Fallout: Texas (The Great Wastes)

[Atomic Postman]

I'm very interested to hear about Rebirth, but I'd reather hear about Salvager's Union first since we basically know all the main beats of Rebirth

Fair enough - I also have ideas about a main-story beat using Clarke and the Rebirth but I haven't actually decided if that's the kind of direction I want to go with the main plot, and whether or not that's the case kinda defines the flavour of Rebirth.

 

[Atomic Postman]

The Junk Union

Pre-War Background
In the Old World the DFW area, fuelled by a booming millitary industrial complex, grew into an ever-larger sprawling art-deco megapolis.

In 2077, these shining (and ever fusing) cities came into great crisis. A confluence of the third New Plague outbreak,food shortages and growing political tensions was boiling the city populace over. A particular event where local police opened fire on disruptive citizens at a Quarantine Zone border spurred on a prolonged series of major riots in mid October, growing in strength with each day. In Dallas, anti-citizen "Insta-Pens" alongside swarms of anti-riot robots were deployed in order to control the chaos. In Fort Worth, the West-Tek HQ was protected by a deployment of thuggish private security equipped in state of the art Power Armor, supplemented by automated building security on high alert. Rioting grew to the degree that National Guard deployed at the border were recalled to control the situation, but before they could mobilize on the morning of October 23rd, the city streets echoed with warning sirens, and what was swarms of chaotic rage quickly turned to complete stillness, and a heartbeat later, hysteria and sheer panic.

Below the city streets, Vault 40 came under siege from those trying to force their way in. Swarms of people trying to overcome Vault Security inside the tunnels, breaking out into a violent incident resulting in the accidental detonation of an explosive, causing the tunnel to cave-in and collapse. Vault 40 and its occupants remained sealed tight, but unable to leave.

When the bombs finally dropped, those on the surface were vaporized instantly. In the decades to come, the charred, irradiated concrete nightmare of DFW would be uninhabitable and avoided by those that survived the war.

Post-War Background

The Twin Graves have remained largely unappealing to most in the Wasteland. Infrequently visited by rogue sandstorm or twisters, the mass of ash and concrete dust swept up by prevailing winds in earlier decades made the air quality poor, not to mention the still-present pockets of radioactivity, particularly around the large blast-craters. To make matters worse, the city is inhabited by street-filling swarms of Radroaches, roving packs of Radscorpions and the occassional Rattler nest. Not to mention the booby-trapped buildings full of anti-riot security systems or rusting security bots.

However, as decades eventually passed teams of scavengers and salvagers have picked over the city in small bursts, but never for long, usually wearing respirators as they did so. One particularly enterprising rag-tag group in the 2200s under the name "Kimball Krew" set up shop in what was once Dallas's Union Station, given a sweeping upgrade pre-war as a hub for the Texaplex Super-Rail. They were there with a mission: finding the Vault 40 they'd read about on a salvage job out in the ruins of Austin. Eventually they did, starting a multi-stage process that ultimately ended up taking up months. First, constructing a drill, next drilling to the Vault, then finding a suitable Pip-Boy or RobCo technology to hack the main door control. Over those months, other scavenging crews were attracted to the city by the success and apparent survivability of the city, a prospecting gold rush for the post-nuclear age. Chief among these groups were the Silver Salvagers, the Carbon Scrappers and the Dust Devils. Eventually, Kimball Krew managed to crack into the Vault.

Vault 40 was dead. The facility was in a state of decay, having seemingly not been maintained for many decades, most systems barely functional. There were skeletal remains in Vault suits everywhere. No sign of a struggle. No nothing. Just looked like they all decided to just up and die one day. The entire crew were repulsed by the Vault. For no tangible reason, it unnerved them. They'd seen mass graves before, but something about this was off. Superstition was rife amongst the Junkers, ghost stories, paranoia. Whilst the place was a breadbasket for technology, ill-maintained as it was, the crew had no plans to occupy the Vault on a long-term basis. Instead, they planned to rip whatever valuable tech they could and haul it to the surface at Union Station. The final straw was the mysterious death of a salvager in the lower-levels of the Vault. No struggle, no wounds. Just dead.

On the surface, the junk-rush continued. The Dust Devils made an incredible discovery: West-Tek's Power Armor manufacturing centre. Though the place had been bombed to hell and the manufacturing machinery utterly destroyed, it was still priceless salvage. As the importance of Twin Graves began to become clearer, the junk-crews began to step on eachothers toes and come into conflict. Firm territorial claims degraded into skirmishes, and soon enough it seemed like outright battles would be on the horizon.

Obadiah Kimball decided to try and put an end to the conflict by calling a conference of the crew leaders, with the promise of sharing their bounty from Vault 40. At the seminal conference at Union Station in 2237, Kimball offered to give each of the crews hydroponics technology taken from the Vault, with the Kimball Krew drawing up a flow of water from the Vault. Just enough to supply each of the crews (and their families) with a steady flow. Together, they organized a method of sharing their salvage, and the Junk Union was formed.

The Junk Union

The Junk Union is comprised of four different towns within the Twin Graves, each one roughly in the size and style of Boneyard's Adytum: Union Station, Dust, Silver and Westwood. Each town has a small hydroponics farm, and water is shared out evenly from a remote station pumping water up from the Vault (A post not well-desired due to the rife amount of superstition and ghost stories). However, five years ago the water pump ceased functioning. A crew was sent down but were having issues restoring it. The repair crew went quiet, and upon investigation they were discovered dead near the entrance of the Vault. Much like those that came before: no struggle, no wounds. Just dead. The underground passage was covered with metal panels, and welded shut. The Vault was cursed. The Junk Union now must rely on outside communities for excess water, which isn't exactly a problem with their wealth of resources to trade.

Every three years, each town holds a collective vote to elect a town representative. The reps will meet irregularly to discuss affairs and organize claims, as well as handling trade negotiations with outside communities. Each town's work crew shares their profits collectively, and a small portion of the collective profit is shared amongst the other towns, ensuring that when a particular crew has a drought of sales, they're never left out in the cold.

Each town has 3 or 4 "Shell Heads" that protect their towns, town guards equipped with functional suits of salvaged Power Armor, typically wielding Energy Weapons. Frequently they will accompany reps as guards during negotiations in order to flex and demonstrate power to other parties. Occasionally they will accompany Junk Crews on particularly dangerous dungeon crawls to defend against mutants or robots.

Repeat attempts have been made to bring Pleasant Hills into the Junk Union, but they have steadfastly refused.

The Breakup

In the past two years, tensions have bubbled over trade negotiations between the crews, who deserved what division of profit over co-salvage operations or bulk sales. Claim Jumpers have also become an increasing issue. Outsider gangs that prey on work crews or steal junk. The biggest and most elusive of these is the Rusty Hooks.

An inciting incident occured several months ago over division of claims when the West-Tek HQ underground facility was discovered, the ultimate treasure of the Twin Graves. In the resulting confusing conflict, The Rusty Hooks moved in and took over the spot with a "Shell-Head" of their own. Blaming eachother for loss of life and loss of claims, tensions have exploded between the crews. In the meantime, the Rusty Hooks have booby-trapped the entire block, rigged to blow and protected by re-wired West-Tek systems. The problem is, they have no idea how to crack into the bunker, and even if they did they lack the industrial tech. The salvage crews are busy fighting eachother and can't risk piercing the booby-trapped block, but the Rusty Hooks are trapped in their position.

edit: I'm probably going to flesh this out more at some point but I am drowning in work right now so this was more a product of procrastination

 

[Hardboiled Android]

Great stuff, totally solid. Feels really naturalistic. I'd love to hear more, but you have a fantastic base as of right now.

Awesome adventure hooks with Vault 40 and the Box (though that name is taken by Tibbets, it's the clear inspiration here).

I think this is the first we've heard of Rattlers. Are they just giant rattle snakes? Always cool to see a new mutant.

Finally, does the fact that Pleasant Hills is being lobbied to join the Union mean that it's outside of the Twin Graves now?

 

[Atomic Postman]

Great stuff, totally solid. Feels really naturalistic. I'd love to hear more, but you have a fantastic base as of right now.

Awesome adventure hooks with Vault 40 and the Box (though that name is taken by Tibbets, it's the clear inspiration here).

I think this is the first we've heard of Rattlers. Are they just giant rattle snakes? Always cool to see a new mutant.

Finally, does the fact that Pleasant Hills is being lobbied to join the Union mean that it's outside of the Twin Graves now?

Thanks! And yes Denver and the Box were inspirations for the Twin Graves.

The Rattlers are indeed gigantic Rattle Snakes!

Pleasant Hills is located in a pseudo rural area, the location is in flux because I plan on it being a "civilized" place near wherever the Podunk region the party starts in is.

 

[Hardboiled Android]

Pleasant Hills is located in a pseudo rural area, the location is in flux because I plan on it being a "civilized" place near wherever the Podunk region the party starts in is.

Hey, all the more reason to have Podunk to the north/maybe slightly west of Twin Graves. Pleasant Hills could just be the old DFW landfill, but otherwise it wouldn't make much sense to have Pleasant Hills be lobbied to join the Union now would it?

 

[Atomic Postman]

Hey, all the more reason to have Podunk to the north/maybe slightly west of Twin Graves. Pleasant Hills could just be the old DFW landfill, but otherwise it wouldn't make much sense to have Pleasant Hills be lobbied to join the Union now would it?

Fair point, but I do wonder if doubling up on the scrap/salvage theme will dilute the effect of both. Although Pleasant Hills is a bit more junktown esque outside of its WALL-E trash mountains, what with it having a bar, casino, hotel and stuff like that.

Gonna do a post on the important Raider Tribes of the state next.

 

[Atomic Postman]

The Six-Strings

The Six-Strings are the most feared raiders in the entirety of the Great Wastes. Legend has it they came roaring out of the badlands of New Mexico with a different name in their furious Highwaymen countless decades ago, piercing into the great Dune Sea in search of plunder on the other side. Whilst in the Dune Sea, they came across an Oasis: An Old World city named Lubbock with new gardens and flowing water at its center. The Oasis was tended to by strangers in strange blue clothes, they told the road samurai and their Shogun that they were from a far away place, and were resettling what was once the home of their ancestors with magic, and that this magic would be able to fix the Dune Sea. But they were unarmed, incapable of fighting, their magic useless in combat. So their claim was not legitimate, and they were killed to the last. Their magic and their souls made meager tribute to the spirits of the warriors. The Oasis without their magic shrunk to a fraction of the size, but there still flowed a trickle of water, vegetables and the soil was still good. But it wasn't enough, they deserved more. The greatest gift of the Oasis however was the Six-String. In Lubbock they found the statue of a revered ancient warrior, and a storehouse of the Six-Strings he played into battle. This was a symbol of their new era as they would conquer the Great Wastes, and they adopted it as the symbol of their clan.

The Six-Strings are a warrior culture that believe that a warrior (or Samurai, in their case) absorbs the souls of those they kill. The strength and power of your soul when you die determines your strength and rank in the afterlife, and is an aspiration to all. The greatest warrior spirit of all belongs to their patriarch, The Shogun. When one of their own dies in battle, the warrior spirit isn't wasted, it is held in the flesh and consumed by the other Samurai at the funeral feast to share it amongst them. The Shogun passes their legacy to their child directly, when the Shogun dies their flesh is consumed solely by their oldest son. The Six-Strings also have an unconventional view of gender. Men are viewed as superior to women, however, "man" and "woman" are terms assigned to you based on your combat ability. Those who are tough and able to fight are men, those who are feeble or unwilling are women. Children remain as gender neutral "Sprogs" until they reach an old enough age for their combat prowess to be discernable. They are recognized for their iconic plated metal armor donned with spikes and horns. They use a variety of weapons, but each one holds a samurai sword that is concealed within a Six-String strapped to their back.

The Six-Strings perform raids across the entirety of Texas in their Highwaymen and Choppers, able to reach locations in a fraction of the time of other groups. They specialize in shock tactics, turning up suddenly and with overwhelming force. They are heralded by the blasting of rock music from speakers fixed to their vehicles, and in particularly spectacular raids a "Rockerboy" will be playing the rock music themselves, wired into the speakers (Picture something that sounds like "Rumble" or "Miserlou"). They frequently capture hostages, in particular "Tech-Whisperers" who can fix or build things for them. Naturally, their home location in the Dune Sea means none can pursue them.

There is a love/hate relationship between the Six-Strings and the Sidewinders, as both view eachother as worthy opponents in battle. There have been several occasions where Six-Strings have exchanged the legacy armor of fallen Sidewinders for the bodies of fallen Six-Strings in the time after battles.

Their first major defeat in decades came at the hands of the Deluge Church, under the leadership of Fifth Living Saint Hiram the Holy Millitia was raised and in conjunction with a warband of Sidewinders hired by the Lonestar Trading Company, they went to war. The Sidewinders devised a guerilla approach in order to destroy their vehicles, their greatest advantage. Buried IEDs, nail-tracks, grenade spears. However, nothing stops a Highwayman. In retribution, the Six-Strings annihilated all of the Deluge Monastaries over the course of the war, leaving only the cities of Reconciliation and Absolution.

The culmination of this conflict came when the Church managed to capture the Shogun during a botched scouting mission. Baiting a warband of Six-Strings, they led them to a bottle-neck canyon layered with IEDs beneath the earth and in the mountainous walls, set expertly by the Sidewinders. They didn't fall for the bait of bottlenecking themsleves, until the Church brought forward a bound Shogun at the canyon's end, and burnt him alive with a flamethrower, reducing him to inedible ashes. In a blind rage they struck forward, and the Sidewinders triggered their trap. Blowing up their vehicles and burying the rest in a landslide. The survivors retreated and fled.

Now they lick their wounds in the Dune Sea, with a white-hot rage for the Church. They have been recieving help from Ghoul engineers of the Rebirth in rebuilding and repairing their vehicles, and soon enough their time will come again.

 

[Hardboiled Android]

Really great, love the detail about the vault and the GECK. Sort of preferred the old name, but the rocker gimmick is cool and adds a bit of local color.

 

[Atomic Postman]

Decided that the "theme" of this campaign is "It's All in the Game




This is definitely going to be the theme of the Rebirth, the Deluge Remnant and the Desert Saint



Typically the player themes overcast the campaign themes but still, I think these two are fitting

 

[Atomic Postman]

Decided to scrub the Brotherhood from the setting. Burham Springs and the eternally burning fire pit are going to be greatly expanded and replaced with a religious Poseidon Energy descended faction named the Flame Keepers that will take a very Brotherhood esque role, but hopefully with an interesting divergence. Enough to evoke themes but not a repeat.

Not sure whether I'll do them next or "The Lost Patrol", a mobile off-shoot of the Rebirth.

 

[Hardboiled Android]

I think I'd like to hear about the Rebirth offshoot since you've been teasing the Rebirth for a little bit now, but whatever gets your creative juices flowing.

 

[Atomic Postman]

Captain Greene and the Lost Patrol - Theme: "Moonlight Serenade"

Background
The Great War wasn't Captain Greene's first, he'd served in both Alaska and Canada. He'd seen and done things no man should. Infantry. A real leatherneck. By comparison, guarding the place that was building the weapons that would end the world was paradise. When the "Big One" finally happened, he was one of the "lucky" few that didn't throw their guts up in a bloody pile and die during the following few weeks in that miserable bunker. But much like the rest that 'survived', his skin rotted, his insides churned and his mind was set loose. What brought him back from the brink was the reassertion of his duty by the good Doctor. The chain of command was broken, and needed restructuring. Dr. Clarke was now in charge, and being the highest ranking surviving soldier, the soldiers of Pentax were now under his command, and were his responsibility. Just like Anchorage. Just like that fucking trail across Ontario. His boys needed him.

In the decades, or uh. Has it been..., sorry, I can't, for a second there I couldn't....the, centuries since he's had to whip his boys into shape. Poor practice, new recruits. Whatever. They're the Marines finest. There's more of them now than ever, and they're razor sharp. Clarke's sermons and preachings never really resonated with Greene. He preferred to stay on the surface and focus on his job: Protecting Pentax and his superiors. Sure, they looked different now, but on the inside they were the same, right? They were still American. Still had the same job: Protect agains the Chi-Coms or the Canadians or the raiders or the Church or The Sidewinders or the Painted Rocks or whoever else. Even with the seemingly never ending steady stream of recruits being referred to him, he could whip them into shape.

When, "The Crawler", an ICBM transpoter (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawler-transporter) was formed, Greene finally felt he had another home. The base, though stationary thorugh its first few years, was a throwback to the army bases of old where he was trained. In the years after where it was converted into an active mobile war-platform, he felt he had direction, as its leader. He felt comfortable, secure, safe in the mind. He didn't have that mawing itch that had been ripping at him so hard in winter 2077.

He'd been fine patrolling with his old buddies for a few decades. Johnny, Michael and Samson. At times Greene didn't recognize them because they were dressing different or saying things unlike them, but he always felt secure that his boys were by his side during all of it. They'd carried him through Alaska, they drank with him after Canada, they'd managed to find him decades after the Big One, they were here for him now. Didn't matter if the orders or the brass were crazy, didn't matter if he didn't recognize Texas anymore, all that mattered was he knew him and his boys were in the mud together, and just like before they'd get eachother out. Always.

That was until recently, he got the order from Dr. Clarke to deliver their most recent big project: a radioactive dirty bomb to the city of "Boomtown", a hive of enemy combatants. They took the crawler that direction, shoring up in the hills and sending scouts by foot so as not to alert their presence. But something was...off. Something rang wrong to Greene. Couldn't shake it. His boys reported everything was in position, ready to go. But as he walked over to that dirty bomb, he had this attack like his heart was giving out. Saw things he'd never seen before: standing guard outside Pentax, seeing these streaks of bright light crossing the sky, fire ripping the horizon like it was some forecast, but it felt more real than anything he'd felt in years. It felt like a swarm of flies in his brain, like his mind was giving out again. His boys helped him center himself, and he couldn't do it. Couldn't start another Big One. His boys told him that. He radioed back to base the weapon had malfunctioned, then destroyed the radio system.

Now him and his platoon, completely loyal, traverse the desert in their vehicle. They can't produce for themselves, so they must raid, but Greene mandates that they never kill unless absolutely neccesary when they take. He still regularly plays poker with his Boys, and asks them what to do. In the base of the crawler, the dirty bomb lies unused.

 

[Hardboiled Android]

While I don't approve of the use of a more Fallout 4 style Ghoul...

That absolutely ruled man. Not only are all of the basic premises as cool and Fallout-y as yours always manage to be, but turning it into a character study worked really really well, and its a really really well written character.

I guess a large part of the players meeting him could center around trying to get him to remember more of his former life, and to really understand what's going on around him? Or barring that, convincing him that the dirty bomb could be put to some use.

 

[Atomic Postman]

While I don't approve of the use of a more Fallout 4 style Ghoul...

That absolutely ruled man. Not only are all of the basic premises as cool and Fallout-y as yours always manage to be, but turning it into a character study worked really really well, and its a really really well written character.

I guess a large part of the players meeting him could center around trying to get him to remember more of his former life, and to really understand what's going on around him? Or barring that, convincing him that the dirty bomb could be put to some use.

Thanks! Seriously a very nice compliment aha, I appreciate it. For some reason I have a love of soldier/former soldier characters that tackle with the concept of what it means to be a soldier ( I blame MGS), and I think the dementia/loss of identity part of Ghouls is underutilized especially since I think they should be horror characters by premise. They are atomic horror personified, their survival should not make them post-nuclear elves, they should be something horrible and a product of mankind's evil. Like living atomic shadows.

As for remembering his former life, that's gone. He's basically in a dream state as is. His memories of his past come to him, but as shocking visions that he views as dreams because they don't catalog as memories to him. He remembers rounding up Chinese-Americans and executing them en-masse, he remembers watching ICBMs streak across the sky- but these don't turn up as memories, but rather extremely alarming visions. His "boys" obviously never survived the Great War.

The best the players can do is appeal to his innate sense of morality, basically his only shred of original personality left. He clearly cares about America in some fashion on a subconcious level, and the fundamental divide between following orders and what is "right" in his mind is something he was tackling with when he was in Alaska and when he was in Canada, and now it is finally coming to total fruition.

 

[Hardboiled Android]

One thing I'm not clear on his his Boys, though. It's pretty obvious that they're not the original soldiers, though with that in mind I find the fanatical loyalty a little strange. Are they essentially a bunch of ferals? Or are they newly made ghouls (maybe even born ghouls) that he trained and therefore look up to him?

 

[Atomic Postman]

One thing I'm not clear on his his Boys, though. It's pretty obvious that they're not the original soldiers, though with that in mind I find the fanatical loyalty a little strange. Are they essentially a bunch of ferals? Or are they newly made ghouls (maybe even born ghouls) that he trained and therefore look up to him?

They're Ghouls that he has trained and brought under his wing since the Great War. Whilst my overall description paints him as fading away mentally, he really is sharp as a tack when it comes to being a unit leader - albeit this is because he's in a sort of delusional/fugue state when it comes to who he is talking to. Most know he's a little bit loopy but accomodate him because he is a good leader figure to them and genuinely does care about them, even if he thinks you're someone else, over the years and decades as long as you don't die, if he originally pins you as "Samson", you are Samson until you die or disappear, and he loves you to bits.

The Rebirth in general is a refuge for all Ghouls of the Great Wastes, because the influence of the Church has made them even more outcasted than they would be otherwise. It's a kind of post-nuclear "ethnostate" and those who aren't useful to Clarke are sent to the surface to be trained under the wing of the much more charismatic and caring Captain Greene

 

[Hardboiled Android]

They're Ghouls that he has trained and brought under his wing since the Great War. Whilst my overall description paints him as fading away mentally, he really is sharp as a tack when it comes to being a unit leader - albeit this is because he's in a sort of delusional/fugue state when it comes to who he is talking to. Most know he's a little bit loopy but accomodate him because he is a good leader figure to them and genuinely does care about them, even if he thinks you're someone else, over the years and decades as long as you don't die, if he originally pins you as "Samson", you are Samson until you die or disappear, and he loves you to bits.

The Rebirth in general is a refuge for all Ghouls of the Great Wastes, because the influence of the Church has made them even more outcasted than they would be otherwise. It's a kind of post-nuclear "ethnostate" and those who aren't useful to Clarke are sent to the surface to be trained under the wing of the much more charismatic and caring Captain Greene

One of the things I like about the character is that he would be just as engaging of an uncompromising corny villain as he is a sympathetic figure.

I'm curious as to what exactly is meant by being "useful" to Clarke. Obviously the Born Ghoul research is central, but I can't imagine there's really that much to do down there, unless Clarke is hardcore tunnelling in a manner comparable to the Institute. Presumably, the most important jobs in teh community would be on the surface, but not necessarily military - namely, farming and basic maintenance of living quarters. Even if most ghouls aren't engaged in combat, are all of these activities organized along military/paramilitary lines?

Finally, I'm not sure if its intentional, but have you incorporated a portion of the Brotherhood plotline into this? A mysterious long lost patrol of some other group doing raids out of necessity, presumably drawing player attention to themselves in the process...

 

[Atomic Postman]

One of the things I like about the character is that he would be just as engaging of an uncompromising corny villain as he is a sympathetic figure.

I'm curious as to what exactly is meant by being "useful" to Clarke. Obviously the Born Ghoul research is central, but I can't imagine there's really that much to do down there, unless Clarke is hardcore tunnelling in a manner comparable to the Institute. Presumably, the most important jobs in teh community would be on the surface, but not necessarily military - namely, farming and basic maintenance of living quarters. Even if most ghouls aren't engaged in combat, are all of these activities organized along military/paramilitary lines?

Finally, I'm not sure if its intentional, but have you incorporated a portion of the Brotherhood plotline into this? A mysterious long lost patrol of some other group doing raids out of necessity, presumably drawing player attention to themselves in the process...

Useful in this version of Clarke means in building his theocratic ethnostate. Whether it be in the dark experiments below or building the city above. They accept all Ghouls, but not all Ghouls are going to be productive to their society. Those without obvious skills or utility are thrown into Greene's hands to turn them into soldiers.

As for the Brotherhood, I can see the shared linkage but they weren't a particular inspiration, no. The Flame Keepers will take up most of their role.

 

[Hardboiled Android]

As for the Brotherhood, I can see the shared linkage but they weren't a particular inspiration, no. The Flame Keepers will take up most of their role.

Based on the kitschy name, I'm picturing something more along the lines of the Abbey, but considering the context are they actually preserving Poseidon data about the Deadlands and things of that nature?

 

[Atomic Postman]

Based on the kitschy name, I'm picturing something more along the lines of the Abbey, but considering the context are they actually preserving Poseidon data about the Deadlands and things of that nature?

The basic idea so far is that they're based around HADES-ONE, the Poseidon central nexus for fracking to desperately squeeze whatever they could out of Texas. A big ground based Oil Rig style facility on the verge of the Deadlands, the first of its kind in the state and the subsequent command nexus for the rest.

They're descended from the Posideon Energy staff (attractively employed with the on-site services due to food shortages in the rest of the state) and PMC security.

There's a gigantic eternal flame pit ala Burham Springs or the real life one in Turkmenistan that has adverse mental effects and has cultivated a minor religion. In effect they think they are destined to prevent the flame (which is human evil) from spreading beyond their barriers. They're kinda like the Nights Watch from Game of Thrones. Thematically it's meant to tie into the shared view of the Great War as a grand psychological sin amongst all the religions.

The location is meant to be a jumping off point into the Deadlands