The desert (A.K.A the wasteland) is just as formidable as it was before the holocaust. In addition to the lack of water and the fierce heat, there are reports of radiation zones that have melted the flesh of unwary travelers. Along with the irradiated human element—left-over biker gangs, rabid survivalists, crazed religious zealots—all sorts of mutant animals make their home in the desert. Some say that traveling in the desert nowadays without an experienced guide is plain suicidal. Main Locations: 1. Agricultural center: A former satellite center in Arizona survived the destruction of the Great War. Its crew left the installation shortly after the nuclear war and joined farmers, forming an agricultural station. In doing so, all security and electronic countermeasures were disabled. In the time since the Center became involved in developing means to increase crop yields, it has suffered an animal invasion led by Harry the rabbit farmer in 2087. Despite this, the Center is responsible for most of the food supply lines, particularly the food supply of the Ranger Citadel, throughout Arizona. Center is an agricultural commune. The settlement is protected by a high wall of adobe bricks and barbed wire on top. In front of the two vegetable fields there is a trading post made of aluminum. 2. Base Cochise: Cochise was originally named Sleeper Two and was a twin facility of Sleeper One under the directorship of Irwin John Finster. It was here that the Cochise AI was born after Major Harrison Edsel was transferred in 1984, out of Finster's AI designs and Edsel's electronics acumen. Having suffered a direct nuclear hit in the Great War, the base's surface facilities have been all but ruined, but the main dome and the base underneath have survived. Among the fragments of old buildings destroyed by the nuclear blast, the reinforced concrete dome that served as the entrance to the base stood tall. Protected by roof-mounted gun pods and titanium doors, it was the source of the threat posed by the robots that sought to destroy all life on the wasteland. The base was finally destroyed by the Rangers in 2087, when the Cochise AI attempted to gather an army of robots and take over the wasteland. 3. Darwin: Darwin Village is surrounded by a radiation belt. In fact, the only safe way to visit Darwin Village is to use a hazmat suit or bypass through the mountains from the north. Darwin Village is a good place to shop and experience for future adventurers. The village has two stores, a doctor, a library, laboratories and a bar. One of the stores is a black market, where you can get almost any gun or armor. To enter the market you need to know a special password. 4. Guardian Citadel: A pre-War military launch facility and air base, the Citadel is one of the most heavily fortified locations in the wasteland. Surrounded by tall fortifications out of dark concrete and carved into the living rock of the mountain, it became a prized piece of real estate. The group that claimed it and ultimately prevailed were the Guardians of the Old Order, who set up shop within and have been hoarding technology since the nuclear holocaust. It was only in 2087 that they were evicted (with overwhelming firepower) by the Desert Rangers. The Guardian Citadel became the Ranger Citadel. 5. Highpool: Originally a reservoir and water treatment plant, with a nearby summer camp, Highpool's remote and altitude allowed society of sorts to continue after the bombs fell, as the children and adults present at Camp Highpool realized they had nowhere to go. As the area was located in a sheltered valley, with its own source of water and readily available infrastructure, it became a small, yet thriving wasteland community. Its key asset is the water purifier, taking water from the lake and purifying it, allowing Highpool to provide the Arizona Wasteland with the most reliable and abundant source of fresh water in the region. The arable soil and large-scale farming are just the cherry on top. The lake itself is an artificial reservoir created by the dam and sustains a vibrant ecosystem, including red-tailed hawks. The valley Highpool itself rests in is bounded by limestone cliffs, dotted with seashells and worm tracks. Some commotion happened in 2087 when a group of Desert Rangers came through Highpool. They assisted the population by repairing the water purifier the town's economy depended on at the time, but gained the town settlers' ire after their dealings with Bobby. Bobby had asked the Desert Rangers to help him find his missing dog Rex. The Desert Rangers found the dog in an underground cave network but were forced to put the dog down when they discovered it had caught rabies and and became hostile to their presence. Bobby did not react well to this resolution and tried to attack the Rangers who might have overreacted to the young man's hostility by returning fire. Soon after the Rangers left Highpool to continue their adventures in the wasteland but the inhabitants would carry on the memories of that day, causing a general dislike of the Desert Rangers. 6. Las Vegas: No one is quite sure how the Soviet missiles managed to miss the city, but most folks figure it was because the “house” was betting against a missile landing – and no one wins against the house. There was an international rumor about some Russian general’s markers being torn up after the attack, but that has yet to be confirmed. Undaunted by its brush with perdition, Vegas is still open for business and does very well for itself. The city is large enough to avoid conquest, and many elements of the desert rabble have even found gainful employment as enforcers or casino employees. Despite the relative success of the city, Vegas became a battlezone in 2087, with its citizens fighting a desperate battle against the robots from Cochise Base to preserve their city and their own lives. The destruction of Base Cochise brought back peace and quiet, allowing it to prosper. 7. Mine shaft: Some pre-holocaust miner has hewn a tunnel into the living rock of the mountain. Now the smell tells you it is home for many desert creatures. Right at the entryway is an old shack made of weather beaten adobe with walls been baked by the sun to be harder then steel. The door is of rotting wood and rusting iron. 8. Needles: Needles, before the war, was a medium size town with an adjacent major military base within city limits. The city was near an ICBM missile silo and the corresponding missile storage base. The city became a high priority target for the Russian-Chinese invasion and came under heavy attack from the invading forces(the silo crew managed to launch, though, and destroyed the launch room with explosives afterwards). While the invasion was repelled, most of the US forces were destroyed in the process, Needles was wrecked, the military bases heavily damaged and the nuclear fallout was coming. Needles military contingent was mostly evacuated, and military supplies left behind, including a military howitzer. The flood that occurred when the Hoover Dam was hit contributed to this. Years passed and slowly prosperity came back to Needles. A powerful police force was established to control crime in Needles, operating out of the abandoned military base. Mostly ex-military personnel, they rebuilt most of the base and established attack cop squadrons. The local leather jerk gang is kept in check by the attack cops, however, occasionally, they cause trouble for the local citizens or outsiders, but are quickly pacified. It is big enough to defend itself against roving bandits, but a few religious cults have managed to find their way here. Currently, the locals are a bit xenophobic, don't really like strangers that much, but but they’ve welcomed Desert Rangers in the past and are always willing to trade goods with them. As of 2089, Needles is bigger than Quartz. Aside from the flood that resulted when Hoover Dam was hit, life has not changed much in Needles. Needles is big enough to defend itself from roving bandits. However, it has become home to a couple of odd cults. 9. Quartz: A small town that was hit hard by nuclear attacks but managed to survive. Despite being far away from major military installations, this small settlement suffered from earthquakes and radioactive fallout. However, Quartz quickly returned to normal life. 10. Former Ranger Center: The federal prison, located deep in the Nevada desert, equipped with manufacturing facilities for self-sufficiency, where prisoners awaited their sentences. During the nuclear war in 1998, the prison had new owners, U.S. military engineers. The military who occupied the prison did not treat its inhabitants with ceremony: all prisoners were expelled to the desert. The engineers quickly converted the production system to their needs and renamed the place the Ranger Center. Over time, the inhabitants of the surrounding settlements were invited to join the Rangers, and the population of the Center began to grow steadily. By 2087 it was one of the most prosperous settlements in the wastes. After the fall of Cochise AI and the conquest of the Guardian Citadel, the prison was emptied by the Rangers and the headquarters transferred to the newly vacant wasteland real estate. As of 2089, the place is abandoned. 11. Savage Village: The high village wall is made with adobe bricks, junk metal, car parts and cement slabs found in the desert. The Savage Village is home to a tribe of desert scavengers who make a living - and their homes - using the junk and other scrap found throughout the desert of Nevada. Led by the Junk Master, the scavs keep mostly to themselves, although they keep tabs on the outside world. 12. Sleeper Base: The Sleeper One military base is located in northern Arizona, built into a lonely mountain overlooking one of the few surviving rivers in the United States after the War, concealed from prying eyes. As such, someone must know the exact location of Sleeper Base to enter it. The base was commanded by Colonel John Smith before he was transferred to Sleeper Two (Base Cochise) as commanding officer). Before the base was abandoned, the base was used for research and development of exotic technologies, such as energy weapons, cloning (chief researcher: Captain Andrea Mills, a Nobel prize winner) and experimental biological armors. After the war broke out, the personnel abandoned the base, ransacking most of its supplies and weapons. The base's personnel had a long-running rivalry with Dr. Irwin John Finster of Project Darwin. Minor locations: 1. Los Angeles: Overgrown with lush vegetation, the deadly ruins of L.A. stretch for miles. 2. Miami: Florida's main urban center, Miami, took a secondary nuclear salvo and was reduced nearly to rubble. The survivors soon split into factions and the former resort city is now something like a latter-day Beirut, but with better dance music. In this fractious atmosphere, with its Byzantine assortment of groups, sub-groups, splinter groups, gangs, sects, mobs, cults, cells, associations, conspiracies, and raiding parties, only one force seeks to restore law, order, and cohesion: Miami Police. 3. Various small settlements near scarce water sources - wells, springs and watering holes, ruined roads and highways preserved from pre-war times. 4. Abandoned military facilities and bunkers. Abandoned cities, some areas of which are completely lifeless due to heavy radiation. 5. Individual intact buildings/settlements clustered around scarce resources. 6. Evidence of past battles - burned out vehicles, skeletons, spent ammunition. Main Characters: 1) Desert Rangers: 1. Hell Razor: Born in 2060 on October 20th, Hell Razor was a member of the ranger team along with Snake Vargas, Angela Deth and Thrasher that invaded and destroyed Base Cochise. He was notable for his berserker combat style and desert survival skills, complementing the team's skill loadout. His brash manner and lack of self-control didn't endear Vargas to him at first, but ultimately, it worked out for all of them. It helped that Razor was a Ranger to the bone, a soldier who could never live anywhere else but the battlefield. After Cochise fell, Razor just took his rifle, a pack of smokes, and went out on another patrol. After Angela Deth was promoted to lead Team Alpha, Razor stayed with her for a while before becoming a lone wolf and one of Vargas' most dependable operatives. Though he could go dark for weeks, he always returned with results. 2. Angela Deth: Born in 2067 on August 21st, Angela Deth hails from a strict religious community near the southern edge of the Arizona Wastes. When she entered her teenage years, she rebelled against everything the community stood for, almost ending up in the grave. She found the Desert Rangers after she woke up in their drunk tank one day. She joined them and has never looked back again. 3. Thrasher: Born in 2041 on November 8th, A bona fide giant among Rangers, the 6'6 (2 cm shy of two meters), Thrasher has been Snake Vargas' strongest and most powerful team mate by far. He preferred melee combat by far, the kind of man who brought fists to a knife fight and knives to a gun fight. He was part of Ranger Team Alpha that invaded Base Cochise and paid dearly for it: He was severely wounded and eventually lost his leg despite treatment. Still, he considers it a bargain, since otherwise he would've been dead before thirty. 4. Snake Vargas: Born in 2051 on September 11th, Snake Vargas was one of the wildest, most fun-loving Rangers in the entire outfit, loving himself a good bar brawl and a scrape or two. However, he was also a capable Ranger in every aspect. He earned his nickname, Snake, for being a magnet for snakebites - and surviving them every time. Another explanation is that he was so cool under pressure as to seem cold-blooded. Vargas was the team leader of Team Alpha, responsible for defeating the Cochise AI in 2087. His leadership eventually earned him the position of General, after the previous Ranger commander, Surgrue, retired. Although calmer and more easy going, Vargas proved to be a razor sharp, cold-blooded leader when needed. 2) Agricultural center: 1. Matt Forestal: A lean, square-shouldered guy in a flannel shirt and jeans, Matt Forrestal is a former Desert Ranger, who has joined the agricultural center after he recuperated for a time there. He is well respected in the community as a solid, reliable leader who focuses the efforts of the entire facility. 3) Darwin: 1. Dr. Jekyll: Owner of a hospital on the east side of the Darwin Trail in the village of Darwin. 4) Las Vegas: 1. Faran Brygo: An exception among ambitious wastelanders, Brygo never wanted power or control over a government. Brygo simply wanted a comfortable life and wealth, but to achieve that goal, he had to participate in power games and establish a stable, civil society with disposable income. Never holding formal office in his native Las Vegas, Brygo thrived in the anarchic town, ensuring that the city was well-governed and well-policed while cashing in money from visitors coming into the city. His robust network of lieutenants was headed by Max, an android who came in one day from the wasteland and proved to be an incredibly capable fighter - and when the first robotic monstrosities arrived in Vegas in 2087, a reliable source of information on them. Brygo sounded the alarm and dispatched Ace to gather help from outlying towns, as the people of Vegas survived under the ever-present threat of the robot menace and Faran himself escaped attempts on his life by Fat Freddy. Extinction events come and go, but politics remain the same. After Ace narrowly escaped his fate at the hands of Ugly John, he brought the Desert Rangers to aid the city, led by Angela Deth and Snake Vargas. Fighting through the robots, they allied themselves with Brygo, recovered Max - kidnapped by the machines - and consolidated his power. The city's prosperity followed once again. 2. Fat Freddy: Crime boss, who does not like to be told no. He has a habit of gassing those who do say it, and chucking them in jail. He also has a keen sense of humour as a boxing glove is ready to pop out of the wall, and into your face, should you give the wrong password when entering his den. Freddy is a morbidly obese man (as his nickname suggests) with short, black hair and a moustache and short facial hair on this chin, he is extremely pale, and his skin is described as "slimy" hinting some exposure to radiation (his foul odor described could also hint at this), he also wears a golden pendant, and wears a matching blue striped shirt and trousers that resembles a typical convict's outfit. He would like to see Faran Brygo dead. 5) Needles: 1. Doc Bob: Owner of a hospital in the Needles. 2. Spam Shade: primary investigator of the Needles police. 6) Quartz: 1. Mayor Pedros: Mayor of Quartz. 2. Ellen: Works in the Scott's Bar in Quartz. She supports her crippled daughter, Laurie, and is very flirtatious. 3. Laurie: Laurie is the 22-year old daugther of Ellen. She sits in a wheelchair and lives in room #18 at the Stage Coach Inn in Quartz. 7) Savage Village: 1. Junk Master: Ledaer of Savage Village. 2. Redhawk: Son of the Junk Master. 8) Cochise AI: The Cochise AI was the result of the research that was being done by the scientists at Base Cochise. It is an artificial intelligence, constructed by the United States Army in order to defend its territory before the the Soviet Union and their allies from Comintern Combine. Despite this, the computer gained self-awareness and determined that the threat to itself was mankind, so it arranged to create the Citadel Starstation and start the Great War to eliminate humanity. However some humans survived the apocalypse and the AI was imprisoned in its base, Cochise gained control over the base's systems and started making and taking control of robots. The AI was found later by the Guardians of the Old Order, who saw it as a god and created for him two synth bodies - Matthias and Dugan. Before the downloading was successful, The Desert Rangers found the AI after the Guardians and robots attacked Las Vegas in 2087. The Rangers Destroyed Cochise, The Guardians, and the place where Cochise's mutants were produced - Darwin village. However, parts of Cochise's mind survived beneath the walls of the base later known as Ranger Citadel. The remains of the AI's mind can be found in the surviving synths throughout the wasteland as incomplete fragments, however even if put together this would likely not be Cochise's totality. Factions: 1. Brygo Sindicate: The Brygo Syndicate, the most powerful of the criminal organizations formed after the nuclear war, was originally one of two major players vying for control of Las Vegas. By supplanting Fat Freddy and consolidating power Faran Brygo became the most feared and respected crime boss/casino owner/oligarch in Las Vegas. After a war with the Cochise AI in 2087, the Syndicate allied with the Desert Rangers. 2. Desert Rangers: The Desert Rangers started as the 253rd Engineer Battalion of the Arizona National Guard, who were deep in the Arizona deserts constructing roads and bridges on that fateful day when the bombs fell in March of 1998. Their isolation saved their lives, but could do nothing for their frightened, broken hearts. One can only imagine the horror they felt as they listened to reports of their home cities and states being obliterated one after the other on their radios. The engineers did not know how or why the nuclear war happened, no more than we do today, but their supplies, military training, and knowledge of the region gave them advantages over their fellow survivors during the apocalypse and the chaotic years that would follow. They commandeered a nearby federal prison, being welcomed as saviors by the few remaining prison guards, and in a show of mercy that might have perhaps been better if tempered by wisdom, the Rangers freed the prisoners into the desert. The prisoners survived, which lead to a volatile mix of survivors all living together in the wasteland - isolated farming communities, scientists from secretive research facilities, citizens of small towns just looking to get by, but opposite them were not just the rapidly mutating monsters of the desert, but equally monstrous humans, cultists and cannibals. Many of these threats were from the original prison population, as well as formerly law-abiding citizens who saw the end of the world as an excuse to abandon all of civilization's constraints. Faced with such villains, the army engineers could have hidden in the prison and lived only for their own survival, but they did not. Hearing the cries for help coming from distant radios, they invited many to join them behind their strong walls. They aided other, more established, towns, helping them build walls and protect their homes, training them in the arts of defense and war, and helping them develop into strong, stable communities. 3. Fredd's Gang: Run by Fat Freddy was located in Las Vegas where there headquarter is. Freddy's gang was rival Faction to Faran Brygo's gang. 4. Guardians of the Old Order: Fanatical sect entirely devoted to preserving and hoarding technology. Little is known about the history of the Guardians. What is known is that they are an incredibly hostile and aggressive group focused on accumulating all artifacts of the past they can lay their hands on. Since the War, they have developed a reputation for being a hostile group that wipes out everyone foolish enough to come into range of their guns. Their obsession with technology was exploited by the Cochise AI, who manipulated them into creating Matthias and Dugan in the laboratories below the Citadel, to provide it with a synthetic shell to inhabit. In 2087 Desert Rangers assaulted their fortress, the Guardian Citadel. Matthias and Dugan emerged from the ruins and fled to California, vowing vengeance against the Rangers, at any cost. 5. Leather Jerks: A loose conglomeration of gangers and neer-do-wells from Needles, the leather jerks were a perpetual blight on the landscape of the city until the Rangers came along. After they were done with the city, killing several jerks in the process, the Jerks saw the writing on the wall and moved out, away from the city. They journeyed westwards, through the radiation clouds, reaching Los Angeles. 6. Raiders: The usual desert raiders you find outside of cities. 7. Servants of the Mushroom Cloud: Religious organization led by Charmaine, that worships the nuclear holocaust as a holy event and nuclear energy as divine. They occupy the Las Vegas Nuclear Power Plant, maintaining it and providing electricity to the city (and possibly other outlying settlements). They are seeking to convert everyone in the wastes to their "poisonous religion", as Faran Brygo puts it. The Servants believe in the Great Glow that guides them (radiation) and worship Einstein, who gave the theory, and Oppenheimer, who gave the bomb. All members are singlemindedly focused on furthering the cause of the Mushroom Cloud and converting people in the wastes to follow them. Apart from human worshippers, the Servants also benefit from the services of Temple Guardians, blue-robed half-humans mutated by radiation poisoning that can make short work of any infidels... provided they're not Rangers, of course. Enemies: Robots, Street Punks, Bikers and Raiders, Mutants and Nomads.