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THE MAJOR FACTIONS

The political environments of this world are bitter and complex. Everyone seeks to support only themselves, and do not care who they must tear down to climb higher. The main political powers are listed below, along with their current affiliates.

The Cities

The Cities themselves. They influence the Wastes in overt strokes. The Cities are of course the dominant players in this battlefield. With the power of the Dragons at their back, the Cities have an advantage in sheer strength alone. Add to that their population, knowledge, size, and histories and the image is created of a trio of violently undominatable opponents.

Details As a united front, they alone could claim the entire world as their playground and everyone else would simply have to bow to their might- or be crushed under the wave. However, infighting plagues the Cities. Distrust and pride burn fiercely within each City's governing bodies, poison wells growing ever larger with the smallest slights only adding to the rot. A silent arms race has begun between the trio, a cold war of growing weaponization and unspoken anger. They hate even as they trade, sell, and create. This is in no way limited to the Cities themselves. Boarate owns the oceans, the Black Seas. They have several hundred stations established in the depths of the untamed sea, and regularly send exploratory teams out to scout and locate good places to expand into. Boarate mines from the seas to get fuel for their factories and vehicles, and also to collect metals to create their products with. Boarate doesn't want involvement with the surface and doesn't have any ground troops actively deployed outside of the walls. Gullaxian is largely separate from the surface as well, being a skyward city. The mountain the City spills onto is their territory alone and falls within their jurisdiction, with walls built to keep the Wastelands at bay. However, recently the City has been sending small teams into the Wastelands. Nobody's entirely sure why. Naturally, the teams are met with distrust if not outright hostility and are often killed. Their City status offers them little protection in the Wastelands. Interestingly the most recent team went directly to the Plains Union and is currently in communications with them, something both the Undergrowth and the CotB are watching with keen interest. Viperalm has a huge involvement with the surface, being built directly into the earth. The City has frequent excursions out into the Wastelands and has a fair amount of mines and military bases established in the Wastelands, as well as a presence in many settlements. The City has relations with the Plains Union and are rather intrigued by the attempt by Gullaxian to gain rapport with the Union as well. Their view on the CotB is wary, but they are not particularly interested and do not believe the CotB will pose a threat to them- even knowing that their own creation heads the organisation.

Corporations

Each City has its own companies that number in the hundreds to thousands. None can rival the Corporations though. The Big Three founded the Cities and are still heavily involved in their runnings. Their influence is such they are a political entity of their own.

LAWRIK

Lawrik is the corporation based in Boarate primarily focussed on machines.

They made the steel soldiers. Human bones and viscera integrated into steel and iron casings, cells coated with tungsten, brains carefully sheathed in a complex nest of crystal, wires and flesh nerves. Steel soldiers were made from the unwilling- they were scrounged from refugee camps, prisoners of war, even soldiers whose bodies couldn't serve anymore, and turned into machines, their souls acting as the CPU. Parts of their flesh were inbuilt into the machinery- after all, human souls need some form of living material to cling to- but as the technology improved less and less of the original bodies were needed until eventually only the brain remained, encased in metal flesh. Steel soldiers do need to breathe to provide oxygen for their brain, but have filters pre-built into them, and can withstand most of the Wasteland toxins.

Steel soldiers weren't made for looks and generally look very inhuman- the face reflects a skull, the eyes are replaced with deeply-sunken cameras, the mouth is a grinder that can crush a lot of shit. Early soldiers still retained a human based form, as their bodies were largely organic, but as the years and models went by and improvements were made the human form was warped and twisted into something still vaguely humanoid but not quite human. Many were made, but once the wars ended, they were abandoned like the cheap machines they were. Left to wander the Plains. As they aged, their life-support gave up, and generations died out in the Plains from organ failure.

Lawrik's current project:

CYBER-BLUE Cyber Blue is a collaboration between Lawrik and Eris to create the most efficient security system for Boarate. A hidden army of robots both to fight enemies and pacify their people. The robots started off human-like- much like the original Steel Soldiers, Lawrik's first forays were human tissue machinery. But this was an outdated build, and imperfect, and the tissues still malfunctioned and died off.

And then Lawrik was sold information by 0UTRUN that was a game changer for the Boarate city defence program. But Lawrik doesn't specialise in Contract-based work.

So Lawrik once again approached Eris with an offer. And Eris accepted.

Akin to past experiments with Viruses, the new robots were entirely machine. Based on animals in form, they had no human weakness. But rather than being run by a program, they're run by souls.

Using the information discovered by 0UTRUN, Eris successfully created a procedure that bound a soul to living tissue that wasn't it's own. They did it with fish, since that was the only thing that worked every time.

Eris then pioneered a way for the souls to travel beyond their hosts- using Draul as a conductor. Draul is technically a form of life, and therefore a soul can feed off it to supplement itself. By building machines that ran off Draul, and then mutating the fish hosts to have Draul energy within them, Eris & Lawrik successfully created a system that allowed a soul to travel as far from its host as it liked, limited only by where its machine could wander.

Eris also added an inbuilt A.I. to all the machines, that automatically saved and sent any data processed by the machine (anything the user sees, smells, hears, touches, tastes, does, has done to them, etc). The soul can access this data but cannot delete, edit or in any way override this dataflow. They can send the data to other machines. The A.I. only transfers between two places- the machine body, and the central control server.

A total backup copy of everything that machine does is saved to the central server. Everything a soul sees is saved to the server. All machines are linked intrinsically to this one gigantic server. Souls can communicate with each other via the server, and can: look through each other's cameras, send each other a live feed of what they're experiencing, send across data, & even fully swap machine bodies- however this last one requires administrative influence. Generally a soul is assigned 2 to 6 machine bodies, and can control all of them simultaneously (multitasking), but this can be detrimental to the overall performance.

The machine designs aren't all animal based, nor even mobile. Most are simply security systems, cameras, wires etc. Others computers, sitting unnoticed in every computer and device in Boarate, observing their citizens.

Since the new technology was tested and built in Boarate, the Draul it ran off was the blue blood of Mikha'el, hence the name Cyber-Blue.

ASCENT

Ascent is the corporation based in Viperalm focussing most on bioengineering using both Contract work and biotechnology.

They produced the Angels, genetically-modified humans that are designed down to the very cells to be the ultimate streamlined soldiers. Unlike the other companies, which use already-developed humans, Ascent makes their humans from scratch. The egg base is human, but the fertilisation and subsequent editing during growth isn't strictly limited. The Angels are grown in surrogate mothers who are given regular shots of potent chemical cocktails that influence the developing child significantly. Angels grow much faster than normal humans- once born at just six months, they are placed into rapid-ageing pods, which increase growth rate tenfold and enable the constant production of adult soldiers for the Viperalm army.

When they come out of those pods they come out knowing inherently, instinctively how to fight, to use many guns and handle many vehicles and order folk and take orders and make snap choices and so forth. Although they're mentally around 20, they have the mental absorbency of young children and can take in information and learn extremely fast. This also means they have the naïvety and blind trust of children. They're trained for a day, then screened to make sure they're perfect- any who do not suit the criteria are quickly discarded (used for other experiments instead). They're naturally stronger and more physically powerful than the average human, and can last longer in extreme environments.

But the real trick's in the brain. They're bred to withstand their own delirium strength- the same frenzied strength that allows people to pick up cars- and can actually voluntarily turn on their hysterical strength. However, just like with normal humans, hysterical strength still takes a toll and can't be abused.

Ascent's current project:

ANGHENFIL

Anghenfil (lit. monster) is the collective name for a legion of man-made monsters that Ascent is building. Despite the Cities' anti-monster policies and prejudices, Viperalm sees no issue with using them as soldiers. Failed Anghenfil (Jean-Claude, Drunkard, X) are only the smallest snippet at what the successful monsters are like.

Built to serve, these monsters have been refined into the perfect soldiers via a mix of genetic engineering, Contracts, and conditioning. These creatures are biological patchwork creations, made of parts that should and could never exist naturally. Bones stronger than titanium, skin more bulletproof than kevlar, claws sharper than knives. The best part? They repair themselves.

The most well-known Anghenfil are the Jays, therizinosaurus-esque monsters that are often used in place of dogs for the police, army, and general protection. The most famous of these Jays, and the reason behind the nickname, is Jean-Claude, the legendary Anghenfil who gained a human mind and broke out of Viperalm to begin her own powerful army in the Plains. However, Viperalm have many more monsters the public haven't even dreamt about, kept hidden and obscured far beneath the ground, watching, waiting, ready and pacing.

ERIS

Eris is the Gullaxian-based corporation focussing largely on Contract work, computer engineering, & Draul.

They produced the viruses. These are people-turned-programs, running in several war machines at once. Viruses are made with ghosts- Eris after all is the corporation specialising in Contract-based cyberware. Computer programs are written integrating powerful binding Contracts, attaching ghosts permanently into being part of the coding. Viruses were primarily run on machinery built by others. In fact, an alternate type of steel soldiers were built wherein they were entirely machines, with an embedded computer instead of a brain. An Eris-brand virus would then be put into the OS and become a steel soldier. These were shortly discontinued though as Lawrik found viruses to be inefficient and cancelled the contract. These early forays into entirely computer based brains would eventually offshoot into Cyber-Blue.

Viruses have no physical form of their own- they're just coding with a deceased human mind attached. They are impervious to any physical damage- a virus is essentially immortal as long as it can jump between computers and can exist in multiple computers at once. However, they are prone to deterioration of the mind and mental faculties and often fall to the same fate as ghosts- mere shades of emotion or memory clinging to Earth unable to die.

Eris releases anti-viruses pretty regularly to wipe out the "outdated" older viruses, but outside of Gullixian very few use these anti-viruses and many viruses still exist. Hell, in the Plains it's weirder to own a device that isn't possessed by some ex-soldier.

Eris' current project:

CONTRACTORS

The forgotten art. The skills sealed away with the closing of the Rift and the death of the Gods. Contract work- the literal rewriting of reality- is surely impossible without the Rift's energy, and that which remains on Earth is far too unstable to be used.

Except, Rift energy is everywhere. In every being, every cell, every soul. And it just so happens those who have walked the Rift, or who saw the Rift, or who witnessed the Rift's closure- those individuals are filled with that energy. Harnessable. Controllable. Powerful. Gullaxian is on a mission. They seek those with the blue blood of knowledge. They take them. They teach them. The thing is, a Contract can still be edited, still be duplicated. While the ability to make and delete Contracts (or write new lines of Contracts) vanished with the Rift, Contracts on Earth that are actively known of and researched on can be changed. Snippets from Contracts can be cut and added to other Contracts. Those with blue blood have an ability beyond the regular human's to see and decipher these Contracts and as such Gullaxian has teams researching current known Contracts. Unfortunately this information was leaked- Viperalm managed to create a mimicry of the Slipskin contract by hiring a blue blood who ran away from Gullaxian.

But Gullaxian's research wasn't entirely compromised. A phenomenon was discovered. Shatterpoints. Shatterpoints are places where the other dimension did not separate cleanly from ours, where the Rift cracked and leaked and split its energy across the land. A Shatterpoint can be used as a stand-in for the Rift to rewrite a Contract, or create new Contracts entirely. Creating a Contract drains Rift energy from the Shatterpoint, with energy drainage proportional to the complexity of the Contract. Once drained, a Shatterpoint is made moot. Rift energy is a finite resource. Only a few Shatterpoints have been found so far, so Gullaxian is beginning to send teams into the Plains to search for more. This means they may have to begin making deals with the Union, the CotB, and the Undergrowth to walk on their lands, or risk starting conflicts.

The world does not just revolve around the Cities, however. Other players of course partake in the political landscape. Upon the surface, two political powers exist in mutual dislike.

The Plains Union

A united federation connecting the scattered towns, villages, and other settlements that pockmark the Wastelands like acne scars. The Plains Union also includes a few supernatural settlements. It was established largely to unite the surface into one country, much like the Cities themselves, and to help protect the Wastelands from the wanton actions of others. The Plains Union focuses heavily on the people's choice, and is ruled by a democratically elected board whose members change every few years. However, claims of unfair treatments fissure the Union, with accusations of bias towards landowners over those who actually work the land itself. The Union's main sources of income are agriculture and mines.

Details The Plains Union dislikes the Cities on principle alone- however, Viperalm has worked a deal with them due to the City's proximity to the Wastelands. In exchange for maintaining peace within the settlements and protection from monsters, Viperalm is given access to several settlements and can have mines within the Wastelands (5% profit from these mines on Union land goes to the Plains Union). Most importantly however is food. The Plains Union owns acres upon acres of fertile farmland rife with crops and livestock that feed the population above and below. Viperalm's dealings with the Union help here- many farmers now additionally sell to Viperalm men. Boarate's walls lie just outside of the Union's jurisdiction and Viperalm's mountain is considered their territory alone, so the other two Cities rarely care to interact with the Union directly. They may indirectly buy Wasteland metals from Viperalm or dump their waste just on the borderlands, but they will not bother to talk to the board. However, they are still reliant on the Union in some way- they buy crops from Viperalm, who buys from the Union. This is not unnoticed by the Cities.

The Undergrowth is the Union's greatest ally. While a politically neutral entity, the vast network of tunnels still needs feeding. 0UTRUN purchases crops and raw materials from the Union, while in return providing fresh water from the natural springs below. The Infinity Trains do have lines aboveground- these stations are trade havens, full of goods swapped from cart to carriage and vice versa. People of the Plains are glad to trade with the trains, a long partnership that has existed since the war began.

The Union exists in an uneasy truce with the Children of the Beast, also informally known as simply 'the Monsters'. The CotB seems to actively enjoy undermining the Union, and wherever the Union fails to be, the CotB will be waiting to provide their aid instead. At the same time, the CotB is always willing to provide services to the Union as well, including things such as culling of (regular) monster and undead populations and provision of supplies gotten from the borders of Boarate or the mountains of Viperalm, both places the Union can't afford to walk within.

Nobody's entirely sure what the goals of the CotB are, but chances are it involves more monsters and less men.

Recently, Gullaxian sent several diplomatic teams directly to the Union to discuss giving Gullaxian rights to roam within Union land. This deal would potentially give the Union a lot more clout and power, as well as access to even greater resources than they currently have.

However, the deal runs the risk of falling afoul of Viperalm and potentially causing retaliation on the Plains Union. At the same time, if they manage to make the deal, Gullaxian would provide protection against Viperalm's actions. Whether this is a truthful claim or not is something the board is debating. Viperalm is currently remaining silent on the topic, but does not seem actively hostile towards Gullaxian, and may not even feel slighted at all by the Union if they did agree to the deal.

Viperalm at the moment offers protection against the CotB, who in the past have forcefully taken land from the Union. With Viperalm's backing the CotB doesn't currently dare to directly attack the Union. However, Viperalm have taken advantage of the Union and frequently over-extort the settlements there, leaving the people to starve or suffer while the City reaps their resources. On the other hand, Gullaxian promises all the same benefits of Viperalm (protection from the CotB, political backing in case of conflict, provision of some payment) and doesn't want to establish military bases on Union land. Gullaxian claims to only want to do 'research' on Union land. The extent of this 'research' is something the City did not disclose.

The inherent mistrust the Plains Union has towards both Cities' doesn't help the situation.

The Union exists in constant wariness- any misstep and they fear the wrath of the Cities may come crashing down upon them. They are still flimsy and struggling to rise off their feet and grow established as a real player in the Wastelands world. With the aid of the Cities they can grow much stronger and more powerful, and possibly even fight back against the CotB. It is also possible they may develop alone into a powerful nation, given sufficient motivation.

Children of the Beast

The powerful monster faction headed by Jean-Claude.

Details The CotB are a large and growing clan of monsters with above-average intelligence, capable of forming some sort of organisation. Led by the Anghenfil Jean-Claude, aided by her children Rainier and Triumph, and with some possible links to 0UTRUN. The CotB established territories just outside of both City and Union territories, and have since edged their way into claiming more land either through intimidation, violence, or shaky diplomacy. The CotB have been known to aid human settlements not part of the Union, and have also been involved in organised sabotage of City operations such as mining or waste disposal, leading some to think of them as a mafia-type organisation. The CotB also actively encourages settlements to turn to them for protection rather than the Union- in one notable case, where two towns were at conflict but only one was hosting Viperalm soldiers, the Union refused to step in for the sake of avoiding conflict with Viperalm. The non-Union town turned to the CotB for aid, and every man and beast in the opposing town were slaughtered in cold blood.

Undergrowth

This underground conglomerate is practically a City of its own, and rivals the major three in all but raw power (the Undergrowth has no draconic protection). Run by an AI. While it is a city large and powerful enough to rival any of the major Cities, it is sworn by a trade alliance and maintains a careful neutrality between the Big Three and the Federation. Although rumours of it working with the Children of the Beast are rife...

Details 0UTRUN is the only corporation that functions outside of city law. It generalises in machinery and weaponry, providing the Below People with the products they need. 0UTRUN sprung up after the wars, quickly claiming the abandoned factories left behind by the Cities for their own. Through these factories, production of 0UTRUN-branded products began. As these grew in popularity and demand, due to being easier to get ahold of than City items, 0UTRUN expanded their reach into further factories.

As people moved into the Undergrowth 0UTRUN fulfilled their transportation needs by repairing and running the trains once again. Getting the trains going meant 0UTRUN now had a monopoly over the Undergrowth. As the years passed more and more Below folk became reliant on the 0UTRUN brand. Their products, while not fancy or lined with bells and whistles, generally are efficient, robust and long-lasting. 0UTRUN is also the biggest provider of clean water to both the Cities and the Surface, selling thousands of gallons a day. The water is filtered by the thick layers of earth as well as by 0UTRUN itself.
0UTRUN's Secret Project 0UTRUN is allying with the CotB, a project that has been in process since the escape of Jean-Claude. Her old handler was actually a Wars veteran, and had worked on 0UTRUN directly, giving her an already-established link with the AI. 0UTRUN allowed Jean-Claude to sequester Lust in its tunnels, which is why no Wastelanders have ever discovered the source of the new generation of monsters. Jean-Claude also raised her own children in the tunnels, and 0UTRUN aided in their education, resulting in them gaining plenty of knowledge on strategy and warfare.

The AI has access to a million minds, and the majority seem to believe that an alliance with the monsters is the best move to make. While 0UTRUN's exact motivation for allying with the monsters isn't known, it must be a good reason. The AI is also making moves to officially mark itself as- if not a direct ally to- a neutral party to even the Monsters, by allowing Triumph to publically own part of the Undergrowth. This is breaking the established idea that the Undergrowth was a place free of both Wastelanders and monsters, and potentially could cause conflict within the tunnels.

However, if the monsters can prove themselves rational enough to live alongside men, 0UTRUN hopes for the species to begin interbreeding, creating a new generation of humans best suited to survival in the post-War world. Not only that, but if monsters and men could work as allies, they become very powerful indeed- after all, the Cities only function thanks to the aid of their trapped monsters. 0UTRUN plans on creating a super-species.

???

Something's in the water. Something's in the air. Whispers and rumours circulate in the Plains and Cities alike. People believe. There's something else out there.

Details Another City. Another Dragon. Is it possible something else survived?