Beskermers van die Lewe(Protectors of Life) The Beskermer van Die Lewe, or Protectors as they are more commonly called, are a large faction in the city of Cape Town which functions on the belief that all human life is sacred. Being a mostly militaristic faction, the majority of its population is comprised of fighters simply known as Aids. The citizens of the Protectors follow the lead of the Archbishop Joseph Kaguri, a former Roman Catholic father who took over about ten years back. Under Kaguri's leadership, several factions of survivors were united to form the Protectors. Every male is trained in the use of a sword or even the occasional old world gun.
Yet, the Protectors only kill when they feel it threatens the survival of other humans. They even abhor killing each other and, in the casae of fighting with other factions, will never aim to kill and only will aim to capture the agressors. Said agressors would then be placed in comfortable holding cells where they will meet with the Archbishop. No one quite knows what they talk about but, all that is known is that the bad end of the conversation ends with the prisoners leaving with nothing but a weapon and two days ration while the good ending is with assimilation of the prisoner. In addition to their peaceful ways, the Protectors do not kill people who offend their laws. Instead, the offender is hooded and taken outside the patrol area where they are left to find their way back. Should the offender succesfully make it back, they are absolved of their crime.
Despite being a military regime at worst, the Protectors adhere to a strict code of conduct. Every member of the Protectors are treated as family and as such eat together, sleep together, and work together. Everything is done for the good of the faction. A death is mourned by every member of the faction and is burned on a pyre. All citizens in the faction are expected to attend a preaching from the Archbishop every sunday so long as they are catholic. If the citizen is not catholic, they are only expected to worship with their religious advisor every sunday.
Place on Map:
Old World Connections: No known Old World connection. Though, it is assumed that the majority of the survivors came from a bunker hidden under the Cape Town International Airport which was destroyed in an earthquake around two years after the formation of the Protectors.
Populations: 55,000 Military, 3 Religious Leaders(Catholic, Muslim, and Jewish), and 20,000 Civilians
Government type: Though the Protectors are a democracy, the most powerful member of the community is Archbishop Joseph Kaguri.
Spoken Language: Afrikaans and English, though english is more commonly spoken in large social settings.
Economic System: The Protectors are a free trade economy who's currency is based on the use of rations. A pack of rations, which is given to every citizen at six in the morning, noon, and six in the afternoon, can pay for items such as a gun or the occasional high quality machete. Even though a pack can buy high quality items, the seperate parts of the pack can buy items of equal quality if one finds the correct vendor. But, vendors are far and few between as too many people tend to keep ration packs safe in case of a shortage of food. The faction prefers to import only guns and ammunitions from the other factions in Cape Town that they are friendly with but will only do so if they have a surplus of food, water, or protection from the more hostile factions.
Food/Water Sources: Water is scarce in Cape Town but the main way the Protectors get the water they require is through the filtration of rain water. One of the other sources of water the Protectors can get is by boiling salt water in order to seperate the water from the salt. And, if their scavengers are lucky, they will occasionally find bottled water in the abandoned buildings of Cape Town. Food is the most difficult thing to find in Cape Town due to the majority of mutants being inedible or too hard to kill. But, a recent development in farming has made it possible for the Protectors to farm enough supplies in order to supplement their diets for what they are missing from scavenged food or food taken from mutants.
Pros: Being a protector of the people has greatly raised the morale of the Protectors and have strengthened the relations to other factions. After having asserted themselves as a faction for the safety of Cape Town, the small factions of Cape Town have indentified themselves as friendly to the Protectors and as such have agreed to non-hostility with them. On top of that, said factions have been placed under protection. The size of the Protectors has also led to quite a few avoidances of violence.
Cons: Though morale is raised due to the Protectors status in Cape Town, there are a few people who wonder whether or not it is a good idea for so much of their focus to be put towards protecting people. It has also caused tension between some of the large, though friendly, factions who believe that they don't need protection. The Protectors are also targets of theft from other factions who aren't so well off in their food and water. Often these thefts go undetected but if they are noticed, it often causes the Protectors to withdraw at least ten thousand soldiers from partols in order to protect the citizens.
Mutants/Major Hazards:
Factions- Cape Town is riddled with small factions. Out of around twenty factions in Cape Town, only five are friendly with the Protectors. Seven of the factions in Cape Town are large enough to be a threat to the Protectors. In fact, one faction has been trying to infiltrate the Protectors for around three years. These factions often make it difficult to travel through Cape Town as they often have tolls for passing through their lands. Occasionally factions will break apart into smaller factions or merge with other factions in order to gain power.
Flooding- Cape Town, being a sea side town, is subjected to seasonal flooding and flooding caused by heavy storms. This flooding can damage any food kept in low places or wash drown crops being grown. It also brings in Muskari(See Muskari below) from the ocean.
Muskari- Muskari are mutanted creatures of unkown origin. They range from about three inches in height to about eight inches. They can range, from wing tip to wing tip, around three to ten feet in width. Their total length has been measured to be around seven feet on average. Their large size is only matched by their large appetite. A single muskari is known to eat fifty to eighty pounds of food before resting. The muskari are extremely dangerous due to a poisnous barb attached their tails which can strike quickly and deatch once it hits it's target. The posion then starts to paralyze the target's nervous system which makes the prey easier to eat without the fight. The barbs do indeed grow back after a month and posion can be extracted from the glands in a muskari's tail.
Gartuga- The gartugas are believed to have mutated from some species of lizard living in the deserts around Cape Town. These monstrous lizards are known to be very territorial and as such will attack whoever, or whatever, enters its lands. Though the gartugas aren't commonly found within Cape Town, they patrol the lands outside and as such make it difficult to leave or enter Cape Town. At some point along their lives, the gartugas some how developed a sack of oil which, when it comes into contact with oxygen, will ignite and burn up quickly. It is extremely difficult to kill a gartuga but, should one be fast enough, a person can go under a gartuga while it is distracted and slit its unarmored abdomen. Alterantively, a person can cut open the sack of oil, which is located just behind its jaw, and cause it to spill out and burn the gartuga alive. Despite being difficult to kill, a gartuga can be a very good source of food if one needs it as it can often yield around fifty to sixty pounds of edible meat.
Wraths- Wraths are mutated humans who, after serious exposure to radiation and a mutated strain of the Reaper, have become monsters. These horrors come out of burrows starting at dusk and do not go back until dawn. The wrath is, in a sort of sense, the emobodyment of anger. These creatures kill with such disdain for humanity and sensibility that all that is left afterwards is shredded meat and broken bones. Fighting a wrath is difficult due to their insane speed and ferocious attacks. The easiest way to kill a wrath is to douse it with oil and light it on fire. A wrath will avoid all sources of light and are seemingly weakened when in bright lights such as flood lights.
Rippers- Rippers are what become of a human when they are mutated from radiation and a strain seperate of that that mutates the Wraths. This seperate strain of the Reaper causes the afflicted human to crave blood in such a form that they will begin to drain themselves. In the early stage of infection, the human will be sensitive to light and will slip into a sort of dementia like state. They will start to follow the same waning cycle that an elderly person with dementia would have and would eventually degrade to the point where all they do is sleep all day. Then, at some point along the line the infected will sleep only during the day and wonder around at night. Their eyes will change from their normale hue to nothing but red where their eyes were white and their eyes and pupils will become a opalescent white. Eventually, the infected will disappear all together and will then enter its final stage after being in a sort of chrysalid form.
After leaving the chrysalid, the ripper is offically fully mutated and as such will no longer function on any rational thought. Instead, the ripper will only function on their base needs which consists of feeding on blood and surviving. Killing a ripper is fairly simple should you be able to shine a light on it. Otherwise, the creature will be too hard to catch and will often heal their wounds in a few hours. These creatures come out at night like a wrath does but do not go into burrows. Instead, a ripper is found sleeping in buidlings or flooded subways that are almost pitch black.
Crawlers- A crawler is a monstrosity unlike many others that reside in Cape Town. This ten foot tall creature has unkown origins and it is unkown why they live in Cape Town. Yet, a crawler is not neccesarily a dangerous creature. In fact, despite its apperance, crawlers are notably gentle creatures who eat primarily vegtables. If one spends enough time with a crawler, it might allow said person to ride it like one would a horse. Yet, one must watch out for an Alpha crawler during the summer time for they are increasignly hostile during this season of mating.
Backstory: The Protectors were formed around ten years ago after three small factions were united under the rule of Archbishop Kaguri. Their singular goal was to unite and protect the people of Cape Town against mutants who, in their eyes, were classified as demons sent to Earth by the Devil himself. With this goal in mind, those who could fight trained others to fight. Those who could make weapons made them. From the very beginning, the Protectors were an organization devoted to nothing but the protection and survival of humans. Though their guns are small, numbering only ten thousand, they are strong users of machetes and as such have fought all their battles with a machete in hand. After a year's worth of training, the Protectors began their job and have drawn quite a few followers to themselves in that time. Kaguri's preaching if non-hostility to humans served to strengthen his follower's committment and helped build relations with the smaller factions.
After three years, the Protectors base of operations, a former bunker, fell apart and they offically became an above ground operations unit. About a year ago, there was an attempt on Kaguri's life which led to the exile of ten thousand people from Cape Town. Only three hundred came back. Since then, the Protectors have seen no internal agression. It is believed that the Protectors will soon be expanding their control through the assimilation of one of the smaller factions.
