Hopefully everyone can see what is supposed to be represented on the map, Im experimenting with style and art content for my project. Any input welcome! (And yes it is supposed to be a barebones rugged smartphone).
Anyhow this is a post-apocalyptic scenario set in the future, it has been inspired by staples like Fallout and the Resident Evil movie universe. As I work on it I hope to add more lore and maps, I do have one of the pre-Fall world that I will be posting eventually after a write up.
Persian Gulf CIVzone
1: The Confederation of the Sheikhs
Following the population collapse of the Fall the Bedouins of the Arabian Desert suddenly became the most populous people group in the Middle East, at least those that were isolated enough to survive the initial onslaughts of the bioplagues. Surviving for a time as they had for millennia the Bedouins came under increasing pressure from bianyibeasts, notably quasi-wars with growing prides of sandlions, as well as with the Sandpeople and they began to slowly migrate away from the dunes.
One group pushed into the ragged desolated remains of central Iraq, Mesopotamia if you will, and settled in the region. The desiccated survivors of the old Arabistan population were pushed north into the terrifying Kusu Range or slaughtered to make way for caravans of Bedouins eager for a sedentary lifestyle. Old Iraq died its final death in those decades.
The New Bedouins, as we have come to know them, are still an infamously passionate and temperamental lot. Their intense internal rivalries revolving around centuries old tribal/clan feuds make them a much less substantial enemy than they could be. Pressure from Revolutionary Guards (Sepah) clone bunkers to the east has also tampered with New Bedouin expansionism considerably. Technological backwardness, at best a mixed bag of 18th century and mid 20th century technology, also ensures that this populous and well settled entity remains of lesser concern to our operations in the Persian Gulf.
THREAT LEVEL: Classified
2: The Four
The Greater North Hemispheric Mutual Defense Commitment had a dedicated attack dog in the Middle East, leaving Russia to focus its resources on more pressing concerns. That attack dog was Iran. During the years preceding the Fall Iran developed a great deal of highly focused long term weapons, the most apparent to us right now are the Revolutionary Guard Bunkers.
Essentially Revolutionary Guardsmen were cloned, permanently indoctrinated with gene therapy and established in a host of bunker fortresses along the Iranian frontier. Most of these facilities were lost in the Fall or succumbed in the whirlwind of disasters afterwards, a number survived unfortunately. The so-called “Four” are among them, perhaps the only bunkers with reliable communications and organization between them.
While the initial Sepah clones, despite long gene tailored lives, have mostly perished they have left plenty of succeeding generations. Periodic raids on survivors in search of ‘wombs’ ensured that. Again unfortunately for our operations in the Iranian Ruinland the Sepah gene therapy was so effective that the indoctrinated DNA was inherited, leaving what is believed to be indefinite generations of Sepah supersoldiers passionately guarding the Iranian frontiers. It should be noted however that the gene therapy has seemingly precluded any substantial expansionary activities as well, the Guardsmen were created merely for long term defense.
THREAT LEVEL: Classified
3: The Association
One of a number of Lifesure Cyrogenics Facilities (Crypts) in the Middle East. The Association was awakened by an error, an engineer awoke early, saw the dead AI systems and saved the rest of the crypt from eternal slumber. This unnamed engineer was instrumental in the stable foundation of the Association afterwards.
This facility was composed of mostly wealthy suburbanites from the American Midwest mixed with a fair number of their Arabistan counterparts. Flaky, self-obsessed, shallow people dominated by a consumerist mentality that were more dedicated to self-loving survival than anything else. Awakening nearly 50 years ago the Frostmen of Lifesure Cyrogenics Facility E5 were observers to the worst of the New Bedouin migrations into Mesopotamia, though never welcoming any Iraqi refugees in those days.
Cold, calculating and slow to emotion the old frosties organized themselves into the open ended democratic “Association”, cooling observing the more reckless ‘human’ elements around them. The freeze angled deep into their genetic makeup, despite some hopes to the contrary, the first toddlers soon exhibited a strange lack of humor, excitement and passion.
Now the Association, with comparatively better tech than the New Bedouins, has been able to manipulate and bribe them to stay away from their steadily growing territories. While their own objectives are fairly opaque it is becoming increasingly obvious that the Association is searching for something, often sending recon parties in heavily armed lightjeeps into the dunes of Arabia.
THREAT LEVEL: Classified
4: ZeroPacific Eden Branch
CLASSIFIED
5: The Free Union of Survivors
All Lifesure Crypts had an overseer AI that was supposed to safeguard the frozen denizens and awaken them at the appropriate time for reentry into reality. Most AI succumbed in the Purge Fog. Not all AI died right away though.
For some reason this AI was better insulated, better developed and saved ultimately from the Purge Fog. That is until it was connected with the remnants of the nanoweapon after the underground Crypt was opened. The Lifesure facility was composed of a polyglot mixture of East-West citizens, Consensus expats and even a few Ruskies.
Now the Free Union, a pure democratic entity, is shakily getting up on its feets, feuding dangerously with the odd new Sultan of Bahrain. With some development and a deal of luck the Free Union could very well establish itself to be a driving force of real progress in the Persian Gulf CIVzone.
However there is a dark undertone to the incredible survival of the AI so well into the Apocalypse, especially when the Sultan’s arrival coincided perfectly with their awakening. There is evidence to point to a potential hidden agenda, the fact that hidden, abandoned tunnels underneath LCF E23 have recently been discovered points to more truth behind it all. We are currently monitoring continued exploration attempts via CLASSIFIED.
THREAT LEVEL: Classified
6. The Sultanate of Future Bahrain
As mentioned previously a coincidence with the Sultan’s awakening and the awakening of what became the Free Union is of considerable concern, it points strongly to a guiding factor.
The Sultan, previously a wealthy Arab businessman, collected a group of like minded individuals and servants and froze himself in anticipation of the Fall. Somehow he was able to arrange a special deal with Lifesure that granted their “Crypt” unique privileges, not least of which was his own hand in the design and construction of the facility.
Perhaps mentally unstable before or merely deeply affected by the cryosleep the Sultan has begun a strange quest to “revive Eden”. Attempts to infiltrate this project have been met with public beheading in the Gathering Square in the Sultan’s Crypt, the icy coolness and patience of other cyrosleepers is apparently lacking in the Sultan.
7: The Central Command
Despite receiving numerous direct nuclear hits and splashed liberally with bioweapons, Al Edeid Airbase, or rather its surprisingly deep bunker system, saved a considerable portion of the Arabistan and US airmen housed onsit. Deep mechanical recesses even saved a portion of the airfleet (much to our disadvantage). For obvious reasons a diplomatic spat over who had command between the US Airforce detachment and the native Qatari Arab garrison resulted in the more powerful US component assuming control under the directive of the United States Central Command.
In time the Central Command breached its bunker retreat and began a process of rebuilding Qatar and the surrounding region into what hopefully resembled a nation state. Initial attempts at a republican process fell flat in the face of the obvious environmental difficulties, particularly after a scare with smallpox, and the Central Command reverted to a strictly stratocratic system.
Central Command is a powerful political entity in the Persian Gulf and retains more than just memories of the years before the Fall, and has been of some use in their aggressive recon of Sepah forces. However overall Central Command has become increasingly hostile to our purposes in the region.
THREAT LEVEL: Classified
8: MIT - Arabian Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology obviously had a stake in the Arabian Desert. The Arabian Department was launched by MIT to study various potential Martian and Lunar colonization schemes, complete with extensive human experimentation and bioengineering to that end. That and the Eden Project of course.
Currently MIT, Mit Town by ragtag Arab survivors permanently encamped around the semi-underground facility, is an important fixture in Persian Gulf geopolitics. Their substantial and utterly undamaged reserves of remote drone equipment (autonomous drones were destroyed by the Purge Fog) has made the tiny little Institute a dangerous entity.
Provost Elissa Dean recently resurrected the board of trustees in an attempt to organize a governing body for the steadily growing extra-MIT population around the faculties. Her moves have been met with considerable hostility from purists in the institution and the situation is thought to be critical.
9: The Kingdom of Salts
This Crypt was opened fairly early after the Fall, resulting in the inhabitants barely surviving a remnant bioplague. The crisis resulted in a dangerous population collapse and a political reformation that ultimately brought about a strange esoteric Kingdom.
While friendly to all neighbors, the Kingdom resides mostly within its crypt and evidence points to substantial expansion of its original underground tunnels. The traumatic experience of their awakening has ensured that this particular collection of frosties retains a total hermit demeanor, their long beards and sallow sunken features from constant fasting highlights this behavior all the more.
As the nearest neighbor of Great Russia the Kingdom also had a powerfully organized and fairly elite military, now terribly sophisticated in its weapons range but otherwise quite capable. Their Salt Knights, riding regenerated stocks of Arabian stallions, regularly fend off minor excursions westwards by Great Russia.
10: The Guild of Shipsmen
The collapse of global trade just before the Fall saw substantial quantities of ships beached going out of the Persian Gulf, creating massive ship graveyards (already there given the steadily declining importance of Middle Eastern oil). These graveyards proved tantalizing habitats for near crazed survivors.
Following the Fall a group of helter skelter Iranian survivors, fleeing in trickles from the desolate hinterlands to the southern coast, sheltered within these gargantuan skeletons of ships. In time a society developed around them that utilized the considerable quantities of easy to access steel building materials to erect formidable towns and shelters. A thriving society was slowly formed along the abandoned beaches of Bandar Abbas.
In time these survivors took wholeheartedly to their “dry seafaring” and began to call themselves the Guild of Shipsmen, or sometimes Shipbreakers (which stuck). This form of social organization and scavenging became immensely appealing and the Iranian survivors began to expand to other pileups of beached tanks and other detritus of a maritime age.
Rigidly organized and predisposed to a desperate ferocity (coming from surviving a multitude of GM plagues following the bombs) the Shipbreakers were able to destroy a Revolutionary Guards’ bunker fortress early on and soon established themselves as a major, if technologically backwards, player on the Lesser Persian Gulf and the Eden region more broadly.
Of course now nearly 80 years after the Fall the Shipbreakers no longer exclusively live in desiccated oil tankers or in the remains of said tanks, their settlements have blossomed into considerable towns and smaller villages dot the new coastline and extend outwards in the Eden salt flats and even into the still desolate Iranian mainland.
THREAT LEVEL: Classified
11: Great Russia
The South Arabian puppet of Russia, or as they called themselves the Eurasian Union, became an important strategic asset of Moscow and as such was well endowed with Russian military bases, beachside resorts and desert research laboratories. In Oman a powerful eccentric oligarch by the name of Dmitri Petrov built a post-nuclear survival bunker, connected with the local Russian airbase in the region (speaking volumes of the hazy private-public distinctions in Eurasia).
An ultra-nationalist Petrov supplied the bunker with copious quantities of “pure Rus DNA” and artificial womb and fertilization technology. Upon entering the world after MAD Dmitri wanted a ready supply of Russians to help him build a new state, for political reasons he was incapable of doing such in Russia proper so South Arabia had to do.
As of now Great Russia is an imposing political unit, militaristic with an arsenal that rivals Central Command and the Sepah Bunker and more alarmingly an utterly antagonistic foreign outlook that is not tempered by ill conceived mind control as in the Revolutionary Guard.
The Dinast, as the leader of Great Russia is known, is the grandson of Dmitri and he has recently embarked on several attacks on small Omani coastal communities. In typical fashion there were no survivors as he incorporated the region into Great Russia, simply for the access to fishing grounds.
THREAT LEVEL: Classified
12: The Sepah East Front
One of the few surviving eastern Sepah Bunkers, Indian intelligence was considerably better than their East-West counterparts and New Delhi’s nukes had perfect targets to hit. Nevertheless one was missed.
The East Front is ostensibly within the framework of the other Sepah Bunker and technically is in league with the Four out west. In practice however there is not true communication or much less coordination. There the East Front has been able to chart its own more independent course.
The East Front has slowly reorganized politically away from the fierce ideological indoctrination stemming from genetics and turned towards a more traditional royalist structure. The commanding Colonel has been able to hand down the reins of power to a son twice now, effectively cementing the affair as tradition. Furthermore despite the gene therapy the East Front, perhaps exploiting a glitch focusing this bunkers eyes eastwards, has slowly begun expanding east in former Balochistan. A worrying development as our own intelligence is sparse in South East Asia.
THREAT LEVEL: Classified
13: The Fire of the Shah
This is perhaps the most eccentric development in the entirety of the Persian Gulf CIVzone. The Fire of the Shah is apparently a cult descended from a group of nuclear research scientists in an Iranian nuclear bomb manufacturing plant. Perhaps the sheer millions of deaths they were responsible for cracked their heads. Perhaps all nuclear scientists are such.
Little can be elaborated on with regards to the Fire of the Shah, all that is conclusively known is that the entity worships some kind of combination of nuclear warfare, atomic bombs, the Achemaenid Shahs and Iranian ancestors. Their fanatical soldiers have been spotted and occasionally fended off by Shipbreaker patrols to the north.
Worryingly cryptic radio messages about “unveiling the fiery Shah” point to the potential of a live nuclear capability in their hands.
THREAT LEVEL: Classified
14: The Commonality of the Sands and Sun
To be perfectly upfront, the Commonality is the direct responsibility of some ill considered directives by Pacific Corp prior to the Fall. Human bioengineering, with the assistance of the Arabian Department of MIT, resulted in the creation of transhumans capable of thriving under extreme heat in extreme desert circumstances.
These sandpeople were thin to conserve water usage, had large ears to dispense heat, scaly rough skin to stop evaporation and protect the person from the sun and organs that needed substantially less water. The 2nd batch escaped during the Fall, the 1st was terminated earlier and the 3rd and 4th batches died by atomic blasts outside of the Dubai laboratories.
The Commanility is now fiercely anti-human and regards the harsh Arabian desert as their home and native range. Their population growth forced the Bedouins in southern Iraq, and it should be noted elsewhere as well, and as of now they are potentially very dangerous to our HQ in the
Middle East. Though they do not know where that is actually located.
While they do have sedentary settlements in central Arabia, as captured by drone surveillance, their roving bands have been encountered as far south as Great Russia. Though even the sandpeople are apparently very cautious about entering the Empty Quarter Biohazard Zone.
THREAT LEVEL: Classified
. Added 2 mini Europe maps depicting the 2 wws.
