AFTER THE FLASH 7: MIRAGE
Official Lore
In 2032, the world was consumed by nuclear war. For the next decade, a nuclear winter enveloped the Earth. The majority of humanity died during this period of time from starvation and disease. Many of those who managed to find food and avoid disease died fighting over what was left of the world.
The year is 2055, Lake Mead, Arizona. The CDF, a fraction of what they once were, have been forced into cooperating with the USCPF, taking refuge in the Goldfield Mountain Complex. The surrounding area is kept under a watchful eye by the Southwest Libertarian Front, an extremist political group that wants to create a new libertarian government in the surrounding area. Small bandit groups run rampant, wreaking havoc on any unprotected convoys or those unfortunate enough to travel alone. Irradiated horrors have emerged from the fallen nuclear power plant nearby. A sizeable scrap town in the middle of the desert an oasis for its occupants, and those who can make it there.
The story begins here.
Currency
In the valley, people use pre-war US coins as currency; things like pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and one dollar coins. Paper money is rare but is acceptable as well. Since coins and paper money are relatively rare and their number continually dwindles over the years, economic deflation has occurred. The cost of things depends on how rare an item is and how much a person wants the item, but generally a T-shirt would cost about 30 cents. A glass of purified water would be about 2 cents. A good pump-action shotgun would cost around 7 dollars. The average rent for a week in a scrap shack at Craterview would be 1 dollar, and so on. Bartering for goods and skipping the trade of currency entirely is also a popular practice.
Factions
United States Civilization Preservation Force (USCPF)
This faction has existed since 2033. It was formed in response to the decay of civilization in an effort to retain the USA’s culture, knowledge, and power for future generations to rebuild the world with. It is run by the US Government, and seeks to rebuild the glory of pre-2032 America. With strict laws and systems in place, locations owned by the USCPF are usually the safest place to be found, but not always the most free. Their hardline stance against mutants and willingness to abandon towns should their costs exceed usefulness leaves the opinion on USCPF soured.
Due to logistical and geographical problems alongside pre-existing facilities, the Eastern seaboard of the US saw much more activity and support by the USCPF. In the West, USCPF troops are much more limited in both supplies and number, forcing the Western USCPF to limit themselves to specific regions and carefully distribute supplies.
Civilian Defence Front (CDF)
This faction has existed since the early 2040s. The CDF was formed by an alliance of scrap town militias towards the end of the nuclear winter. Since then, they’ve grown to be a nearly nationwide faction which trades surplus freely between its scrap towns. Those towns which don’t make much are supported by the others. An uneasy relationship has formed between the CDF and USCPF across the nation, as most CDF members see it as their duty to build a new America out of the ashes of the old one, which plunged them into a nuclear apocalypse.
Southwest Libertarian Front (SLF)
This faction has existed since the mid-2040s. The SLF are a rogue band of ex-SEALs (suited super soldiers) and US Air Force. After 2032, the US government abandoned Fort Viridian and its occupants in an effort to focus on key forts and communities around the country and retain the United States as a nation. The occupants of Fort Viridian and their families came to live at the fort. Over the next several decades, they maintained the fort and most of their technology, as well as made deals with the CDF at Craterview for food throughout the nuclear winter and the following nuclear summer. Over this time span, they developed a deep resentment of the USCPF, which was gaining power and pushing into the Lake Mead area to assist in rebuilding civilization as of 2053. The radicalization of these fort occupants came to a head in 2054, when the USCPF offered a deal to regain ownership of the fort, which the occupants rejected. Believing they were soon to be targeted by the USCPF, they wiped out all USCPF settlements and forces in the area. The USCPF was no match for the fort occupants with their SEAL suits. The fort occupants produced a flag and began calling themselves the SLF. The SLF became increasingly radicalized in their belief that America should be a place of free trade with absolutely no social programs. In September of 2055, believing that the CDF was an equally socialist body of armed forces, the SLF shelled the CDF’s lakeside Fort Ever Grande and threatened to do the same to Craterview unless the CDF abandon it and leave the town with its own governing body. The CDF’s remaining forces limped out of the valley, mourning the death of dozens of their comrades. The SLF now hold power over most of the valley, and are free to squeeze beneficial trade deals out of Craterview, but they tend to keep away from Goldfield.
Locations
Craterview
A traditional scrap town atop a mesa near the center of the map. This town is often used as a pitstop on the trade highway that runs on the map from East to West (South is the Lake). The town was once owned and governed by the CDF, but due to a schism with the SLF, it was banned from governing the town. It is now in its own city-state sort of situation, where a mayor (who lives in the tallest tower) oversees its operations, while traders come and go. The town’s farm is large and productive, but has its own problems, leading to food shortages at times. The town’s water is piped directly from the lake, and it gets its power from the solar field. The town is setup to cut its bridge and elevator in case of a siege, and it has enough supplies to keep a raiding party at bay for a couple of weeks.
Boulder Cove
This is a pre-war town that sits beside Lake Mead at the map’s south end. Due to the mesas beside the town, much of it was protected from the nuclear blast. The town has been looted for the past four decades, but some supplies may remain in various locations. Various groups of people make this set of ruins their home for short periods of time, however one survivor faction makes its home in the parking lot of the Outdoors Store beside the lake.
Lake Mead Nuclear
Due to the blast being in such close proximity, the facility is completely destroyed. One of the two cores was covered with rubble and rendered harmless, however the second core’s cooling systems were destroyed, and a second blast occurred a few hours later due to steam overload. The core melted down into the basement, and will now cause fatal doses of radiation poisoning if one were to get within a few meters of it.
Atom Kick Factory
Due to a nearby mesa, this factory was also protected from much of the blast. This location offers a large shelter for travelers, however its state-of-the-art (for 2032) manufacturing machines are stuck in place, an erie reminder of how suddenly the world ended. The factory still has some sort-of-fresh batches of Atom Kick ready to sip.
Lake Mead Bar
This bar sits on the highway next to the crater, and is generally considered a nice pitstop for people on the move. It has its own grape fermenting yard; a rarity in the wasteland.
The Crater
The crater is irradiated and may cause radiation poisoning, but it’s still nothing compared to Lake Mead Nuclear’s radiation levels. It’s believed that the warhead was aiming for either the nearby bunker or the nuclear missile field, however it was knocked off course somehow and exploded within a few feet of the ground, transferring much of its energy into the ground and creating a crater. Since the blast was rendered weak due to this, much of the area’s infrastructure was saved.
The Barge
Out on the lake, beside the destroyed bridge, there is a barge. This barge is owned by peaceful mutants infected with RAD-X. They live there and fish there. Sometimes they come on land, but it’s considered risky because there is a significant population of humans who would kill them if they knew they were infected.
Fort Ever Grande
This used to be a CDF stronghold, but was shelled and cleared by the SLF in September of 2055. All that remains is a few scrap structures and most of the motel, which they used as a barracks.
Fort Viridian
This fort is the home of the SLF. It has working lights, and a few of the showers, sinks, and toilets in the fort work due to the self-contained water pump. Fort Viridian has a medical room, a lounge, a barracks, an underground bunker, and many supplies and barricades. It survived the blast but lost plumbing to its upper two floors, as well as the kitchen, recreation room, and a portion of the meeting hall and cafeteria. The US Air Force nuclear silo field behind the fort is mostly spent, however it’s rumored that one unlaunched ICBM still sits in a silo. It’s believed that the nuke that hit the valley was targeting Fort Viridian.
Goldfield Mountain Complex
This bunker belongs to the USCPF, as well as the CDF. Following the SLF’s attacks on the USCPF, the remaining forces barricaded themselves inside this complex with sentry turrets, which are capable of damaging or destroying SEAL suits. The bunker is almost completely self-sustaining, however its food ran out a handful of years prior and it now receives food carts from the subway tunnel leading to a USCPF fort near Las Vegas. After Fort Ever Grande was destroyed, the USCPF offered the CDF their vacant barracks room. They now reside together in the bunker. The relationship is uneasy at times, but there is a small amount of respect.
Abandoned Mines
Originally built long before the flash, these mines were long abandoned before the flash even hit. Years of natural processes and the shockwaves from the ICBM launched into the area have caused various sections of the cave system to collapse. The abandoned mines are currently occupied by a fortified hostile bandit conglomerate.