[color=1a7b30][u]The Long Afternoon of the Mojave[/u][/color] The loss of Camp McCarran weakened the NCR presence in Vegas proper and aside from a fortified embassy on the Strip their influence was limited. The city fell back into the hands of the families of the Strip and gangs of the surrounding suburbs. It wasn’t long however until people spoke of movement and life in the abandoned Camp McCarran. Initially dismissed as rumors these objections were silenced when great vines and creepers began to descend the walls of the camp. Blooming flowers and carpets of moss began to appear in the ruins around the base. Similar developments were seen in Westside where the remnants of the Fiends had retreated. By the time these reports reached Col. Abernathy at Camp Golf the green carpet had begun to cover a quarter of the suburbs around New Vegas. Five years have passed since the start of the growth of the Green. While the NCR has stabilized since the Hunger, many hundreds of their citizens still flow into the Mojave seeking to take advantage of this fertile growth and find a better life. As if in response to this new migrancy reports drift back across the Colorado of movement in Arizona. Rumors of a Legion army headed by a new Caesar back to wage war once again. Vegas remains the city of fortunes. [u]Full History:[/u] [hider=My Hider] December 31st 2281 on the eve of the Second Battle of the Hoover Dam Caesar, supreme commander of the eponymous Legion, died quietly in his sleep from an undiagnosed brain tumor. Dismayed at the sudden death of their leader, the high council of the Legion was divided over the proper course of action. They would not be able to keep his death a secret for long, and many of them held fears that the Legion would fragment with the news. Legate Lanius, ever the warrior, advocated for a continuation with the battle as planned. Once the dam was won the Legion would be informed, then they might wield the rage of Caesar’s death like a terrible weapon against New Vegas. Opposed to him was Lucius, commander of Caesar’s praetorian guard, who argued that informing the Legion after the battle could break them. Even with a victory the Legion battle plans accounted for high casualties. The loss of the Legion’s figurehead after the deaths of so many had more potential to crush morale rather than invigorate it. Those few other individuals powerful enough to be trusted with the news offered their own opinions. Under the blue sky of an early dawn NCR rangers station upon the Hoover Dam reported a great commotion and movement of troops on Fortification Hill. Fearing an imminent attack the NCR mobilized all available forces to the Dam. Three days later the Legion would be seen dismantling their base at Fortification Hill and retreating back in Arizona. There would be no second battle for Hoover Dam. In order to reinforce the dam in preparation for a Legion assault, Camp McCarran was drained of the bulk of its infantry. Without being notified of Caesar’s death and the Legion’s retreat, the Fiends attacked on schedule. At dawn on New Years Day 2283 the guards of CampMcCarran faced a massed attack of the crazed raiders. With so few troops left to defend it, the NCR regional headquarters was easily overrun by the savage gang. The victory was short lived as once reports of the Legion’s retreat were confirmed by NCR informants and spies in Arizona, the bulk of the garrison at Hoover Dam pivoted to retake Camp McCarran. The battle was short and the Fiends were driven back into the ruins of Westside. With the Legion gone and the raiders crushed the NCR set about the task of formally annexing New Vegas. The negotiations were short. The Families could offer little resistance and after the riots in Freeside were violently put down by NCR troops the rest of Vegas accepted the annexation. The new state was named the Mojave and Ambassador Crocker started building the framework for the first Senatorial race. Several Strip families put up one of their own on the ballot along with other leaders from the communities outside the Strip. There would be no election however as on April 15th 2282 Private First Class Kenneth Bradshaw checked into the McCarran medical center with complaints of shortness of breath and a painful cough. Within a week the rest of his unit was in the ward and Pvt. Bradshaw was dead. Pneumonia ripped through the garrison at McCarran and by early June the NCR was dealing with dozens of sick and dying troopers. The cause of the so-called “McCarran cough” was unknown for the first five weeks. It was then discovered that director Thomas Hildern of the Office of Science and Industry had been partially responsible. Acting on his own accord Hildern had contracted a prospector team to acquire research and biological samples from Vault 22. One of the samples they collected was an experimental pesticide developed by Vault-Tec. The fungus, Beauveria Mordicana, was the progenitor of the infections. During the Fiend siege of Camp McCarran director Hildern’s laboratories had been ransacked and spores of Beauveria Mordicana had been spread around the terminals of the airport. Once the NCR recaptured Camp McCarran this mold had been dismissed as a by-product of the Fiend’s filthy behavior and general poor maintenance of the military post. With nearly the entirety of Camp McCarran sick or dying the NCR was forced to quarantine their headquarters until the infection could be contained. The NCR sent envoys to the Followers of the Apocalypse to gather additional resources and expertise but the Followers could do little and the fractious relationship between them and NCR hadn’t helped matters. The NCR was forced to close Camp McCarran by early August 2282. Over two hundred troops and personnel had been killed by the infections, the majority of them having been left to die when the camp was sealed. The loss of Camp McCarran and the majority of its staff was a crippling blow to the morale of the Mojave garrison and seen as a massive political and military blunder back West. Instead of incorporating the Mojave as an official state it was put under military jurisdiction and Colonel Denver Abernathy of the 3rd Infantry was given governorship of the region. The people of the Mojave resisted the change however they could and with a weakened garrison the NCR could do little against the towns that worked to maintain their independence. 2283 brought further strife to the NCR as a severe drought decimated the agricultural yields and a devastating famine followed. Thousands died, thousands more were forced to relocate further East and North. [/hider] [u] Rules:[/u] [hider=My Hider] - Characters must be OCs. - Characters cannot be OP. - Factions are limited to 300 combat personnel. - Factions begin with 1-3 territories & a sphere of influence. - Players can RP as a "Great Faction" but can only control a smaller element of said faction. For example someone can RP as a battalion of NCR soldiers or a single Chapter of the BoS but not the entirety of those factions. [/hider] [u]Character Sheet:[/u] [hider=My Hider] Name: Appearance: Affiliation: Previous Affiliations: Gear/Equipment: Background: [/hider] [u]Faction Sheet:[/u] [hider=My Hider] Faction Name: Description: Territory: Sphere of influence (What are of the Mojave is your faction active in): Force Composition (How many fighting members, what are they armed with etc.) History: [/hider]