Traversing our Dangerous World

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shadrak
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Posts: 1831
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 8:11 pm
Location: Bloomington, IL

Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by shadrak »

TRAVERSING OUR DANGEROUS WORLD – PART 1:
Into the Snake Pit

Contents
Player’s Map
Annotated (Gamemaster’s) Map
The Adventure Plot
Character Backgrounds
Player’s Process and Objectives
Conditions in the Ozarks
Non-Player Characters of Note
Private John Randolph
Sergeant Hawthorne
Dr. Carl Nevers
Tim Stoddard
Daniel Bradford
Rigsby Witherspoon
Klaus Neuner
Erin Vends
Ron Jacobs
Chance Brennen
Ginny Reynolds
Rahkma-Tset
Darrin Long
New Awakening: An Overview
New Awakening in the Ozarks
New Awakening Ozarks Cell Trooper Random Equipment Lists
New Awakenings Structure
New Awakening Philosophy
New Awakening Hierarchy
Operation Python
Operation Serpent’s Head
Dirigibles
Framing the Area (Surrounding Region)
Eastern Gateway (From No Man’s Land)
Random Encounter Tables
West Memphis
Dragon Mage
Dragon Hatchlings
Neuron Beast
Forrest City
Lizard Mage
Helena
Necromancers and Necrophim
Blytheville
Possessed Silver Eagle
Bare Bluff
Giant’s Home
Poke Bayou
Northeastern Gateway (From Whykin and Kingsdale)
Random Encounter Tables
Shalom
Secret of Shalom
Peter Vance
Mill Creek
Pine Ridge
Cave City
Southeastern Gateway (From Pinebluff to Little Rock)
Random Encounter Tables
Devil’s Bluff
Pine Bluff
Little Rock
River Mountain
Stifft Station
Warlord Ratter
Notes on Little Rock
The Western and Southern Strongholds of Humanity: Fort Jericho and the C.S. El Dorado
Encounters Tables
Fort Jericho
Fort Jericho Places of Interest
Military Forces at Fort Jericho
Camp Victor
El Dorado
Ozam
Rainbow
Reynolds
Sundown
Haven
Darrin Gallant
Barcuss Clover
Hot Springs
Freejack Longfellow
Into the Snake Pit: New Awakening’s Ozarks
Encounters Tables
Archibald
Broken Hill
Monkey Run
Escaped C.S. MonkeyBoys
Mountain Home
Sevierville
Eureka Springs
Fairview
Hardyville
Gunner Frank
Lost Valley
Anti-Matter Cruise Missiles
Camp Ponca
Camp Lionhold
Burrows
Jasper
Grand Gap
Smyrna
Garvin
Cactus Prairie
Smilax
Cauldron
Riggs
Calico
Half-Mile Caverns
Hebron
David Simmons
Sugar Loaf
BayBay
Rosehill
Do-It
Garrett’s Hollow
Washita
Summit
Logistics Companies
Valdega
Bradley’s Junction
Bradley Wonder
Gatan Rulian
Remir Rulian
shadrak
Champion
Posts: 1831
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 8:11 pm
Location: Bloomington, IL

Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by shadrak »

Adventure Plot:

Major Danvers called the team into the briefing room.
“Men, it appears we have a new mission that has come to us at the request of Major General Carline of the El Dorado Regional Command. Lieutenant Colonel Gates from the EDRC G2 is here to brief us.”
“Thank you Major Danvers” a small, heavily muscled man said as he stepped forward and started up the view screen. “EDRC appreciates the Department of Special Division’s assistance in this internal security matter…”
“As you all know, El Dorado has effective control most of the territory between the Ouachita Mountains to the west and the Mississippi River to the East, as far north as the White River here at Devil’s Bluff to the Red River to our south.”
“Farther to the west, you also know that the Coalition States maintains a fortified outpost of Fort Jericho on the remains of Newtown. And you can probably guess that Fort Jericho gets the bulk of its support from El Dorado rather than any other CS State.”
“What you do not know, however, is that the civilian riverboats that regularly ply the Arkansas river between Fort Jericho and Pine Bluff that enable us to ferry supplies to Fort Jericho have not been seen south of Dardanelle Lake in more than two weeks. Our scouts in Little Rock have indicated that no riverboat has been seen at any of the docks in any of those towns for more than two weeks as well.”
“We have also been seeing an increase in refugee traffic flowing along the White River including some dangerous D-Bees. Refugees that we have questioned have indicated that a band of marauders have been taking over the small communities to the North of us. It appears that there is something going on in the Ozark mountains sandwiched between us, Fort Jericho, and Kingsdale to the north.”
“We first began to suspect something was going on when an an infantry patrol from Fort Jericho that was patrolling the Arkansas river south of Dardanelle Lake was ambushed and destroyed with the sole survivor talking about a massive space ship that had attacked their APC.”
“Shortly thereafter, we sent two platoons of infantry to conduct a reconnaissance in force. We lost both platoons…no idea what happened to them, but it has been over a month.”
“We sent scouting parties from the Midas Battalion, XCII Corps, to investigate what was going on along the Arkansas river and into the Ozarks. We sent in six teams of four scouts that were masquerading as hunters. So far, we have heard from none of them and we have presumed they were dead. That is, until we received a report from one of our spies in Little Rock that indicated that one of our scouts had made his way back to River Mountain in Little Rock and that the scout is convalescing in the hospital there. From what we can tell, it appears that some force, perhaps Pecos Bandits, Mercenaries, or a group from Kingsdale, is making a play for the region and has taken control of many of the small settlements in the area. The small communities we have been monitoring have essentially dropped out of our line of sight. The force that has taken control also appears to have some kind of large aircraft that is supporting their operations.”
“We need to know more about this group. What is their size? What are they attempting to do? Are they allied with Kingsdale or some other force?”
Lieutenant Colonel Gates looked at Major Danvers “Major, this operation will need to be conducted in secret with plausible deniability for the Coalition. Missouri Regional Command, from what we can tell, does not have any significant forces to the north to defend the CS citizens there and, if this force is larger or more competent than we assume, it might even threaten Fort Jericho.”
Character Backgrounds:

-Most Characters will be CS Soldiers, but some may be Mercenaries hired by Kingsdale, or troops from the Federation of Magic operating in the area seeking to harass the Coalition within the Coalition State of El Dorado. Finally, they may be Pecos Bandits pushing far past their normal raiding areas. Adjust the introductory narrative accordingly.
In this narrative, the PCs are members of a CS Special Forces team. This team is currently stationed at Devil’s Bluff among an outpost of CS Soldiers that guard the flow of goods along the White River and protect El Dorado from encroachment by monsters in the “No Man’s Land” north of the White River.

Major Danvers, commander of the SF Group, The Death Eaters, will let the members know that they are building a small team for recon and, possibly a surgical strike. Previously, EDRC sent in two platoons of infantry with APCs after the scouts failed to return. EDRC lost contact with them less than two days after they were dispatched. The team that goes in will need to be fast, capable, and will need to use non-standard CS gear. Major Danvers will have the team’s 2 Special Forces SAMAS, 2 Warbird Rocket Cycles available for close air support or extraction…but once the go in, the players come out. He also has a Demon Locust Helicopter available for the duration of the mission that can be used for extraction or to drop additional combat forces into the mix.
Game Masters should feel free to adjust the composition of the Death Eaters to meet his/her needs, but the templated breakdown of the Death Eaters is as follows:

Headquarters Element:
-2 x Special Forces (Commander, XO) with SF SAMAS
-2 x PsychoStalkers (AntiMagic) in standard PsychoStalker Gear
-2 x Elite RPA “Flyboy” (Close Air Support) w/Warbird Rocket Cycles
-1 x Nautical Commando (Advisor/Liaison) w/Barracuda Armor
Teams (4):
-1 x Special Forces (Team Lead) w/SF Armor
-1 x Borg (Heavy Weapons) w/Borg Armor and Heavy Weapon
-1 x Ranger (Scout) w/Light Armor
-1 x CS Juicer (Assassin) w/Juicer Armor
-1 x PsiStalker (AntiMagic/Psionics) w/Old-Style Armor
-2 x Mutant Animals (AntiMagic/Psionics) w/Old-Style Armor
-3 x Commando (Line Troopers) w/Heavy ExoSkeleton Armor

Major Danvers has 150,000 credits to purchase new and used gear for the team. While this is enough to purchase some pretty decent firepower, it is probably important to NOT look like a heavily armed patrol. The team can consist of up to 10 members, but for reconnaissance a team of 4 or 5 members might work best. Players have available to them up to 3 Big Boss ATVs/GAW Hummers with WI-GL20 Automatic Grenade Launchers as well as a medium (2.5 ton) SDC Truck that is unarmed. Finally, there is a GAW Fast-Attack Vehicle with either Naruni NE-200 Plasma Cartridge Machine Gun or 1D6 WI-40M Fire & Forget Super-Heavy Missile Launchers.
The players goal is just to discover all they can about the airships that are attacking and raiding in the Ozarks. It would be great if the players could destroy or, better yet, capture and airship, but this is unlikely. El Dorado, Fort Jericho, and Missouri have not actively patrolled the skies over the Ozarks because, so far, there hasn’t been much of a threat. These air forces have been dedicated towards the Magic Zone, the west, and Tolkeen respectively.

The players should quickly discover that one of their objectives should also be to gather general intelligence on NA since the Coalition States are virtually unaware of its presence and activities.
Finally, if the players can free high value assets or members of the local population, they can prove valuable to the Coalition or might support further expansion of the Coalition into the area.

Players Process:

Seek and Destroy- Players can learn more about New Awakening and seek to overthrow their power base in the Ozarks. In order to do this, players will likely need to enlist the aid of partisans and insurgents in the area. The Coalition States, both High Command and the various regional commands in the area, will not sanction a full-fledged Coalition Assault on the area. In this case, “destroy” is probably relative. The goal would be to inflict enough damage onto New Awakening to prevent it from further expanding.
The Great Escape-In this case, the players gather information on New Awakenings and are captured. The players must make their escape and then make their way back to the CS while being pursued. Finally the players must convince the CS to send a task force to destroy New Awakenings.
Foiling Operation Serpent’s Head-During interrogation of NA prisoners, players discover that NA has anti-matter missiles they intend to use against a Coalition target.

Conditions in the Ozarks:
The Ozarks consist of low mountains with deep river valleys. The area is heavily wooded. There are approximately 35,000 humans and another 20,000 D-Bees that live spread throughout the area. Most villages consist of about 200-300 residents with the larger towns ranging from 1000-2000 residents (never exceeding 3,000 residents).
The general technology level of the area is at about the late-19th Century America. There is no significant roadway other than the rivers, and few inhabitants of the area venture farther than a few dozen miles from their homes. Most often, inhabitants that do travel will use horses and wagons.
Most communities are entirely self-sufficient, eking out a meager existence by engaging in limited farming. Few communities boast more than half a dozen defenders, most of whom use weapons and armor that are generations old.

NPC’s:
Private John Randolph (Level 5 Mercenary)- Private Randolph is the sole survivor of the small patrol that was ambushed over two months ago. He is actually hanging out partying and enjoying himself in Pine Bluff and generally enjoying his time off since he has been unable to return to his unit at Fort Jericho. He is an outgoing gambler that loves to take risks. (Level 5 Coalition Infantryman with WP: Sharpshooting-Energy Rifle).
Private Randolph was actually a soldier in the El Dorado defense force prior to El Dorado’s joining the Coalition, and he served with Lieutenant Colonel Gates during the Juicer Uprising. Lieutenant Colonel Gates will push for Private Randolph’s inclusion in any group that departs for the Ozarks because he trusts Private Randolph to get information to the Regional Command without interference from High Command or Special Operations Command. Lieutenant Colonel Gates will try to sell the PC’s on Randolph serving as a guide and a scout.

Sergeant Hawthorne (Level 4 Coalition Grunt)- Sergeant Hawthorne is the lone scout that escaped and he is now convalescing in the medical clinic in River Mountain. Sergeant Hawthorne has digital photos from his encounter with the “UFO”. He was wounded in the encounter and his wound became infected. Now he is weak and stuck in a hospital bed. He is coherent, though, and can recount in detail everything that occurred on his patrol. His description of the Airship could prove useful as he will provide details that contain clues to where the airships are housed.
If the Players ask, Sergeant Hawthorne will recommend that the characters enter the Ozarks on foot and disguised. He would recommend not using vehicle, and he would recommend avoiding obvious weapon systems.

Dr. Carl Nevers (Level 6 Mercenary and minor psychic)- Dr. Nevers is a physician that works in the small hospital in River Mountain where SGT Miles Hawthorne is recuperating.
Dr. Nevers is a member of the local cell of N.A. and uses his position to gather information for the group. He is aware that SGT Hawthorne is a Coalition Scout and has been unable to dispose of the soldier.
If the players come looking for SGT Hawthorne he will try to prevent them from seeing him, and if they are successful in visiting Hawthorne he will attempt to hover nearby (normally doing “doctor stuff” like checking charts and equipment). SGT Hawthorne will comment that Dr. Nevers is not his normal doctor and will inquire to the whereabouts of Dr. Thomas Jackson. Dr. Nevers will say that Dr. Jackson took a steamboat south on the Arkansas River to Pine Bluff. This contradicts information from the PC’s initial briefing that the steamboats that normally ply the waters between Fort Jericho and Pine Bluff have not been on the water for more than two weeks. Anyone that is well experienced in medicine can question Dr. Nevers about Hawthorne’s condition. The questioner can make three attempts to question Dr. Nevers by rolling against their First Aid (-70%), Medical Doctor (-40%), Pathology (-20%) or Field Surgery (-25%) skills. A successful roll indicates Dr. Nevers has said something that doesn’t make sense with regard to Sergeant Hawthorne’s condition.
Dr. Nevers is actually just a Mercenary (Level 6) with limited First Aid knowledge that has allowed him to gain employment at the clinic. He is 4th Tier Deacon.
If Nevers is unable to prevent the players from gaining information from Sergeant Hawthorne, he will follow the players and, when he has the opportunity, he will contact his superior, Tim Stoddard (if Stoddard is still alive and is not already aware of the players), by radio. If the players have not yet encountered Stoddard, he is still in Pine Bluff and will give Nevers the contact information for the 4-man team that Marshall Madigan is leading in the Little Rock area. If Nevers is able to contact Madigan it will take about 8 hours for Nevers to link up with and brief Madigan at which point the five men will begin pursuing the PCs. If the players do not stop in one spot for eight hours in the Little Rock area, Nevers will continue to shadow the players and will relay the players movements to Madigan and Stoddard.

Tim Stoddard (Level 5 Superspy-Magic and minor psychic)- Stoddard is a high ranking New Awakening officer and he currently supervises Dr. Nevers, two other “agents”, and has a team of ten New Awakening soldiers that he can use to attack or harass the players with; there are four in Little Rock and six are with Stoddard in Pine Bluff. The NA soldiers are level 2-5 Vagabonds with the exception of his team lead in Little Rock, Marshall Madigan. Marshall is a level 7 Mercenary soldier. All of the NA soldiers working with Stoddard wear NG Stalker Suits and NE-Classic Earth .38 caliber snub-nosed revolver (plasma cartridge) handguns when they are operating in Little Rock and Pine Bluff, but they wear Huntsman armor over the Stalker Suits and carry L20 pulse rifles if they believe they will be encountering enemy personnel.
Currently, Stoddard is in Pine Bluff attempting to set up a network of informants that will enable New Awakenings to have a better idea of troop movements between El Dorado and Little Rock or Fort Jericho.
Publicly, Stoddard acts as a lawyer managing contracts and real estate transactions, but he is also one of the primary contacts between New Awakening and the Black Market.
Stoddard is grossly obese and has almost no combat capability (no Hand to Hand and no WPs), but he normally has at least one of his soldiers nearby.
Assuming Nevers is able to get word to him that the players are snooping around, Stoddard will suspend his activities in Pine Bluff and will start moving with his mercenaries to Little Rock. It will take him at least thirty-six hours to travel from Pine Bluff to Little Rock. In the meantime, Stoddard will try to have them assassinated. Even if Nevers does not get word to Stoddard, there is a distinct possibility that Stoddard will discover the players activities while he is in Pine Bluff or Little Rock.
In the event that he has knowledge of the players and the players escape his soldiers, Stoddard will hire a hit team to kill the players.
Stoddard maintains a small, secret warehouse in Little Rock where he stores weapons and equipment he has purchased from the Black Market. The warehouse currently has three suits of Chipwell Power Armor, one Northern Gun Flying Titan Power Armor, six NG-E4 Plasma Ejectors, and two NG-E12 Heavy Plasma Ejectors. Additionally, he has ten NE-10 Plasma Cartridge Rifles, ten NE-6L Slim-Line “Magnum” Revolvers, five NE-11 Slim-Line Plasma Cartridge Rifles, fifteen NE-BA-40 “Infantry” Medium Body Armor, five NE-RV03 Ripper Vibro-Sabres, ten NE-RV01 Ripper VibroKnives, and 3500 standard Naruni Plasma Cartridges.
Stoddard is a fourth-degree Priest within the New Awakening Hierarchy.

Danial Bradford (Level 9 Mystic)- Danny Bradford is the leader of New Awakening operations in and around the Ozarks. He knows Howard Johnson, New Awakening’s founder, personally (as do all Cardinals). Bradford has not been in contact with Johnson in over six years, but he is carefully observing the principles Johnson established in Johnson’s book Obligate Manifesto: The New Awakening and in New Awakening’s secret founding documents, the New Awakening Charter.
Bradford operates out of Stifft Station and is the right-hand man to Warlord Ratter. Bradford believes he is the primary reason Ratter has been as successful as he has in gaining control of parts of Little Rock, and he holds a vast amount of power in Ratter’s organization. If Bradford discovers the players are seeking information on New Awakenings (either by being notified by Stoddard or discovering it independently), Bradford will inform Warlord Ratter that the players are vicious bandits that were responsible for attacks on settlements around Little Rock and Ratter will mobilize at least a platoon of his militia to hunt the players down.
Warlord Ratter is completely unaware of Bradford’s role with New Awakenings; Bradford intends to use his position in the Little Rock area to extend New Awakening’s power when Operation Python has borne fruit and New Awakenings has control of the Ozarks.

Rigsby Witherspoon (Level 9 Operator)- A human operator of immense talent. He was the senior engineer of the Linehauler Dirigible out of MercTown that set all of this off. He was onboard for the Linehauler’s maiden voyage to address any problems that might have arisen from the aircraft.
When the Linehauler went down in P.A. 106 and he was captured by New Awakening’s soldiers, Witherspoon refused to assist them in building the new dirigibles because he feared that New Awakenings would use his assistance to build dirigibles that would be used against civilians. For the past few years, Witherspoon has been imprisoned, and when Operation Python kicked off, his captors delighted in informing Witherspoon of the success of the operation despite his lack of cooperation.
Witherspoon is angry and he would like to take revenge on New Awakenings. Should the players encounter him in the work camp (either when the players run across it or when the players themselves are captured), he will be eager to assist them in escaping and in joining them in any plan to thwart New Awakenings.
If the players capture a dirigible, Witherspoon will argue for its destruction; Witherspoon dislikes the Coalition States and he would hate to see the dirigible used to extend the Coalition States’ power or the power of any local Warlord. He can be convinced otherwise, though. While it might seem absurd that the Coalition States would be interested in the dirigible given the capabilities of their current transport craft, Witherspoon (and Neuner) has the technical know-how to design an envelope that can act as a partial lift wing that exceeds four hundred feet in length. It would take the C.S. at least two years of dedicated research to learn his secrets. Additionally, the dirigible’s that New Awakening currently controls are capable of heights exceeding 40,000 feet and have nearly an infinite loiter time. Though small and primitive, the C.S. could use them to move small bands of troops nearly anywhere in the hemisphere unmolested and provide logistical support throughout an operation.
Witherspoon is a fantastic aircraft mechanic and has the skills to repair the hovercycles and dirigibles that New America uses. He is also an adequate, if mediocre, pilot for dirigibles and hovercycles. He also has the technical know-how to design dirigibles.

Klaus Neuner (Level 6 Operator)- Klaus acted as the junior engineer on the Linehauler. Prior to that, Klaus was a member of a Triax aeronautical engineering team. His team had been designing a large dirigible for use as an observation and command post in the NGR’s fight against the Gargoyle Kingdom, but the project was shut down in favor of ground-based mobile headquarters and new jet aircraft.
Seeking to capitalize on their previous research, the aeronautical engineering team that worked on the Triax Dirigible gained authorization to sell the plans to another party. Initially, there was no interest in the plans among the Sovietski or the Russian Warlords and the major powers in North American were not interested either. Eventually, though, merchants in MercTown became interested after losing several shipments of arms and munitions from Northern Gun and the Manistique Imperium to C.S. interdiction, attacks by bandits, and random rifts opening at the most inopportune times. The MercTown buyers figured a dirigible would be able to carry pretty heavy equipment at a high altitude well outside the operating area for the Coalition. The altitude would have the added benefit of reducing interactions with rifts and bandits as well.
Klaus came to MercTown initially as part of a project team for the initial design of the LineHauler, but he stuck around and was hired on to provide Witherspoon assistance in maintaining the Linehauler.
Unlike Witherspoon, Neuner is a willing and excited convert to the New Awakening philosophy. He headed the design team that built the new dirigibles, and he has done everything he can to assist New Awakening in capturing his former comrades from the LineHauler.
New Awakening leadership do not trust Neuner and he is always escorted by a guard that is there to prevent him from escaping or sabotaging the dirigibles. Because NA leadership distrusts him, Neuner is essentially under house arrest at the NA secret base.
Klaus is a straight engineer and designer, perhaps the best at designing dirigibles in North America, but he is not a mechanic like Witherspoon, nor can he pilot a dirigible.
While he speaks in heavily accented American, he is fully fluent in the tongue and can understand almost everything a native speaker says. Anyone who is talking to him, though, will need to make a Language: American roll at -20% every 10 minutes or they will not be able to understand him because of his accent. If a player speaks German, though, the player will find it very easy to communicate with Klaus.

Erin Vends (Level 8 Pilot): Erin was the captain of the LineHauler on its maiden voyage. She refused to join New Awakenings and was thrown into a prison camp.
She is a beautiful, if muscular, woman, with blond hair and blue eyes. Erin was a bomber pilot with Larsen’s Brigade in a previous life, and she is experienced with flying just about all manner of aircraft. She was also a fitness fanatic prior to her capture, and she practiced an unusual, trendy fitness program that included a heavy emphasis on climbing and gymnastics. She has been able to maintain her fitness despite her imprisonment and, at this point, is a pretty good gymnast and climber.
Erin will be eager to join any attempt to break out of the New Awakenings prison. Other than Witherspoon, Erin is the only person amongst the prisoners that knows how to fly a dirigible, and Witherspoon’s capabilities are shaky at best (better hope Witherspoon doesn’t fly into bad weather!).
Ron Jacobs (Level 5 Pilot)- Ron was the chief pilot of the LineHauler and he worked directly for Erin. Ron grew up in MercTown and, when he was hired to assist with the LineHauler, expected to be the captain of the vessel. He was very upset when Vends took his spot and there was always a good deal of friction between the two.
When the LineHauler was captured by New Awakenings, Ron jumped at the chance to join the group, convinced that they could see his under-utilized talents.
Like Klaus, Ron is always guarded. Despite this, Ron is always looking for an opportunity to prove his loyalty to New Awakenings. He has been a pilot on a couple of the Airships during several raids and he was personally thanked by Bradford for accurately spotting gun positions during a particularly hairy raid.

Chance Brennen (Level 2 Pilot)- Chance was the navigator of the LineHauler and he was piloting it when it crashed. He blames himself and he is terrified of ever flying a dirigible again for fear of failing.
When he was captured he refused to join New Awakenings and he is in one of the prison camps.
His mental block prevents him from even attempting to pilot a dirigible, but he can readily assist a player if they attempt to pilot a dirigible. Brennen can talk the player through the requirements and the player can make a -30% roll against any reasonable Pilot: (Aircraft) skill the player has to get the craft airborne. The player will have to make regular piloting checks against that skill at -25% every 20 minutes of flight and is -40% against any significant problems that might arise during the flight (Brennen freaks out and makes piloting even more difficult).
Brennen is in love with another member of the LineHauler’s crew (Ginny Reynolds, see below) that is being held separately in another prison camp. He will refuse to leave the prison camp unless it is to free Ginny.

Ginny Reynolds (Level 4 Rogue Scientist)- Ginny is an operator that is skill in nuclear reactor maintenance. She is also an expert in electrical systems and is fairly competent in electronic design and building.
Ginny refused to join New Awakening when she was captured and she was initially held in the same camp as the other members of the team. The camp commander attempted to rape Ginny in her quarters, but he was beaten horribly by Chance Brennen. Brennen, in turn, suffered a severe beating by the camp security when the arrived at Ginny’s quarters. Since then, Ginny has been separated to another prison camp, Camp Lionhold.
She is in love with Brennen and, just like him, she will not leave her camp unless it is to free Brennen.

Rahkma-Tset (Level 6 Priest)- Rhakma was a wandering priest of the god Whrela-Tok the Peaceful and he used to wander the Ozarks ministering to the peoples throughout the area. He was one of the first people in the area to realize the threat New America posed because many of his “flock” had been enticed away by the New Awakenings doctrine.
Rahkma studies New Awakenings for years before New Awakenings began its conquest of the Ozarks and he is probably the single most knowledgeable person on New Awakenings leadership and plans.
New Awakenings had been aware of Rahkma and had intended to capture him, but they had held off because they didn’t know exactly what to do about his priestly powers. They were given a great boon two months ago, though, when two NA soldiers were beating a farmer and Rahkma intervened. Rahkma killed one of the NA soldiers before he was subdued, and that act of violence caused him to lose his connection to Whrela-Tok. Eventually, New Awakenings discovered that Rahkma was not the threat he previously posed and they ended up putting him in a general population prison camp about two weeks ago.
Rahkma has begun his new ministry to the prisoners and he is engaged in daily penance for his sin of violence. It is likely Whrela-Tok will show him favor and will re-initiate their connection in the coming days.

Darrin Long (level 7 Psi-Slayer)- Darrin was once an up and coming leader in New Awakening, making it all the way to tier 5 priest. Along the way he made an enemy of a tier 6 Bishop (Mystic). He killed the Mystic when the Mystic attacked him. Long had already exhibited a disdain for magic, and he wasn’t very fond of D-Bees, so he began proclaiming that the true vision of New Awakening was skewed and that the organization should, at best, enslave all non-humans and that the practice of magic should be banned. Innate aristocracy was just that, innate. It could not be learned like magic.
Eventually, Darrin’s activities began to splinter the organization and he was tried and convicted of treason and murder and sent to a prison camp.
Darrin is now subjected to a psi-dampening helmet locked to his head, but he would be very powerful if he were released. He is not a fan of the C.S., but he would ignore the players if they released him.
Should he get out of prison, he would have nearly 15% of New Awakening’s members following him and 25% of New Awakening’s Soldiers would accept him as a more legitimate leader than other leaders in the organization.

New Awakening: An Overview

New Awakening is not a particularly powerful organization, especially compared to powerhouses like the Coalition States, the Federation of Magic, or even independent city-states like Kingsdale or Whykin.
However, New Awakening is a network of cells with a larger political philosophy and long-range plans that might enable it to become a major player on the continent. Relying on pre-Rifts technology, New Awakening has quickly moved into small, weak, and geographically dispersed communities and taken over.
In the Ozarks, New Awakening quickly took control of the dozens of towns and scores of villages in the area, installing ‘Nabobs’ to control the larger villages and sending patrols to smaller communities to collect ‘taxes’ and exert influence.
Resistance to New Awakening in the Ozarks was common early on, but generally insurgents were unsuccessful. They were not highly skilled and were overmatched by New Awakening’s military power.
New Awakening, utilizing their TW Airships and aircraft, were far more mobile than any small group that resisted them. New Awakening was able to dominate the area for a couple of years before rumors of their activities hit the Coalition’s radar.
New Awakening uses an order and degree structure to rank individuals in the social heirarchy. There are many orders that are divided into as many as six degrees that correspond to the person’s level and power within the organization. The top levels of the hierarchy are the Innate Aristocracy. New Awakening beliefs hold that only humans can be counted among the innate aristocracy, though some human variants (like Sea Titans), might be accepted as Innate Aristocrats. Because of this, New Awakenings can correctly be seen as a human supremacist organization despite the fact that it allows D-Bee membership.
The origins of New Awakening come from the defeat of the First Federation of Magic by the C.S.
A senior leader in the Federation of Magic and a lieutenant of Lord Dunscon, Howard Johnson was one of the last mages to abandon the Federation of Magic in the final days of the war.
Believing that he had been betrayed by his fellow mages and, especially, by experienced D-Bees that did not fight hard enough, Johnson escaped deeper into the magic zone, into a territory south of Chi-Town and east of the Devil’s Gate.
It was there he began to develop his new philosophy and to indoctrinate his followers in his new philosophy.
Generally, his philosophy was that man was chief among mortal powers, destined to lead all other races to a golden age free of torment by the supernatural and creatures of magic. Johnson believed that the “Highest” had imbued some members of humanity and of other races with powers that showed the Highest’s favor on them, and that these individuals, along with the individuals that pursued the magical skills gifted by the Highest, were destined to lead their races to the promised golden age. Among these, Humanity contained the highest leaders of the faithful, the Innate Aristocracy.
According to Johnson, New Awakening celebrated women and their contribution to pursuit of the Golden Age, but the duty and responsibility to usher in the Golden Age was a duty reserved exclusively to men. That is not to say that women do not have a role. No, women have a very big role to play; they must increase the flock and strengthen and support their man. Some men may even need the strength and support of multiple wives, and some may need the assistance of more temporary helpmates (concubines). Most senior leaders in New Awakening have at least two wives.
After a period of fifteen years, during which he wrote the Obligate Manifesto: The New Awakening and New Awakening’s secret founding documents, the New Awakening Charter. These documents laid out the beliefs and principles adherents were to follow in pursuing the “New Awakening” to the “Highest” that would result in the enlightenment of all mortal races. Part of that awakening, off course, would be to destroy the Coalition States because its campaign against magic users and psychics was a direct campaign by the minions of the “Schemer” to limit and destroy the Innate Aristocracy.
New Awakening cells were established in western Virginia, Colorado, the Appalachians/Dinosaur Swamp, the Ozarks, and Florida, and the cells were carefully disguised so that they would not be discovered by the C.S., the new Federation of Magic, or any other major power where they were operating.
Each cell has been independent, following the principles set forth in the Obligate Manifesto and the New Awakening Charter. The cells have also received regular messages sent by magic messenger on a monthly basis.
These messages covered a variety of topics including the plan for humanity and Earth to be “re-Awakened.” The scenarios for the re-awakening included a response to a major Splugorth invasion, a Xitixix attack, and a scenario where the C.S. attacked Tolkeen, Lazlo, or Free Quebec. Each of these scenarios, Johnson wrote, would signal that the Schemer had overreached and his plan break down under its own weight, giving New Awakening the opportunity to wrest power away from the forces arrayed against the Highest. No matter what happened, the cells were to await further instructions from Johnson and then move forward with the finalized plan. That requirement was echoed in Johnson’s last magic message 5 years ago. Since then, the monthly messages have stopped.
The C.S. attack on Tolkeen initiated a New Awakening response in the Ozarks even without specific guidance from Johnson. In the Ozarks, the cell has been very careful to fly under the C.S. radar. New members were carefully screened before they were recruited and the membership of New Awakening grew linearly. That changed when Tolkeen finally fell and the LineHauler crashed to the southwest of Kingsdale.
Since then, local New Awakening leaders took the fall of the city as a sign that their time had come, and the capture of the LineHauler was seen as the providence of the Highest providing the way that New Awakening could exert its authority in the region. Reaching out to the most likely candidates among the refugees saw the local cell’s membership numbers double. The LineHauler was cannibalized and New Awakening began creating new dirigibles. The equipment carried on the LineHauler for sale in the markets in Colorado was put into New Awakening service. The Highest provided one final boon to his people in the Ozarks-the discovery of a secret American Empire weapons cache.
As far back as P.A. 15, New Awakenings cells have been stockpiling weapons and equipment and many have workshops for building TW devices. Unlike the Federation of Magic or Arzno, New Awakening’s TW devices don’t tend to be particularly advanced. They also don’t tend to be particularly extravagant. For example, Shining Swordsman armor from Magefire is a full suit of armor with all sorts of additional capabilities. New Awakening TechnoWizards, on the other hand, most often just create an Armor of Ithan force field that is integrated into a suit of dino-leather “armor” (12 MDC, Main Body). The forcefield doesn’t even contain an attached PPE battery.
The Ozarks cell has something more-access to nearly 2,000 suits of American Empire EBA, Laser Rifles, Laser Pistols, and grenades that New Awakening members discovered in an old military depot north of Little Rock in P.A. 107. Actually, the military depot was discovered by a team of archeo-adventurers (aka: treasure hunters) contracted with a local Warlord, Warlord Ratter. When they reported back, though, the report went to Daniel Bradford as a senior member of Ratter’s staff. Instead of passing the information to Ratter, Bradford paid the adventurers (whom he latter had killed) and sent a New Awakenings crew to secure the site. The site, apparently a military post where older, but still serviceable, military equipment was being stored in preparation for transfer to civilian security services and the national guard.
From the LineHauler, New Awakening secured scores of hovercycles and dozens of suits of light power armor that were on their way to the Colorado Baronies.

New Awakening Ozarks Cell Trooper Random Equipment Lists:

Armor
01-50%


51-65%


66-75%
76-85%
86-90%
91-95%
96-97%
98-99%
00% Mark II Battlefield Armor – See Merc Ops. (or MDC Leather Armor with Armor of Ithan if a Mage or Psychic)
M25 Improved Individual Protective System – See Adventure Sourcebook 2; stats reproduced below)
Plastic-Man
Huntsman
Urban Warrior
Bushman
Explorer
Soldier Body Armor
Power Armor (1-35% Flying Titan, 36-50% NG Gladius, 51-55% Flying Dragon PA, 56-80% Chipwell Challenger, 81-90% Roadrunner, 91-00% NEMA Fire & Rescue Enhanced Body Armor)

Primary Weapon
01-50%

51-65%


66-75%
76-85%
86-90%
91-95%
96-99%
00% M-21 LAR Laser Assault Rifle – See Merc Ops (or a TK Assault Rifle if a Mage or Psychic)
M-73 ALAR Advanced Laser Assault Rifle – See Adventure Sourcebook 2 (Or TW Deathbolt Sniper Rifle if a Mage or Psychic).
Wilk’s 447 Laser Rifle
NG-L5 Laser Rifle
NG-Super Laser Pistol and Grenade Launcher
L-20 Pulse Rifle
NG-P7 Particle Beam Rifle
Hovercycle (01-40% Speedster, 41-65% Firefly, 66-75% Desert Fox, 76-85% Rocket, 86-93% Prowler, 94-98% Stinger, 99-00% Turbo)

Sidearm and Additional Equipment (Roll Twice)
01-30%
31-50%
51-60%
61-70%
71-75%
76-80%
81-85%
86-89%
90-91%
92-93%
94-95%
96%
97%

98-99%

00% No Sidearm
Vibroknife (1D6 MD)
Enchanted (Temp) Knife or Bayonet (2D6 MD)
Wilk’s 320 Laser Pistol
NG-56 Light Ion Pistol
TX-5 Triax Pump Pistol
Wilk’s 210 Pocket Pistol
1D4 SDC Frag Grenades
1D6 Smoke Grenades
2 NG Fragmentation Grenades
2 NG High Explosive Grenades
1 NG Plasma Grenade
1 Wilk’s Beehive Grenade or Blinder Laser Grenade
1 TW Magic Net or Carpet of Adhesion Grenade
1 Fusion Block

Vehicle (Roll once per 5 New Awakening Troopers)
01-50%
51-70%

71-80%

81-87%

88-91%
92-95%

96-98%
99-00% None
MDC Jeep with MG (1D4 MD/burst, 2000’, 12 bursts)
MDC Truck with MG (1D6 MD/burst, 6000’, 20 bursts)
Big Boss ATV with MG (1D4 MD/burst, 2000’, 12 bursts)
Mountaineer ATV
MDC Hummer with WI-GL20 Automatic Grenade Launcher
Road King
Rumble Wagon

New Awakening Structure:
New Awakenings, as mentioned previously, operates under a clandestine cell system. Of course, as exemplified by the Ozarks cell, the cells can be very large. The exact sizes of the Virginia, Appalachia, Florida, and Colorado cells are unknown to the Ozarks cell, and they could range from a few dozen to tens of thousands.
Each cell has been independent, but cell leaders have a general knowledge of the locations and operations of other cells, as do all other Cardinals within the organization. Bishops in the organization has contact (normally through magic messengers) to 1D4-1 Bishops in the other cells. Johnson hopes that these connections will keep the organization clandestine while allowing for a degree of fault tolerance.
The specific organization structure, other than the New Awakening hierarchy of rank, is determined by each cell leader.

New Awakening Philosophy:
According to the Obligate Manifesto, Johnson made contact with a being that taught him of the history of mankind. The being made itself known as the “Highest”, as the being considered itself (and looked to be) human.
The “Highest”, according to Johnson, is a being of supreme power and the sole member of a race of first men. His race is immortal, he cannot reproduce. The “Highest” attempted to remedy this problem through magic and genetic modification, and, eventually, the first of humankind was brought forth.
Humankind is flawed, but it is made in the image of the “Highest” and, as such, has dominion over every other living thing. The “Highest” gave his offspring several gifts to empower them to exert their will on creation. He gave some internal characteristics including psionic capabilities and he taught others the secrets of magic. Psionics and magic are blessings and are a sign of favor from the Highest. To this end, many members (and all senior members) of New Awakening are psychic or pursue a study of magic. The greatest of them have natural magical and psychic abilities and do not need to study magic to reap the gifts of the highest.
Alliances with supernatural beings or creatures of magic are a perversion of the status of humanity, and most supernatural beings are enemies of the highest. For this reason, no true member of New Awakening will pursue a witches or shifters pact with an outside force, nor will they pursue study of elemental magic.
Dimensional beings are not hated and are not necessarily persecuted, but they are not the chosen offspring of the “Highest”. They can become members of New Awakening and hold office. Some dimensional beings are truly vile, however, either as creations of evil overlords or perversions of humanity or the natural order. These beings should be attacked and eliminated.
All true followers of the “Highest” are in a constant struggle with the “Schemer” and the Schemer’s minions. Both the Schemer and the Schemer’s minions are the early offspring of the highest. They were the most blessed, but, like the Highest, they could not reproduce. Despite their brilliance, they were shadow’s of the power of the Highest and, when the Highest acknowledge his failure with them, the chief of them rebelled and convinced his brothers to follow. Named the “Schemer” by the “Highest”, this powerful being and his minions bear a deep hatred for humanity because humanity, though inferior, is beloved by the Highest.
The “Schemer” and his minions rarely act directly against the “Highest” or humanity because the “Highest” would destroy his flawed creation if they did. Instead, they act through other actors and through humanity itself to corrupt and destroy. In doing so, they do not violate the covenant that the “Highest” has made with his creations to preserve them because of their connection to him.
The “Highest” does not act directly in the affairs of humanity; humanity must meet its potential and prove its greatness by finding its achievements on its own. Still, the “Highest” can magically communicate with his true followers through feeling and emotion and, sometimes, through direct communication similar to telepathy. A telepathic link is rare, though, because its range is limited where as emotion and feeling is almost limitless in range. Additionally, there are few amongst humanity that can survive direct telepathic communication with such an awesome mind as the “Highest”. Only members of the Innate Aristocracy can hear the voice of the “Highest” directly.
The Highest created mankind in his image. However, in order to ensure the progeneration of the race, the “Highest” had to create women. The Highest created women to assist man in achieving dominion over creation and to produce heirs to the kingdom. Because women are made in the image of man and man is made in the image of the “Highest”, women are honored among the believers, but they do not hold the position of men.
New Awakening believers understand that their nature is to depart from the “Highest” just like the “Schemer”, and they understand that, in addition to their flawed nature, the “Schemer” is actively working towards driving humanity away from the “Highest”. To prevent this, New Awakening members believe that all aspects of life must be controlled, especially among dimensional beings and those humans that are not members of the Innate Aristocracy.
Leaders/members of the Innate Aristocracy are likely to have multiple wives. In fact, it could almost be considered their duty as they must procreate and grow the believers that most closely hew to the image of the highest.
The Coalition States are blinded through the acts of the “Schemer” and it is possible that the “Schemer”’s minions are actively working in the C.S. The Federation of Magic, as well, is blinded by the “Schemer” and associates with foul beings, and the same is true of Lazlo, though not to the extent of the C.S. and Federation of Magic. Even those powers on Earth that are not subverted by the “Schemer” or in league with reprehensible supernatural beings are less worthy that true believers because only true believers can come close to the glory of the “Highest”, even if those other powers a populated by Innate Aristocrats.
Is the “Highest” real? Most members of the faithful believe so. Most of the rest don’t care.
It's up to the gamemaster to determine how much of the story is true. Perhaps there is a grain of truth; perhaps there is an ancient race of first peoples that the “Highest” is a member of or maybe the Highest is an alien intelligence or god. Or maybe the Highest is a hoax that Johnson has successfully perpetuated on powerful psychics and mages.
Who knows? And does it matter?

New Awakening Hierarchy:
The hierarchy of New Awakening is as follows:

Role Order Degree Racial restrictions
Supreme Leader Pater 1 – There is only one Pater, Johnson Human
Princes/ Leaders of Regional Cells or Specific Operations Cardinal 1 – All Cardinals are princes of New Awakening and are appointed by the Pater. There is no difference in degree among them. Human
Senior Leaders and Managers Bishop 1: No Powers, 2: Minor Psionics, 3: Major Psionics or minor magic, 4: Master Psychic or Magic User, 5: Mind Melter, 6: Mystic or Mystic Knight Human
Priest Above + Dwarf, Elf, Psi-Stalker, Altera, Mind Bleeder
Deacon Above + Quick flex, D’Norr Devilmen, Dramins, Lyn Srial, Kobold, Phlebus, Psi-X, Roan Piper, Squilbs,
Managerial Level Leaders Exorcist 1-4: No restriction, based on dedication, potential, and accomplishment. 5: minor or major psychic. 6: Master Psychic or mage Above + Ardentek, Ogre, Amana, Dewtani, Grackletooth, Kremin Cyborg, Posluznik, Tirrvol Sword Fist, Vintex
Acolyte Above + N’mbyr Gorrilla Men, Noli Bushmen, Sasquatch , Simvan, Tokanii, Trimadore, Vanguard Brawler
Supervisory Level Leaders Cantor Above + Bruutasaur, Centaur, Fenodii, Greot Hunter, Loronoid, Lyvorrk,
Lector Above + Feni Nomads, Larmac, Idie, Kraks, Malvoren,
The masses Ostrarus Above + Bayou Ursine, Fingertooth Carpet Baggers, Floopers, Iktec Digger,
Layman Above + Goblins, Orcs, Butter Trolls, Shaper
Initiate There is only 1 degree for layman.

Operation Python:
Operation Python is the plan that was designed by new Awakening organization in Cauldron to take over Northern Arkansas. The group would create a secret base to the north (away from the prying eyes of El Dorado and New Town/Fort Jericho).
From there, the group would begin to take over smaller villages in the various hills and hollers of the Ozarks.
When the LineHauler crashed and New Awakening had the opportunity to build a few dirigibles of their own, the plan changed slightly. With the new military gear and the ability to rapidly insert troops into the area they were attacking, the New Awakenings attacks began to feature ea close cooperation between a ground and an air element.
Ground forces would secretly arrive on site and infiltrate the towns or hold back in the woods nearby. The dirigible would arrive and demand the town or village’s surrender. The ground forces, by this time, would have donned their equipment and killed everyone who resisted while the town is focused on the dirigible.
Even as this was happening, additional troops from the dirigible would drop in to intimidate the villagers, either using hovercycles, flying power armor, or rappelling down from the dirigible by ropes.
Once the town surrendered, New Awakening would install a Nabob and would register all town members in a local registry and in a consolidated New Awakenings registry.
Any villager that resisted or questioned the rules would be killed or enslaved in a prison camp, and most criminal offenses are punished with capital punishment.
Once New Awakening is in control of a town, it begins to recruit and indoctrinate the citizenry. Specifically, energetic, young leaders, psychics, mages, and technically skilled people are targeted for recruitment and they advance relatively quickly in the hierarchy once they are recruited. If they are not willingly recruited, they may be kidnapped and moved to a New Awakening stronghold.
Sometimes, in a town that resists, women are kidnapped and given to high ranking members of New Awakening, and it is not uncommon for D-Bees that cause problems to be “disappeared” to a prison camp.
There are several prison camps throughout the territory, the two major camps being Ponca and Lionhold. Both of these have a few hundred prisoners. Most other prison camps are more temporary. Ponca has the majority of the prisoners from the LineHauler.

Operation Serpent’s Head:
Operation Serpent’s Head is a plan to use modified cruise missiles (once part of the military post at Blytheville) to attack a major center of the Coalition States or the Federation of Magic. If the Ozarks group cannot link up with the western Virginia (Shenandoah) group within the next few months, the Ozarks group will initiate an attack on Fort Jericho using their anti-matter missiles fired from the dirigibles. It might seem like a crazy plan, but, given the damage the missiles can do, if New Awakenings can coordinate its forces effectively, the attack just might succeed.
If New Awakenings can link up with the Shenandoah Cell, the target will be the City of Brass).
Dirigibles:
LineHauler- The LineHauler was an one-off dirigible built in MercTown with the intent of transporting goods to locations far to the west. The aircraft incorporate several cutting edge technologies that were not available anywhere else including an ultra-light mega damage frame that allowed the lighter than air aircraft to support a gondola as large as the envelope. Additionally, the LineHauler was not a rigid airship, but a semi-rigid airship and the envelop utilized an advanced, flexible mega-damage fabric. Because of these advanced features, the LineHauler was able to be built with an envelope more than 1200 feet long and 200 feet high and wide. The gondola would measure nearly 150 feet long, 40 feet high, and 40 feet wide. The total lift capability for cargo for the aircraft exceeded 1000 tons.
The aircraft was capable of speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour and it had a maximum ceiling of more than 50,000 feet. Unfortunately, as it was passing over northern Arkansas, the navigator lowered the craft to 2000 feet because he believed the danger of the No Man’s Land had passed. While ground-based threats may have been reduced, it did not prevent him from hitting a random ley line storm. The damage to the airship drove it to the earth, but the robust features of the design prevented any loss of life.

Hand of the Highest and Blessing of the Highest- These are the first two of the dirigibles created by New Awakening. Its envelope is 200 feet long and 50 feet in diameter. The Gondola is 20 feet wide and 80 feet long. The gondola on these dirigibles are not pressurized.
Crew: 4, Pilot, Co-Pilot/Navigator, Commander, four gunners.
Troop Capacity: Can accommodate 10 hovercycles with pilots or 40 troops or a combination thereof (4 troops per hovercycle).
MDC by Location:
Outer Envelope: 10 MDC per 20 foot by 20 foot section
Interior Gas Bags (4): 5 MDC per 20 foot by 20 foot section
Gondola: 300 MDC
Engines (2): 100 MDC
Speed: 50 mph
Max. Altitude: 12,000 feet.
Weapon Systems:
NG-202 Rail Guns (4)

Wrath of the Highest: This is the newest of the dirigibles created by New Awakening. Its envelope is 400 feet long and 80 feet in diameter. The Gondola is 35 feet wide and 140 feet long. The gondola on the Wrath of the Highest is pressurized.
Crew: 4, Pilot, Co-Pilot/Navigator, Commander, six gunners.
Troop Capacity: Can accommodate 30 hovercycles with pilots or 120 troops or a combination thereof (4 troops per hovercycle).
MDC by Location:
Outer Envelope: 10 MDC per 20 foot by 20 foot section
Interior Gas Bags (4): 5 MDC per 20 foot by 20 foot section
Gondola: 500 MDC
Engines (4): 100 MDC
Speed: 80 mph
Max Altitude: 30,000 feet.
Weapon Systems:
NG-202 Rail Guns (6)
Long Range Missile Launcher (1): An 8-rack long range missile launcher.

FRAMING THE AREA
Cape Girardeau, Missouri is a CS Brown Navy outpost to the north on the Mississippi. Greenville, Mississippi is a CS Brownwater Navy outpost to the south on the Mississippi. Kingsdale and Whykin are two independent kingdoms to the north across the northeastern border. The Coalition State of El Dorado is to the south. To the west is Oklahoma, and there are a few small settlements that dot the area along with roaming bands of Pecos Bandits as well as roaming tribes of Native Americans and Psi-Stalkers in the East, Simvan in the West, and Tokanii in the South.
shadrak
Champion
Posts: 1831
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 8:11 pm
Location: Bloomington, IL

Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by shadrak »

THE ARKANSAS TERRITORY:
Eastern Gateway:

Players coming from the east (Federation of Magic and the Ohio River Valley) will enter the No Man’s Land before arriving in the area.

NO MAN’S LAND
Encounters in No Man’s Land
01-45% No Encounter
46-75% Animal/Monster
76-80% Derelict Vehicle
81-86% Danger
87-90% Village/Town
91-00% Group

01-10% Livestock 80% Tiger Claw Raptor
11-40% Game 81% Whisker Coyote
41-48% Dogs/Wolves 82-84% Fury Beetle
49-54% Devil Sloth 85-89% Scamper (Dino)
55-56% Spiny Ravager 90% Panthera-Thrinax
57-58% Blood Hawk 91-92% Boar
59-61% Dark Behemoth 93% Bear
62-64% Darkhound 94% Hawk/Falcon
65-66% Dragon-Cat 95% Badger/Wolverine
67-70% Duckbilled Honker 96% Bobcat
71-73% Moss-Back Scuttler 97% PPE Chig
74-75% Ostrosaurus 98% Devil Digger
76-77% Rhino-Buffalo 99% Hytril
78-79% Snake 100% Dragonsaurus

01-75% Burnt out/Destroyed Vehicle of no value
76-90% Destroyed civilian SDC vehicle. 50% chance there is a dead person within. Minimal items available for salvage.
91-95% Destroyed, light military vehicle. 1D4/2 dead persons inside. The vehicle has been looted, but there may be some equipment of military value. Vehicle is not repairable, but there may be some salvageable part of it.
96-98% Destroyed light military vehicle. 1D4 dead persons inside. The vehicle has not been looted, perhaps destroyed by an inhuman monster. Could be a mercenary transport. 50% chance that the vehicle is repairable.
99-00% Destroyed power armor or robot. 50% chance it is unlooted.

01-30% Environmental Hazard (Fire, chemical, poison gas, etc.)
31-35% Sickness (malaria, river blindness, sleeping sickness, yellow fever, etc.)
36-50% Terrain Danger (Cliff, falling debris, broken ground, flood, etc.)
51-65% Weather Danger (Storms, Rain, Ley Line Storm, Flash Flood, etc.)
66-80% Equipment problem (Vehicle, visual, weapon system, etc.)
81-93% Minor monster
94-100% Major monster

Village/Town- There are a few hundred towns in the No Man’s Land that have escaped the Coalition’s notice. Most of them are D-Bee towns with less than 30 residents and almost all are very primitive. Most towns that are encountered will be defensive and will likely attack the players. For a town to have survived for any significant length of time, they will have to be relatively defensible or have some champion that poses a significant threat.

Group- There are many different groups that are operating in the No Man’s Land including bands of the Corrupt, Soul Harvesters, Sun Demons/Lipoca, Srryn Cannibals, and C’ro Demon Mages.

West Memphis/Memphis- Memphis and West Memphis are in Ruins, and there are three ley line nexuses in West Memphis alone. It is populated by dozens of powerful supernatural beings and a host of minor super natural beings. From about P.A. 98-P.A. 106, there was a powerful Gargoyle Mage and several Trolls that controlled the eastern portion of the ruins. This group would demand tolls from river traffic passing up and down the Mississippi. As the CS became a greater naval power, this band would avoid them, but the CS couldn’t abide their presence and, in P.A. 106, sent a naval strike force and wiped them out. Now, there is an assortment of powerful supernatural beings that are in competition for the area, but none of them regularly venture near the Mississippi; the Mississippi is the domain of the Coalition.

The land in and around Memphis is inundated with water and most of the old cities near the river have been flooded multiple time. The river itself is home to a variety of aquatic monsters, and there is a clan of nearly 100 Crab Warriors in the flooded sections of Memphis.
The three nexus points in West Memphis are contested and one is currently controlled by a Level 9 Young Dragon Mage and a group of seven Dragon Juicers (Level 3-8) that defend the nexus for him; he also has an ally in a level 7 Zenith Moon Warper that he works with and he controls a band of more than 30 Vyarnect. His major nemeses are the trio of dragon hatchlings that control the other nexus. The hatchlings (A level 8 Thunder Lizard, level 6 Great Horned Dragon, and level 5 Ice Dragon) maintain a loose alliance between themselves and will assist each other to some extent regularly, but they will always assist and defend each other against the young dragonmage or the Neuron Beast (and the band of twelve Greot Hunters that operate out of his area) that controls the third nexus. Other major players in the area include a pair of Thornhead Demons, a band of Dragon-Apes, and a group of Psi-Goblins.

Forrest City- Forrest City and its nexus is controlled by a Lizard Mage (level 13 Ley Line Walker and level 8 BioWizard). The Lizard Mage maintains a fortified tower on Crowley’s Ridge and he maintains a force of nearly 140 mercenaries. The mercenaries operate independently of the Lizard Mage, their primary charge is only to defend the nexus, the tower, and the surrounding area. Occasionally, the Lizard Mage may direct the mercenaries to capture an item of interest, but he generally hires smaller teams of independent mercenaries to track down persons and items that he is interested in.
Within the tower itself, the Lizard Mage has three human mages that assist him in his research as well as seven bio-borgs that provide for internal security. There are also a variety animals and monsters that inhabit the tower.

Helena- Helena and its nexus are controlled by a pair of Necromancers (level 11 and level 8) who are partnered with a level 9 Necrophim. They control three Bone Fiends, three Sladka, twenty-six mummies, and fourteen zombies. There are at least 200 skeletons spread throughout the area as well. The Necromancers allow two Dybbuk and eight Grave Ghouls to prowl their area. Finally, there is a Specter that lives in the area that they can rely upon for assistance should they come under attack.

Blytheville- Blytheville was a U.S. Air Force base prior to the cataclysm. Now it is the location of a major ley line nexus. The nexus is not controlled by any particular supernatural being or mage. Instead, there are hundreds of haunting entities in the Blytheville area. What makes the area so unusual, though, is that there are a dozen Silver Hawk SAMAS that are apparently possessed by Tectonic Entities. These ancient weapon systems have somehow become magically empowered and can actually regenerate lost MDC! Unfortunately for the entities or whatever is powering these suits of armor, the armor will cease to function if it is more than three miles from a ley line nexus.

Stats for the Silver Eagle:
Looks almost identical to a standard Silver Eagle, but it is entirely powered by magic.
The armor’s number of melee attacks is four. Bonuses (includes bonuses from psychic abilities) +1 initiative bonus, and it is +2 to strike with melee and ranged attacks, and it is +2 to parry, dodge, and pull punch. It receives a +2 save vs. Magic, +2 save vs. Psionics, +1 to save vs. Mental attacks, and it is +10 save vs. Horror Factor. During the first melee round, the Silver Eagle gets the bonus from sixth sense if the opponent is attacking it and the opponent is within ninety feet of the Silver Eagle (if the Silver Eagle is not the target of the attack, the unit does not get the bonus), so the Silver Eagle is +7 to initiative during the first melee round, and +4 to parry and +5 to dodge. The Silver Eagle can also not be surprised by a sneak attack from behind.
The Silver Eagle has the following psychic powers that are permanently in effect: Empathy, Mind Block, Presence Sense, See the Invisible, Sixth Sense, and Telekinesis.
M.D.C. by location:
Entity (can be attacked by psionics or magic or certain technological attacks that bypasses armor and do damage directly to the Hit Points): 60 MDC/HP
The power armor regenerates 1D6x10 MDC per hour (distributed throughout the suit until the suit is fully repaired). Takes half damage from laser weapons.
TK Thruster Jet – 170 MDC
TK Maneuvering Jets (2) – 70 MDC each
Main Weapon – 170 MDC
Wings (2) – 220 MDC
Head – 170 MDC
Main Body – 650 MDC
Speed:
Running- 60 mph
Leaping- 15 feet high or across; TK thruster assisted leaps are 60 feet high and 120 feet across.
Flying- The possessed Silver Eagle is not able to fly like a normal SAMAS. Instead, it can conduct an extended leap and glide. The Silver Eagle can remain airborne on a single leap for 5 minutes and, during this time, it can fly and maneuver at 100 mph.
TK Rail Cannon – Damage: 1D4 x 10 Range: 2000 feet Payload: Unlimited
Punches/Kicks do 5D6 MD

Bare Bluff (Bald Knob) – Bald Knob is controlled by a large band of Goblins (more than 250) that include more than two dozen Cobbler Goblins and a dozen Hob-Goblins. There is also a clan of Orcs (54) that live with the Goblins, but the Goblin Chieftain is the civic leader for all of Bare Bluff. Six of the Orcs actually underwent successful Juicer conversions, and they are about the most “worldly” of all the inhabitants of Bare Bluff. The Goblin Chieftain will almost always have two or three of them on hand when he meets with outsiders. Along with the Orcs, there are thirteen Larmac “hanging out” in the community and there is a band of four Pogtal Giants within the village limits.
While not actual residents of Bare Bluff, there are four Pucks and seven Toad Stools that live in the area, along with four Trolls. A little further out, there is a smaller community (about 60 residents) that consists of “settled” Simvan and Tokanni.
Bare Bluff is unusual because, as a community of “monsters”, the residents just want to live their lives and be left alone. They don’t want to be the minions of an evil warlord and most of them don’t want to wage war on human settlements.
Bare Bluff is west of the White River, but east of the Little Red River that flows south of Green’s Ferry Lake, so it is relatively protected from monsters from the No Man’s Land and from the C.S. Skelebot patrols on the west side of the White River.

Giant’s Home (Jonesboro)- Giant’s Home is controlled by a band of giants and monsters (nearly 150) that control an enslaved population of 500. The enslaved populace does not have a lot of information save for the couple dozen that were recently captured as they were fleeing the Ozarks. The leader of the community is a Cyclops named Steropes, but Gargoyle Lord Havertaz leads a contingent of about 45 Gargoyles in the community and is a defacto second in command. In addition to the Gargoyles, there are 25 Brodkil and 30 other giants (Algor, Jotan, Cyclops, Gigantes, and Nimro. The remainder of the unenslaved inhabitants of Giant’s Home are mostly Wolfen and Ogre members of the community.
Unknown even to the members of the community, Steropes is not a normal Cyclops. Instead, Steropes is actually a Greater Cyclops.
The giants of Giant’s Home generally MDC Ironwood Armor with 60 MDC (20 MDC for Arms, 30 MDC for Legs) for giants 14 feet or shorter. For giants taller than 14 feet, the armor offers 90 MDC (30 MDC for Arms and 45 MDC for Legs).
While the giants will utilize lighting javelins and arrows, and they have a few WR-200 Rail Guns, most of the giants are armed with swords that inflict 2D6 damage (for smaller giants) and 3D6 MD for larger giants, and a few use spears that inflict 2D6 M.D. Of course, most of the giant’s have Robotic or Supernatural strength that increases this damage. Three of the cyclops, including Steropes, are capable of manufacturing impressive magical weapons and armor, but it is rare that they make any thing for anyone but themselves or their closest allies. So far, Giant’s Home has not felt threatened enough to justify the resources and effort into building extravagant or complex weapon systems. Of course, for a trade of valuable goods or services, Steropes and his crew might be willing to manufacture weapons for a player character-but you can expect the task they set the player character to will be something that is unpleasant…especially if it is something they are unwilling or incapable of doing for themselves.
The Giants are willing to sell the slaves that they control for 1D6x1000 credits worth of trade goods each.

Poke Bayou- Poke Bayou is a mixed community of D-Bees and Humans with a population of about 500. It is on the very eastern edge of New Awakening controlled areas, but it is left alone because it is an effective buffer between No Man’s Land and the Ozarks. The primary reason for this is that in addition to its normal defense forces, Poke Bayou is home to two Lanotaur Hunters, a group of fourteen Loaks, a clan of nearly 30 Psi-Stalkers, two Dragon Cats, and 11 Darkhounds. These various groups are not really allied and do not coordinate their activities, but the city leaders in Poke Bayou have brokered a peace and have negotiated exclusive hunting rights for certain areas for the various groups. The groups are not necessarily obligated to assist in the defense of Poke Bayou, but most of them would be happy to participate if it meant killing magical prey.
Poke Bayou is a major reason why the No Man’s Land has not extended past the White River, and CS Ranger detachments have been known to refit in the area and have traded a good deal of old-style CS Gear to many of the locals. All of the adult population is expected to participate in the defense of the community, but Poke Bayou only maintains a 30-member full-time militia (level 2-6 Mercenaries) with another 30 residents (level 1-4 Vagabonds) on defense duty at any given time.
shadrak
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Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by shadrak »

Northeastern Gateway (from Whykin and Kingsdale):

Coming from this area, players will be entering from the edge of the No Man’s Land (see above).
NORTHEASTERN GATEWAY
Encounters along the Northeastern Gateway
01-45% No Encounter
46-70% Animal/Monster
71-75% Derelict Vehicle
76-82% Danger
82-85% Village/Town
86-00% Group

Animal/Monster, Vehicle, and Danger encounters will mirror those found in No Man’s Land.

Village/Town- Village’s in this sliver of No Man’s Land, though, are unlikely to respond aggressively immediately upon discovering players. They will be distrustful and questioning, but most villages in this area will be confident enough of their survival to let players to get close enough to speak with them. Most villages will contain 5D6+20 residents and will have 2D6 additional defenders.

Groups- Groups are likely to be civilian travelers (1-50%) traveling between towns either as migrants, visitors, or merchants. About 25% (51-75%) are small squads of armed men that are either acting as bandits or are patrolling for bandits. Another 10% (76-85%) are hunters. Another 10% (86-95%) are mercenaries or Soldiers moving from Whykin south to El Dorado and the Pecos Empire. The final 5% are unusual, and might include Tolkeen Retribution Squads, a Grim Reaper Death Cult, or robots from Archie 3 disguised as juicers or borgs.

Shalom- Shalom is a fairly large town that sits at the headwaters of the Strawberry River. The Kingdom of Kingsdale is only 25 miles to the north of Shalom, and Kingsdale represents Shalom’s most important trading partner.
Shalom would seem to be the little brother to Kingsdale since it shares many of the same characteristics.
four years ago, Shalom had a population of about 2,200 residents, but it has now exploded to more than 5,000 residents! Most of the newcomers are refugees from Newtown and Tolkeen.
Because the town is on the border of the declared No Man’s Land of the western extent of the magic zone, town leaders have done their best to ensure the town is well fortified against attacks that could come from Whykin, the C.S. or from beasts or mages in the Magic Zone. The town fields a full-time militia of more than 500 members and maintains a reserve force of an additional 1,000 personnel (mostly level 1-4 adventurers and craftsmen).
The Secret of Shalom: The governor of Shalom, Peter Vance, is actually a New Awakenings member, a 4th degree Bishop, in fact (he is a level 8 Combat Mage). Additionally, nearly 1/3 of the leadership of Shalom (including the counsel and the administrators) are members of New Awakening. New Awakening has no intent to take control of Shalom, but it needs to use Shalom to buffer its Ozark holdings from outside interests like Kingsdale, Whykin, and C.S. Missouri. Shalom also serves to hold back the burgeoning hordes of demonic beings flowing through the rifts in the Magic Zone.
There is a unit of 50 magic-using and psychic members (combat mages, conjurers, etc.) of the Shalom defense force, The Watchmen. The Watchmen also happen to be members of New Awakening.

Mill Creek- Like Pine Ridge, Mill Creek was destroyed to make it less likely that outsiders would discover New Awakening’s activities in the Ozarks. Unlike Pine Ridge, however, Mill Creek has been re-inhabited. Today, there are approximately 40 refugees living in the ruins of Mill Creek. Most of them are D-Bees and none of them possess significant fighting capabilities. They will, however, be able to provide a fair amount of knowledge of the Ozarks area as well as information on New Awakening operations that is about six months old.
One of the families will ask the players for assistance in retrieving their cousins. Their cousins, a group of eight individuals, continued east and they had maintained contact by radio with them because they were planning to follow later. At some point, about halfway to Blytheville, the cousins were attacked and captured by giant D-Bees. The family would like the players to look into it. If the players can provide word of the status of the cousins, the father of the family will offer up his last remaining valuables including a pair of ancient pearl cufflinks with a matching tie bar with pearl and opal.
If the players are able to retrieve the cousins, the mother will provide them with her emerald necklace.
More importantly, the family will be willing to draw a map of the area that will include 1D6+3 towns and a rundown of the last status of the towns. The family will also provide the players with their New Awakening ID papers (44 year old father, 42 year old mother, 22 year old daughter, 20 year old son).

Pine Ridge- Pine Ridge was destroyed by New Awakening to create a buffer between New Awakening’s operating area and the town of Shalom to the north.

Cave City- Cave City is a refugee camp just inside the no man’s land consisting of 5D6 refugees. They are hiding from New Awakening and from local monsters. They were once enslaved by New Awakening and, if discovered, can provide a fairly good background on NA tactics as well as the approximate locations of three or four prison camps.
shadrak
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Posts: 1831
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Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by shadrak »

Southeastern Gateway: From Pine Bluff to Little Rock

SOUTHEASTERN GATEWAY
Encounters along the Southeastern Gateway
01-45% No Encounter
46-58% Animal/Monster
59-63% Derelict Vehicle
64-71% Danger
71-76% Farmstead
77-81% Village/Town
82-85% Civilian Travelers
86-88% Hunters
89-91% Mercenaries
92-95% Tolkeen Retribution Squad
96-97% C.S. Troops
98-99% C.S. Skelebots
00% Monsters from No Man’s Land

Farmsteads and Villages are better secured in this area. Farmsteads will have 1 or 2 members that have an MD weapons. Villages will have 30+4D6 members and towns will have 3D6x20 members. For every 20 members, the villages and towns will have a soldier or lawman that has MD weapons and armor. Generally, they will not act aggressively towards any newcomer that is not aggressive.
Civilian travelers: A group of 2D6 travelers that include 1D6-2 defenders with light MD weapons and armor. They may be merchants, visitors, or refugees.
Hunters: 1D4 hunters armed with SDC weapons; one might have an MD weapon for protections.

Mercenaries: Mercenaries might be on their way to some distant location looking for work, or they might be patrolling. 1-80% chance they are a small band of 1D4+3 mercenaries on their way to find work. 81-95% they are a larger band of mercenaries (2D6+2) working for a larger power (Warlord Ratter, the C.S., etc.) or on their way to Hot Springs. 96-00% they are a small band associated with a major mercenary company.
Tolkeen Retribution Squad: CS El Dorado is further away from Tolkeen than CS Missouri or Chi-Town, but it represents and easier target. This group is a Tolkeen Retribution Squad. Roll on the Retribution Squad encounter chart.
CS Troops: This is a 2D4+2 man patrol (1-75%) or a large group of (1D4+1)x10 travelling to or from a Coalition Outpost.

CS Skelebots: 8+1D4 skelebots patrolling the area.

Devils Bluff- Devils Bluff is the furthest northeastern outpost of the CS State of El Dorado. CS Troops control the White River from their fortification atop Worsham’s bluff overlooking the White River. It is a relatively small outpost with an active garrison of about 300 personnel and another 200-300 transient soldiers or soldiers that are conducting seek-and-destroy missions in No Man’s Land. It often hosts Special Forces teams from Lone Star or ChiTown that operate in the area and CS Brownwater Navy troops and ships will occasionally dock at the fortification. While the garrison maintains several dozen old-style SAMAS and another dozen UAR-1 Enforcer robots supporting the defenders at Devils Bluff, there are always another 20-30 more modern power armor systems and robots on site that support offensive operations; roughly half of these would be available at any given time to defend Devils Bluff if it were under attack.
To ensure that monster’s and D-Bees north of the White River do not enter C.S. territory, There is a contingent of 160 Skelebots that patrol north along the White River to Greens Ferry Lake in groups of 6-10 (1D6+4). A similar, but smaller, group of 100 Skelebots patrol south along the White River to the Mississippi in groups of 8-14 (2D4+6).
If the players are playing members of the C.S. Special Forces team, they will be posted to Devil’s Bluff.

Pine Bluff- Pine Bluff is a small settlement that represents the Northernmost community completely under the control of CS El Dorado. It is a significant port along the Arkansas river and is one of the major thoroughfares through which supplies pass between Chi-Town to Fort Jericho along the Mississippi. The town has a population of about 3,000 and more than 50% are directly employed in the support of C.S. forces as contractors, transporters, or other support staff. The C.S. maintains a small garrison of 300 soldiers plus the headquarters for operations adjacent to the No Man’s Land (another 300 soldiers that specialize in intelligence, planning, and logistics, not direct combat) in the community as the units at Devils Bluff are charged with providing the primary defense of the northeastern section of El Dorado. Pine Bluff also maintains a small airfield capable of supporting up to 40 VTOL/STOL aircraft.
If the players are posted at Devil’s Bluff, then they will likely move to Pine Bluff to speak with Private Randolf and to make any necessary purchases of non-Coalition gear they would like to take with them on their mission.
Tim Stoddard is currently working out of Pine Bluff if he hasn’t returned to Little Rock at the request of Dr. Nevers. Stoddard is unaware that Private Randolph has any valuable intelligence on New Awakening’s operations. However, Stoddard is well connected to the black market (part of the reason he is in Pine Bluff) and any players buy unusual gear will be reported to him by his contacts. Stoddard will likely make surreptitious contact with any players making purchases in Pine Bluff and will attempt to ascertain their intentions. If the players are aggressive or do not provide information, Stoddard will have them tailed by two of his men. If the players have a plausible story for their actions, Stoddard will ignore them. If the players tell Stoddard or any of his contacts about what is going on with their mission (the assault on C.S. personnel, the loss of riverboats), Stoddard will introduce himself as a major player in the black market and will invite the players to a meeting in a warehouse where he can sell them some of the “good stuff” including Naruni gear and some weaponry from Atlantis. When the players arrive, they will face Stoddard’s 6 goons as well as an additional 6 hired thugs.
If captured, Stoddard will provide one of the the following pieces of information on an easy Interrogation/Intimidation check:
1. New America is a huge organization that will take over the Ozarks and will rival the C.S. in power soon.
2. Tim Stoddard is one of Bradford’s senior lieutenants. He is involved in smuggling and black-market purchases.
3. It is New Awakening that is conducting the dirigible attacks.
A successful Average interrogation/intimidation check will reveal one the following:
1. New Awakenings is large and well organized and there are other cells out there. They have weapons and equipment and capabilities and most senior members are mages or psychics.
2. The local headquarters is in Cauldron.
3. New Awakenings is in the process of initiating Operation Python.
A successful Hard interrogation check will reveal one of the following:
1. Operation Serpent’s Head has something to do with the dirigibles and a base is somewhere in the Ozarks…maybe near Hardyville.
2. Daniel Bradford is the leader of the New Awakening cell in the Ozarks and he is well placed within the Little Rock establishment so he can have the players killed without even involving New Awakening troops.

Little Rock-
Little Rock stands in ruins today, but there are several scavenger groups that live among the buildings. Small communities of humans and D-Bees are spread throughout the Little Rock Metro area in groups of 100-300 except for Stifft Station, a community of nearly 1800 inhabitants. All told, there are about 8,000 inhabitants spread across the former capitol of Arkansas. In the years since El Dorado joined the Coalition States, more and more of the small villages have become segregated with many happy to see the C.S. in their communities. For its part, the CS occasionally sends patrols into the area surrounding Little Rock. There is one CS-aligned community, River Mountain, that a CS Trooper, Sergeant Miles Hawthorne, is recuperating in. River Mountain has a population of nearly 280 residents.
To the east, along the Arkansas river, the largest town in the area, Stifft Station, controls the former state Capitol building and a large hospital. A local warlord, Morris Ratter, rules the area with an iron thumb and extracts tribute from many of the surrounding communities. Warlord Ratter controls a military force of more than 200 Soldiers (Headhunters, Crazies, and Juicers level 6-8) and can draw an additional 350 fighting men (level 2-5 City Rats, Wilderness Scouts, and Mercenaries) from the local population. Stifft Station is rife with intrigue as various power bases jockey for more control. Warlord Ratter himself survived an assassination attempt just three months before. While not paranoid, Warlord Ratter is very alert and will react with aggression to perceived threats.
One of his closest advisors, Danny Bradford, is actually an agent for N.A.; in fact, he is the leader of N.A. operations in the C.S. State of El Dorado. If Bradford is aware that the characters are CS spies or that the characters are investigating N.A., he will try to convince Ratter that the characters are a threat to Stifft Station.
Notes on Little Rock -
When the players interview Sergeant Hawthorne about his experiences he will relay the following:
“The first I saw of the dirigible it was coming low across the center of town. People started gathering right away, of course, and then this guy in robes, he looked like a magic user, starts yelling at everyone. His voice was amplified…I’m pretty sure by some magic, not that it matters. He said “Awaken Hebron! Let all those who hear me know that the appointed time has come to return the holy to the fold! Let all those within the sound of my voice search their hearts and know that their deliverance is nigh. Your town officials and government leaders must assemble here within the next five minutes.
It was about that time that someone sitting in the bunker the roof of one of the buildings took a shot at the speaker. The next thing I knew, bolts of lighting were raining from the sky and people on the dirigible were firing down at us. I didn’t notice it at first, but these guys had soldiers on the ground at the back of the crowd and they started shooting too. Whoever had shot the first time fired at the dirigible again and then, all of the sudden, the shooter was consumed with a blazing fire and he ran to the edge of the building and then jumped off…it was horrible.
As soon at the body hit the ground, the soldiers started moving in blasting everyone that moved. I grabbed my bag and started running to get out of the square, but then the dirigible started dropping bombs and grenades and people were getting stuck like they had been glued to the ground or wrapped up in magical nets. Men, women, children…stuck in place and getting just blown to smithereens. I got a few pictures of it, and the dirigible…it looked like something a bad operator welded together in his garage, but it was pretty big…bigger than a Mark V! And it had the huge green and brown streak down the side of the gas bag, kinda like a grass stain. Then a hovercyle came flying in shooting at me. I got shot up pretty bad, but my armor held. I shot back with my pistol and that was when someone on the dirigible threw a grenade at me and blew me into the air. When I woke up, I was here.”
Note: The grass stain is a clue to where the dirigible is being hidden…some place where there is vegetation that is higher than the envelope…probably in a valley or below the lip of a cliff. If characters pass a successful perception roll, give them the information…if they pass the perception roll, intelligent characters can deduce that the Dirigible is likely being held in a wooded valley.

If the players hear Hawthorne’s story, they will run into Dr. Nevers. There can be quite a few outcomes (combat with Nevers, identifying Nevers as an imposter, Nevers following them, Nevers reporting on them).
If Nevers is captured, he can will let the players know about New Awakening in general if they pass a relatively easy interrogation or mental affinity check. That information will be the New Awakening is large and it is getting ready to take over. He will also say that there is a force of monsters that is going to come out of the New Awakening is a huge organization and that New Awakening will hunt the players down. An average check of interrogation or difficult mental affinity will result in Nevers disclosing that Tim Stoddard is the head honcho around here, one of the most important guys in the local New Awakening and Tim Stoddard is in Pine Bluff and will be coming to River Mountain to deal with the players. Nevers will also confirm that it is New Awakening that is taking over the Ozarks. On a difficult check against interrogation, Nevers will state the players are worms and that their lack of magical ability or psychic powers makes them lesser men, not fit to lick his boots. He will say that, when New Awakenings takes over, the players will grovel before him and that this punishment that is coming to the local coalition troops has been coming since the war between the Federation of Magic and the C.S. and now the C.S. had come to their turf. Finally, Nevers will say that the players better leave town fast because the elite troops that protect the New Awakening leadership can be dispatched from the New Awakening HQ and can be in River Mountain in less than 4 hours to kill the players.
If Nevers escapes or if the players do not realize he is a New Awakening agent, the players will face Marshall Madigan and several other of Tim Stoddard’s local goons operating in the Little Rock region.

If the players follow the clues they received from Sergeant Hawthorne, it will be clear that there are powerful forces that will resist the players trying to learn more about the situation.
-If the players lost Nevers
-or if they are asking about dirigibles,
-or if they are being followed by Stoddard’s men.
-of it they revealed anything about themselves that might indicate they are investigating New Awakening.
-If the players talk to Warlord Ratter prior to Bradford learning that they are investigating New Awakening or the Ozarks, Warlord Ratter will politely decline the player’s request. If the players reveal they are C.S., he will politely decline their request and then demand the leave.
After Bradford has discovered their purpose, he will convince Ratter to put two Juicer Assassins and three Crazies on their tail and the Stifft Station military will have shoot-to-kill orders on the players. If the players talk to Ratter after Bradford has discovered them, Bradford will have convince Ratter to arrest the characters. Once arrested, they will be transferred to New American security forces.

Bradford: It won’t take long for the players to discover Bradford is a major player in New Awakening. They should learn pretty quickly that he is a leader in New Awakening and that he is privy to (and probably planned) many of New Awakening’s activities.
If he is captured, he will reveal (on an easy interrogations or average mental affinity checks) that:
1. New America is a huge organization that will take over the Ozarks and will rival the C.S. in power soon.
2. Tim Stoddard is one of Bradford’s senior lieutenants. He is involved in smuggling and black-market purchases.
3. Tim Stoddard is in Pine Bluff.
4. It is New Awakenings that is conducting the Dirigible attacks.
6. The local New Awakenings cell will vigorously hunt the players down.
7. The local New Awakenings HQ is not far from the towns in Little Rock
8. The general background and philosophy of New Awakenings.
Average interrogations or difficult mental affinity checks will result in some of the following:
1. New Awakenings is large and well organized and there are other cells out there. They have weapons and equipment and capabilities and most senior members are mages or psychics.
2. The local headquarters is in Cauldron.
3. New Awakenings will be initiating Operation Python shortly.
4. Operation Serpent’s Head relies on the dirigibles,
5. Bradford is the most senior member of New Awakening in the cell and he has full authority over the operations.
Difficult interrogations will result in some of the following information:
1. Operation Serpent’s Head has something to do with the dirigibles and a base is somewhere in the Ozarks…maybe near Hardyville.
2: Some more (but not all) detailed information on Operation Python
3. New Awakenings has old, refurbished cruise missiles that can wipe out Robot Combat Vehicles.
shadrak
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Posts: 1831
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 8:11 pm
Location: Bloomington, IL

Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by shadrak »

The Western and Southern Strongholds of Humanity: Fort Jericho and the C.S. El Dorado:

STRONGHOLDS OF HUMANITY
Encounters in the C.S. Regions
01-45% No Encounter
46-58% Animal/Monster
59-63% Derelict Vehicle
64-71% Danger
71-76% Farmstead
77-81% Village/Town
82-85% Civilian Travelers
86-88% Hunters
89-91% Mercenaries
92-94% Tolkeen Retribution Squad
95-97% C.S. Troops
98-00% Threat

Farmstead: Farmsteads in this area are relatively well defended. There are 1D4+4 people on the farmstead and every third person (round down) has a light MDC weapon and armor.

Village/Town: Villages have 1D4x10+10 residents, Towns have 1D6x25+50 residents. There will likely be a few retired C.S. or El Dorado soldiers and borgs protecting the town.

Civilian Travelers: 1D4+2 civilian travelers; could be merchants, could be people visiting family in the next town over.

Hunters: 1D4 hunters armed with SDC weapons.

Mercenaries: A band of 2D6 mercenaries traveling through the area on their way to El Dorado, Fort Jericho, Hot Springs, or the Pecos Empire.

Tolkeen Retribution Squad: See TRS in ChiTown burbs.

C.S. Troops: 1-75% a Coalition Patrol of 2D6+4 soldiers. 76-00% chance a large unit [(1D6+2)x10] moving between garrisons.

Threat: Pecos Bandit, Comanche Preserve, Psi-Stalker band, New West/Pecos Bandits, 1st Apocalyptic Cavalry, other bandits.

Fort Jericho- Newtown had been a member of the Coalition States since 102 P.A. Shortly after the Juicer Uprising in 105 P.A., the Coalition States decided that the only way to “rehabilitate” Newtown was to completely remove almost half of the inhabitants of Newtown and resettle them in other parts of the Coalition States. Most of them were “resettled” to the C.S. state of Missouri. This had the added bonus of breaking up old networks and relationships while increasing the migrant’s reliance on their government for assistance in assimilating into their new communities.
Fort Jericho now has a civilian population of about 25,000, but, as a military training post and industrial complex, it is garrisoned by nearly 7,000 troops with an additional 5,000 new soldiers undergoing their initial training at any given time.
Most of the civilian inhabitants of the Fort are former residents of Newtown, but a significant portion are newcomers from Lone Star. They primarily work military contracts or in the production facilities that manufacture Coalition war materials. Still, there are at least 8,000 civilians engaged in agricultural pursuits.
The old “Border Wall” that once protected the western edge of Newtown is gone, as are many of the old buildings in the town. In its place is a forty-foot high wall that is 100 feet thick that now surrounds the entire nine square mile area that comprises the fort. Like the original wall, the new wall is hollow and acts as a bunker and barracks for the troops. Within the enclosed portion of Fort Jericho, there are training areas and buildings that house production facilities. Still, a great deal of training takes place outside of the walls including marksmanship training on advanced ranges and unit training exercises.
Within the wall, there are several places of interest including:
Headquarters 1, 2, and 3: This massive building, the site of the old Governor’s Palace, sits on top of the tallest hill in the fort. Since the declaration of martial law after the Juicer Uprising, the building has been entirely remodeled so that it can support a Corps-level headquarters along with two division headquarters as well as the garrison command.
C.S. Army Biotechnology Multi-Use Facility: While nowhere near as capable as the labs in Lone Star or even Chi-Town, the Biotech Multi-Use Facility, located in the former UTI Biotech Division building, represents a facility that can implement a wide variety of Biotech initiatives and conduct research into quite a few different scientific areas. The B-MUF produces new Coalition Juicers and ‘Borgs, and even conducts a little bit of biotech research. Secretly, many of the scientists at B-MUF are there because of the lack of oversight that they would otherwise be subjected to at the labs in Chi-Town or Lone Star. Dr. Alicia Hammond, Chief of Neuro-Medical research, is charged with developing stronger systems for maintaining brain function in Coalition Borgs and with increasing the capabilities of the neural intelligences in Coalition Skelebots, but she has been researching Psi-Netics and has even installed some systems in dog boy and human subjects. Her counterpart in the genetic area, Colonel Landon Pickens, M.D., has been conducting genetic modification experiments on embryos he has used in fertility treatments for several female soldiers and spouses of Fort Jericho personnel.
Wynn Medical Center: Wynn Medical Center is the largest dedicated hospital between Lone Star and New Chillicothe. Major surgeries throughout the C.S. of El Dorado are conducted at Wynn Medical Center, and the Medical Center maintains a small fleet of helicopters to facilitate the transport of patients. The Medical center has 150 beds and is capable of providing comprehensive trauma care.
Fort Jericho All Ranks Club: Open to any authorized resident or visitor to Fort Jericho, the All Ranks Club is located in the former Royal Casino, but there isn’t much gambling going on. Instead, the All Ranks club hosts organizational banquets, sporting events (especially boxing and mixed martial arts), and other entertainment events like musical performances. There are two bars and two nightclubs in the building, as well as other attractions including virtual reality games and old-style games like bowling and billiards.
Fort Jericho Officers Club: The Fort Jericho Officers club is much more exclusive than the All Ranks Club. Open only to officers and their invited guests, the Officers club represents a meeting place where power brokers in Fort Jericho’s micro-society can meet and negotiate deals, or where young up-and-comers can rub shoulders with the kingmakers that can catapult them to the top.
Housed in the same building that used to house the Golden Delight, the area surrounding the club was razed and an 18-hole golf course was installed in what used to be the Riverside neighborhood.
Fort Jericho Memorial Museum: Built after the Juicer Uprising, the Memorial Museum commemorates the heroes of the Coalition States Army.
Wills Memorial Chapel: Wills Memorial Chapel is one of three chapels on Fort Jericho. What sets Wills Chapel apart is that the senior Chaplain is a pagan and is actually a level 7 priest of Odin. He keeps his association with the god secret and allows the CS High Command to think that he is simply a practitioner of some ancient mythological religion. The CS is not fond of religious institutions, but it has found that religion can serve as a unifying force and as a bulwark against many of the evils that venture forth from the rifts.
There are a total of 23 chaplains on Fort Jericho that minister to the needs of soldiers and civilians alike. The vast majority are your average priests (use the Catholic Priest OCC from Warlords of Russia), but there is a specific sect, Deliverers, that has an unusual group of clergy that are all the equivalent of a Sea Inquisitor. Deliverers are secretly repressed by the Coalition government despite the fact that their anti-demon, anti-magic theology fits well within the C.S. philosophy. The C.S. dislikes them because they are a power unto themselves and they hold sway over many of the ignorant masses both in the fortified cities and in the ‘burbs. Still, the Deliverers are effective in reinforcing the message that the C.S. leadership wants to send, so the relationship between the C.S. and the Deliverers is carefully managed. There are two Deliverer chaplains on Fort Smith, the equivalent of a level 5 and a level 4 Sea Inquisitor. Deliverance chaplains, unlike other sects, are required by their denomination to have served in the military prior to receiving their ecclesiastical endorsement. Most will have a dual O.C.C., most often Coalition Grunt frozen at level 2 or 3, though there is the occasional Commando.
General Abram Strider has reformed the forces at Fort Jericho to fit his concept of a modern fighting force. His ideas are being reviewed by members of the Coalition High Command, but it is unlikely that his ideas will take root in the Coalition War Machine.
Military Forces at Fort Jericho:
XXVII Corps (Storm Riders, 120 military specialists)
-234th Artillery Regiment (432 Coalition Grunts, 72 Mark IC Missile Launcher Vehicles)
-194th Aviation Regiment (336 Flyboy Ace, 28 Demon Locust, 28 Black Lightning, 14 Scout Rocket Cycles, 42 Warbird Rocket Cycles, 56 Windjammer Skycycles)
-678th Intelligence Regiment (128 Rangers, 256 Commandos, 64 Special Forces, 64 Military Specialist)
-54th Anti-Aircraft Battalion (280 soldiers, 54 Sky Sweeper)
-657th Logistics Brigade (400 Technical Officers, 200 Logistics Vehicles)
-19th Air Wing (180 Flyboy Ace, 60 Talon Fighters, 10 Deathbringer APC, 2 SkyLifter)
-455th Special Troops Battalion (20 Military Specialists, 40 Psi-Stalkers, 80 Psi-Hounds, 40 Juicers, 40 EOD Specialists, and 20 Master Psychics[Bursters, Zappers, Psi-Nullifiers, and Mind Melters])
209th Infantry Division (Lighting Warriors, 60 military specialists)
-229th Light Infantry Regiment (90 Military Specialists, 540 Grunts, 180 Cyborgs)
-165th Light Infantry Regiment (90 Military Specialists, 540 Grunts, 180 Cyborgs)
-159th Mechanized Infantry Regiment (60 Military Specialists, 300 Grunts in Exoskeleton, 50 RPA Elite, 50 Mauler PA, 8 Mark VII Slayer, 4 Mark V APC)
113th Armored Division (Thunderstruck, 60 Military Specialists)
-525th Armor Regiment (204 Elite RPA, 24 Hellfire, 12 Skull Smasher, 12 Abolisher, 24 Terror Trooper)
-201st Armored Cavalry Regiment (372 Elite RPA, 124 Super SAMAS, 248 Smiling Jack SAMAS)
-323rd Tank Regiment (880 Grunt, 44 Line Backer, 88 Grinning Skull)
75th Training Command (Fit to Fight)
-234th Infantry Regiment (Basic Training, 400 cadre, 2700 trainees)
-832nd Infantry Regiment (Basic Training, 400 cadre, 2700 trainees)
-456th Armored Regiment (Advanced OCC Training, 900 cadre, 4000 trainees)
-921st Infantry Regiment (Organizational Training, 200 cadre)

Camp Victor- Almost 30 miles due south of Fort Jericho, Camp Victor sits on the banks of the Poteau River. Camp Victor was originally built in 103 P.A. to protect the trade routes between Newtown and El Dorado. Now that the town of Sun Down is part of the Coalition State of El Dorado, most of the original garrison has relocated to Sun Down. Still, the facilities at Camp Victor, rough though they are, provide for a great training environment for company and battalion level training exercises, especially now that half of the barracks are empty.
Camp Victor has a full-time force of about 300 Coalition soldiers. Of these, 100 are tasked with staff training and assessment. The remaining 200 soldiers act as opposing forces and face off against their sister C.S. units. These soldiers are experts in the tactics utilized by Free Quebec, the Pecos Raiders, Northern Gun, and several of the major mercenary companies of North America. Additionally, they can mimic the capabilities of some magically empowered forces.
C.S. El Dorado

El Dorado- The total population of City of El Dorado is about 140,000. This means that two thirds of the entire population of the Coalition State of El Dorado actually lives within the city limits of El Dorado.
El Dorado is still known for its oil fields and refineries as well as its natural gas power plants, but it is become more well known for its factories.
Shortly after El Dorado joined the Coalition States, it seemed that new factories were going up weekly. Despite heavy automation, the various factories in El Dorado pollute the local environment to a degree that can make visiting parts of the city unbearable. Nearly 50% of the inhabitants of El Dorado work in the factories and make decent wages (which continue to increase since El Dorado’s incorporation into the Coalition), but it is pretty clear that Chi-Town has shifted the dirtiest parts of Coalition manufacturing operations to El Dorado.
El Dorado is well defended, both because it has a thirty foot fortified wall surrounding most of the city and because it has more than 3,000 C.S. Regular Army troops spread across two outposts as well as a base within the city, and this number is expected to swell to 8,000 within the next two years. More importantly, roughly half of the CSED Regional Command forces are based out of El Dorado as well. While the CSED troops are less experienced and use older equipment than Coalition Regular Army Troops, there is a division and a half of troops (nearly 9,000) in the city. Of these, more than 400 are Juicers.
Most of the major places of interest from four years ago are shut down now, but several of the businesses have simply been moved to a dedicated mercenary district. While C.S. leaders aren’t particularly happy with the mercenary district, they understand that the mercenary community in El Dorado has always been important to the area and they further realize that mercenaries operating out of El Dorado might be easier to control and they might be directed towards enemies of the Coalition. In fact, nearly half of the contracts offered in the El Dorado hiring hall are sponsored by the Coalition, and at least 75% of the contracts are on behalf of a Coalition citizen or interest.
The mercenary district is distinct from the rest of the city and has its own entrances on the south side of the city wall as well as an interior wall the separates the mercenary district from the rest of the city. Some places of interest within the mercenary district include;
The Killing Ground: The Killing Ground’s new location is expanded and the new owner is a human named Vern Seward (Vern bought Pecos Hill out and Pecos Hill moved south to southern Texas; Pecos Hill still secretly owns a 51% interest in the business and Vern will occasionally hire mercenaries to transport Pecos’ earnings to him on an annual basis). The Killing Ground no longer offers Naruni equipment, but the store does offer equipment from just about every other manufacturer on the continent. The Killing Ground was looking at an exclusive contract with Northern Gun to sell their equipment, but Pecos Hill nixed that idea.
Vern Seward is growing tired of Pecos’ demands and it is only a matter of time before he sends mercenaries to visit Pecos with bullets and bombs instead of Pecos’ cut of the profits.
The Stuart Arena: The C.S. is not a huge fan of Juicer sports, but even they recognize that citizens need an outlet. When the C.S. agreed to allow El Dorado into the coalition, it knew that the Arena would have to be retained so that King (now Governor) Stuart could keep his property. When the mercenary district was designated, it was no mistake that the new, exclusive area was centered on The Stuart Arena. Profits are down from local attendees, but total profits are up now that the economy can support season ticket prices of more than 1,000 credits (a 500% increase over 4 years ago).
Cambridge Arms: This hotel in the mercenary district features conference rooms and a convention center as well as all of the amenities you might expect in a 3-star hotel. It is the nicest hotel in the mercenary district, and, at 350 rooms, it is probably the nicest hotel of its size in the city. The hotel has a bar and restaurant that serves food that is known throughout the region and many negotiations that occur outside of normal channels happen in the back rooms and booths of the hotel.
Garris Productions and Public Affairs: Every major player in the mercenary community needs a slick promotional video, right? That’s the service Garris will provide. In the past couple of years, Garris has begun handling marketing and outreach in addition to creating video and print advertisements, and the company is looking at acquiring Bartins and Associates in order to provide legal counsel, representation, and management to the many mercenaries, athletes, and competitors that find their way to El Dorado.
Garris Productions has also started production of several programs that include educational programing, documentaries, and fictional docuseries and entertainment programs. Several of the major stars of their programs are juicers (as are most of the stunt men and women).
Skunkwerks: Owned and operated by Yancy Cartwright (level 12 Operator) Skunkworks is a weapons and armor customization shop. Skunkworks can modify just about any firearm (+1 to strike) or armor (reduce prowl and movement penalty by 5%) for a small fee. Customization can also include aesthetics as well, and it is not impossible (though very costly) for Yancy to install the mechanisms of one weapon system into a similar weapon system so that it superficially resembles the design of another manufacturer. Lately, Yancy has been doing quite a few Naruni conversions.
South El Dorado Bank and Trust: Need to fund an expedition? Need to cover payroll? That’s what SEDBT will help you do…but you better be good for it! SEDBT is more than capable of hiring other mercenaries to collect on their debts. SEDBT employs 12 security guards (all Juicers, level 4-6) that have successfully thwarted the past four robbery attempts.
Devolved Art: Devolved Art is a tattoo shop in the mercenary district that offers some of the most intricate body art in North America. If you uncovered the secrets of Devolved Art, you may find that you have an opportunity to have a Tattoo of Strength inked into your skin (don’t tell your CS handler, though).
Tansa Dojo and Physical Combat Center: The Tansa, as it is known throughout El Dorado, is a center for all manner of combat disciplines. Many of The Tansa’s members attend to work on their craft or as part of their physical fitness regimen, but more than a few like to participate in or to watch the sparing events that occur nightly. On Friday and Saturday nights official bouts are held as part of testing, and, after testing, semi-professional fighters engage in a tournament-style contest.
What few people realize is that the Tansa Grandmaster, Jacques Riquard, is actually a level 11 Shikome Kido-Mi dragon. He has a group of twelve acolytes that act as his personal assassins and mercenaries. They are level 5-9 Master Assassins and each one is capable of 1-4 Mystic Martial Arts powers. Members of the Dojo may gain access to a mystic martial arts power, but the cost would be extreme and would likely involved actions that are dangerous and very unsavory.
Places of interest in greater El Dorado:
Timmons’ Scrap and Recycling: Timmons’ Scrapyard abuts the mercenary district which is good since more than 50% of the scrap Timmons processes comes from mercenary companies. The scrapyard contains parts from just about any common, non-CS robot. A truly legendary operator could probably do something with those parts…Frankenstein? For the non-legendary operators, Timmons probably has a used part for cheaper than new…but it might be dinged up a little-and it will still cost you!
Timmons employs four Borgs for security.
Starlight Lounge: The Starlight is the premier nightclub location in El Dorado with big name musical and comedy acts featured every weekend in the small theater in the rear of the building. Music, dancing, and drinks are available at almost all times. If you try hard enough, you will find professional escorts and illicit chemicals available for a price.
Fraternal Order of the Sword and Dagger: The Sword and Dagger is a club, a bar, and a social institution. Most of the members of the Sword and Dagger are retired members of the C.S. military, but a few members still serve actively. What might be considered a veteran’s fraternity is just as much a secret society of kingmakers within the C.S. military and a political lobbying organization. This particular chapter is new and consists of more than 100 members, 80% of home are retired CS soldiers and while 20 are currently serving (most actively serving members are posted to Fort Jericho). The group is more than just a group of untrained thugs and, while they would rarely engage in violence towards anyone in El Dorado, they have the training and equipment to pose a serious threat to just about anyone they encounter.

Magnolia- Magnolia is the second largest population center in the C.S. of El Dorado with 30,000 residents.
Unlike El Dorado proper, Magnolia is idyllic and peaceful. While there are some factories, they tend to be well outside the city limits. Most industrial centers near Magnolia involve chemical and mineral production including crude oil, bromine, and lithium. Factories produce batteries and fuel cells, and there is some limited production of E-Clips and even some disposable consumer electronics.
While Magnolia is not often a target of raiders and bandits, the CSED Regional Command maintains a force of more than 3,000 troops at Magnolia.
Magnolia has ore processing facilities that are fully capable of processing aluminum ore into aluminum and finished aluminum pieces, but CS El Dorado has no control over any significant bauxite mines. Magnolia is seeking an opportunity to gain access to the bauxite mines in either central Arkansas or just southeast of Little Rock, but, so far, a workable solution hasn’t been identified.

Ozam- Ozam was originally a logging community in the forested area near where the Little Missouri River met the Ouachita river. It had always been associated with El Dorado, and when El Dorado joined the C.S. it was obvious that Ozam would be part of the bargain.
While Ozam is one of the primary towns for harvesting and processing lumber, what makes it most important to the Coalition States and to C.S. El Dorado is the fact that it controls the bridge over the Little Missouri River and it is one of the two stops on the Reynolds-El Dorado Railroad line. It has several factories that produce would products in addition to its lumber mills.
More than 70% of the 3,500 residents of Ozam are engaged in the forestry industry, but this is changing. The town recently build a textile factory and several hundred acres of cleared land have been turned into cotton fields. It is likely that Ozam will be capable of producing hundreds of tons of textiles, cloth, and finished clothing within the next couple of years. CSEDRC maintains a force of 120 troops at this location.

Rainbow- Rainbow is a relatively new community established at the southeastern end of DeGray Lake in order to control narrow strip of land between DeGray Lake and the Ouachita River as well as the first stop on the Reynolds-El Dorado Rail Line.
Rainbow is a town with only 1,000 residents, but it is growing quickly and will probably exceed 5,000 within the next two years as the railroad becomes more important to El Dorado and El Dorado begins its anticipated expansion to the north. CSEDRC maintains a contingent of 240 troops at this location due to the greater risk of attacks from bandits following the eastern banks of the Ouachita.

Reynolds- Reynolds sits at the bend in the Ouachita River to the east of Lake Ouachita where the Ouachita River changes its course from east-west to north-south. Across the Ouachita River, the ruins of Malvern have been swallowed by forest, but there is still a “roadway” that leads north to Little Rock. Shortly before El Dorado joined the Coalition States, John Reynolds, a wealthy resident of El Dorado, began work on a railroad track that would connect El Dorado to Little Rock. His track reached as far as Reynolds before the problems with Newtown resulted in his company’s bankruptcy (and his subsequent suicide).
Since his death, C.S. El Dorado took control of the rail line and established an outpost at the line’s terminus that was named after John Reynolds.
Reynolds has become a trading hub between El Dorado and Little Rock and the town has bloomed to more than 1,500 residents. There are an additional 360 CSEDRC soldiers protecting the town from potential threats like the inhabitants of Hot Springs just a few miles away with another 100 CS regulars conducting patrols and seek and destroy missions between Reynolds, Little Rock, and Pine Bluff.

Sundown- Until a year ago, Sundown was a mixed community of humans and D-Bees that numbered nearly 3,000 residents. More recently, though, the C.S. State of El Dorado has annexed the community and “evicted” all non-humans and magic users. Most of these have re-settled in Haven, but some hide in the wilderness that surrounds Sundown, harrying C.S. troops and facilitating attacks by Pecos bandits.
It is the Pecos Bandits themselves that prompted El Dorado to take the town of Sundown. Sundown represented an opportunity to secure the north western part of the El Dorado territory, and for the past few years the area between the northern headwaters of the Mountain Fork of the Little River and the Ouachita River has been the primary point where Pecos raiding parties have attacked El Dorado from the north (normally following the northern bank of the Ouachita River or to the south along the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains or more directly south towards Day Queen.
Today, Sundown is a community of 2,500 human residents with a CSEDRC garrison of 600 troops.

Day Queen- Day Queen is a community of about 3,200 that sits between the Little River and the Cossatot River Northwest of Millwood Lake. Day Queen was inhabited before El Dorado joined the C.S. and it had already been nominally allied with El Dorado. While involved in the forestry industry, Day Queen’s primary source of income had always been the cultivation, slaughter, and processing of livestock. Today, Day Queen is a processing center for all forms of agricultural goods and crops and livestock are delivered to the town from the Kansas area to the west. Day Queen’s processing center not only butchers the livestock, but also produces hundreds of tons of canned, preserved and dried meat and broths per year.
CSEDRC maintains a force of 600 troops at this location to keep the peace and defend from Pecos Bandits. CS High Command has installed a further 64 special forces and ranger troops to conduct reconnaissance and attack missions into the Kansas territory.

Haven- When Newtown was razed by the C.S., the people fled. Seeking a place that would be relatively defensible and out of the way, they ended up settling west of the Poteau River between the Petit Jean and Fourche Lafave Rivers.
Originally, Haven looked more like a military encampment than a town, but eventually permanent structures were built.
Darrin Gallant, a level 13 Justice Ranger, was elected Sheriff and Public Safety Commissioner shortly after the town was established and, with the help of the town’s commissioners, established the framework for a successful community with a nascent economy.
The town’s progress was almost derailed in the past couple of years when the population tripled to 4,500 as D-Bees that were forcefully evicted from the El Dorado territory flooded to the community seeking to establish a new life.
Once again, Haven is a town of tents, with small encampments spread throughout the valley away from the town center.
Still, Darrin Gallant keeps order with his force of more than 400 Gunfighters, Gunslingers, Psi-Slingers, Justice Rangers, and Mercenaries.
The town is even well protected from magic since the technowizard Barcuss Clover (apparently a level 15 technowizard, but actually an adult dragon) created the Negator Lights, TW streetlamps that have create a perpetual cloud over the center of the town. The five street lamps create a 1 square mile area centered on the town where the effects of an anti-magic cloud spell are in perpetual effect. The streetlamps consume 13,000 PPE daily, so it is lucky that a ley line runs almost through the center of Haven-and, luckier still, Barcuss was able to have someone build six stone pyramids all along the Ley Line, effectively eliminating the flow of PPE throughout the valley. These stone pyramids are networked so that they provide PPE to the streetlamps daily. About once every three days, the streetlamp PPE requirement overwhelms the pyramid network and the streetlamps shut down for six hours (Roll a 1D12 every six hours the players are in town. On a result of a 1, the streetlamps go down and will be down for the next six hours).
And why would Barcuss Clover do all of this for Haven? Well, so that he could have a secure area to rest, of course! Barcuss is actually a dragon prince that was forcibly removed from Freehold more than ten years ago (long before the C.S. invaded Tolkeen). He participated in the Juicer Uprising and, when Newtown was crushed, he relocated to Haven with the rest of the refugees. About two and a half years ago, he was attacked by another dragon prince from Freehold that had a grudge against him.
Barely surviving the attack, Barcuss thought he might need to leave Rifts Earth entirely (and abandon most of the treasure he had accumulated for the past 100 years he had spent on Earth). At about the same time, a group of magic-empowered bandits attacked Haven and, in his guise as a techno-wizard extraordinaire, Barcuss cast anti-magic cloud and enabled Sheriff Gallant and his deputies to win the day. Sheriff Gallant asked Barcuss to create something that would prevent magic users from using their powers in the town again, and Barcuss agreed knowing that he would be able to use the devices to protect himself against any future attacks by his former compatriots (Dragons and other creatures of magic will lose half of their MDC upon entering Haven and will be unable to cast spells-a vulnerability that does not apply to Barcuss since he is the creator of the lamps!). Because of the massive drain of PPE, most magic users avoid Haven completely.
C.S. forces in the area largely ignore Haven. Haven’s is largely tucked away from C.S. El Dorado, and Haven shares the C.S. fear of magic and the supernatural. Prior to Haven’s establishment, the valleys and hollers between the Petit Jean and Fourche Lafave were a breeding ground for monsters and supernatural beings. Since Haven was built, there has been a huge reduction in the number of monsters attacking El Dorado from the north. Additionally, Haven represents a nexus between the New West and Colorado Baronies, Lazlo, and the Pecos Empire. As such, it is a great place for the C.S. to place spies.

Hot Springs- Hot Springs is a hedonistic community that caters to just about any whim a visitor could desire. From blood sports, to gambling, to prostitution, Hot Springs has it.
In a town with 4,000 permanent residents, it could get pretty chaotic with 2,000 transients in town looking for an opportunity to practice their debauchery, but the town “Mayor”, Freejack Longfellow, and his associates keep a firm hand on the town. “Freejack” is a level 9 Borg associated with the Black Market and he maintains a force of 500 “associates” that help keep order in the town. More than half are just City Rat thugs and Juicer Wannabes (level 1-4), but a significant portion are highly trained soldiers with a full 100 of them being survivors of either the Jucier Uprising or Tolkeen, many of them even being enhanced with bionics, juicer modifications, or M.O.M. implants. Hot Springs even maintains two cybershops where individuals can get the M.O.M. enhancement!
shadrak
Champion
Posts: 1831
Joined: Wed May 24, 2006 8:11 pm
Location: Bloomington, IL

Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by shadrak »

INTO THE SNAKE PIT

New Awakening’s Ozarks
Every hour of travel through the Ozarks requires the player characters to roll to determine whether or not the group meets with a chance encounter.
01-45% No Encounter 84-86% Hunters
46-55% Animal 87-90% Refugees
56-62% Derelict Vehicle 91-92% Civilians/Farmers
63-67% Danger 93-95% Bandits/Insurgent
68-74% Farmstead 96-97% N.A. Patrol
75-79% Village/Town 98-99% N.A. Convoy
80-83% Prison Camp 100% N.A. Airship

Animal-
01-20% Livestock 80% Tiger Claw Raptor
21-40% Game 81% Whisker Coyote
41-48% Dogs/Wolves 82-84% Fury Beetle
49-54% Devil Sloth 85-89% Scamper (Dino)
55-56% Spiny Ravager 90% Panthera-Thrinax
57-58% Blood Hawk 91-92% Boar
59-61% Dark Behemoth 93% Bear
62-64% Darkhound 94% Hawk/Falcon
65-66% Dragon-Cat 95% Badger/Wolverine
67-70% Duckbilled Honker 96% Bobcat
71-73% Moss-Back Scuttler 97% PPE Chig
74-75% Ostrosaurus 98% Devil Digger
76-77% Rhino-Buffalo 99% Hytril
78-79% Snake 100% Dragonsaurus

Derelict Vehicle-

01-25% Burnt out/Destroyed Vehicle of no value
26-45% 1D4/2 (round down) dead horses and a cart with some agricultural or merchant goods of limited value. 25% chance there is a dead human/DBee.
46-55% 1D4 dead horses and a wagon with a fair amount of agricultural or merchant goods of some value. 50% chance there are 1D6/2 (round up) dead humans/DBees.
56-75% Destroyed civilian SDC vehicle. 50% chance there is a dead person within. Minimal items available for salvage.
76-84% Destroyed ‘civilian’ MDC vehicle; 50% chance that there is a dead person inside that has a very common, weak MDC weapon. Vehicle may be repairable.
85-91% Destroyed, light military vehicle. 1D4/2 dead persons inside. The vehicle has been looted, but there may be some equipment of military value. Vehicle is not repairable, but there may be some salvageable part of it.
92-97% Destroyed light military vehicle. 1D4 dead persons inside. The vehicle has not been looted, perhaps destroyed by an inhuman monster. Could be a mercenary transport. 50% chance that the vehicle is repairable.
98-100% Destroyed power armor or robot. 50% chance it is unlooted.

Dangers-
01-30% Environmental Hazard (Fire, chemical, poison gas, etc.)
31-35% Sickness (malaria, river blindness, sleeping sickness, yellow fever, etc.)
36-50% Terrain Danger (Cliff, falling debris, broken ground, flood, etc.)
51-65% Weather Danger (Storms, Rain, Ley Line Storm, Flash Flood, etc.)
66-80% Equipment problem (Vehicle, visual, weapon system, etc.)
81-93% Minor monster
94-100% Major monster

Farmstead: 1D4 buildings, 1D6+1 persons, assorted farm animals. May or may not have power.
Village/Town: (70% Village/30% Town)
Village: The players run across a small village that may or may not be under the control of New Awakenings. If the players are near a plotted village, it will be that village that they have run across. Otherwise, it is a random, unplotted (very small) village with 8D6 inhabitants, 6D6 buildings, and 2D6 vehicles. If the players run across a town, it will be the nearest plotted town; all of the towns are named in this document, 2D4x10+30 buildings, 1D4x10+20 vehicles.
Prison Camp: There are several dozen prison/work camps spread throughout the Ozarks. Some are more permanent, but many are temporary and are located where the prisoner labor is needed. Some of the camps are more secure than others, and high value prisoners are often kept in a camp near the NA headquarters where the prisoners can be secured and interrogated. Temporary camps consist of tents, barbed wire, and guard towers. There will be 8D6+20 prisoners in a temporary camp and there will be one NA guard for every five prisoners.

Hunters: 1D4 hunters in makeshift MDC armor and using SDC weapons. 1 hunter may have an MDC ranged weapon or all of the hunters may have MD capable munitions for SDC weapon use (ramjet rounds, explosive arrows, etc.). 25% chance the hunters are mounted or are using ATVs.

Refugees: 2D6 Refugees on foot; normally mixed human and D-Bee. Cold, afraid, hungry, and probably in danger.

Civilians/Farmers/Merchants: 1D6 civilians probably on their way to another village to sell goods or drop of taxes.

Bandits/Insurgent: 2D4 Bandits in light to medium non-EBA armor and using older-style MD weapons. 25% chance they have a vehicle.

N.A. Patrol: 1D6+2 N.A. troops on patrol. 50% chance that 1 member is a magic user. Elite N.A. troops utilize pre-Rifts weapons from Adventure Book 2 or TW weapons and armor if they are psychic or magic users. Low level troopers use low quality MDC weapons and armor. These troops are on a routine patrol and do not expect (and are not actively seeking) trouble. They will attack the PC’s on sight, but the PC’s are likely to see them first.

N.A. Convoy: 3D6+4 N.A. troops in a convoy consisting of 1D4 SDC vehicles and 1-2 MDC vehicles (GAW) with weapons mounts. These troops are moving taxes or materials or slaves between villages. They are ready for a fight.

N.A. Airship: 75% chance this encounter is 1-2 hovercyles. 25% chance this encounter is one of the N.A.’s dirigibles.

Archibald- A town of 210 with a garrison of 20 N.A. troops. Nabob Carl Nelson, a 3rd degree Acolyte, leads from here. There is also a small manufacturing plant that produces raw plastic from cellulose. Most of the residents are relatively happy with New Awakening, though only about 50% are members of the organization. Non-members will be resistant to talking to outsiders and may report outsiders to the garrison; members will certainly report anyone they find suspicious to the garrison. Visitors are not entirely uncommon, though, as traders occasionally travel to Archibald to recycle or purchase plastic goods.

Broken Hill- Controlled by Nabob David Cutter, a 4th degree exorcist, the population of the town is 130. N.A. maintains a 25-man garrison. There are some small mining and smelting operations that produce lead, zinc, and manganese, as well as production of ammunition for conventional rifles, shotguns, and pistols. Town leaders in Broken Hill had been in talks with the manufacturers in
Valdega to provide minerals for steel production but talks broke down when the son of an owner of a Valdegan iron bloomery ran off with the daughter of the mayor of Broken Hill.

Monkey Run- A village of 120 with a garrison of 15. 100% of the population has adopted the New Awakening philosophy and the community distrusts outsiders, even outsiders that are associated with New Awakening. Even if the players can make themselves into a convincing group of New Awakening adherents, the residents of Monkey Run will question them mercilessly and will probably discover the players’ duplicity. Even if they don’t have evidence that they players are not New Awakening members, they may make the evidence up.
The one thing about Monkey Run that players may find to be an opportunity, though, is that Monkey Run maintains almost no communications with the greater New Awakening network. If Monkey Run were to be captured or destroyed, it would be weeks before New Awakening leadership learned of it.
Note: There is a small clan (about 25) of escaped Monkey Boys that live in the trees of the forests around Monkey Run. They generally avoid New Awakening and the town.

Mountain Home- Town of 2100, controlled by Nabob Robert Walls, a 2nd degree priest. N.A. garrison of 130. About 10% of the inhabitants of Mountain Home have converted to the New Awakenings ideology and they generally enjoy their lot in life. For the rest of the community, Nabob Walls enforces a hard order that can see a resident killed for the most minor infraction.
Because the community is so well controlled, it would be hard to infiltrate it. However, Mountain Home is relatively isolated from other New Awakening communities and it is not unusual for soldiers and member of other New Awakening communities to travel through Mountain Home on their way to another location or outpost. The transients would need the correct papers though (perhaps a good forger could help the players out…).

Sevierville- NA staging area in preparation to take Valdega. 100 civilian NA personnel and 100 NA soldiers. These represent the most elite troops within New Awakening that are staged outside of the main base, and almost every member of this force has psychic abilities or magical capabilities. Every member of the Sevierville community is a New Awakening member and they know each other by sight. Players will probably be challenged and attacked if they attempt to infiltrate or even make contact with the Sevierville team. The Sevierville group is managed by a 5th degree priest named Jalin Kelly, a level 7 Psi-Slayer.

Eureka Springs- A staging area for NA. 100 NA civilians and 100 NA soldiers. This force will block any attack from the north and will support troops in Sevierville. While the troops here are not quite as skilled or adept as the troops in Sevierville, they are still a formidable force. They are led by the 3rd degree Deacon Randy Prichard, a level 7 Mercenary.

Fairview- Fairview resisted NA and was destroyed. It also happened to be relatively close to the New Awakening secret headquarters, so that may have had something to do with why it is a ghost town now.

Hardyville- Hardyville is one of the most heavily fortified towns under NA control. The population is about 2750 and it has a 300-man garrison with an additional 200 NA soldiers operating out of the airfield to the north. About 20% of the civilian population adheres to the New Awakenings philosophy.
The airfield makes Hardyville very important to NA operations because it supports the dirigibles and hovercyles that NA relies upon to prosecute their takeover of the Ozarks region.
Hardyville is managed by a Nabob named Gunner Frank, a tier 1 Bishop in the New Awakenings organization. Gunner knew James Lunger personally and he was a soldier in the forces Lunger commanded in the first war between the Coalition and the Federation of Magic in 12 P.A. Lunger is one of the only surviving members of this original group, and he is the only member to have survived this long that has not had the benefit of magical powers. Instead, Lunger, after suffering severe injuries during the war with the C.S., became a full conversion borg. Despite the technology and several upgrades and modifications (thanks to the cyberdocs in Newtown in the late 90’s PA), Lunger is starting to show his age and his mental health is deteriorating. He holds considerable power in the Arkansas branch of New Awakenings, and he occasionally proves a thorn in Bradford’s side as Bradford seeks to move forward with the greater New Awakenings strategy.
So far, Bradford has determined it is best to isolate Lunger and attempt to ensure Lunger has no ability to negatively affect New Awakening’s current operations. Hardyville has, in effect, become Lunger’s own little fief with the airfield and supply dumps to the north of Hardyville operating independently of the rest of the Hardyville community under the command of Deacon Garret Long, a level 6 TechnoWizard that reports directly to Stoddard.
The airfield hosts 200 NA soldiers and maintains a permanent force of 30 hovercycles of various makes. There is a 10% chance at any given time that the Hardyville Airfield will have two of the three dirigibles on site and another 15% chance that only one dirigible will be on site. When one or more dirigibles is on site, there will be an additional 40-80 soldiers at the airfield and an additional 20 hovercycles. The relative remoteness of the airfield and the fact that it is used to repair and refit the dirigibles means that it has become the location of a significant supply dump for New Awakenings.
Because of the nature of Lunger’s haphazard management and the disconnect between Lunger’s forces and Deacon Long’s forces, as well as the population’s resistance toward the New Awakening ideology, Hardyville represents a good opportunity to infiltrate New Awakening. It would be possible to secure official papers from a member of Lunger’s staff (provided the right skills and saves are made), that legitimize the players as members of New Awakening.

Jasper- Jasper is a very small village of about 50 residents. It has a small, 10-man garrison. It sits on the southern banks of the Buffalo river and 100% of the population are members of New Awakening. There is a small lumber industry in Jasper, as well as a whiskey manufacturer. The lumber industry produces oak barrels that are used in the production of whiskey.

Lost Valley State Park- Local NA base for Arkansas where dirigibles are normally housed. Highly defensible. TW workshop. 250 soldiers at Lost Valley. Total population includes an additional 250 civilian family members and 250 slaves. There are 5 air launched cruise missiles contained on the base.
TW ALCM-
Primary Purpose: Strategic Deterrence
Secondary Purpose: Anti-City/Stronghold
Mega-Damage: Everything within 500-foot (152m) radius of ground zero suffers (1D4+2) x 100 M.D. 6D6x10 M.D. to everything within a 1-mile radius immediately surrounding area.
Effective Range: 170 miles (270 km).
The area is well-defended, with guard towers positioned so that virtually every avenue of approach is guarded.
Camp Ponca- Camp Ponca is a large prison camp to the north of the Lost Valley. There are 60 guards at the camp and 350 prisoners, mostly technically skilled and highly valuable prisoners including members of the LineHauler crew. If the players are captured, they are likely to go to Ponca for convenience or Lionhold. Camp Ponca has an interrogation center staffed by ten interrogators in addition to the 60 guards. The camp is run by 5th degree priest Alverz Nunez (level 4 Mind Bleeder)

Camp Lionhold- Camp Lionhold is a prison camp with nearly 400 prisoners. Most of these prisoners are not valuable as labor and they include a large number of D-Bees that are held for their PPE reserve (New Awakening is not above the sacrifice of sentient beings) and women that are held prior to becoming concubines. Dangerous criminals and enemies might be held here as well. There are 80 guards and there is a small team of 5 mages that conduct experiments and build technowizard devices. The camp is run by 4th degree Priest Tumdid Nurargor (level 8 Dwarven Necromancer)

Burrows- Burrows is under martial law because they population is highly resistant to New American philosophy. The population is only 175, but the town used to be three times as big. Now most of the residents have been shipped off to prison camps. There is no Nabob in Burrows, just a tier 2 Deacon, Elton Britson (Level 5 Crazy) that is attempting to control the remaining population with this crew of 25 soldiers. He grows frustrated daily as everything he has tried so far has failed to bring the residents to heel.
Jasper- Jasper is a very small village of about 50 residents. It has a small, 10-man garrison. It sits on the southern banks of the Buffalo river and 100% of the population are members of New Awakening. There is a small lumber industry in Jasper, as well as a whiskey manufacturer. The lumber industry produces oak barrels that are used in the production of whiskey.

Grand Gap- Grand Gap is a small town numbering 300 residents and it has a New Awakenings garrison of 25 soldiers. The local Nabob is a tier 4 Exorcist named Thomas White (level 7 Mercenary). 100% of the population has adopted the New Awakening philosophy, and infiltrating this town is nearly impossible. However, players that have legitimate or well-forged documentation indicating they are members or soldiers with New Awakening will be accepted.

Smyrna - Smyrna was previously a D-Bee town populated by nearly 600 Cactus People and Fenodii. Half of the residents were killed in New Awakening’s initial assault of the town and the other half were marched off to prison camps. New Awakening doesn’t have much use for Cactus People.

Garvin- Garvin is a fairly large town that is solidly in the New Awakening camp. All 1000 residents of the town are members of New Awakening. While the town is solidly New Awakening, the group still keeps a large contingent of 200 soldiers on site, mostly to protect the “pharmaceutical” industry of the town.
The greatest bulk of the industry is dedicated to the cultivation of marijuana and the production of marijuana consumption devices as well as the production of Psi-Cola. Garvin may not have been the originator of Psi-Cola, but they sure produce a lot of it! The town also produces ginseng, aspirin, amaranth, belladonna, white clover, ergot fungus (LSD), Jimsonweed, Mandrake Root, Oak, Willow, and Wormwood. Garvin is home to a level 8 Herbalist and his three apprentices as well as a level 6 Scathach. These individuals are not transplants from England. Rather, they are the descendants of ancient pagans that immigrated to America in the early 1800’s and continued to faithfully practice their faith and occupation, passing it to each generation, successfully surviving the coming of the rifts.
There is a new bottling company in town that is capable of producing knock-offs of Triax energy drinks as well, and a newly arrived level 8 Rogue Scientist has just set up shop in town and is merrily producing his own versions of the designer drugs found in Juicer Uprising and Triax/NGR.
The residents of Garvin sell products throughout the region, but they are doing significant business among the refugees of Cactus Prairie!

Cactus Prairie- Cactus Prairie is a huge shantytown that borders Lake Dardanelle. Most of its 8,000 residents are refugees from the Juicer Uprising and, more recently refugees from Tolkeen or D-Bees fleeing the CS in El Dorado or just rural folks trying to escape New Awakenings.
The community is plagued with disease and starvation is rampant. There is no economy to speak of and abuses are common.
The town is not controlled by New Awakening and New Awakening has no intent to attempt to take the town (nothing there is particularly valuable). The chaos Cactus Prairie can inject into the plans of the powers in El Dorado and Little Rock, though, are very valuable to New Awakening.
New Awakening regularly sends spies and agitators into the communities and occasionally supplies the rabble with the weapons that might allow them to threaten CS troops or other communities in the area.

Smilax- Smilax was completely destroyed by New Awakening and the town is garrisoned by a platoon of soldiers that post a sentry in one of the last standing buildings, the church steeple.

Cauldron- Cauldron was the beginning of New Awakenings power in the Arkansas region. Members of New Awakening have been part of the community since PA 15 and have controlled the local churches for generations. Cauldron provided a great community for the local New Awakening cell to grow in; close to the various kingdoms and communities in Little Rock.
Cauldron has 2100 inhabitants all of whom are 100% loyal to New Awakening. Most of these are dependents of New Awakening Soldiers and leaders, but there is a contingent of 100 New Awakening troopers that keep the town safe. These are some of the most able troops within New Awakening outside of the forces at Lost Valley and the forces preparing for the invasion of Valdega.

Riggs- Riggs is a town of 400 residents and it is controlled by New Awakenings. The town has been in the New Awakenings fold for more than a year, and nearly 70% of the residents are members of New Awakening and, overall, the town is fairly loyal to the New Awakening philosophy.
Fifty members of the New Awakening security force secure Riggs and help ensure its loyalty. The town is administered by Nabob Devin Lose, and, as a 3rd degree deacon (level 5 Rogue Scholar and major psychic), he is fairly high in the New Awakenings Hierarchy and he has nominal control of most New Awakenings forces in and around Riggs.
If the players attempt to infiltrate Riggs they will be immediately recognized as a non-resident and they will be questioned. The residents of Riggs tend to be on edge due to regular attacks coming from the inhabitants of Half-Mile Caverns.

Calico- Calico is a small community of 150 residents that has a New Awakenings garrison of 25 security force members. Calico does not have its own Nabob as Devin Lose fills that role. While Calico is not exceptionally loyal to the New Awakening philosophy, players will find it hard to infiltrate the community due to its small size and the fact that most residents just want to be left alone and have not suffered under New Awakening control.

Half-Mile Caverns- The 60-70 inhabitants of Half-Mile Caverns are men, women, and children that have fled New Awakening control. They are led by Anna Kaus, a level 6 Super-Spy Mutant; her powers are Chameleon and Lightning Reflexes. She is assisted by her partner, Harlan Winters, a level 8 Superspy with the powers of Natural Combat Ability and Healing Factor. There are several other fighters here as well (none exceeding 5th level and all equipped with very basic equipment).
New Awakening attacked the caverns just a few months ago and believes that the explosives that detonated the entrance has trapped the inhabitants inside, but there are at least two other entrances that New Awakening does not know about.

Hebron- Hebron is a town of 280 that was only just recently absorbed by New Awakening. In fact, it was at Hebron that Sergeant Witherspoon witnessed the dirigible attack. Even though the New Awakening troops have controlled the town for a couple of weeks, there are several resistors. New Awakenings has garrisoned the town with a full contingent of 100 soldiers that the Nabob appointed to the town is the experienced David Simmons, a tier 4 priest (level 7 Temporal Warrior) that has ambitions that don’t necessarily include New Awakening. Twenty-eight of the soldiers assigned to him are personally loyal to him. Simmons has, in the course of his travels, secured an interesting magical device. The device, a ring similar (but less powerful) to the Nine Rings of Elder. This ring, known as the Ring of the Gray Eminence, is a rune weapon of tremendous power. When wearing this ring, the wearer will find that they the spells they cast cost 3/4 of the PPE they normally do, 50% longer, and have 50% more range, duration, and effect. The wearer can also convert HP into PPE at a rate of 1 HP per 3 PPE and PPE recovers twice as fast. Finally, the wearer of the ring is +3 to save vs. Magic and it +3 to magic strength.
While some rune weapons corrupt, few corrupt as fully and completely as the Ring of the Gray Eminence. The being in the ring derives pleasure living vicariously through the exploits of the wearer, and he is constantly pushing the wearer to take additional risks, perpetrate greater and more depraved acts, and gather more and more power.

Sugar Loaf- Unlike most towns in the region, Sugar Loaf is not under New Awakening control. Its only a matter of time, though! Sugar Loaf residents are aware that New Awakening is gobbling up the other towns in the area, but they feel invincible! The community of 700 (their numbers have swollen in recent months) live on Sugar Loaf Mountain in Greer’s Ferry lake. The island mesa is very defensible and almost all residents of Sugar Loaf participate in the defense of the island against external threats. Still, the arms and munitions available to the defenders are highly limited (only about 30 MD rifles) and almost none of the defenders have access to armor (though the bunkers established on the island do offer MD protection).

BayBay- BayBay is a New Awakening outpost established to keep an eye on C.S. forces at Pine Bluff and to defend against encroachment by monsters from the No Man’s Land. There are 200 civilian residents (mostly dependents and support staff for the Soldiers) and 200 soldiers. The “Nabob” at this location is really just the military commander on site, a tier 3 priest named Dominick Higdon (level 7 psychic Wilderness Scout).

Rosehill- Rosehill is a fairly large town of 700 residents. Few of the residents have adopted New Awakening philosophy, but when their lawman was killed and when a dozen of their women were taken (the daughters of town leaders) the town lost its will to resist. There are only 60 New Awakening soldiers securing the town, but it is unlikely that the town will offer any significant resistance. Nabob Max Caraway, a tier 1 Cantor, is trying his best to make his way up the New Awakening ranks. He rules violently and regularly assaults the female residents of the town and encourages his troops to do the same when the townsfolk get out of line.

Do-It- Do-It is a town that has been under the sway of New Awakenings for quite some time. Most of the 1200 inhabitants are eager participants in the New Awakenings doctrine. The town is fairly large and dispersed, and there have been quite a few groups traveling through the town, so the players can get lost in it fairly easily. Because New Awakenings considers the town relatively secure, there is only a garrison of 25 soldiers. The local “nabob” is a up and coming Tier 5 Acolyte that is a level 4 psi-slinger.

Garrett’s Hollow- Garett’s Hollow is pretty small with only 100 residents. The residents do not adhere to the principles and philosophies of New Awakening, but they don’t mind paying tribute to the group so long as the status quo in the community is maintained. Nabob Jessie Walthrop, a tier 2 Lector, controls the 15 soldiers in the community, and the soldiers have become so lax that they have begun to treat Garrett’s Hollow as a party town. Walthrop sends in a daily report to New Awakening headquarters, and a 5-man patrol goes to Washita twice a week for supplies, but the rest of the day the men spend drinking and gambling.
Washita- Washita is a New Awakening outpost of 25 soldiers that keeps an eye on the happenings in Summit. They are also available to act on anything Acolyte Thurgood or Exorcist Lewis discover, and they can move to support those New Awakening agents should the need arise.

Summit- Summit is a large town of 3,200 of mixed human and D-Bee inhabitants that is not aligned with New Awakenings, but there are New Awakenings informants and agents all over the town.
Summit is notable because there are two riverboat companies and two overland transport companies that operate out of Summit transporting goods between Kansas and the Mississippi River. The Arkansas River Company actually runs all the way into Oklahoma. It has a major competitor in Heartland River Transport, but Heartland primarily focuses on transport between Fort Jericho and the Mississippi River. For that run, the Arkansas River Company relies on contractors. The town is the location of the headquarters of Delivery Express, a smaller overland shipping company, as well as hub of Consolidated Logistics. Consolidated Logistics is a large company that often carries bulk goods between trade partners and has even contracted with large mercenary companies to provide full logistical support; in Arkansas, this normally means oil, natural gas, or lumber.
Delivery Express takes smaller contracts for more specialized and, often, more valuable or expensive goods. Delivery Express has been the target of bandit attacks along the Arkansas River recently and it looks like the company may have to close its doors. Delivery Express is looking into building a rail line between Fort Jericho and Little Rock, but the project, so far, is too capital intensive and would take too long to complete to be a viable alternative to their current operations. Previously, Delivery Express ran two runs a day between Summit and Little Rock. Now, Delivery Express runs only one, much larger, convoy every three days between Summit and Little Rock, and the convoy is guarded by three Titan Robots and five Titan Power Armor systems. Since the larger convoys began, there have been two unsuccessful attempts at robbery, but it is definitely cutting into Delivery Express’ bottom line. Consolidated Logistics has been attacked as well, but only when it is operating a small convoy. In all cases, the attackers appear to be military or paramilitary forces and often use magic during their assaults. This is a clue that the attackers are unlikely to be associated with the Pecos Empire. As of now, Fort Jericho and the company executives believe the perpetrators are most likely Retribution Squads from Tolkeen. (In truth, it is elements of New Awakening trying to capture supplies and information as well as disrupt the communities in the area).
At one point, there was a small air-freight company, Powerlifters Inc., operating out of Summit that was partially owned by Delivery Express. Starting a year and a half ago, the four helicopters operated by Powerlifters began to be attacked regularly by bandits operating hovercycles. In the year and a half since the attacks began, three of the four helicopters have been destroyed. The business could not be profitable. While the former owner still maintains the helicopter, he doesn’t move freight (though he may be persuaded to transport passengers if the pay is good and the risk is low).
As mentioned previously, now even the riverboats are under attack. These attacks are seriously damaging the economy of the town and disrupting operations in Fort Jericho.
Still, Summit has a relatively vibrant economy compared to the surrounding communities (that doesn’t say much!). Local farmers and artisans sell their goods in Summit’s markets and most finished goods from Northern Gun, Chi-Town, or other places on the continent can be found occasionally. There are two New Awakenings operatives in Summit in addition to the normal network of informants, allies, and adherents. The first is a tier 3 Acolyte named Vince Thurgood, a level 5 City Rat that acts as the Dockmaster for the town. The second is a tier 4 Exorcist, Henry Lewis, a level 8 mercenary, that is a shift commander on the city guard.
The City Guard acts as a combined police force and military with 225 members. In addition to command and support staff, the guard has five shifts of 35 guardsmen (level 2-4 mercenaries in Plasti-man armor wielding Wilk’s pistols and rifles) that run six hour shifts. The guard also maintains an “elite” 20-man SWAT force that uses NG Gladius Exoskeletons and plasma launchers.

Valdega- The largest independent community in northwestern Arkansas. Valdega is a town of 2950 and has a militia of about 120 regulars and 120 reservists as well as a hired force of 30 mercenaries. Valdega has a lot of potential; there are several light industries in Valdega and, with the right know-how, Valdega could be turned into a pretty major powerhouse in the Ozark region. There is a bloomery, blast furnace and forge that produces cast iron and cast-iron products, and there are minerals operations that mine coal, sand, and iron concretions for use in the production of the cast iron. The community also has a vibrant pottery industry.
Many of the buildings in and around Valdega are framed in cast iron and cast-iron cookware from Valdega can be found throughout North America.
Valdega is building a new HIsarna Smelting plant that will enable the town to produce decent quality steel and iron for other applications. The smelter is about 80% built and will enable the mined coal in Valdega to not be coked.
Valdega’s pottery industry is beginning to be industrialized and some investors have put money towards several new initiatives including the creation of ceramic armor and heat resistant materials.

Bradley’s Junction- Bradley’s Junction sits on the junction of three roads, one that runs northwest 15 miles to Valdega, and one that runs south towards the Arkansas River, and one that runs northeast to Sevierville, first paralleling the White River. Bradley’s Junction is a strategically important location if New Awakening wants to attack Valdega from the south.
Bradley’s Junction is currently free, but New Awakening are eyeing this community closely. Currently, there are 300 residents in Bradley’s Junction. Including Bradley Wonder himself. Bradley is a 60-year old level 11 Cyberknight (retired). His close associate, Gatan Rulian, is a level 12 Amaki Duelist from New Babylon (South America). Gatan’s uncle, Remir Rulian, is an ancient (280 years old) Amaki Gizmoteer. The three of them settled in Bradley’s Junction more than twenty-five years ago and the community grew around them. While Bradley’s Junction is no Psyscape, it is quite a thriving community of psychics (50% of the residents exhibit at least minor psionic abilities) and Bradley, Gatan, and Ramir have mentored dozens of psychics and warriors. Those psychics and warriors regularly return to share what they have discovered during their travels.
Bradley’s Junction is probably the foremost location in North America to see unusual psionic-related oddities. In fact, Bradley maintains a museum, the Museum of Psychic Discovery that contains several unique psychic items including a Psylite power crown (treat as an augmenting helmet) and a standard augmenting helmet as well as a display with four one-pound crystals of psylite. There is a CS Psionic Weapon Gauntlet on display along with TK limbs and a CS Psi-Damper Helmet and a CS Psi-Scanner. For the most part, though, the Museum of Psychic Discovery is really just a glorified armory for the psychic-related items the group has collected over the years.
Other items include:
-A black body suit that is empowered with the psychic powers psychic bodyfield (140 MDC) and psychic invisibility.
-three pairs of goggles empowered with settings for nightvision, See Aura, See the Invisible
-A lead sap empowered with deaden senses
-Telekinetic infantry railgun (1D4x10 MD, 10 shots for 20 ISP, 2000’ range)
-A mocked-up Juicer’s Bio-Comp System with sixth sense and intuitive combat (ISP 12, lasts 25 melee rounds-1 for sixth sense and 24 for intuitive combat/6 minutes, all bonuses of intuitive combat)
-A cloak empowered with Mask ISP and Psionics and Mask PPE at level 14.
-A handheld sensor/computer that Reads Dimensional Portals
-A mirror empowered with remote viewing
-A magnetically attached device that enables Telemechanic Possession.
-Medical assessment and treatment device that has various settings that allow for Psychic Diagnosis, Psychic Purification, Stop Bleeding, Increase Healing, Deaden Pain, and Psychic Surgery.
-Biomanipulation staff
-6 Telepathy Headsets
-30 assorted weapons modified to run on ISP
In addition to Bradley, Gatan, and Remir (all old men that have seen their physical attributes, NOA, and combat bonuses reduced by 25%) the town has up to 12 (2D6) other defenders that will protect it if it is attacked. Half of these will be master psychics (level 3-5) and the other half will be men-at-arms (level 4-7).
Bradley’s Junction will be attacked within 48 hours of the players
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taalismn
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Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by taalismn »

I love this...I really do...it gives my trade-expansionist Greater New England territory maps to explore and run afoul of.
Great job here! :bandit:
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
shadrak
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Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by shadrak »

Thanks...it's not anything special...

I am about to work on one for Alabama/Florida and for the western edge of the Shemarrian Nation as well as one for Texas.

They take a little bit of time and they aren't comprehensive, but they should create a cross between an adventure path adventure and the ability to practice some real sandbox play during and after the completion of the objectives.

Also, I am hoping to integrate some of the other worldbook, sourcebook, and dimension book features so that you don't have to go all the way to the Three Galaxies to get access to some of the cool stuff there, but you also won't be inundated with players that have phase weaponry.
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Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by shadrak »

I have a lot of ideas that are similar to scenarios I remember playing when I was a pre-teen in the early '90s for other game systems.

I don't have a gaming group established right now, but I am trying to create a few modules and scenarios for when I have some people over and I will be making some smaller ones as well...

I remember a scenario from an old RPG where there was a city between the USSR and Western Europe where various espionage and illicit networks interacted. I am thinking I will try to go from my memory to create a small town on the Great Lakes (maybe that Kingdom of Pirates?)
Network 1: A group that is helping non-humans and mages escape to Lazlo.
Network 2: A group that is helping humans escape from the eastern seaboard to the Coalition.
Network 3: Network 1 is compromised and when a particularly valuable mage or non-human comes in, this network "steals" them and sells the mage/non-human to the highest bidder (Coalition, friends in Lazlo/Federation of Magic, Splugorth).
Network 4: A theft ring operating in the city with thieves and fences
Network 5: Black market sales operations
Network 6: Illegal gambling operation
Network 7: Information broker that has some information on the on-goings of all other networks as well as what is happening in C.S./Lazlo/Federation of Magic/etc.
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taalismn
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Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by taalismn »

shadrak wrote:Also, I am hoping to integrate some of the other worldbook, sourcebook, and dimension book features so that you don't have to go all the way to the Three Galaxies to get access to some of the cool stuff there, but you also won't be inundated with players that have phase weaponry.



Have some of the early and enthusiastic traders from the Three Galaxies being flimflam artists or minor arms dealers who were pushed out by Naruni(and other big corps)...Their wares may initially have the same stats as the regular 3G weapons, but the new owners will soon discover that the fancy powerful high-tech will begin to break down or fail spectacular, most notably once out of range of the original seller. This could be because the stuff is out of date(for the 3g), experimental, or just plain crap that was sold with a demo using carefully orchestrated special effects. Of course, the stuff is just advanced enough to require spare parts that aren't available on Rifts Earth, but if one is lucky, the technology of the equipment might be analyzed and a good local Operator or weapons lab could reverse-engineer a close approximation of the weapon, and the shorted buyer could make up their loss selling/trading the rights for manufacture.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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SolCannibal
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Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by SolCannibal »

The thing about the Highest and the Schemer makes me think a bit of the "Lost Ones RCC" described in Rifts: Mercenaries, through the background of Dreamer, of the Demonbusters merc company. Might be of interest for you to check out, i guess.
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Re: Traversing our Dangerous World

Unread post by Warshield73 »

This looks like great stuff, I especially love the encounter tables. I hope I have a chance to use some of this in the near future.
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