Embedded Files
WARLORDS
In the fractured landscape of the Desolation, warlords have emerged as the default form of governance across much of the wasteland. These charismatic strongmen and women maintain control through varying combinations of fear, protection, and resource management. Some rule over small fiefdoms of a few dozen followers, while others command armies thousands strong, controlling vital trade routes or resource-rich territories. The most successful warlords understand that pure brutality has its limits—they balance terror with genuine protection, taking their cut while ensuring their subjects survive well enough to remain productive. Many are former military clones who escaped service, using their tactical training to carve out territories. Others rose from scavenger bands, their leadership proven through countless raids and battles. Their fortified compounds serve as the nuclei around which desperate communities gather, trading freedom for security in a world where the alternative is often a swift and violent death. Despite their regional power, most warlords maintain careful relationships with the greater powers of the Desolation—the Prime AI, the city-states, and the major factions—knowing that true independence requires knowing when to bend the knee and when to stand firm.
WATCHERS OF AASHA
The Watchers of Aasha move through the Desolation like wraiths given deadly purpose, their advanced technology and training making them among the most elite warriors in the post-Collapse world. The Watchers serve as both the hidden nation's eyes and ears beyond its borders and the silent guardians of its mountain sanctuaries. Clad in adaptive camouflage that shifts appearance to match any environment, a single Watcher can observe enemy movements for days without detection, then strike with surgical precision to eliminate entire parties of scavengers or units of soldiers, before vanishing back into the wasteland like shadows at dawn. Their weapons - a fusion of pre-Collapse technology and Aasha's advanced engineering - can punch through armor plating or deliver silent death from impossible distances, while their neural interface allows them to process tactical information with computer-like efficiency. Just as impressive as their martial prowess is their restraint. Watchers are taught to observe rather than interfere, unless directly threatened or when Aasha's security and principles demand action. When they do interfere however, their actions sometimes lead to whispered legends across the Desolation, of ghostly figures who appear at the moment of greatest peril, turn the tide of battle with devastating efficiency, then disappear without explanation, leaving survivors to wonder what they witnessed. What is sometimes seen as some type of divine intervention, is in reality the calculated mercy of humanity's hidden guardians.
WATER GUILD
In a world where clean water is often more valuable than currency, the Water Guild stands as one of the Desolation's most powerful organizations. Their blue-robed representatives move through settlements with the confidence of those who control life itself, their specialized equipment for finding, purifying, and pricing water making them indispensable to survivors across all territories. Guild members are easily identified by the multiple water vessels they carry, each containing different qualities of water - from deadly toxic to precious pure - symbolizing life's spectrum from poison to salvation. The Guild maintains strict neutrality in factional conflicts, providing their services to all who can pay but withholding them from those who threaten their independence. Their most sacred relics are pre-Collapse water testing kits and purification tools, preserved with reverent care and used only in the most important rituals. At the core of their organization is a spiritual reverence for water itself, personified as the Well Mother, a deity to whom sharing creates sacred bonds between people - for a price. The Guild's highest honor is discovering a new clean water source, commemorated by adding a drop of the finder's blood to the first bottle filled. In Medha's crowded markets and across the settlements of the Mud, the sight of Guild representatives inspecting water supplies announces either salvation or hardship, depending on their findings and the community's ability to meet their ever-increasing rates.
WENDIGOS
Nightmarish hunters of the northern forests, Wendigos embody mankind's darkest impulses twisted by mutation and madness. Towering at three times human height, their emaciated forms belie impossible strength, while elongated limbs make them agile climbers in both trees and urban ruins. Most feared is their hunting method—they prefer to toy with their prey, using haunting mimicry of human voices to lure victims before cutting them down with razor-sharp claws. Unlike simple predators, Wendigos possess cruel intelligence, often keeping victims alive for days in their lair caves, subjecting them to unspeakable torments before consuming them alive. Their distorted faces, dominated by gaping maws filled with needle-like teeth, contort in almost human expressions of pleasure during the hunt. Even heavily armored Prime Troopers are defenseless against these creatures—those who hear their banshee-like shrieks and live to speak of it are haunted forever by the sound. Entire settlements have been known to disappear in a single night when a Wendigo pack decides to feed, leaving behind only scattered belongings and walls painted with arterial spray as evidence of their passing.
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