fires stopped. Whatever the case of their ghoulification, they picked up the pieces of their broken lives as best they could, even while facing tremendous hatred from the 'smoothskin normals' who cursed them under their breaths with every deal made. But when the Legion came, everything changed. The ghouls, hearing of "Legion Justice," fled into the deserts. These wandering groups of ghouls soon found one another, and formed a larger pack with every addition. They soon became something of a folk tale within Legion Arizona; a group of nomadic ghouls traveling from place to place to avoid the Legionaries. The name they are known by was not given to them, but rather by these spinners of legend. They soon adopted it themselves, as it described them aptly. Forsaken by Man, forsaken by God, forsaken by all but themselves. When the Legion collapsed under its own weight, the ghouls decided to move to place where they could call their own. Hearing the stories of the untouched city of Prescott, they headed in its direction, hoping that the legend of the City would ensure that no one would bring harm to them. When they reached the City, however, the Circle turned them away. They told them to avoid the city at all costs, but kindly suggested settling in the ruins of the surrounding towns. And the Forsaken did exactly that. They wandered for a little bit, before settling down in the ruins of Williamson. Picked clean by centuries of the Circle prospecting over its ruins, it wasn't an ideal spot - but it would have to do. The ghouls set about retilling the long-untouched farms, building a small community there. Even some smoothskins, prospectors who hedged their life savings on the trip to Prescott only to be turned around, settled with them and became something of the community's guardians. They thrive off of trade, on commerce, and take solace in the fact that they now have somewhere they can call their own. For now. [/hider] [hider=The Wind-Makers] [center][img]https://www.basinandrangewatch.org/images/wind-Edom-array.jpg[/img] [i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ko9TpduOhE]It's all over but the crying, and nobody's crying but me. Friends all over know I'm trying to forget about the love I feel for you.[/url][/i] [h2][color=FF6347]The Wind-Makers[/color][/h2][/center] When the Legion disintegrated, that didn't mean the Legionaries turned to sand. And not all Legionaries believed in the cause enough to join the warlords of the Cult of Mars, nor did they feel inclined to turn to raiding. Some, simply, wanted to restart their lives - as if the whole Legion business never happened. The news of Caesar's death and the defeat of the army at Hoover Dam came to Camp Prefect Gaius Decimus, stationed at a road outpost just outside the Tonto Forests and tasked with spying on the Circle and Prescott, it shook him to the core. He and his men had endured so much heartache, so much struggle in their service with the Legion. They had fought so hard for Caesar, so hard for the ideal of Nova Roma, that it all seemed worthless. Like sands in the desert. He called in his subordinates as soon as he heard the news, and demanded a vote. Should they fight on? Or should they fade away, abandon the path that they had walked for so long, and start over? They, to a man, voted to disband. And so, with little other option left to him, Gaius addressed his men. He told them that Caesar was dead, that the Battle for Vegas had been lost, and that the dream of Nova Roma was over. He said that they were now free of their oaths to him, to Caesar, and to Legion. That they could choose their own path, and that he would curse no man who left the camp now. But, no matter their oaths, they had fought beside Gaius at Phoenix, at Denver, and at Dry Wells. Not a single man left. Gaius led his men, numbering about twenty, out of the camp, leaving the fires burning behind them as they marched out with their kit, leaving behind only the old standards of the Legion and the Imperial Signifier of Caesar. The band of Legionaries wandered from town to town, gradually abandoning their old armor for leather and metal gear. They began to even change their names, reverting back to their old tribal names - before the Legion stole them away. Gaius Decimus was no more, and in his place was Skin-of-Stars. They traveled towards Prescott as they knew it to be untouched. But like so many travelers before them, the Circle - as polite as they could be - turned them away. Disheartened, Skin-of-Stars headed towards another object that he had seen so many times through his field glasses: An old wind farm. They arrived a day later, and found the place occupied by a sizable number of tribals without even a name for their group. Refugees from the Legion's wrath. They took it upon themselves to mix with these people, helping them learn the Legion's martial ways and the elaborate techniques of Legion engineering while they in turn taught the former Legionaries how to till the Earth, and what to grow, and more importantly: how to reconnect with their roots. Out of this symbiosis, a new tribe was born: The Wind-Makers. The Wind-Makers are now working hard to restore the wind farms to order, hoping - perhaps in vain - to connect with the Free State of the Mojave and offer their Courier-King the gift of wind-power. [/hider] [/hider] [hider=The Local Vaults] [hider=Vault 14] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/KG8UOp7.png[/img] [i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soF3t7cFPoc]Give me a kiss to build on, and my imagination will thrive upon that kiss. Sweetheart I ask no more than this, a kiss to build a dream on.[/url][/i] [h2][color=FFFF00]Vault 14[/color][/h2][/center] [color=32CD32]Login Credentials Accepted Welcome, Overseer Command Accepted Accessing Vault-Tec Overseer Instructions... Accessing... Accessing... [b]CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL OVERSEER EYES ONLY | VIOLATION VTP-01011[/b] [i]By using this terminal, you are acknowledging that you are an authorized user or technician. Unauthorized users must cease reading and log out of this terminal immediately. Violators will be subject to civil and criminal penalties.[/i] Vault 14 is, in accordance with Project Safehouse, to house occupants in the event of catastrophic atomic warfare. Vault 14 is equipped to house 700 occupants in its Residential Wing, not including Vault-Tec science and medical personnel. In the event of an actual Alpha Alert, coinciding with military and civilian civil defense alerts, civilians will be admitted entrance, with precedence given to those who have pre-registered with Vault-Tec. When there are no more individuals to admit, or otherwise it becomes unfeasible to keep the Vault Door open, medical personnel will screen all occupants to provide a baseline for future medical treatments. Occupants will be given quarters in the Residential Wing, endeavoring to keep families together and to pair potential couples to sustain the Vault population in the event that an All-Clear Signal is not received. Vault-Tec Headquarters will monitor the condition on the surface and, if conditions are deemed satisfactorily, an All-Clear Signal will be broadcasted on 162.4 MHz. You have a discretionary 180 day window to shelter-in-place in the event that the All-Clear Signal was received erroneously, and you are permitted to send scouting parties out to survey the situation. If the situation on the surface is not safe enough to release the Vault occupants, you are permitted to continue to shelter-in-place as necessary until the situation improves. Vault 14 is powered by twin General Atomics Nuclear Power Reactors, located on the Reactor Wing. In the event that these fail, the Vault is equipped with a General Atomics Geothermal Generator to sustain essential functions until the reactors can be repaired or replaced. The Vault is equipped with a Mk I Garden of Eden Creation Kit, containing numerous high-nutrition-value plants and is capable of low-level de-radiation in the event that water is unsuitable for drinking on the outside following an All-Clear Signal from Vault-Tec. Consult with the Overseer's Operational Protocol Manual for further instructions. Command Accepted Closing opened page... Command Accepted Are you sure you wish to log out, Overseer? Command Accepted Have a good day, Overseer.[/color] [/hider] [hider=Vault 52] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/byVdIGh.png[/img] [i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dlr90NLDp-0]Dies iræ, dies illa Solvet sæclum in favilla, Teste David cum Sibylla.[/url][/i] [h2][color=FFFF00]Vault 52[/color][/h2][/center] [color=32CD32]Login Credentials Accepted Welcome, Overseer Command Accepted Accessing Vault-Tec Overseer Instructions... Accessing... Accessing... [b]CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL OVERSEER EYES ONLY | VIOLATION VTP-01011[/b] [i]By using this terminal, you are acknowledging that you are an authorized user or technician. Unauthorized users must cease reading and log out of this terminal immediately. Violators will be subject to civil and criminal penalties.[/i] Vault 52 is, in accordance with Project Safehouse, to house occupants in the event of catastrophic atomic warfare. Vault 52 is equipped to house 700 occupants in its Residential Wing, not including Vault-Tec science and medical personnel. The mission of Vault 52 is to study and document the effects of prolonged isolation from the outside world combined with religious iconography and indoctrination on a willing and receptive population. Occupants have been pre-screened by Vault-Tec and have been selected for their Roman Catholic upbringing and faith, and their commitment to this faith. Under no circumstances are occupants not pre-registered with Vault-Tec and assigned to Vault 52 permitted entry into the Vault. In conjunction with Vault-Tec's mission, Bishop John Rausch of the Diocese of Phoenix, along with a mission of Latin-rite priests, have been granted places in Vault 52 in recognition for their commitment to Traditional Roman Catholicism. On the surface, from the perspective of the Vault 52 occupants, Bishop John Rausch and his successors are to be seen as the true Overseer and leader of the community. You and your successors are to be seen only as deriving your power from the Bishop, and you must take great care to continue this relationship. Science staff are to be embedded with the priestly mission, disguised as deacons. Great care must be undertaken to ensure neither Bishop Rausch, the priests, nor the Vault occupants learn the true nature of Vault 52, and all terminals must be encrypted with a Level Four RobCo encryption key to prevent unauthorized access. Under no circumstances are you or your successors to open Vault 52 earlier than a hundred years into the experiment. If Vault-Tec Headquarters deems it necessary to open the Vault prematurely, a supervisor will be dispatched to your location and remotely access the Vault Door. In the event no supervisor comes, and you reach the hundred year mark, you have a discretionary 180 day window to shelter-in-place, and you are permitted to send scouting parties out to survey the situation. If the situation on the surface is not safe enough to release the Vault occupants, you are permitted to continue to shelter-in-place as necessary until the situation improves. Vault 52 is powered by twin General Atomics Nuclear Power Reactors, located on the Reactor Wing. In the event that these fail, the Vault is equipped with a General Atomics Geothermal Generator to sustain essential functions until the reactors can be repaired or replaced. The Vault is equipped with a Mk I Garden of Eden Creation Kit, containing numerous high-nutrition-value plants and is capable of low-level de-radiation in the event that water is unsuitable for drinking on the outside following opening the Vault Door for surface habitation. Consult with the Overseer's Operational Protocol Manual for further instructions. Command Accepted Closing opened page... Command Accepted Are you sure you wish to log out, Overseer? Command Accepted Have a good day, Overseer.[/color] [/hider] [hider=Vault 98] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/zqh38Cz.png[/img] [i][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iod8APQ6g4]Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could that they didn’t stop to think if they should.[/url][/i] [h2][color=FFFF00]Vault 98[/color][/h2][/center] [color=32CD32]Login Credentials Accepted Welcome, Overseer Command Accepted Accessing Vault-Tec Overseer Instructions... Accessing... Accessing... [b]CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL OVERSEER EYES ONLY | VIOLATION VTP-01011[/b] [i]By using this terminal, you are acknowledging that you are an authorized user or technician. Unauthorized users must cease reading and log out of this terminal immediately. Violators will be subject to civil and criminal penalties.[/i] Vault 98 is to be, in accordance with Project Safehouse, a fauna-flora repopulation center in the event of catastrophic atomic warfare. Vault 98 is equipped to house 25 occupants in its Residential Wing, all of which are Vault-Tec science and medical personnel. Under no circumstances are non-Vault-Tec civilians permitted entry into Vault 98. Accommodations for Vault-Tec personnel family have been made in Vault 14, each placed at the top of the reservation list to ensure survival in the event of atomic warfare. The mission of Vault 98 is to repopulate an post-catastrophe land with a thriving ecosystem in a Three Phase program. developed by Vault-Tec science staff using genome from fossils, preserved tissue samples, prehistoric blood samples preserved in amber, and from extant fauna and flora. Samples have been sourced from sponsored Vault-Tec digs in the United States and newly-annexed Canada, as well as international sources from the United Kingdom, the USSR, and the German State. Consult with Vault 98 Science Staff Directive for further information on sample sources. Phase I consists of the replication and creation usable and cloneable DNA to manufacture species in accordance with the Vault 98 Science Staff Directive. Care must be undertaken to ensure preservation of sample sources to prevent contamination and degradation of source material. Gaps in the preserved DNA will be filled with the discretion of the Leading Science Supervisor to ensure positive results. During Phase I, a series of test cloning subjects are permitted, but are to be terminated immediately upon proof of either a successful or an unsuccessful procedure. A short-list of required and recommended species to be produced has been enclosed in the Vault 98 Science Staff Directive. Phase II consists of the cloning and housing of species produced in accordance with the Vault 98 Science Staff Directive and with the instructions of the Leading Science Supervisor. Two separate wings, for fauna and flora, have been constructed by Vault-Tec to facilitate experimentation and proof of a successful procedure. Fauna are to be fed with a multitude of sources, including cloned cattle and other farm animals, as well as other cloned fauna as part of Vault 98 Science Staff Directive. Cloned flora is permitted to be fed to herbivorous fauna. Care must be undertaken to ensure no breeding pairs begin to arise. In the circumstance that this situation arises, the breeding pair and the entire batch must be terminated to ensure no overwhelming of containment procedures. Phase III may only be activated when a Vault-Tec All-Clear Signal is received. It consists of the introduction of cloned species onto the surface. In accordance with the Vault 98 Science Staff Directive, cloned flora will be introduced via Mister Handies specifically equipped to spray seeds and fertilizer to facilitate growth. Following a normal growth window, herbivorous and omnivorous fauna may be introduced into the created ecosystem. Mister Handies will remotely monitor the fauna for herd behavior, and once it is recognized, carnivorous fauna may be introduced. All fauna will be introduced to the wild through the auxiliary Vault Door, located in the Fauna Containment Wing. Vault-Tec Headquarters will monitor the condition on the surface and, if conditions are deemed satisfactorily, an All-Clear Signal will be broadcasted on 162.4 MHz. You have a discretionary 180 day window to shelter-in-place in the event that the All-Clear Signal was received erroneously, and you are permitted to send scouting parties out to survey the situation. In the event that an All-Clear Signal is received, and the situation is deemed to be suitable for introduction of wild life, Phase III may be enacted. In the event that the All-Clear Signal is received, but Phase III has not been reached, all efforts must be undertaken to ensure Phase III is reached. In the event that an All-Clear Signal is not received, but Phase III has been reached, introduction of wild life is approved. Vault-Tec personnel are not permitted to evacuate the Vault until Phase III has been initiated. It is strongly recommended that Vault-Tec personnel evacuate the facility prior to releasing the carnivorous fauna, initiating the release via remote control. An observer must be posted at the auxiliary door exit to ensure all carnivorous fauna have been released. After evacuation, Vault-Tec personnel are to make contact with Headquarters and await further instruction. Vault 98 is powered by twin General Atomics Nuclear Power Reactors, located on the Reactor Wing. In the event that these fail, the Vault is equipped with a General Atomics Geothermal Generator to sustain essential functions until the reactors can be repaired or replaced. The Vault is equipped with a Mk I Garden of Eden Creation Kit, containing numerous high-nutrition-value plants and is capable of low-level de-radiation in the event that water is unsuitable for drinking on the outside following opening the Vault Door for surface habitation. Consult with the Overseer's Operational Protocol Manual for further instructions. Command Accepted Closing opened page... Command Accepted Are you sure you wish to log out, Overseer? Command Accepted Have a good day, Overseer.[/color] [/hider] [/hider]