ALABAMA

Alabama is largely barren and severely depopulated. It is a state of independent villages, living mostly along the larger rivers or the coast. The Free State of Kentucky has claimed the northern extents of this State, north of the Tennessee River, for decades, but over the last few years have begun making inroads into the southern interior of Alabama--with the obvious intent to annex it completely. Droughts have hit Alabama hard in the last decade, especially in the Red Hills region, around the Ruins of Birmingham. Most of the remaining citizens have moved into the larger towns along the rivers where there is still food to be had, leaving vast tracts of countryside to trappers and hunters.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

REDSTONE ARSENAL (Huntsville): SS-17 (MIRV: 4x 200 Kt warheads); On Target; Low Air Burst
BROWN'S FERRY NUCLEAR PLANT (Decatur): SS-N-8 (single 2 Mt warhead); On Target; Low Air Burst
BELLEFONTE NUCLEAR PLANT (Scottsboro, E of Huntsville): SS-N-8 (single 2 Mt warhead); On Target; Low Air Burst
BIRMINGHAM (State Capital): SS-17 (MIRV: 4x 200 Kt warheads); On Target; Low Air Burst
FORT MCCLELLAN (Anniston, S of Gadsden): SS-17 (MIRV: 4x 200 Kt warheads); On Target; Low Air Burst
ANNISTON ARMY DEPOT (Anniston, S of Gadsden): SS-N-8 (single 2 Mt warhead); On Target; Low Air Burst
MONTGOMERY: SS-18M1b (single Bioweapon warhead); On Target; Low Air Burst
MAXWELL AFB (Montgomery): SS-18M2 (MIRV: 10x 2 Mt warheads); On Target; Low Air Burst
FORT RUCKER (Dothan): SS-17 (MIRV: 4x 200 Kt warheads); On Target; Low Air Burst
FARLEY NUCLEAR PLANT (Columbia, E of Dothan): SS-N-17 (MIRV: 3x 500 Kt warheads); On Target; Low Air Burst
MOBILE: SS-N-8 (single 2 Mt warhead); On Target; Low Air Burst

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS

Air Base Beta: Located 5 miles north of Haleyville under an abandoned civilian airport. Facility equipped with four DC3 standard transports, 4 King Air passenger transports and 6 UH-1 light helos. Ground support consists of two V150 w/20 mm, a V300 w/90mm, a V300 w/ 4.2in morter, and 2 Peacekeeper AC w/twin HMG's. All 32 Aircrew and 38 support staff are in stasis inside the base.
Maintenance Facility RM-3: 8 men and a M88 ARV and a M151 w/MAG. Team buried 13 miles due West of Montogomery.
Morrow Team SMR-1: Bolthole located on the southern coast of Alabama. A mixed Mars/Recon and Science team. 16 members with two SK-5 hovercraft and 2 SPAD's.

3) NORTHERN ALABAMA AND THE TENNESSEE RIVER

Everything north of the Tennessee River is part of the Kentucky Free State--it IS Kentucky. The place folks call "Alabama" is south, across the river. This small bit of the Free State is further defined as "East of I-65" and "West of I-65". Through sheer luck (if you want to call it that), a storm front was moving eastward through Huntsville when the trio of blasts nailed Decatur, Huntsville, and Scottsboro. The massive amount of fallout from these blasts was almost immediately washed down upon the hilly terrain east of Huntsville. The lands "East of I-65" have been slow to recover, and the few people who still manage to eke out a hardscrabble survival in various sheltered valleys, do so in communities no larger than a few dozen, or smaller. They are aware that they are now "in", and thus "citizens" of, the Kentucky Free State, but their attitude is "out of sight, never mind". Though "West of I-65" was spared much of the fallout contamination from the trio of blasts, there was still much damage and illness in the early years after the war. The contamination in the Tennessee River dropped quickly, though, and the survivors were able to do a bit better than their cousins in the hills to the east.

And then the Kentucky Free State came. They brought river traffic, Merchants, and security from raiders. They brought markets for the crops and products from factories in the north. The KFS also brought Landlords and crushing Inflation, Military oppression, Secret Police, and a corrupt Justice System. It was by no means a happy, celebrated event but, overall, things were marginally better with the KFS, than without it.

Charlie Company, 5th Regiment: This is a Rifle Company detached from the 5th Regiment, Army of the Free State, based out of Nashville, and is the element of the Kentucky Free State Army tasked with defending and enforcing KFS dominion over this region. Charlie Company is Headquartered in Florence and is responsible for security and policing of the local trade traffic, both on the Tennessee River and along the land routes south and southwest. While HQ is in Florence, various subunits of Charlie Company are spread eastwards to I-65 and a little beyond, and south, across the Tennessee River, along US Highway 43 all the way to Tuscaloosa.

As with any Free State Army Rifle Company, Charlie Company has 1 Headquarters Platoon, 1 Heavy Weapons Platoon, and 4 Rifle Platoons--except that, several months ago, Charlie Company became part of an experiment in Military Expansion and Territorial Acquisition, and now has 8 Rifle Platoons made up of locally recruited Auxiliaries. The KFS has used armed Slave Militias, called Janissary Units, in the past, but these Auxiliary Platoons differ in that they are given Army training, Army uniforms, and are led by KFSA Regulars. They are still only armed with Trade Rifles, however.

This Project is the "brainchild" of Charlie Company's Commanding Officer, Army Major William Allen Gordon--"Wag" to his Family and Military Academy classmates. Wag is Fifth Cousin to one of the Five Families; not exactly close family, but close enough to be a member of the Elite. Major Gordon is a good-looking, dark-haired man in his middle thirties who knows all the Right People, wears all the Right Clothes, went to all the Right Schools, says all the Right Things--and despite all his advantages, he's still an Idiot. He's a barely competent Military Officer, a moderately competent Administrator, and a total Social Butterfly. He spends most of his time complaining about being away from New Manhattan, and the rest hoping that "his" plan will get him a transfer "back to civilization". The easiest way to distract "Wag" is to start discussing Opera.

Charlie Company's Executive Officer, and commander of 1st Platoon, HQ, is Army Captain Artemis Bridger-Johnston, a man who looks and acts like he just stepped out of an Army recruiting poster. Fair-haired, blue-eyed, square-jawed and ramrod postured, Captain Bridger-Johnston is a strict, but fair, disciplinarian. The idea to expand the Company, and give proper military training to "local inductees" is actually Captain Bridger-Johnston's, but he's been quiet about it, allowing his CO to claim the idea as his, so Major Gordon will use his Family connections to advance the Project--a Project which will, ultimately, benefit the Army.

Charlie Company's 2nd Platoon, Heavy Weapons, Commander is Lieutenant Oscar Preston, a large, yet surprisingly agile man born of commoners, with no Family connections. His natural talent for both mathematics and the Military lifestyle has advanced him to the command of a Heavy Weapons Platoon; where his ability to quickly calculate ballistic trajectories in his head has made him a master of the Mortar. Lt. Preston has gone as far in the Army as his "commoner" background will allow him, and he knows it.

Spartans: A cross between a Secret Society and a Resistance Movement, and essentially made up of Military Officers and military-oriented citizens, the Spartans believe that the Free State should be run by a Military Government. The Company XO, Captain Bridger-Johnston, was born to the Spartans--both his parents are KFS Military Officers, and Bridger-Johnston has been raised to their beliefs. Along the way, he has recruited Lt. Oscar Preston to the cause--who sees in the Spartans a means of advancing his own career (See Kentucky for more on the Spartans). Capt. Bridger-Johnston and Lt. Preston have taken advantage of their relative isolation and distance from New Manhattan to try and influence their men and impose a strict Spartan-like code of conduct in Charlie Company, especially among the Auxiliary Troops. They have been trying to do this without arousing the suspicion of their superiors or New Manhattan, and so far have been able to simply come off as strict disciplinarians, which is not a bad thing out on the frontier. "Wag"--Major Gordon, the Company CO--is not a Spartan, but has allowed his XO to set the pace for the Company, aware of the dangers of operating on the fringes of the empire. As a member of the Five Families, even a Cadet Branch, Major Gordon is given great leeway, and as such is allowed to run his unit pretty much as he sees fit. So far, the two Spartan officers have managed to "convert" a number of junior Lieutenants and NCOs to their cause, and secrecy is air-tight. Major Gordon isn't oblivious to the rumors and hints that "something" is going on, it's just that he's mostly concerned with maintaining his own position of power and authority, and so far none of the strict discipline his Officers are imposing on the Troops--especially the "Barbarian" soldiers--has posed any kind of threat to him that he can see. Indeed, the Spartans are counting on the CO's blind eye to continue their work of turning all the officers to their cause, and, through the Auxiliaries, creating a large, well-equipped unit whose loyalties are to the Spartans first, and the Five Families last. Just a whiff of suspicion has been detected in New Manhattan, though the stellar reputation of the Company's commander has so far kept the Secret Police from trying to meddle too much.

Florence: The large town of Florence, on the north bank of the Tennessee River, is part of the Free State and is virtually owned and operated by them. Free State money oils the wheels of politics and commerce, and Free State soldiers guard and monitor the town and the river traffic. Florence possesses the only usable bridge across Tennessee River for many miles, in either direction. Just under half of the 7,600 total civilians here still live in the city limits, with the rest being spread out through the county on small farms and plantations, all north of the river. Florence is the primary garrison of Charlie Company, 1st Platoon (HQ) and 2nd Platoon (Heavy Weapons), bivouacked here in Fort Glantry (see Fort Bundy, Project File 009, "Bullets and Bluegrass"), with 100 men, the Major's V-300 Command APC, and 4 Deuce-and-a-half Military Trucks. Florence also has a large Sheriff's Department, with 80 deputies and a dozen radio-dispatch Patrol Cars.

Athens: Situated on I-65, about halfway between the old northern Alabama border and the Tennessee River, Athens is home to 1,200 citizens, about 500 of which live "in town". A Sheriff and 12 deputies, with 1 radio-dispatch Patrol Car, uphold the Law here. 3rd Platoon (Rifle) of Charlie Company, 5th Regiment KFSA, is currently garrisoned here in a standard KFS Border Fort (see Fort Bundy, Project File 009, "Bullets and Bluegrass") called Fort Cassidy on a three-month duty rotation. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Squads patrol the area surrounding Athens, while 4th Squad has been detached, and is stationed in Hazel Green to the northeast, "East of I-65". The garrison usually keeps 2 Squads in the Fort, and sends out one Squad, mounted in two jeeps, on 3-day patrols. When there are reports of either bandits or farmhand turmoil, two Squads will be sent out on patrol. The 3rd also provides irregular overland convoy service with Florence and other towns across the area.

Hazel Green: The large town of Hazel Green is home to some 600 citizens, both "in town" and scattered out on farms and plantations, and is an important trading post along old Highway 231 into Tennessee. Hazel Green is garrisoned by the 7 men of 4th Squad, 3rd Platoon (Rifle), of Charlie Company from Athens. The town also boasts a local Sheriff's Department with a Sheriff and 10 Deputies, all mounted on horses. A Border Fort is currently in the works (and has been, for the last 12 years), but until that is built, the Squad Barracks is located in a large residence at the edge of town, which was converted to a barracks decades ago.

The ruins of Huntsville: First blasted to atoms by the four nuclear warheads of the SS-17 that hit Redstone Arsenal near the downtown area, Huntsville was then leveled by the overlapping blast waves of the 2 Megaton SS-N-8 that hit neighboring Decatur, in the west, and the 2 Megaton SS-N-8 that hit nearby Scottsboro, to the east. Between the blasts and the massive radiation released by both the bombs AND the destruction of the nuclear power plants in Decatur and in Scottsboro, nothing lives in the Huntsville area--it is an arid wasteland of sickly grasses and mounds of rubble that aren't even recognizable as having once been buildings, through which the waters of the Tennessee River seems to hurry through. Rumors do persist, however, that there are still intact bunkers full of some very powerful experimental equipment beneath the ravaged ruins of the Space Center.

4) HIGHWAY 43

The old ribbon of US Highway 43 is the major trade artery funneling goods and foodstuffs between the northern agricultural town of Florence, south through the rolling countryside to Tuscaloosa, where the Black Warrior River flows south before turning into the Tombigbee River, which continues on south to Mobile and the sea. As such, between Florence and Tuscaloosa, it is characterized by a string of highway garrison towns, all prospering off and protecting this trade. Below is a list of the four towns with KFS garrisons in them, north to south along Highway 43. These towns have only recently come under KFS domination--from Russelville 5 years ago, to Fayette 1 year ago--and they are really smarting under the Spartan style discipline.

Russelville: Some 20 miles south of Florence along Highway 43, this town and the surrounding area is home to 200 people, and is garrisoned by the 30 men of the 4th Platoon (Rifles). These men have three jeeps and two deuce-and-a-half trucks.

Hamilton: About 30 miles south of Russelville, this town and the surrounding area is home to 600 people, and is garrisoned by the 30 men of 5th Platoon (Rifles) and the 30 men of 7th Platoon (Cavalry). 5th Platoon's commanding Lieutenant is a Spartan and all his NCOs are closet Spartans. While 7th Platoon's commanding Lieutenant is also a Spartan, he has had less success recruiting his NCO's; only his Platoon Sergeant and a couple of Corporals have joined. The border fort (see Fort Bundy, Project File 009, "Bullets and Bluegrass") is surrounded by multiple rings of wire and crude pillboxes made from sandbagged rubble piles. 5th Platoon has four jeeps and two deuce-and-a-half trucks. The 7th Platoon (Cavalry) is equipped with four older V-300 APCs, which have seen better days, and acts as a Rapid Deployment Force for trouble up and down Highway 43.

Winfield: A further 20 miles down Highway 43 to the south, Winfield and the surrounding area is home to 200 people, and is garrisoned by the 30 men of the 6th Platoon (Rifles). These men have a very old V-300 APC and two deuce-and-a-half trucks. 6th Platoon's Lieutenant is not (yet!) a Spartan, but the Platoon Sergeant is, and, at his suggestion, half the able bodied men of Winfield have recently been conscripted to begin building a border fort here.

Fayette:20 more miles to the south of Winfield, Fayette and the surrounding area is home to 400 people, and is garrisoned by the 30 men of the 8th Platoon (Rifles). These men have built a fortified position around the local town hospital (the largest and strongest building still standing in the town). Being the closest garrison to Tuscaloosa--and thus responsible for the safety of KFS citizens in that "free city"--the 8th Platoon has a few more vehicles at their disposal than normal, including an old V-300 APC (for extractions of citizens trapped in Tuscaloosa, during unsettled times), four jeeps and four deuce-and-a-half cargo trucks.

Tuscaloosa:The end of the Highway 43 trade route. A large independent town along the Black Warrior River and a major stop-over point for trade caravans heading north into KFS lands and south to the sea. While much of the city was destroyed in the riots and chaos of the war, the southeastern part of the city survived intact enough to now support a large population of some 3,000 people. They mostly occupy the area from the river south to the old I-59/20 bypass. The KFS trade presence here is strong, though there are no armed units garrisoned here, and trading is generally done fairly.

Gadsen: Between the Decatur-Huntsville-Scottsboro blasts to the north of it, and the Birmingham-Anniston blasts to the south of it, the town of Gadsen barely survives in the center of a narrow strip of marginally habitable land. With a largish population of around 1,800 people--though on any given day most are transients, just passing through--Gadsen has become an "open town", home to a wide mix of farmers and townsfolk, rough bikers and deserter soldiers. Money is Power, here, there is little that can't be had in Gadsen for the right price. There is a rumor that the mysterious arms merchant who sold the old Stuart tank to the Hillbillies in South Carolina was based in Gadsen, though firm details are lacking.

5) CENTRAL ALABAMA

Characterized by isolated farmsteads and rolling hills and hardwood forests. The droughts have driven most people towards the rivers or the coast, leaving the interior to the wildlife and the die-hards. The few inhabitants are hard-pressed to feed themselves in the winters and numbers are dwindling. Surprisingly few traders from the larger regional empires to the east can be found in this area, as there is just very little of value to be had.

The Coosa River Valley:The Coosa River cuts through the center of the state, once a fertile valley of farms and small river trade settlements. In parts it's still used by local traders, but long stretches of it pass through barren lands of sickly, grayish grass and unspeakable mutants. The water is cleaner than you'd expect, but still contains enough pollutants to make it unhealthy to swim in, let alone drink.

The ruins of Birmingham: Birmingham, once the largest city in the state, is now just a rubbled sprawl populated by scavengers and mutants. Birmingham is known for its large colonies of Maggots.

Anniston Army Depot:Nuked, with most of its "prize" content (like spare parts for tracked vehicles, refurbishable AFV hulls, heavy weapons ammunition, etc.) having been carted off by evacuating soldiers or smashed by looters long ago.

The ruins of Montgomery: Maxwell Air Force Base, on the western outskirts of Montgomery, was nuked so hard by the ten nuclear warheads of an SS-18M2, that the craters still glow at night. And, as if having everything in a 70 kilometer radius devastated weren't enough, the city of Montgomery, itself, was targeted by an SS-18M1b with a biowarhead full of weaponized Anthrax--central and southeastern Alabama were ravaged by this disease for decades afterward. Montgomery is now just an overgrown charred field of rubble. Few people live here anymore--where the Blue Undead outnumber the normal humans two to one. The Alabama River was blocked for a time, creating a large lake that swamped the northern parts of the ruined city, but the river eventually broke through again, many years ago, draining the majority of the lake, but leaving behind several large, polluted pools. The river is navigable through the ruins and is used frequently by traders, few of whom are foolish enough to make a landfall here, for any reason.

Selma: On the north bank of the Alabama River, many miles west of the Montgomery Wastes, Selma is the home of "The New Confederacy of Alabama", which, at it's largest, comprised most of the Counties of Dallas, Lowndes, Perry, Wilcox, Hale, and Marengo. At the heart of this New Confederacy is the "Johnny Rebs", the nickname of the 1st Alabama National Guard Regiment--a militia unit which can trace its ancestry back to the original Confederate States of America, and the Battle of Gettysburg. The 1st Alabama--the Johnny Rebs--remained active, in one form or another, after the US War Between the States and through the intervening wars, to eventually become an Alabama National Guard unit. In the last 150 years this group has gone from being a citizens' militia, to a rampaging band of brigands, and back again to an efficient cavalry force. It has gone from a force of arms of 1,500 men, to being reduced to a mere patrol of six dedicated men, in hard times. Over the years, the New Confederacy of Alabama has shrunk in size, losing all of Wilcox, Hale, and Marengo counties--always shrinking inwards, towards Selma. Currently, and for the last twenty years, the Johnny Rebs are a proud mounted militia serving the much smaller New Confederacy; 550 farmers living on large plantations in the Black Belt Counties of Dallas, Lowndes and Perry--that's 550 Confederate Citizens, and 2,300 Slaves. The Johnny Rebs currently number only 60 mounted men armed with very high-quality, hand-made flintlock weapons and sabers. Contact with Free State traders from the north has the militiamen feeling inadequate and looking to improve. Trade is conducted up and down the Alabama River to the sea, though Selma's relative isolation keeps the number of traders down.

5) SOUTHERN ALABAMA

More and more settlements have seen their populations growing as the droughts in central Alabama have forced people south. Outside of the gutted ruins of Mobile there are only scattered settlements and isolated family farms between the Gulf coast and Montgomery. The Gulf coast is known for a number of prosperous, if small, fishing villages. The Albany Protectorate across the border in Georgia is the only large organized group with traders in this area, though the occasional Free State merchant can be found, as well as a small trader ship up from Gulf Breeze, Florida. The environment has changed dramatically since the nuclear exchange. The Alabama and Tensaw Rivers swamped the land area, being so close to the water table. When the water levels receded, the rivers had cut hills where there were none before.

Slavers: A series of small Slaver encampments have recently sprung up, loosely supported by the KFS. These encampments are used to raid Lower Alabama, the Gulf Coast, and Florida for slaves. Some senior officers in the Albany Protectorate have secretly agreed not to interfere in return for some specialized repair parts from the KFS to keep Protectorate equipment functional.

Fort Rucker: This large Army helicopter wartraining base in the southeast corner of Alabama was nuked during the war, but some of the structures in the northern part survived the fireball. Visited by salvage patrols from the Albany Protectorate a few years after the war, little of real value remains at the base. The long-abandoned base is now the home of a bandit clan calling themselves "The Knights". The hundred-or-so Knights are led by a burly woman named "Amazon Ann", or just "The Amazon". Under her leadership the Knights have taken total control of the old fort and the nearby towns of Enterprise (population: 223) and Daleville (population: 72). The Amazon's "palace" is in the remains of the Aviation Museum on post, with her throne being the ejector seat out of an AH-64 Apache. They conduct foraging raids as far afield as Florida and Georgia, where they have had unusual success avoiding the patrols of the Albany Protectorate. While not affiliated with the Slavers that have moved into the region of late, the Knights are happy to have the Slavers between them and the Albany military.

Dothan: Though caught between the blasts at Fort Rucker, to the northwest, and the Farley Nuclear Power Station at Columbia, to the east, on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, the city of Dothan is amazingly intact--though the damage that the city has suffered has given it a dark, gothic appearance. Few who venture into Dothan return to tell the tale, which has always been blamed upon the disease and radioactive fallout the city was plagued with. The truth is far worse. Dothan is a City of The Dead, and is the domain of Prince Julian Bellerue and his Children of the Night. Prince Julian rules over a community of 60 blood-thirsting Children, and a "herd" of 200 slaves. They maintain a perverse, nocturnal culture that mimics Ante-Bellum Southern society, with the Children being the privileged Elite. The Children "feed" off their servants, who are each professionally drained of a pint of their blood every day. Good servants are rewarded by being infected and "elevated into Polite Society", and bad servants are drained of all their blood. The Children of Dothan rarely mount expeditions outside their city, but that does not mean they are ignorant of Regional goings on. They are paranoid about the Albany Protectorate, to their east, across the Chattahoochee River, and do their best to hide their existence from them. However, Prince Julian is very interested in the Knights--the bandit clan that settled in the ruins of Fort Rucker, to the northwest. He is considering bringing them into the fold--they would make a significant addition to his military forces--and so has spies gathering information about them.

The ruins of Mobile: Nuked during the war, Mobile sat empty and burning for several decades before people started to come back to the area. Today, several small settlements of a dozen-or-so people can be found along the Alabama River. These people fish and trade on the river and in the Gulf--ranging as far as Gulf Breeze, in Florida--but rarely venture into the ruins of the city. The largest settlement is located at a fortified stronghold on Pinto Island, centered around the massive hulk of the USS Alabama Battleship.

The secret base: A hidden US military facility along a river 10 miles inland from the coast that was used to hide enemy machines and watercraft from satellite observation so that the US Government could take apart said equipment. A lock and dam was constructed in order to ensure that the river was deep enough to house the watercraft (although dredging had to been done quite often to ensure channel depth). At the time of the nuclear exchange, a captured submarine had just been put into dry dock for analysis. Elsewhere on the post, experimental cryogenic storage containers were being developed in another secret project (related to the Snake-eaters). A military team--an entire US Army Rifle Platoon--was placed in cold storage. Over the last 150 years, the post nearly disappeared from lack of care since no one was around to pull maintenance on any of the buildings. The dry dock and some of the deeper underground facilities still remain, however. The underground dry dock facility still holds a submarine on two rail systems that operate on hydraulics. It is a German Type 205 diesel-powered sub, formerly with the Iranian Navy, secretly captured during a CIA operation. The submarine does not have torpedoes aboard but, if fueled, is otherwise operational.

The Platoon: The base is still guarded by a platoon of US Army soldiers placed in cyrofreeze right after the war started. The freezing complex was originally designed to be a module for deep space exploration and is located on a hill, purposely disguised as a mound. There are 44 men frozen here, led by Captain Smith Hill. The equipment inside the module is as well-kept and as functional as a typical MP Team's bolthole. The platoon is armed with four M60 machineguns and 40 M16A2 rifles.

The "Sives": The Sives are the descendents from the town that sprung up near the post before the war. While they are making great strides to return to the pre-war technology, they currently do not have the ability to make electricity, fuel for any vehicles, or weapons above the black powder stage. They are mainly a farming group that banded together to protect themselves from the Brunts. They live in wood huts and water from the lake is used to irrigate the fields that are located on the surrounding hills. They hunt using black powder, farm, and have a good trade going on with the Wateryots and other groups further inland. Due to a lack of trading goods over the past couple of years, the group has dwindled down in numbers. There are now about fifty Sives and the current leader is a man named Andreas. They have a few black powder rifles.

The "Brunts": A loose group of people that are descended from the criminally insane asylum that was located near the post. Many of the escaped inmates bred with each other in a gene pool that was too small to promote healthy offspring and the descendents are now more violent than their ancestors. They do not stay in a group except when attacking someone that they feel is weaker than them. They fight with sticks, stones, or anything else that can be easily picked up and used as a weapon.

The "Wateryots": The descendants of the wealthy, upper business class of people that were in the town that sprung up near the military post in order to support it. Shortly after the nuclear exchange, they banded together at the local club and agreed to store as much material in the store stocks as possible in order to ensure that supplies would be available after the fighting stopped. Since many people had the idea that the stored stocks belonged to everyone in the community and not just to the Wateryots, they created a compound in order to keep their stores where they were--safe and able to be sold to the highest bidder. During the years following the war, the attitude of the Wateryots became snobbish to the point that they believed that they alone could return the world to the prewar years. They have been trading with the Sives and many others further inland. Since the Brunts always seem to attack the trade parties, several reconnaissance teams were sent out before the trade parties to try and flush out the Brunts. They look down on both the Sives and the Brunts but have used the Sives in the past to keep the gene pool large enough to prevent problems with the offspring. The Wateryots do not see any allegiance to any of the Sives since they consider them to be of lower stock. There are about 100 Wateryots here now and their current leader is Jerry Peterson. They are armed with rifles and shotguns of better-than-average quality.

People who have contributed to this entry:
John Raner
Vince Tognarelli
Jim "Jamming"
Steve Keating
Karl Zohler