OREGON

 

 

Oregon is still a thickly wooded land and, unlike most of Washington and Idaho, is actually getting a little too much rain. Combined with a terrain that discourages outside invasion, and a fairly well-armed surviving populace, people out have made it work for them. The only organized governments are located along the Willamette River valley from Corvallis south to Eugene. Outside of this strip of small trade cities and outlying farms, there are just scattered villages and caravan waystations.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Portland, SS-17
Salem, SS-N-8
Bonneville Hydroelectric Dam, Columbia River, SS-N-8
John Day Hydroelectric Dam, Columbia River, SS-17
Chief Joseph Dam Hydroelectric Dam, Columbia River, SS-17
Umatilla Army Depot, Hermiston, SS-N-17

Discretionary Nuclear Targets:
Broadman Bombing Range, SS-N-8
The Dalles Hydroelectric Dam, Columbia River, SS-N-17
Squaw Butte Range Experimental Area, SS-N-8

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS

Sea Base Alpha 3: Located 10 miles north of Florence in a seaside cave. Equipped with one 250 ton PHM equipped with a 75mm Cannon on the bow and 2 twin 50 HMG port and starboard aft, 4 PBM MK-2 patrol Boats w/twin 50 gun tub forward and MAG MG aft. All 32 vessel crewmen and 8 support base personnel in cryo stasis within the base.
Regional Command Base RCB-West: Located on Wizard Island, in the middle of Crater Lake, this is the headquarters of Combined Group Southern Oregon. The command staff and support personnel assigned to the base are still sleeping peacefully.
Maintenance Facility RM-1: Located near Eugene.
Unnamed MP bolthole: On the north side of Bull Run Reservoir area near Mount Hood, and very close to Larch Mountain and south of Benson State Park.
Unnamed MP bolthole: About 20 miles inland in the wilderness near the old ribbon of Highway 42 near Coos Bay.
Unnamed MP bolthole: Somewhere north of Fort Rock Basin.
Unnamed MP bolthole: Somewhere in an abandoned mine shaft near the southern shore of Applegate Lake, just north of the California border and southwest of Medford.
Unnamed MP bolthole: Near the town of Klamath Falls.

3) THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY

More fertile than before, thanks to the changed climate, the area is teaming with life and the problems that come with it. At the north end are the ruined cities of Portland and Salem and peaceful enclaves around Eugene and Corvallis, while at the southern end are the woodsmen and slavers who have their own claim to "civilization". Linking them all is the "Coast Road" where it follows I-5, in places a major trade route thick with caravans and vehicles, and for other long stretches a hobo's highway, a migration route for the homeless and hopeless and the road bandits who prey on them. In the north, the settlements have formed a system of shared security and commerce, elsewhere it is every man for himself.

The ruins of Portland: Though nuked during the war, most of the damage to Portland came from the blasting of the dams upriver. The massive torrent of radioactive water washed away much of the city, leaving it a marshy plain to this day. The current population of the Portland area is around 500, mostly north of the river in old Washington state.

The ruins of Salem: Little remains here but mutant bugs and brave scavengers.

The Salvage Yard: South of Salem is the "Salvage Yard", a large compound dedicated to the recovery and repair of ancient vehicles from around the region. They are currently on a program of refurbishing as many semi-trucks and motorcycles as possible, for the Gypsy Truckers and Bikers who come and go on a regular basis. It is run by a combination of local leaders and fiercely independent salvagers and merchants. Many of the operating vehicles that ply the Coast Road and other Open Roads across the West were once just junk heaps brought to the Salvage Yard. This is an extremely lucrative business and the salvagers here have been able to purchase a large quantity of pre-war military weapons to help defend their Yard. The Salvagers currently employ about 200 men and operate a wide variety of repair equipment including two six-wheel trucks, a trailer fitted out as a mobile workshop, an eight-wheel truck fitted out as a mobile radio repair shop, another eight-wheel truck fitted out as a mobile 20-ton crane, a six-wheel truck fitted with a crude electrical arc welding kit, an old airport taxi tow-truck converted for medium recovery work, an old construction grader for larger wrecks, and a former Oregon National Guard M88 ARV fitted with a bulldozer blade for road clearing work.

Corvallis: Due to the wonderful climate and relative peace, Corvallis is a relative well-off city that is the center of learning and trade for the Willamette Valley. Home now to about 5,000 people. Like many other areas, the strength of the city is the university (OSU), and their passed-down smarts to go along with the brawn of the people. All the land around here is cultivated or ranched and they have running water in most public buildings. Frequent trade caravans arrive and leave for Eugene along the Coast Road and the city's security forces are well-qualified as escorts. The city's defensive militia is strong, boasting 450 full-time soldiers who do nothing but train and patrol. The militia has been responsible for a variety of internal security and civic action roles throughout the upper Willamette Valley for the last 100 years and is an everyday fixture of people's lives. Although relatively prosperous today, Corvallis has suffered much in the last 150 years from the occasional plague outbreak and the near collapse of city infrastructure on an almost once-per-decade level. This has caused Corvallis to be constantly on guard for the next disaster.

Eugene: Another prospering trade city, home to nearly 3.500 people. The city's defenses are currently under the control of Colonel Bill Myler. He has great experience in organization, but he is not overly bright nor imaginative and often looks to his treasured, dog eared copy of Eisenhower's "Crusade for Europe" for advice. In Eugene he has some 125 assorted soldiers, headquartered in an old National Guard training camp.

5) EASTERN OREGON

The relative security provided by the wide open spaces between towns has helped numerous survivor enclaves in the eastern part of the state survive and flourish. The Umatilla Indians control much of the region, though they are generally peaceful.

Enterprise: Enterprise is controlled by a group of mobster-like people calling themselves "The Boris Mafia", descendants of a group of Soviet Spetznaz commandoes whose plane was pushed off course while attempting to land in Washington state. Their interests are everything that would gain wealth--drugs, guns and women. While ruthless and violent, they live by an anachronistic code of honor amongst thieves. Enterprise is the one place in Oregon that no self-respecting person would willingly go.

Madras: The resurgent Warm Springs Amerind tribe has been active in the Madras area for the last few decades, raiding on horseback as far as the Columbia River. They have come into contact with the Umatilla and many clashes have occurred.

Bend: In the center of the state, Bend is a small agricultural community. Bend in notable for having a homebuilt tank, constructed from the remains of a former Morrow Project Agriculture Team tractor. The team awoke some 85 years ago, realized what happened and decided to settle in Bend in order to carry out the mission of the Project as best they could. Over the years, they wisely used their resources to improve the living conditions of the people in Bend. The people of Bend are known for the hardy, disease resistant crops they produce, the best in the state. The tractor's fusion power plant has long since died out, but a crude combustion engine has been inserted. The vehicle looks impressive with plates of metal and gun loops added, but it is useless in the thick forests and mostly sits in front of the town hall.

Pendleton: Current home of a small band of Gypsy Truckers. They have recently been checking on some rumors that the nuked Umatilla Army Depot still has some goodies to salvage. Just last month, the truckers went into the depot and brought something back to Pendleton on a flatbed semi-trailer. Nobody in town knows what it was, but rumors are that it was either loaded with live nukes or dead alien bodies.

Redmond: Redmond has prospered under the auspices of a small monastery of the new Catholic Church. They even have a small, armed force of Jesuits who act as a militia. This monastery was founded in the dark desperate days of the nuclear winter by a group of Catholic monks and priests who were passing through Redmond at the time. With no place to go, and refugees coming in, these monks and priests decided to settle here, and set up a mission. Some 800 residents live here now and more are moving into the area each year.

NEW!!! An adventure setting for the area around Burns, Harney County.

6) SOUTHERN OREGON

Grants Pass: The scenically beautiful Rogue River valley has always been a wild and wooly place known for independent people and well-armed bands of slavers. About 20 years ago, several of the smaller slaver groups in the area banded together to form one large slaver band, about 450 strong, and marched on the peacefully farming town of Grants Pass. Once they captured Grants Pass, they disarmed the remaining populace and set up a little kingdom of their own. There are about 100 civilians still here, kept as slaves for the leaders. The Slavers have pillaged a National Guard armory somewhere in the past and have amassed supplies in the town, including thousands of MREs, clothing, weapons and ammo and have done a good job of fortifying the town.

Medford: A burgeoning farming and trade center, one of the best places to live in the entire southern half of Oregon. The security and relative peace the townspeople have brought over the last 150 years has swelled the population of Medford to around 7,000. The Grants Pass slaver enclave is in constant conflict with the peaceful people living here.

Helicopter Plant: Inside the defensive limits of Medford is an old pre-war civilian helicopter manufacturing plant. The Erikson Company made commercial versions of the S-64 Skycrane heavy lift helicopter. While all the working models at the factory were commandeered by the military in the chaos after the nuclear exchanges, the plant was able to continue small-scale production on an extremely limited basis for another decade before the supplies of raw materials and specialized spare parts dried up. These half dozen helicopters saw invaluable service for the next 30 years, running supplies and essential materials between both Medford and Klamath, and even ranging far up the coasts looking for valuable salvage. Eventually, these workhorses started to break down and three were tragically lost to attrition before the Medford government made the tough decision to ground the remaining three until such time as a supply of spare parts could be found. They are still there today, carefully preserved in a large hanger, covered with canvas and plastic sheets. The real treasure, of course, is not the intact helos at all, but the dies, presses, rollers, and manufacturing lines of the factory itself. In the right hands, and in the right environment, it is conceivable that this plant could again be producing heavy lift helicopters one day.

Klamath Falls: At the old Kingsley Field Airport near Klamath Falls, a large caravan stop and trading bazaar has been active for almost a century. The town of Klamath Falls itself serves as a place where travelers from the hinterlands and other towns can come and exchange information, goods, and news about the larger world. The bazaar is ringed by barbed-wire barriers and patrolled regularly to keep the bandits outside and the hookers inside. Up until a few years ago, the town was in contact with the Northern California towns in the Sacramento Valley, but marauder attacks along the trade roads have stopped this. Around 2,250 people live in Klamath Falls, making a good living through trade and lodging.

Wiccans: The forests of extreme southern Oregon are home to the " Wiccans", an ancient organization of neo-pagans and converted riffraff with roots that go back into the nineteenth century.

People who have contributed to this entry:
John Raner
Karl Zohler