The Campaign Builder's Guild

Twilight 2000: Gehenna

Introduction:

This is my campaign which blends supernatural elements from the rpgs Kult and Twilight 2000. I owe a lot of my inspiration to products from both games, both published and purchased and also free online downloads. Among the main sources of inspiration I would like to credit are:
1.   White Wolfâ'žÂ¢  rpgs: Vampire the Masquerade, Werewolf the Apocalypse, Mage the Ascension, Gehenna, Playerâ,¬,,¢s Guide to the Sabbat, Storytellerâ,¬,,¢s Guide to the Sabbat, Chicago by Night, World of Darkness.
2.   Dean Koontzâ,¬,,¢s Phantoms.
3.   Greg Bearâ,¬,,¢s Blood Music
4.   James Axlerâ,¬,,¢s Deathlands series. (particularly Pilgrimage to Hell, Dectra Chain, Homeward Bound, Skydark Spawn, Seedling, Dark Reckoning)
5.   Tom Clancyâ,¬,,¢s Rainbow Six
6.   Robert A. Rimmerâ,¬,,¢s Love Me Tomorrow
7.   Twilight 2000, including also: â,¬Å"A Rock in Troubled Watersâ,¬Â, â,¬Å"Howling Wildernessâ,¬Â â,¬Å"Rifle Riverâ,¬Â â,¬Å"Last Submarineâ,¬Â
8.   Under the Fang, edited by Robert McCammon
9.   Stephen Kingâ,¬,,¢s Cell.
10.   Graham Mastertonâ,¬,,¢s Famine
11.   Robert McCammonâ,¬,,¢s Swan Song
12.   Neville Shuteâ,¬,,¢s On the Beach
13.   Pat Frankâ,¬,,¢s Alas, Babylon
14.   Walter Jon Williamsâ,¬,,¢ The Rift
15.   M.K Wrenâ,¬,,¢s A Gift Upon the Shore
16.   William Tennâ,¬,,¢s Of Men and Monsters
17.   James Herbertâ,¬,,¢s The Fog
18.   Afterwar, edited by Janet Morris
19.   S.M. Stirlingâ,¬,,¢s Island in the Sea of Time
20.   Chaosium Gamesâ,¬,,¢ Call of Cthulhu RPG, particularly the Delta Green supplement.
Note that none of this material is intended for any form of publication, it is meant entirely to be a means of sharing information about how I put my game together with friends.

My take on Twilight 2000 begins in a fictional 2010, in which conflicts over oil and economic/political influence in the Middle East have reached a high point of tension. The near collapse of the Russian economy results in a military takeover, and neo-communists led by Marshal Kutakhov result in neo-Soviet support of Iran and other Middle Eastern nations against the West. When a fragment of an astral body hurtles towards the Earthâ,¬,,¢s atmosphere it is mistaken for a space based attack, and the Third World War begins after negotiations fail in the initial panic.

The general result is similar to that of the typical TW2000 game, but I presented it as rather being a sort of stalemate. Furthermore, I edited out the Sino Russian war and instead had the Communist powers opposing the Western nations. (Since I have a hard time picturing anything but a Western victory at this stage of things given the current realities)

It is in the midst of this that the vampires rise to attack humanity itself.

The Vampires

According to ancient supernatural legend, the vampires that exist all originated with Cain, who when he wandered out and formed his city of Enoch in fact spawned a new race of creatures that thrived on the consumption of blood. From Cainâ,¬,,¢s descendants were formed clans of vampires that had given to their bloodlines particular powers and abilities. These creatures often managed to rule over humanity while communication and travel were still very limited. They fought secret conflicts, mostly by intrigue and assassination, over influence and sway. However this became limited due to fears during the witch hunts of the Middle Ages that humanity might find a way to resist them entirely and destroy them. Unfortunately vampire lore becomes rather muddy at this point, because of two factions emerging. One faction, called the Camarilla, claimed that in order to survive vampires must be invisible among humans, emulating them and feeding only in secret. Since a vampire doesnâ,¬,,¢t technically need to drain a person unto death, they could put particular people under their sway, or else pretend to commit acts of murder in a purely human fashion in order to cover their actions. There would be careful rules of governance to decree the limits of vampire population and influence.

Opposing the Camarilla were the Sabbat, which claimed that as vampires it was shameful to hide their nature and pretend to be human. Furthermore, they claimed that vampires had to stick together, augment their powers and learn all they could about their abilities in order to prevent an ancient prophecy from coming true. These prophecies suggested that at some point before the great flood or during it perhaps that some of the earliest descendants of Cain would rise up, and in their hunger devour most of vampires and destroy much of the human world as well. That they would be godlike creatures, unstoppable.

The Camarilla did not believe in this prophecy, and felt that the Sabbat would endanger them all. Thus a sort of secret war among vampires was born.

When World War III came, the Antediluvians did rise. Whether in response to a great time of bloodshed or simply that the time was right no one knows. Amid the confusion and troubles already going on, their arrival was shattering. While they did certainly consume many vampires, they also kept others alive to serve them, because the Antediluvians can only feed on the most potent bloodâ,¬'from vampires and other supernatural creatures or else the most exceptional humans.  This time of the rising of the Antediluvians is called Gehenna according to the prophecy of the Book of Nod, an ancient vampire text.

Vampires in my game are from the White Wolfâ'žÂ¢ series of games and are able to use the blood they store from their victims to augment their normal abilities plus use magical powers called Disciplines. These give them power to control other minds, to obtain great strength speed and endurance, to change their shape, and so on.

The Antediluvians

There are several of these creatures that have risen along with their somewhat lesser kin called the Metheselahs. Below I am listing some of those pertinent to my game.

1.   By far the most important of all the Antediluvians is the one known to modern vampires as LaSombra, master of the Shadow Clan. This Clan, which ended up being one of the leading clans of the Sabbat faction, fulfills the vampire legend of not being able to be reflected in mirrors and being particularly vulnerable to sunlight. However they are also immensely cunning and can actually use shadows to hide most effectively in and even manipulate. LaSombra has such a godlike perfect of this ability that it has seized control of the very atmosphere, making the Earth covered in perpetual gloom and twilight even at the highest point of noon. It seems to have no substance; it seems to have become shadow itself.
2.   Absimiliard, the progenitor of Clan Nosferatu, gave spawn to generations of deformed vampires who are cunning in ways of hiding, disguising themselves, using great strength and having influence over animals. Absimiliard takes pleasure in the sway over the hordes of the swarming creatures of the world, using them to find victims. Humans have fled in horror from awful swarms of spiders, roaches, flies, rats, and the diseases that they bring with them. In areas where Absimiliard has sway, hunger is king, and beasts look at humans with strange, unafraid glittering eyes.
3.   Tzimisce is the vampire that spawned the Clan of the same name. While many of its descendants dwell in Eastern Europe, some of them brought a strange protean substance with them to New York, losing it during a fight with rival Sabbat beneath the city. This substance was the heart of the flesh crafting, manipulative and horrifying creature known as Tzimisce. Among the most insidious of the Antediluvians, it began by a trick called the Blood Music. People would feel a strange euphoria as the creature entered their very cells, and began to transform them. They found find that minor and even major health problems would get better. They would hear a strange but beautiful music that they might associate with sheer joy of life or even a religious experience. Gradually their bodies would be changed, and they might try to fight it but they would be seduced into joining a great chorus of life. A chorus of life entirely ruled by Tzimisce, who would seek to transform all life wherever it found it. Those of course who were more cognizant or more resistant it had no trouble with ruthlessly dominating and consuming in a horrifying fashion. In the swath of its greed, all life would begin to become Tzimisce.
4.   Malkav is a vampire ancestor which gave her descendants a divine madness. Unlike many of the others, Malkav had descendants which remembered her and even had a sense of preparation for her. In the lands where religious madness and ecstaticism had reigned, Malkav had loyal followers. Of course some were shocked to find that they became immediate food for the rising creature, but those that survived became high priests and priestesses of a creature able to be pure mind, able to move from one body to another at ease, and to send its madness to other vampires and to humans. Malkav has driven many humans mad. They are in most cases savage and hostile to sane people. How they can determine who is sane and who is not is difficult to say. Some have observed violence among the mad. They seem to be able to survive by eating and foraging and exhibit a kind of group mind akin to that of birds or herd animals. Some more sophisticated observers have called them Maenads, after the legendary ecstatic followers of the god Dionysus, who would tear to pieces anyone who did not join in their rites.
5.   Ventrue spawned a Clan of the same name. Its particular powers were focused upon rulership, charisma, and mind over mind. It has dominated literally thousands of other vampires and sent them in its quest to rule the world. In the shadowy world of Gehenna many human cities that are not in ruins lie under the fang.
6.   Tremere is the least ancient of the Antediluvians, in fact properly speaking isnâ,¬,,¢t one at all. Tremere was a human magician, eager to somehow transcend the difficult rituals and mental gymnastics that he was trapped in. He and his followers found a sleeping Antediluvian, ironically the most peaceful and sympathetic to humanity, a vampire known as Saulot. Tremere and his followers consumed the blood of this Antediluvian after trapping it with arcane rites, and became a clan of their own. Even their Camarilla allies have regarded them with suspicion. Unlike all the others, Tremereâ,¬,,¢s sleeping form was carefully guarded by this clan of vampire-magicians, who were following a careful plan for domination of the other Clans. Thus when he awoke, some of their numbers were ready to sacrifice themselves in fanatical devotion to the great plan for Tremere victory.
7.   Ennoia is the ancient mother of the Gangrel Clan, a beastlike clan of vampires. She cares nothing for world domination, magic or other arcane goals. One of the unique powers of the Gangrels was the ability to meld with the Earth, and she has done this in such a way that is awe inspiring to see the results of. Pursuing vampire blood, she causes areas large as towns to collapse, the hapless vampires inside falling into the maw that she creates from the Earth itself. Some of the swath of destruction has not been caused by wars and nukes.

World of Darkness/Twilight 2000

General overview: The only areas not currently overwhelmed by the rise of the Antediluvians are those which either had considerable military strength or were isolated enough that there were almost no vampires there at all. Another exception exists: those areas where other supernatural creatures have resisted the rise of the vampires. Since my game predominantly is about the Atlantic Region (including New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and the District of Columbia) and New England the details will focus on those regions.

General Historical Overview

In the wake of WWIII State Governments found themselves desperately struggling to maintain public order. FEMA was the main binding authority in some areas of the US, including this one. However a few months from the present date infrastructural damage began to make it difficult to maintain communications, with the result that the FEMA emergency setup evacuated for Mount Weather in Virginia. They have not been heard from since. In fact communication with any real range has broken down. Perhaps satellites have been too critically damaged; perhaps main communication signals stations have been damaged, who knows. What is known is that the war and the chaos from the supernatural horror of the times have isolated this region. The only authority attempting to bind things together is a military one, styled Military Region One. This is partly made up of the remnants of CINCLANT, the 1st US Army, the northern Atlantic Coast Guard Districts, and scattered US Air Force elements. They are in contact with the state governments of New Jersey, Rhode Island and New Hampshire. All other State governments are either out of touch or are no more. A Vice-Admiral, former deputy CINCLANT, one Barry Niles, is now Military Region Oneâ,¬,,¢s Commander-in-Chief. He is a tough ruthless man who is nevertheless devoted to his sense of duty to his country.

One boon that came to the Admiral was his former involvement in a government black ops group known as Delta Green, which was a cross governmental special task force organized to deal with the supernatural. Members of this group and stranded members of a British sister organization called E Branch became attached to his headquarters command and have enabled the increasingly isolated command headquarters to survive.

Military Region One maintains the following units and outposts.

1.   Cape May (in New Jersey) which had before the troubles began a Coast Guard training facility. It is now the temporary headquarters of Military Region One, with a battalion of infantry from the 78th Infantry Division, a USCG cutter Confidence and small boats, USS Bigelow (an old destroyer, now refurbished) USS Santa Fe (a recovered attack submarine), USS Hyman Rickover (a sailing schooner)  112th Naval Aviation Squadron and staff command sections. (J-1, personnel; J-2 intelligence; J-3 operations; J-4 supply; J-5 civil affairs) Attached units also include elements of USAMRIID (the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases) which largely evacuated westward or to Virginia, some FBI personnel and other government civil servants. There are also NOAA personnel who were either stationed in New Jersey or fled there from Virginia or New England following strife in those areas.
2.   Fort Dix (New Jersey) which is the headquarters and main depot of the 78th Infantry Division. It also shares territory with McGuire Air Force Base, home of the 475th Airlift Wing (NJ National Guard) and Naval Air Station Lakehurst. A battalion of the 78th patrols the area along with a Security Squadron from the Air Force Base, and as well there are research and development units still operational at Lakehurst which is trying to make sure that what aircraft remain can still fly.
3.   Tomâ,¬,,¢s River US Coast Guard Station. (New Jersey)This is a facility which is for small patrol craft and is still used as such. A number of the family members of personnel are also staying there.
4.   Newport US Coast Guard Station (Rhode Island) the evacuees from the US Coast Guard Academy in Connecticut as well as from small stations surrounding converged on Newport at the command of the Commandant of the Academy, Rear-Admiral Nils Holsgirder. There are now approximately 200 Coast Guard personnel along with some 400 cadets who have formed a defensive and patrol force for the area roughly from Rhode Island to the northern areas of Long Island. They have USCG Cutter Chilula, USCGC Eagle (actually the huge sailing barque maintained for cadet training), and several small tugs and patrol craft.
5.   Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center. Personnel from the Department of Agriculture, USAMRIID, the CDC and a security unit from the United States Marine Corps were sent to secure this facility, since following evacuation from Maryland the Federal Government needs its level four biocontainment capacity. While there are other private research firms that had such capability none of them were viable or in any decent range for security. This area falls within both the patrol area of the US Coast Guard and is also immediately near friendly communities on Long Island. The facility has spent some time using divers to repair an underwater cable connecting it to a power station that is still functional in Port Jefferson, Long Island, where a friendly community of fishermen lives. A small cadre of military advisors was sent there by Military Region I to assist with the militia.  
6.   Westover Air Force Base (Massachusetts) was abandoned by the personnel there when their situation became untenable. However, elements of the 43rd Military Police Brigade took up residence there following their abandonment of their positions in Rhode Island. While they are still considered part of the military command they are also considered to be mutineers. Apparently they have fought a kind of civil war amongst themselves and are divided into two groups, one of which took up a position at Fort Devens near Springfield, Massachusetts.
(Note: all the above communities have local populations under their protection. A reasonable number of these people include families of military and government personnel)

Other Safe Communities (note that â,¬Ësafeâ,¬,,¢ means that the communities in question are reasonably well defended, people have a certain degree of personal dignity and have something resembling government.)

New Jersey
1.   Bridgeton is a small town which has rallied around a group of local leaders to preserve their community. It has a certain degree of frontier style lawâ,¬'for instance black marketing and highway robbery are punished by hanging or shootingâ,¬'but it also has well fed people who are directly involved in trying to keep something of civilization going. Among their assets are a qualified beekeeper, a general practitioner, and an acting mayor who was a veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division.
2.   Rails Bluff is a campsite which was turned into a survivalist camp by a group of religious leaders from the local farming communities. It is not far from Leesburg, which now lies in ruins. It was planned in order for the communities, largely Baptist, Pentecostal and non-Denominational Fundamentalistâ,¬'to survive the time of Tribulation as predicted in the Book of Revelation. They are well protected by the 40 or so members of the Christian Rifle Club, made up volunteers who were also NRA members, and they also had secretly purchased a .50 Caliber Browning machine gun, a 60 mm mortar and two cases of grenades. Every hour someone will pray loudly for all to hear so that the works of evil may not penetrate the encampment. There is a bunker system in which extra food and ammunition as well as a few other supplies are stored for a rainy day. They are badly in need of a trained physician and medicine. While the camp is not entirely coercive, they have tried to make sure that people live by the moral standards of the Bible and so the camp is divided by lines of sex and by lines of age within that where possible. The different â,¬Ëcampsâ,¬,,¢ within the camp are named after books of the Bibleâ,¬'Thessalonians, Galatians, etc. They have managed to cage small animals and raise them (rabbits, guinea pigs) and so have a steady source of protein.

Pennsylvania
1.   Scranton, Harrisburg, Johnstown and Hazelton as well as parts of the city of York are occupied by elements of the 28th Infantry Division, Pennsylvania National Guard. Though well defended these towns are almost exhausted as a result of marauder attacks and rioting for food. Unfortunately they have had to turn thousands of refugees they would not be able to house or feed away.
2.   Uniontown is held by a survivalist militia known as Jurgenâ,¬,,¢s Ridgerunners. They are secure in the Alleghenies and have a close watch on all routes to their town and the surrounding small farms. This area has become rather xenophobic and wary of outsiders.
3.   Oil City is held by a group of marauders known as the Razz, which was shortened from â,¬Å"Razzmatazzâ,¬Â. They are using locals as slave labor in order to get local wells and a refinery going again.
4.   Sharon is another mountain town held by a militia, though these are somewhat less xenophobic than Jurgenâ,¬,,¢s Ridgerunners. They are called Aliâ,¬,,¢s Rangers and are led by a woman named of course Allison.

Massachusetts
1.   A group known as the United Brotherhood of Fishermen, made up of former unionists associated with various maritime trades, have united under a man called John Carlucci, a charismatic lawyer who was associated with such work before the troubles began. He has bribed, subverted or swayed veterans of the services into following him, and thus controls a small private kingdom from the edge of Cape Cod to Marthaâ,¬,,¢s Vineyard and Nantucket. While he is a man of great ego and ruthlessness, it cannot be denied that his people are well fed and donâ,¬,,¢t have to go armed to the teeth just to go to the bathroom or pick berries. And speaking of berries, cranberries are among the important crops that are raised by the UBF, a supplement to a diet of fish. They have an organization about 1500 strong known as the UBF Marines who keep the towns and borders well patrolled, as well as acting in the traditional role of marines aboard ships. The ship patrols are conducted by the Coastal Patrol Force. Both organizations are led by an ex US Marine and US Coastguardsman respectively. Most of the ships are small patrol craft but they also have two NOAA research ships they have converted to gunboats.
2.   Boston is not exactly â,¬Ësafeâ,¬,,¢ but it has two main communities of interest. One is a large gang known as the Razorheads, led by one Dain Dangerous, an ex punk rocker, demagogue and subversive who hates all former authorities. One of his first acts was to execute every city and state official he could find. Citizens who did not flee the anarchy in Boston became slave labor or gang recruits. Lesser gangs have also fled, joined up or live like rats in fear of the Razorheads. The other community is based in Cambridge and is made up of people who have holed up at the university. They are well enough defended by a mixed group of ROTC cadets, naval cadets who were touring at the USS Constitution and personnel from the naval harbor, local police and so on, forming a group of about 400 who defend the area. It is a tight defense, since they are outnumbered by the Razorheads and other gangs. However they are fortunate in having a fair number of well educated people who in some cases know some very useful things about botany, pharmacology, medicine, engineering and so on. If they were not so beleaguered they could make a genuine start at rebuilding in the area.

Connecticut
1.   Groton along with New London was destroyed by riots. However it has been resettled by a group of salvagers and by a group of charitable monks, both of whom have begun giving the weary refugees in the area something of a reason to hope.
2.   Mystic is a fishing town which has benefited from the patrols by the US Coast Guard at Newport.

Rhode Island
Providence and the immediately surrounding towns is the only state capital left in New England still functioning at all, largely due to the charisma and foresight of a single man: Governor Stephen Britt. He has formed an isolationist government, refusing to send what remains of the National Guard or reserves to any Federal duties, and has managed to keep people fed, albeit somewhat thinly. However he is plagued by a number of criminal gangs that hold on to parts of Providence and the countryside. Unfortunately his forces are too ill armed and trained to be able to entirely put a stop to it.

New York
1.   New York City has several remaining communities in it. Fear of radiation from New Jersey, flooding, starvation and panic sent most packing. However the following exist in NYC:
a.   Una Gente Libre, a Puerto Rican community which have turned a housing project and local park into a fortress which they call La Fortaleza. It is led by a former human rights activist and psychologist named Pablo Cintras who is well respected and one of the most effective leaders in the area.
b.   The Nation of Islam Community has taken over part of Harlem and it is ruled under the Sharia law by Mohammed Ishmael, a well spoken man who under his veneer of aristocratic gentility is a ruthless man, determined to never see his people bow to the white man again. He not only drives away most white folk and non-Muslims but also any of his own race who refuse to stop indulging in criminal activities. He has demonstrated his preparedness to use violence to achieve his ends, and his people have become very well armed. They lack fuel however and thus their mobility is limited.
c.   An enclave in the Bronx led by the former deputy commissioner for housing, who claims to be the Mayor of New York now. Unfortunately he is only acknowledged by about 4,000 people. The people in question are struggling to survive but are doing better than the remaining scattered city dwellers outside their communities, who live in terror of the now largely dark city.
d.   A number of gangs have staked out territory in New York. Only a few really remain, and those which do are finding pickings increasingly slim. One group which has managed to stay and prosper call themselves the Harbor Rats. They have a harbor at Staten Island and more or less take a protection toll from people on the Long Island Coast and those communities in NYC which fish or salvage for sustenance. They used to have a Staten Island ferry and a couple of police boats but these were badly damaged in a raid on Port Jefferson which was repelled by local militia and a recon force. They now rely upon a large sailing schooner and several small motorized raiding boats.
e.   Some small often temporary salvage communities, fairly well defended but more wary than aggressive take up residence in New York from time to time, as do occasional units from the government searching for things.
f.   Roosevelt Island is largely deserted but is home to a group of scientists devoted to an operation called Project Eurydice. This project was initiated following information that much of the government had been either destroyed or overwhelmed by strange and reputedly supernatural events. Project Eurydice is basically a dog in the manger idea and involves the creation of a deadly plague known as Shiva. This will, in theory, wipe out the vampiresâ,¬,,¢ food sourceâ,¬'humanityâ,¬'and thus halt the reign of the Fangs. These scientists belong to a secret supernatural faction known as the Technocracy. They more or less use super advanced technologies not even dreamt of by the public but also have access to psionic powers. In addition to this they are well defended by cybernetic defense systems and by a military unit from the Intelligence and Security Commandâ,¬'INSCOMâ,¬'led by a man, Colonel Richards, who is fanatically determined that the â,¬Ëfreaksâ,¬,,¢ will not take over America. Even if it means murdering most of the remaining Americans to make sure that happens.
g.   The artistsâ,¬,,¢ co-op: this group of neo-hippies and civil libertarians has proved surprisingly resilient to change. They mostly rely upon roof gardens, and they have an ingenious set of psychological warfare tools in noisemaking machines and manikins they have rigged up. At a last resort they have guns ready, though they could only perhaps sustain one real firefight. In the case of that they are prepared to leave New York and are thinking about it anyway. They are also raising pond carp in a penthouse rooftop garden.
h.   A gang called â,¬Å"Our Gangâ,¬Â is not so much a group of hardened criminals as simply a bunch of tough New York denizens who found it easier to hole up in a fashionable department store than leave. Because it was designed originally to be an underground mall Japan style they found it easy enough to fortify it and pile up debris in the façade. There are two main access ways now, the emergency fire escape and a service route that coincides with the subway. Following holing up and grabbing all the survival gear they could, they found it a natural progression to take part in a sort of market that takes place at Central Park.
i.   The Market. This is really a bunch of small scale salvagers and the like who began setting up camps in Central Park in the more open areas. Now and then local gangs and others come to trade here. It never was intended as a formal market and really is not, it more resembles a medieval bazaar. There are all manner of crazy shelters, almost resembling a concert gathering except for all the weapons. No one has much ammo anymore in New York except for the more powerful communities so there are a lot of Saturday Night Specials, shotguns and small pistols among the firearms as well as stuff like crossbows, knives, cudgels and improvised spears. The market trades in all manner of salvage goods, from medicines (possibly out of date), food (mostly canned goods or local fare like sparrow on a spit, pigeon  and rat, maybe fish if theyâ,¬,,¢re fortunate), clothes, appliances and so on. Someone always wants some kind of equipment for some kind of repairs. Some people make a dubious form of alcohol, dubious for man and machine both. Specialty booths might include someone selling roast dog, a delicacy in New York now, a fortune telling booth, a dentist, a metal worker or a whorehouse on wheels.
j.   The Spaceship. This bunch of dements are not so stupidâ,¬Â¦just very very crazy. They are all living in the upper floors of the Empire State Building, defending their territory against the more brutal dements that swarm in it, half starved trying to survive on pigeon and rat and slower heavier gameâ,¬Â¦The Spaceship Dwellers all believe that someday the top of the Empire State Building will detach and take them to paradise. Meanwhile, they have a lot of work to do to get things ready. They are not necessary bad folk, but they will regard anyone bothering them with intense suspicion, since why would someone just wander into an area where a secret project was underway? The Spaceship Dwellers do not have many firearms, but they have crossbows, knives, spear guns and a lot of nasty traps protecting the stairways and elevator accessways from below. There are roughly 128 men women and children in the group. They are led by a man called Fox who canâ,¬,,¢t remember the rest of his name.


2.   Buffalo has become the last bastion of State government in New York. Lieutenant-Governor Julia Ansetto evacuated Albany after that city became overwhelmed by marauders who were actually members of the state militia and police gone mad. The fate of the Governor is unknown. She has a state militia with her that defends the city and the area surrounding for about a 10 square kilometer radius. This is made up of state and local police, rear area units from Fort Drum (10th Mountain Infantry Division), headquarters and base units from Griffiss Air Force Base, and local recruits, numbering roughly 1200.
3.   Port Jefferson, Long Island, is a haven for local fishermen and craftsmen. Because it had some re-creationists among the population (a blacksmith, potter, brewer, weaver, and some old fashioned tall ship sailors) it has done rather well in spite of the troubles. It was for a time forced to pay a heavy toll to the Harbor Rats, but a recon unit sent out from Military Region I HQ assisted them in repelling a raid. In any case the people had had enough after some of the local farmers were attacked, robbed, and a few killed with the women raped by greedy and impatient pirates. Port Jefferson is run by a small local government of Freeholders. They now have a small militia of about 50 with 120 reserve members, being better trained by a cadre of NCOs from the 78th ID. They also have been working on repairing a damaged Staten Island ferry captured during the last raid. The militia has a Sherman Tank and an M20 Greyhound which were recovered from a war museum on Long Island. The tank has only a small amount of working ammunition, but has a .50 cal mounted on the turret.

The Reign of the Vampires

The vampires in the proper â,¬Ënormalâ,¬,,¢ sense of the word are all but overwhelmed out of the area. Most remaining are in small groups, either gone feral with hunger or else holed up in isolated places, prowling at night to take what victims they can. One large community remains in the region which has literally taken over the city of Pittsburgh. They are using human blood thralls and mind slaves as cannon fodder and servants. They have either â,¬Ëturnedâ,¬,,¢ survivors or else herded them into prisons and slave camps. Nearly two hundred vampires reign in Pittsburgh and plan to make more of their own kind with the intention of marching on Harrisburg.

However, the vampires of Pittsburgh are wary. The only reason they are somewhat safe is that a vampire but one generation younger than the Antediluvians has them under his protection. His mental powers are great, indeed the average vampire or human meeting him is likely to worship him as a god, though strong wills can resist this, since it is not a true divine splendor but rather a vampiric mental discipline. His name is Cas-Coatl, and he is a vampire of Aztec origin who rose along with the Antediluvians. He comes of another era, when public bloodletting and visible cruelty were common, and when war was the sport of royalty.

Nevertheless, Cas-Coatl is wary of venturing beyond his domain. Tzimisce and Malkav, having eliminated the influence of rivals in the area, are doing battle for control of the region.

From northern Maryland, sweeping around the radioactive dust of Philadelphia, Washington and New Jersey, up to the very edge of Connecticut lies the swathe of Tzimisce. There, life is mutating. Strange grey and purple dust lies over the ground in those areas. Trees twist into strange shapes. Waters become still with green and red slime. Animals and plants grow new limbs or simply vanish as food for the former vampires which have been made into great fleshy honeydew like things to receive their blood and in turn feed Tzimisce. In a town where New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania meet a silent horde of animals that are not animals, people that are not people and plants that are not plants, flesh crafted by Tzimisce, are gathering around a mysterious central intelligence there. For those who yield to Tzimisceâ,¬,,¢s â,¬Ëblood musicâ,¬,,¢ the transformation is actually rather gentle. For those who truly try to resist, it can be horrific beyond imagining.

Somewhat more scattered in the southern parts of the region (focusing mostly in Atlantic City and New York City) and somewhat more powerful in New England are the maenad hordes of Malkav. At first these were mindlessly bestial, their minds almost â,¬Ërewrittenâ,¬,,¢ by the mental impulses of Malkav, but now the Antediluvian is gradually assuming greater and greater control. Speech is impossible for them, but they are beginning to gather in greater numbers around the few vampires that have been mentally consumed by Malkav, conducting strange tasks which ultimately involve them preparing for battle with Tzimisce. Note that Malkav is likely to use humans or other supernatural beings, influencing them subtly to get them to do her fighting for her in order to get rid of Tzimisce, who would seem the more obviously greater threat. Malkav can conduct these mental attacks whenever any of its progeny or human horde is near, either through direct vision and mental contact or through dreams.

Once Tzimisce is defeated (Malkav deliberately has herded USAMRIID and CDC operatives by sending wild and plan to fail attacks against the areas they were formerly operating in, to make sure they escaped Tzimisceâ,¬,,¢s initial swathe, and also knows about the E-Branch and Delta Green personnel) Malkav will attack swiftly. Using her high ability in the Discipline known as Auspex, Malkav will subvert the minds of all military personnel using electronic communications gear, driving them to homicidal madness. Ultimately her intention is to gather as many as possible under her own mind, making them as close as possible to being literal extensions of her mind as possible. This is a time consuming process, for it is one thing to take over a person and another to carefully condition them to oneâ,¬,,¢s will in a useful way. Rather like taking over a million computers at the same time that are all written to different configurations. The maenads will gradually gather in larger and larger groups until almost like one vast multicellular organism they all come together in a great gathering and truly become one mind. In the meantime, they have begun to flock together, sleeping mostly during the night and active by day, raiding what is left of the ruins of civilization for food and whatever other things they need. They somehow can sense normal people and will become enraged at the sight of them. However they do not consciously hunt them down unless directed by one of Malkavâ,¬,,¢s vampire minions or by Malkav herself.

It must be borne in mind that outside of the above named safe communities things are either desolate or scary. Not only do marauders, refugees and the sick wander the roads but the supernatural horrors described above. There is an increasing sense of siege mentality faced by those who live in any reasonably stable area. In some ways the safest people are those off the beaten track, in small encampments, farmhouses far from main highways and isolated family groups.

Players in this campaign may be ordinary human beings, but are more able if they are Mages, Werewolves, vampires who resist the Antedeluvians, or other supernatural folk.

Wow awesome a modern-day setting based on vampires! You know what would be great? Basing the PC's as embers of a sort of "anti-Deathdealers" group. They could be hired to hunt the vampires or find out more about them (i am assuming you wouldnt tell all of this to them at first)

Consider making a table of events that presents a brief outline of the history, so it is easier to keep track of while you are writing, as this presents a very detailed (albeit very good) option.

I like the Tzimisce (am i spelling that right?) You could say that people think there is some sort of miracle happening hten all of a sudden things take a turn for the worse, a lot worse!

Thanks :) I'm mostly writing down stuff that developed through play and is a background, which my players don't know all of.

The idea for the players is that they are generally supposed to be working for the government in some capacity at the start of the game. They could be anything from soldiers to CDC researchers to US Dept of Agriculture officers. However at some point they discover that it is not merely recovery from WWIII that they have to deal with, but something just as monstrous and more alien. They can be people with supernatural abilities but the campaign would work just as well without them.


I got the idea for how Tzimisce works from Greg Bear's novel "Blood Music" which has a disease that works rather that way. Only in this case it is a single ruthless intelligence.


More to be posted soon.

I noticed you go very in depth with government and military positions, jobs, equipment, etc. how do you know all of this stuff? it make sit seem a lot more realistic that way

Very cool. Awesome, in fact.

I can just imagine the troubles other countries are having. Japan would be an interesting alternate setting, as well as what's left of Britain.

Is there one main rules system you are using, i.e. TW2000, or are you mixing parts from all over?

I'm using Twilight 2000 for the main rule systems like combat, travel, character stats etc but for the magical and supernatural stuff I'm using the White Wolf game universe system. It could use stuff from others I suppose though.

I've read a lot of stuff as research for Twilight 2000 and for when I briefly ran a Call of Cthulhu Delta Green game, so I've become very familiar with American military and government institutions.

I have a fair bit of material in fact for the UK and also for Canada, and I'll be presenting those soon.

Here are some links that will go with information above.

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration Ship Albatross IV http://www.moc.noaa.gov/al/general.htm

Nuclear, Chemical, Biological Services InformationChem/Bio Sniffer (as carried by the disease research field operatives)
 http://www.army.mil/fact_files_site/m256a1/index.html

Field Protective Gear
Face Mask
 http://www.army.mil/fact_files_site/m40/index.html
Biohazard Field Suit
 http://www.army.mil/fact_files_site/jslist/index.html
Fox NBC Recon Vehicle
 http://www.army.mil/fact_files_site/nbcrs/index.html

The Government and Character Roles

The United States Department of Defense
- USAMRIID (The United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases)
  This organization is devoted to biological warfare research. The view held of them varies from the heroic (during the anthrax scare or the ebola panic of the 90s) to the conspiracy theorist paranoiac (rumors that it was in fact USAMRIID that adapted HIV to control certain populations). They are depicted as fascist like villains in Stephen King's book "The Stand". On average however the members of USAMRIID are hard working researchers, lab technicians, virologists, immunologists, veterinarians and other scientific community types. They are based in Fort Detrick, Maryland, which in this campaign has been evacuated, what materials could not be moved carefully destroyed, with formaldehyde gas where necessary. (they are referred to by the players in my game as "the boys in the orange suits", describing their full environmental suits) Players belonging to this organization would be field scientists with an officer grade ranging from Captain to Lieutenant-Colonel. They would have survival training, basic army military training plus whatever extra military skills they might have picked up through experience, and extensive scientific training with a speciality in one field related to biology.

- Department of the Navy.
  For the Navy the most useable players (whose skills would not require them to be almost constantly on base or a large ship) would be boarding party members, Underwater Demolitions Team members, SEALs, Search and Rescue teams, Marines, Marine Recon units, Naval Investigation Service, and so on.

- Department of the Army
  Infantry, armor, Special Forces, DELTA Force, engineers, rangers, long range recon patrol, are all good player types. In the campaign area described currently the troops are likely to be attached to the 78th Infantry Division, to be MPs from the 43rd MP Brigade, or possibly from the 28th Infantry Division in Pennsylvania.

- Department of the Air Force
  Members of the Air Police from the Security Squadron attached to the 475th Airlift Wing are most likely, but also Office of Special Investigations would be good players as well.

United States Coast Guard
There are a wide range of possibilities for such personnel. The player would likely be attached to the US Coast Guard at Cape May, Tom's River or Newport. Coast Guard officers and personnel can focus on: law enforcement, search and rescue, and a number of other skills.

Law Enforcement Agencies
Include the following:
The FBI
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
The Drug Enforcement Agency
The Department of Fish and Wildlife
The US Customs Service
The Secret Service
The Internal Revenue Service
The US Marshals Service
The State Police (still functional to a small degree in areas like Harrisburg Penn, Providence RI)
Local Police Services

Note: all the above are considerably reduced, and in some states might be one or more agents who have been cut adrift.

 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

This government organization exists in order to study matters, obviously, of the ocean and atmosphere. To this end they maintain a fleet of ships from New England to Hawaii, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, as well as planes and installations, to study everything from storms to toxic substances in water to fish migration patterns. Some of the ships are small and have scientific instruments and are more for direct observation, while others are large enough to be floating laboratories. They often take personnel from the Navy or Coast Guard, and they have a hierarchy for command roughly similar to those organizations. The ships and planes are not armed, though they could conceivably be made to be so in the event of a disaster and necessity.


 

*Note: Milgov and Civgov are acronyms for the Military Government and the Civilian Government. The actual governmental succession was broken and lost, with the surviving Joint Chiefs of Staff becoming what passed for Federal Government in the USA. However members of Congress gathered in Omaha, Nebraska to form a quorum, and ended up electing John Broward, a Representative from Arkansas. General Cummings, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cited a number of irregularities and rejected agreement in the existence of this president. The division is not quite civil war but nearly so, and military and government services have in some cases aligned simply out of necessity with whichever group has controlled what area or resources or state loyalties.


Military Region V

By 2014 this region, consisting of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota and Minnesota has become a military region in name only. Many of the commands are a lot smaller than intended, and are hundreds of kilometers apart. With fuel so precious a commodity and communication systems still badly damaged, maintaining contact is extremely difficult. Only a strong sense of need not to give up, loyalty to the President and the strength of the remaining loyal commands has kept it going at all. One fortunate aspect is that food is not as scarce as in other regions. While certainly the luxuries of the past are an all but forgotten dream, no one starves in the organized areas or cantonments.

Marauders are a problem. In western Nebraska, scattered throughout Kansas, Missouri, and in parts of Wyoming and South Dakota the marauders have till recently been very active on the roads. Most of them have settled down, either to become petty warlords or simply squatting with their gains in some ruinous hellhole till they run out of goods and must take to the road again. It was a hard winter and no one really wanted to move around much. Nevertheless outside of the patrolled and defended areas small communities are as wary and fortified as communities in the Middle Ages, inclined to shoot at any strangers who do not identify themselves, and inclined to run those off unless they are persuasive.

Government has largely been reduced to the local level. Mainly, loyal Civgov enclaves are centered around Pierre, South Dakota; Duluth, La Crosse, International Falls and Minneapolis in Minnesota; Ottumwa and Decorah in Iowa; Moberly and Hannibal in Missouri; Omaha, Lincoln, Cedar Rapids, Ogallala, Broken Bow and Scottsbluff in Nebraska. There are also enclaves that have no loyalty to Civgov. These include the School Brigade operating in Southern and Western Kansas; the native American independence groups in western South Dakota; a largely white and non-native population in Rapid City (both groups of communities despise Civgov for the attempt to nationalize resources in South Dakota the year before); a warlord who has rather successfully set up operations in Topeka and the area surrounding it. Outside of these main safe enclaves are small family groups or fortified farms, refugees hunkered down in ruins and in squalid encampments, marauder groups and crazies.

Milgov is regarded with some resentment by some locals, who believe that if only the Chiefs of Staff would get over their stubborn pigheadedness the country could get back together again. In particular rumors that Milgov has no intention of ever holding elections has made people wary of the idea of living under military dictatorship. It is a bit different for those who travel a lot or are serving in uniform; it has come to seem a rather pointless conflict and some are relieved that fuel is scarce enough to make contact very irregular. Nevertheless there are some on both sides who for whatever reason are very eager to pursue conflict. While there have been irregularities abroad such as in the newly refurbished Military Region One which blend Civgov and Milgov forces, this has mostly taken place in areas where people are in irregular contact. In the heartland of Civgov it is a given that Milgov refuses to recognize the rightfully elected President of the United States. That being said, there are also negotiations going on to at least have both governments work together. The only real result of this is that units making contact are advised to ask questions first and shoot later.



The Nukes

Hot Springs, South Dakota: this was a miss aimed at Ellsworth Air Force Base, resulting in death for many from fallout and resultant disease and famine.

Offut Air Force Base, Nebraska: this direct hit caused death and destruction in this area. The roads became choked with sick and dying refugees. Fallout levels came down to acceptable ranges and the city of Omaha was resettled first by refugees and then by the Civilian Government.

Salina, Kansas: the missile array near this town was destroyed by a nuke launched by the Soviets, resulting in Salina becoming a ghost town. A few sick and dying people remain.

St. Louis, Missouri: destroyed by nuke.

Kansas City, Missouri: destroyed by nuke.

The other results of the nuclear attacks in this region are: people and animals with cancerous diseases; areas where plants and insects have mutated; infertility; huge dust storms, sometimes carrying dangerous radiation in the more open areas.

Federal Operations in Military Region V

President Broward appointed his own Chiefs of Staff and his own Secretary of Defense. These are with him in Omaha. Ironically there are probably enough staff personnel to outnumber the MPs and the Presidential Protection Detail put together. Most current operations involve protection of salvage operations, maintaining lines of supply and communication, and guarding important assets, not the least of which is the person of the President.

The CIAâ,¬,,¢s role in the Milgov/Civgov split is well known. However, it is a much reduced intelligence agency. It is forced in many ways to rely upon means used in earlier times, which has required them to hire and recruit new kinds of analysts and field operatives. Right now they are occupying a community college building in Omaha.

The FBI is an anomalous organization; they play both sides of the fence to some extent. The FBI had personnel in all major cities and a number of smaller ones, and has managed to maintain some contact with those who have survived. Most of their operations involve dealing with the black market, New American and other separatist and terrorist plots, and occasionally assisting local police. A number of agents in the field have simply become part of local police where such still exists, having been unable to contact their organization. The director has headquarters in a former insurance building in Omaha.

The Congress of the United States is much reduced. Only perhaps a quarter of the Senate and House are active, and more may slip away as they realize that their debates and intrigues mean little. The only problem of course isâ,¬Â¦where to go? Some of these men and women had plans in case of disaster, but others came hoping that they would become the new leaders of the newly revived nation only to find that it is on the edge of collapse. Some of them are effective go betweens between the Presidency and their State, but some are mere ciphers. The Senators from such places as West Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island are cases in point. For various reasons they represent nothing and no one. Some of the representatives on careful interrogation might be revealed to know little about the States they claim to be from that could not be gleaned from the last published Almanacâ,¬Â¦if that. Senator Horner of Utah on the other hand is a powerful person representing a powerful state. He is part of a semi-official committee to reunite the USA.

There are currently three Chief Justices who actually survived, and are part of the moral dilemma facing those who would deny Broward his position. Certainly Campbell Ramsey, the senior Chief Justice, administered the oath of office and was appointed by President Tannerâ,¬,,¢s predecessor. Whether this was considered opinion, desperation or what no one knows, but the redoubtable judiciary is certainly part of Hornerâ,¬,,¢s â,¬Å"Committeeâ,¬Â.

A group of older senior officers, people with wealth and influence (such as still exists) and politicians, in particular several who are veterans have begun on both sides of the political question to propose that some kind of agreement be set up for the good of the country. They are led by Senator James Arthur, who is a Vietnam veteran and had been on the Armed Services Senate Committee before and during the early years of the war. As senior senator from Kansas he has had to contend with many difficult issues but has come to believe that if the nation does not pull together everthing will eventually fall apart. He believes that if Civgov and Milgov pull together that jointly they will be able to defeat the remaining New Americans and warlords, reestablish transport and communication and hold back the night. To do this, he has generally proposed that they work together with the intention of holding an election as soon as it is feasible to do so, within a time limit of about 3 years. At the very least, let them not contest one another but work together as fellow Americans. While he is not really agreed with yet the Senator commands enough respect in both groups to be received in Omaha or Colorado Springs without being openly mistrusted.

While he is respected there is some hostility to his ideas. There is a great deal of mistrust on either side of the question, and pride is a factor that cannot be ignored. General Cummings for instance refuses to call Broward anything but "Mr. Broward" or "The Honorable Representative from Arkansas". Broward regards Cummings as being a military dictator and practically a mutineer.

Another side to this question is one raised by certain parties who feel that the situation may not be salvageable. For instance, already state governors and local military commanders have been forced to cut some people off from the resources and protection they have available. (Examples would include Governors like Britt of Rhode Island or Morris of Arkansas pretty much running perhaps a tenth to a quarter of their states, or the commander of the 197th Infantry Brigade having to reduce range of patrols out of Memphis) On this basis realpolitik suggests that in fact things as they are might enable a few communities to survive as opposed to all falling down together. This somewhat cynical view is not without influence in either capital.

The Big Picture: CivGovâ,¬,,¢s plans â,¬' CivGov is in dire straits, and the President knows it.  He has sidestepped the drought issue in typical bureaucratic fashion by announcing the capital would remain in Omaha â,¬' and then start relocating people.  However, most of the fears of the Wisconsiners are unfounded; the shift in rain patterns has made the Great Lakes some of the most fertile terrain on the continent and they are seriously overestimating how many people are involved, thinking mostly in pre-war terms.  Most people in Nebraska decided to move when it became clear how bad the food situation would be.
From Maryland, Lieutenant-Governor  Caldwell succeeds in moving the enclave into the Ohio River valley, despite the chaos in Pennsylvania and the marauder bands lurking in the valley.  Fortunately, the 228th Infantry Brigade has survived intact, with soldiers from the European evacuation keeping their numbers the same (about 1000 men).    They have established several garrisons across eastern Indiana and western Ohio; Findlay, Ohio being the farthest eastern control; the crucial river junction town of Defiance, Ohio;  Greenville, Ohio; the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana; Muncie, Indiana; city of Lima, Ohio; and Elida, Ohio.  The 184th IB has made it, with 1400 men and 7 M60A4s, Hqed in Camp Atterbury, nominally responsible for southern Ohio and Indiana, but mostly concentrated in eastern Indiana.  The Ohio state government collapses under the storm of refugees, but the Indiana government (still in Indianapolis) declares for CivGov, despite the MilGov presence in Evansville. Caldwell begins a training program so that civilians will have something to do and to desperately replace much-needed specialists.  He also has recovered a number of secret caches, some dating back to the 1950s, that the government had buried and forgotten about.  Those not in the immediate area he has turned over the location of to the units nearby, whether MilGov or CivGov.  His current base of operations is Fort Wayne, and a cache from the Carter administration has supplied a rather large number of solar cells to provide rudimentary electricity to the immediate region.


Military Region V Order of Battle

HQ: Omaha, Nebraska (commanded by a Lieutenant-General, who is in turn subordinate to the Commander of DefCom. The various area support commands, bases whoses staffs had survived but had been forced to evacuate areas were used to fill ranks and also to build a staff following the disaster)

HQ Units
530th Military Police Battalion (400)
809th Quartermaster Battalion
89th Ordnance Battalion
89th Transportation Battalion
424th Maintenance Co
331st Medical Group
806th Chemical Detachment

(note: most of these are at Ã,¼ strength only since most of them have provided extra personnel for required skills to other units in the area.)

644th Area Support Group
(consists of the 367th Combat (light) Engineer Battalion, 212th Quartermaster Company, 302nd Maintenance Battalion, 322nd Maintenance Company, 417th Maintenance Company, 451st Army Band, and the 704th NBC Recon Company. While none of these units would be considered traditional â,¬Ëlineâ,¬,,¢ units nevertheless given modern conditions of war all were given training in combat operations and thus found themselves having to administer what degree they could of law and order in Minnesota when the heavens fell, as it were.)
Subordination: Military Region V
Location: Minnesota
Manpower: 1200
AFVs: None.

134th Infantry Regiment (what remains of the 67th Infantry Brigade)
Subordination: Military Region V
Location: Eastern Nebraska
Manpower: 600
AFVs: same as above.

35th Combat Engineer Brigade
Subordination: Military Region V
Location: Missouri
Manpower: 1200
AFVs: 6 M728 CEVs, 4 M5 ARVs,

B Battery, 3/49th Artillery Regiment
Subordination: Military Region V
Location: Wyoming
Manpower: 100
AFVs: 2 155mm SPH

Presidential Protection Detail
(consisting of elements of the 3rd Regiment, the Old Guard; USMC Presidential Guard Company, and the Secret Service protection unit)
Subordination: The Office of the President
Location: Omaha, Nebraska
Manpower: 300

Personalities
John Broward
Styled President of the United States, and acknowledged as such by perhaps 25-30 million people in the USA, the story of his election is recorded elsewhere.

What kind of man is he?

Broward was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1948 to Henry and Maureen Broward. Henry was a country lawyer who was rather involved with the local Democratic Party. John grew up in a world that was occasionally rural but also sophisticated, hearing political and legal discussions and at the same time learning to hunt and fish at an early age. He had a knack for both being one of the boys and yet speaking in a remarkable mature and adult fashion.

He went to Trent University in 1966, and having been raised in a county where regardless of politics traditional values were common was both disturbed and fascinated by things like the Hippy movement. Nevertheless he joined the NROTC while his letters home reveal a certain ambivalence his actual decisions seem to have been made with a clear conscience.

Broward served in Vietnam as a Marine helicopter pilot and was in action several times, earning a Navy Cross for a very risky evacuation that saved the lives of a squad that was suffering a heavy rocket and mortar attack.

He served the remainder of his tour in the USA, and there he met his future bride, Adah Chilton. A dark haired very beautiful woman, she was the daughter of a minister and was reconsidering the path of her life after barely escaping prison during a protest. She had come to decide that while she felt that the Vietnam War was immoral that nevertheless morality must begin at home and had begun working with inner city poor. Broward was drawn to both her and her concerns.

Later this was a cause for both of them when he ran for the state legislature on his return to Arkansas, following their marriage. As a decorated Marine veteran he was a potential popular candidate, but in the 1970s the cause of inner city poverty and racial discrimination was still a difficult one, and it was due to his charisma and the political shrewdness of an old college friend, Chuck Holmes, which enabled him to win his seat.

Broward at first was part of a small radical cabal in the state legislature, but gradually gained prowess and a strong voice. He took a hiatus from politics to become involved with a corporate research foundation. However he returned to politics in the late 80s to become elected to the House of Representatives.

During his stint in the House he served on the Housing & Welfare Committee, the Education Committee, the Energy Committee and the Armed Services Committee.

At the start of the war he happened to have been at home with his wife visiting his constituency. The events of the war shocked him. What shocked him even more though was that in spite of his efforts towards his state in leadership and organization that it fell to two forces opposing him: the New Americans and Governor Felix Morris, a pro-Milgov leader. It pains him every time he thinks about it; indeed the most telling scornful remark delivered to him by General Cummings was the unavoidable fact of that.

Broward has tried to be a vigorous President, a strong and focused leader of the nation. However it seems as though disaster upon disaster besets his presidency, and in his heart he at times wonders how long it can last.

Like many elected leaders before him he found himself forced to appoint certain people to high office that he later came to regret. He has gotten rid of most of them by now, and in any case some of the state interests they represented are either no more or no longer a concern.

Personality:
Broward's good points are his energy, willingness to commit to action, his charisma and his sense of humor. He genuinely is a patriot.
His bad points include a tendency to run himself into the ground, an occasional bad temper, and a tendency towards mendacity. For instance he will say something like "Oh, you're from Iowa? So am I!" and actually mean it at the time. This is not necessarily harmful but could be embarassing. Broward has also come to be a bit peevish about his home state, and references to it may cause him to become cold and remote.

Another flaw, not necessarily his, is his wife. Adah has always had a somewhat melancholy personality that she hides behind charitable activities and personal kindness. Lately she has fallen in with a New Age group called Unilove, which believes in raising positive energies that will ideally change the hearts and minds of people thought of. Unilove suggests that the union of humanity will come through love. It believes in reincarnation, positive thinking (which it calls macro thinking), meditation, veganism and occasional nudism. (while this is actually fairly chaste in intention some practitioners believe that Unilove also should lead to a 'sinless' state whereby sexual contact becomes innocent) The practioner list would surprise some people: there is a sense of desperation at the capital, and in fact it is in some ways a rather elitist faith. Adah had had a fondness for poetry and interpretive dance before and has been involved in designing some plays which are called 'readings' and are part of the form of worship done by the Unilove Fellowship. It is generally harmless but potentially degenerative and embarassing for the President.

Chuck Holmes (Chief of Staff to the President)

Holmes was born a year earlier than Broward in the same part of Arkansas. Holmes' family were business people and he grew up around talk of commerce. He knew Broward to say hello to but they were not really friends until after they both did their service. Holmes did his in the Navy and ended up on a Mekong Delta boat. He was wounded in action during his service though it was not crippling. Upon his return to the USA and private life he met Broward at a political meeting. They hit it off and Broward saw in Holmes an instinct for setting up meetings, organizing events and delegating to others since at the time he was one of a group of people helping put together a local party headquarters. When he ran for the state legislature Holmes was asked to help out, and they have worked closely together ever since.

Holmes is a born survivor, a cunning opportunist who respects the idea of his country but has one true loyalty outside of that he feels for himself: his friend, the President, John Broward. In a sense, to imagine him is to think of the character of Mr. Pelt from "Hunt for Red October" who is a self described "Cheat and a liar...and when I'm not kissin' babies, I'm stealin' their lollipops...but I do know a good thing when I see one."

He has preserved and gained power in Omaha largely through his control (to a large extent though a handful of others could contest this) of who sees the President. Most of those who could offer appointments report to him: the Deputy Chief of Staff, the President's private secretary, the President's personal aide, the Appointments Secretary. Holmes is ruthless about this: anyone who bucks the system pays for it, ideally by being sent far far away. His main aim in life is to maintain the dignity and power of the office of the President, and this does not include wasting the President's time. On the other hand, Holmes is no fool; if something is convincingly important to the preservation of what remains of the nation/presidency then he will act upon it with swift resolution.

The Land

The States of the Military Region V were hit not merely by nukes but also by biological warfare. Terrorists and agents employed by the Soviet Union and its allies planted fungus on crops, distributed anthrax and BSE in order to damage the breadbasket of the United States and Canada as well.

A farmer in Kansas noticed the fungus on his winter wheat crop and notified the local agricultural board. There was an effort to keep panic down, and FEMA and the Department of Agriculture became directly involved. Thousands of head of livestock and acres of crops were ordered destroyed. Unfortunately in the wake of the sense of panic following the TDM this resulted in outrage and terror. Riots hit the cities of the Midwest, and the National Guard and Reserves found themselves overwhelmed.

That anthrax had been largely aimed at animal husbandry did not seem to register in the human animal in places like Des Moines, where there had already been fear and dread of radiation from Kansas City and Omaha. The city gradually became a ghost town. Despairing refugees sometimes just halted on the road, waiting for help, doomed.

Along the Mississippi the lack of infrastructure and the loss of skilled workers due to the panic resulted in major flooding along the banks. The water swelled, claiming the city of Davenport, again causing a mass and almost fatal exodus.

Eaters

Some of the survivors turned cannibal. People desperate, selfish and willing to abandon all pretension of civilized and decent behavior merely in order to survive are actually the worst of local marauders. These are mostly evolved from groups of survivors who went desperate to small communities who did. As a result they have a strange permanency that goes beyond that of the average marauder band. While some indulged and then, in shame when they did survive drifted apart, a few became savage, crazed with their new state of being, and are either waylaying travellers or else have taken to the road and are feeding themselves along the way with the unwary. Given the circumstances, diseases among them are rife--you don't want to be bitten by one of these people. They are likely to be large in numbers, but not that well armed comparatively--combining a marauder band on the encounter table along with two refugee group encounters sums up the proportion of arms among them.