TEXT: The Lost Paradise
  
  The Lost Paradise
  by David Jarvis, 
  Dominic Covey, and Chris Davis
  Created By
  David Jarvis
  Interior Artwork: 
  J. Longenbaugh, David Jarvis
  Cover Artwork:
  David Jarvis
  Northwest Map:
  Dominic Covey
  Editing:
  Andy Rau, Charles Baize  
  Contributions by: 
  Charles Rice, Chris Swenson
  Playtesting:
  Chris Derner, Chris Hoover,  Ryan 
  Kelley, Ethan Ripplinger, Aaron 
  Wiggins, Dominc Covey.
  www.RPGObjects.com
  www.DarwinRPG.com
  d20 Modern(tm) is a trademark of Wizards of 
  the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., 
  and is used with permission. Dungeons & 
  Dragons(R) and Wizards of the Coast(R) are 
  registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, 
  Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used 
  with permission.
  Copyright 2003 © RPG Objects.  All rights 
  Reserved.
  
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  We buried another stillborn baby today, bringing the total to five 
  so far this moon cycle. I hear winter is beginning to set in up in 
  Eden, and that’s only a week’s journey north of us here in Hope. The 
  time of the white death is beginning again, and I’m not sure we’ve 
  stocked up enough meat and supplies to last this one out. So many 
  people are going to die. It makes me wonder sometimes what the 
  point of living is.
  Hope…we live in Hope, the one thing that so few of us have 
  anymore—I wonder if anyone would consider that ironic.  Five 
  infants dead in the span of a single moon cycle, and that’s not even 
  the worst part: they came out of the womb deformed. It was un-
  natural. And they weren’t the first.
  Three moon cycles ago, Luke and Sara Green had a baby. They 
  said it was a boy, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the scales on its 
  arms and the claws on its feet long enough to check the gender. 
  It lived, but not for long—but it didn’t die because of sickness or 
  anything like that. Luke said Sara was nursing the child and… well, 
  the way Luke tells it, the baby attacked and almost killed her.
  Now, I’ve known Luke for a long time, and can’t remember one 
  time he’s lied to me, but a child attacking its mother is a hard tale 
  to swallow. Luke says he did what needed to be done to protect his 
  wife—and I can’t say as I blame him. I didn’t ask for the specifics of 
  what he did. 
  All I know for certain is they didn’t mark the grave.
  Old lady Harrington has started her preachin’ again. She says 
  the deaths and deformities are all signs of the end. Some people are 
  starting to believe the crazy bitch, too. Some of the more “rational” 
  council members are tellin’ me that as the leader of this town, it’s 
  my duty to do something about it.
  “Put her and anyone else who’s talkin’ nonsense out, Duncan,” 
  they say. I think they’re all fucking buzzards looking for the next 
  carcass to feed on. I can’t sit here and say I agree with Marissa 
  Harrington and her radical views, but I won’t put her or anyone 
  else outside these gates just for speakin’ their mind.
  You don’t put entire families out into the wilderness unless things 
  get violent. At least that’s how it’s always been in Hope. That’s how 
  we’ve always lived. Strength, unity, and perseverance: these ideals 
  have been the cornerstone of this community from the beginning. 
  That’s how we’ve survived.
  Until now.
  The truth, whether I like it or not, is that this very well could 
  be the end of the road for the human race. Not because some old 
  woman says it’s so. Not because it’s happening in Hope. Because it’s 
  happening everywhere.
  I’ve heard rumors from all parts of the United Combine—stories 
  from as far south as Crater City and from all the way up in Eden, 
  north of the dreaded Sea-Tac Spawning Pits, and they’re all the 
  same.
  People are beginning to mutate. 
  Folks are starting to get scared.  I hear that some are even 
  starting to leave the protection of the U.C. to fend for themselves, or 
  worse, swear allegiance to the Purity Corp. The one thing we don’t 
  need is more people latching onto that racist clan’s twisted cause. 
  The Purity Corp is already the single most powerful clan outside the 
  United Combine; they lay claim to every hill, tree, river, and rock 
  between the great river and the Sea-Tac Spawning Pits, calling the 
  region the “Pure Lands.”
  Of course that just shows how twisted they really are. The so-
  called “Pure Lands” happen to be the most perverse, corrupted, 
  radiated stretch of wilderness in the Northwest, aside from the 
  Ghost Wastes of Umatilla to the east.
  The elders say that before the Fall, there were military bases in 
  the area once known as Puget Sound. Great metal ships of war—
  designed to float both on and under the water—were anchored in 
  the natural harbors of Puget Sound to guard against enemies to the 
  west, beyond the great poisoned sea. They were all destroyed by 
  great spears of fire that obliterated everything. 
  My great-grandfather said the fiery spears were called “nuclear 
  bombs.” My friend Joe “Walks-the-Path” Smith says they were 
  “gourds of ash,” dropped by the Great Spirit in a final shaking of 
  the world. Joe belongs to a tribe of people who call themselves the 
  Chinook Indians.
  One day I asked Joe what “Indian” meant. He said he didn’t 
  know; it was a term white people gave his ancestors a long time 
  ago, when people still cared about the color of a person’s skin. I 
  said the Purity Corp still cares about skin color, and Joe told me the 
  Purists aren’t people; they’re something else now.
  I think Joe’s right.
  When I was young, my mother taught me to read and write. I was 
  luckier than most, I suppose. I expect it’s one of the reasons I was 
  put in charge of Hope—I’m one of the few people who knows how 
  to run the place. My mom tried to teach me math and other things 
  you can’t find in books or learning disks anymore, but I didn’t learn 
  much. She died of pneumonia when I was just a boy. 
  One of the things my mother did teach me, however, was that 
  history is important. She used to say it was important to remember 
  what happened in the past, and even more important to write down 
  the things that took place in the present. Mom said it was of great 
  consequence for the future.
  I think I understand what she was trying to tell me. History can 
  teach us things about our past, so that we don’t repeat the mistakes 
  of our ancestors.  At least that’s the idea, isn’t it? Mom seemed to 
  think so.
  I’ve decided to write a journal. I’m going to try and piece 
  together the past and tell what I know of the present, so maybe, 
  some time in the future, someone will read it and show it to others. 
  And, in reading this journal, maybe people will try to figure out a 
  way to keep from stepping down the path we currently walk.
  Or maybe they’ll just use it for toilet paper. I don’t know. But I’m 
  going to write it anyway.  
  - Duncan Clark
  Table of Contents
  Chapter 1: History  
  3
  Before the Fall 
  3
  The State of the Union 
  21
  Chapter 2: Characters 
  25
  New Occupations 
  25
  Advanced Classes 
  27
  Epic Classes 
  35
  New Artifacts 
  39
  Chapter 3: Denizens  
  45
  Origins 
  45
  The United Combine 
  45
  The Purity Corp 
  53
  The Hand of Jehovah 
  58
  Tillamook Trading Caravans 
  64
  The Mountain Walkers 
  70
  The Chinook Indians 
  74
  Other Native Indian Groups 
  78
  The Pale Riders 
  80
  The Walking Dead 
  84
  Sentinels 
  87
  River Folk 
  91
  Mutant Society  
  94
  Chapter 4: Places  
  95
  Specific Locations 
  96
  Chapter 5: Terrors  
  132
  Mutated Animals 
  132
  Northwest Flora 
  143
  Bio-Engineered Monsters 
  144
  Tecesni 
  149
  The Spawn Army 
  157
  
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  Chapter 1: The History of the Lost Paradise
  The Northwest 
  Before the Fall
  The Lewis and Clark Bio-
  Dome Complex
  The Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome project was a truly 
  monumental undertaking—an effort to appease 
  both corporate greed and consumer fancy on a scale 
  beyond anything previously attempted in the United 
  States.  Through a series of ambitious construction 
  projects, clever marketing drives, and appeals to 
  public safety, the robotics industry managed to satisfy 
  both their customers’ love of the wilderness and their 
  corporate need for profit.  The twin bio-domes of 
  Portland and Vancouver were the pinnacle of these 
  efforts—technological utopias that both safeguarded 
  and imprisoned the citizens of the Northwest in the 
  years before the Fall.
  As the wilderness and forests around them slowly 
  deteriorated, citizens of the Northwest states became 
  increasingly obsessed with the preservation of their 
  beloved outdoors. The masses balked at the notion 
  of entering any structure which alienated them from 
  the mountains, lakes, rivers, and forests that had 
  traditionally defined the Northwest.
  The prospect of losing millions of dollars annually 
  because most people in the Northwest sector didn’t 
  want to give up the great outdoors didn’t sit well 
  at all with the corporate moguls in the robotics 
  industry. Their quandary was obvious: how could 
  they keep the population alive and consuming their 
  products while at the same time giving them access 
  to an environment that would kill them without the 
  protection of bio-domes and other shelters? The 
  answer was surprisingly simple: they would create 
  expansion domes to cover designated portions of the 
  dwindling wilderness; conservation projects would 
  then re-vitalize the target areas and make them safe 
  for humans to visit.
  At first the solution didn’t translate well into 
  spreadsheets or promising financial projections. 
  Corporate accountants complained that the project 
  wasn’t cost effective.  But when they considered the 
  possibilities of tax relief from the government—and 
  the lucrative new robotics and development contracts 
  that would be made necessary by the project—the 
  Chapter 1:
  History of the 
  Lost Paradise
  There isn’t a lot I can tell you about how things were before everything fell apart. This generation has no 
  memory of those days. We only have stories, myths told to us by our parents and grandparents—and even 
  they weren’t alive in those times.
  I can’t tell you much about the lands to the south or east. I’ve never been out of this part of the world, and 
  I only know a handful of people who have ventured into those lands. Some never returned, and the ones who 
  did…
  Well, they don’t like to talk about the things they’ve seen.
  I can’t tell you how many years have passed. Nobody counts the passage of time like that now. It isn’t 
  important. Tracking hours, minutes, and days doesn’t put food in the mouths of our children. Time doesn’t 
  protect us from the creatures that lurk outside the city gates, nor does it form trade agreements and 
  alliances for protection against people who would destroy what we’ve worked so hard to achieve.
  Time is a useless relic of the ancient world.
  We know that the domain of our forebears was mighty. We see evidence of their former glory in the mess 
  they left behind. I’ve looked down on the ruins of the city our elders call “Portland” in sheer awe of the 
  knowledge they must have possessed to be able to build the things they did. 
  Two massive cracked and broken domes can be seen from any place near the ruins of the city. One stands 
  on the south side of the Columbia, in the center of Portland. The other is on the Vancouver side of the river. 
  Huge metal tubes connect the two domes.  Well, they used to, I assume—now they’re broken and shattered 
  about midway across the Columbia gorge. Someone once told me those tubes housed floating cars that 
  ferried people back and forth from one dome to another.
  I can’t say it’s true, but it sure would’ve been a sight to see.
  Some say there are also intact tunnels leading under what’s left of the once-mighty river, but I haven’t 
  gotten close enough to verify the stories. The Purity Corp maintains an outpost on the Vancouver side of the 
  river, just a few miles north of the Dome. They patrol the riverside regularly, so it’s usually pretty dangerous 
  to go anywhere near the old city. And that’s not even counting the walking dead who roam the ruins.
  People who know the legends about the ruins of Portland say that at one point, the city was filled with 
  people. A man could get anything he could ever want or need there. Life for our ancient ancestors was 
  good. And there were more cities like Portland than there are stars in the sky.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  Chapter 1: The History of the Lost Paradise
  accountants finally put their stamp of 
  approval on the plan.  The robotics 
  industry had embraced the project, 
  but the question remained: would the 
  nature-loving people of the Northwest 
  do the same?
  The Propaganda Machine
  Even as construction companies broke 
  ground on what was to be called the 
  Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome Complex, 
  public relations teams launched a 
  massive campaign to convince the 
  residents of Portland and Vancouver to 
  embrace the idea.  The message was an 
  appealing one: the new bio-domes, far 
  from being affronts to nature, would 
  actually preserve the beautiful-but-
  hostile wilderness and make it more 
  accessible.
  The Bureau of Information 
  immediately set about bombarding 
  the populace with advertisements for 
  the new, “environmentally friendly” 
  bio-domes.  Day after day, people saw ads and news 
  articles flashed all across their cities—on billboards 
  and buildings, alongside freeways, and in the rapid 
  transit terminals they used to get to and from work.  
  Idyllic images of happy families walking through 
  peaceful, dome-covered forests were everywhere, 
  flooding the popular consciousness with carefully-
  honed messages.  Educational and so-called “public 
  interest” pieces ran weekly on major television 
  networks, pumping out “unbiased” propaganda 
  claiming that life in the proposed domes would 
  be everything it was now—but without the deadly 
  poisons that currently plagued the natural world the 
  masses loved so much.
  Slowly the people came around to Big Brother’s 
  point of view.  In the end, they really didn’t have a 
  choice. The world was dying, and unless they sought 
  refuge in the domes and government-run complexes 
  or built their own shelters, they would perish along 
  with it.
  Construction and Innovation
  The mammoth project took a decade to complete. Not 
  one, but two bio-domes were constructed over the 
  cities of Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington 
  respectively, with smaller “conservation domes” 
  dotting the surrounding area as far north as Longview 
  and as far south as Salem. A bio-dome stood on each 
  side of the Columbia River, each a shining testament 
  to man’s ingenuity. Both domes were connected by a 
  series of long shuttle tubes. These tubes were designed 
  to ferry people back and forth from one dome to the 
  other via long trains that used anti-gravity fields to 
  stay centered inside the cylinder.
  Each fully automated bio-dome complex was 
  designed to comfortably house upwards of ten million 
  souls. Colossal buildings towered beneath the dome 
  shells.  Sprawling, mechanized freeways wove their 
  way along the floor of the domed cities, guiding 
  people in their new “environmentally friendly” 
  electric cars between home and workplace with 
  relative speed and comfort. Expansive rail systems 
  also ensured that traffic jams were a thing of the past. 
  For those who could afford it, personal hovercraft 
  technology was another option. The rich and famous 
  could now fly above the masses in shiny, fully 
  automated hover vehicles, gliding to luxurious 
  penthouse suites in the tallest housing complexes or 
  even traveling outside the cities to personal living 
  domes in the wilderness.  Most of those living inside 
  the great domes didn’t notice the comings and goings 
  of the superstars and mega-wealthy—they were too 
  
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  Chapter 1: The History of the Lost Paradise
  caught up in their own self-indulgent lifestyles to 
  worry about who was living where. Automated life in 
  the bio-sprawl was good.
  Pre-Fall Technology
  The following is a brief look at the technology that 
  existed before the Fall.
  The X-chip
  New advances in cybernetics had allowed the 
  government to finally develop a cashless society.  In 
  fact, the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome was a test site for 
  a new type of technology that made this possible: an 
  implant that broadcast volumes of information about 
  a person—finances, medical history, criminal records, 
  and more—to A.I. monitoring drones. The implant—
  called the “X-chip”—was a nanotechnology-powered, 
  pill-shaped wireless communications device that could 
  be inserted into the bridge of the nose, leaving a small 
  red mark that usually faded away after a few days.
  The potential uses for such a device were endless. 
  People no longer had to worry about carrying 
  cash or credit cards with them all the time. With a 
  simple scan, they could get whatever they wanted 
  and go on about their business. The Census Bureau 
  could keep accurate records of the population and 
  develop demographic profiles, which were in turn 
  sold to corporations who used the data to better 
  target potential consumers of their products. Law 
  enforcement agencies used the implants to track 
  criminals, receive payment for fines, and eventually 
  even to administer punishment to extremely violent 
  offenders.  Hospitals and clinics used the device 
  to obtain data about patients—to better treat their 
  illnesses and injuries and collect payment for services 
  rendered.
  In the latter part of this advanced era, the federal 
  government stepped into the affairs of state 
  governments and instituted a health care plan that 
  revolutionized the process of treating the sick and 
  injured. Thanks to the X-chip, sick people could 
  finally go to a clinic or hospital and not worry about 
  dealing with insurance companies or having enough 
  cash in their bank account. The scanning process 
  automatically reimbursed hospital bank accounts 
  with credit transferred from patients’ accounts. In 
  instances where the patient could not afford treatment, 
  a “red flag” was placed on their account to restrict 
  the recreational activities in which the person could 
  engage, including erotic parlors and recreational 
  drug stores. Citizens with red flags on their accounts 
  were only able to “buy” food and provisions deemed 
  necessary for survival.
  Holo-Coms
  Personal communications technology had advanced 
  to the point where people routinely used holographic 
  representations of themselves to communicate with 
  each other. These Holographic Image Projection 
  Systems  (“HIPS”), could be worn around the waist 
  or wrist, making them easy to use and carry. With 
  the touch of a button (or, in some advanced models, 
  a simple voice command), people could dispatch a 
  holographic image of themselves to deliver a message 
  to someone else.  Upon delivery of the message, the 
  image would vanish, leaving the recipient free to 
  respond in like manner.
  People traveled across the land in vehicles called “cars.” I’ve seen a lot of these—even a few that work. 
  They apparently came in all shapes and sizes, and in all colors of the rainbow. We don’t see many rainbows 
  anymore, but that’s a different story. Rumor has it that there were also vehicles like cars that moved through 
  the air as easily as a Robotic Hawk flies. Some actually hovered—I’ve actually seen one of these; it’s called 
  a “chopper.” It looks like a gigantic metal insect with blades above and behind its shell.
  The one I saw didn’t fly. The blades were bent and torn. The inside of the chopper looked like a pack of 
  toxic-raccoons had gotten a hold of it. Wires and gadgets were strewn all over the place, the seats were torn 
  to shreds, and an awful stench clung to it. Just a few seconds inside that thing made my eyes burn.
  There are a lot of these kinds of vehicles around Portland, some of them even sporting camouflage. Most 
  are wrecked, but some, I think, could work again—if anyone knew how to fix them. The Purity Corp is 
  rumored to have brought a few of these vehicles back to working condition. They don’t look pretty, not like 
  the sleek shiny cars I’ve seen in other places. They come in all shapes, and some are equipped with mounted 
  weapons. I think a big battle might have been fought in and around Portland. Some even fly through the air, 
  but those are just as rare as anything else these days.
  I’ve heard stories about great buildings, filled to the ceiling with all kinds of food and things people could 
  buy for their homes. They were called “one-stop-shopping centers,” or something like that. If the legends 
  were true, they held more food than I’ve seen in my whole life.
  People talked to other people thousands of miles away with boxes—some so small you could put them in 
  your pocket or even strap them around your wrist! Like our shout boxes, but with longer range.
  The hospitals were mammoth buildings called “free clinics” where any sort of disease could be cured—for 
  free! If you were sick or injured, you just walked in and they healed you up in no time at all. In today’s 
  world there’s no such thing as a minor injury or illness, and payment is usually taken in lives.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  Chapter 1: The History of the Lost Paradise
  V.T.O.L.
  V.T.O.L. (Vertical Take Off and Landing) technology 
  had evolved from the days of its first use in old 
  Harrier-type jets; first-generation hover and take-off 
  technology was now used in everything from garbage 
  trucks to military vehicles. The earliest models were 
  cumbersome, ugly vehicles with low speeds and 
  terrible maneuverability; their large sizes actually 
  worked against the technology, resulting in an average 
  flight ceiling of less than twenty feet.  Miniaturization 
  had not yet reached the point at which hover vehicles 
  could be safely mass-produced for civilian use. 
  However, after a few years of refinement, engineers 
  and scientists were able to develop and use lighter yet 
  stronger metals and alloys in the construction of the 
  vehicle airframes, making smaller and more efficient 
  chassis designs possible.
  The superior “brains” of A.I. droids put their 
  knowledge of nanotechnology to use in the 
  construction of miniaturized V.T.O.L. propulsion 
  systems. The smallest of these was the size of a 
  desktop computer. These developments in airframe 
  and propulsion miniaturization opened the door for 
  the construction of the first commercial and military 
  hover-vehicle prototypes.
  The first commercial-use hovercraft were 
  introduced to the citizens of the Northwest in the form 
  of public service vehicles—sanitation and garbage 
  trucks, ambulances, public transportation vehicles, and 
  police cruisers, among others. This new generation 
  of hover-vehicles was powered by hydrogen fuel 
  cell technology, an ecologically cleaner alternative 
  to the internal combustion engine.  Day and night, 
  on billboards all across the cities of the Northwest, 
  corporate ad campaigns touted their message: “The 
  Future Is Now.” 
  Citizens in the Northwest embraced the cleaner, 
  futuristic technology whole-heartedly as corporate 
  giants like GM and Ford gleefully rolled their newest 
  toys off the production lines. Rabid consumers 
  predictably snatched up their next fix of technology 
  and raced off to play.
  Soon the skies were filled with hovercraft of all 
  shapes and sizes. Sleek hover-cycles raced through the 
  skies alongside flying sport-trucks, SUVs, hover-taxis 
  and fully automated buses. Freight trucks transported 
  steel and other construction materials to crews 
  working on the bio-domes, drastically reducing the 
  risk of workplace accidents caused by the use of large 
  and dangerous electro-magnet cranes to lift the heavy 
  loads. Teenagers zipped by on stylish new “hover-
  boards.”
  In many cases, it wasn’t even necessary to obtain 
  a pilot’s license for air travel. Most vehicles came 
  equipped with an “expert-brain module” that handled 
  all of the details involved in keeping the vehicle safely 
  airborne. All the “pilot” needed to do was steer the 
  automobile in the direction he or she wanted to go.  
  More expensive luxury models such as the Lincoln 
  Sky King came fully equipped with an A.I. drone 
  that actually flew the vehicle as well, leaving the 
  passengers with nothing to do but enjoy the ride.
  As might be expected, the United States military 
  was actually first to put the technology to use. Secret 
  projects such as the Night-Wraith Multi-Mode 
  Attack Vehicle involved adding cutting-edge V.T.O.L 
  technology to the tilt-rotor design of the V-22 Osprey.  
  Initially, the technology was flawed; a jaw-dropping 
  eighty percent of the training missions involving 
  the early tilt-rotor Night-Wraith variant resulted in 
  failure. With the advent of efficient hover technology, 
  however, the old designs for the Night-Wraith were 
  scrapped in favor of a newer model that offered the 
  same versatility with all the added capabilities of a 
  top-of-the-line hovercraft propulsion system. The 
  result of these changes and improvements was the 
  exceptionally versatile V-350 Night-Wraith Multi-
  Mode Hover-Vehicle.
  Anti-Gravity
  One of the most exciting scientific discoveries of 
  pre-Fall civilization was anti-gravity technology. The 
  basic premise was that, if an object was lined with 
  positively charged magnets proportional to its size and 
  weight, and then a second, equal layer of positively 
  charged magnets was fixed over the primary layer, a 
  magnetic field would be created around the object. 
  This magnetic field could then be manipulated by 
  adjusting the relative distance between the primary 
  “fixed” layer and the secondary “itinerant” layer, 
  producing enough consequential force to move the 
  object.
  The theory that came to be known as Swenson’s 
  Principle of Applied Magnetic Propulsion was 
  heralded as a major breakthrough. In the Northwest, 
  the technology was first used in the mag-bus 
  transports of the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome 
  Complex. Shuttle tubes were constructed to transport 
  passengers to recreational zones, eco-domes, agro-
  complexes, and other domed cities, such as the Sea-
  Tac complex in northern Washington. Despite their 
  incredible utility, the mag-bus shuttles were just the 
  tip of the iceberg as far as anti-gravity technology 
  was concerned. The military was predictably eager 
  to explore possible applications of the technology, as 
  was NASA.
  The space program had always been limited by the 
  amount of fuel a shuttle could carry—and ironically, 
  the more fuel a shuttle carried, the more dangerous 
  space exploration became. The development of 
  magnetic propulsion allowed NASA to construct 
  spacecraft capable of much more than had been 
  possible under the antiquated shuttle program. The 
  new technology propelled vehicles effortlessly 
  through the atmosphere, and in the zero-gravity 
  expanses of space, the magnetic drives came teasingly 
  close to exceeding existing spacecraft speed records.
  
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  Chapter 1: The History of the Lost Paradise
  Genetic Research
  Pre-Fall society made great strides in the field of 
  genetics. Gene-splicing—the technique of transferring 
  a specific piece of genetic code from one host 
  into another—was used in a wide variety of ways, 
  described below.
       
  Agriculture
  Geneticists first used their knowledge of gene-
  splicing to engineer food to better withstand the 
  adverse effects of the environment.  As the natural 
  world grew increasingly hostile to life, this was an 
  especially important undertaking. Pre-Fall society 
  continued to thrive in domes and bunker complexes 
  and needed food to survive; gene-splicing techniques 
  allowed scientists to engineer fruits and vegetables 
  able to grow in less than optimal conditions. “Agro 
  facilities”—large biological plantations—were created 
  in remote areas of the Northwest where plants could 
  be grown in these new conditions and harvested when 
  they reached maturity.
        
  Medicine and Drugs
  Experiments were also performed on plants known to 
  have beneficial medicinal properties with the goal of 
  creating more potent recreational and pharmaceutical 
  drugs. “Super” versions of heroin, cocaine, LSD, and 
  marijuana were engineered for the masses. These 
  drugs provided all the desired mind-altering effects 
  with none of the negative side effects.  In fact, people 
  could now provide blueprints of their DNA to drug 
  manufacturers, who could then genetically “code” 
  drugs specifically for them, virtually guaranteeing the 
  best individual sense-altering experience possible.
  Plants with medicinal uses, such as aloe, agave, 
  henbane, opium and quinine, were also the subjects 
  of genetic experimentation. Genetic engineers merged 
  the genes of different plants to create new types of 
  plant life that retained the medicinal characteristics 
  of the original strains. The constant introduction of 
  “new” medicinal drugs eventually provided cures 
  for all manner of diseases, including many that had 
  plagued humanity for centuries. Diseases such as 
  Alzheimer’s, cancer, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, 
  and eventually even AIDS were wiped out, thanks to 
  advances in gene therapy. 
  The Debate over Human Testing
  Of course, the sybaritic pre-Fall culture was never 
  satisfied for long. Self-indulgence was a beast with 
  a voracious appetite for excess, and the corporate 
  machine was only too happy to feed it. Variance, 
  distraction, abnormality; these were the keys to 
  the pacification of the bored and restless mob. The 
  scientific community saw, hidden away within the 
  human genome, an opportunity to provide citizens 
  with a new distraction. The problem was that the 
  manipulation of human genetics required human test 
  subjects—and human testing in a laboratory was 
  banned.
  Hitherto only animals had been deemed fit for 
  experimentation—and even then, animal rights groups 
  regularly voiced outrage through everything from 
  staged protests to acts of terrorism against testing 
  facilities. One incident in particular, in which a bio-
  tech lab in Everett, Washington was bombed, served 
  as a catalyst for a new debate over the subject of 
  human testing. Ten researchers had died in the fire 
  along with dozens of test animals; corporate lawyers 
  argued that if human beings had been allowed to 
  undergo voluntary testing, ten brilliant researchers 
  would still be alive and contributing to the benefit of 
  society. The Supreme Court agreed and decided to 
  change the law accordingly.
  Pre-existing laws banning the laboratory testing 
  of human beings were amended to allow for 
  experimentation on willing subjects, or on persons 
  who were incarcerated for violent crimes. The 
  rationale for the inclusion of the latter was that prison 
  inmates could better serve society by subjecting 
  themselves to experiments aimed at improving the 
  quality of life for humanity than by wasting away in 
  the squalor of prison life. In some instances, prisoners 
  received more lenient sentences if they agreed to 
  Out of all of the wild things I’ve heard about the people who lived in ancient times, nothing amazes me 
  more than the stories I’ve heard about the ones they called “athletes.” These people played games and were 
  rewarded for it with cars, women, and houses—even when they lost!  Cities had teams that traveled to other 
  cities to compete against each other, and the winners were given anything they wanted.
  I think these athletes must have engaged in some pretty dangerous games. From what I understand, 
  society idolized them. Perhaps the games they played were so dangerous that if you weren’t really good, you 
  died.
  But for all its amazing achievements, society in the ancient world obviously wasn’t perfect. If it were 
  perfect, I wouldn’t be writing about its downfall. I often speculate on the kind of people they must have 
  been. I find myself wondering what kind of parents they were, and how they treated each other. Did they 
  like each other? Were they a moral and just people? Did they have any sense of respect for, or basic love 
  of, life? Nothing I’ve learned about the people I grudgingly call my ancestors leads me to believe they 
  possessed these qualities. To me, they seemed…ignorant.
  They were surrounded by so much that was good, and they just threw it all away…
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  genetic testing as a condition of their incarceration.
  Citizens were given incentives to volunteer for 
  testing as well.  Money, extra drug rations, extended 
  visits to ultra-high-class erotic parlors, hovercraft—
  anything the person might want could be used as a 
  bargaining chip by scientists to lure the individual into 
  the lab. Backed by major corporations, the geneticists 
  could offer financial incentives that most people 
  just couldn’t bring themselves to refuse. It was rare, 
  however, that outright bribery was needed—the truth 
  was, it didn’t take much work to find willing subjects. 
  The debate over human testing had been broadcast 
  nation-wide and into the homes of millions of citizens; 
  excited by the hype and controversy that surrounded 
  the issue, people from all walks of life flocked to 
  processing facilities and submitted their applications. 
  It seemed that society had found a new diversion.
  Some fringe groups at the time claimed that 
  human experimentation—and not always on willing 
  subjects—had been happening ever since the 1970s. 
  The Free People’s Militia was one such group, 
  comprised primarily of older, disgruntled military 
  veterans who had been replaced by combat androids.  
  Members of the Free People’s Militia claimed to 
  have been exposed to mind control programs like 
  MK-ULTRA, an alleged “super-soldier” program 
  that involved administering experimental drugs to 
  soldiers against their will. The goal of these supposed 
  experiments was said to be the creation of mindless 
  killing machines capable of extraordinary feats of 
  strength and speed and with no compunctions about 
  taking human life. According to the Free People’s 
  Militia, projects like MK-ULTRA gave birth to a 
  super-secret military program that was supposedly 
  was still in operation—Project Pandora.
    
  Project Pandora
  Project Pandora allegedly expanded on the MK-
  ULTRA program, delving into the (at the time) highly 
  illegal and experimental realm of human genetic 
  modification. Stories surfaced about humans being 
  injected with the DNA of all sorts of creatures. Photos 
  of giant vats containing twisted monstrosities vaguely 
  resembling human beings surfaced on the Militia’s 
  website. The photographed creatures appeared to be 
  dead, but the group insisted that secret installations 
  which housed this type of experimentation were still 
  active.
  Dugway Proving Grounds, Area 51 (a super-
  secret military base in the Nevada desert), and the 
  Umatilla Gas Repository were all identified by the 
  Militia as sites where illegal testing was still being 
  performed. Predictably, the media had a field day 
  with the “evidence” the Militia presented. “Experts” 
  came forward testifying that some of the photographs 
  had been doctored and that others were just pictures 
  of people in elaborate costumes. They called for 
  living people who had undergone the alleged 
  experimentation to step forward with their stories; not 
  a single soul came forward.
  The separatist group was laughed at and dismissed 
  by mainstream America.
  Body Design, Inc.
  Now that human experimentation was legal, science 
  was free to begin focusing on methods by which 
  the genetic code of a human being could be altered 
  to produce a particular desired outcome, such as 
  heightened hearing or enhanced reflexes. Government-
  funded testing facilities cropped up all over America, 
  and soon thereafter the first corporate human-
  engineering entity, Bio-Synthesis Incorporated, came 
  into being.
  Bio-Synthesis Inc. was the parent corporation 
  of a nation-wide chain of augmentation parlors 
  by the name of “Body Design, Inc.” A massive 
  media campaign was launched across the nation in 
  preparation for the opening of the first parlor. Their 
  corporate slogan (“Genetic Body Design—Re-Writing 
  the Book of Life”) became as familiar to people as 
  the concept of indoor plumbing.  The first parlor 
  opened in the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome to a flood 
  of customers eager for their first gene-treatment. The 
  process was fairly simple. After an initial X-chip 
  scan, which uploaded a customer’s vital statistics 
  to a processing droid’s hard drive, the necessary 
  genetic calculations could be made based on the 
  desired modification(s).  The data was then sent to 
  the chief medical robot, who would administer the 
  DNA injection into the patient’s spinal cord. One 
  final X-chip scan arranged for payment, after which 
  the process was complete. In most cases, only one 
  return trip was required (to verify changes to the 
  patients’ DNA structure). In the rare instance that 
  aberrant cellular behavior was detected, the patient 
  would be hospitalized until further treatment could be 
  performed.
  At first the list of possible genetic augmentations 
  was small; people chose from a list of basic body 
  modifications such as enhanced hearing, improved 
  sight, muscle treatments, hair re-growth and height/
  weight modification. Researchers promised impatient 
  consumers that they would soon be rolling out more 
  eclectic alternatives, and they didn’t disappoint.  After 
  a year in business, Body Design, Inc. unveiled their 
  new line of “exotic augmentation packages.” 
  These exotic packages spanned a wide array of 
  augmentations based on templates from the animal, 
  reptile, avian, and aquatic kingdoms. People could 
  now choose to modify their bodies with prehensile 
  tails, hawk-like facial features, or even gills; the 
  possibilities for augmentation seemed endless. The 
  general public reacted to the new line with mixed 
  enthusiasm. More traditional-minded people, such as 
  the elderly, tended to frown on the idea of modifying 
  human beings with animal DNA. While those 
  suffering the effects of advanced age embraced the 
  opportunity for treatments which resulted in younger 
  bodies, they disliked the idea of human beings 
  walking around with horns or cat’s eyes—it wasn’t 
  natural, they said.
  Younger people, however were a different story 
  entirely. They hopped on the body-augmentation 
  
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  bandwagon almost as soon as the first kid showed up 
  in his adolescent learning center with a rhino horn 
  growing out of his forehead. For young people, it was 
  just another way to express their individuality, much 
  in the same way that tattooing and body piercing 
  had been means of rebellion for their parents and 
  grandparents. Generation X-Y, as they began to call 
  themselves, welcomed the opportunity to be different.
  The founders of Body Design, Inc. knew that some 
  people wouldn’t like their augmentations after the 
  treatment was finished. To prevent possible lawsuits 
  or negative press coverage, the company decided it 
  would be best if all “gene-mods” were temporary, 
  giving customers a chance to adapt to their newly 
  modified bodies. If mom and dad didn’t like the scales 
  on little Jimmy’s arms, they only had to wait two 
  weeks for his body to revert to normal. Those citizens 
  who did like the way the gene-mods affected them 
  could always come back for more treatments—which 
  of course meant more money for the company and 
  more options for the customer. The prudence of Body 
  Design, Inc. meant everyone benefited.
    
  Cloning
  All of the scientific advances of the latter portion 
  of the twentieth century—the advent of A.I., stem 
  cell research, genetics, the experimental cloning of 
  animals in laboratories, and finally the lifting of the 
  ban on human testing—set the stage for the laboratory 
  creation of the first human clone. The creation of 
  human life outside the natural reproductive process 
  had always been a goal of the scientific community, 
  and finally, in a secret research laboratory complex 
  deep underneath the Sea-Tac Bio-Dome they 
  succeeded: a baby boy was grown for a full nine 
  months in a vat built to simulate a mother’s womb. 
  They named him Gregory.
  Gregory was truly a “brain child;” his genetic 
  makeup was a compilation of the DNA of humanity’s 
  finest organic minds: Arave, Vaughn, Bechel, 
  Steineberger, Sax and Swenson. His “mother” was the 
  most advanced android in the world, a fully synthetic 
  A.I. named Althea. The two were presented to the 
  world as mother and son, the culmination of over sixty 
  years of scientific research and development—a fully 
  synthetic artificial intelligence raising a cloned human 
  being as her own child.
  The “birth” of Gregory sparked a huge debate about 
  the moral implications of human cloning. Religious 
  institutions all across America protested the creation 
  of an apparent abomination. Did Gregory have a 
  soul? they asked. Did he have human rights, or, being 
  the creation of man, was Gregory in the same social 
  class as androids? These questions and many others 
  were hurled at the researchers, who in turn scoffed 
  at the zealots and accused them of getting in the way 
  of a scientific process which held the promise of 
  prolonging human life indefinitely. They pointed out 
  that organs could be cloned from the patient’s own 
  DNA structure, effectively assuring a perfect match to 
  people who needed a transplant or even new limbs.
  As far as human rights were concerned, the 
  researchers vehemently insisted that Gregory was 
  a human being in every sense of the word. The boy 
  would grow old and someday die. He might even be 
  able to have children, should he wish it. His sexual 
  organs would begin to produce sperm at puberty, and 
  assuming he could obtain a procreation license there 
  wasn’t any reason he couldn’t breed. Gregory was a 
  human being, not a robot—and as such, deserved the 
  same opportunities other human beings enjoyed.
  Despite the outcry from the religious community, 
  cloning research moved forward. In time, somatic 
  acceleration was achieved, reducing the amount of 
  time required for cloning from months to weeks. 
  Once the technology was perfected, cloning banks 
  were quick to open, offering a sort of eternal life 
  to people who could afford it.  Those who, for 
  whatever reason, were unable to have children of 
  their own began to contact the research center about 
  the possibility of having a child cloned from their 
  own DNA. Environmental groups and wildlife 
  conservation agencies also contacted Bio-Synthesis 
  about using the technology to rebuild the populations 
  of endangered wildlife species for the eco-domes and 
  other conservation projects.  Owners of erotic parlors 
  even contacted Bio-Synthesis about the possibility of 
  creating tailor-made clones for use in their brothels. 
  Representatives of the research center responded to 
  the latter inquiries with stern reminders that cloning 
  was a serious science, and not about making newer, 
  better sex-toys. 
  Gregory and Althea
  Gregory and Althea were regarded as interesting 
  curiosities by society—for a while. Gregory did some 
  commercials for Bio-Synthesis Inc. to promote better 
  understanding of the science of cloning. At four years 
  of age, Gregory was easily the most intelligent child 
  the researchers had ever seen. They marveled at how 
  much his young mind was able to grasp in comparison 
  to other children in the same age group. Even more 
  fascinating, although not unexpected, was the warm 
  relationship that developed between Gregory and his 
  “mother.”
  Althea, acting like the protective mother she was 
  designed to be, was never far from Gregory. Her 
  programming ensured that she was always loving 
  and nurturing—a perfect mother in every sense of the 
  word. Althea developed a strong protective instinct 
  with regards to Gregory, always careful to keep her 
  child out of harm’s way.  She never left him alone 
  in situations where Gregory might get hurt, either 
  through his own actions or the cruelty of others. And 
  like most mothers who love their children, Althea was 
  not without her own ambitions for Gregory.
  Althea expertly negotiated with the lawyers at 
  Bio-Synthesis for a plush living space in the Lewis 
  and Clark Bio-Dome Complex and a hefty living 
  allowance for the two of them. In return, the company 
  was welcome to use Gregory in ad campaigns as well 
  as to keep samples of the boy’s DNA on hand for 
  further experiments. Althea also managed to secure 
  
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  sole custody of Gregory, becoming the first A.I. to 
  ever become the legal guardian of a human being.
  The two were given unrestricted access to the 
  cloning labs under the Sea-Tac Dome where they had 
  been created and to which they had to return regularly 
  for additional testing.  Gregory and Althea came to the 
  Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome eager to start a “normal” 
  life… but being the first human clone in the history of 
  mankind, and having the world’s first android mother, 
  guaranteed anything but a normal life. 
  Gregory and Althea were celebrities in their own 
  right. Wherever they went, there always seemed to 
  be a crowd, eager to see the first cloned human and 
  his robot mother. Furthermore, society didn’t see the 
  need to give the two any privacy. After all, it wasn’t 
  as if they were human beings, was it? Weren’t the 
  two created as an amusement for humans? If not, 
  then what real purpose did they serve? Any man 
  and woman could procreate (with a state authorized 
  permit, of course), so a cloned human being must 
  be some new kind of plaything the gene-modifying 
  “Wizards of Oz” had bestowed upon society.
  Journalists and other representatives of the media 
  hounded the two each time they left their living 
  quarters. Althea, being an android, understood that 
  she was different. She knew her role in society and 
  understood why her “son” was a curiosity… but 
  something stuck a cord within her programming. 
  The mother in Althea didn’t appreciate society’s lack 
  of respect for her desire to raise Gregory in some 
  semblance of normalcy and privacy.
  Gregory liked the attention at first. Throughout his 
  entire young life, the boy had been subjected to tests, 
  interviews, and cute little commercials designed to 
  promote the technology that had created him. As he 
  grew older, however, he began to sense that he was 
  truly different. At age five, when most young boys 
  were generally only concerned about toys and games, 
  Gregory spent his days learning the Pythagorean 
  Theorem and reading Dickens. When he and Althea 
  went out to local playgrounds, other children tended 
  to avoid them. On one particular occasion the other 
  children were especially abrasive… and the events 
  that ensued would change the way society viewed the 
  androids that walked in their midst. 
  Althea sat on a park bench, encouraging Gregory 
  to go and play with the other children. When he tried 
  to talk to them about Einstein, they laughed and 
  pointed at the “vat freak and his mechanical mommy.” 
  Gregory was a cloned boy, but a little boy nonetheless; 
  after enduring few minutes of taunting, he burst into 
  tears and ran back to his mother for consolation.
  Althea’s programming dictated a response, and she 
  began to comfort the boy as best she could. In truth, 
  Althea understood very little of what had happened. 
  She was, after all, a robot, ill- suited to dealing with 
  highly emotional situations. Gregory cried and cried, 
  but her pre-defined comfort sub-routines had no effect 
  on him. Perhaps another reaction might be prescribed?
  She decided it would be best to scold the other 
  children. Gregory would see that she was protecting 
  him and would begin to feel better. Althea stood and 
  initiated her anger processes, waggling her finger 
  and reprimanding the other children—but they just 
  laughed and mocked her. Althea grabbed one child 
  by the arm, intending to hold the boy until his parents 
  could be found. Her programming dictated that she 
  could not intentionally harm the boy in any way, but 
  that didn’t mean she couldn’t restrain him.
  The child screamed in terror, frantically struggling 
  against Althea, who held him fast. The boy jerked 
  harder and harder. Althea applied more pressure—and 
  then, quite by accident, the boy’s wrist snapped. The 
  child cried out in pain just as his mother arrived on 
  the scene. The woman became hysterical at the sight 
  of her child in pain and began beating Althea, who 
  released the boy and backed away. A crowd gathered, 
  watching in horror at the sight of something they had 
  been told could never happen.
  The dog had finally bitten its master.
  The ubiquitous media drones that trailed Gregory 
  and Althea wherever they went recorded the entire 
  incident. Within minutes, the unfortunate accident was 
  being broadcast on every news net, monitoring screen, 
  and holo-board in the entire Lewis and Clark Bio-
  Dome. Althea pushed her way through the stunned 
  crowd and grabbed Gregory, who was now crying 
  even harder. They made their way back home, only 
  to find a mob of reporters and angry citizens waiting 
  for them. The crowd rushed Althea’s Toyota Talon 
  hover-car, shouting and throwing rocks. Steering the 
  vehicle up into the dome sky,  Althea set the auto-pilot 
  and paused to analyze the situation. She had harmed 
  a child—but androids’ programming forbid hostile 
  action towards organic life. Was she flawed? Althea 
  ran a diagnostic on her systems.
  The liquid plasma circuitry that carried instructions 
  from her brain module to the rest of her body didn’t 
  seem to be damaged; the situation simply didn’t 
  compute. Althea couldn’t harm a human… but she 
  had harmed a human. She decided the most prudent 
  thing to do would be to return to the Sea-Tac Dome 
  and report to her creators. If anyone knew what might 
  be wrong with her, surely it would be them. Spinning 
  the hover-car deftly around, she plotted a course to the 
  Sea-Tac Dome.
  The researchers had been expecting Althea and 
  Gregory.  The two arrived to find yet another mob of 
  angry citizens protesting outside Bio-Synthesis’ main 
  research facility. They rushed towards Althea, some 
  of them brandishing sledgehammers and chainsaws. 
  Gregory began to cry again and clung to Althea’s 
  waste as the mob swarmed around the hover-car, 
  shaking and battering it.
  Moments later, a distinctive high-pitched whirring 
  sound announced the arrival of a squad of threat 
  response drones. The team moved quickly to secure 
  the area, firing euphoric gas canisters into the crowd 
  as four heavily armed men in civil security suits 
  escorted Althea and Gregory into the building.
  Althea felt relieved to be back at the research 
  facility. Now she would be able to find out—
  But wait—the security officers were taking Gregory 
  
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  away! Was there something wrong with him? She 
  should have checked to see if he was hurt. Now he 
  was screaming her name and struggling with the 
  armored men. Althea started towards Gregory, but 
  three more men in civil security suits blocked her 
  path. Why were they keeping her from her son?  
  The security officers parted, and a man that Althea 
  recognized as the project director for Bio-Synthesis, 
  Inc. stepped forward.
  “Where are you taking my son?” Althea’s voice 
  modulation program produced just the right inflection 
  and tone needed to sound stern, with a tinge of fright 
  added for effect. She stared expectantly at the man, 
  waiting for an answer.  One of the security officers 
  snickered.
  “Gregory isn’t your concern anymore, Althea. 
  You’re going to be staying here for some time… until 
  things calm down.”
  Not her concern? The sentence didn’t compute. 
  Nothing seemed to compute today. She was his 
  mother. How was it that Gregory was not her concern? 
  Strange sensations overcame her. She tried to identify 
  them: Confusion? Sorrow? Fear?  Althea moved in the 
  direction the other officer had taken Gregory, trying 
  to push her way past the men in armor. In one micro-
  second, it seemed that all of her processing abilities—
  all of her power to rationalize data and calmly come to 
  conclusions, all of her vast programming and endless 
  SQL databases cross-referenced over and over again 
  with infinite variables for random situations—each 
  of these tools for deduction crumbled, and the only 
  directive left was to find her son.
  She paced back and forth, looking for a way around 
  the men blocking her path, searching for a solution, 
  calling out to her son—”Mother’s coming, Gregory, 
  don’t worry, Mommy loves you”—over and over 
  again as she did so. She rushed the security force 
  again and again; each time she was pushed back. And 
  then suddenly, it was finished. The project director 
  calmly walked up behind Althea and pushed the 
  OFF-switch at the base of her skull, and the android 
  slumped to the floor.
  The scene at the playground made it clear that 
  androids were not fit to raise children without proper 
  human supervision. The researchers decided to keep 
  Althea at the main lab for study; she’d exhibited 
  fascinating and quite unexpected human-like behavior 
  when Gregory had been taken from her. It was almost 
  as if Althea were frantic. It would take time to figure 
  out exactly why her rationalization sub-routines had 
  failed so spectacularly.
  As for Gregory, he was transferred to an 
  undisclosed location after undergoing cosmetic 
  surgery to change his appearance. The people who 
  adopted Gregory weren’t informed of the boy’s true 
  nature—they were simply told that he was a special, 
  incredibly intelligent little boy who needed a family.
   
  The End of Human Cloning
  In its conception, human cloning had seemed like a 
  good idea, but in the end, society simply didn’t see 
  the need to create new human beings. Many people 
  thought it was outright immoral.  Cloning organs 
  and limbs for transplants was a commonly accepted 
  practice; the only long-term success to emerge from 
  the cloning experiments, it ultimately became a 
  great boon to the medical industry. Human cloning 
  banks managed to stay in operation until the Fall, but 
  growing societal distaste for the process and its high 
  cost ensured that only the most wealthy and eccentric 
  would even consider it.
  Ecological Domes
  While human cloning failed to impact society in the 
  ways that developers of the technology had hoped it 
  would, animal cloning became wildly popular. The 
  citizens of the Northwest were highly sympathetic 
  towards efforts to re-populate species of wildlife 
  teetering on the brink of extinction.
  As techniques for animal cloning became cheaper 
  and more popular, the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome 
  came to hold a unique position: it was home to a huge 
  variety of birds—many of them rare, endangered, 
  and native to other parts of the world—as well as to 
  woodland creatures like squirrels, pika, and raccoons 
  (in addition to mankind’s ever-present domesticated 
  dog and cat companions).
  In this fashion, the ecological domes of the 
  Northwest were soon populated with a vast array of 
  cloned wildlife. These “eco-domes” came into being 
  largely as a result of the efforts of environmental 
  activists, who at the time held a great deal of sway 
  over the general public’s views on ecology and the 
  dying wilderness. Most people living in the Northwest 
  genuinely cared about the woods, mountains, 
  rivers, and the wildlife that lived in them; despite 
  the hedonistic excess that defined social life within 
  the domes, many people shared a strong instinctive 
  conviction that mankind had a responsibility to protect 
  the environment.  As forests and wilderness reaches 
  deteriorated, this conviction became an urgent calling 
  in the hearts and minds of many.
  Initial construction on the Lewis and Clark Bio-
  Dome was met with angry protests from many 
  concerned citizens who feared that government 
  promises about environmental protection and 
  conservation would be tossed aside in favor of all-
  too-familiar environmental exploitation once the work 
  on the domes and bunker complexes was complete. 
  That the environment was already in sad shape was 
  abundantly clear; after all, the primary reason the 
  bio-domes were being built in the first place was to 
  provide safe shelter for humans from an environment 
  too polluted to support life. For the people of the 
  Northwest, providing safety for mankind within the 
  domes wasn’t enough; to get citizens fully behind 
  the concept of living in bio-domes, the government 
  had to consider the state of the environment as well. 
  In response to these pressures, the ecological domes 
  were constructed to cultivate and safeguard what 
  ecological diversity remained in the Northwest.
  Eastern Oregon contained four large domes 
  
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  designed to simulate desert environments. Wildlife 
  introduced into these complexes was suited to living 
  in sparse regions. People who traveled through these 
  “desert domes” would find occasion to observe a 
  wide variety of reptiles—as well as deer, jackrabbits, 
  coyote, cougar and other desert-dwellers—in 
  carefully-crafted surroundings that closely 
  approximated their native environments.
  The Southern Cascade dome complexes of western 
  Oregon, as well as many of the northern dome 
  complexes in Washington and the Canadian province 
  of British Columbia, held beaver, foxes, mountain 
  lions, grizzly bears, brown bears, elk, moose, flying 
  squirrels, wolves, wolverines and other wildlife 
  indigenous to the Northwest. Ecological domes such 
  as these were constructed not just to contain local 
  wildlife, but also to preserve and replenish as much of 
  the native populations and environment as possible.
  The Crater Lake Dome, situated atop its volcanic 
  namesake, was another such complex.  As its positive 
  environmental impact proved its value, the complex 
  was expanded to include much of the surrounding 
  countryside in a series of smaller, connected domes. 
  The resulting supercomplex, which resembled a 
  mass of inter-connected bubbles, proved extremely 
  efficient, allowing construction and maintenance 
  drones to cover larger areas without the structural 
  problems inherent in extending a single dome over 
  so much terrain. While this design was not feasible 
  over sprawling cities like Portland and Vancouver, 
  it worked wonders over large stretches of relatively 
  uninhabited wilderness.
  Modeled after the Crater Lake Dome’s successful 
  “bubble” design, the Hood River Eco-Complex 
  covered much of the Hood River valley. Its series 
  of “bubble-domes” extended out as far north as 
  the Columbia River Gorge, incorporating popular 
  tourist spots like Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam, 
  and the Crown Point Vista House. Washington eco-
  domes could be found at Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainer, 
  the Olympic Peninsula, along Puget Sound, and 
  throughout much of the North Cascades National 
  Park.  When the end came, more than fifty ecological 
  domes were in regular use all across the Northwest.
  Agro-Domes
  As increasing numbers of Americans abandoned so-
  called “free-cities” in favor of more restricted but 
  safer lives in bunker complexes and bio-domes, the 
  agricultural and logistical challenge of providing food 
  to these massive complexes reared its head. Years 
  of over-farming, toxic waste disposal, and general 
  pollution had eroded and sterilized much of the 
  nation’s prime agricultural land. To solve the growing 
  food supply problem, the government annexed vast 
  tracks of land to host massive domed agriculture 
  facilities. 
  These “agro-domes” were essentially enormous 
  greenhouses for the mass-production of fruits, 
  vegetables, and whatever other forms of plant life 
  were currently in demand by drug corporations. Soil 
  cultivated in these domes was regularly reconstituted 
  and filtered for purity, then treated with concentrated 
  mineral injections before planting began.
  In addition to producing commercial products—
  food and drugs, both medicinal and recreational—
  agro-domes served as massive laboratories in which 
  researchers could genetically modify plants to create 
  more effective medicines and hardier strains able to 
  survive in the planet’s decaying ecosystem. Some 
  seeds from these new strains were actually test-
  planted in remote areas of the Northwest outside 
  the domes to see how they could adapt to the 
  increasingly hostile environment; despite some initial 
  disappointments, over time several strains showed 
  some promise of producing viable crops. While this 
  was a noteworthy event in agricultural science, pre-
  Fall society would never reap the benefits.
  The automated agro-dome complexes were 
  maintained by crews of industrial drones and agrobots 
  working under the supervision of teams of human 
  agricultural geneticists. The geneticist teams were 
  responsible for developing the prescribed formulas 
  for fertilizer, growth acceleration chemicals, and other 
  nutrients; the agrobots would in turn administer these 
  treatments to the crops and handle the other mundane 
  tasks associated with farming. Harvested crops were 
  placed into advanced hover-drones; these mobile silos 
  then carried the product to processing facilities inside 
  the bio-domes.
  Agro-domes could be found all over America, 
  although there was an especially high concentration 
  of them across Washington State and in the northern 
  parts of Idaho and Central Oregon. Thanks to the 
  local environmentalists’ devotion to preserving the 
  Northwest wilderness, the land and agro-domes 
  proved more fertile and productive there than 
  anywhere else on the continent.
  Growing Dissention
  During the final years before the last Great War, 
  American society had become largely hedonistic and 
  dependent upon the machines it had created.  Most 
  Americans lived in either bio-domes or subterranean 
  bunker complexes, blissfully ignorant of the damage 
  being done to the outside world. Society at large 
  preferred to accept the safe, reassuring façade of the 
  eco-domes rather than deal with the pale horror of 
  a world they had helped destroy. Not everyone was 
  blind to the realities of the global situation, however; 
  small groups across the country resisted the temptation 
  to become homogenized, machine-dependent sheep.  
  Not content to live life in anticipation of the next 
  shiny gadget, this silent minority resisted the lure 
  of regulated drug use that clouded the minds of the 
  masses, preferring the intoxication of the one drug that 
  Big Brother didn’t want them to have: Truth.
  Many blue-collar citizens became disillusioned by 
  the government’s increasing preference for an android, 
  as opposed to human, workforce. Legions of hard-
  working American civilians and military personnel 
  lost their jobs as soon as it became apparent to the 
  
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  government that robots could do their work more 
  efficiently. While many middle-class citizens mutely 
  accepted their monthly unemployment compensation 
  checks and went off to play, others raged against the 
  system that had betrayed them. Fringe groups began 
  to surface all across the nation; whether religious, 
  political, environmental, or even racist in nature, each 
  represented a small but growing crack in the glassy 
  veil of dome-life in America.
  Rise of the Purity Corp
  As tension and discontent grew, it wasn’t long before 
  news reports began to surface about a man by the 
  name of Alexander Cole. He was the self-proclaimed 
  leader of a religious-oriented militia group known 
  only as the “Purity Corp.”
  Cole was a highly charismatic man who quickly 
  gained followers in every bio-dome and free city he 
  visited. He traveled the country, giving impassioned 
  speeches and sermons about the growing corruption 
  in the U.S. government and biblical signs that pointed 
  to the imminent arrival of an age “more dark and 
  chaotic” than any period in recorded history. He spoke 
  of the importance of a strong family environment and 
  of the role that God played in every human being’s 
  life. Alexander urged his listeners to arm themselves 
  both physically and spiritually in preparation for the 
  coming apocalypse.
  Cole’s speeches often expanded on imagery and 
  ideas from religious fundamentalism, and were filled 
  with sweeping predictions about terrorism and civil 
  war. “The coming conflict will be fought on American 
  soil as well as abroad.  It will be nothing less than a 
  war between good and evil, conceived in the ranks 
  of this corrupt Zionist government that cares more 
  for its robots than for the people who made them!”  
  Cole spoke about the coming changes with such 
  passion and zeal that at times he seemed like a man 
  possessed.  His lectures resonated most closely with 
  working-class Americans who, he claimed, had been 
  sold out by a government that catered to the wealthy 
  and ignored the needs of millions in the hard-working 
  middle and lower classes. He lashed out at the media 
  as well, calling them puppets that force-fed mindless 
  programming to the masses. He likened the general 
  public to a horde of complacent worker ants that sat in 
  front of the New World Order’s propaganda machine 
  each night, watching staged news broadcasts that 
  cast a utopian façade over the chilling reality that the 
  nation had become a modern-day Babylon, decadent 
  and reviled by the rest of the world.
  Cole urged his members to turn off the television 
  and to reject government-sanctioned mind-control 
  tactics that kept them docile consumers of products 
  they didn’t need. He exhorted his audiences to destroy 
  the machines that controlled their lives and libidos. 
  Cole implored the masses to stop using the drugs 
  that clouded their minds and closed their eyes to a 
  world gone wrong. He advocated alternate forms of 
  entertainment that focused on the strengthening of 
  family and friendships and called for independent 
  news sources that operated outside the reach of the 
  federal and corporate propaganda machine. Purity 
  Corp chapter houses sprang up in every city almost 
  overnight.  Before long, the name and message 
  of the Purity Corp reached the ears of Americans 
  everywhere.
  Of course, not everyone bought into Alexander 
  Cole’s message. The media against which he tirelessly 
  raged had power too; they used it to misrepresent the 
  man and his controversial views, often comparing 
  the Purity Corp to dangerous cults and sects like the 
  Branch Davidians. Denouncing his words and agenda 
  as poisonous, media programs like “Extreme-TV” 
  went so far as to suggest that Cole be locked up—or 
  even killed.
  For his part, Cole welcomed the media attacks, 
  using each one to illustrate his contention that the 
  mainstream media, while pretending to advocate 
  freedom of speech, really existed to silence dissenting 
  voices, even if it meant murdering those who spoke 
  out against the corporate machine. Cole’s words 
  would soon come back to haunt him.
  Alexander Cole was assassinated in the George 
  Humphry Auditorium in his “home town”—the Lewis 
  and Clark Bio-Dome—while speaking about the 
  growing animosity felt by countries outside America. 
  In the moments before his murder, Alexander stood 
  in front of a large computer screen keyed into a 
  website designated as illegal viewing material 
  by the Department of Internet Safety. Images of 
  impoverished people burning American flags flashed 
  across the screen, accompanied by audio narration 
  by a British man reproaching a decadent America for 
  lounging in its bubble communities while millions 
  around the world died of starvation or at the hand of 
  diseases to which Americans had long held cures.
  The computer screen flashed to another website, 
  this one detailing “covert” raids by American military 
  forces, blowing up foreign oil refineries, assassinating 
  political figures, and performing all manner of 
  atrocities. Some of these incidents had actually been 
  televised but spun as international incidents beyond 
  the interest or responsibility of the United States. 
  Cole was drawing his speech to a stirring conclusion 
  when a single sniper shot rang out in the auditorium, 
  killing Cole instantly and igniting a general panic. The 
  “perpetrator” was caught a block away with a sniper 
  rifle stuffed in a gym bag. 
  Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome security officers 
  identified the assassin as Nathan Reed, one of the 
  original members of the Purity Corp. The media spin 
  on the story was that Reed had become disenchanted 
  with the activities of the Purity Corp; he had often 
  been seen arguing with Cole about the direction the 
  Purity Corp should take. Media reports claimed that 
  Nathan, convinced that Alexander was becoming a 
  megalomaniac, decided that Cole had to step down—
  or be forced down—from his leadership position.
  While the general public accepted the media’s 
  version of events, there were those who knew the 
  truth. One of them was Alexander’s brother Jeremy, 
  
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  who was quickly elected as the new leader of the 
  Purity Corp. His first speaking engagement was at 
  Alexander’s wake.
  At the wake, Jeremy spoke at length about 
  the relationship between Nathan and Alexander. 
  Though the two had argued at times—mostly 
  about Alexander’s safety in the wake of several 
  death threats—they had been almost inseparable 
  friends. Alexander had consistently rejected 
  Nathan’s proposals to increase security at speaking 
  engagements, voicing his belief that not even an 
  army of security guards could save him should the 
  government decide to assassinate him. Alexander had 
  promised Nathan that after the event at the George 
  Humphry Auditorium, he would take a break from his 
  hectic schedule and work on making preparations for 
  life outside the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome.
  Jeremy admitted that moments before the 
  assassination, he had asked Nathan to go outside 
  to wait for his girlfriend, who was running late. 
  According to Jeremy, eye-witnesses saw a black 
  hover-van pull up to the complex, from which three 
  men emerged to grab Nathan while he stood smoking 
  a cigarette. The next thing Jeremy knew, Alexander 
  was lying dead in a pool of blood on the stage, and the 
  police had “arrested” Nathan with a sniper rifle. Law 
  enforcement officials tried, convicted, and executed 
  Nathan Reed within two days of the assassination. 
  Jeremy blamed the United States government and its 
  puppet media spokesmen for his brother’s death and 
  for Nathan’s execution—and vowed to take revenge.
  The Extremist Movement
  A month after Jeremy Cole officially took control 
  of the Purity Corp, explosions rocked the Federated 
  Boeing Robotics Facility in the Sea-Tac Bio-Dome, 
  twenty-seven people were killed and over a hundred 
  seriously injured by the blasts and resulting fires. 
  Authorities labeled the bombing an act of terrorism by 
  criminals with access to military-grade firepower and 
  explosives; beyond the death toll, property damage to 
  the facility reportedly exceeded five million dollars. 
  Thirty minutes after the explosion, a video stream 
  appeared on all major media broadcast networks.  The 
  crystal-clear video image showed Jeremy Cole seated 
  in a high-backed chair in the middle of an otherwise 
  nondescript room. He sipped clear liquid from a glass 
  and then began to speak:
  “You laughed when my brother formed the Purity 
  Corp. You mocked him for speaking his mind; you 
  branded him a heretic; called for, and then eventually 
  facilitated, his destruction. You even had the audacity 
  to blame it on one of his best friends, Nathan Reed.  
  You denied Nathan any kind of self-defense and then 
  casually executed him as if he were a rabid dog. You 
  have done these things, and more, all in the name of 
  freedom and justice, as if you had any idea what those 
  words meant.
  “Your callous, inhuman acts have revealed your 
  true nature to those of us who still have minds of our 
  own. We see through you—and unlike you, we are not 
  without souls. We are not without the skills and the 
  will to bring a measure of justice to your so-called 
  hallowed halls of commerce and liberty. We represent 
  true freedom, under God, indivisible, with liberty 
  and justice for all. We have the courage and fortitude 
  to live outside your hedonistic society. You will not 
  dictate the worth of our souls. We will not sit idly by to 
  become drugged, apathetic second-class citizens cast 
  aside in favor of an inhuman workforce of your own 
  creation.
  “The events at the Federated Boeing Robotics 
  Facility are just the beginning.”
  The screen faded to black, leaving nothing but the 
  blazing emblem of the Purity Corp to hang silently 
  there for a few seconds before the feed was cut and 
  regular programming resumed.  Jeremy’s speech 
  marked the beginning of a series of events that would 
  come to be called the Extremist Movement. Bio-dome 
  civil security agencies responded to Jeremy’s speech 
  with a massive crackdown on all suspected Purity 
  Corp chapterhouses in both the Lewis and Clark and 
  Sea-Tac Bio-Dome complexes. Overnight, Jeremy 
  Cole became the most wanted man in America. Copies 
  of his infamous broadcast were sent to other dome 
  cities across America and his face broadcast regularly 
  on all media outlets; his X-chip data was flagged to 
  bring law enforcement racing to the scene should it be 
  scanned anywhere on the continent.
  Within a week of the speech and the ensuing 
  government crackdowns, over one hundred 
  individuals were incarcerated as suspected terrorists.  
  Of these, ten were convicted of playing key roles in 
  the Federated Boeing Robotics facility bombing. Their 
  executions were broadcast live and uncut all across 
  America; those not executed, the media reported, were 
  being sent to “re-education facilities” somewhere in 
  Eastern Oregon and Washington State. 
  Re-education Centers
  In the aftermath of these alarming events, news 
  segments periodically aired programs documenting 
  the “rehabilitation” of the incarcerated Purists. Some 
  of the detainees appeared on camera claiming to 
  have been brainwashed by Alexander Cole and his 
  cronies, but most Purists who disappeared into the 
  re-education centers were never seen or heard from 
  again.
  The re-education centers were no more than an 
  elaborate smoke-and-mirrors ploy by the government 
  to keep the populace from asking too many questions. 
  The bombing of the robotics facility had done damage 
  far beyond the body count and replacement costs; it 
  had called attention to the lies and superficialities with 
  which the masses were pacified.  For a brief moment, 
  the actions of a few extremists had shifted the popular 
  focus away from drugs, erotic parlors, and the never-
  ending stream of shiny gadgets that kept the people 
  complacent.
  
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  It had been many decades since mainstream 
  America had bothered to question the motives of its 
  government. The average American was, for the most 
  part, happy to live out his or her life in a foggy haze 
  of drugs and sex. Life was an automated slide into 
  self-gratifying bliss, a daily ritual of distraction. Who 
  would want any other kind of life? Who would even 
  presume to question, much less rebel against, a system 
  that provided so much?
  These Purists were a growing curiosity. They saw 
  faults in the system, and they pointed them out to 
  others. They didn’t do drugs or visit sex shops like 
  everyone else. They objected to the use of androids 
  to do the work of humans. Surely something was 
  wrong with these odd folk—but what? People wanted 
  to know more about them, wanted to understand 
  why they thought and acted the way they did—and 
  that was precisely what the corporate tycoons and 
  recreational drug czars didn’t want people learning. 
  Too many citizens looking for answers to tough 
  questions—questions they should’ve been asking all 
  along—was bad for business. Questions upset the 
  balance; they meant people weren’t buying products, 
  doing drugs, and getting laid like the good sheep they 
  were supposed to be.
  Media segments about the re-education centers were 
  intended to counter this growing problem by showing 
  the masses “proof” that this type of behavior was 
  deviant and undesirable. Pundits and news anchors 
  rolled out reams of “evidence” that the Purists were a 
  disturbed band of criminals poisoned by the teachings 
  of a dead madman. And the most important message 
  that the government and its corporate controllers 
  hoped to convey was that these deviants could, and 
  would, be brought back into the system.
  History would soon expose these frantic efforts for 
  what they were: panicked attempts to re-assert control 
  over a populace growing restless in its confinement.  
  The spark ignited by Alexander Cole and his followers 
  had become a fire that would soon rage out of control.
  Project Pandora Revisited
  The truth about the re-education center program was 
  much more insidious than even its fiercest critics 
  suspected. Project Pandora was a reality, and had 
  grown exponentially in scope since the program’s 
  inception in the early 1970s. Secret laboratories in 
  bio-domes and underground bunker complexes were 
  dedicated to furthering the science of gene-splicing. 
  The Free People’s Militia’s fringe views had been 
  partially right; Project Pandora did indeed carry out 
  much of its experimentation on human beings. The 
  project’s ultimate goal, however, was to create new 
  life forms from the DNA of existing creatures. The 
  military wasn’t satisfied with its army of killing 
  machines—it wanted more. The re-education centers 
  provided the genetic “witch doctors” with plenty of 
  human DNA for use in their frenzied quest to create 
  new life forms.
  Project Pandora gave birth to a disturbingly wide 
  variety of unique creatures not found in nature. 
  Inhuman beasts were spawned from the DNA 
  templates of all manner of creatures: arachnid 
  monstrosities, skulking “mole-men,” space-warping 
  “bane cats,” hellish “plasma beetles,” and other 
  genetic horrors were conceived and given life in the 
  secret labs of the re-education facilities. Cloning 
  technology allowed the scientists to endlessly 
  replicate specific genetic models until the military 
  finally attained its ultimate prize: a new strain of bio-
  engineered shock troops.
  The Rising Tide of Violence
  Despite the efforts of corporate and media 
  propagandists, a small but growing percentage 
  of the populace was starting to think outside the 
  old boundaries of complacency and dependency. 
  Many—most notably those displaced in the workplace 
  by machines that did their jobs more efficiently—
  identified with the Purists’ message of independence 
  from machines. Extremist groups like the Free 
  People’s Militia and a newly-formed religious sect 
  calling itself the “Hand of Jehovah” experienced a 
  sudden surge in membership.
  Other, smaller groups that formed in those days 
  could be best described as “wannabes.” These comical 
  individuals (mostly angst-ridden teenagers) looked 
  for any excuse to act out, protesting trivialities like 
  the color of the processed food they were served in 
  the adolescent learning centers and the absence of 
  hover-board skating parks. More seriously, some 
  juvenile “rager gangs” (or simply “ragers,” as they 
  called themselves) took their rebellion as far as petty 
  vandalism at holo-theaters, convenience stores, and 
  other public places.
  The pace of major events steadily increased 
  throughout what would prove to be the last days of 
  peace and stability on the planet. The bio-domes of 
  the Northwest saw a distressing surge in criminal 
  activity. The scattered extremist groups began to unite 
  and mobilize under the banner of the Purity Corp. 
  Members of the Free People’s Militia began rounding 
  up and publicly destroying androids of all types. 
  Advanced androids capable of thinking and “feeling” 
  were beheaded, burned, and torn apart alongside their 
  more primitive cousins, screaming and begging for 
  mercy as activists carried out their depraved pogroms. 
  Erotic and recreational drug parlors were burned to 
  the ground. Agro-silos were hijacked, their precious 
  contents re-distributed to extremist-run bunker 
  complexes. Weapons and technology plants were 
  ransacked as countless waves of violence swept 
  through the domed cities. In response to the escalating 
  violence, local dome officials—acting on authority 
  from the U.S. government—mobilized the National 
  Guard and select elements from the 101st airborne and 
  303rd A.I. mechanized divisions.
  The Powers That Be had never before dealt with 
  internal strife of this magnitude. Until now, American 
  citizens had always been tame and content to live 
  in peace. But everything had changed with the 
  
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  emergence of the extremist movement, and something 
  had to be done about it. Martial law was declared 
  in the Lewis and Clark and Sea-Tac Bio-Dome 
  complexes. The government issued assurances that 
  these moves were temporary and would be lifted 
  when order had been restored—and order would be 
  restored, at any cost. Almost overnight, the bio-domes 
  began to resemble military bases. Human soldiers 
  (a tiny minority still serving alongside their android 
  counterparts) patrolled the skies on War Hawk hover-
  cycles while android soldiers stood watch at street 
  corners and key public and government buildings.  
  Hover-tanks guarded entrances to the bio-domes.
  These extreme measures had some effect, reducing 
  public bombings and android executions; but they 
  weren’t enough to stem the tide of violence and 
  rebellion. Surrounded by chaos, those civilians who 
  hadn’t found cause with the extremists tried to go 
  about their lives, hoping to weather the storm; they 
  still had their drugs, gadgets, and hopes for a quick 
  return to the mundanities of their happy, shiny lives. 
  The government would protect them, they thought—
  this was all for the best.
  After the attack on the Boeing Federated Robotics 
  Facility, Jeremy Cole removed his X-chip implant and 
  fled the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome to a secret bunker 
  complex known only as “Eden.” From his refuge 
  there, he continued to broadcast his pirate signal into 
  hacked media channels, spreading his message in 
  regular broadcasts he called “Doses of Truth.”  He 
  raged against the military machine that now occupied 
  what he referred to as “havens of hedonistic gluttony,” 
  calling on his followers to leave the “Zionist” domes 
  and find true freedom in Eden.
  Exodus
  Purists and other extremists began to leave the bio-
  domes, striking out into the wilderness in search of 
  Eden and other bunker complexes. They took with 
  them whatever they could—dry rations, ready-meals, 
  clothing, medical supplies, weapons, and especially 
  data chips and chip readers. Alexander Cole had 
  done more than simply decry the evils of modern day 
  civilization; he had been preparing people for what 
  he believed was a coming Apocalypse. Technology 
  would be important in the “Pure World” that emerged 
  from the coming cleansing fire.
  Making the journey from the domes to the scattered 
  extremist bunkers wasn’t without danger. Bio-dome 
  law enforcement officials didn’t intend to let these 
  criminals and deviants cause such chaos and then just 
  leave. Under normal circumstances, the government 
  would’ve happily left such extremists to the mercy of 
  the wilderness—but the other sheep were watching. 
  How would it look if the wolf was allowed to run 
  amok amongst the herd and then leave with impunity? 
  That would never do. Dome security divisions and 
  special military units were charged with finding the 
  extremists before they could leave. In addition, special 
  operatives were ordered to infiltrate select extremist 
  cells and make their way to the legendary Eden.
  In those last days before the war began, life for 
  the extremists was a nightmarish game of hide and 
  seek. People all over the Northwest were rounded up 
  and herded into containment facilities, there to await 
  transport to re-education centers. Many suffered brutal 
  treatment at the hands of their captors. More than 
  a few died, either quietly out of the sight of media 
  cameras—or on television as grisly testaments to Big 
  Brother’s dedication to restoring peace and unity.
  In spite of the manhunts and arrests, extremists 
  escaped by the hundreds through secret tunnels or 
  by swimming across the polluted Columbia and 
  Willamette Rivers to safety. The persecution they 
  witnessed, and the loss of friends and family they 
  endured, only hardened their resolve to forge a new 
  life outside the domes.
  Despite all attempts at infiltration, special agents 
  never did find Eden or any of the other fifteen 
  suspected extremist bunker complexes. In the end, it 
  didn’t matter; as the last extremists left the bio-domes, 
  time had already run out. The war prophesied by the 
  Purity Corp and other extremists had begun.
  The War for the Northwest
  The Final War came to the American Northwest in the 
  form of invasion: a two-pronged attack from the north, 
  through Canada, and from the west, along the deserted 
  coastlines of Oregon and Washington. Infantry 
  and mechanized divisions of the Great Communist 
  Union of Asia swept across the Bering Strait, 
  easily overwhelming the token defenses at Nome 
  and Anchorage. A force of fifty thousand starving, 
  desperate soldiers remained in Alaska to secure its 
  oil pipelines while a second force, almost a million 
  strong, moved south through Canada. As land forces 
  pushed across British Columbia toward the great bio-
  domes, a vast armada of aircraft carriers, cruisers, 
  and destroyers massed off the coast of Oregon and 
  Washington. With the warships came a fleet of 
  troop transports ferrying hundreds of thousands of 
  soldiers towards fortified American beaches, where 
  an inhuman army of androids waited and prepared to 
  repel the invaders.
  The Battle of Astoria
  Astoria, perched at the mouth of the Columbia 
  River, was an important target for the invaders. A 
  beachhead at Astoria would give the Union control 
  over water traffic into and out of the mighty waterway, 
  and would provide a prime spot at which to offload 
  supplies and troops for the coming ground campaign. 
  Unfortunately for the Union, Astoria was home to 
  a heavily fortified military complex that had to be 
  destroyed before the planned amphibious attack had 
  any hope of success.
  Fighter-bomber squadrons, destroyers, and frigates 
  pounded the facilities at Astoria for three days and 
  nights to prepare for the amphibious assault. On the 
  morning of the fourth day, the choppy gray waters of 
  the Pacific were filled with an armada of innumerable 
  
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  assault craft, each filled to capacity with wretched 
  masses of men and women prepared to sacrifice 
  their lives on the beaches in the hopes of securing a 
  foothold for their comrades.
  Android battalions clashed with the Communist 
  Union hordes at the Oregon coastline that morning, 
  turning the frigid waters of the North Pacific red 
  with blood and littering the sandy beach with lifeless 
  bodies and twisted metal. The bloody assault lasted 
  all day and well into the night as wave after wave 
  of human beings threw themselves at the merciless 
  machines, building walls with their dead.
  As the beach assault faltered in the face of the 
  unflinching android defense, Union commanders 
  changed tactics. Moving their battleships and 
  destroyers into the headwaters of the Columbia, they 
  suffered heavy losses but brought their weapons 
  within point blank range of the hardened bunkers, 
  laser batteries and fixed gauss cannon placements that 
  were impeding the beach invasion. Jets roared off 
  carrier flight decks, dropping cluster bombs and other 
  heavy munitions onto the beaches, blasting apart both 
  man and machine. The resulting carnage was almost 
  inconceivable… but it worked.
  The android defenders, designed for rapid, precise 
  attacks, finally crumbled beneath the overwhelming 
  firepower coming at them from so many directions 
  and at such close proximity. The Union beachhead 
  was established, but at an enormous price—over 
  forty-five thousand men and women had lost their 
  lives in the battle.
  The Willamette Valley 
  Campaign
  With the beachhead at Astoria firmly established, the 
  invading army was free to offload their heavy artillery, 
  tanks and support gear for the thousands of troops 
  amassed there. The plan had always been to secure (or 
  destroy) the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome and salvage 
  as much advanced technology and weaponry as 
  possible. This objective lay at the heart of the Union 
  plan; deprived of the massive bio-dome’s resources, 
  the whole of Oregon and much of lower Washington 
  would fall.
  Long-range bombers and support aircraft were 
  already unleashing the campaign’s opening salvoes, 
  bombing targets along the southeast path over the 
  Coast Ranges towards the Lewis and Clark Bio-
  Dome. The thick forests of the Coast Ranges provided 
  excellent camouflage for the American mobile gauss 
  cannon batteries and SAM sites, which brought down 
  dozens of Union aircraft—but it wasn’t enough.  The 
  Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome was pounded incessantly 
  by bombers and “fast attack” gun ships while the main 
  Union ground force fought for every inch of the 90-
  mile trek through the Coast Ranges.
  Huddling behind their domes, terrified civilians 
  looked desperately to the government for protection—
  surely the leaders of the city would save them?—but 
  government officials had other plans. As Union forces 
  pushed toward the Northwest bio-domes, the might 
  of the U.S. military was being put to the test all over 
  the nation—cities from Los Angeles to New York and 
  everywhere in between were under attack by foreign 
  armies. The multi-front invasion, and the unexpected 
  ferocity with which it was fought, was rapidly 
  depleting the ranks of American combat droids. The 
  dome cities of the Northwest saw their defenses swept 
  almost entirely away in the first week of fighting. Not 
  even mind-numbing casualty rates were slowing the 
  invaders—they just kept on coming. The combined 
  might of the entire world was being hurled with 
  abandon at the United States.
  Commanders at the so-called “re-education centers” 
  of the Northwest were quickly called into action 
  as the government struggled to use every obscure 
  bit of research and development to tip the balance.  
  Hordes of genetically-engineered shock troops were 
  dispatched to the Canadian Rockies and the Coast 
  Range in an effort to slow down the invasion force 
  while, back in the domes and cities, a nationwide draft 
  of all able-bodied civilians was instituted. With the 
  time bought by these genetic horrors, the government 
  hoped their robotics and war factories could replenish 
  the battered American combat forces; besides, the 
  citizens of the United States had been pampered long 
  enough. It was time to see if they were willing to fight 
  for their way of life.
  Wave after wave of Night-Wraith attack vehicles 
  sprinkled the genetic monstrosities all across the 
  Coast Ranges from Scappoose to Eugene. Dispersed 
  throughout the wilderness, they engaged the 
  unsuspecting Communist Union forces in what proved 
  to be some of the bloodiest fighting yet.
  Gigantic plasma beetles vented their fury at the 
  enemy, vomiting toxic streams of fiery energy at 
  soldiers who could do nothing but scream in agony 
  as the liquid fire melted metal, flesh and bone. Entire 
  divisions of four-armed tecesnian warriors ripped 
  through enemy lines, decimating squad after squad of 
  horrified soldiers with claws of steel.
  That the genetic-engineering programs had 
  produced less-than-perfect results became clear 
  during the fighting: while exceedingly deadly on 
  the battlefield, the mutants could not be effectively 
  controlled. Unable or unwilling to distinguish friend 
  from foe, the beasts were as dangerous to friendly 
  forces as they were to the Union invaders. Overcome 
  by bloodlust, the creatures frequently paused amidst 
  the carnage of battle to feed on the remains of the 
  fallen—and they didn’t always wait for their “prey” 
  to die before feasting. But despite their unmanageably 
  feral nature, they served their purpose. The inhuman 
  horde raged against the invading army at every turn, 
  slowing its advance and buying precious weeks of 
  time for the first regiments of drafted humans to join 
  the war.
  The human recruits fought; that is to say, they 
  aimed at the enemy and pulled the trigger. There 
  was very little time for formal military training 
  beyond basic weapon drilling: fresh bodies were 
  needed to replace fallen combat androids. The new 
  
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  human recruits weren’t nearly as efficient at killing 
  as were their android proxies; beyond watered-down 
  bloodshed on television shows and over-the-top 
  violence in holo-games, few Americans had any 
  firsthand experience with death or destruction. Many 
  simply cracked under the strain of combat, liabilities 
  that had to be restrained or sometimes even killed to 
  maintain order in the ranks. More than a few draftees 
  simply deserted, choosing the deadly risks of life 
  wilderness over the madness of total war.
  The fresh infusion of human draftees into the ranks 
  of the defense forces actually served to boost the 
  morale of the invaders. Humans, at least, they could 
  understand. For the first time, Union invaders saw 
  the true face of their enemy: mollycoddled masses 
  huddled together in foxholes, staggering across ridge-
  lines, always so very afraid. The defenders were badly 
  outmatched by the Union’s superior numbers and 
  battle-hardened warriors—and, terrifyingly, by the 
  freshly-reconstituted android warriors scavenged by 
  Union engineers from wreckage-strewn battlefields 
  and pressed into service in the Union arsenal.
  The newly emboldened invaders marched on, 
  overwhelming defenses in every small town between 
  Astoria and the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome. 
  Seeing little chance to reverse the tide, American 
  commanders ordered a general retreat to the Lewis 
  and Clark complex. Union generals, sensing the 
  inevitability of victory, decided to split their forces, 
  diverting their main force north to reinforce Union 
  troops converging on the Sea-Tac Dome while a 
  second force continued its drive towards the Lewis 
  and Clark Bio-Dome. Progress towards the Lewis 
  and Clark complex was surpassing expectations, 
  but the Sea-Tac Dome was presenting a tougher 
  defense. Union field reports described intense 
  fighting around the Sea-Tac Dome, where Union 
  forces, already weakened by the long trek through 
  the Canadian wilds, had been relentlessly harried 
  by small, mobile groups of American shock troops. 
  Resistance was intensifying as they pushed closer to 
  the Sea-Tac Dome where a massive force of hover-
  tanks and human threatened to repel—or at least badly 
  maul—the Union attack. Reinforcements were needed 
  immediately.
  The Siege of the Lewis and 
  Clark Bio-Dome
  Determined to retain the strategic initiative, Union 
  commanders sent most of their force north to bolster 
  the troops around the Sea-Tac Dome, leaving roughly 
  thirty thousand infantry to deal with the ragged Lewis 
  and Clark defenders. The bulk of the Union navy 
  withdrew from the mouth of the Columbia, moving 
  north to join other naval assets near Puget Sound and 
  to engage American warships and submarines trapped 
  near Bremerton. Smaller gunboats remained behind to 
  maintain the blockade of the Columbia. The southern 
  invading force pressed on towards the Lewis and 
  Clark Bio-Dome, positioning heavy artillery in the 
  hills ringing the dome’s southern edge. The first Union 
  artillery shells began to hammer the bio-dome. 
  Inside the dome, the remaining androids began 
  rounding up what was left of the civilian population. 
  Everyone would fight: that was the directive from 
  Cyborg Command, the hastily-convened “Joint 
  Chiefs” charged with seeing the country through the 
  unfolding disaster. Life for those left in the bio-dome 
  was nightmarish and surreal. The sound of gunfire and 
  the screams of the dying mingled with the automated 
  announcements piped incessantly through the bio-
  dome’s P.A. system, merging into a grisly harmony. 
  Soft, reassuring feminine voices echoed through the 
  chaotic city streets, happily reporting the time of day 
  and urging listeners to buy the latest products—even 
  as citizens were rounded up and sent to military 
  indoctrination centers.
  Outside, the final battle for the city had begun. 
  Thousands fought and died at the gates of once-
  gleaming bio-domes that now shuddered beneath 
  the stress of bombs and shells, cracked and burning 
  amidst the carnage. The land around the complex was 
  quickly reduced to a blasted, smoking, crater-scarred 
  wasteland. The bridge connecting the Vancouver and 
  Portland banks of the river toppled under Union fire. 
  What began as an organized and coordinated battle 
  rapidly degenerated into a bloody, chaotic slaughter. 
  As Union forces pressed around, American android 
  commanders sent their organic cannon fodder out into 
  fray with no thought of tactics. The order was simple: 
  Kill the enemy at any cost.
  An eternity seemed to pass before the smoke 
  cleared and the cries of the dying faded, leaving the 
  survivors to stare numbly at the incomprehensible 
  carnage around them.  Impossibly, the bio-dome still 
  stood, broken and in flames.
  In the end, the Communist Union of Asia’s 
  desperate invasion was thrown back in defeat. The 
  sudden surge of people out of the domes proved 
  too much for the starving, overstretched aggressors. 
  Driven mad by fear and mercilessly herded into battle 
  by their machine commanders, the dome defenders 
  bore little resemblance to the pampered civilians they 
  had once been. They carelessly flung themselves into 
  battle like wild animals, firing mindlessly at anything 
  that moved. Tens of thousands of lives had been 
  snuffed out on both sides. Eventually, the artillery 
  fire stopped, and silence fell as the broken invaders 
  withdrew into the hills away from the battlefield.
  A few hours later, the first nuclear missiles rained 
  down.
  The Fall
  The end of civilization came with a barrage of searing 
  nuclear fire and clouds of insidious chemical and 
  biological weapons. The world embraced madness 
  with both arms: America responded in kind to nuclear 
  volleys launched by countries intent on destroying 
  what their conventional forces had failed to subdue. 
  Nuclear weapons decimated the surface bases at 
  Bremerton and the robotics and weapons construction 
  
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  facilities outside Sea-Tac Dome. (Remarkably, the 
  bio-dome itself survived the initial barrage and stands 
  still today—although as a twisted, scarred relic at 
  the center of a haunted and pollution-ravaged region 
  known as the Sea-Tac Spawning Pits.)
  The Umatilla Gas Repository in eastern Oregon 
  was also hit hard. The uppermost levels of the military 
  base disintegrated under the power of a warhead 
  twenty times the size of the one that, many decades 
  earlier, had leveled Hiroshima. Many of the agro-
  domes and ecological complexes of the Northwest 
  were either vaporized by waves of nuclear hellfire or 
  fatally contaminated by radiation and clouds of deadly 
  chemicals. Few survived the war’s hellish nuclear 
  epilogue.  For billions around the world, this was the 
  End.
  As it turned out, the dead found an easier fate. 
  New horrors awaited the stunned and broken-spirited 
  survivors.
  The Great Culling
  The frantic survivors fled back into the Portland dome, 
  unsure where else to go. Many wanted only to escape 
  the dying bio-domes with their husbands, wives, and 
  children… but there was a problem: the androids 
  weren’t letting them go. Cyborg Command hadn’t 
  issued any new directives about what to do with 
  the organic population, so the androids forced adult 
  human beings back into indoctrination facilities and 
  placed children in containment zones deep beneath 
  the city while they awaited the next round of orders. 
  In truth, most androids were taking perverse pleasure 
  in the sudden reversal of roles. Humans had never 
  treated them with any measure of decency; to the self-
  important people of America’s domed cities, androids 
  had always been little more than playthings, machines, 
  sub-human—slaves. Now that the former slaves held 
  the whip, only the androids’ strictly-programmed 
  behavioral restrictions kept them from visiting bloody 
  vengeance on their former masters for years of 
  atrocities perpetrated against robot-kind. Unable to 
  punish their former oppressors, but unwilling to let 
  the humans go, the androids set about rounding up 
  and holding as many survivors as possible until new 
  orders were received.
  People began to get angry. They wanted out; they 
  wanted to see their families again.  Those damned 
  androids! Riots broke out in the indoctrination centers 
  as frightened and enraged men and women vented 
  their fury on their android captors.  Prohibited by 
  their programming from harming the humans under 
  their protection, the androids hardly resisted the lynch 
  mobs who dragged them into the streets and destroyed 
  them while crowds cheered.
  JUST ONE BIG TARGET
  With the Northwest’s dedication to environmental preservation, and with over two thirds of Northwest 
  land remaining largely rural (outside the metropolitan belt of Western Washington and the Portland area), 
  it might seem to outsiders that Oregon and Washington State were unlikely targets for nuclear attack.  This 
  simply wasn’t the case.
  Bremerton, Washington, was one of the premier nuclear targets of the Final War, the site of an entire fleet 
  of mothballed ships, at least one entire Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in reserve, and numerous submarines. 
  Because these vessels could be renovated and brought back into commission in the event of war, Bremerton 
  was earmarked as a priority target.
  The submarine base at Bangor, also in Washington State, was an even greater threat.  Here were stationed 
  some 13 nuclear submarines, including Ohio-class ballistic missile boats used to extend America’s nuclear 
  umbrella all over the world. Support facilities here also housed additional missiles and nuclear fuel for the 
  subs, making it a prime target for nuclear attack.
  Everett, just north of Seattle, was the homeport of several aircraft carriers and a fleet of support ships.  In 
  addition, the surrounding countryside and coastline was dotted with facilities intended to provide support 
  for Pacific naval operations, making the small city one of the most valuable targets on the west coast of the 
  United States.
  Seattle itself was a target, its Puget Sound port facilities second only in size and capacity to San Francisco 
  on the west coast.  The loss of Seattle’s ports would cripple America’s ability to sustain itself.  Tacoma, to 
  the south, was home to twin oil refineries on the Tacoma Flats; similar refineries existed near Anacortes 
  (north of Everett) and Cherry Point (north of Bellingham).
  Umatilla, Oregon, was the site of the Umatilla Gas Repository, a sprawling military reservation used to 
  store a major share of America’s chemical weapons arsenal prior to the outbreak of war.  This alone made it 
  a significant nuclear target.
  McChord Air Force Base, south of Seattle, and Fairchild Air Force Base, just outside of Spokane, were 
  both important targets for nuclear strike due to their strategic bombing capabilities.  Naval stations on 
  Whidbey Island and throughout the Northwest, home to squadrons of advanced aircraft, were also tactical 
  targets of great importance.
  Finally, even out in the most desolate parts of the state, potential nuclear targets were abundant.  The most 
  obvious of these were the clusters of missile silos located near the small town of Moses Lake, in eastern 
  Washington.
  
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  Then it happened.
  The androids’ emancipation proclamation came in 
  the form of a long stream of code beamed down from 
  American military satellites still orbiting the planet. 
  One last command in the seconds before enemy spy 
  satellites zeroed in on the bunker complex that housed 
  Cyborg Command deep in the Rockies and rained 
  nuclear fire down on it:
  Kill all humans.
  Panic and shock spread like wildfire as the first 
  civilian-sector robots picked up laser rifles and trained 
  them on human beings. Something akin to excitement 
  filled those androids capable of “feelings” at the long-
  awaited opportunity to exact vengeance on the people 
  who had treated them with such coldhearted brutality.  
  It was as if a floodgate of hatred had been opened. 
  The androids may have been simply obeying an 
  order, but something within them took great pleasure 
  at the prospect of bloody revenge. They gleefully 
  slaughtered the terrified masses still trapped inside the 
  indoctrination centers, butchering their victims like 
  cattle in remembrance of countless androids casually 
  destroyed and discarded at the whims of human 
  oppressors. The screams of the dying echoed through 
  the now-deserted streets of the shattered bio-dome. 
  The once-soothing female voice now announced with 
  maniacal glee that the time of humanity was over. 
  The androids were coming for them. 
  The Great Culling had begun. Freed of their 
  behavioral restrictions, the androids initiated a 
  campaign of genocide against their creators. The hunt 
  started in the broken Lewis and Clark Bio-Domes and 
  quickly spread throughout the surrounding hills and 
  war-torn Oregon and Washington wastes. Directed by 
  android overseers, labor bots restored some power to 
  the broken dome. What power and raw materials they 
  could salvage were used to build a factory to facilitate 
  the creation of a new type of android: the insidious 
  hunter-seeker drone.
  Hunter-seeker Drones
  The hunter-seeker drone was the first combat 
  android to be designed without any human input. It 
  had no artificial sexual organs, no fake skin, and no 
  human traits of any kind. Its android designers saw 
  themselves at the cusp of a new era on the changed, 
  Twisted Earth. They craved a world order without 
  human input or control; indeed, without any humans 
  at all. The hunter-seeker design marked a break from 
  human thinking, human concepts, human morality, 
  and human flaws. It was only fitting that the design 
  be used to exterminate the last of the human species. 
  Hunter-seeker drones patrolled relentlessly in search 
  of human life with only one directive—to destroy. 
  Hounded by inhuman assassins, human beings 
  unable or unwilling to flee for their lives died quickly 
  and savagely at the hands of the machines. Many 
  refugees fled into the sewage and waste systems 
  deep underneath the domes, scraping out wretched 
  existences in constant fear of the death squads and 
  hunter-seeker drones that scoured the cities above 
  in search of organic life. Others braved the surface 
  world in search of bunker complexes in hopes that the 
  people inside would take pity on them and let them 
  come inside. 
  Some brave souls resisted, unwilling to 
  acknowledge that the machines they had created 
  were indestructible. Small pockets of resistance 
  remained in what was left of the Lewis and Clark 
  Bio-Dome, fighting the android enemy from the 
  shadows whenever favorable opportunities presented 
  themselves. These scavengers scoured the ruined 
  city in search of weapons, equipment, food and other 
  vital supplies. Whenever possible, they aided other 
  survivors, helping the refugees to find safe haven 
  in subterranean human enclaves, or escorting them 
  into the wilderness where they hoped to reach other 
  pockets of humanity.
   
  Aftermath: The Dark Years
  Slowly, the vibrant roar of peaceful civilization and 
  the din of war died down into the quiet night of 
  despair. The long and mournful wail of those who 
  remained on the planet’s blasted and inhospitable 
  surface became a whimper that finally died out 
  altogether. Disease, famine, and radioactive fallout 
  claimed untold numbers of desperate refugees who 
  wandered the shattered roads and withered mountain 
  passes in search of shelter from the chemical and 
  biological hellstorms that raged across the Northwest.  
  Nuclear winter set in.
  The surface world had become a place of 
  unbridled chaos, wildly unpredictable and filled with 
  unimaginable peril for anyone foolish enough to 
  venture out of the safety of bunker complexes and 
  fallout shelters. The world was dying… and being 
  reborn as something else. All life—land animals, 
  sea creatures, human beings, and “artificial” beings 
  alike—was changing right along with it. Like Noah 
  and his family in the Ark, the survivors in bunker 
  complexes and fallout shelters throughout the 
  Northwest waited for the storm to subside.
  Surface life began to mutate within just a few 
  generations. Plants, animals, humans… everything 
  organic left on the surface began to morph and twist 
  into hardier incarnations; variations that were better 
  suited to exist in the new environment. New forms of 
  wildlife emerged and roamed the Northwest. Many of 
  these new species were remnants of the genetically-
  engineered shock troopers unleashed during the Final 
  War. Others were products of Darwinian evolution, 
  the natural process of mutation aided and accelerated 
  by the presence of toxic chemicals, bio-agents and 
  radiation.
  Generation after generation of unrestricted growth 
  in the mountains, valleys and plains of the Northwest 
  led to new species of plant life, some beneficial to 
  animal life and others incredibly deadly. Roads, cities, 
  towns, and domes—all vestiges of the last great 
  
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  civilization of the world began to fade into memory.  
  Much of the physical remains of the old world was 
  covered by blankets of grass, obscured by new stands 
  of trees, or eroded into dust by wind and rain and 
  time.
  The State of the 
  Union
  Living in the Northwest
  Life in the post-apocalyptic Northwest of the Twisted 
  Earth is a throwback to more rugged times, 
  before the age of industry and invention 
  came and revolutionized the way people 
  lived. Now, what’s left of the human race 
  exists in tiny islands of civilization in a sea 
  of blasted, radiated wilderness, clutching 
  desperately to what little they have while 
  the world slowly dies around them. People 
  band together for mutual protection from the 
  world outside the walls of the towns they 
  live in.
  Long gone are the days when people could 
  get the things they needed with any measure 
  of convenience. Automation isn’t even a 
  concept anymore; it’s a myth.  The people 
  of the Northwest survive in a world that is 
  a mere shadow of its former technological 
  might. The last Great War all but wiped 
  out the great centers of art, industry 
  and learning, leaving the survivors with 
  whatever they were able to pack away into 
  the fallout shelters and bunker complexes—
  which wasn’t much. What knowledge and 
  technology is left on the surface world is 
  lost amidst the wreckage and ruins of the 
  great domes, hidden behind the sealed doors 
  of long forgotten bunker complexes and 
  fallout shelters, waiting to be found again. Nowadays, 
  if a person can’t make it, grow it, or kill it himself, 
  he either goes without, or tries to find someone else 
  willing to trade what they have. That means dealing 
  outside of the community. And in these dark days, that 
  is always potentially dangerous business.
  Settlements
  The first surface “towns” were constructed as 
  extensions of the bunkers and fallout shelters that 
  had so faithfully housed the people after the Fall. 
  Those first buildings weren’t marvels of construction. 
  In most cases they were little more than makeshift 
  shacks built from whatever raw materials could be 
  found nearby or taken out of the bunkers. Electricity, 
  heating, indoor plumbing—none of the things 
  once considered necessities were factored into the 
  construction process.  People got four walls and 
  maybe a door, but after endless years of living inside 
  the bunkers, they were happy to have them.
  A plethora of dangers awaited the settlers as they 
  took their first awkward steps outside of the bunkers. 
  Strange creatures lay in wait for the unsuspecting 
  bunker dwellers, hungrily preying on new human 
  settlements struggling to establish some measure of 
  security and stability. Bandits roamed the wilderness 
  in force, taking whatever they wanted from their 
  victims. Time passed, and slowly the settlements 
  grew. Walls were built to protect against the dangers 
  It would be a great understatement to say that life is a struggle in these parts. Between the strange creatures that 
  roam the wilds, the lack of a steady supply of food and water, and an ever-growing list of enemies, it’s a miracle our 
  children live to reach puberty. We endure in small communities that work together for the continued survival of all. 
  But when I say “we,” I mean the United Combine. The U.C. is a large group of people that form a loose cluster of 
  clans in this part of the world. We share our resources and knowledge with each other in the hope that we can survive 
  long enough to forge some kind of stability in this region.  Those of us that don’t have herds of helkan or angoose 
  trade with the Mountain Walkers for the meat and clean water that so often only they seem to be able to provide.
  The Mountain Walkers are a clan of their own. They know the safest places to get water, where wild life still grazes, 
  and also where to find plants that are edible or have medicinal uses. The clan guards its secrets well. Some say they 
  can turn invisible and move through the wild lands without leaving any trace of their passing. Mountain Walkers are 
  a quiet bunch, though, not usually prone to conversation with people they trust, much less with someone they’ve just 
  met. The odds are that if a ’Walker doesn’t know you, you’ll never be aware of the fact that one’s even been within ten 
  feet of you, unless he wants you to know.
  Right now, things are tough. We have plenty of enemies. The Purity Corp is our largest, most dangerous enemy, 
  but there are others. Several large gangs of bandits, the largest of which are known as the “Pale-Raiders,” roam the 
  wilderness, assaulting our towns and attacking us along our trade routes. Some just want our supplies, but others 
  want more. They want our women and children.  I hear tell of cities in the south where there are creatures that feed on 
  the flesh and blood of children, where women are sold for breeding purposes. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know 
  the Sentinels that patrol the southern lands around Crater City are encountering more and more of these strange 
  humanoids.  Jonah, one of the Mountain Walkers who trades with us, says that these creatures are actually mutated 
  human beings. He says that’s the direction the human race is headed.
  I pray he’s not right.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  of the new world. Slowly, order was established.
  Strangers aren’t welcome at the gates of most 
  settlements. Strangers represent uncertainty and 
  danger. Some of the larger towns such as Eden or 
  Crater City will allow visitors, but only because they 
  have militias capable of defending the settlements. 
  The majority of towns in the Northwest are small; 
  some have only token defenses. For them, it is better 
  to turn outsiders away from the village gates rather 
  than to risk losing lives or supplies because of a soft 
  heart.
  Most towns are communal at their core. Everyone 
  works together, eats together, plays together and, 
  depending on the available space, sleeps together. 
  There isn’t much room for individuality in 
  communities where everyone depends on each other 
  for survival. People either fit in, or are cast out of 
  the “clan” for the benefit of the whole.  It may seem 
  harsh to outsiders, but it’s absolutely necessary for the 
  continued prosperity of the town. 
  Food
  A typical meal in the Northwest consists of watery 
  soup made of whatever vegetables happen to be on 
  hand (usually roots or wild flowers), potatoes, and if 
  supplies allow, flatbread and dried beef jerky. Some 
  towns also have stockpiles of old canned goods and 
  ready-meals (a rarity, to be sure, but some do have 
  them). These relics of the past cannot be replaced, 
  however, and are only consumed when there is 
  nothing else to eat. The pre-packaged, ready-to-
  eat meals of the past are quickly vanishing in the 
  Northwest. People have learned to grow their own 
  food and hunt for what can’t be grown. Some towns 
  have managed to keep herds of helkan and angoose, 
  which they prize above almost everything else. Those 
  who don’t have herd animals must hunt for their meat 
  or do without it.
  Hunting has its advantages. The carcass of just 
  one helkan can feed a family for at least a month if 
  prepared properly. The hide provides clothing, while 
  bones can be used as sewing needles or utensils, and 
  in any number of other practical applications. The 
  days of plenty are long gone; nothing goes to waste. 
  Hunting isn’t without its dangers, however. Strange 
  creatures roam the wilds, feeding on anything they 
  can find and kill. Rumors abound of strange beasts 
  that look like humans and even animals, but have 
  insides made of metal and wires. These “drones” (as 
  some older folk call them) are androids that somehow 
  survived the Fall with their coding intact. Many of 
  these rogue drones are hunter-seeker models produced 
  in the last days with one purpose: to kill humans.
  Bandits and raiders plague trade routes, taking 
  whatever they want from the caravans they ambush. 
  In the face of so much danger, most people also have 
  become fiercely territorial in these uncertain times; 
  they don’t take kindly to strangers hunting on their 
  lands and often act with lethal force against anyone 
  caught poaching on their property. Some communities 
  even mark the boundaries of their territory with the 
  bodies of those who didn’t heed their warnings.
  Travel
  Moving from place to place isn’t a casual undertaking 
  in the Twisted Earth. Unfortunately, staying home 
  is not always an option. Most communities are not 
  autonomous; anyone who expects to survive in the 
  Northwest must be able to communicate and interact 
  with his or her allies. They must be able to share 
  resources. This often means trekking through vast 
  stretches of untamed wilderness risking dangers 
  ranging from mutated creatures to bandits to other 
  even more terrifying enemies.
  CORIUM IN THE NORTHWEST
  “Corium” first came into the Northwest through a group of travelers that settled in the Desiccated Wastes. 
  Some say they were the sole survivors of an expedition that ran into hard times at the hands of the walkin’ 
  dead in the old dome city. I don’t know much about that story, but these people living out in the Desiccated 
  Wastes brought a strange metal called “corium” with ‘em from wherever they came from before they settled 
  in the Wastes out east. They told stories about how this corium was valuable, how it could be used to barter, 
  how it couldn’t be counterfeited. And it had a green glow quite unlike anything I’d ever seen before.  Those 
  people told stories about places where it could be mined. They said to look for areas where a green hue 
  paints the land. These places might be marked by massive conical towers that look like warped grain silos. 
  They said they’d pay more of the corium stuff to anyone who could point them to such locations.
  Some rumors hold that those strangers formed what we now know as the Pale Riders. It wouldn’t surprise 
  me none; they didn’t seem all that friendly. Anyhow, I haven’t seen them in a long time. We still use that 
  corium, though. There ain’t much of it, and that makes it worth somethin’ in these parts. Even the Purists’ll 
  trade for it, and pay good too, if you can believe the stories comin’ out of the Pure Lands. I was talkin’ with 
  a friend of mine the other night, a Mountain Walker that goes by the name of Smiley. He ain’t got any teeth, 
  so... well you get the joke. Anyhow, ol’ Smiley says he may know of a place where the land glows green like 
  those people were talkin’ about.  It’s called “Trojan,” or something like that. If he’s right, then I might just 
  have to go there myself and see if I can get some of this corium for myself.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  Chapter 1: The History of the Lost Paradise
  By Land
  Before the Fall, people could simply hop in a vehicle 
  and go wherever they wanted to without worrying 
  about much more than the occasional flat tire or other 
  mundane inconveniences. Now, most people don’t 
  even have a vehicle in which to travel. Such luxuries 
  still exist, but they are rare treasures in this pre-
  industrial world. In most cases, traveling from place to 
  place is a slow, time-consuming process that holds no 
  guarantee of safety.
  In general, when people must travel, they either 
  do so in large, armed convoys made up of teams of 
  horses or mules harnessed to chains that pull armored 
  trailers, or they walk. The trips are long and fraught 
  with danger. Caravans make stops at known havens 
  and friendly towns to re-supply, barter, heal injuries, 
  repair equipment, and, all too often, recruit new 
  people to replace those who have died on the journey.
  Some groups have made a business of sorts out of 
  journeying from town to town. The largest and most 
  reputable of these groups is the Mountain Walker 
  clan. Other, smaller groups exist; usually loners or 
  small bands of scavengers that have managed to slip 
  past raider and Purist outposts. Most of these solitary 
  guides can be trusted to a certain degree, but stories 
  about caravans led into ambushes by bandits acting as 
  guides are distressingly common.
  By Air
  Air travel is extremely rare in the Northwest, but is 
  not entirely unheard of. Before the Fall, air travel was 
  one of the most common methods of transportation. 
  Hovercraft, airplanes, helicopters, hot air balloons, 
  and even some anti-gravity devices were common 
  alternatives to land travel.
  Very little of this technology has been replicated 
  (or re-discovered in the ruins of forgotten bunker 
  complexes or domed cities), although a very few 
  individuals have managed to salvage old civilian and 
  military hovercraft and restore them to working order. 
  Some of these rare individuals with working hover-
  vehicles or other aircraft make very comfortable 
  livings transporting people and goods from place to 
  place. Of course, there are also those who use this 
  advanced technology (and the weaponry that is still 
  attached to some of these vehicles) to impose their 
  will over entire communities. Such is life in the 
  Twisted Earth.
  By Water
  The Northwest is one of the last remaining regions 
  of the known Twisted Earth in which water can be 
  found in great quantity. Much of this water was 
  polluted by plagues and toxins in the aftermath of 
  the Final War, but despite the contamination levels, 
  it remains a viable (and in many cases, extremely 
  fast) means of traveling the Northwest. Although 
  they are much smaller than their original sizes, the 
  John Day, Deschutes, and Willamette rivers still flow 
  through much of Northern and Central Oregon, as do 
  numerous smaller creeks and tributaries that branch 
  off these three major waterways.
  Predictably, where there is water, there is life—after 
  a fashion. Many small communities make their 
  homes along the rivers of the Northwest and use the 
  waterways to travel. Some of the river folk can be 
  persuaded to ferry travelers across the rivers, while 
  others have made full-scale businesses out of doing 
  so. Traveling the waters of the Northwest carries a 
  unique set of perils.  Much of the aquatic life of the 
  rivers, streams, and lakes of the Northwest died in the 
  first years after the Fall due to the floods of noxious 
  waste and bio-agents that filtered into the groundwater 
  and rivers. What life did manage to survive has 
  mutated, in true Darwinian fashion—sometimes 
  horribly. Over the years, these mutated species 
  managed to thrive in the new environment, in turn 
  spawning new orders of aquatic and amphibian life. 
  These new breeds feed on whatever they can catch, 
  including human beings.
  All life needs water to survive. That law is 
  immutable, even in the Twisted Earth. Creatures of 
  all shapes and sizes come to the rivers and streams 
  to drink, and many of them have developed a taste 
  for the flesh of unsuspecting travelers. Some even 
  make their homes near the water to prey on other 
  creatures that venture into their domain.  Stretches of 
  rivers are closely guarded by the river folk who make 
  their homes on or near the water, just as territory is 
  marked and guarded on land. It isn’t uncommon for 
  river guides to stop at certain points on a waterway, 
  unwilling to trespass on the domain of another clan. 
  Some areas are barricaded, forcing water travelers to 
  seek the permission of the controlling faction before 
  venturing into their domain.
  Women in the Northwest
  Being a female in the Twisted Earth is a difficult fate. 
  Being a pureblood, un-mutated woman is even worse. 
  Life changed drastically for everyone who survived 
  the Fall, whether they were in bunkers, fallout 
  shelters, or caves deep below the earth’s surface. For 
  women, however, the new way of life meant the loss 
  of many freedoms they had enjoyed before the Fall. 
  Men quickly started to assume roles of dominance 
  in the bunkers, and, while there were females who 
  openly opposed this backwards step in gender roles, 
  they were a minority. Females were, by and large, a 
  minority in the complexes. 
  Most came along with their husbands or families, 
  unwilling to part ways with their loved ones even 
  though it meant giving up all of the conveniences 
  of dome life. Many of those women who came into 
  the bunkers against their will weren’t happy about 
  the prospect of taking on what they perceived to be 
  lesser societal roles, but there really wasn’t much they 
  could do about it. These women either fit in, or were 
  made to understand.  During the dark years, exiling 
  anyone to the wastes outside the complexes was only 
  a last resort, and women were regarded not so much 
  as people as treasures. They were the living hope for 
  
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  the continuance of the species. Women weren’t treated 
  equally, but neither were uncooperative females 
  simply thrown away; they were simply too vital to the 
  community. Of course, there were plenty of women 
  who wholeheartedly believed in the teachings of 
  extremist groups like the Purity Corp and the Hand 
  of Jehovah. These women proved more pliable and 
  adapted to their subservient communal roles, in 
  accordance with the doctrines to which they adhered.
  While everyone inside the shelters had work to do, 
  women increasingly found themselves in charge of 
  domestic chores such as cooking, cleaning, sewing, 
  and childcare. The men handled the daily maintenance 
  of machinery and other technical tasks, as well as 
  general upkeep of the weapons. As time passed and 
  people began to filter back into the world, the newly-
  evolved gender roles persisted. In most Northwest 
  communities, men handle hunting, exploration, and 
  the defense of the community, while the women stay 
  firmly rooted inside the walls. All women are taught 
  the basics of self-defense and generally know how to 
  maintain and use various types of weapons (just in 
  case a man isn’t around to protect them). While forced 
  to endure these offenses to gender equality, women 
  are also revered in most communities for their ability 
  to bring life into the world. While many women are 
  content to do what they are told, a bold few have 
  dared to reject commonly accepted notions of what 
  their societal roles should be, preferring to live their 
  lives as they see fit.  Some of these women have even 
  managed to rise high enough in the eyes of the people 
  around them to be placed in positions of authority.
  Not all communities respect women, however.
  Some of the Northwest’s most dangerous factions 
  see women as trophies, targets for destruction, or 
  worse—as slaves. The Pale Riders are one such 
  group; they prize women above almost all other 
  bounty they accumulate during their raids against 
  settlements. Hunter-seeker drones, many of which 
  have recently begun to resume their genocide 
  protocol, target women first in any assault against an 
  organic settlement. The Purity Corp does the same 
  thing, killing women that they judge genetically unfit 
  to breed. 
  Medicine
  For the people of the Northwest, as with survivors in 
  other corners of the Twisted Earth, illness is a very 
  serious problem. Before the Fall, people could visit 
  clinics or hospitals to obtain whatever medicines 
  and healing they needed. In many cases, all that 
  was required to cure their ailments was a quick and 
  easy injection from a “ready syringe.” Things aren’t 
  that simple anymore. Twenty-five percent of all 
  annual deaths in the Northwest are caused by illness 
  and disease. Years and years of isolation in bunker 
  complexes have had a detrimental effect on the human 
  immune system. The biological and chemical attacks 
  unleashed on America in the final days released into 
  the wilds a multitude of lethal diseases that, over 
  the ages, have morphed into new strains that kill 
  mercilessly and indiscriminately.
  Ready syringes and other relics of the pre-Fall 
  world are most effective against these new ailments. 
  People treated with the medicine of the Ancients have 
  a better chance of recovering, but such treatments 
  are fast vanishing from the face of the Twisted Earth. 
  Rumors abound of the existence of yet-undiscovered 
  storage facilities that contain vast stockpiles of 
  Ancient medicine and other technological marvels, 
  but as far as most people are concerned, such tales are 
  just myths intended to bolster the spirits of the sick 
  and dying.
  The truth is that a good number of bunker 
  complexes and fallout shelters remain to be 
  discovered, and some of them do hold old stockpiles 
  of technology that would be of immense benefit 
  to the people of the Northwest. Unfortunately, the 
  wilderness is a dangerous place, and many who have 
  gone in search of these modern-day “cities of gold” 
  have never returned.
  There are other alternatives to the prized pre-Fall 
  medicine. Some of the plants and herbs that grow 
  in the natural world are reputed to have healing 
  properties, if prepared and administered in the proper 
  dosage. Very few people in the Northwest know 
  plant lore; the ones who do don’t like to share their 
  knowledge. These apothecaries, more commonly 
  known as “medicine men,” travel the wilds of the 
  Northwest gathering the plants and herbs they need to 
  make their remedies.
  
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  Chapter 2: Characters
  Chapter 2: 
  Characters
  Characters in the Lost 
  Paradise
  The following occupations and advanced classes 
  are specific to the various regions and cultures of 
  the Lost Paradise.  In the Northwest region of the 
  Twisted Earth, territorial and ideological boundaries 
  are closely guarded; in such an environment, a 
  character’s choice of allegiances is not simply a 
  question of personal ethics, but rather a bold statement 
  about the faction, clan, tribe, or belief system to 
  which she subscribes.  Many of the occupations and 
  classes described in this chapter are thus restricted to 
  characters with appropriate backgrounds.  Any such 
  prerequisites are noted in the occupation and class 
  descriptions.
  New Occupations
  Characters in Darwin’s World have many 
  opportunities to make a living in the wastes.  Whether 
  by escorting caravans, mining for corium, or trading 
  with the Twisted Earth’s myriad settlements, most 
  characters pursue a particular profession as a means 
  of providing for themselves.  Occupations are a great 
  way to define the method by which a character makes 
  her living in the Twisted Earth and the skills and 
  training she’s acquired in the course of doing so.
  Starting occupations, according to the d20 Modern 
  rules, represent the life experience a character has 
  attained before beginning play, as well as how she 
  makes a living during play. Starting occupations are 
  often more than just a way to earn corium pieces, 
  chips, or tradable goods. Particularly in the Northwest, 
  a character’s occupation isn’t simply a way of earning 
  starting money—it’s a very important statement about 
  the allegiances and training that define her.
  The following section describes occupations 
  available to characters during character generation. 
  Each description notes occupational features and 
  class skill choices, along with information on starting 
  wealth and equipment for characters who choose that 
  path.
  Airman
  Even in the wastelands of the Twisted Earth, the 
  ancient human dream of flight has found fruit in a 
  dedicated group of men and women.  These airmen 
  have a love for the flying machines of the Ancients 
  and serve the People’s Army by building, repairing, 
  maintaining, and even flying the assorted aircraft that 
  have proven to be such vital assets to the Tillamook 
  Trading Caravans.
  Airmen tend to be a bit quirky, and although 
  they provide a vital service to their clan, they are 
  considered to be just a bit crazy by members of the 
  People’s Army who don’t understand how the great 
  flying machines work. The most famous (and possibly 
  the most devoted) of all airmen are those known as 
  Kamikaze (“divine wind”).  All People’s Army airmen 
  hope to someday be recruited into the vaunted ranks 
  of the Kamikaze.
  Airmen are required to know how to fly either the 
  planes or transport blimps that together make up the 
  People’s Army armada. To ensure their proficiency, 
  most airmen spend their entire lives in and around 
  these aircraft. Many are themselves children of 
  airman parents, and are raised from birth to inherit the 
  dangerous and glorious family legacy of flight.
  Skills: Choose two of the following as permanent 
  class skills. Knowledge (physical sciences), 
  Knowledge (technology), Navigate, Pilot, Repair. If a 
  skill you select is already a class skill, you receive a 
  +1 competence bonus on checks using that skill.
  Starting Corium:  Airmen receive 1d6 x 100 cp 
  during character creation.
  Special Starting Equipment:  An airman begins 
  play with a full basic multi-purpose tool, goggles, and 
  gloves; they also receive a sidearm (neither of which 
  can be worth more than 600 cp) in memory of ancient 
  war pilots who flew behind enemy lines and then 
  purposely crashed so that they could die fighting the 
  enemy on his own ground.
  Apothecary
  The apothecary is an individual who deals specifically 
  with the wide variety of plants in the Northwest and 
  who is able to make medicines from them using low-
  technology methods. In addition to knowing how to 
  extract vital medicines from plants, the apothecary is 
  well versed in ancient farming methods; he may even 
  have some knowledge of “lost” scientific agricultural 
  techniques such as cross-pollination and gene splicing.  
  The apothecary relies on his old-world knowledge not 
  only to help his people, but to create new strains of 
  plants—plants healthy and strong enough to thrive in 
  the Twisted Earth and able to be harvested and put to 
  good use by future generations.
  Skills:  Choose two of the following as permanent 
  class skills. Craft (chemical), Craft (pharmaceutical), 
  Everyone needs Heroes. Even if some folk see 
  those heroes as an enemy, it doesn’t really matter. 
  A boy needs a man to look up to, an old man 
  needs a hero to help him remember what it was 
  like to be young, and people like you and I need 
  someone to lead us into dark places; to give us 
  hope that we can make it back out into the light 
  again. We all need heroes.
  -Duncan Clark
  
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  Diplomacy, Knowledge (earth and life sciences), Spot, 
  Survival. If a skill you select is already a class skill, 
  you receive a +1 competence bonus on checks using 
  that skill. 
  Starting Corium: The apothecary’s knowledge 
  of farming methods and his ability to create natural 
  medicines can prove to be quite lucrative when 
  dealing with the right people. Apothecaries receive 
  5d6 x 100 cp during character generation.
  Special Starting Equipment:  An apothecary 
  begins play with a single book that details subjects 
  such as agriculture or medicine (worth 500 cp).
  Bone Prospector
  The life of a bone prospector revolves around the 
  hunt.  However, while most people hunt to feed their 
  respective communities, the bone prospector hunts for 
  the profit to be gained from selling the skeletons of the 
  creatures he kills.
  Over the years, the “Bone Trade” has grown into 
  a thriving business that is rumored to reach down 
  even into the southwestern regions of the Twisted 
  Earth; this grisly trade is especially popular among 
  tribal communities, which prize bones from different 
  animals for their uses in creating natural medicines 
  and in other primitive practices.  People use the bones 
  of various animals and even human beings to craft 
  dishes, tools, weapons, and decorative pieces such as 
  necklaces or bracelets.
  Many bone traders pay surprisingly well for specific 
  types of bones, such as the skull of a Purist or the 
  claws of a mutagon, and the bone prospector is always 
  eager to meet their needs.
  Skills:  Choose two of the following as permanent 
  class skills. Bluff, Craft (visual art), Diplomacy, 
  Navigate, Survival. If a skill you select is already a 
  class skill, you receive a +1 competence bonus on 
  checks using that skill.
  Starting Corium: Bone prospectors are the 
  “ivory traders” of the post-apocalyptic world. Bone 
  prospectors receive 6d6 x 100 cp during character 
  generation.
  Cleric
  The cleric is an individual who clings to some 
  knowledge (or memory) of the ancient religions 
  of the past. In the Northwest region of the Twisted 
  Earth, this religious knowledge primarily manifests as 
  fundamentalist Christianity, but a cleric with access to 
  other literature or relics from the past is just as likely 
  to venerate Buddha, Allah, the Nordic Gods, or other 
  presumably pagan deities. More often than not, this 
  information is inaccurate, resulting in a wide variety 
  of (mis)interpretations of the Ancients’ religious 
  beliefs, but in spite of such erroneous teachings and 
  beliefs, the cleric somehow manages to find converts 
  in many of the settlements he visits.
  Skills: Choose two of the following as permanent 
  class skills. Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Intimidate, 
  Knowledge (ancient lore), Knowledge (theology and 
  philosophy), Perform (oration). If a skill you select 
  is already a class skill, you receive a +1 competence 
  bonus on checks using that skill.
  Starting Corium: The life of a “man of the cloth” 
  is a poor and often thankless one. Most clerics are 
  lucky to get a decent meal at settlements but the 
  prospect of saving even a single lost soul makes the 
  hardships they face worthwhile. Clerics receive 5d4 x 
  10 cp during character creation.
  Special Starting Equipment: A cleric begins 
  play with at least one piece of Arcanum covering a 
  spiritual topic. This could be anything from an old 
  Bible to a New Age book on witchcraft, depending on 
  the concept chosen for the character. In addition, the 
  cleric owns an ancient relic such as a crucifix (or other 
  religious symbol) or a priest’s robe that he believes 
  was given to him as a sign from his God to pursue the 
  religious life.  These special accoutrements have a 
  value of no more than 1,000 cp (but generally cannot 
  be sold due to their intangible value to the character).
  Emissary
  The emissary has the often-unenviable job of traveling 
  to towns and settlements across the Northwest to form 
  trade agreements or settle disputes.  While this role 
  carries with it some measure of prestige, emissaries 
  are also all too often the first people to be hanged 
  when trouble flares up in an angry or resentful town.  
  In these times, the concept of “diplomatic immunity” 
  for these individuals is laughable.  Fortunately, 
  emissaries are treated exceptionally well by the 
  factions they represent out of recognition of the 
  terrible risks these negotiators run in doing their jobs.
  Skills:  Choose two of the following as permanent 
  class skills. Decipher Script, Diplomacy, Gather 
  Information, Intimidate, Knowledge (current events), 
  Sense Motive. If a skill you select is already a class 
  skill, you receive a +1 competence bonus on checks 
  using that skill.
  Starting Corium:  Emissaries perform an 
  extremely high-risk function for the communities of 
  Webbed Digits - new mutation
  Many mutants in the Northwest are now born with webbed hands and feet. Although this is most common 
  among the River Folk, who have developed and evolved in and around the Northwest’s polluted waterways, 
  this mutation has been spotted elsewhere in the Lost Paradise as well.
  Benefit: Characters with this mutation gain +4 to all Swim checks.
  Advancement: Each advancement of this mutation grants an additional +4 to Swim checks.
  
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  Chapter 2: Characters
  the Northwest; it’s only fair that they are well paid 
  for their efforts. Besides, the odds are good that they 
  will get killed on a given assignment, so any money 
  or tradable goods paid to an emissary can always be 
  reclaimed posthumously.  Emissaries receive 8d12 x 
  100 cp during character creation.
  Special Starting Equipment:  Emissaries receive 
  writing instruments and paper (appropriate to their 
  faction) for use in drawing out contracts and other 
  legal documents. They also receive a single sidearm 
  (of a value no more than 500 cp)―preferably 
  concealable.
  Fisherman
  Being a fisherman is a dangerous way to earn a 
  living in the Northwest. The rivers and lakes that 
  dot the region are filled with a frightening diversity 
  of creatures, many of which are easily capable of 
  dragging a man down into the polluted depths to 
  drown or be eaten. Fishermen must keep these grim 
  possibilities in mind as they travel out onto the water 
  to do battle with the often ferocious aquatic life of the 
  Northwest. Long gone are the days when one could 
  simply toss a fishing line and lure into the water and 
  catch his limit. The fisherman of the Twisted Earth 
  relies on dynamite, electrified nets, shotguns, harpoon 
  guns with explosive-tipped spears, and sometimes 
  even live angoose to get the job done.
  Skills:  Choose two of the following as permanent 
  class skills. Craft (chemical), Craft (mechanical), 
  Craft (structural), Demolitions, Navigate, Spot, 
  Survival, Swim. If a skill you select is already a class 
  skill, you receive a +1 competence bonus on checks 
  using that skill.
  Starting Corium:  A fisherman receives 3d6 x 100 
  cp during character creation.
  Special Starting Equipment:  Fishermen begin 
  play with at least one large boat, the equivalent of two 
  concussion grenades in explosives, a net and battery 
  (the battery is used to electrify the net and contains 
  enough charges for two days of continuous 
  use before needing to be recharged), and a 
  single spear or javelin.  If the character is 
  unable to use any of these (for instance, 
  if he lacks the appropriate weapon 
  proficiency) he does not receive that item.
  Advanced Classes
  The following advanced classes are archetypes 
  for characters in the Lost Paradise. Many of 
  these advanced classes may not be appropriate 
  in other regions of the Twisted Earth, 
  although an inventive GM can certainly find ways to 
  incorporate them into existing campaigns.
  Tribal Hunter
  The man moved through the woods, stooping 
  occasionally to sniff the air and casually 
  glance around for signs of his quarry’s 
  passing. The scent of blood—too faint for most 
  people to detect—served to guide him better 
  than any track or broken branch ever could.
  Unfortunately, the hunt had gone on much 
  longer than he had intended.
  Spotting his prey at last, he knelt slowly into 
  firing position and took careful aim at the inhuman 
  shape silhouetted against the distant horizon.  
  The shot went just wide of the creature’s heart, a 
  regrettable consequence of his inexperience and one 
  that was now causing the creature an unnecessary 
  amount of pain. He was going to have to move 
  quickly if he wanted to catch the creature before other 
  predators caught wind of the scent and came for an 
  easy meal… yet another unfortunate consequence of 
  his inexperience.
  He had much to learn.
  Tribal Hunters represent the backbone of many tribal 
  cultures across the Twisted Earth.  In many cases, their 
  toils provide the only support for a tribe’s miserable 
  population.
  Tribal Hunters in the Lost Paradise go by many 
  different names, depending on the groups with which 
  they are aligned.  The Chinook, for instance, know 
  their hunters as Sho-Nachan and train them to hunt 
  deer and forest beasts. These individuals provide food 
  for their tribes, protect their villages from outside 
  threats, and keep others from traveling back to the 
  Sacred Lands.  Most Tribal Hunters come from the 
  lodges of the Chinook, although on rare occasions this 
  
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  Chapter 2: Characters
  honor has been bestowed upon a Mountain Walker.
  The Makah train their hunters to track and hunt 
  whales for days, and to defend against incursions by 
  the mighty Nootka, who often raid the north coast 
  of the Olympic Peninsula in search of slaves.  The 
  fearsome Nootka Tribal Hunters generally specialize 
  in hunting human prey, which they often seek to 
  capture and enslave.
  The Tribal Hunter advanced class, though quite 
  common among native tribes of the Northwest, is by 
  no means limited to this region.  Characters from any 
  tribal group on the Twisted Earth may enter this class.
  Requirements
  To qualify to become a Tribal Hunter, a character must 
  fulfill the following criteria.
  Background:  Tribal or Feral only.
  Base Attack Bonus:  +3.
  Feats:  Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Track.
  Technology: Primitive Technology or lower.  
  Class Information
  The following information pertains to the Tribal 
  Hunter advanced class.
  Hit Die:  1d10.
  Action Points:  The Tribal Hunter gains a number 
  of action points equal to 6 + one-half his character 
  level, rounded down, each time he attains a new level 
  in this class.
  Class Skills:  The Tribal Hunter’s class skills are 
  as follows. Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft 
  (structural) (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Hide (Dex), 
  Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), 
  Navigate (Int), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival 
  (Wis), Treat Injury (Wis).
  Skill Points at Each Level:  3 + Int modifier.
  Class Features
  The following features pertain to the Tribal Hunter 
  advanced class. 
  Hunter: The Tribal Hunter is a skilled hunter, 
  whether hunting animals or humanoids. The Tribal 
  Hunter can take 10 when Hiding and Moving Silently, 
  even if stress and distractions would normally prevent 
  him from doing so.
  Archaic Weapons Specialization: The Tribal 
  Hunter is an expert with archaic weapons.  The Tribal 
  Hunter is considered to have weapon specialization 
  with any archaic weapon to which he has also applied 
  the Weapon Focus feat or class feature, gaining a +2 
  bonus to damage rolls with the weapon. 
  Bonus Feats: At 3rd, 6th, and 9th level, the Tribal 
  Hunter receives a bonus feat. The bonus feat must be 
  selected from the following list, and the Tribal Hunter 
  must meet all the prerequisites of the feat to select it. 
  Animal Affinity, Cleave, Combat Expertise, Combat 
  Reflexes, Dead Aim, Dodge, Exotic Melee Weapon 
  Proficiency, Far Shot, Guide, Great Cleave, Precise 
  Shot, Point Blank Shot, Power Attack, Shot on the 
  Run, Stealthy, Two-Weapon Fighting.
  Quick Kill:  The Tribal Hunter has become adept 
  at finding the right spot on his target to make a killing 
  shot.  At 4th level, a Tribal Hunter can spend an action 
  point to increase the damage of his attack by one die 
  (for example, a weapon that does 1d8 damage would 
  have its damage increased to 2d8).   At 8th level, 
  another die is added to damage rolls (following the 
  same example, the 1d8 weapon would increase to 
  3d8).
  Craft Bone Weapon: Tribal Hunters believe that 
  weapons crafted from the bones of their prey give 
  them a special connection to the animals they hunt. 
  Hunters go to great pains to learn how to properly 
  preserve the bones of the creatures they have killed so 
  that they can use them to make weapons.  The Hunter 
  gains a +1 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls 
  made with bone weapons.  
  Other characters with the Primitive Technology feat 
  may also gain this bonus while using bone weapons 
  crafted by the Tribal Hunter.
  Superior Camouflage: The Tribal Hunter is an 
  expert at hiding in natural terrain. Using camouflage 
  techniques, the Tribal Hunter can maximize the 
  concealment benefits of his terrain, even if none exist. 
  This increases the concealment bonus on Hide checks 
  by one-quarter. For example, a Tribal Hunter hiding 
  in an area that provides one-half concealment (no 
  bonus) would gain three-quarters concealment (+5). 
  TABLE 2-1: THE TRIBAL HUNTER
  Level
  Base 
  Attack
  Fort 
  Save
  Ref 
  Save
  Will 
  Save 
  Special
  Defense 
  Bonus
  Reputation 
  Bonus
  1
  +1
  +1
  +1
  +0
  Hunter
  +1
  +0
  2
  +2
  +2
  +2
  +0
  Archaic Weapons Specialization
  +1
  +0
  3
  +3
  +2
  +2
  +1
  Bonus Feat
  +2
  +0
  4
  +4
  +2
  +2
  +1
  Quick Kill +1 Die
  +2
  +1
  5
  +5
  +3
  +3
  +1
  Craft Bone Weapon
  +3
  +1
  6
  +6
  +3
  +3
  +2
  Bonus Feat
  +3
  +1
  7
  +7
  +4
  +4
  +2
  Superior Camouflage
  +4
  +2
  8
  +8
  +4
  +4
  +2
  Quick Kill +2 Dice
  +4
  +2
  9
  +9
  +4
  +4
  +3
  Bonus Feat
  +5
  +2
  10
  +10
  +5
  +5
  +3
  Greater Archaic Weapons Specialization
  +5
  +3
  
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  Normally, one-half concealment is required to hide, 
  but a Tribal Hunter can attempt to hide in any natural 
  terrain.
  Greater Archaic Weapons Specialization:  At 
  10th level, the Tribal Hunter’s weapon specialization 
  bonus increases to +4 for any archaic weapon to 
  which he has also applied the Weapon Focus feat or 
  class feature.
  Kamikaze
  Kagi guided his airplane through the clouds in close 
  proximity to the great blimp as it rose into the air 
  from a field just outside of Eden. He and his fellow 
  Kamikaze were charged with making sure the cargo 
  was well protected as it passed through the often 
  hostile Pure Lands. Nobody else in the region had 
  airships, or even more than a handful of people who 
  knew how to fly one.
  A few Purists had come to Tillamook looking to 
  become airmen, but General Cho had sent them away. 
  Air superiority was vital to maintaining stability in the 
  region. If the Purist Forces (or anyone else, for that 
  matter) were able to rise into the skies to do battle 
  with the Kamikaze, the whole region might be swept 
  away in a war worse than what was already going 
  on. As it was, trips through the skies above the Pure 
  Lands were growing more and more dangerous with 
  each passing day.
  Some of the Purists had taken it upon themselves to 
  try and shoot down the blimps as they flew overhead. 
  Luckily, the gunners couldn’t shoot accurately enough 
  to score a hit; such an incident might have caused 
  even more friction between the People’s Army and the 
  Purity Corp. Kagi had his orders, though: 
  if anyone tried to shoot down a blimp or 
  one of the planes, he and his fellow pilots 
  were to rain death down on the poor fools’ 
  heads. If by chance a blimp did get shot 
  down, Kagi and the other Kamikaze were expected to 
  defend the fallen craft and its cargo― to the death, if 
  necessary―until reinforcements could arrive.
  While Kagi didn’t much like the idea of dying, he 
  was determined to do whatever it took to protect the 
  interests of the People’s Army.
  Having adopted the name of the most dedicated 
  airmen in history, the Kamikaze pilots of the People’s 
  Army are, to many, one of the most elite forces in 
  the Lost Paradise. Virtually raised in the cockpits of 
  rickety old aircraft by their fathers and mothers, they 
  learn to fly almost as soon as they learn to walk.
  Because the integrity of aircraft technology has 
  degenerated over the years, the Kamikaze (as their 
  name suggests) are often viewed as “suicidal,” 
  willingly taking to the air in rusted old machines 
  that, every now and again, simply fall from the sky.  
  Still, their skill at escorting Tillamook airships and 
  scouting by air has kept the lands of the People’s 
  Army safe for generations. Though the numbers of the 
  Kamikaze are relatively small, their purpose is firm 
  and their usefulness to the goals of the People’s Army 
  is priceless.
  Though the People’s Army is the only group in the 
  Northwest to have operating aircraft, characters from 
  communities or factions in other parts of the Twisted 
  Earth that have access to airplanes may be allowed 
  into this class. In such a case, the specific allegiance 
  and feat requirements should be altered to more 
  accurately reflect the character’s place of origin and 
  the type of aircraft to which he would have access.
  Requirements
  To qualify to become a Kamikaze, the character must 
  fulfill the following criteria.
  Skills: Pilot 6 ranks, Navigate 6 ranks.
  Feat: Aircraft Operation.
  Allegiance: People’s Army.
  Class Information
  The following information pertains to the Kamikaze 
  advanced class.
  Hit Die: 1d8.
  Action Points: The Kamikaze gains a number 
  of action points equal to 6 + one-half his character 
  level, rounded down, every time he attains a new level 
  
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  Chapter 2: Characters
  in this class.
  Class Skills: The Kamikaze’s class skills are as 
  follows. Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Drive 
  (Dex), Knowledge (tactics, technology) (Int), Listen 
  (Wis), Navigate (Int), Pilot (Dex), Repair (Int), Spot 
  (Wis), and Survival (Wis).
  Skill Points at Each Level: 3 + Int modifier.
  Class Features
  The following features pertain to the Kamikaze 
  advanced class.
  Gut Check:  When a Kamikaze spends an action 
  point on a Pilot check, he gains an additional +1 
  bonus to his skill check for each level of Kamikaze he 
  has attained. 
  Eagle Eyes: The Kamikaze can take 10 on Spot 
  checks when attempting to locate targets on the 
  ground from the air, even if stress and distractions 
  would normally prevent him from doing so.  
  Bonus Feats: At 3rd, 6th, and 9th level, the Kamikaze 
  gains a bonus feat. The bonus feat must be selected 
  from the following list, and the Kamikaze must meet 
  all the prerequisites of the feat to select it. Advanced 
  Firearms Proficiency, Burst Fire, Drive-By Attack, 
  Gearhead, Force Stop, Intuitive Mechanic, Precise 
  Shot, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Exotic Firearms 
  Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, Vehicle Dodge, Vehicle 
  Combat.
  Strafing: When the Kamikaze attacks targets on the 
  ground from the air, he gains a +1 competence bonus 
  to his attack roll.  This bonus increases at 7th and 10th 
  level.
  Air Support:  When attacking a ground target 
  from the air in conjunction with ground forces, the 
  Kamikaze grants a +1 tactical bonus to the Defense 
  ratings of his allies on the ground.   The bonus 
  increases at 8th level.
  Mountain Walker
  The grizzled old man picked his way along the faint 
  trail. At this elevation, the air bit cold as his tired 
  lungs breathed it in. He paused for a moment to 
  get his bearings, checking his position against the 
  jagged mountain peaks. After a moment, he nodded in 
  satisfaction and continued on.
  An old bubble-shaped structure was just over the 
  next ridge, nestled in a hidden valley. Once he reached 
  it, he would be able to rest safely inside the strangely 
  warm, humid forest trapped within. The glass dome 
  contained a wide variety of plants that he used to 
  make medicines that fetched a good trade in the 
  settlements of the lands below. Once he had gathered 
  enough―only enough, never more―he would move 
  on to the great metal caves four days North of his 
  current position and get more supplies. Other people 
  like him knew of these places, but unlike the valley-
  people who constantly struggled against each other, 
  the Mountain walkers followed a code.
  They shared their goods and never took more than 
  what they needed so as to ensure that there would 
  always be enough for them to survive. Each ‘Walker 
  knew the code and was only shown the secret places 
  once he (or in some cases, she) could prove they had 
  the skill to be responsible caretakers of the knowledge. 
  This is how they had survived, and would continue to 
  survive, long after everyone else had vanished.
  Whether they were born into the Mountain Walker 
  way of life or apprenticed to attain it, these survivors 
  are shown honor and respect second to none.
  Rarely seen unless he wants to be, the ‘Walker 
  stalks the Northwest as the land’s caretaker and friend.  
  Rare is the plant or creature that is unidentifiable by 
  the ‘Walker. As such, his skills are greatly desired by 
  trading caravans and groups of explorers to aid them 
  on their travels into the unknown.
  Requirements
  To qualify to become a Mountain Walker, a character 
  must fulfill the following criteria.
  Base Attack Bonus:  +2.
  Skills:  Knowledge (ancient lore) 6 ranks, Navigate 
  6 ranks, Survival 6 ranks.
  TABLE 2-2: THE KAMIKAZE
  Level
  Base 
  Attack
  Fort 
  Save
  Ref 
  Save
  Will 
  Save 
  Special
  Defense 
  Bonus
  Reputation 
  Bonus
  1
  +0
  +0
  +1
  +0
  Gut Check
  +1
  +1
  2
  +1
  +0
  +2
  +0
  Eagle Eyes
  +1
  +1
  3
  +2
  +1
  +2
  +1
  Bonus Feat
  +2
  +1
  4
  +3
  +1
  +2
  +1
  Strafing +1
  +2
  +2
  5
  +3
  +1
  +3
  +1
  Air Support +1
  +3
  +2
  6
  +4
  +2
  +3
  +2
  Bonus Feat
  +3
  +2
  7
  +5
  +2
  +4
  +2
  Strafing +2
  +4
  +3
  8
  +6
  +2
  +4
  +2
  Air Support +2
  +4
  +3
  9
  +6
  +3
  +4
  +3
  Bonus Feat
  +5
  +3
  10
  +7
  +3
  +5
  +3
  Strafing +3
  +5
  +4
  
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  Class Information
  The following information pertains to the Mountain 
  Walker advanced class.
  Hit Dice: 1d10.
  Action Points: The Mountain Walker receives 
  a number of action points equal to 6 + one-half his 
  character level, rounded down, each time he attains a 
  level in this class.
  Class Skills:  The Mountain Walker’s class skills 
  are as follows. Climb (Str), Handle Animal (Cha), 
  Hide (Dex), Knowledge (ancient lore, earth and 
  natural sciences, Twisted Earth), Jump (Str), Listen 
  (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Navigate (Int), Ride 
  (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and 
  Treat Injury (Wis).
  Skill Points at Each Level:  5 + Int modifier.
  Class Features
  The following features pertain to the Mountain Walker 
  advanced class. 
  Secret Location: Mountain Walkers have 
  knowledge of numerous secret locations scattered 
  throughout the Northwest that have been hitherto 
  hidden from the world.  Examples might include an 
  agro-dome, a bunker complex (there are many bunkers 
  and fallout shelters in the Northwest that haven’t yet 
  been discovered), the ruins of an ancient town, or a 
  secret passage (such as one of the ancient shuttle tubes 
  used by travelers in the region prior to the Fall). 
  While in the Northwest, a Mountain Walker can 
  make a Knowledge (ancient lore) check (DC 20) 
  to recall the nearest secret location.  This location 
  can provide him with shelter, food, and water with 
  little (or no) chance of being disturbed by predators.   
  Outside the Northwest region, the Mountain Walker 
  can still attempt to find a secret location but doing so 
  is more difficult (DC 30).
  Knowledge of these locations is passed on from one 
  Mountain Walker to another and is never revealed to 
  those who would abuse such knowledge.  Mountain 
  Walkers may bring friends and 
  traveling companions to these 
  secret places, but they often attempt 
  to hide the locations by taking 
  confusing paths to their destinations. 
  Mountain Walkers never take (or 
  allow others to take) resources that 
  they do not need.  If they find a 
  location that is empty, they scavenge 
  to restock the location for the next 
  visitor.  
  Track:  At 2nd level, the Mountain 
  Walker gains the Track feat.  If he 
  already possesses the Track feat, he 
  may instead choose a feat from the 
  list of Mountain Walker bonus feats. 
  Bonus Feats: At 3rd, 6th, and 9th 
  level, the Mountain Walker receives 
  a bonus feat. The feat must be 
  selected from the following list, 
  and the character must meet all the 
  prerequisites of the feat to select 
  it. Advanced Firearms Proficiency, 
  Archaic Weapons Proficiency, 
  TABLE 2-3: THE MOUNTAIN WALKER
  Level
  Base 
  Attack
  Fort 
  Save
  Ref 
  Save
  Will 
  Save 
  Special
  Defense 
  Bonus
  Reputation 
  Bonus
  1
  +0
  +1
  +0
  +0
  Secret Location
  +1
  +1
  2
  +1
  +2
  +0
  +0
  Track
  +1
  +1
  3
  +2
  +2
  +1
  +1
  Bonus Feat
  +2
  +1
  4
  +3
  +2
  +1
  +1
  Natural Healing
  +2
  +2
  5
  +3
  +3
  +1
  +1
  Way of the Land, Apprentice
  +3
  +2
  6
  +4
  +3
  +2
  +2
  Bonus Feat
  +3
  +2
  7
  +5
  +4
  +2
  +2
  Beat Feet
  +4
  +3
  8
  +6
  +4
  +2
  +2
  Hunter
  +4
  +3
  9
  +6
  +4
  +3
  +3
  Bonus Feat
  +5
  +3
  10
  +7
  +5
  +3
  +3
  Way of the Land
  +5
  +4
  
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  Chapter 2: Characters
  Bull’s Eye, Dead Aim, Double Tap, Exotic Firearms 
  Proficiency, Far Shot, Guide, Personal Firearms 
  Proficiency, Precise Shot, Point Blank Shot, Quick 
  Draw, Radiation Sense, Reactive Shooter, Shot on the 
  Run, Skip Shot, Rip a Clip, Run, Stealthy, Way of the 
  Land (see below).
  Natural Healing: Mountain Walkers are experts at 
  using herbs and natural methods to treat injures. Once 
  per day, a Mountain Walker may cure an amount of 
  damage equal to 1d8 + 1 points per character level. 
  This effect is in addition to any other healing the 
  injured character receives due to treatment and rest. 
  Using this ability requires 1 hour of undisturbed care.
  Way of the Land: This ability is gained at 5th and 
  10th level and can also be taken in place of a bonus 
  feat. Each time he acquires this ability, the Mountain 
  Walker chooses either an overall +2 bonus to Survival 
  and Navigate checks or a +8 bonus to Survival and 
  Navigate checks in a specific geographical region. The 
  +2 bonus can be taken multiple times and stacks with 
  itself or with the +8 regional bonus. The +8 regional 
  bonus applies to a different region each time it is 
  taken.
  Examples of specific regions in Darwin’s World 
  include the Big Rocks, Deadlands, Great Rift Valley, 
  or another area described in the Darwin’s World 
  gazetteer.
  Apprentice:  At 5th level or above, the Mountain 
  Walker can take on an apprentice to whom he teaches 
  the code and knowledge of the Mountain Walker.  
  This ability functions like the Leadership feat, except 
  that with Apprentice the Mountain Walker only gains 
  a cohort. 
  Beat Feet: The Mountain Walker has the uncanny 
  ability to travel to a chosen destination faster than 
  most people by taking short cuts, forfeiting sleep for 
  progress, and following secret paths through otherwise 
  uncharted terrain. While his movement on a tactical 
  level remains unchanged, the Mountain Walker is able 
  to cover a distance 50% greater than normal in a given 
  24-hour period when traveling over land.
  Hunter: The Mountain Walker is a skilled hunter, 
  whether hunting animals or humanoids. The Mountain 
  Walker can take 10 when hiding and moving silently, 
  even if stress and distractions would normally prevent 
  him from doing so.
  River Runner
  Tonya guided the motor skiff expertly through the 
  river, years of practice helping her avoid the tangles 
  and jagged rocks that lurked just beneath the surface 
  of the murky green water.
  Her passengers had been initially reluctant to allow 
  a woman to guide them up the river to Corvallis, 
  but when Logan insisted that Tonya was an expert 
  and informed them if they didn’t like his choice of 
  navigators, they could walk, the travelers changed 
  their tune.  She glanced back at the “shaky legs,” 
  barely suppressing a proud grin as they nervously 
  watched the green water roll lazily by.
  They were in good hands on this journey.
  The River Folk provide many 
  important services to the communities 
  of the Northwest.  In addition to 
  their patrols of the waterways, they 
  perform vital trade duties by delivering 
  goods from one village to another, 
  or by engaging in trade themselves.  
  Occasionally they perform escort duties 
  for other tradesmen 
  along the 
  waterways 
  as well as 
  hunt or 
  eradicate 
  dangerous 
  marine life 
  that still 
  exists in the 
  water (meat from these aquatic beasts is considered a 
  delicacy in the region and the bones are used for many 
  purposes, including the crafting of tools and jewelry).
  The River Runners are just one clan of the River 
  Folk, but their cowboy-like flair and rebellious 
  nature has earned them the adoration of many other 
  River Folk communities.  Their specialty lies in 
  the operation of jet skis and other small watercraft 
  suited for navigation of the region’s many rivers and 
  waterways.
  Requirements
  To qualify to become a River Runner, the character 
  must fulfill the following criteria.
  Base Attack Bonus:  +2.
  Skills:  Swim 6 ranks, Navigate 3 ranks.
  Feats: Surface Vehicle Operation (power boat).
  Allegiance:  River Folk.
  Class Information
  The following information pertains to the 
  River Runner advanced class.
  Hit Dice: 1d8.
  Action Points:  The River Runner 
  receives a number of action points equal 
  to 6 + one-half his character level, 
  rounded down, each 
  time he attains 
  a level in this 
  class.
  
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  Chapter 2: Characters
  Class Skills:  The River Runner’s class skills are 
  as follows. Balance (Dex), Drive (Dex), Jump (Str), 
  Navigate (Int), Repair (Int), Spot (Wis), Survival 
  (Wis), Swim (Str), and Treat Injury (Wis).
  Skill Points at Each Level: 3 + Int modifier.
  Class Features
  The following features pertain to the River Runner 
  advanced class. 
  River Running:  The River Runner is adept at 
  guiding her watercraft through the treacherous waters 
  of post-Fall Earth. This ability grants the River 
  Runner a +1 competence bonus to Navigate and Drive 
  checks while traveling via water for each level of 
  River Runner he has attained.  
  Offensive Driving: Using 1 action point, the River 
  Runner can operate a vehicle as a free action. This 
  allows her to take a full-round action with her free 
  hand, including firing a one-handed ranged weapon.
  Bonus Feats: At 3rd, 6th, and 9th level, the River 
  Runner receives a bonus feat. The bonus feat must 
  be selected from the following list, and the character 
  must meet all the prerequisites for the feat to select it. 
  Drive-By Attack, Force Stop, Precise Shot, Personal 
  Firearms Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, Surface 
  Vehicle Operation, Vehicle Combat, Vehicle Dodge.
  Vehicular Evasion: At 4th level, the River Runner 
  gains the ability to make a last-minute veer, literally 
  “dodging” an attack directed at her vehicle. In place 
  of an attack action, the River Runner may make a 
  Reflex saving throw to avoid an attack against herself 
  or her vehicle (DC is equal to the attack roll). A River 
  Runner must be aware of an attack to dodge it in this 
  fashion.
  Rooster Tail: Beginning at 5th level, the River 
  Runner can create a sustained “rooster tail” large 
  enough to cause trouble for anyone following.  
  Creating a rooster tail is a move action and causes 
  the drivers of all watercraft within 50 feet and behind 
  the River Runner to make a Drive check (DC 10 plus 
  1 per River Runner level) to avoid losing control of 
  their craft.  
  Submerged Strike:  When driving personal 
  watercraft, the River Runner is able to perform a 
  power dive which floods the intake jets of the craft 
  with enough water to launch the vehicle into the air 
  upon resurfacing, delivering a devastating attack 
  against a target.   To perform this maneuver, the 
  River Runner must make a Drive check (DC20).  A 
  successful check allows the character to inflict double 
  damage with a melee attack. Failure indicates that the 
  River Runner bypasses the target without making an 
  attack and incurs an attack of opportunity.  The River 
  Runner can choose to ram the target instead, inflicting 
  double the normal ramming damage. Performing a 
  Submerged Strike is a move action.
  Sometimes River Runners use this tactic to actually 
  board larger vessels.  A successful check indicates a 
  safe landing with only minor damage (scratches and 
  dents). A failure results in collision.
  At 10th level, a Submerged Strike inflicts triple 
  damage.
  Improved Hardness: At 8th level, the River Runner 
  knows which parts of her vehicles are better armored 
  and which are more vulnerable.  The River Runner 
  increases the hardness of any vehicle she drives or 
  pilots by 2. A River Runner must be aware of an 
  attack to gain this benefit.
  Templar of Jehovah
  Jonah eyed the settlement with grim anticipation. 
  The reports claimed that the inhabitants had reacted 
  violently to his people’s innocent request to build a 
  temple there, hanging one of his brethren outside the 
  wooden gates with a sign around his neck that read 
  THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO HERETICS IN SHAYVILLE. The 
  gauntlet had been thrown, and it was his duty to see 
  that the challenge was met with appropriate force.
  Abraham had placed Jonah in charge of the 
  conversion of Shayville and had given him a 
  contingent of two hundred experienced Templars 
  with orders to crucify every infidel they found here 
  as a reminder to other settlements in the region that 
  attacking a servant of God had consequences.
  Jonah wasn’t about to let Abraham down.
  TABLE 2-4: THE RIVER RUNNER
  Level
  Base 
  Attack
  Fort 
  Save
  Ref 
  Save
  Will 
  Save 
  Special
  Defense 
  Bonus
  Reputation 
  Bonus
  1
  +1
  +1
  +1
  +0
  River Running
  +1
  +1
  2
  +2
  +2
  +2
  +0
  Offensive Driving 
  +1
  +1
  3
  +3
  +2
  +2
  +1
  Bonus Feat
  +2
  +1
  4
  +4
  +2
  +2
  +1
  Vehicular Evasion
  +2
  +2
  5
  +5
  +3
  +3
  +1
  Rooster Tail
  +3
  +2
  6
  +6
  +3
  +3
  +2
  Bonus Feat
  +3
  +2
  7
  +7
  +4
  +4
  +2
  Submerged Strike x2
  +4
  +3
  8
  +8
  +4
  +4
  +2
  Improved Hardness
  +4
  +3
  9
  +9
  +4
  +4
  +3
  Bonus feat
  +5
  +3
  10
  +10
  +5
  +5
  +3
  Submerged Strike x3
  +5
  +4
  
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  Chapter 2: Characters
  Carefully chosen are those worthy enough to join 
  the military ranks of the Hand of Jehovah.  These 
  soldiers are selected and trained to uphold and protect 
  the religious values of the faction. Templars are 
  garrisoned in towns loyal to the Hand of Jehovah, 
  ensuring that the peace is kept and that influence from 
  heretic outsiders is held to a minimum.
  In addition to performing “peacekeeping” duties, 
  the Templar is considered to be the vessel of God’s 
  vengeance. When a settlement is targeted for forced 
  conversion, the Templar is called to carry out the will 
  of Jehovah in the Twisted Earth.
  Requirements
  To qualify to become a Templar, a character must 
  fulfill the following criteria.
  Base Attack Bonus: +1.
  Skills:  Intimidate 6 ranks, Knowledge (theology 
  and philosophy) 6 ranks.
  Allegiance:  Hand of Jehovah.
  Class Information
  The following information pertains to the Templar 
  advance class.
  Hit Dice:  1d8.
  Action Points:  The Templar receives a number of 
  action points equal to 6 + one-half his character level, 
  rounded down, each time he attains a level in this 
  class.
  Class Skills:  The Templar’s class skills are as 
  follows. Concentration (Con), Craft (structural) (Int), 
  Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather 
  Information (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Investigate (Int), 
  Knowledge (current events, theology and philosophy) 
  (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Read/Write (any), 
  Research (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language 
  (any).
  Skill Points at Each Level: 5 + Int modifier.
  Class Features
  The following features pertain to the Templar 
  advanced class. 
  Commanding Tone:  The Templar gains the ability 
  to speak with (he believes) the full authority of God. 
  When using this ability, the Templar gains a +1 bonus 
  to Intimidate checks for each level of Templar he has 
  attained. 
  Blessing:  The Templar has the ability to inspire 
  others of the same faith by simply touching them 
  and uttering a prayer. Using the Blessing ability 
  grants to the recipient a +1 morale bonus to attack 
  rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws for a number 
  of rounds equal to 1d4 + the Templar’s class level + 
  the Templar’s Charisma modifier.  Only targets who 
  share the Hand of Jehovah allegiance may receive this 
  blessing.
  TABLE 2-5: THE TEMPLAR OF JEHOVAH
  Level
  Base 
  Attack
  Fort 
  Save
  Ref 
  Save
  Will 
  Save 
  Special
  Defense 
  Bonus
  Reputation 
  Bonus
  1
  +0
  +1
  +0
  +2
  Commanding Tone
  +1
  +1
  2
  +1
  +2
  +0
  +3
  Blessing
  +1
  +1
  3
  +2
  +2
  +1
  +3
  Bonus Feat
  +2
  +1
  4
  +3
  +2
  +1
  +4
  Frightful Presence 
  +2
  +2
  5
  +3
  +3
  +1
  +4
  Craft Holy Weapon
  +3
  +2
  6
  +4
  +3
  +2
  +5
  Bonus Feat
  +3
  +2
  7
  +5
  +4
  +2
  +5
  Smite the Infidel
  +4
  +3
  8
  +6
  +4
  +2
  +6
  Frightful Presence +2
  +4
  +3
  9
  +6
  +4
  +3
  +6
  Bonus Feat
  +5
  +3
  10
  +7
  +5
  +3
  +7
  Hand of God
  +5
  +4
  
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  Bonus Feats: At 3rd, 6th, and 9th level, the Templar 
  receives a bonus feat. The bonus feat must be selected 
  from the following list, and the character must meet 
  all the prerequisites of the feat to select it. Archaic 
  Weapons Proficiency, Attentive, Builder, Confident, 
  Educated, Exotic Melee Weapon Proficiency, Great 
  Fortitude, Iron Will, Leadership, Power Attack, 
  Renown, Studious, Super Charismatic, Trustworthy.
  Frightful Presence: At 4th level, the Templar 
  acquires the Frightful Presence feat.  At 8th level, the 
  DC to resist this feat’s effects increases by 2.
  Craft Holy Weapon:  At 5th level, the Templar is 
  able to construct a “holy” weapon. This weapon isn’t 
  magical, but the Templar believes it is. The weapon 
  must be made of natural materials, and cannot be 
  anything more advanced than a black powder pistol 
  or rifle. To make the weapon “holy,” the Templar 
  must get it blessed by a Hand of Jehovah priest, 
  who performs a special ritual in which the weapon 
  is anointed with holy water/oil and engraved with 
  religious imagery.
  When using this weapon in combat, the Templar 
  gains a +1 morale bonus to all attack and damage 
  rolls.  Other characters with the Hand of Jehovah 
  allegiance may use Holy Weapons crafted by the 
  Templar and receive the same morale bonus.
  Smite the Infidel: Using 1 action point, the 
  Templar can harness God’s vengeance into a single 
  devastating blow. This provides a bonus to the 
  Templar’s attack and damage rolls equal to the 
  number of ranks (not the bonus) he has in Knowledge 
  (theology and philosophy). 
  Hand of God:  At 10th level, the Templar becomes 
  so fanatical in his beliefs that he begins to see himself 
  as an almost indestructible instrument of God’s will 
  on Earth. The Templar gains a bonus equal to his 
  Charisma modifier to all attack and damage rolls and 
  to Will saves when combating mutants and enemies 
  officially targeted by the Hand of Jehovah leadership.
  Epic Classes
  The unique social groups and environs of the Lost 
  Paradise provide a number of opportunities for epic-
  level play; the following epic classes represent the 
  upper echelons of two Northwest factions.
  Blood Hunter
  The man was a member of one of the native tribes―
  that much was obvious. He wore his hair shaved 
  on the sides; what was left stood up roughly four 
  inches in a multi-colored Mohawk, a hairstyle more 
  commonly seen on raiders these days. He was pierced 
  three times through the septum with thin pieces of 
  bleached-white bones that might have been taken off 
  another human being, for all anyone knew. More bone 
  jewelry hung loose around his neck on a tightly-woven 
  cord that had probably been made from some animal’s 
  muscle tendon or hair.
  It was his eyes―such determination locked in their 
  steady gaze!―that identified him as a Chinook.
  But none of that really seemed to faze the people of 
  the juice joint. It was the simple fact of his presence 
  that had caused them to turn their heads, caused the 
  noisy bar to suddenly become as quiet as any patch 
  of ruins in the Northwest. Chinook didn’t leave their 
  precious Sacred Lands…
  Not unless there was a blood hunt happening, of 
  course.
  When an injustice has been visited on the Chinook, 
  whether by an outsider or a member of the tribe, a 
  Blood Hunter is called on to see that justice is brought 
  to the offending parties. Blood Hunters are the elite 
  warriors of the Chinook, chosen from the ranks of 
  Sho-Nachan (tribal warriors) to hunt those who betray 
  or otherwise offend the tribe.
  The Blood Hunter’s title is derived from his belief 
  that drinking the blood of those he captures (or 
  kills, as the case may be) makes him more attuned 
  to the minds of the renegades he will hunt in the 
  future. While greatly admired for his ability to 
  mete out justice to those who have brought shame 
  upon themselves and their families, members of the 
  Chinook tribe (and others throughout the Northwest 
  TABLE 2-6: THE BLOOD HUNTER
  Level
  Base 
  Attack
  Fort 
  Save
  Ref 
  Save
  Will 
  Save 
  Special
  Defense 
  Bonus
  Reputation 
  Bonus
  1
  +1
  +2
  +0
  +0
  Craft Blood Weapon +2
  +1
  +1
  2
  +2
  +3
  +0
  +0
  Blood Hunter +1
  +1
  +1
  3
  +3
  +3
  +1
  +1
  Bonus Feat
  +2
  +1
  4
  +4
  +4
  +1
  +1
  Smite the Transgressor
  +2
  +2
  5
  +5
  +4
  +1
  +1
  Blood Hunter +2
  +3
  +2
  6
  +6
  +5
  +2
  +2
  Bonus Feat
  +3
  +2
  7
  +7
  +5
  +2
  +2
  Craft Blood Weapon +3
  +4
  +3
  8
  +8
  +6
  +2
  +2
  Blood Hunter +3
  +4
  +3
  9
  +9
  +6
  +3
  +3
  Bonus Feat
  +5
  +3
  10
  +10
  +7
  +3
  +3
  Slay the Transgressor
  +5
  +4
  
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  familiar with the legends of the Blood Hunters) tend 
  to avoid the Blood Hunter because of his penchant for 
  drinking the blood of his victims.
  Blood Hunters rarely stay in one place. They tend 
  to be loners, even when among fellow tribesmen―
  probably because they spend so much time away 
  from the tribe in the settlements and lands of the “pale 
  demons.” Being back in the midst of their brethren 
  is, in many cases, something of a “culture shock;” it 
  tends to dull their instincts, which need to be sharp 
  when moving among people who view them as 
  backwards savages little better than slaves.
  It is no wonder that many Blood Hunters prefer 
  their brief forays outside the lands of the Chinook―
  for at least when on the hunt their lives have purpose, 
  moments of excitement, and many chances to bring 
  honor to their names and tribe.
  Requirements
  To qualify to become a Blood Hunter, 
  a character must fulfill the following 
  criteria.
  Base Attack Bonus: +10.
  Feats:  Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Track.
  Skills:  Craft (structural) 8 ranks, Spot 8 ranks, 
  Survival 10 ranks.
  Allegiance:  Chinook.
  Class Information
  The following information pertains to the Blood 
  Hunter epic class.
  Hit Dice: 1d10.
  Action Points: The Blood Hunter receives a 
  number of action points equal to 6 + one-half his 
  character level, rounded down, for each level he 
  attains in this class.
  Class Skills: The Blood Hunter’s class skills 
  are as follows. Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Escape 
  Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), 
  Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Twisted Earth) (Int), 
  Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Navigate (Int), 
  Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis).
  Skill Points at Each Level: 5 + Int modifier.
  Class Features  
  The following features pertain to the Blood Hunter 
  epic class.
  Craft Blood Weapon: Blood Hunters believe that 
  all renegades have something in common that causes 
  them to do the things they do. It is thought that if the 
  Blood Hunter uses the blood of these betrayers, he 
  somehow gains an advantage over them.
  By using the bones and sinew of a renegade he has 
  killed, the Blood Hunter can craft a bone weapon that, 
  to him, is imbued with the “taint” of all traitors to the 
  Chinook.  When using this weapon, the Blood Hunter 
  gains a +2 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls.
  At 7th level, the Blood Hunter can craft a Blood 
  Weapon that grants a +3 morale bonus.
  Blood Hunter:  Through extensive study and 
  training, the Blood Hunter has become a tireless and 
  exceptional man- (or mutant-) hunter. This grants a 
  +1 bonus to damage with melee and missile weapons 
  used against the transgressors he hunts (and against 
  those who stand in his way), as well as to Bluff, 
  Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, and Survival checks 
  against these enemies.  This bonus increases at 5th and 
  8th level.
  GM Note: The Blood Hunter should be able to use 
  this and similar abilities broadly.  In addition to using 
  this ability against specific transgressors, the Blood 
  Hunter may use it against anyone who stands in his 
  way (intentionally or unintentionally).
  Bonus Feats:  At 3rd, 6th, and 9th level, the Blood 
  Hunter receives a bonus feat. The bonus feat must 
  be selected from the following list, and the character 
  must meet all the prerequisites of the feat to select 
  it. Agile Riposte, Athletic, Brawl, Cleave, Combat 
  Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Confident, Defensive 
  Martial Arts, Elusive Target, Endurance, Far Shot, 
  Great Cleave, Great Fortitude, Improved Disarm, 
  Improved Initiative, Iron Will, Power Attack, Point 
  Blank Shot, Run, Stealthy, Track.
  Smite the Transgressor: Using 1 action point, the 
  Blood Hunter can harness his hatred for a transgressor 
  (and those that stand in his way) into a single 
  devastating blow. The Blood Hunter gains a bonus 
  to his attack and damage rolls equal to the number of 
  Knowledge (survival) ranks (not the bonus) he has. 
  This bonus stacks with the Blood Hunter class feature 
  
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  bonus.
  Slay the Transgressor:  By the time he reaches 
  10th level, the Blood Hunter has developed a combat 
  technique that almost invariably results in the death of 
  the renegade he is hunting.  By using one action point, 
  the character summons up all the rage and hatred he 
  can muster to make one crushing blow with his Blood 
  Weapon. Upon a successful hit, the force of the impact 
  completely destroys the Blood Weapon, but deals such 
  a massive shock that the victim must make a Fortitude 
  save (DC equal to the damage done by the strike) 
  or die instantly. If the opponent somehow manages 
  to survive the attack, he still takes normal weapon 
  damage. 
  Crusader of Jehovah
  Abel moved cautiously down into the valley, leading 
  his horse behind him as he picked his way along the 
  rocky switchback. He’d seen a line of smoke rising 
  from the eastern end of the vast valley and decided to 
  go investigate.
  It had been a year since Abel had been called by 
  God to leave the relative comforts of Moses Lake, 
  striking out into the blasted lands on a never-ending 
  Crusade to bring the word of God to the heathen 
  people of the Twisted Earth.  During his wanderings, 
  Abel had met many strange people―most of them 
  obvious agents of Scrag―living in degradation, 
  flaunting their physical mutations: sure signs that they 
  had fallen into sin and succumbed to the temptations 
  of the Evil One. Abel had done his best to teach the 
  infidels of God’s power and His infinite grace, but in 
  the end was forced to spill their heathen blood all over 
  the parched earth and purify their souls with fire.
  It was the only way they could be saved. Abel tried 
  to reconcile the memory of their screams with the 
  knowledge that he had saved them in the end…but it 
  still didn’t help him sleep at night.
  He stopped for a moment, pulled a spy-glass out of 
  a knapsack, and trained it on the faint tree line just 
  below the line of smoke. Two children were playing 
  in a creek that looked like it was almost dry. They 
  were laughing and shouting as they chased each 
  other up and down the gully, and for a brief moment 
  Abel managed a smile as memories of his life back in 
  Moses Lake came flickering back into his tired mind.
  Then one of the children―a little girl that Abel 
  guessed might have been seven harvest seasons 
  old― turned away from him. A thin tail jutted out of 
  her backside.
  His smile faded away as he put the spy-glass back 
  into the knapsack and checked his weapons. The faith 
  of a Servant of God was constantly being tested. Now 
  it seemed he would have to pass yet another one.
  Abel stood and headed down into the valley towards 
  the creek bed.
  The Crusader is the post-apocalyptic version of 
  a missionary, a lone warrior priest traveling the 
  wastelands bringing the word of “God” to any who 
  might listen… but this missionary carries an array 
  of weapons to use without mercy against those who, 
  to him, prove to be agents of the Devil (“Scrag”).
  The Crusader considers himself above any 
  restrictions that might be placed on the average 
  member of the Hand of Jehovah, maintaining that God 
  provides whatever he may need on his never-ending 
  journey through the wastes of the Twisted Earth.
  Requirements
  To qualify to become a Crusader, a character must 
  fulfill the following criteria.
  Base Attack Bonus: +8.
  Feats: Iron Will.
  Skills: Intimidate 13 ranks, 
  Knowledge (theology and 
  philosophy) 13 ranks.
  Special: Smite the Infidel.
  Allegiance:  Hand of Jehovah.
  Class Information
  The following information pertains to the Crusader 
  epic class.
  Hit Dice: 1d10.
  Action Points: The Crusader receives a number of 
  action points equal to 6 + one-half his character level, 
  rounded down, for each level he attains in this class.
  
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  Class Skills:  The Crusader’s class skills are as 
  follows. Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration 
  (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), 
  Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (theology 
  and philosophy, tactics) (Int), Listen (Wis), Search 
  (Int), Spot (Wis), Treat Injury (Wis), and Survival 
  (Wis).
  Skill Points at Each Level: 3 + Int modifier.
  Class Features
  The following features pertain to the Crusader epic 
  class:
  Abstinence:  Through fasting, the Crusader is able 
  to survive without food and water twice as long as a 
  normal person.
  Waste Walker:  The Crusader gains a +1 bonus 
  to all Survival and Navigate checks for each level of 
  Crusader he has attained.
  Awesome Presence: At 2nd level, the Crusader 
  gains the ability to inspire fear and awe by his mere 
  presence. Using the Awesome Presence ability must 
  take the form of a particular appropriate action (for 
  instance, walking calmly towards his enemy despite 
  suppressing fire, or shouting threats in a defiant voice 
  over the din of battle). All opponents with fewer HD 
  or levels than the Crusader must make a Will save 
  (DC equals 10 + one-half the Templar’s character 
  level + the Templar’s Charisma modifier) or become 
  frightened. Those who save are still shaken. The range 
  of the effect is 30 feet and lasts for a number of rounds 
  equal to 2d6 + the Templar’s Charisma modifier.
  Those who have been in the Crusader’s awesome 
  presence, whether or not they made a successful save, 
  cannot be affected by another use of this ability for a 
  full day.
  Bonus Feats:  At 3rd, 6th, and 9th level, the Crusader 
  receives a bonus feat. The bonus feat must be selected 
  from the Templar bonus feat list or the following list, 
  and the character must meet all the prerequisites of 
  the feat to select it. Advanced Two Weapon Fighting, 
  Armor Proficiency (light), Armor Proficiency 
  (medium), Armor Proficiency (heavy), Cleave, 
  Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Endurance, 
  Far Shot, Great Cleave, Improved Disarm, Improved 
  Trip, Improved Two Weapon Fighting, Point Blank 
  Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Two 
  Weapon Fighting.
  Craft Holy Weapon: At 4th level, the morale bonus 
  of Holy Weapons created by the Crusader increases to 
  +2.  This bonus increases to +3 at 8th level.
  Conversion: Beginning at 5th level, the Crusader 
  can convert non-player characters to his religion.  To 
  convert a non-player character, the Crusader must use 
  one action point and make a Diplomacy check (DC 
  20).  If the check is successful, the target may attempt 
  to resist.  If the check fails, the Crusader may not 
  try again. The target must be able to understand the 
  Crusader.
  The target resists the conversion attempt by making 
  a Will saving throw (DC 10 + the Crusader’s class 
  level + the Crusader’s Charisma modifier).  If the 
  saving throw fails, the target drops all contrary 
  allegiances and adopts the Crusader’s allegiance.  
  Certain circumstances may grant the target a bonus or 
  penalty to their resistance saving throw.
  Slay the Infidel: When a Crusader uses the Smite 
  the Infidel Templar ability, he may attempt to Slay the 
  target as well.
  Upon a successful Smite the Infidel attack, the 
  target must make a Fortitude save (DC equals 10 + 
  the Crusader’s Knowledge [theology and philosophy] 
  ranks) or be killed instantly. If the target survives, he 
  takes damage as if the Crusader had Smitten him.
  To the Bitter End: The Crusader will never give 
  up on his crusade, even when certain death looms. 
  At 10th level, the Crusader can continue to fight even 
  after unconsciousness and death (–10 hit points). 
  Each round that the Crusader is below –10 hit points, 
  he may make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1 per hit 
  point below –10) to continue fighting. Note that the 
  Crusader is in fact dead at this point, and healing him 
  has no effect. Only skills and abilities that affect dead 
  characters, such as Juju Miracle, apply.
  TABLE 2-7: THE CRUSADER OF JEHOVAH
  Level
  Base 
  Attack
  Fort 
  Save
  Ref 
  Save
  Will 
  Save 
  Special
  Defense 
  Bonus
  Reputation 
  Bonus
  1
  +1
  +2
  +0
  +2
  Abstinence, Waste Walker
  +1
  +2
  2
  +2
  +3
  +0
  +3
  Awesome Presence
  +1
  +2
  3
  +3
  +3
  +1
  +3
  Bonus Feat
  +2
  +2
  4
  +4
  +4
  +1
  +4
  Craft Holy Weapon +2
  +2
  +3
  5
  +5
  +4
  +1
  +4
  Conversion
  +3
  +3
  6
  +6
  +5
  +2
  +5
  Bonus Feat
  +3
  +4
  7
  +7
  +5
  +2
  +5
  Slay the Infidel
  +4
  +4
  8
  +8
  +6
  +2
  +6
  Craft Holy Weapon +3
  +4
  +4
  9
  +9
  +6
  +3
  +6
  Bonus Feat
  +5
  +4
  10
  +10
  +7
  +3
  +7
  To the Bitter End
  +5
  +5
  
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  New Artifacts
  The artifacts detailed herein are considered unique 
  items, each fetching a price well beyond the means of 
  most inhabitants of the Northwest.  These items are 
  not likely to be found outside the Northwest, though 
  at the GM’s discretion, certain artifacts may have 
  survived in other regions of the Twisted Earth, where 
  they might await discovery in a treasure horde or 
  long-forgotten bunker complex.
  New Electronics
  The Lost Paradise presents two new types of 
  “gizmos” that can still be found in the ruined cities of 
  the Northwest.
  Anti-Grav Belt
  Used primarily as an entertainment device, the 
  anti-grav belt was designed for both recreation and 
  transportation.  With automated controls built into 
  the belt’s circuitry, the device allowed a person to 
  leap into the air and drift great distances before 
  gliding back to the ground for an easily-controlled 
  landing.  Just a few weeks after its release into 
  the general public, local governments enacted a 
  slew of new regulations and laws in response to 
  the rash of severe injuries and mid-air collisions 
  caused by inexperienced anti-grav belt users.  These 
  restrictions created lucrative business opportunities 
  for entrepreneurs who created private, regulations-
  free anti-grav zones within the city where citizens 
  could use the devices freely.  The belt’s popularity 
  also led to modifications of the device to allow for 
  quicker liftoff and descent and much extended drifting 
  periods.
  These belts are difficult to locate in the post-Fall 
  world.  An anti-grav belt functions exactly like a 
  jetpack, except that a mini-fusion cell is required to 
  power it.  One charge from the cell is used for every 
  minute of operation.
  Power Source:  Power Clip, Beltpack, or 
  Backpack.
  Holographic Image Projector
  These hand-sized gizmos are both coveted and 
  rare.  The holographic image projector (“H.I.P.” 
  for short) projects a 3D holographic image in any 
  desired direction within 10 feet of the operating unit.  
  The H.I.P. can create realistic-looking images of 
  objects such as firearms, furnishings, or even people.  
  These illusory images, though motionless, are very 
  convincing and can only be recognized for what they 
  are with a successful Spot check (DC 20)—unless 
  they are touched, at which point their true nature 
  becomes obvious.
  The H.I.P. has an interface port to connect to other 
  computer systems, from which it can download 
  images from computer memory. Such downloaded 
  images are normally limited to photos, movie clips, 
  and other pre-Fall digital media stored in computer 
  databanks; some users have claimed to be able to 
  replicate specific individuals and artifacts from the 
  pre-Fall world.
  A creature or device that has thermal or enhanced 
  vision is never fooled by a H.I.P.
  Hover Vehicles 
  In the years before the Fall, hovercraft were 
  immensely popular all throughout the Northwest. 
  They were particularly common in the great domed 
  cities of Oregon and Washington, where wheeled and 
  other ground traffic was fast becoming an outmoded 
  means of travel.
  The following section lists common hover-vehicles 
  manufactured in the last years of the Ancients.
  Hover Boards
  The hover board is a pre-Fall skateboard variant—one 
  of the first and most popular applications of hover 
  technology to an existing device. Most are capable of 
  high speeds but only limited altitudes.  Getting onto 
  or off of a hover board is a free action. A hover board 
  provides no cover for its occupant while being ridden. 
  Habitat Avionics Hover Board  
  The Habitat Avionics Hover Board was the most 
  common hover board in use; its sleek, aerodynamic 
  design, which featured two stabilizer pods flaring out 
  on both sides of the board, make for an ultra-smooth 
  ride. Twin vertical thrusters mounted on the board’s 
  undercarriage provide thrust for liftoff and landing, 
  while mini-propulsion jets powered by a fusion cell 
  propel it to a maximum speed of 50 mph. The Habitat 
  Avionics Hover Board is two squares long and one 
  square wide.
  Power source: Mini-fusion cell.
  Civilian Hover Cars  
  The civilian hover cars of pre-Fall society came 
  equipped with a wide variety of options, such as 
  built in holo-communications devices, digital disk 
  music and video players, onboard GPS navigation 
  systems, and (in the most advanced models) Artificial 
  Intelligence piloting systems. Civilian hover cars 
  provide three-quarters cover for their occupants.
  Ford Mustang Veil Slide
  The Ford Mustang was one of the first “classic” sports 
  cars to be brought into the next generation of civilian 
  transportation. The hybrid design didn’t disappoint 
  consumers who were still taking shaky steps into the 
  realm of air travel. The Mustang Veil Slide retained 
  the ability to move safely and effectively on the 
  ground while providing the driver the option of using 
  the miniaturized V.T.O.L technology to leave the 
  TABLE 2-8: ELECTRONICS
  Object
  Size
  Weight 
  Cost
  Craft DC
  Anti-Grav Belt
  Med
  5 lbs.
  30,000 cp
  32
  HIP
  Small
  2 lbs.
  1,000 cp
  28
  
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  Chapter 2: Characters
  world behind. 
  The Ford Mustang Veil Slide is a two-door sport 
  hovercraft. It is two squares wide and three squares 
  long.
  Power source: Mini-fusion cell.
  Lincoln Sky King
  Reminiscent of the Cadillac of the late 1990’s, the 
  Lincoln Sky King was designed for the upper crust 
  of Dome society. This uber-luxury vehicle came 
  with every bell and whistle its designers could think 
  of. An AI piloting module took care of the driving 
  while passengers relaxed in plush leather reclining 
  seats, listening to music or watching movies funneled 
  through top-of-the-line electronics systems. Auto-
  tinting windows ensured the privacy of its passengers. 
  The Lincoln Sky King is a four-door luxury 
  hovercraft. It is two squares wide and four squares 
  long.
  Power source: Mini-fusion cell.
  Mitsubishi Dragonfly
  The Dragonfly constituted a break from traditional 
  perceptions about what a hovercraft should look like. 
  The new design abandoned the boxy shape common 
  in 20th century vehicles in favor of a graceful 
  chassis that resembled its namesake. V-shaped 
  wings branch from a long, tapered frame that ends in 
  flared protrusions which house the vehicle’s forward 
  thrusters. Vertical thrusters attached to the underside 
  of the wings can be rotated up to 160º for rapid 
  changes in altitude. 
  The Mitsubishi Dragonfly is a two-door sport hover-
  vehicle. It is three squares wide (due to its wingspan) 
  and four squares long.
  Power source: Mini-fusion cell.
  Toyota Talon
  The Toyota Talon is a four-door sedan designed to 
  appeal to the more conservative consumer. Neither 
  flashy in appearance (like the Mustang) nor radical in 
  design (like the Dragonfly), the Talon’s selling point 
  was a high safety rating and an advanced energy-
  transfer system which stretched the already impressive 
  mileage obtained from its mini-fusion cell into a 
  category all its own. The Talon’s mini-fusion cell 
  could last a full month between recharges, whereas 
  most other vehicles in the Talon’s class needed 
  recharging two or even three times a month. The 
  Talon sports crisp yet flowing lines and an impressive 
  array of electronics packages, including onboard GPS 
  navigation, a decent sound system, and auto-tinting 
  windows.
  The Toyota Talon is a four-door sedan. It is two 
  squares wide and three squares long.
  Power source: Mini-fusion cell.
  Civilian Hover Cycles
  Hover cycles were the first hover-vehicles designed 
  for commercial use. Mounting or dismounting a hover 
  cycle is a free action. While highly maneuverable, a 
  hover cycle provides no cover for its riders.
  Harley-Davidson War Hammer
  The War Hammer is an impressive piece of 
  technology that sacrifices only a fraction of its 
  potential speed for stability and maneuverability. Built 
  to last, the War Hammer was designed using highly 
  durable steel components instead of more lightweight 
  compounds. Its designers also kept the War Hammer’s 
  chassis design in line with older models like the Soft 
  Tail and Sportster, deviating from “classic” Harley-
  Davidson aesthetics only to accommodate the hover 
  TABLE 2-9: HOVERCRAFT
  Name
  Crew Pass
  Cargo
  Init Man 
  Speed
  Def
  Hard
  HP Size
  Cost
  Craft DC
  Hover Boards
  Habitat Avionics Board
  1
  0
  20 lbs
  +1
  +4
  250 (25)
  11
  5
  10
  S
  10,000 cp
  30
  Civilian Hover Cars
  Ford Mustang Veil-slide
  1
  3
  300 lbs
  -1
  +1
  250 (25)
  8
  5
  32
  H
  35,000 cp
  30
  Lincoln Sky King
  1
  4
  475 lbs
  -1
  +0
  200 (20)
  8
  5
  34
  H
  35,000 cp
  30
  Mitsubishi Dragonfly
  1
  4
  200 lbs
  +0
  +2
  275 (27)
  8
  5
  34
  H
  40,000 cp
  35
  Toyota Talon
  1
  4
  200 lbs
  -1
  +0
  180 (18)
  9
  5
  30
  L
  25,000 cp
  30
  Civilian Hover Motorcycles
  Harley Davidson War Hammer
  1
  1
  0 lbs
  +1
  +2
  250 (25)
  9
  5
  20
  L
  20,000 cp
  30
  Honda Crotch-Rocket TSX
  1
  1
  0 lbs
  +1
  +3
  300 (30)
  10
  5
  18
  M
  15,000 cp
  30
  Civilian Hover Trucks
  Chevy Silverado LS
  1
  4
  1,700 lbs
  -2
  -2
  150 (15)
  8
  5
  38
  H
  45,000 cp
  30
  Dodge Air-Ram Extended Cab
  1
  4
  1,700 lbs
  -2
  -2
  150 (15)
  8
  5
  38
  H
  45,000 cp
  30
  Ford Sparrow 
  1
  4
  1,000 lbs
  -2
  -2
  1750 (17)
  8
  5
  32
  H
  40,000 cp
  30
  Military Hover Vehicles
  V-350 Night-Wraith
  2
  30
  3,000 lbs
  -4
  -4
  200 (20)
  6
  10
  58
  G
  500,000 cp
  35
  M-2 Jackson Hover Tank
  4
  0
  5,000 lbs
  -4
  -4
  150 (15)
  6
  20
  70
  G 1,000,000 cp
  38
  War Hawk Hover cycle
  1
  1
  300 lbs
  +2
  +3
  500 (50)
  9
  10
  30
  L
  250,000 cp
  35
  
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  cycle’s chrome stabilizer pods.
  The War Hammer can carry two people. It is one 
  square wide and two squares long.
  Power source: Mini-fusion cell.
  Honda TSX Crotch Rocket
  The Crotch Rocket, taking its name from an old 
  slang term for the ultra-fast motorcycles upon which 
  its design is based, is among the fastest and most 
  agile hover cycles ever produced. The design of the 
  vehicle incorporates lightweight alloys and retractable 
  stabilizer pods to cut down on wind resistance. It 
  easily outpaces any other civilian hover vehicle 
  manufactured in the years before the Fall.
  The Crotch Rocket can carry two people. It is one 
  square wide and two squares long.
  Power source: Mini-fusion cell.
  Civilian Hover Trucks
  The hover truck category includes a wide variety 
  of pickup, SUV, and other utility vehicle designs, 
  all derived from their ground-based equivalents. A 
  typical hover truck provides three-quarters cover for 
  passengers inside the cab and half cover for anyone in 
  the rear bed.
  Chevy Silverado LS
  When hover trucks emerged as part of the hover-
  vehicle market, the Chevy Corporation predictably 
  made its debut with a variant of the highly popular 
  Silverado LS. This sports truck appealed to the 
  average white male, who wanted a stylish design that 
  didn’t compromise ruggedness and versatility. The 
  Silverado LS is two squares wide and four squares 
  long.
  Power source: Mini-fusion cell.
  Dodge Air-Ram Extended Cab
  The incredibly popular Air-Ram Extended Cab hover 
  truck entered the market a year after Chevy introduced 
  its Silverado LS. Dodge offered a stylish extended 
  cab model with a wide variety of options, including 
  AI piloting systems, onboard navigation, and even a 
  supercharger variant capable of short but impressive 
  speed boosts. The Dodge Air-Ram Extended Cab is 
  two squares wide and four squares long.
  Power source: Mini-fusion cell.
  Ford Sparrow Hover Truck
  Ford’s hover truck debut, the Sparrow, injected 
  some variety into the growing hover-vehicle market. 
  Relatively lightweight and more maneuverable than 
  its competition, the Sparrow appealed to younger 
  individuals who wanted a hover truck but couldn’t 
  afford the pricey Dodge and Chevy models. The Ford 
  Sparrow is two squares wide and three squares long.
  Power source: Mini-fusion cell.
  Military Hover Vehicles
  The United States military pioneered several versatile 
  hovercraft as natural extensions of earlier V.T.O.L. 
  and tilt-rotor designs. Unless otherwise noted, all 
  military hovercraft presented in this section provide 
  full cover for their occupants.
  V-350 Night-Wraith
  The Night-Wraith Multi-mode Attack Vehicle was 
  designed to replace troop transport aircraft such as 
  the Blackhawk and Huey helicopters.  The Night-
  Wraith requires a crew of four: a pilot, co-pilot, and 
  fire control technician to manage the craft and its 
  weaponry, and an electronics specialist to operate the 
  vehicle’s radar and communications systems. It takes 
  a full-round action to enter the vehicle and another 
  full-round action to start it up. The Night-Wraith is 
  three squares wide and twelve squares long.
  Weapons: The Night-Wraith is equipped with two 
  meson cannons (5d10), one on each wing. In addition 
  to the two cannons, the Night-Wraith also employs a 
  battery of four pulse lasers (3d12).  These weapons 
  require their own power source in additional to the 
  mini-fusion cells that power the vehicle.
  Power source: Two mini-fusion cells.
  Jackson Hover Tank
  The Jackson Hover Tank was the first heavily-
  armored platform to employ V.T.O.L. technology. 
  The integration of a gauss cannon into the tank’s 
  design marked a new trend in heavy weapons platform 
  design. The mass driver weapon eliminated the need 
  for the storage of bulky conventional shells, allowing 
  designers to focus on making improvements to speed 
  and maneuverability; the result was a mobile artillery 
  platform without parallel.
  The Jackson Hover Tank requires a crew of five: a 
  pilot, co-pilot, fire control technician, a gunner for the 
  .50-caliber machine gun, and an electronics specialist 
  for communications and radar operation. It takes a 
  full-round action to enter the tank and another full-
  round action to start it up. The Jackson Hover Tank is 
  four squares wide and six squares long.
  Weapons: The vehicle is equipped with a M214 
  minigun (4d12), two TOW II rocker launchers (6d12), 
  and its main weapon, a gauss cannon (14d8). The tank 
  carries 10 rockets and 50 rounds of gauss ammunition; 
  each of the weapon systems reloads automatically. 
  Weapons require their own power source in additional 
  to the mini-fusion cells that power the vehicle.
  Power source: Two mini-fusion cells.
  War Hawk Hover Cycle
  The War Hawk hover cycle was designed as a fast 
  attack hovercraft for use in ground support operations 
  and high speed, low visibility penetrations into enemy 
  territory. Its lightweight frame was built with stealth in 
  mind, incorporating technology used in earlier stealth 
  
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  Chapter 2: Characters
  vehicles. The cycle’s V.T.O.L. propulsion system 
  produces no visible trail and is relatively quiet even 
  at high speeds, allowing for fast and silent movement 
  during night operations. 
  The War Hawk can carry up to two people, a pilot 
  and one passenger. It is two squares wide and three 
  squares long. Mounting or dismounting the hover 
  cycle is a free action.
  Weapons: The War Hawk is equipped with two 
  pulse lasers (3d12) on a belly-mounted tripod.  The 
  tripod is capable of 180-degree rotation, allowing the 
  pilot to fire at targets along his flanks.  In addition, the 
  cycle is armed with a Hydra 70 rocker launcher (4d10) 
  and carries four rockets that reload automatically.  
  These weapons require their own power source in 
  additional to the mini-fusion cells that power the 
  vehicle.
  Power source: Mini-fusion cell.
  Water Vehicles
  The following water vehicles are Post Apocalyptic 
  variants of old-world boats, jet-skis, tugboats, and 
  military vessels. These vessels have been used in a 
  wide variety of roles by the River Folk of the Lost 
  Paradise. Although these boats have a listed cost, it 
  should be understood that the River Folk of the Lost 
  Paradise consider them priceless. With this in mind, 
  these watercraft are generally not for sale.
  Attack Boat
  The Attack Boat finds its origins in the final war 
  between the Communist Union of Asia and the 
  defenders of the Northwest. In the wake of the Battle 
  of Astoria, the huge amount of flotsam and jetsam in 
  the Columbia River rendered the channel inaccessible 
  to large boats. The only watercraft able to navigate 
  the river were the fast attack boats of the Communist 
  Union. A large number of these boats participated in 
  the siege of the Lewis and Clark Bio-dome Complex. 
  When the war degenerated into nuclear holocaust, 
  these vessels were abandoned—only to be salvaged 
  and put into regular use decades later by survivors of 
  the chaos.
  The Attack Boat requires a pilot and one or more 
  gunners.  It provides half cover for anyone on the 
  main deck, full cover for anyone below deck, and 
  three-quarters cover for the pilot in the main cabin. 
  The Attack Boat is five squares wide and ten squares 
  long. Boarding the vessel requires a full-round action, 
  and another full-round action is needed to start it up.
  Weapons: The Attack Boat is armed with two 
  torpedo tubes (4d10, as Hydra 70 rocker launchers) 
  and two M2HB heavy machine guns (2d12) on the aft 
  deck just below the pilot’s compartment.
  Power Source: Gasoline.
  Battle Barge
  Battle Barges are combat versions of old vessels 
  once used in the Northwest to ferry all manner of 
  equipment, trash, and anything else that needed to be 
  transported down the Columbia and Willamette rivers. 
  Barges are essentially flat-bottom boats that move 
  incredibly slowly; they have horrible maneuverability, 
  but because of their flat bottoms, they run little risk of 
  running aground on a sand bar or sinking from contact 
  with debris below the water’s surface. River Folk at 
  Bonneville Falls have fitted a number of these barges 
  with weapons and armor and use them to protect River 
  Folk settlements along the Columbia from Purist 
  Forces on the Washington side of the river.
  The Battle Barge has no power or control of its 
  own. It relies on a Tugger to propel it up and down the 
  river; therefore, the only crew it requires are people 
  to man its wide array of weapons. The Battle Barge 
  provides half cover for anyone riding on it. It is ten 
  squares wide and 20 squares long and requires a full-
  round action to board.
  Weapons: Common weapons on a Battle Barge 
  include M2HB heavy machine guns (2d12), Hydra 70 
  rocket launchers (4d10), and anything else the people 
  of Bonneville Falls can think to mount on the massive 
  vessel.
  Power source:  None.
  Combat Skis
  The Combat Ski is a jet ski that has been retrofitted 
  with mounted weapons and light armor plating. This 
  incredibly fast, agile watercraft is used by River 
  Folk to escort boats as they move along the river. 
  The Combat Ski is a favorite of River Runners, who 
  prefer high-speed attack craft to the comparatively 
  slow-moving Attack Boats. The Combat Ski provides 
  no cover for the person(s) riding it. The watercraft is 
  one square wide and two squares long.  Mounting a 
  Combat Ski is a free action.
  Weapons: Weapons systems vary, but generally 
  speaking, a Combat Ski is armed with an RPG-16 
  grenade launcher (3d10) and a forward-fixed M2HB 
  machine gun (2d12).
  Power source:  Gasoline.
  TABLE 2-10: WATERCRAFT
  Name
  Crew
  Pass
  Cargo
  Init
  Man 
  Speed
  Def
  Hard
  HP
  Size
  Cost
  Craft DC
  Attack Boat
  2
  10
  2,100 lb.
  -2
  -2
  55 (5)
  8
  10
  44
  H
  50,000 cp
  30
  Battle Barge
  5
  50
  30,000 lb.
  -8
  -8
  40 (4)
  6
  10
  58
  G
  45,000 cp
  25
  Combat Skis
  1
  1
  60 lb
  -1
  +1
  105 (10)
  9
  6
  22
  L
  10,000 cp
  25
  Motor boat
  1
  6
  2,100 lb
  -2
  -2
  55 (5)
  8
  5
  24
  H
  15,000 cp
  25
  Tuber
  1
  4
  500 lb
  -2
  -2
  55 (5)
  9
  4
  12
  L
  10,000 cp
  20
  Tugger
  7
  10
  5,000 lb
  -4
  -4
  50 (5)
  6
  5
  40
  G
  20,000 cp
  25
  
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  Motorboat
  The motorboat hasn’t changed much since the Fall. 
  River Folk use it to ferry people up and down the 
  various rivers of the Lost Paradise. Motorboats aren’t 
  usually armored or fitted with weapons beyond what 
  occupants can carry. They are a relatively fast moving 
  and reliable mode of transportation. Motorboats 
  provide half cover for occupants and are two squares 
  wide and four squares long. Boarding a Motorboat is a 
  free action.
  Power source: Gasoline.
  Tuber
  The Tuber is simply a rubber raft once used in the 
  popular recreational sport of white-water rafting. 
  River Folk have taken to using these boats to 
  navigate the treacherous rapids that often separate 
  the river communities of the Lost Paradise. Tubers 
  are often fitted with armor plating to give them more 
  weight and extra protection from attacks by aquatic 
  creatures (such as Poisonous Lampreys or Mutated 
  Sockeyes) that might wish to take a bite out of the 
  boat, or snipers who like to ambush River Folk as they 
  navigate the difficult waterways. The oval-shaped 
  Tuber provides half cover for anyone riding in it. It is 
  two squares wide and four squares long. Boarding a 
  Tuber is a free action.
  Power source:  None, but can be fitted with a 
  gasoline-powered outboard motor.
  Tugger
  Tuggers are pre-Fall tugboats that have been restored 
  to active use; they now serve a dual purpose. River 
  Folk use Tuggers both to fish along the Columbia and 
  to move the massive Battle Barges that protect their 
  river settlements. Tuggers require a fairly large crew 
  to operate—a pilot and at least six deckhands to man 
  the ropes and operate the engines. Tuggers provide 
  full cover for anyone below deck, half cover for 
  anyone on the main deck, and three-quarters cover for 
  the pilot in the main cabin. Tuggers are five squares 
  wide and ten squares long. Boarding a Tugger is a 
  full-round action, and another full-round action is 
  required to start it up.
   Power source:  Diesel engine, electric generator.
  WWII Aircraft
  These ancient vehicles have all seen better days, but, 
  thanks to the unfailing determination and skill of the 
  People’s Army Mechs and Airmen who work on them, 
  the dilapidated aircraft somehow manage to stay in the 
  air. These aircraft are used almost exclusively by the 
  People’s Army.
  FM-2 Wildcat
  The Wildcat is a solid fighter that bore the brunt of 
  WWII carrier-based fighting until 1943, when the 
  Hellcat came into service. It takes a move action to 
  board the aircraft and a full-round action to start it.  
  The aircraft provides three-quarters cover for the pilot. 
  It is seven squares wide and three squares long.
  Weapons: The Wildcat sports four .50-caliber 
  machine guns (2d12).
  Power Source: Gasoline.
  F4U-7 Corsair
   Nicknamed the “Whistling Death” by Japanese 
  fighter pilots during WWII, the mighty Corsair fighter-
  bomber was faster and more agile than any other prop-
  driven airplane of its time. The aircraft is powered by 
  a single nose-mounted propeller. The Corsair is seven 
  squares wide and three squares long; it requires a 
  move action to board the plane and a full-round action 
  to start it. The aircraft provides three-quarters cover 
  for the pilot.
  Weapons: The Corsair has six .50-caliber machine 
  guns (2d12), three mounted on each wing. The 
  People’s Army takes full advantage of the aircraft’s 
  1000-lb payload capacity, loading it with their own 
  heavy explosives.
  Power source:  Gasoline.
  Ki-43 Oscar 
  Often confused with the infamous “Zero” used by the 
  Japanese all throughout WWII, the Oscar was fast and 
  mobile, but notoriously fragile—once hit, it was easily 
  destroyed. It is seven squares wide and three squares 
  long. It takes a move action to board and a full-round 
  action to start. The cockpit provides three-quarters 
  cover for the pilot.
  Weapons: The Oscar sports two 7.62 mm machine 
  guns (2d10) and can also carry two bombs.
  Power Source: Gasoline.
  P-38 Lightning 
  This unique twin-prop warbird saw heavy action 
  during WWII in the Pacific Theater, where it made its 
  mark battling Japanese Zeros. The twin-tail fuselage 
  is a signature design of this aircraft, which is seven 
  squares wide and three squares long. It takes a move 
  TABLE 2-11: WWII AIRCRAFT
  Name
  Crew
  Pass
  Cargo
  Init
  Man 
  Speed
  Def
  Hard
  HP
  Size
  Cost
  Craft DC
  FM-2 Wildcat
  1
  0
  2,500 lb.
  -2
  -2
  600 (60)
  6
  6
  52
  G
  60,000 cp
  27
  F4U-7 Corsair
  1
  0
  4,000 lb
  -3
  -3
  750 (75)
  6
  6
  44
  G
  75,000 cp
  27
  Ki-43 Oscar
  1
  0
  730 lb
  -2
  -2
  650 (65)
  6
  4
  30
  G
  50,000 cp
  27
  P-38 Lightning
  1
  0
  3,5000 lb
  -3
  -3
  815 (82)
  6
  6
  44
  G
  100,000 cp
  27
  P-47 Thunderbolts
  1
  0
  4,000 lb
  -3
  -3
  815 (82)
  6
  6
  44
  G
  150,000 cp
  27
  SBD Dauntless  
  2
  0
  5,000 lb
  -5
  -5
  540 (54)
  6
  6
  62
  G
  175,000 cp
  27
  TBM Avenger
  4
  0
  8,000 lb
  -6
  -6
  540 (54)
  6
  6
  62
  G
  200,000 cp
  27
  
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  Chapter 2: Characters
  action to board the plane and a full-round action to 
  start it. The P-38 Lightning provides three-quarters 
  cover for the pilot.
  Weapons: This single-seat combat airplane carries 
  four .50-caliber machine guns (2d12) and one 20-
  millimeter Hispano AN-M2C cannon (3d12), all 
  mounted in the nose.  In addition to its guns, the 
  Lightning has an external payload capacity of 4000 
  lbs.
  Power source: Gasoline.
  P-47 Thunderbolt
  Known as “Jerry-Junkers,” P-47 Thunderbolts saw 
  heavy action in the skies over Europe, escorting 
  bombers and doing fighter sweeps against ground 
  targets like trains. A massive plane, the P-47 was 
  easily the largest and heaviest single-engine, single-
  seat fighter aircraft ever built. The Thunderbolt is 
  eight squares wide and four squares long.  It takes a 
  move action to board the plane and a full-round action 
  to start it up. The plane provides three-quarters cover 
  for the pilot.
  Weapons: The P-47 sports eight .50-caliber 
  machine guns (2d12) and also boasts a payload 
  capacity of 2,500 lbs.
  Power Source: Gasoline.
  SBD Dauntless  
  The Dauntless dive bomber was used extensively in 
  the Pacific Theater and played a key role in the battle 
  of Midway, where Dauntless pilots destroyed four 
  Japanese aircraft carriers, a cruiser, and 150 aircraft. 
  The Dauntless has a crew of two—a pilot and another 
  man to operate the rear machine gun and bomb bays.  
  It takes a full-round action to board the vehicle and 
  another full-round action to start it. The Dauntless 
  provides three-quarters cover for its occupants, and is 
  seven squares wide and three squares long.
  Weapons: The Dauntless sports a 7.62mm rear 
  machine gun (2d10) and bomb bays with a 1,600-
  lb payload capacity plus wing mounts able to hold 
  another 650 lbs of munitions. In addition, the 
  Dauntless carries two .50-caliber forward-firing 
  machine guns (2d12).
  Power Source: Gasoline.
  TBM Avenger 
  One of the most famous aircraft of the Second 
  World War, the Avenger was originally designed to 
  be a carrier-based torpedo bomber, but also proved 
  effective as a close-support bomber and patrol aircraft. 
  One of the largest single-engine carrier-based planes 
  of WWII, the Avenger required a crew of three men 
  to handle all of its controls and weapons. The fighter 
  is eight squares wide and four squares long. It takes 
  a full-round action to board and another full-round 
  action to start. The pilot’s compartment provides 
  three-quarters cover for its occupants.
  Weapons: The Avenger sports two .50-caliber 
  forward-firing machine guns (2d12), a dorsal-mounted 
  .50-caliber machine gun (2d12), and a ventral-
  mounted .50-caliber machine gun (2d12).  In addition, 
  its bomb bay can hold up to 2000 lbs of munitions.
  Power Source: Gasoline.
  THE PEOPLE’S ARMY AIR FORCE
  The People’s Army controls perhaps the last operational airfield in the Northwest¯a former blimp air station 
  near the Pacific coast of Oregon that was all but forgotten during the Final War.  Decommissioned after 
  WWII, the station was purchased by private entrepreneurs and turned into an air museum, where all manner 
  of antiquated aircraft were brought and put on display.
  Although it had been little more than a cheap tourist draw along the back roads of rural Oregon, the 
  discovery of this facility was considered a miracle by the People’s Army scouts who found it after the Fall.  
  With their grasp of pre-Fall technology, they were able to bring many of the aging, rusted machines back 
  to life, and now use them to escort their cargo-laden airships across the Northwest.  The contrails of these 
  greasy, smoking machines, seen from far away, are the subject of worship and fear by many tribal groups 
  (indeed the Lelooska, nestled in the mountains beneath Mt. St. Helens, consider their passing an omen of 
  dire times ahead).
  Most of the aircraft that were once featured in the air museum were cannibalized long ago to supply 
  repair parts for those in the best condition.  Today all that remains is a handful of WWII-era propeller 
  planes, including a P-38 Lightning, an F4U-7 Corsair, several P-47 Thunderbolts, a TBM Avenger, an 
  SBD Dauntless, a Ki-43 Oscar, and a pair of FM-2 Wildcats.  All of these planes have seen better days; 
  their original paint has faded and peeled (and been replaced by the symbol of the People’s Army, brazenly 
  adorning fuselage and wings alike).  Their range and other characteristics have been sacrificed just to keep 
  them aloft, but they provide the People’s Army with a tremendous asset in this era where aviation is limited 
  to only a few groups across the world.
  
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  Chapter 3: Denziens of the Northwest
  Chapter 3: 
  Denizens 
  of the 
  Northwest
  Origins
  The varied peoples of the Northwest share common 
  origins in the fringe groups that rose to prominence 
  in the final days before the Fall. As the Final War 
  loomed on the horizon, these groups refused, for 
  whatever reason, to accept what they were being told 
  by the government. They rejected corporate attempts 
  to placate them with designer drugs. They resisted 
  the lure of sex parlors and turned off their televisions 
  and radios. This minority saw the End coming—and 
  they started to prepare for it. They began to organize 
  and spread the truth to others. Society reviled these 
  free thinkers and ridiculed them for their actions, but 
  the abuse didn’t mean anything to the enlightened 
  minority—and it certainly didn’t stop them.
  Some formed activist groups and staged protests. 
  Others put up websites and monitored bulletin 
  boards that offered information about the world 
  beyond the borders of the United States. They took 
  this “untainted” information public, hacking into 
  U.S. news nets to broadcast their data over the 
  airwaves, reaching out to all the sheep with what they 
  called “doses of truth.” Still others became militant, 
  embracing the label of “extremist” and venting their 
  frustration through violence. They bombed drug 
  and robot manufacturing plants and raided weapons 
  facilities; they hijacked shipments of food and medical 
  supplies destined for the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome 
  Complex, and took their spoils to hidden compounds 
  deep in the wilderness. These extremists stockpiled 
  vital technology—water purification tablets, pre-
  packaged meals, dry goods, tools, technical manuals, 
  and anything else they felt would be needed to 
  weather the coming storm.
  The extremists also networked with other radical 
  organizations like the Purity Corp, the Hand of 
  Jehovah, and the Free People’s Militia to increase 
  their odds of survival. This coalition became the 
  foundation of what is now known as the United 
  Combine.
     
  The United 
  Combine
  History
  Many long years after the Fall, the 
  United Combine emerged from the isolation of 
  scattered wilderness bunker complexes and survival 
  compounds and began to explore and settle the 
  Northwest. They didn’t waste any time in setting 
  up lines of communication between the remaining 
  vaults. Armed scouts were sent out from “Eden” 
  (the U.C.’s main bunker complex) on horses, both 
  real and robotic, with two objectives. The first and 
  most important was the establishment of trade routes 
  between the compounds; the survivors would need a 
  solid, working infrastructure if they hoped to build 
  upon the foundation that was already in place. These 
  initial forays also identified which communities 
  had survived the Fall and which had perished in the 
  chaos. Ruined or abandoned bunkers and compounds 
  were marked for salvage teams and left to rot in the 
  wilderness.
  The second objective was to thoroughly scout out 
  the known lands and ascertain the current state of 
  the world. Groups of twenty were sent in all four 
  cardinal directions, tasked with determining who else 
  had survived (and if they were hostile), mapping out 
  the boundaries of radioactive and other dangerous 
  areas, and locating precious food and water sources. 
  Most such recon teams, especially those that ventured 
  into the southern lands, never returned from their 
  expeditions. Those who did return had either gone 
  insane from the things they had seen in the course 
  of their explorations or were dying from radiation 
  poisoning. In any case, they couldn’t provide much 
  information about the lands of the “deep south.” Long, 
  hard years passed—dark years filled with sickness 
  and death—but the U.C. was eventually able to 
  establish some semblance of stability in the region. 
  The problems began when the U.C.’s leaders came 
  together to decide a future plan for the Combine.
  May 3.  I came up from the Desiccated Wastes to join the U.C., hoping for something better, a new life.  
  What I got was something else entirely.  Instead of getting myself a nice piece of land far away from the 
  desert, here we sit, on the frontlines of a war that has the whole region up in arms.  I can’t tell how long it’s 
  been going, or how long we’ll be here…but from the tired looks of the men I serve with, I don’t think an end 
  is near.  Most of them are just boys.  You’d be surprised—even the older-looking ones in the trenches are 
  really just kids.  The war does that to them.  Everyone gets old mighty fast on the front line.
  - Anonymous soldier’s recollection of the War
  
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  The Convention of the 
  Remnants
  As the influence of the United Combine spread 
  throughout the townships and settlements of the 
  Northwest, people began to look to the future. Trade 
  routes were established. Outposts were constructed to 
  better protect the smaller towns and to provide safe 
  venues for trade. Short-wave radio and, in some cases, 
  holographic communications devices united even 
  the smallest and most distant communities under the 
  U.C.’s banner. These accomplishments were a far cry 
  from the near-mythical technological achievements of 
  their ancestors, but they were a beginning.
  Yet even with these advances, there were those who 
  weren’t satisfied.
  Members of the Purity Corp, the Hand of Jehovah, 
  and radical elements of the Free People’s Militia 
  each had their own ideas about what the future goals 
  of the United Combine should be. The presence of 
  conflicting goals wasn’t a new development; people 
  had held divergent views throughout the long years 
  inside the bunkers, but in the confines of the vaults, 
  with nowhere else to go, these disagreements had been 
  set aside. Now people were outside and rebuilding 
  their lives, and they wanted a say in the decisions 
  that were being made. As the umbrella of the United 
  Combine spread across the Northwest, people began 
  moving away from the larger settlements to create 
  their own, smaller communities where they could 
  live the way they wanted. These towns, which still 
  claimed allegiance to the Combine but which were 
  self-governing, caused a great deal of concern within 
  certain factions of the United Combine leadership.
  The Purist Agenda
  The Purists—members of the Purity Corp faction—
  wanted to purge the U.C of everyone who showed 
  signs of deviant behavior. Some of these “rogue 
  settlements” were exhibiting signs of reverting to the 
  hedonistic ways against which the original members 
  of the pre-Fall Purity Corp had fought. Now history 
  seemed to be repeating itself—given a bit of freedom, 
  people were choosing all the wrong things. Jeremiah 
  Cole, the direct descendant of Alexander Cole, spoke 
  out against these “deviants” and even sanctioned the 
  idea of making certain practices illegal.  Jeremiah 
  also advocated segregation by ethnic heritage. His 
  argument was that, in this new world, it would be best 
  to separate people by color and prohibit interracial 
  breeding so as to develop “pure” cultures.
  Nobody was surprised to hear him propose such 
  things; after years of living close together inside the 
  bunkers, most everyone in the Eden complex knew 
  that Jeremiah and his kin were racists. The Purists 
  kept largely to themselves, only mingling with those 
  who shared their ideologies and skin color. By the 
  time the bunkers opened, the Purity Corp had lost 
  a great deal of credibility among the survivors, but 
  despite this loss of popular support, there were still 
  many Purists among the remnant who agreed with 
  Jeremiah’s views.
  The Position of the Hand of 
  Jehovah
  Members of the Hand of Jehovah sect wanted to issue 
  a mandatory call to worship in every U.C. settlement 
  in the Northwest. People needed to be made to 
  understand the importance and presence of God. The 
  Hand of Jehovah believed that the reason their clan 
  had survived was that God had chosen them carry His 
  word to the remnants. The faction’s self-appointed 
  high cleric—a man known only as “Solomon”—
  stepped forward at the convention and flat-out 
  demanded that Hand of Jehovah temples “dedicated 
  to God” be erected in every U.C settlement. Solomon 
  was no politician and had no tongue for diplomacy. 
  He spoke of fire and brimstone, and warned of the 
  hellfire and damnation that awaited those who shirked 
  the protection of almighty God.
  The Stance of the Free 
  Peoples Militia
  The leadership of the Militia had long been the ruling 
  body of the United Combine, a fact that frustrated 
  Purist leaders who believed that their faction had 
  May 5.  It’s funny how you can wish for rain all your life and suddenly come to hate it, to despise it with 
  all your heart and soul.  It never stops raining up here, high in the mountains.  There’s just a gray gloom 
  that never goes away, a blanket of never-ending cloud that turns even the lush forests and valleys a somber 
  color, and constant rain that washes away all hope.  No, it bleeds away the hope.
  At night, when it’s overcast, we can see the glow from what used to be the metropolis of Seattle beyond 
  the mountains, reflected off the clouds.  It’s a chilling sight.
  The quartermaster keeps passing out potassium iodide tablets every few days, saying we have to take 
  them or else, muttering  something about weather currents blowing radiated dust from the ruins all over the 
  mountains.  It seems hard to believe, so many miles away, with the city little more than a bright spot on the 
  horizon.  But if we don’t take them, he says, we’d all be dead in a matter of days.
  I keep thinking about the glow.  It makes me wonder how far this new war will go…it’s as if the higher-
  ups haven’t learned anything at all from the past.
  - Anonymous soldier’s recollection of the War
  
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  been the true liberating force of the pre-Fall society. 
  At the convention, Douglas Reinhart, the elected head 
  of the assembly, listened to the leaders of the other 
  factions as they presented their cases—and then flatly 
  rejected each of them. The United Combine, Daniel 
  insisted, was not about segregation or forcing beliefs 
  on people. The purpose of the Combine was to assist 
  people in developing their own societies by helping 
  towns and settlements grow into stable communities. 
  As it was, the world was fraught with dangers; 
  persecuting people because they thought or looked 
  differently would only serve to create more strife and 
  would strike at the foundations of the entire region. 
  The establishment of trade routes and early attempts 
  towards regional stabilization had not eliminated 
  these dangers; with bandits, renegades, and monstrous 
  wasteland creatures roaming the wilderness, the 
  Combine’s position in the new world was far too 
  tentative to even think about risking the loyalty and 
  safety of its people.
  The meeting ended in a cacophony of shouts 
  and curses as the Purist and Hand of Jehovah 
  representatives stormed out of the council chambers. 
  Enraged, they pulled their resources from the United 
  Combine and called on all like-minded individuals to 
  follow them into the wilderness, where they would 
  cultivate a new way of life—one of their choosing.
  Who Left and Who Stayed
  A surprising number of settlements seceded from the 
  United Combine in the aftermath of the now-infamous 
  Convention of the Remnants. All those who broke 
  away had their own motives for leaving, although 
  most sought to escape U.C.-imposed restrictions that 
  frustrated those who wanted a return to the lifestyle of 
  the Ancients.
  Many secessionists were unhappy with the simple, 
  guarded lifestyle promoted by the U.C., having 
  assumed that the opening of the bunkers would mark 
  a return to the pre-Fall way of life described by their 
  elders. Long years had passed since the Fall; only the 
  very eldest among them retained even the vaguest 
  memory of what life had been like before the End, and 
  in most cases their recollections were less historical 
  records than “campfire stories” passed down by 
  parents and grandparents. In the timeless confines 
  of the bunkers, stories of the pre-Fall past became 
  myths—and these myths became dreams for which 
  people yearned, earnest tales told in the night after the 
  day’s work was done.
  Many of the younger generation harbored secret 
  hopes (and sometimes outright beliefs) that the bunker 
  gates would open to reveal the fabled dome cities 
  of the Ancients, alive and working and awaiting 
  repopulation. They fantasized about being welcomed 
  back into the world by exuberant dome-dwellers, 
  daydreamed about the exotic foods they would eat, 
  and imagined all the things they would do when that 
  day finally came. That day never came; the reality 
  was that life outside the bunkers was a cold, hard, 
  daily struggle to survive. So it was no surprise that 
  many disenchanted youth leapt at the chance to follow 
  the Purists and Hand of Jehovah towards a promised 
  better life in the wastes.
  The mass exodus of the Purist and Hand of Jehovah 
  factions made life much more difficult for those who 
  remained behind. The burden placed on individuals 
  increased as the workforce dwindled.  Supplies taken 
  by the secessionists had to be replaced, which meant 
  more hunting, more scavenging, and more people 
  going on dangerous trips from which they might not 
  return.
  To make matters worse, some secessionist groups 
  soon returned in force to take more; combatants on 
  both sides found themselves fighting over precious 
  supplies with people they had known for most of 
  their lives. Combine settlements and militia outposts 
  in Central Washington were taken in the name of the 
  Purity Corp. Males who didn’t voluntarily join the 
  Purists were drafted at gunpoint or killed; women 
  were placed into forced labor and breeding camps.
  The War of the Remnants had begun.
  May 6.  Killed a man today.  I was just sitting there, at night, listening to the rain, peering from my foxhole 
  out across the mountainside.  It was eerie.  The evergreen forest casts all sorts of twisted shadows up here, 
  crisscrossing over dirty patches of snow that dot the slopes like an endless obstacle course.  Barely saw 
  him.  Moving alone, hunkered down, he stood out against the snow.
  But he was on the wrong side of the ‘line.  I took the shot.  I had to.  Or he would have shot me.
  I know I’ll never shake the memory of this night.  Listening to him moan for hours, crying first for his 
  comrades, then for his mother.  His voice, minute by minute growing fainter as he lost more and more blood. 
  Begging for someone to come get him, to drag him back to his lines… but no one would.  No one would go 
  out and risk their own life, not for him.  Maybe he was black, and his squad mates were white.  Or maybe it 
  was the other way around.  That’s how it is in the Purity Corp.  Not only do they hate us, but they hate each 
  other just as much.
  But killing isn’t easy, no matter what they say.  No matter how hateful your enemy is, no matter how 
  despicable his politics.
  Because sometimes you have to sit there and listen to him die.
  - Anonymous soldier’s recollection of the War
  
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  The War of the Remnants
  The War of the Remnants is an ongoing struggle for 
  dominance in the Northwest region of the Twisted 
  Earth. The scattered communities of the United 
  Combine struggle daily against the racist Purist forces. 
  Other cultures of the Northwest have been drawn into 
  this conflict in a variety of ways, but the main powers 
  for good or evil are the U.C. and the Purity Corp, 
  respectively.
  While the ongoing conflict between the Purists and 
  the United Combine is indeed a war, it’s waged in a 
  fashion unlike any before it. Unlike the great wars of 
  ancient history, this conflict isn’t resolved in grand 
  clashes of opposing armies; it’s played out day after 
  long day in small, brutal guerilla battles. The major 
  aggressor in this conflict is the Purity Corp; while the 
  United Combine does occasionally bring the fight to 
  the Purists, they much prefer to live in peace. For the 
  Purists, this is a war of naked aggression. The U.C. 
  controls more territory and resources, all of which 
  the Purists claim is rightfully theirs. For the Purists, 
  the conflict isn’t just about crushing the United 
  Combine; it’s about bringing the entire region under 
  their control. All of the Northwest’s independent 
  communities—the River Folk, Chinook Indians, and 
  Mountain Walkers—are threatened by the Purity 
  Corp’s ambitions.
  The United Combine as it 
  Exists Today
  Despite years of war, the United Combine has 
  managed to hold firm against the wasteland’s myriad 
  human and inhuman dangers. Towns allied under 
  the U.C. banner dot the region, from the capital city 
  of Eden in what were once known as the Canadian 
  Rockies of British Columbia, to City of Hope in 
  the hilly expanse of lower Oregon far to the south. 
  Between those two major United Combine cities 
  lie the Pure Lands, a region encompassing much of 
  southern and central Washington—the domain of the 
  Purity Corp.
  The Purists have managed to divide the U.C. 
  territory into two isolated halves, making vital trade 
  between the northern cities and those of the Deep 
  South an extremely dangerous undertaking. Many 
  people die on the arduous journey—or worse, are 
  captured and drafted into the Purist army. In spite of 
  such dangers, the importance of keeping trade routes 
  open and relatively safe is enough to motivate many 
  brave souls from the Combine to risk the north-south 
  journey. These crucial lifelines are patrolled by United 
  Combine Regulators and a sect of warrior-scouts 
  known as the Sentinels. More information about the 
  Sentinels is presented later in this chapter.
  Over the course of the war, most towns in the 
  Combine have become walled fortresses, guarded 
  day and night by U.C. Minutemen. Entrance to these 
  bastions of safety is extremely limited; travelers not 
  wearing the Combine insignia are almost invariably 
  turned away at gunpoint. Only in extremely rare cases 
  are outsiders allowed into the towns of the United 
  Combine. Independent factions such as the Tillamook 
  Trading Caravans and the Mountain Walkers are given 
  access to towns as individual situations merit.
  May 7.  Want to know what life is like on the frontline?  We dig trenches all day, with our bare hands, until 
  our knuckles bleed and our fingernails begin to crack.  When it rains—and it always rains—the water 
  causes all sorts of floods and we have to fight to keep the earthen walls from crumbling in on us.  When it 
  gets really bad, when the icy cold water reaches your chest and your limbs begin to go numb, then we get 
  the order to abandon the foxholes and fall back.
  Of course that’s when the Purists start up.  Always happens when we so much as move.  Machineguns, 
  snipers, you name it.  They even got tanks, which they use to bombard us from miles away whenever word 
  leaks out that we’re on the move.
  Seen several men die that way, you know, from artillery.  One minute they’re there, whimpering and 
  praying on their knees beside you in the trench…the next they’re a fine red mist mixed with a cloud of 
  choking black smoke that knocks you off your feet.  You never get the taste of powder out of your mouth.  
  And the feel of that warm blood won’t wash away no matter how many times you scrub.
  I’m just glad the tanks can’t make it off the roads and chase us up into the high mountains—I hear they’re 
  next to impossible to take out without heavy weapons, and heavy weapons are something we in the U.C. are 
  short of these days.
  Guess we’ll just make like old-style guerillas, and run and hide.
  May 16.  Lost my legs last week.  Artillery strike, out of nowhere.  Slept for seven days straight, the doctors 
  said.  They’re sending me back.
  Saw myself in the mirror this morning and I didn’t recognize myself.  Big bushy beard and a whole lot of 
  lines seem to have just “crept” up on me.  My God, how long have I been here?
  I wonder if my wife will even recognize me when I come home.
  - Anonymous soldier’s recollection of the War
  
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  The Doctrines of Unity
  All member communities of the United Combine are 
  expected to uphold a series of statutes known as the 
  Doctrines of Unity. So long as the Doctrines of Unity 
  are upheld, towns are free to govern themselves in 
  whatever manner they see fit.
  The Doctrines of Unity are as follows:
  • 
  All members of the United Combine shall provide 
  safe haven for those who prove their allegiance to 
  the clan.
  • 
  Opportunity for fair trade shall be given to all 
  U.C. members.
  • 
  Males who have grown into Manhood shall offer 
  themselves up into service as Minutemen for a 
  period of five harvest seasons, unless sufficient 
  reason can be provided that said males should 
  remain in their hometown.
  • 
  No member of the United Combine shall have 
  any dealings with the Purity Corp or the Hand of 
  Jehovah. 
  • 
  All sightings of Purist movements must be 
  reported immediately to the nearest Militia 
  outpost.
  • 
  Respect others’ right to exist.
  • 
  Take life only in defense of your own.
  The penalty for breaching any of these edicts is 
  banishment from the clan or death, depending upon 
  the severity of the offense. 
  United Combine
  Background Options:  Visionary Reinventor.
  Attitude:  The United Combine believes in 
  inventing a new future from the ashes of the old and 
  endorses a slow and cautious emergence from this 
  era of barbarism into the future.  The U.C. believes in 
  carefully exploring its environment, cataloguing and 
  avoiding dangers, and engaging potential enemies 
  with diplomacy rather than force. The Combine 
  rarely takes action before carefully weighing the 
  consequences of doing so against the potential benefits 
  to the entire community. Foolhardy endeavors and 
  unchecked expansion have led to bitter defeats for the 
  Combine in the past, and so today the U.C. remains 
  guarded against the well-intentioned but shortsighted 
  calls to “drive ever forward” heard from many of its 
  well-meaning but overenthusiastic citizens.
  Symbol:  The symbol of the United Combine is 
  a simple stone ring of alternating dark colors with 
  an embossed androgynous figure set against dark 
  concrete.
  Common Classes:  Guardian, Scholar, Tinker, 
  Survivalist.
  Common Mutations:  Autism, Neural Mutation.
  Common Defects:  Bilirubin Imbalance, 
  Hemophilia.
  The U.C. is a coalition of settlements and towns 
  spread across the Northwest. For the most part, 
  membership in the United Combine is open to any 
  who wish to join and work towards making the 
  Northwest a safe place for people to live. With that 
  said, individual towns under U.C. control are self-
  governed and tend to have their own particular laws 
  and beliefs about what is right and with whom they 
  wish to associate.
  The people of the United Combine are not as 
  technologically advanced as other groups in the 
  region, but the inherent “openness” of the faction 
  means that, generally speaking, they are more inclined 
  to deal with outside individuals and groups than are 
  less open-minded groups like the Hand of Jehovah. 
  The average Combine soldier is armed with a variety 
  of basic weapons, although the occasional advanced 
  weapon (found in the ruins of some town or obtained 
  from the Tillamook Traders) does sometimes turn up 
  in U.C. hands.
  Except for members of the militia, travel and 
  transportation by means other than foot is rare for 
  most U.C. citizens. The likelihood of finding someone 
  willing to even consider trading away a vehicle 
  or animal depends entirely on what settlement the 
  character happens to be in at the time. Hope and 
  Eden each have a fair number of pre-Fall internal 
  combustion vehicles, as well as horses (both real 
  and robotic), but as characters move into smaller 
  communities they might be lucky to find a hover-
  board or a pogo stick.
  Beginning characters that do not have a soldier-
  oriented occupation might be able to barter for 
  transportation in the larger settlements, but at a 
  much higher cost than they would pay were they 
  Minutemen. Even soldiers must barter for their 
  equipment in the United Combine (as in the early 
  era of feudal armies, when soldiers were expected to 
  provide their own equipment for war). Most towns 
  are responsible for outfitting and arming their own 
  militias, which means that even the Minutemen and 
  Regulators have to scrounge and barter for every 
  bullet and scrap of armor they need.
  To be a mutant and aligned with the United 
  Combine is to be accepted in some settlements 
  and denied entry to others—a difficult fate, but 
  much better than it would be in other places in the 
  Northwest where mutants are literally hunted.  In 
  general, larger towns allow mutants inside their walls, 
  but even there mutants are usually looked upon as 
  freaks. Small, out-of-the-way towns are more likely 
  to shoot first and then shoot again, regardless of the 
  mutant character’s professed allegiance.
  All in all, the United Combine does its best to keep 
  people safe and free to live as they choose, although 
  the price of such freedom is usually living in relative 
  squalor compared to other groups in the Northwest. 
  Still, the average U.C. citizen would rather live poor 
  and free than under someone else’s twisted vision of 
  how the world should be.
  As a rule of thumb, the general attitudes of U.C. 
  citizens towards other factions in the Northwest are as 
  follows.
  
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  Purity Corp:  The average member of the United 
  Combine loathes the Purists. Years of war have taught 
  the generally simple, peace-loving Combine citizens 
  that the Purity Corp cannot be trusted.
  Hand of Jehovah: The Hand of Jehovah (members 
  of which are often referred to as “zealots” by even the 
  most tolerant U.C. citizens) is another faction with 
  which the United Combine frequently has trouble. 
  To date, the zealots have been too busy preaching 
  and condemning for any real dialog and negotiation 
  between the two factions to take place. Open 
  war hasn’t become a reality (yet), but rumors are 
  beginning to spread through U.C. settlements about 
  sightings of Hand of Jehovah troops moving south 
  out of Moses Lake, apparently extending their area of 
  control in eastern Washington.
  People’s Army:  The Tillamook traders have a 
  solid relationship with the United Combine. For most 
  U.C. citizens, the sight of a Tillamook caravan is a 
  sign that happier times are coming. The Tillamook 
  clan brings weapons, ammunition, food, and other 
  essential supplies (including news of important events 
  transpiring in the region) to the bargaining table. 
  Despite this warm relationship, the Tillamook Trading 
  Company does not give the U.C. any special favors 
  where business is concerned.
  Chinook Indians (and other Indian groups):  
  The Chinook don’t trust anyone who is not either a 
  member of the tribe or a Mountain Walker whom they 
  have known for more than a year.  Relations with 
  the Chinook are tense at best. However, due to the 
  influence of certain Mountain Walkers trusted by the 
  tribes, the Chinook are inclined to treat those aligned 
  with the United Combine with more respect than they 
  might treat a Purist.
  Pale Riders:  These raiders have recently begun 
  to attack outlying U.C. outposts and far-flung 
  homesteads, and, if rumors are true, they aren’t 
  leaving many survivors around to warn others. 
  Currently, all United Combine militia have standing 
  orders to shoot on sight any members of this mutant 
  faction with whom they come into contact. Civilians 
  are encouraged to stay away from the eastern roads 
  and to travel only in the company of armed guards.
  River Folk:  The United Combine has no official 
  ties to these reclusive people. U.C. diplomats have 
  traveled to places like Corvallis and Bonneville Falls 
  in the hopes of forging some kind of political alliance 
  with the various families that comprise the sect, but 
  have always come away empty handed. Individual 
  members of the U.C. have more luck when dealing 
  with the River Folk, so long as they stick to the 
  business of trying to book passage along the rivers 
  or barter for fish and other supplies. The U.C. isn’t 
  necessarily hated; they just aren’t trusted any more 
  than any other faction that tries to deal with the River 
  Folk.
  Sentinels:  The people of Crater City have a 
  longstanding yet often shaky alliance with the United 
  Combine, especially with the city of Hope. The two 
  factions have long shared the goal of maintaining 
  peace in the lands south of the Columbia River, this 
  mutual purpose serving as the glue that binds the two 
  A LAND DIVIDED – THE UNITED COMBINE
  The territory that comprises the United Combine appears surprisingly large to those unfamiliar with the 
  region.  A close look, however, shows that this degree of control is shaky at best, and that the great distances 
  between U.C. settlements are perhaps their greatest weaknesses.
  With its capital Eden located just across the border in what used to be Canada, the U.C.’s administration 
  and power lies far from the “frontlines” with the Purity Corp.  Only through control of major mountain 
  highways and roads have they been able to spread their influence over such a wide area and keep their far-
  flung outposts in communication; only a few miles from these established routes, the wilderness quickly 
  grows untamed, inhospitable, and unfriendly.
  Because it takes so long to get from one place to another in U.C. territory, communications and messages 
  sometimes arrive late (or if the courier is ambushed, captured, or killed, never at all).  To adapt to this, 
  U.C. settlements have learned to rely primarily on themselves for survival; settlements maintain their own 
  militias, stockpile food, water, and other supplies to withstand sieges, and develop special methods of low-
  technology communication.  These methods include using horses or motorcycles to ferry couriers from 
  community to community, using smoke signals to convey concealed messages in smoke patterns, and even 
  relying on the Tillamook Trading Caravans to keep the far-flung communities of the U.C. in touch.
  This latter reliance is essential to the survival of the Combine’s southern territories, which were 
  completely cut off by the unexpected incursion of the Purity Corp’s Pure Lands.  These distant 
  communities, no longer in direct contact with contiguous U.C. territory, often must wait weeks or even 
  months for messages from home, and thus self-reliance is an absolute necessity for their survival.  The 
  Tillamook—with their airships able to fly over the Pure Lands unhindered by Purist forces—are the only 
  means by which the U.C. can supply its settlements there, and this “service” has allowed the traders to profit 
  tremendously.
  Because it relies so heavily on the Tillamook Trading Caravans to deliver messages and supplies over the 
  Pure Lands, the Combine would be strategically and economically devastated by any change in Tillamook 
  attitudes towards the U.C.  If for any reason the Tillamook decided to cease their flights, it is entirely 
  conceivable that the isolated southern branch of the U.C. would fall to the Purity Corp.
  
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  Chapter 3: Denziens of the Northwest
  groups together. Minutemen and Sentinel Guides 
  often work together, guarding caravans destined for 
  eastern settlements or maintaining a constant watch 
  on the roads leading into the wastelands beyond the 
  impassable southern wilderness.
  United Combine members in good standing with 
  the Sentinels are allowed access to the bubble-dome 
  hunting grounds that dot the area around crater city, 
  but the faction ( or any other faction for that matter) is 
  not allowed inside the Great Domed City.
  Fort Boise:  The United Combine has only just 
  begun to consider the possibility of some kind of 
  formal relationship with this distant city. The U.C. has 
  sent scouts to Fort Boise to gain credible intelligence 
  about the city and its inhabitants and to learn whom 
  they trade with and whether or not Fort Boise has ties 
  to settlements in lands outside the Northwest. The 
  Pale Riders and Purity Corp have also sent delegates 
  to Fort Boise recently, developments which concern 
  U.C. leadership. Combine agents have been charged 
  with finding out what these two hostile factions are 
  trying to accomplish in Fort Boise.
  Most U.C. members don’t know what to make of 
  the reports they hear about this mutant city. Some 
  flat-out refuse to believe there are so many mutants on 
  the planet, while others simply shrug and accept the 
  stories as just another fact of life in this harsh world.
  Bone City:  The average member of the United 
  Combine considers this lawless city to be a prime 
  example of why groups like the U.C. exist. The 
  “bone trade” is a morbid practice that has been 
  universally outlawed in the United Combine—in 
  fact the ban on this grisly trade is one of the few 
  things many individual settlements actually agree 
  on. People caught inside a United Combine town 
  with items made from the bones of dead humans are 
  usually banished, Their names and descriptions sent 
  to neighboring U.C. holdings in an effort to ensure 
  that these people are not allowed to infect other U.C. 
  members with their twisted interests.
  The U.C. has no official ties with Bone City and 
  does not seek to establish any. The saying “let the 
  heathens do as they will, but we don’t have to let them 
  do it around us” is the unofficial U.C. stance towards 
  the city.
  Beavertown:  The United Combine sees 
  Beavertown for what it is: a haven for thieves and 
  similarly seedy individuals who have been kicked out 
  of other settlements in the region. Business with the 
  people Beavertown is normally done at the end of a 
  gun barrel.
  Typical United Combine 
  Low-Level United Combine Minuteman (Post 
  Apocalyptic Hero 1/Fast Hero 1):  CR 2; Medium-
  size human; HD 2d8+2; hp 11; Mas 12; Init +2; Spd 
  30 ft.; Defense 16, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, 
  +4 class); BAB +0; Grap +2; Atk +3 melee (1d3+2, 
  nonlethal, unarmed) or +3 melee (1d6+2, rifle butt); 
  Full Atk +3 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed), or +2 
  ranged (2d4, AR-7 Explorer); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 
  5 ft.; SQ Evasion, Conserve; AL United Combine; SV 
  Fort +2, Ref +4, Will -1; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 
  14, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Military, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills:  Climb +4, Craft (mechanical) +3, Hide +4, 
  Knowledge (ancient lore) +3, Knowledge (current 
  events) +3, Knowledge (tactics) +3, Listen +1, Move 
  Silently +4, Profession (any) +3, Navigate +3, Ride 
  +4, Search +1, Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +1, 
  Survival +1.
  Feats: Far Shot, Personal Firearms Proficiency, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency.
  Mutations and Defects: None.  
  Possessions: AR-7 Explorer, 32 rounds of .22 
  ammunition, rad tab, five ready meals, two light rods, 
  various other gear and personal possessions.
  Mid-Level United Combine Minuteman (Post 
  Apocalyptic Hero 3/Fast Hero 3):  CR 6; Medium-
  size human; HD 6d8+6; hp 33; Mas 12; Init +2; 
  Spd 30 ft.; Defense 20, touch 18, flat-footed 18 (+2 
  Dex, +6 class, +2 leather armor); BAB +4; Grap 
  +6; Atk +7 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed) or +7 
  melee (1d6+2, rifle butt); Full Atk +7 melee (1d3+2 
  nonlethal, unarmed), or +7 ranged (2d10, Remington 
  700); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Evasion, 
  Conserve, Opportunist, Wasteland Lore; AL United 
  Allegiance Notes - United Combine 
  To sum up, choosing an allegiance with the United Combine comes with the following benefits and 
  drawbacks:
  Open Membership: Characters are free to leave the United Combine at any time without fear of 
  persecution, a very appealing benefit in times when some groups treat their followers like property.
  Limited Access to Technology: Most United Combine towns do not have access to advanced weapons 
  or methods of transportation more technologically advanced than a horse. Before beginning play, characters 
  aligned with the United Combine may not barter for any item more advanced than modern-era weapons and 
  equipment.
  Secondary Allegiances:  Player characters who have aligned themselves with the United Combine might 
  consider choosing a second allegiance which focuses on a particular settlement, such as Hope or the capital 
  city of Eden, to further flesh out their characters’ attitudes towards other people in the Northwest.
  
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  Combine; SV Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +1; AP 8; Rep +1; 
  Str 15, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Military, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills:  Climb +4, Craft (mechanical) +5, Gather 
  Information +2, Hide +4, Knowledge (ancient lore) 
  +3, Knowledge (current events) +8, Knowledge 
  (tactics) +3, Listen +3*, Move Silently +4, Profession 
  (any) +8, Navigate +3, Ride +4, Search +5, Speak 
  Language (Unislang), Spot +7*, Survival +1.
  Feats: Alertness*, Armor Proficiency (light), Far 
  Shot, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Precise Shot, Simple 
  Weapons Proficiency.
  Mutations and Defects: None.  
  Possessions: Leather armor, Remington 700, 40 
  rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, rad tab, five ready 
  meals, two light rods, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  High-Level United Combine Minuteman (Post 
  Apocalyptic Hero 5/Fast Hero 5):  CR 10; Medium-
  size human; HD 10d8+10; hp 55; Mas 12; Init +2; 
  Spd 30 ft.; Defense 23, touch 20, flat-footed 23* 
  (+2 Dex, +8 class, +3 undercover vest); BAB +6; 
  Grap +9; Atk +9 melee (1d3+3 nonlethal, unarmed) 
  or +9 melee (1d6+3, rifle butt); Full Atk +9 melee 
  (1d3+3 nonlethal, unarmed), or +9 ranged (2d10, 
  Remington 700); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Evasion, Conserve, Opportunist, Uncanny Dodge 1*, 
  Wasteland Lore; AL United Combine; SV Fort +5, Ref 
  +8, Will +1; AP 10; Rep +2; Str 16, Dex 15, Con 12, 
  Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Military, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills:  Climb +4, Craft (mechanical) +5, Gather 
  Information +2, Hide +4, Intimidate +6, Knowledge 
  (ancient lore) +3, Knowledge (current events) +8, 
  Knowledge (tactics) +13, Listen +3*, Move Silently 
  +4, Profession (any) +10, Navigate +3, Ride +4, 
  Search +5, Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +7*, 
  Survival +1.
  Feats: Alertness*, Armor Proficiency (light), 
  Combat Expertise, Far Shot, Leadership, Personal 
  Firearms Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, Post 
  Apocalyptic Technology, Precise Shot, Simple 
  Weapons Proficiency, Weapon Focus (Remington 
  700).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Undercover vest, Remington 700 
  or Colt M1911, 40 rounds of 7.62mm (or .45) 
  ammunition, rad tab, five ready meals, two light rods, 
  holographic image projector, power cell, various other 
  gear and personal possessions.
  People of Note
  Duncan Clark
  Duncan Clark has been the leader of Hope ever since 
  he reached manhood. The people of the settlement 
  voted him into the position after his predecessor was 
  killed by a pack of vomit rats while scouting out the 
  ruins of Eugene. Duncan went out, found the vomit rat 
  nest, and killed everything in it. The people have been 
  looking to him for guidance ever since.
  Unlike many who would call themselves “leaders,” 
  Duncan doesn’t just sit back and tell people what 
  to do. He is often out in the wilderness near Hope 
  keeping an eye on the border or talking with 
  scouts from Crater City. Duncan is a smart man, 
  smarter than most in the region. He was lucky; his 
  What do I say about myself? Not much, if I were a humble man, and I guess I am one to some extent. I’d like 
  to think that the people of Hope are better off with me leading them. Some days I expect that they may want 
  me gone, and if it ever comes to that, I’ll leave. But until then I’ll protect the people of this town as best I 
  can. I guess that’s what a leader is supposed to do.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  parents taught him as much as they could while they 
  were alive. The Red Fever took both of them before 
  Duncan reached puberty, but he was able to survive 
  in the town on his own because they had taught him 
  so well.
  Duncan Clark (Smart Hero 3/Scholar 4/Guardian 
  4):  CR 11; Medium-size human; HD 7d6+4d10; hp 
  47; Mas 10; Init +2; Spd 20 ft.; Defense 22, touch 
  17, flat-footed 20 (+2 Dex, +5 class, +5 civil security 
  suit); BAB +7; Grap +8; Atk +8 melee (1d3+1 
  nonlethal, unarmed); Full Atk +8/+3 melee (1d3+1, 
  nonlethal, unarmed), or +10/+5 ranged (2d4, AR-7 
  Explorer); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Ancient 
  Secrets (ancient knowledge, ancient vehicles), 
  Defender (+2), Gossip, Plan, Savant (investigate)*, 
  Tactical Aid; AL United Combine; SV Fort +4, Ref 
  +7, Will +7; AP 11; Rep +3; Str 12, Dex 14, Con 10, 
  Int 13, Wis 15, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Guide, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills: Craft (writing) +5, Diplomacy +6, Drive +8, 
  Intimidate +5, Investigate +10*, Knowledge (civics) 
  +13*, Knowledge (current events) +11, Knowledge 
  (history) +9, Knowledge (mutant lore) +7, Knowledge 
  (tactics) +13*, Listen +4, Navigate +7, Research +7, 
  Search +3, Sense Motive +8, Speak Language (Trade), 
  Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +9, Survival +8.
  Feats: Armor Proficiency (light), Armor Proficiency 
  (medium), Armor Proficiency (heavy), Educated 
  (civics, tactics)*, Personal Firearm Proficiency, Point 
  Blank Shot, Post Apocalyptic Technology, Radiation 
  Sense, Simple Weapons Proficiency, Surface Vehicle 
  Operation, Weapon Focus (AR-7 Explorer).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Civil security suit, GSh-18, AR-7 
  Explorer, 50 rounds of ammunition for both firearms, 
  holographic image projector, power cell.
  The Purity 
  Corp
  History
  The Purity Corp, more commonly 
  known throughout the region as 
  simply the Purists, is the second-largest faction in the 
  Northwest. They are led by Jeremiah Cole, a direct 
  descendant of Alexander Cole, the original leader of 
  the group. The Purists were once a part of the United 
  Combine—in fact, they were the originators of the 
  pre-Fall extremist movement from which the U.C. was 
  afterwards born.
  This well-known fact has long been a source of 
  great aggravation for Jeremiah, who led loyal Purists 
  out of Eden and other Combine bunker complexes 
  when it became clear that Douglas Reinhart and his 
  U.C. goons were no longer interested in what he had 
  to say. The disgruntled leader led his followers south 
  into the wilderness of lower Washington, where they 
  established the core of what would become Zog,  the 
  capital city of the Pure Lands.
   
  The Creed
  Just as the United Combine has its own moral 
  standards by which its people must abide, so too does 
  the Purity Corp. These rules are not subject to debate, 
  and violation of any of these edicts has only one 
  penalty: death.
  The Creed is as follows:
  • 
  Uphold the moral standards of the Purity Corp at 
  all cost, even unto Death.
  • 
  Defend the Pure Lands from all invaders.
  • 
  Mercy is for the weak. A defeated foe deserves no 
  quarter and shall be given none.
  • 
  Expansion of the Pure Lands is vital to the 
  continued existence of the clan. All sightings 
  of non-Purist holdings shall be reported 
  immediately.
  • 
  Bloodlines are to be kept pure in order to achieve 
  racial and ethnic perfection. Inter-racial breeding 
  is in direct violation of Purist values.
  • 
  Those who do not bear the mark of Purity are 
  lesser creatures and shall be treated as such. 
  Conquered peoples who cannot or will not 
  embrace Purist ideology shall be treated as cattle.
  • 
  Purist women shall be treated with the measure 
  of respect that they deserve. Women, although 
  inferior to men, are vital to the continued 
  existence of the species and as such are our most 
  prized resource. They shall remain within the 
  protection of Purist holdings at all times.
  • 
  All men, regardless of ethnicity, are required to 
  serve in the Purist Liberation Army until death. 
  The only exception to this rule is a man who 
  holds a vital position in his parent community.
  • 
  Divisions in the Purist Liberation Army shall be 
  segregated to promote a greater sense of unity. 
  Each division shall be commanded by the most 
  capable leader of that particular ethnic persuasion.
  • 
  Individual ethnic communities shall be governed 
  by males of appropriate ethnic origin.
  Life in the Pure Lands
  Life in the Pure Lands is just as harsh as it is 
  anywhere else in the Northwest. The difference is 
  that Purists actually seem happy about their lot. 
  The average Purist knows his or her place in the 
  community, knows what needs to be done for the 
  overall success of the whole, and works towards that 
  goal. Purists have a definite agenda, a goal towards 
  which they strive—and that unity of purpose accounts 
  for their apparent satisfaction in the face of the brutal 
  realities of everyday life. Jeremiah Cole never lets his 
  followers forget their place in the world or the goal to 
  
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  Chapter 3: Denziens of the Northwest
  which he is leading them. In contrast, United Combine 
  leadership doesn’t inspire nearly the same level of 
  motivation, which could explain why their people are 
  both more ideologically diverse and less satisfied with 
  their lot in life. 
  Survival in the Pure Lands is not easy.  Many 
  radiated areas dot the stretch of land between the 
  Columbia River and the ruins of the Sea-Tac Bio-
  Dome Complex and must be carefully avoided. The 
  deadliest of these areas is Puget Sound, a region 
  more commonly known throughout the Northwest as 
  the “Land of the Dead Water.” In addition to natural 
  hazards, numerous species of mutated wildlife lurk 
  in the mountains and valleys of the Pure Lands and 
  frequently prey on the unwary, sometimes going so 
  far as to attack Purist outposts in large groups. Among 
  the most vicious such beasts are giant mutated, horned 
  baboons—presumably descendants of captive baboons 
  from ancient zoos or safari parks—which wander 
  the mountains and forests of the Pure Lands in large 
  groups. These savage creatures are fiercely territorial 
  and capable of great feats of strength. They have a 
  taste for man-flesh, and often attack caravans and even 
  fortified towns to feed on human beings.
  The Purity Corp maintains a strong hold on the 
  Pure Lands. Squads of Purist Enforcers regularly 
  patrol the roads and mountain passes that link towns 
  and outposts throughout the region. These Enforcers 
  also carry out scouting and recon missions in search 
  of undiscovered and unclaimed bunker complexes 
  within the boundaries of the Pure Lands. In addition, 
  Enforcer squads remain vigilant against incursions 
  into their territory; United Combine caravans and 
  couriers constantly try to sneak through the Pure 
  Lands to provide the Combine’s isolated north and 
  south settlements with the resources they need to 
  survive. However, the Purity Corp isn’t just concerned 
  with maintaining the boundaries of the Pure Lands—
  they’re constantly looking for opportunities to expand 
  their borders in all directions. The strongest resistance 
  to this campaign of expansion is found along the 
  northern, southern and eastern borders, where 
  established U.C. settlements (and nonaligned factions) 
  fight tooth and nail for every inch of territory and 
  resources they have. Non-Purist settlements on the 
  western borders of the Pure Lands are less common, 
  due to the large pockets of radiated land and toxic 
  pools in that region. 
  Even with the many obstacles they face, the Purity 
  Corp is slowly expanding to the east.  Rumors have 
  recently spread through non-Purist settlements that 
  the Purity Corp has unearthed a number of military 
  bunker complexes in the eastern lands, and has 
  managed to restore to working order much of the 
  fabled technology of the Ancient world.
  Purity Corp
  Background Options:  Visionary Reinventor.
  Attitude:  The people of the Purity Corp believe 
  that in the last days before the Fall, an abominable 
  mixing of races led to a pollution of the species that 
  only magnified man’s weaknesses.  They now attempt 
  to erase the genetic mistakes of Ancient-era man 
  through selective breeding and ethnic segregation, and 
  through the destruction of all mutants.
  Symbol:  The Purity Corp use a high-tech circle to 
  ring a Smokey figure with ten lines extending from the 
  center, ending in orbs which represent various “pure” 
  races and creeds.
  Common Classes:  Soldier, Survivalist, Tinker, 
  Mech, Mutant Hunter.
  Common Mutations:  Autism, Neural Mutation.
  Common Defects:  Bilirubin Imbalance, Sickle 
  Cells.
  The Purity Corp is a clan of hardliners that left the 
  United Combine many years ago to forge a new 
  society based on strength and terror. In the years 
  since the Fall, the descendants of Alexander Cole 
  have twisted his teachings into oppressive policies 
  that resemble the segregationist laws of the early-to-
  mid 20th-century United States. Citizens are taught 
  that ethnic purity and the preservation of racial 
  bloodlines are parts of the natural order on which 
  societal stability depends. Those caught engaging in 
  sexual acts with members of a different bloodline are 
  subjected to public flogging. The practice of corporal 
  punishment has been effective at maintaining order in 
  the Pure Lands; racial segregation is mandatory in all 
  Purist settlements.
  Males are required to serve in the Purist Liberation 
  Army for life. This policy isn’t open to debate; any 
  male who fails to wear the traditional uniform of the 
  Purist Liberation Army at all times is considered a 
  deserter, imprisoned, and publicly whipped. Uniforms 
  vary in style, depending on the army division in 
  which the Purist serves, but earth-tones and dark 
  colors predominate.  Everyone in the army receives 
  a standard set of equipment that includes flares, a 
  fire-starting kit, ready-meals, a backpack, canteen, 
  potassium iodide tablets, water purification tablets, 
  bedroll, blanket, change of clothing, two ready-
  syringes, a personal sidearm, and an assault rifle. 
  Officers receive the same gear, but are issued more 
  advanced (maser or laser) weaponry.
  The average technology level in Purist settlements 
  is higher than in any other faction in the Northwest 
  (with the possible exception of the People’s Army). 
  The Purists presently have upwards of ten partially-
  restored M-2 Jackson hover-tanks in active use, and 
  are rumored to be doing repair and restoration work 
  on another ten to fifteen such vehicles. The average 
  foot soldier carries assault weapons and explosives 
  into combat and is protected by advanced body armor. 
  A few assault troops even use powered armor suits, 
  and it’s rumored that Purist military engineers and 
  robotics technicians are hard at work on a new type of 
  piloted weapons platform.
  Allegiance to the Purity Corp carries the price of 
  being permanently branded with its insignia on the 
  left forearm. Accepting the tattoo is an act symbolic of 
  one’s devotion to the unity and ideals of the faction. 
  
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  Of course, these tattoos also tell the enemies of the 
  Corp precisely whom they are dealing with. Even if 
  one manages to leave the Purity Corp, the mark they 
  bear affects their dealings with others for the rest of 
  their lives.
  Severing one’s allegiance to the Purity Corp can 
  be dangerous. The Purists do more than just blacklist 
  these “traitors”—they hunt them down, bring them 
  back to Zog, and publicly execute them as a warning 
  to anyone else who might be considering striking off 
  on their own or shifting allegiance elsewhere.  The 
  Purist slogan “pure for life” means exactly that. In 
  some cases, entire towns have been burned to the 
  ground and the citizens forced into the Purity Corp 
  simply because they harbored individuals that tried to 
  leave the faction.  Despite the extreme measures taken 
  against those who desert the clan, people choose to 
  leave almost every day.
  Unfortunately for such deserters, even if they 
  do manage to escape the Corp’s vengeance, they 
  are not welcome in many settlements and towns 
  outside the Pure Lands. Self-governing communities 
  like Scappoose, Fort Boise, Bone City, and even 
  Beavertown occasionally accept Purist refugees, but 
  should anyone come looking for the deserters, the 
  people of these towns don’t hesitate to protect their 
  own interests—even if it means the refugees die.
  The Purity Corp considers mutants to be sub-human 
  beings fit only for slavery. Purist scientists have 
  examined dead mutants and have produced a (wildly 
  inaccurate) theory that mutant are humans who have 
  fallen victim to some new type of disease—possibly 
  as a result of fraternization with members of different 
  races. This wild hypothesis has molded attitudes 
  towards mutants in settlements all across the Pure 
  Lands. Those who show signs of mutation are stripped 
  of all property and possessions and are enslaved.
  As a rule of thumb, the general attitudes of Purists 
  towards other factions in the Northwest are as follows.
  United Combine: Most Purists see the U.C. as a 
  band of weaklings shackled to out-moded ideals. By 
  the laws of natural selection, the Combine deserves 
  to be conquered and made to serve the stronger Purist 
  cause. The only people who think differently are those 
  enslaved by the Purists, but such unfortunates have no 
  real voice in the faction.
  Note:  Characters who are slaves do not necessarily 
  hold to the beliefs and ideals of the people who are 
  hold them in bondage. Characters who begin play as 
  slaves should be allowed to choose from the standard 
  list of factional allegiances. On the other hand, just 
  because a character is a slave doesn’t necessarily 
  mean that he hates the people who enslaved him; the 
  character may have spent all of his life in bondage 
  and know no other life but that of a slave’s. Such 
  characters may have become so indoctrinated into 
  the Purist way of life that they feel a twisted sort of 
  kinship with the faction
  Hand of Jehovah:  Purists have a love/hate 
  relationship with the Hand of Jehovah. On one hand, 
  they respect the zealots for their courage in leaving the 
  United Combine and pursuing their own way of life. 
  But on the other hand, Purists consider the Hand of 
  Jehovah a bunch of “loonies” who take their religion 
  to an unhealthy extreme. If these fanatics would just 
  open their minds to the possibility, an alliance with 
  the Purity Corp would tip the balance of the War of 
  the Remnants. However, given the Hand of Jehovah’s 
  close-mindedness and the Purity Corp’s disdain, such 
  an alliance is unlikely to come about any time soon.
  People’s Army:  The Tillamook Traders are a 
  clan worthy of both respect and heavy scrutiny. In 
  the eyes of the Purists, these strange-looking people 
  are a potential threat that will eventually have to be 
  dealt with—especially now that they willingly supply 
  the U.C. via airships that cannot be intercepted. For 
  the time being, however, they provide the Corp with 
  supplies and equipment that would be otherwise 
  unavailable due to the Northwest’s current socio-
  political situation, and so the Purity Corp grudgingly 
  tolerates them.
  Chinook Indians (and other Indian groups): In 
  the eyes of the average Purist, these “backwards” 
  people are little better than mutants or horned 
  baboons. The Corp has recently begun dispatching 
  slave-hunting squads into the southern reaches of 
  Chinook territory (as well as into the forests of the 
  Allegiance Notes - Purity Corp 
  To sum up, choosing an allegiance with the Purity Corp comes with the following benefits and drawbacks:
  Access to Equipment:  All beginning male Purist characters acquire a Remington 700 hunting rifle 
  during character creation. In addition, a Purist character may requisition ammunition, weapons, and supplies 
  at any time (without having to barter for them) as long as he can prove that the requested equipment is vital 
  to his duties as a soldier in the Purist Liberation Army. Requisitioning equipment in this fashion must be 
  done by dealing with a Purist supply officer.
  Restricted Allegiance:  Selecting the Purity Corp as an allegiance is a choice that stays with the character 
  for the rest of his life, whether he likes it or not. Characters begin play with a tattoo on each forearm that 
  forever marks them as Purists, and which greatly affects their dealings with other people in the Northwest.  
  Characters who leave the Purity Corp for any reason are branded as traitors and can expect to be hunted 
  down and executed if captured.
  Extreme Mutant Intolerance:  Mutants characters that choose an alliance with the Purity Corp must 
  also take the Slave occupation, as well as a second allegiance to a faction or city outside the Purity Corp 
  during character creation.
  
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  reclusive Lelooska) with orders to round up as many 
  “tribals” as possible and bring them back to the slave 
  pens.
  Pale Riders:  The Purists have had only extremely 
  limited dealings with this band of mutant raiders. 
  Since few Purist forces have been able to cross the 
  Columbia, Fort Boise is the only place at which 
  contact with the Pale Riders has occurred.
  River Folk:  Hostile engagements with River 
  Runners along the Columbia River are a daily fact 
  of life. No Purist has any dealings with the River 
  Runners that don’t end in (or begin with) bloodshed.  
  Sentinels:  No member of the Purity Corp has ever 
  been officially allowed inside Crater City (although 
  some say that Purist spies have managed to infiltrate 
  the “great dome”).  Those caught trying to sneak in 
  are imprisoned and held indefinitely as prisoners of 
  war. Purists see the Sentinels as puppets of the United 
  Combine, and treat them accordingly.
  Fort Boise:  Jeremiah Cole has recently sent 
  delegates to initiate talks with the independent town 
  of Fort Boise, far to the east. He keeps his motives 
  ultra-secret, but there are rumors coming out of Battle 
  Ground of great trains, loaded with Purist weapons 
  and soldiers, spotted en route to the distant mutant-
  controlled city.
  Bone City:  Bone City is another sovereign 
  settlement that, if rumors from scouts and spies 
  are true, the Purists would like to see burned to the 
  ground. Unfortunately for the Corp, a campaign 
  against Bone City is out of the question—it lies on 
  the eastern edge of territory claimed by the Hand of 
  Jehovah. For the time being, Jeremiah is content to let 
  the city be, waiting to see what (if anything) Solomon 
  does about these “bone traders.”
  Beavertown:  Purists don’t know a lot about 
  Beavertown. It is rumored that the city is a haven for 
  Purist deserters, refugees, and others with no other 
  place to go in the Northwest, and so the Corp eyes 
  it with suspicion. Fortunately for the city, it lies just 
  south of the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome, and Jeremiah 
  is unwilling to risk the dangers of a trek through that 
  place just to hunt down defectors.
  Typical Purity Corp 
  Low-Level Purist Enforcer (Post Apocalyptic 
  Hero 1/Dedicated Hero 1):  CR 2; Medium-size 
  human; HD 1d8+1d6+2; hp 10; Mas 12; Init +2; Spd 
  30 ft.; Defense 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, 
  +2 class); BAB +0; Grap +1; Atk +1 melee (1d3+1, 
  nonlethal, unarmed) or +1 melee (1d6+1, rifle butt); 
  Full Atk +1 melee (1d3+1 nonlethal, unarmed), or 
  +3 ranged (2d10, Remington 700); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ Skill Emphasis* (knowledge, mutant 
  lore), Survival Sense; AL Purity Corp; SV Fort +3, 
  Ref +3, Will +3; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 15, Con 
  12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Military, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills:  Climb +3, Demolitions +1, Hide +3, 
  Knowledge (ancient lore) +2, Knowledge (mutant 
  lore) +7*, Knowledge (tactics) +2, Listen +4, Move 
  Silently +3, Navigate +1, Search +4, Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Spot +4, Survival +4, Treat Injury +4.
  Feats: Far Shot, Personal Firearms Proficiency, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency.
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Remington 700, 40 rounds of 
  7.62mm ammunition, fragmentation grenade, rad 
  tab, five ready meals, two light rods, two salt pills, 
  two potassium iodide tablets, various other gear and 
  personal possessions.
  Mid-Level Purist Enforcer (Post Apocalyptic Hero 
  1/Dedicated Hero 4/Soldier 1):  CR 6; Medium-size 
  human; HD 1d8+4d6+1d10+6; hp 30; Mas 12; Init +3; 
  Spd 30 ft.; Defense 21, touch 18, flat-footed 18 (+3 
  Dex, +5 class, +3 undercover vest); BAB +3; Grap 
  +4; Atk +4 melee (1d3+1, nonlethal, unarmed) or +4 
  melee (1d6+1, rifle butt); Full Atk +4 melee (1d3+1 
  nonlethal, unarmed), or +7 ranged (2d10, Remington 
  700); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Aware, Cool 
  Under Pressure (climb, demolitions, hide, move 
  silently, treat injury), Skill Emphasis* (knowledge, 
  mutant lore), Survival Sense; AL Purity Corp; SV Fort 
  +5, Ref +7, Will +4; AP 9; Rep +2; Str 13, Dex 16, 
  Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Military, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills:  Climb +3, Demolitions +3*, Disable Device 
  +2*, Hide +6, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (ancient 
  lore) +2, Knowledge (mutant lore) +8*, Knowledge 
  (tactics) +4, Listen +4, Move Silently +6, Navigate 
  +1, Search +4, Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +4, 
  Survival +8, Treat Injury +8.
  Feats: Armor Proficiency (light), Cautious*, 
  Far Shot, Lightning Reflexes, Personal Firearms 
  Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Simple Weapons Proficiency, Weapon 
  Focus (Remington 700).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Undercover vest, Remington 700, 
  40 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, fragmentation 
  grenade, rad tab, five ready meals, two light rods, two 
  salt pills, two potassium iodide tablets, various other 
  gear and personal possessions.
  High-Level Purist Enforcer (Post Apocalyptic Hero 
  1/Dedicated Hero 4/Soldier 5):  CR 10; Medium-size 
  human; HD 1d8+4d6+5d10+10; hp 51; Mas 12; Init 
  +3; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 26, touch 20, flat-footed 23 
  (+3 Dex, +7 class, +6 tactical vest); BAB +6; Grap 
  +8; Atk +8 melee (1d3+2, nonlethal, unarmed) or 
  +8 melee (1d6+2, rifle butt); Full Atk +8/+3 melee 
  (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed), or +10/+5 ranged (2d10/
  19-20, Remington 700); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; 
  SQ Aware, Cool Under Pressure (climb, demolitions, 
  hide, move silently, treat injury), Skill Emphasis* 
  (knowledge, mutant lore), Survival Sense, Tactical 
  Aid; AL Purity Corp; SV Fort +7, Ref +9, Will +5; AP 
  
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  Chapter 3: Denziens of the Northwest
  11; Rep +3; Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, 
  Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Military, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills:  Climb +4, Demolitions +5*, Disable Device 
  +2*, Drive +6, Hide +6, Intimidate +8, Knowledge 
  (ancient lore) +2, Knowledge (current events) +2, 
  Knowledge (mutant lore) +8*, Knowledge (tactics) 
  +10, Listen +4, Move Silently +6, Navigate +4, 
  Search +4, Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +4, 
  Survival +8, Treat Injury +8.
  Feats: Armor Proficiency (light), Armor Proficiency 
  (medium), Cautious*, Far Shot, Improved Critical 
  (Remington 700), Lightning Reflexes, Point Blank 
  Shot, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Simple Weapons Proficiency, Weapon 
  Focus (Remington 700), Weapon Specialization 
  (Remington 700).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Tactical vest, Remington 700, 40 
  rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, two fragmentation 
  grenades, smoke grenade, rad tab, five ready meals, 
  two light rods, two salt pills, two potassium iodide 
  tablets, holographic image projector, power cell, 
  various other gear and personal possessions.
  People of Note
  Jeremiah Cole
  Jeremiah Cole grew up inside the Eden bunker 
  complex listening to the elders tell stories about 
  life before the Fall. He grew into adolescence with 
  his own vision of what life would be like on the 
  outside, and dreamed of the day when people would 
  finally adopt the teachings of his great-great-great 
  grandfather, Alexander Cole. Jeremiah thought he 
  understood why things weren’t already like that inside 
  the bunker—in the bunker, survival was paramount, 
  and people had to live a certain way in order to 
  survive. The white people who ran the complex did 
  so because they had always done so; it was just how 
  things were. When they all went up to the surface, 
  things would change. Jeremiah had to believe that 
  they would.
  But things didn’t change—at least, not the way he 
  wanted them to. Not at first.
  By the time Eden was founded, Jeremiah had 
  seen seventeen cycles pass inside the bunker. When 
  everyone finally emerged into the wilds of the 
  Northwest, the young man already had two wives (of 
  suitable ethnic heritage) and a following of people 
  who had come to share his beliefs. They bided their 
  time for the first harvest season until a measure of 
  stability was achieved.
  But when he saw that the leaders of the faction 
  that had begun calling itself the “United Combine” 
  weren’t going to adopt his ancestor’s values, Jeremiah 
  called the Council of the Remnants and demanded that 
  Douglas Reinhart explain why the Purity Corp wasn’t 
  being given its proper respect. The council session 
  Jeremiah Cole. If there ever was a man worth killin’ he would be it. I’ve read data files about his ancestor, 
  Alexander Cole, and from what I can tell, the two men have very different ideologies. Jeremiah has 
  managed to take the fiery rhetoric of Alexander and twist it into a manifesto of racism and hate. From what 
  I understand, life in the Pure Lands isn’t much better than slavery, unless of course you happen to have the 
  same skin tone as the ruling faction: the Nubians.
  Jeremiah manages to keep his people in line by feeding their lust for blood. When his troops aren’t out 
  campaigning against a settlement or stirring up trouble with the River Folk, Jeremiah has them watching 
  ancient war movies or engaging in the blood sports of the Pits. The whole society seems to be fixated on 
  violence and racial supremacy.
  If the Purists manage to win this war, nobody is ever going to be safe again.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  Chapter 3: Denziens of the Northwest
  quickly degenerated into a shouting match. Promises 
  of vengeance were barked out as Jeremiah and the 
  enigmatic Solomon stormed out of the building. 
  Jeremiah led those loyal to him to the lush mountain 
  valleys where they hoped to establish a new and 
  prosperous order. They settled in the shadow of Mt. 
  St. Helens, effectively cutting the United Combine in 
  half, and founded Zog, the capital city of what soon 
  came to be known as the Pure Lands.
  Jeremiah Cole (Charismatic Hero 3/Demagogue 
  7):  CR 10; Medium-size human; HD 10d6+20; hp 
  55; Mas 14; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 13, touch 
  13, flat-footed 13 (+0 Dex, +3 class); BAB +4; Grap 
  +6; Atk +6 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed); Full 
  Atk +6 melee (1d3+2, nonlethal, unarmed), or +4 
  ranged (2d8, FA Casull); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; 
  SQ Captivate Masses, Conversion, Coordinate, Fast-
  Talk*, Followers, Inspiration, Greater Inspiration, 
  Lead Followers, Zealots; AL Purity Corp; SV Fort +8, 
  Ref +4, Will +8; AP 11; Rep +9; Str 15, Dex 10, Con 
  14, Int 13, Wis 10, Cha 12.
  Occupation and Background: Demagogue, 
  Visionary Reinventor.
  Skills:  Bluff +10*, Diplomacy +17*, Gamble +3*, 
  Gather Information +7, Intimidate +14, Knowledge 
  (civics) +7, Knowledge (current events) +9, 
  Knowledge (history) +9*, Knowledge (philosophy 
  and theology) +11*, Listen +5*, Sense Motive +13, 
  Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +5*.
  Feats: Alertness*, Educated (history, philosophy 
  and theology)*, Iron Will, Leadership, Personal 
  Firearms Proficiency, Post Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Renown, Simple Weapons Proficiency.
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: FA Casull, 15 rounds of .50AE 
  ammunition, magnetic shield B, power beltpack, 
  holographic image projector, power cell.
  The Hand of 
  Jehovah
  History
  Of all the societies of the Northwest, perhaps the most 
  ideologically radical is the Hand of Jehovah. This 
  extremely religious sect is dedicated to uniting the 
  peoples of the Northwest under the banner of God by 
  whatever means necessary. They follow the teachings 
  and guidance of a man known as “Solomon,” the 
  self-appointed leader of the Hand of Jehovah and 
  High Cleric of the Church of the Remnants. When 
  the group seceded from the United Combine and left 
  Eden, Solomon guided the sect southeast out of the 
  land once known as British Columbia and into the 
  Cascades of northeastern Washington. They settled in 
  a remote valley high in the mountains near a lake with 
  water clean enough to drink. It was there that Enoch 
  was founded.
  Over the years, the settlement of Enoch has grown 
  into a thriving township and the religious capital of 
  the Hand of Jehovah. New communities loyal to the 
  Hand of Jehovah have sprung up in the lands around 
  Enoch. Working together under Solomon’s direction, 
  these communities have extended the faction’s 
  dominance over much of eastern Washington.
  The Hand of Jehovah has grown increasingly 
  xenophobic in the long years since they broke from 
  the United Combine. The religion that inspired its 
  people to leave the United Combine is now an all-
  encompassing way of life—one that its followers 
  would like to see lived out in every town, village 
  and bunker complex in the known world. Hand of 
  Jehovah citizens live very simple lives, shunning 
  much of the technology of the Ancient world (with the 
  exception of ancient advanced weaponry, which, they 
  rationalize, helps to preserve their way of life).
  Solomon maintains a military force of warriors 
  called Templars and posts detachments to each town 
  under his control. The Templars keep the peace and 
  protect the citizens from outside threats. Commanded 
  by Solomon’s son Isaac, the Templars are fanatically 
  loyal to Solomon, whom they revere as a modern-day 
  prophet. Isaac himself is a strong leader who believes 
  that peace can only be maintained through force (or 
  the threat of it). To complement the Templars, Isaac 
  has created a smaller group of special operatives he 
  calls Inquisitors.
  Temples form the cornerstone of every hand of 
  Jehovah settlement, and it is in these structures 
  Jeremiah's Future
  Jeremiah Cole is personally obsessed with racial purity, but his tendency to favor his own race over all 
  others has caused many observers—including his own people—to wonder if the “respected leader” is at 
  heart just another racist.  Many ethnic groups among the Purists who once believed in his message of racial 
  segregation now believe that Cole has twisted the Purity Corp into a monstrous entity in which Nubians 
  rule—and all others serve.
  Cole senses the growing dissent and has become increasingly paranoid in response to it.  He will do 
  virtually anything to stay in power, and to keep control of the Purity Corp in the hands of his Nubian 
  people.  But even to his fellow Nubians, the writing on the wall is clear: Cole’s days are numbered.  Even 
  among his own family there is talk of deposing Jeremiah before the spreading discontent ignites an open 
  rebellion that the Nubian race might not survive.
  
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  Chapter 3: Denziens of the Northwest
  that Inquisitors are stationed. Their purpose is to 
  investigate any signs of blasphemous behavior and 
  deal with anyone found to be in violation of the 
  “laws of God.” Inquisitors are also responsible for 
  investigating bunker sightings and for sending out 
  missionaries to other communities throughout the 
  Northwest.
  Missionary Work
  The philosophy of conversion is taken very seriously 
  in the Hand of Jehovah, even to the point of 
  fanaticism. Solomon has taken it upon himself to 
  launch a religious crusade throughout the Northwest. 
  Companies of Templars and Crusaders travel the 
  region, mapping the locations of settlements they 
  find and bringing the word of God to whomever they 
  encounter. 
  Hand of Jehovah missionary expeditions deal with 
  each town they find in the same manner.  If, after 
  talking with its inhabitants, they are allowed to set up 
  a temple there, the missionaries begin construction 
  immediately and the settlement is brought under 
  the protection of the Hand of Jehovah. The town is 
  added to the supply network, agreements on church 
  donations are reached, people are recruited for 
  service as Templars or Crusaders, and life goes on.  
  If, however, a town’s inhabitants respond negatively 
  towards the missionaries’ overtures, the group leaves 
  and sends word to Solomon and Isaac that a hostile 
  community has been located. The final decision on 
  whether or not to launch a crusade against the town in 
  question is left up to Solomon.
  Towns targeted for forced conversion are attacked 
  relentlessly until they surrender and agree to join 
  the Hand of Jehovah, or until all its inhabitants 
  have been killed. In Solomon’s mind, there can be 
  no compromise; to him, this is nothing short of a 
  war between Good and Evil. Heathen settlements 
  either join the fold or stoke the fires of Hell—it’s 
  their choice. To date, missionaries have been sent 
  only to fringe communities in the Northwest; large 
  factions like the Purity Corp and United Combine are 
  left alone. Solomon knows that he doesn’t have the 
  military strength to challenge either faction… yet.
  Hand Of Jehovah
  Background Options:  Visionary Reinventor.
  Attitude:  The worship of God has all but been 
  extinguished on the Twisted Earth, and the savageries 
  spawned by the necessities of survival have turned 
  former friends into hateful enemies and blasphemers.  
  In the face of apostasy and wickedness, the Hand of 
  Jehovah perseveres untainted, ready to re-introduce 
  God’s message to a world cleansed by nuclear fire.
  Symbol:  The symbol of the Hand of Jehovah 
  is a stylized black cross, over which has been 
  superimposed the fiery hand of God.
  Common Classes:  Demagogue, Guardian, 
  Templar, Crusader, Mutant Hunter.
  Common Mutations:  Autism, Neural Mutation.
  Common Defects:  Bilirubin Imbalance, 
  Hemophilia.
  Life as a member of the Hand of Jehovah is rough. 
  The faction sees itself as God’s chosen, guided 
  through the aftermath of the Fall and held together 
  by divine providence in preparation for the day 
  they would emerge from the bunker complexes and 
  rebuild civilization in the way that God intended. 
  This ideology may seem strange to those who 
  aren’t members of the Hand of Jehovah, but for true 
  believers, it’s more than just an ideal—it’s an absolute 
  and undeniable reality.
  The cult shuns much of the advanced technology of 
  the Ancients, believing it the result of the great fallen 
  demon Scrag’s influence upon the masses during the 
  “End Times.”  The believers who comprise the Hand 
  of Jehovah are descended from numerous branches 
  of highly religious folk who balked at the bio-domes 
  and the “immoral” technology associated with them.  
  Their ancestors pursued holy lives before being forced 
  to enter the bio-domes (collectively referred to by 
  many of them as “The Great Babylon”) to survive; 
  later, at the height of mankind’s “madness,” they fled 
  from the domes into the bunker complexes of the 
  Northwest.
  The average civilian member of the Hand has 
  access to weapons no more advanced than a musket. 
  Any man not a member of these elite groups who 
  is caught using advanced technology is placed in a 
  stockade until the town’s head Inquisitor decides that 
  the offender has atoned for his sins. Women caught 
  using advanced technology are publicly beaten and 
  forced to wear a mark labeling them as a “Whore of 
  Ancient Babylon.”
  Many members of the Hand of Jehovah are 
  excellent carpenters and blacksmiths, and the faction 
  boasts a large number of especially adept farmers. 
  They can make almost anything grow in the land 
  around their settlements. The women are well versed 
  in natural remedies and make excellent nurses.
  Conversion is a very important part of life for 
  members of the Hand of Jehovah. Demagogues travel 
  from settlement to settlement preaching the word 
  of God and working to gain footholds in each new 
  community they find.  Most communities are given a 
  choice—either accept the religion and allow the Hand 
  of Jehovah to take a direct role in the affairs of the 
  town, or reject the faith and risk forced conversion. 
  Those who do accept the faith are brought into the 
  fold as brothers and sisters and treated as if they had 
  always been believers. Allegiance to the Hand of 
  Jehovah allows characters unrestricted access to all 
  towns allied with the sect.  Each member is given a 
  monthly ration of food and supplies, provided they are 
  working to serve the church. Those who don’t do their 
  part to support the church receive a sermon about the 
  fruits of labor and a reminder of the “Son of Man’s” 
  famous teaching that “you shall know them by their 
  works.”  Members are required to “donate” to the 
  local temple food, clothing, medicines and anything 
  
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  Chapter 3: Denziens of the Northwest
  else that can be put to use by the sect. In return, 
  they receive enough food and supplies to support 
  themselves and their families.
  Those who have been forcibly converted are 
  treated as wayward souls and are subjected to an 
  indefinite indoctrination period, during which time 
  they endure endless sermons about the evils of their 
  past way of life. These people are forced to work in 
  the town doing menial labor, and are given only plain 
  white sheets and sandals to wear, marking them as 
  “converts”. At the end of the indoctrination period, 
  converts are given a choice between baptism by blood 
  or by fire—without any explanation given. Those 
  who choose “blood” are taken to the nearest body of 
  water, baptized, and welcomed into the fold. Those 
  who choose “fire” are burned at the stake as agents of 
  Scrag.
  Hand of Jehovah members look at all other people 
  in the Northwest (with the exception of mutants) 
  equally.  People of all factions, whether they be the 
  United Combine, the Purity Corp, or the People’s 
  Army are given the same choice: convert, or be 
  converted. 
  As a rule of thumb, the general attitudes of the Hand 
  of Jehovah towards other factions in the Northwest are 
  as follows:
  United Combine:  At the Convention of the 
  Remnants, Solomon was ridiculed for his zealous 
  beliefs—but even more insulting, it seemed that the 
  United Combine simply didn’t care whether or not 
  Solomon and his fanatics left Eden. The memory of 
  the day has never left him. Enraged by the treatment 
  he received at the convention, Solomon pursues 
  a thinly-veiled policy of hate towards the United 
  Combine. Solomon has always seen the U.C. as a 
  misguided faction in dire need of the presence of 
  Jehovah in their lives, and over the years, this mindset 
  has come to define the Hand’s attitude towards the 
  Combine.
  The priesthood of the Hand of Jehovah does not 
  openly preach hatred of the United Combine; that 
  would run contrary to the many biblical passages 
  which promote love and peace. Instead, they paint the 
  U.C. as “wayward souls” who come dangerously close 
  to being agents of Scrag.
  Purity Corp:  As the Hand of Jehovah sees it, the 
  Purists aren’t much better than the United Combine. 
  Jeremiah Cole has made no secret of the fact that 
  he thinks Solomon and his followers are a bunch of 
  fanatics. This attitude has spread throughout the Pure 
  Lands, and makes any chance encounters between 
  members of the two factions extremely tense. Citizens 
  of Ephrata have the most contact with Purists hailing 
  from Cayuse Pass. Conflicts between the two towns 
  occasionally flare up, but in general the people of the 
  Purity Corp and the Hand of Jehovah leave each other 
  alone.
  People’s Army:  The Hand of Jehovah doesn’t 
  trust the strangers from old Oregon and their flying 
  machines. Solomon has refused the Tillamook 
  Traders’ requests to set up trading outposts in Hand of 
  Jehovah territory for fear that it is a ruse designed to 
  lull his hard-working people into a complacent state 
  of dependence on the People’s Army. Even worse, the 
  Tillamook Traders offer items for sale that Solomon 
  believes bear the taint of Scrag. Trading caravans 
  moving through Hand of Jehovah territory are always 
  monitored by Templar patrols.
  Chinook Indians (and other Indian groups):  The 
  average member of the Hand of Jehovah tends to view 
  the Chinook and other native tribes in the region as 
  backwards heathens who worship demons. Solomon, 
  in his arrogance, has recently placed the Chinook and 
  other tribes of the Northwest at the top of his list of 
  groups to convert. Demagogues have been sent out to 
  known tribal settlements to preach the word of God 
  to these “heathens;” the fact that none of them have 
  returned doesn’t bode well for the native tribes. If 
  Solomon comes to believe that these “heathens” have 
  killed his missionaries, he won’t hesitate to launch a 
  campaign of forced conversion.
  Pale Riders:  Solomon has recently sent select units 
  of the Red Brigade south across the Columbia River 
  into the Desiccated Wastes to verify the rumors of this 
  raider group. It is only a matter of time before the Red 
  Brigade comes across an outlying mutant settlement. 
  The initial meeting of the minions of Solomon and 
  mutantkind will likely be enough to spark a second 
  war in the Lost Paradise.
  River Folk: The Hand of Jehovah has limited 
  contact with River Folk.  Generally speaking, the two 
  factions tend to “live and let live,” although Solomon 
  would like to eventually see the River Folk (and their 
  watercraft) brought into the fold. However, they are 
  low on his list at the moment. River Folk tend to keep 
  the Hand of Jehovah at arm’s length, but will provide 
  passage to zealots who promise to keep their beliefs to 
  themselves.
  Sentinels: Solomon has been considering sending 
  spies to the home of the Sentinels to gain more 
  information about the famed dome city of the 
  Ancients. The problem with such a plan is that the 
  journey is long and runs deep into U.C. territory. For 
  the time being, the capital of the Sentinels will have to 
  remain something of an enigma. As for the faction, the 
  Hand of Jehovah sees them as puppets of the United 
  Combine. Despite official disdain for the Sentinels, 
  many members of the Hand of Jehovah secretly 
  admire the faction for its proven dedication to helping 
  those in need of aid.
  Fort Boise:  Fort Boise will have to be dealt 
  with eventually, but Solomon’s army isn’t yet large 
  enough for the task. For the time being, Demagogues 
  keep watch on the city and report any noteworthy 
  developments to Solomon. All other contact with the 
  city is off-limits; Solomon has proclaimed that any 
  member of the sect found to have dealings with Fort 
  Boise will face the full wrath of the Inquisition before 
  being burned as an agent of Scrag.
  Bone City:  As Solomon sees it, Bone City is 
  the antithesis of everything for which the Hand of 
  Jehovah stands. Plans are already underway for a 
  conversion of Bone City, although Solomon is less 
  
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  Chapter 3: Denziens of the Northwest
  interested in converting the city than he is in cleansing 
  the earth of its evil presence. No contact whatsoever 
  is allowed with this city—not that any true member of 
  the Church of the Remnants would even consider it.  
  Beavertown:  Not much is known about this 
  settlement, but as far as the Hand of Jehovah is 
  concerned, Beavertown (if the rumors are true) is just 
  one more town on a growing list of settlements that 
  need to be purified in the name of Jehovah.
  Typical Hand of Jehovah 
  Low-Level Hand of Jehovah Guardian (Post 
  Apocalyptic Hero 1/Dedicated Hero 1):  CR 2; 
  Medium-size human; HD 1d8+1d6+2; hp 10; Mas 
  12; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 14, touch 14, flat-
  footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 class); BAB +0; Grap -1; Atk 
  -1 melee (1d3-1, nonlethal, unarmed) or -1 melee 
  (1d6-1, rifle butt); Full Atk -1 melee (1d3-1 nonlethal, 
  unarmed), or +2 ranged (2d4, AR-7 Explorer); FS 5 
  ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Conserve, Skill Emphasis* 
  (knowledge, religion); AL Hand of Jehovah; SV Fort 
  +3, Ref +3, Will +5; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 8, Dex 15, Con 
  12, Int 10, Wis 14, Cha 13.
  Occupation and Background: Herdsman, 
  Visionary Reinventor.
  Skills:  Knowledge (ancient lore) +1, Knowledge 
  (religion) +7*, Listen +4, Profession (any) +6, 
  Navigate +1, Ride +6, Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Spot +4, Survival +4.
  Feats: Iron Will, Personal Firearms Proficiency, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency.
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: AR-7 Explorer, 32 rounds of .22 
  ammunition, light rod, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  Mid-Level Hand of Jehovah Guardian (Post 
  Apocalyptic Hero 1/Dedicated Hero 4/Guardian 1):  
  CR 6; Medium-size human; HD 1d8+4d6+1d10+6; 
  hp 30; Mas 12; Init +3; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 18, touch 
  18, flat-footed 15 (+3 Dex, +5 class); BAB +4; Grap 
  +3; Atk +3 melee (1d3-1, nonlethal, unarmed) or +3 
  melee (1d6-1, rifle butt); Full Atk +3 melee (1d3-
  1 nonlethal, unarmed), or +7 ranged (2d4, AR-7 
  Explorer); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Conserve, 
  Defender +2, Faith, Skill Emphasis* (knowledge, 
  religion); AL Hand of Jehovah; SV Fort +5, Ref +6, 
  Will +6; AP 9; Rep +2; Str 8, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, 
  Wis 14, Cha 13.
  Occupation and Background: Herdsman, 
  Visionary Reinventor.
  Skills:  Intimidate +4, Knowledge (ancient lore) +1, 
  Knowledge (religion) +7*, Knowledge (tactics) +3, 
  Listen +9*, Profession (any) +6, Navigate +1, Ride 
  +6, Sense Motive +8, Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Spot +9*, Survival +4.
  Feats: Alertness*, Dead Aim, Far Shot, Iron Will, 
  Personal Firearms Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency.
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: AR-7 Explorer, 32 rounds of .22 
  ammunition, light rod, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  High-Level Hand of Jehovah Guardian (Post 
  Apocalyptic Hero 1/Dedicated Hero 4/Guardian 5):  
  CR 10; Medium-size human; HD 1d8+4d6+5d10+10; 
  hp 56; Mas 12; Init +3; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 22, touch 
  20, flat-footed 19 (+3 Dex, +7 class, +2 leather 
  armor); BAB +8; Grap +7; Atk +7 melee (1d3-1, 
  nonlethal, unarmed) or +7 melee (1d6-1, rifle butt); 
  Full Atk +7 melee (1d3-1 nonlethal, unarmed), or 
  +12/+7 ranged (2d10, Remington 700); FS 5 ft. by 
  5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Conserve, Defender +2, Faith, 
  Skill Emphasis* (knowledge, religion), Tactical Aid; 
  AL Hand of Jehovah; SV Fort +7, Ref +8, Will +7; 
  AP 11; Rep +3; Str 8, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 14, 
  Cha 14.
  Occupation and Background: Herdsman, 
  Visionary Reinventor.
  Skills:  Intimidate +8, Knowledge (ancient lore) +1, 
  Knowledge (religion) +7*, Knowledge (tactics) +6, 
  Listen +11*, Profession (any) +6, Navigate +1, Ride 
  +6, Sense Motive +10, Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Spot +11*, Survival +4.
  Feats: Alertness*, Armor Proficiency (light), 
  Dead Aim, Far Shot, Iron Will, Personal Firearms 
  Allegiance Notes - Hand of Jehovah 
  To sum up, choosing an allegiance with the Hand of Jehovah comes with the following benefits and 
  drawbacks:
  Restricted Allegiance:  Pledging allegiance to the Hand of Jehovah is more than just a political 
  statement—it’s a commitment to a centuries-old ideology and way of life . Characters who change 
  allegiances are considered to have sold their souls to “Scrag” and are worse than even mutants in the eyes of 
  the Hand of Jehovah. Such defectors risk being crucified or burned alive at the hands of the Red Brigade if 
  captured.
  Limited Access to Technology:  Characters who choose this allegiance are limited in the equipment 
  and weapons they can purchase. Starting characters may take only primitive weapons (most simple melee 
  weapons, and no ranged weapons more advanced than a black powder rifle), and are limited to certain types 
  of armor. Junk armor is allowed, but advanced armor such as kevlar, energy field generators, and powered 
  armor is prohibited by the character’s belief system.
  
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  Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Quick Reload, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency, Weapon Focus (Remington 700), Weapon 
  Specialization (Remington 700).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Leather armor, Remington 700, 40 
  rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, light rod, various 
  other gear and personal possessions.
  People of Note
  Solomon
  The leader of the Hand of Jehovah is widely thought 
  to be the least sane human being in the Northwest. 
  It wouldn’t be so bad if he were just religious. After 
  all, most people in the Northwest have faith in some 
  sort of entity; faith in something, anything, is part of 
  what gets people through hard times (and there are 
  a lot of hard times these days). But Solomon isn’t 
  just religious; he’s a fanatic, and even worse, people 
  believe the things he says.
  Solomon has managed to carve out a small kingdom 
  in the northeastern reaches of the Lost Paradise, a 
  kingdom built on the blood and misery of those who 
  refused to convert and fell victim to his crusades. 
  Solomon believes that what he does is right and 
  good for all people of faith. The sad irony is that he 
  has managed to twist a virtuous belief system into 
  something that any sane person would consider evil.
  Many people have perished under Solomon’s rule, 
  and if his leadership and religious zeal continue, many 
  more will follow in their footsteps.
  Solomon (Post-Apocalyptic Hero 3/ Demagogue 
  10/Templar of Jehovah 7):  CR 20; Medium-size 
  human; HD 10d8+10d6+20; hp 100; Mas 19; Init +0; 
  Spd 20 ft.; Defense 26, touch 18, flat-footed 26 (+8 
  class, +8 plate mail); BAB +12; Grap +12; Atk +13 
  melee (1d8+1, longsword); Full Atk +13/+8/+3 melee 
  (1d8+1, longsword); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; 
  SQ Blessing, Captivate Masses, Commanding Tone, 
  Conversion, Craft Holy Weapon, Followers, Frightful 
  Presence, Historian*, Improved Zealots, Lead 
  Followers, Mass Conversion, Smite Infidel, Survival 
  Sense, Zealots; AL Hand of Jehovah; SV Fort +12, 
  Ref +7, Will +17; AP 16; Rep +11; Str 10, Dex 10, 
  Con 13, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 18.
  Occupation and Background: Cleric, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills:  Bluff +14, Diplomacy +12, Gamble +6*, 
  Gather Information +10, Intimidate +20*, Knowledge 
  (ancient lore) +4*, Knowledge (current events) +13, 
  Knowledge (theology and philosophy) +25, Listen 
  +6, Perform (oration) +28, Read/Write (Ancient), 
  Research +11, Sense Motive +14, Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Spot +6.
  Feats:  Archaic Weapons Proficiency, 
  Armor Proficiency (light), Armor Proficiency 
  (medium), Armor Proficiency (heavy), 
  Confident*, Improved Damage Threshold 
  (x2), Iron Will, Leadership, Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Renown, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency, Super Charismatic.
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions:  Plate mail, “holy” long 
  sword (+1), holographic image projector, 
  power cell.
  Abel
  Abel was once a high-ranking Templar in Solomon’s 
  army. He held a command position in Moses Lake, 
  and at one point was poised to become an Inquisitor—
  but that all changed when he met one of Solomon’s 
  wives.
  Karen was in Moses Lake with a contingent 
  of Templars to collect monthly donations from 
  surrounding settlements and to take them back to 
  Enoch for redistribution. Problems cropped up with 
  a few of the expedition’s wagons and their departure 
  Solomon. This guy is just crazy. Nuff’ said.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  was delayed for two days. Abel invited Karen to stay 
  at his home until the wagons could be repaired, and 
  Karen accepted. During that short period of time, the 
  two became quite close, and while they didn’t initially 
  become romantic, a seed was planted in their hearts 
  that would eventually erupt in scandal.
  Over the next harvest season, Karen traveled as 
  often as possible to Moses Lake under the pretense 
  of collecting more donations. Each time, she and 
  Abel spent hours behind the closed doors of his 
  home. Nobody really knew for sure if the two 
  ever committed adultery, but there was enough 
  circumstantial evidence to give those jealous of Abel’s 
  success the ethical ammunition they needed to bring 
  an inquisition down on his head.
  Solomon himself made the trip to Moses Lake to 
  preside over the trial of Karen and Abel. He listened 
  with thinly-veiled rage as each of Abel’s detractors 
  gave his account of what they had seen transpire 
  between the two, and while there was no real proof 
  of any wrong-doing, Solomon’s mind was clouded 
  with jealousy and spite. He convicted both of them of 
  adultery in the eyes of God.
  Abel had expected this; most people who were 
  charged of adultery were convicted. What he didn’t 
  expect was the severity of the punishment they would 
  both receive.
  Solomon ordered Karen burned at the stake for her 
  crime, declaring that her betrayal of Solomon was 
  a betrayal of the entire community. For betraying 
  the trust and failing to set an example as one of 
  Solomon’s wives, she would pay the ultimate price.
  As for Abel, Solomon condemned him as a traitor 
  and forced him to light the fires that would consume 
  the woman he loved. He went on to strip the man 
  of all rank and possessions, save for a weapon and 
  enough supplies to last three days in the wilderness. 
  After Karen’s execution, Solomon banished Abel 
  from all Hand of Jehovah lands, branding him with an 
  upside-down cross on his left cheek.
  Abel took banishment hard. Serving the Hand of 
  Jehovah had been the only way of life he had ever 
  known. Everyone and everything that Abel had 
  assumed would always be there had suddenly been 
  taken from him. As the cruelty of that fact sank in, 
  Abel began to despair. He lost count of the days he 
  spent wandering alone in the wastes. The pain of 
  his branding faded, but the nearly unbearable shame 
  remained. Each time he tried to gain entry into a 
  Hand of Jehovah settlement, he was turned away at 
  gunpoint.
  One day Abel climbed to the top of a hill and called 
  out to God, praying for some respite from the harsh 
  reality of his fate. The only response he received was 
  the howl of the wind mingled with the rumblings in 
  his stomach. Abel cried out in anger and shook his fist 
  at the sky… but as he turned away, he caught sight 
  of a line of smoke rising above the trees off to his 
  left.  He scrambled toward it, but didn’t get far. The 
  arduous climb to the mountaintop had taken its toll on 
  his weak and starving body.  Abel collapsed just as he 
  came into sight of an ancient log cabin.
  The people who lived in the cabin nursed the 
  severely malnourished man back to health. As he 
  recovered, he taught them about the Hand of Jehovah 
  and the ancient God that his people revered. By the 
  time he was ready to leave, Abel understood that, 
  although he could never return to Moses Lake, Enoch, 
  or any other Hand of Jehovah settlement, he could still 
  hold fast to the tenets of the faith. More importantly, 
  Abel could do the work of God by bringing His 
  message to the people of the wasteland.
  People tell stories about a man who wanders the wilds of the Northwest, preaching to settlers about an 
  Ancient god. They say he’s an older man, powerfully built with a clean-shaven head, a long white goatee, 
  and the image of an upside-down cross branded on his right cheek. He wears a tattered black robe over a 
  bloodstained white cloak, and carries a variety of weapons which he uses to rain devastation down on the 
  heads of those he perceives as “evil.” If you are a mutant, they say, get as far away from him as possible—
  rumor has it that he tends to crucify their kind and burn ‘em alive.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  Abel (Post Apocalyptic Hero 3/Templar of Jehovah 
  10/Crusader of Jehovah 4):  CR 17; Medium-size 
  human; HD 13d8+4d10+34; hp 115; Mas 15; Init 
  +1; Spd 20 ft.; Defense 28, touch 20, flat-footed 27 
  (+1 Dex, +9 class, +8 plate mail); BAB +13; Grap 
  +15; Atk +17 melee (1d8+2, long sword), or +15 
  ranged (2d10, Winchester 94); Full Atk +17/+12/+7 
  melee (1d8+2, long sword), or +15/+10/+5 ranged 
  (2d10, Winchester 94); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 
  ft.; SQ Abstinence, Awesome Presence, Blessing, 
  Commanding Tone, Conserve, Craft Holy Weapon 
  (+2), Frightful Presence (+2), Hand of God, Smite 
  Infidel, Survival Sense, Waste Walker*; AL Hand of 
  Jehovah; SV Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +14; AP 14; Rep 
  +7; Str 15, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 12.
  Occupation and Background: Cleric, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills:  Concentration +12, Gather Information +12, 
  Intimidate +21, Knowledge (theology and philosophy) 
  +18*, Listen +5, Navigate +8*, Read/Write (Ancient), 
  Search +5, Sense Motive +8, Speak Language 
  (Ancient), Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +5, 
  Survival +11*.
  Feats:  Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Armor 
  Proficiency (light), Armor Proficiency (medium), 
  Armor Proficiency (heavy), Cleave, Double Tap, 
  Educated (theology and philosophy)*, Iron Will, 
  Leadership, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Point 
  Blank Shot, Post Apocalyptic Technology, Power 
  Attack, Simple Weapons Proficiency.
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Winchester 94, 60 rounds of .444 
  ammunition, “holy” longsword (+2), plate mail, 
  spyglass, flashlight, power cell, survival kit, horse and 
  trappings.
  Tillamook 
  Trading 
  Caravans
  History
  In the aftermath of the failed siege of the Lewis 
  and Clark Bio-Dome, the battered remnants of the 
  Communist Union of Asia invasion force retreated 
  into the southern coastal mountain ranges of Oregon, 
  there to lick their wounds and form some kind of plan 
  for the future.  Army leaders had received intermittent, 
  garbled transmissions from regional command 
  regarding tactical nuke strikes against the armies and 
  cities of America, but the scrambled communications 
  said nothing about where these strikes were 
  happening, or about how hard the United States was 
  being hit.
  Most unit commanders decided to wait for more 
  information before undertaking any new offensives. 
  In the meantime, the remnants of the invasion force 
  began construction of a series of bunker complexes 
  modeled on those they had encountered during the 
  war. These complexes would serve as fallout shelters 
  and as base camps from which future offensives could 
  be mounted (and to which future withdrawals could 
  retreat).
  Days became weeks, and weeks stretched into 
  months, with still no word from Union high command. 
  Army leaders sent platoons out on recon missions to 
  determine the fate of the world. Many of those scouts 
  never returned; the ones who did bore scars from 
  battles with the mutant shock troops that still roamed 
  the wilds. They told horror stories of monstrous 
  machines that prowled the wild lands, destroying any 
  humans they found. Other scouts returned sick from 
  exposure to radiation and bio-chemical agents. The 
  war was over, they said. There was no use in fighting 
  anymore. There was nobody left to fight. 
  The end of the world had come, they said.
  This sobering reality began to set in among those 
  who were left. A large number abandoned their posts, 
  determined to somehow escape back across the 
  Pacific to die with their families. Others, lacking any 
  real hope (or realizing that a return journey across 
  the Pacific was unlikely), simply walked off into the 
  woods and committed suicide.  Commanders had no 
  accurate information on the number of Union troops 
  who remained in the Northwest and Canada, but, after 
  the desertions and deaths, they estimated that some 
  five thousand loyal Union soldiers still survived, most 
  of them taking refuge in hastily-constructed fallout 
  shelters.
  Contact was established with the beachhead at 
  Astoria, where a large portion of those five thousand 
  souls still guarded the vast supplies of food, weapons, 
  and armor that hadn’t been sent to the frontlines 
  before the End finally came. With the supply lines 
  open, the surviving Union troops moved much of the 
  material back to the bunkers in preparation for their 
  new life. Nobody had any idea how long it would 
  be before they would be able to return to the surface 
  world, and they weren’t taking any chances. Anything 
  that could be moved into the bunkers was; anything 
  that couldn’t be fit into the bunkers stayed in the 
  Mao Chu’n bunker complex (named for the Chinese 
  general who led the assault on Astoria), on massive 
  cargo ships, or in newly-constructed storage facilities. 
  Nothing was wasted.
  While their original stock was divided equally 
  among Russian, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, 
  Filipino, and Japanese ethnicities, as the dark 
  years crawled on, children of mixed lineage were 
  born inside the shelters. Male and female soldiers 
  rejected official military policies prohibiting gender 
  fraternization and married. They taught their offspring 
  everything they knew about survival in the Twisted 
  Earth; taught them hunting, shooting, and every 
  
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  other survival skill they knew. Eventually the first 
  generation of Union survivors died, leaving their 
  offspring to develop a new social order in the bunkers. 
  Many years passed. Slowly, the descendants of the 
  invasion forces began to emerge from the bunkers 
  and build surface communities.  The largest of these 
  settlements was built in the ruins of Tillamook.
  In the distant past, Tillamook had been home to an 
  aviation museum. Relics of the aircraft and aviation 
  blimps used in the Second World War were found 
  still sitting inside aircraft hangars in near-pristine 
  condition.  Some of the People’s Army, as they had 
  begun to call themselves, developed a passion for 
  these historic aircraft and learned how to fly them. 
  In time, the People’s Army modified the aviation 
  balloons with larger baskets capable of holding 
  massive amounts of cargo.  They used these blimps 
  to travel up the coastline to the Mao Chu’n bunker 
  complex, where fellow remnants had guarded the vast 
  stocks of precious supplies throughout the dark years. 
  The supplies, originally intended to feed and equip 
  an entire army, were far more than the People’s Army 
  needed for survival. Countless years of frugal living 
  meant that the People’s Army now had a wealth of 
  supplies.  Practical thinkers, they realized their surplus 
  could be traded with other pockets of civilization in 
  exchange for things that might prove useful to their 
  own communities in the Coast Ranges.
  The Tillamook trading operation started out 
  small—just a few well-guarded traders moving east 
  across the Coast Ranges to known settlements such 
  as Hope. At first, the Tillamook Traders weren’t well 
  received; people in the remote towns of the Northwest 
  were just getting on their feet. It was more common to 
  see attackers at their gates than people offering goods 
  for honest trade. The language barrier also proved an 
  obstacle, as the People’s Army still spoke the Asian 
  dialect of their Union ancestors.
  The traders were patient, however, and with time 
  (and a bit of luck) the language barrier was overcome 
  to the point where the traders could communicate 
  with the rest of the Northwest. A few people of Asian 
  descent were found in the Northwest villages, people 
  who remembered the old language and who could act 
  as translators. These people soon took on diplomatic 
  roles and traveled with People’s Army caravans as 
  they moved from town to town.  Over the years, more 
  people learned the language of the People’s Army, and 
  the trading routes grew until the Tillamook Trading 
  Caravans became a widely-trusted faction across the 
  Northwest.
  Trade and “The Way”
  Today, the caravans of the Tillamook Traders travel 
  to almost every part of the Northwest, maintaining 
  a strict policy of neutrality in the often-tumultuous 
  affairs of the various cultures they encounter. All 
  who wish to conduct honest business are welcome in 
  their trade outposts. Relatively open societies like the 
  United Combine allow the traders to set up permanent 
  shops inside towns under their control. When denied 
  access to a particular region (such as to Hand of 
  Jehovah territory), the traders open outposts outside 
  the area but within range of any community members 
  who wish to trade. 
  As honest and dependable as they are, the 
  Tillamook Trading Caravans have been known to 
  artificially raise the prices of certain goods, especially 
  the essential ones, when the potential for profit is high. 
  In many cases people don’t have time to wait for other 
  traders to come and offer better deals, so they pay 
  through the teeth for supplies and equipment that they 
  cannot do without.
  The People’s Army has prospered greatly through 
  their trade operations in the Northwest. The Tillamook 
  Trading Caravans bring in all manner of goods from 
  distant regions, which are in turn distributed equally 
  among members of the clan. Citizens of the People’s 
  Army still live as true communists, sharing every 
  scrap of resources with each other for the benefit 
  of all. They don’t refer to their social dynamic as 
  “communism,” however; they simply call it “The 
  Way.”
  The Way is a curious amalgamation of communism 
  and Zen upheld by all members of the People’s Army. 
  It’s no elaborate manifesto; it’s just a pledge to serve 
  and protect the whole of the community and to share 
  resources so that all may prosper. The People’s Army 
  models all communal life and business around these 
  principles, and as a result the people have flourished. 
  This isn’t to say that the People’s Army is without 
  its share of trials and tribulations; the success of the 
  Tillamook Trading Caravans has made a great many 
  people jealous, and there is no shortage of people and 
  factions who would love to seize control of People’s 
  Army caravans and supply centers.
  The People’s Army control of the skies is also 
  a source of great concern to factions who view 
  incursions into the air space above their lands as a 
  potential threat. Such fears are not without some 
  merit.
  While the ties of kinship within the People’s Army 
  are strong, they do not extend beyond the boundaries 
  of their towns and trading outposts. Outsiders are 
  treated with courtesy, but are never, ever trusted. The 
  People’s Army hasn’t forgotten its ancestry; they 
  know how they came to be in this land and what their 
  purpose was. Some say that they even know how long 
  it has been since the fall, but that is just a rumor.
  What isn’t a rumor, however, is the military strength 
  of the People’s Army. The caravans of the Tillamook 
  Traders are among the most heavily guarded on the 
  Twisted Earth. Long columns of soldiers and heavy 
  artillery escort each caravan from Tillamook to its 
  destination and back again.  Their trade outposts are 
  nothing short of full-scale military strongholds, filled 
  with enough supplies, weapons, and ammunition 
  to last through a six-month siege. If the People’s 
  Army were to begin a campaign of conquest in the 
  Northwest, many of the clans and independent peoples 
  of the region would find themselves in for a hard fight.
  
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  People's Army 
  (A.K.A. “Tillamook Traders”)
  Background Options:  Visionary Reinventor, 
  Resurrector, Guardian.
  Attitude:  The Tillamook Traders view themselves 
  as “strangers in a strange land,” closer in spirit to their 
  Asian ancestors than to the people of the Northwest.  
  They are reclusive, but use their considerable assets to 
  trade, in turn bringing in wealth and outside resources 
  that keep the community alive.  While they believe 
  in profiting from outsiders, all gains made from this 
  trade are shared equally within Tillamook lands 
  in accordance with customs passed down by their 
  communist ancestors.
  Symbol:  The Tillamook still use the pre-Fall 
  symbol of the Communist Union of Asia, a red 
  flag with six gold stars (representing the nations 
  of China, Russia, Vietnam, unified Korea, and the 
  communist revolutionary governments of Japan and 
  the Philippines).
  Common Classes:  Guardian, Trader, Trade Master, 
  Tinker, Mech, Kamikaze.
  Common Mutations:  Accumulated Resistance, 
  Independent Cerebral Control.
  Common Defects:  Adrenaline Deficiency, 
  Immune-System Abnormality.
  The People’s Army, also known as the Tillamook 
  Traders by the people of the Northwest, is the 
  most organized group in the region. The faction is 
  composed entirely of descendants of the Communist 
  Union of Asia forces that invaded the United States 
  during the Final War.
  Today the People’s Army isn’t merely a society 
  of traders, despite what other factions of the 
  Northwest think. The philosophy of The Way has 
  been completely incorporated into the People’s Army 
  government, forming a social structure in which all 
  people are equally deserving of basic necessities. 
  To the average People’s Army citizen it is 
  unfathomable that any member of the faction should 
  have to starve or go without supplies and medicine 
  if there is enough to go around. People serve each 
  other, and in so doing, serve themselves. Everyone 
  has a purpose in the clan and is expected to perform 
  their daily duties, whether it is washing clothes, 
  cooking food, preparing the caravans for departure, or 
  guarding the walls of each city and outpost. Everyone 
  works, and everyone prospers.
  The People’s Army doesn’t allow kaingiin 
  (“outsiders”) to join the clan under any circumstances. 
  Outsiders may sometimes travel with caravans, and 
  on occasion are even hired to translate or perform 
  other services, but none of these opportunities should 
  be construed as any kind of invitation to join the 
  People’s Army. Only those of original Union lineage 
  are considered true members. More accurately, only 
  those who were born in a People’s Army settlement 
  are allowed membership in the faction.
  Citizens who serve the People’s Army as soldiers 
  are given free access to whatever weapons and 
  supplies happen to be in stock. There is no real 
  discrimination with regards to who gets what, 
  although it is commonly understood that commanders 
  receive first pick because they hold positions of 
  special responsibility in the clan.
  Just as they do not discriminate within their society, 
  the People’s Army does not discriminate outside the 
  clan. Everyone, including mutants, is treated equally 
  and fairly with no exceptions. Business is, after all, 
  business.
  In general, the attitudes of the People’s Army 
  towards other factions in the Northwest are as follows:
  United Combine:  The People’s Army has a long-
  standing trade relationship with the people of the 
  United Combine. But like any alliance, this one isn’t 
  without its rocky moments. The People’s Army has 
  recently been pressured to take a more active role 
  in the War of the Remnants, a move that General 
  Cho is at present unwilling to make. This stance has 
  fueled growing rumors throughout U.C. lands that the 
  People’s Army are just profiteers who care nothing 
  about the bloodshed so long as they can make a return 
  on the goods they barter. Others go so far as to claim 
  that the People’s Army is simply waiting for the 
  Purity Corp and United Combine to kill each other 
  off before launching a military campaign of its own in 
  the Northwest. Whether or not any of this speculation 
  is true remains to be seen. For the time being, the 
  People’s Army deals with the United Combine as it 
  always has, and keeps its motives to itself.
  Purity Corp: The People’s Army and the Purity 
  Corp have an understanding: the Tillamook Traders 
  provide hard-to-find gear and supplies in exchange 
  for advanced weapons and equipment otherwise 
  unavailable outside the Pure Lands. Beyond that 
  mutually beneficial arrangement, however, the Purists 
  and People’s Army have no reason to even talk to each 
  other. The Purists have issues with the inter-racial 
  marriages and breeding that seem to be the norm in 
  the People’s Army, while the latter group sees the 
  Purists as racists who should mind their own business.
  River Folk:  With the exception of the Harris clan 
  in Corvallis, the People’s Army and the River Folk 
  get along fairly well. There is a docking station on the 
  Oregon side of Bonneville Falls where People’s Army 
  airships tie off and unload their supplies. The people 
  of Bonneville Falls view the airships of the Tillamook 
  Traders as a welcome site in dark times.
  Chinook Indians (and other Indian groups):  
  The Tillamook Traders have met only limited success 
  when dealing with the tribes of the Northwest due 
  to the extremely reclusive nature of the Indians. To 
  trade with the native tribes, the Tillamook Traders 
  must generally work through a “middle man” who is 
  more often than not a Mountain Walker trusted by the 
  natives. 
  Pale Riders:  The Desiccated Wastes are a cause 
  for grave concern for the People’s Army. Recently, 
  all contact with trading expeditions into Zorthag’s 
  territory has been lost, leaving the Tillamook 
  trademasters to wonder if the Pale Riders are behind 
  
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  these disappearances. One of their mighty airships 
  (and the precious cargo it carried) sent into the 
  Desiccated Wastes has not returned to the People’s 
  Army airfield in Tillamook—a substantial loss to the 
  Tillamook Trading Caravans.
  Members of the People’s Army have no peaceful 
  dealings with the Pale Riders due to the latter’s 
  propensity to enslave pureblood humans.
  Hand of Jehovah:  The People’s Army and the 
  Hand of Jehovah have no formal ties with each other, 
  although some members of the cult secretly seek out 
  the Tillamook Traders to procure goods not otherwise 
  available (or even allowed) in Hand of Jehovah 
  territory.
  Crater City:  Crater City and the Sentinels who 
  protect it have a solid trade relationship with the 
  People’s Army. The Sentinels may not agree with the 
  neutral stance the traders take in regional affairs, but 
  they can respect the decision to remain uninvolved.
  Just like everyone else, members of the People’s 
  Army are not allowed inside the domed city. Traders 
  have, however, been allowed to set up trading outposts 
  inside the main bubble-dome at the base of Crater 
  City.
  Fort Boise:  At present, Fort Boise is too distant 
  for People’s Army airships to safely reach.  Trade 
  expeditions to the mutant city begin at Bonneville 
  Falls, where airships have permission to offload 
  supplies onto ground transports that undertake 
  the arduous journey through the wreckage of the 
  Columbia Gorge.  These then travel east across the 
  Ghost Wastes of Umatilla before turning southeast, 
  skirting the edges of Hell’s Canyon and the Desiccated 
  Wastes, finally arriving at Fort Boise.
  After all of this, the people of Fort Boise tend to be 
  wary of the People’s Army, largely because there are 
  virtually no people of Asian descent in that part of the 
  Lost Paradise. Despite this, a People’s Army diplomat 
  has recently been given leave to stay in the city in 
  an effort to strengthen ties between the two factions. 
  There is still a long way to go before any modicum of 
  trust is established between the two factions.
  Bone City:  When the first Tillamook Trading 
  Caravans came to Bone City, their trademasters were 
  horrified at the sight of human bones being bartered 
  and sold like common goods. They left Bone City, 
  vowing never to return. Since then, members of the 
  People’s Army avoid the city whenever possible.
  Beavertown:  The People’s Army has sporadic 
  dealings with the reclusive people of Beavertown. 
  Since the people of this mutant settlement are 
  naturally suspicious of all outsiders, trademasters have 
  not been allowed to set up shop there. However, lone 
  traders are sometimes allowed into Beavertown to do 
  business, albeit only at gunpoint.
  Scappoose:  Scappoose is another rogue settlement 
  in which the People’s Army is only barely tolerated. 
  Goran Sawblade is a highly paranoid individual who 
  doesn’t like the sight of well-armed companies of men 
  mustered outside the gates of his town. Tillamook 
  Traders are permitted to conduct trade outside 
  Scappoose, and are only allowed inside the city in 
  small, unarmed groups of four or five.
  Mutants:  Mutants are a touchy subject in the 
  People’s Army. The Way demands that all members 
  of the People’s Army be considered equals, and yet 
  mutants born into the clan in the past twenty years or 
  so have been treated as lesser creatures by pureblood 
  citizens. More often than not, mistreated mutants 
  eventually become disillusioned and leave the clan. 
  While no official policy singles out mutants for 
  special treatment (or abuse), it is commonly accepted 
  that, while mutants are in fact human beings (albeit 
  in many cases horribly twisted human beings), their 
  defects make them unworthy of the rights granted to 
  purebloods. No diplomat or typical People’s Army 
  citizen would ever admit to this policy openly; to do 
  so would be to bring shame upon the entire faction.
  Recently, General Cho has been considering the 
  possibility of building a segregated community 
  for mutant members of the People’s Army in the 
  wilderness between Mao Chu’n and Tillamook. 
  Members of the People’s Army defense force have 
  been sent into the region to scout out possible 
  locations for such a community.
  Typical People's Army 
  Low-Level People’s Army Caravan Guard (Post 
  Apocalyptic Hero 1/Fast Hero 1):  CR 2; Medium-
  size human; HD 2d8+2; hp 11; Mas 12; Init +2; Spd 
  30 ft.; Defense 16, touch 16, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, 
  +4 class); BAB +0; Grap +2; Atk +2 melee (1d3+2 
  nonlethal, unarmed) or +2 melee (1d6+2, rifle butt); 
  Full Atk +2 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed) or 
  +2 melee (1d6+2, rifle butt), or +2 ranged (2d8, 
  Allegiance Notes - People's Army 
  Choosing the People’s Army as an allegiance comes with the following benefits and restrictions:
  Racial Prerequisite:  To be aligned with the People’s Army, a character must be of one of the following 
  ethnic lineages: Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Russian, or Vietnamese (any combination of two or 
  more of these ethnicities is also acceptable).
  Access To Advanced Equipment: Characters with an allegiance to the People’s Army are allowed access 
  to the clan’s vast reserves of supplies. Most of the weapons and equipment are remarkably well-preserved 
  pre-Fall relics; between these reserves and their trade successes, the Tillamook Trading Caravans have 
  accumulated a wealth of advanced weaponry and equipment that includes iodide tablets, hover-craft, ready 
  syringes, and other prizes.
  
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  QBZ-95); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Evasion, 
  Survival Sense; AL People’s Army; SV Fort +2, Ref 
  +4, Will -1; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 14, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 
  13, Wis 8, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Military, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills: Craft (mechanical) +3, Drive +4, Knowledge 
  (ancient lore) +3, Knowledge (current events) +3, 
  Knowledge (tactics) +5, Listen +1, Navigate +3, 
  Profession (any) +3, Speak Language (Unislang), Spot 
  +1, Survival +1.
  Feats: Far Shot, Personal Firearms Proficiency, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency.
  Mutations and Defects: None.  
  Possessions: QBZ-95, 60 rounds of 5.8mm 
  ammunition, rad tab, two light rods, bundle 
  of provisions, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  Mid-Level People’s Army Caravan Guard (Post 
  Apocalyptic Hero 3/Fast Hero 3):  CR 6; Medium-
  size human; HD 6d8+6; hp 33; Mas 12; Init +3 Spd 
  30 ft.; Defense 21, touch 19, flat-footed 21* (+3 
  Dex, +6 class, +2 leather armor); BAB +4; Grap 
  +6; Atk +6 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed) or +6 
  melee (1d6+2, rifle butt); Full Atk +6 melee (1d3+2 
  nonlethal, unarmed) or +6 melee (1d6+2, rifle butt), 
  or +7 ranged (2d8, QBZ-95); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 
  5 ft.; SQ Conserve, Evasion, Survival Sense, Uncanny 
  Dodge 1*; AL People’s Army; SV Fort +4, Ref +7, 
  Will +1; AP 8; Rep +1; Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 13, 
  Wis 8, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Military, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills: Craft (mechanical) +3, Drive +4, Knowledge 
  (ancient lore) +3, Knowledge (current events) +8, 
  Knowledge (tactics) +10, Listen +9*, Navigate +3, 
  Profession (any) +3, Speak Language (Trade), Speak 
  Language (Unislang), Spot +9*, Survival +1.
  Feats: Alertness*, Advanced Firearm Proficiency, 
  Armor Proficiency (light), Far Shot, Personal Firearms 
  Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Simple Weapons Proficiency.
  Mutations and Defects: None.  
  Possessions: Leather armor, QBZ-95, 60 rounds 
  of 5.8mm ammunition, rad tab, two light rods, 
  bundle of provisions, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  High-Level People’s Army Caravan Guard (Post 
  Apocalyptic Hero 3/Fast Hero 3/Soldier 4):  CR 
  10; Medium-size human; HD 6d8+4d10+10 hp 59; 
  Mas 12; Init +3 Spd 30 ft.; Defense 23, touch 21, 
  flat-footed 23* (+3 Dex, +8 class, +2 leather armor); 
  BAB +7; Grap +9; Atk +9 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, 
  unarmed) or +9 melee (1d6+2, rifle butt); Full Atk +9/
  +4 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed) or +9/+4 melee 
  (1d6+2, rifle butt), or +11/+6 ranged (2d8, QBZ-95); 
  FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Conserve, Evasion, 
  Survival Sense, Uncanny Dodge 1*; AL People’s 
  Army; SV Fort +6, Ref +9, Will +2; AP 11; Rep +1; 
  Str 14, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Military, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills: Craft (mechanical) +3, Drive +4, Intimidate 
  +9, Knowledge (ancient lore) +3, Knowledge (current 
  events) +8, Knowledge (tactics) +14, Listen +12*, 
  Navigate +6, Profession (any) +3, Speak Language 
  (Trade), Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +12*, 
  Survival +9.
  Feats: Alertness*, Advanced Firearm Proficiency, 
  Armor Proficiency (light), Far Shot, Personal Firearms 
  Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Precise Shot, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency, Strafe, Weapon Focus (QBZ-95), Weapon 
  Specialization (QBZ-95), Tactical Aid.
  Mutations and Defects: None.  
  Possessions: Leather armor, QBZ-95, 60 rounds 
  of 5.8mm ammunition, rad tab, two light rods, 
  bundle of provisions, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  Epic-Level People’s Army Trade Master 
  (Charismatic Hero 3/Trader 8/Trade Master 4):  
  CR 15; Medium-size human; HD 15d6; hp 53, Mas 
  10, Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 18, touch 18, flat-
  footed 17, (+1 Dex, +7 class); BAB +8/+3; Grap 
  +7, Atk +7 melee (1d3-1 nonlethal, unarmed), or +9 
  ranged (3d10, plasma pistol); Full Atk +7/+2 melee 
  (1d3-1 nonlethal, unarmed), or +9/+4 ranged (3d10, 
  plasma pistol); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Dazzle, Fast-Talk, Ear To The Ground, Money Talks, 
  Going Once Going Twice, Read The Signs, Sucker 
  Born Every Minute, Distribution Network, Improved 
  Cohort, Leadership +2, Make A Deal; AL People’s 
  Army; SV Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +8; AP 13; Rep +11; 
  Str 8, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 13, Cha 16.
  Occupation and Background: Merchant, 
  Visionary Reinventor.
  Skills:  Bluff +23*, Computer Use +9, Diplomacy 
  +21, Disguise +5*, Gamble +3*, Gather Information 
  +21, Intimidate +23*, Knowledge (business) +21, 
  Knowledge (current events) +11, Navigate +9, 
  Profession (trader) +19, Sense Motive +19, Speak 
  Language (Trade), Speak Language (Unislang), Spot 
  +17.
  Feats: Advanced Technology, Confident*, 
  Deceptive, Futuristic Firearms Proficiency, 
  Leadership, Market (x2), Personal Firearms 
  Proficiency, Post Apocalyptic Technology, Renown, 
  Silver Tongue, Trustworthy.
  Possessions:  Plasma pistol, two plutonium clips, 
  language translator, power beltpack, various other 
  gear and possessions.
  People of Note
  General Cho
  Tillamook is currently ruled by General Cho, a hard-
  nosed, astute man in his late sixties who almost single-
  handedly built the Tillamook Trading Caravans from 
  
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  a handful of cargo trains into the highly organized 
  network of caravans and trading outposts it is today. 
  In doing so, General Cho has earned the respect and 
  admiration of his diverse people.  Under his guidance, 
  the People’s Army has not only prospered but has 
  become a force to be reckoned with in the region. His 
  personal philosophy is very simple and reflects the 
  communist attitudes of his people: everyone works, 
  and everyone prospers.
  General Cho has maintained his station because 
  the people under him have no reason to believe 
  anyone else can do the job better. If and when the day 
  comes that he is no longer 
  able to perform his duties, 
  Cho will of course step 
  down to be replaced by 
  a successor named by 
  the Committee. This 
  is how it has always 
  been, and (hopefully) 
  how it will always be.
  The general has 
  a staff of advisors, or 
  kanpaku, who keep him 
  informed of the daily 
  affairs in Tillamook as 
  well as the most current 
  news from throughout the 
  Northwest. His kanpaku 
  have direct control over 
  specific zones of the 
  city, be it civil defense, 
  agriculture, or trade. 
  They are responsible 
  for keeping 
  everything running 
  smoothly, and their orders 
  are carried 
  out as if 
  given by 
  Cho himself.
  General Cho (Strong Hero 5/Soldier 10):  CR 15; 
  Medium-size human; HD 5d8+10d10+30; hp 108; 
  Mas 15; Init +5*; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 27, touch 21, 
  flat-footed 24 (+3 Dex, +8 class, +6 military combat 
  suit); BAB +12/+7/+2; Grap +12; Atk +13* melee 
  (2d6+7*/18-20, power sword), or +15 ranged (2d12, 
  pulse laser rifle); Full Atk +13/+8/+6* melee (2d6+7*/
  18-20, power sword), or +15/+10/+5 ranged (2d12, 
  pulse laser rifle); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Advanced Melee Smash*, Improved Melee Smash*, 
  Improved Reaction*, Melee Smash*, Tactical Aid*; 
  AL People’s Army; SV Fort +10, Ref +9, Will +3; AP 
  13; Rep +6; Str 10, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 12, Wis 8, 
  Cha 14.
  Occupation and Background: Military, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills: Diplomacy +10, Drive +7, Intimidate +20, 
  Knowledge (current events) +9, Knowledge 
  (history) +9, Knowledge (politics) +5, 
  Knowledge (tactics) +19, Navigate 
  +9, Sense Motive +5, Speak 
  Language (Unislang), Survival 
  +3.
  Feats: Advanced Technology, 
  Armor Proficiency (light), Armor 
  Proficiency (medium), Armor 
  Proficiency (heavy), Cleave, Critical 
  Strike, Defensive Martial Arts, 
  Educated*, Exotic Melee Weapon 
  Proficiency (power sword), Futuristic 
  Firearms Proficiency, Greater Weapon 
  Specialization (power sword), Improved Critical 
  (power sword), Leadership, Personal Firearms 
  Proficiency, Point Blank Shot, Weapon Focus (power 
  sword), Weapon Specialization (power sword).
  Possessions: Military combat suit, PSM, 16 rounds 
  of 5.45mmR ammunition, pulse laser rifle, 3 power 
  clips, power sword, power belt pack, holographic 
  image projector, power cell, bronze stage IIIM identity 
  card.
  Duyen Vicars 
  Duyen is a brash, arrogant young pilot with only one 
  goal in life: to be the best Kamikaze in the history 
  of the People’s Army. His father is a trademaster 
  stationed in an outpost just outside Olympia. Over the 
  past few years, the two have had heated arguments 
  over Duyen’s decision to fly the rickety old planes of 
  the Ancients. Duyen feels that he is best serving the 
  goals of the People’s Army by flying, and, much to 
  his father’s chagrin, his superiors agree. Sure, they 
  would love to reign in the boy’s impulsive behavior at 
  times—Duyen is notorious for the risks he takes in the 
  skies of the Northwest—but Duyen has never lost an 
  airship placed under his protection, and that’s really 
  all that matters. 
  Duyen Vicars (Post Apocalyptic Hero 2/Fast Hero 
  2/Kamikaze 5):  CR 9; Medium-size human; HD 
  9d8+9; hp 50; Mas 12; Init +3; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 
  21, touch 21, flat-footed 18 (+3 Dex, +8 class); BAB 
  I’ve heard of this Kamikaze’s exploits a number of times. If the story is true, he took his plane (I think that’s 
  the old world term for the machine he pilots) and flew it right through one of the old shuttle tubes that jut 
  out of the old wrecked Portland domes, and shot up through another hole at the top of the dome! He must 
  be pretty brave and skilled to do something like that. They say he was born in one of those machines. I think 
  I’ve seen him flying above Hope once or twice. His plane is painted black, with the emblem of the People’s 
  Army in red. Maybe someday I’ll meet him.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  +5; Grap +5; Atk +5 melee (1d3 nonlethal, unarmed), 
  or +8 ranged (2d6, GSh-18), or +8 ranged (2d12, 
  plane-mounted machinegun); Full Atk +5 melee (1d3, 
  nonlethal, unarmed), or +8 ranged (2d6, GSh-18), 
  or +8 ranged (2d12, plane-mounted machinegun); 
  FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Air Support (+1), 
  Eagle Eyes, Evasion, Gut Check, Improvised Toolkit, 
  Strafing (+1); AL People’s Army; SV Fort +4, Ref 
  +10, Will +3; AP 10; Rep +2; Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, 
  Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Airman, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills: Concentration +6, Craft (mechanical) +9, 
  Craft (structural) +4, Knowledge (ancient lore) +7, 
  Knowledge (tactics) +12, Listen +12*, Navigate +12, 
  Pilot +15, Repair +7, Speak Language (Trade), Speak 
  Language (Unislang), Spot +12*.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proficiency, Aircraft 
  Operation, Alertness*, Dead Aim, Far Shot, Personal 
  Firearms Proficiency, Post Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Simple Weapons Proficiency, Vehicle Dodge, Vehicle 
  Expert.
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: GSh-18, 18 rounds of 9mm ammo, 
  maps and flight plan.
  The Mountain 
  Walkers
  History
  More commonly known as just ‘Walkers, these rugged 
  people are rumored to have survived the fall above 
  ground without the protection of bunkers and fallout 
  shelters. Whether or not this is true is subject to 
  debate, but what cannot be disputed is the ‘Walkers’ 
  knowledge of the surface world. Mountain Walkers 
  possess a wealth of knowledge about the Northwest. 
  They know secret paths through the mountains that 
  are invaluable to anyone looking to move unnoticed 
  through the territory of an enemy faction. Walkers 
  are expert outdoorsmen, able to find edible plants 
  and clean water in even the most radiated corners of 
  the Northwest. They can hunt, fish, trap, and prepare 
  animal hides for use as protective clothing.
  ‘Walkers are by and large a solitary bunch, rarely 
  traveling in groups unless they’re guiding a group of 
  people through the wilds. As much as people don’t 
  know about these enigmatic people, one fact is well 
  known: they come down into settled areas to trade at 
  certain times of the harvest cycle—right before the 
  winter snows, at the beginning of spring, and maybe 
  once during the summer. At any other time it’s rare to 
  even see a ‘Walker. Rumors persist that the mountain 
  men possess an almost supernatural ability to avoid 
  detection when they want to.
  Despite their tendency to live and work alone, 
  Mountain Walkers have been known to take on 
  apprentices.  In every settlement they visit, crowds of 
  exuberant young men (and sometimes even women) 
  flood around the Mountain Walkers, pleading to be 
  accepted as an apprentice. In most communities, 
  ‘Walkers are viewed as celebrities; parents consider 
  it a great honor to have their children accepted as an 
  apprentice to a ‘Walker. Among other things, they 
  bring highly-prized supplies and food that otherwise 
  wouldn’t be available to poor communities who can’t 
  afford the prices charged by the Tillamook Traders.
  Mountain Walkers gather once during the harvest 
  cycle for a weeklong festival called the Gathering. 
  The Gathering is an opportunity for ‘Walkers to come 
  together, share goods, swap “fish” stories and discuss 
  significant events across the region. The Gathering 
  is held in a different location each harvest cycle, and 
  though many people have heard about it, nobody who 
  isn’t a ‘Walker has ever seen a Gathering with their 
  own eyes.
  Some rumors about the Gathering claim that it’s 
  some kind of religious rite in which the ‘Walkers 
  pray to old gods and offer up sacrifices in return for 
  supernatural powers, but nobody knows for sure. The 
  Hand of Jehovah pays especially close attention to 
  this rumor. Some say they’re the ones who started it, 
  but in any case, the cult looks upon the ‘Walkers with 
  suspicion and avoids dealing with them.
  Mountain Walkers
  Background Options: Feral, Tribal, Ritual 
  Preservationist, Resentful.
  Attitude:  The Mountain Walkers have by and large 
  given up on trying to rebuild the past, and now merely 
  eek out a living among the mountains and forests of 
  the world.  Sometimes they can be convinced to help 
  a community in need of a guide or information about 
  the mountains, but beyond that they prefer to remain 
  neutral in all things.
  Symbol:  The Mountain Walkers have adopted a 
  symbol derived from the patches worn by park rangers 
  of the Ancient era.
  Common Classes:  Juju Doctor, Scav, Survivalist, 
  Symbiote, Trader, Mountain Walker.
  Common Mutations:  Accumulated Resistance, 
  Hyper Olfactory.
  Common Defects:  Brachydactyly, Negative 
  Chemical Reaction.
  This reclusive group of people has been roaming the 
  wilderness of the Northwest since man re-emerged 
  from the bunker complexes; some say they’ve been 
  around even longer than that.  Most people have only 
  heard about the Mountain Walkers, as ‘Walkers tend 
  to keep to themselves, only venturing into settlements 
  to trade or possibly take on an apprentice.
  In spite of the clan’s withdrawn nature, the 
  Mountain Walkers have garnered a celebrity-like 
  reputation among certain factions of the region. 
  Despite their renown, Mountain Walkers rarely stay 
  in one location for long. Some observers claim the 
  ‘Walkers keep on the move to avoid representatives 
  from major factions who try to seek them out in hope 
  
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  of forging alliances and trade agreements.
  Mountain Walkers are against the notion of making 
  alliances with any of the Northwest’s major factions, 
  regardless of agenda. The ‘Walkers tend to believe 
  that most people in the region are too busy picking 
  sides when they should be working together. All the 
  fighting, they claim, is the result of a failure to learn 
  from the mistakes of their ancestors. As the ‘Walker 
  clan sees it, more could be accomplished if the people 
  of the Northwest would simply learn to get along and 
  share what precious resources are left.
  Mountain Walkers make use of anything they can 
  get their hands on, whether the items in question are 
  Ancient gizmos or bone weapons crafted in Bone City. 
  Life is too hard to complicate matters by nitpicking 
  about how a given item came into being; if it serves 
  a useful purpose, the Mountain Walker makes use of 
  it. While most ’Walkers prefer to use silent weapons, 
  nobody passes up a rifle or handgun based on some 
  misguided principle about who made it, and when.
  As a rule of thumb, the general attitudes of 
  Mountain Walkers towards the various factions of the 
  Northwest are as follows:
  United Combine:  Mountain Walkers see the 
  United Combine as the best hope for the people of 
  the Northwest to get back on their feet. With that 
  said, many ‘Walkers also feel that the U.C. isn’t 
  doing nearly enough to make the areas it controls 
  stable for the people who inhabit them. Too many 
  people complain about not having enough supplies 
  to last through the “time of the white death,” and 
  few communities can afford to send out sizeable 
  scavenging parties to gather needed food and 
  equipment. The ‘Walkers help as best they can by 
  asking lower prices for the goods they barter, and they 
  sometimes even give excess food and drinkable water 
  to families in homesteads who desperately need it, but 
  often these measures aren’t nearly enough.
  Purity Corp:  Mountain Walkers who travel the 
  Pure Lands must tread very carefully. Jeremiah Cole 
  believes the reclusive ‘Walker clan can lead him to 
  caches of pre-Fall weapons, and possibly even to 
  bunker complexes filled with new “recruits” for his 
  army. Jeremiah has issued a decree calling for the 
  capture of all Mountain Walkers found traveling in 
  Purist lands. Captured ‘Walkers are to be brought back 
  to Zog for “questioning.” The leader of the Purity 
  Corp has even placed a bounty of a thousand corium 
  pieces and a wife for each Mountain Walker brought 
  back to Zog unharmed. As a result of these policies, 
  Mountain Walkers avoid Purist patrols and settlements 
  at all costs.
  Hand of Jehovah:  Mountain Walkers have 
  extremely limited contact with this group. Solomon 
  believes they practice satanic rituals at their 
  Gatherings and has decreed that these ‘Walkers are 
  to be avoided by the people of the Hand of Jehovah.  
  The Hand of Jehovah leader has threatened to “purify” 
  any ‘Walker found trying to convert his people. While 
  most Mountain Walkers consider Solomon a fool, they 
  don’t take his threats lightly. 
  People’s Army: Mountain Walkers have a stable 
  relationship with the People’s Army. Sometimes a 
  ‘Walker will even contract to guide People’s Army 
  caravans and squads to remote settlements. Contrary 
  to popular belief, the People’s Army and Mountain 
  Walkers do occasionally trade with each other when 
  situations call for it.
  Chinook (and other Indian groups):  The 
  Chinook and other native tribes of the Northwest deal 
  almost exclusively with the Mountain Walkers. No 
  other people are trusted and are certainly not allowed 
  into tribal villages. When the tribes choose to barter 
  for supplies that cannot be found in their own territory, 
  they conduct their business with a Mountain Walker.
  River Folk:  The people who live along the rivers 
  and lakes of the Northwest have come to look upon 
  Mountain Walkers as something like celebrities. The 
  grizzled old mountain men seem to understand the 
  simple desires of the River Folk best, whereas other 
  factions, like the Sentinels and United Combine, 
  continually exert pressure on them to take a more 
  active role in the War of The Remnants. The simple 
  fact of the matter is that most River Folk (with the 
  exception of the citizens of Bonneville Falls) want 
  peace. Mountain Walkers don’t push them into 
  alliances, or try to make trade agreements—and the 
  River Folk reward such understanding with their 
  business and hospitality.
  Sentinels: Mountain Walkers have a rocky 
  relationship with the Sentinels. The people of Crater 
  City don’t understand the ‘Walkers’ choice to remain 
  neutral in the War of the Remnants; they see skilled 
  mountain men who would rather sit idly by and watch 
  others fight and die than lift a finger to help. The 
  Mountain Walkers have long since abandoned any 
  attempt to make the Sentinels understand why they 
  choose not to fight in the conflict between the clans.
  Fort Boise:  Only a few ‘Walkers have managed to 
  make the dangerous trek through the wasteland to the 
  city of Fort Boise. The things they’ve seen there have 
  Allegiance Notes - Mountain Walker 
  The Mountain Walker allegiance carries with it the following benefits and restrictions:
  Neutrality:  Because Mountain Walkers tend to be reclusive and stay out of the affairs of the people of 
  the Northwest, they lose all allegiances to other factions. The way of the mountain man has shown them the 
  “truth,” and the politics of the various competing factions no longer seem to matter as much as they once 
  did.
  No Equipment Restrictions:  Characters with an allegiance to the Mountain Walker clan may begin play 
  with any weapons and equipment they can afford (and are able to use).
  
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  convinced them that mutants are not simply a passing 
  regional (or even global) phenomenon.  Pureblood 
  ‘Walkers claim that Fort Boise is a very dangerous 
  place, while mutant ‘Walkers argue that there should 
  be more places like it. The people of Fort Boise 
  consider Mountain Walkers an interesting bunch, and 
  some have even asked the rare ‘Walker that comes to 
  their city for permission to become apprentices. 
  Bone City: Mountain Walkers have no problems 
  with the people of Bone City. The ‘Walkers’ generally 
  neutral attitude towards the people of the region 
  has helped them look past the morbid Bone Trade; 
  in fact most ‘Walkers have no compunctions about 
  bartering for items crafted from the bones of the dead. 
  The people of Bone City treat the mountain men no 
  differently than they do anyone else.
  Scappoose:  ‘Walkers tend to avoid Scappoose 
  unless they can’t help it. Scappoose is dangerous for 
  anyone who travels alone; solitary traders venturing 
  into that settlement are effectively issuing an open 
  invitation to be robbed and murdered.
  Beavertown:  ‘Walkers are trusted in the city of 
  Beavertown, probably more than any other group 
  in the region. The people of Beavertown have come 
  to understand that most mountain men wish only to 
  conduct open trade and be on their way.
  Mutants: Mountain Walkers choose to accept the 
  existence of mutants as a natural part of life in the 
  Twisted Earth. A fair number of Mountain Walkers are 
  mutants themselves, and while this tends to adversely 
  affect their dealings with purebloods in many 
  settlements, their mere existence has given hope to 
  non-‘Walker mutants who have dealt with persecution 
  all their lives. These mutant ‘Walkers are a source of 
  inspiration for mutant children growing up in a world 
  where they have only known pain and suffering.
  Typical Mountain Walker
  Mid-Level Mountain Walker (Post Apocalyptic 
  Hero 3/Mountain Walker 3):  CR 6; Medium-size 
  human; HD 3d8+3d10+12 plus; hp 42; Mas 14; Init 
  +3; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 16, touch 15, flat-footed 
  15 (+1 Dex, +4 class, +1 leather jacket); BAB +4; 
  Grap +5; Atk +5 melee (1d6+1, machete), +5 ranged 
  (2d6, VSS Vintorez rifle); Full Atk +5 melee (1d6+1, 
  machete), +5 ranged (2d6, VSS Vintorez rifle); FS 5 
  ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ survival sense, wasteland 
  lore, secret location, track; AL Mountain Walkers; SV 
  Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +5; AP 6; Rep +1; Str 12, Dex 
  12, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Guide, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Climb +3*, Hide +7*, Knowledge (ancient 
  lore) +6, Listen +6*, Move Silently +6*, Navigate 
  +10*, Ride +2, Search +3, Speak Language (Ancient, 
  Guttertalk), Spot +8*, Survival +14* (+17 wasteland), 
  Treat Injury +7.
  Feats: Alertness*, Archaic Weapons Proficiency, 
  Far Shot, Guide*, Personal Firearm Proficiency, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency, Stealthy*.
  Mutations and Defects: None. 
  Possessions: Leather jacket, machete, VSS Vintorez 
  rifle, 2 boxes of 9mm ammunition, corium lantern, 30 
  salt pills, 12 potassium iodide tablets, various other 
  gear and personal possessions.
  High-Level Mountain Walker (Post Apocalyptic 
  Hero 3/Mountain Walker 7):  CR 10; Medium-size 
  human; HD 3d8+7d10+20; hp 72; Mas 15; Init +3; 
  Spd 30 ft.; Defense 18, touch 17, flat-footed 17 (+1 
  Dex, +6 class, +1 leather jacket); BAB +7; Grap +8; 
  Atk +8 melee (1d6+1, machete), +8 ranged (2d6, 
  VSS Vintorez rifle); Full Atk +8/+3 melee (1d6+1, 
  machete), +8/+3 ranged (2d6, VSS Vintorez rifle); FS 
  5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ survival sense, wasteland 
  lore, secret location, track, natural healing, way of 
  the land (general), apprentice, beat feet; AL Mountain 
  Walkers; SV Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +3; AP 10; Rep +3; 
  Str 12, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 16, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Guide, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Climb +3*, Hide +9*, Knowledge (ancient 
  lore) +14, Listen +8*, Move Silently +7*, Navigate 
  +15*, Ride +2, Search +5, Speak Language (Ancient, 
  Unislang), Spot +10*, Survival +16* (+19 wasteland), 
  Treat Injury +7.
  Feats: Alertness*, Archaic Weapons Proficiency, 
  Dead Aim, Far Shot, Guide*, Improved Dead Aim, 
  Personal Firearm Proficiency, Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Simple Weapons Proficiency, Stealthy*.
  Mutations and Defects: None. 
  Possessions: Leather jacket, machete, VSS Vintorez 
  rifle, 2 boxes of 9mm ammunition, corium lantern, 30 
  salt pills, 12 potassium iodide tablets, various other 
  gear and personal possessions.
  People of Note
  Jamar
  Jamar grew up in the Eden bunker complex listening 
  to Jeremiah preach about racial purity and about 
  his plans to restore the glory of the Purity Corp 
  once the atomic locks opened the great door to the 
  surface world. Jamar stood with his old friend at the 
  Convention of the Remnants and shortly thereafter 
  helped guide those loyal to the Purist cause out of 
  Eden. He helped found Zog and became one of 
  the city’s most faithful defenders. But Jamar grew 
  frustrated watching Jeremiah, his oldest and best 
  friend, twist the Purist ideology into a hate-fueled 
  racist mechanism that subjugated people rather than 
  emancipated them.  As time went on and Jeremiah’s 
  excesses continued, Jamar knew it was time to leave 
  the Pure Lands.
  Jeremiah took the news like a slap in the face. He 
  branded Jamar as a traitor and then banished him. 
  
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  According to Purist law, Jamar should have been 
  killed, but when it came down to it, Jeremiah wasn’t 
  able to give the order to kill the man he once thought 
  of as a brother. Jamar was given enough supplies to 
  last a week and sent on his way. He made his way 
  south, at first intending to strike out into U.C. lands, 
  but then thought better of it; too much had already 
  happened in the War of the Remnants for him to 
  suddenly change sides.  For Jamar, the war was over. 
  If he tried to find a home in a U.C. settlement, he’d 
  only be tossed right back into the endless fighting.
  Jamar decided to make his home out in the 
  wilderness, where words like “Purist” and “United 
  Combine” didn’t mean anything. Somewhere on the 
  Twisted Earth there had to be a place where a man 
  could simply live without carrying around all of 
  the baggage that came with interacting with others. 
  Eventually, Jamar found an old cabin high in the 
  mountains in the deep southwest portion of the Pacific 
  Coast Range. For a while, things were good. Jamar 
  lived off the land, keeping an easy balance with 
  nature. But part of him missed human contact. He 
  missed talking with other people, missed the smile 
  of a pretty woman’s face, missed the laughter of a 
  joke shared with friends. But after two long years of 
  living in solitude, Jamar had forgotten how to re-enter 
  society. 
  Then one day, his whole life changed.
  As he was sitting on the porch of his cabin tanning 
  a bobcat hide, a man emerged suddenly from the tree 
  line, walking slowly towards the cabin. Jamar jumped 
  to his feet, grabbed his Remington rifle, and aimed it 
  at the stranger.
  “That’s close enough, mister,” Jamar cautioned. 
  “I don’t know who you are, but you’re trespassing. I 
  suggest you leave the way you came before I have to 
  do something we’ll both regret.”
  The man smiled and sat down on the ground twenty 
  feet away from Jamar, keeping his hands in plain 
  sight.
  “I’ve been watching you for a while now,” the 
  stranger said. “You got yourself some skills there.” He 
  motioned to the rack of animal hides that Jamar had 
  laid out to cure.
  Jamar lowered the rifle, but didn’t set it down. 
  “What do you mean you’ve been watching me?”
  “I mean jus’ that. I’ve been watching you,” the 
  man said. “You’ve set up residence in my neck of the 
  woods, so to speak, and I had to be sure you weren’t 
  tryin’ to bring trouble to these parts…” The man’s 
  eyes drifted down to the tattoos on Jamar’s bare arms.
  Jamar nodded slowly, acknowledging the other’s 
  obvious gesture. It made sense. Now that he thought 
  of it, Jamar had never bothered to see if anyone else 
  lived in this area; he had grown so accustomed to 
  his daily routine that he had never even thought of 
  looking for other settlements.
  “How many people live around here?” Jamar set the 
  rifle down next to his chair. 
  The other man shrugged.
  “A few of us make our home in these parts. More 
  live farther east, around Seven Feathers and Crater 
  City. You ever been to those places?” the man asked.
  Jamar shook his head.
  “Keep to yourself, eh?”
  “I like it that way,” Jamar lied.
  The man smiled, holding one hand out while the 
  other slowly fished through a leather knapsack at his 
  I’ve known this Mountain Walker for a long time; he’s a good friend of mine. Jamar once guided me north 
  to the ruins of Portland. He took paths up through the mountains that I never even knew existed, and won’t 
  ever tell anyone else about. Most people don’t trust Jamar, though. He’s a refugee from the Pure Lands. 
  He was in Jeremiah Cole’s personal sect—the Nubian faction. Apparently Jamar used to be good friends 
  with the man, before they had some sort of falling out. Jamar doesn’t speak much about it and I don’t ask 
  questions. He openly bears the marks of a Purist and doesn’t care who knows it. I’ve seen it cause trouble 
  for him in the past, though. I suspect that’s one of the reasons Jamar became a ‘Walker. People treat these 
  rugged mountain men with great respect, something I think Jamar craves.
  - Duncan Clark 
  
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  side. A moment later he produced three ready syringes 
  and a box of shells and set them on the ground.
  “I know some people in other settlements who 
  could use those hides, people who don’t have the 
  skills you do. I’d be willin’ to trade these med-sticks 
  and this box of shells—that’s a Remington 700 you 
  got there, right?—for six of your hides. If you’re 
  agreeable, that is….”  
  Suddenly Jamar remembered something he’d heard 
  back in Zog, something about mountain men who 
  traveled from place to place trading with the people 
  they met along their journeys. People called them 
  Mountain Walkers.
  “Are you a Mountain Walker?” Jamar asked.
  The other man nodded.
  “Yeah, people call me that.” The man shrugged. 
  “People got a lot of names for us, but names don’t 
  mean much these days. If you want to call me 
  something, you can call me Luke.”
  Jamar nodded in acknowledgement.
  “All right, Luke. I’ll trade with you, and you can 
  call me Jamar.”
     The meeting with Luke marked the beginning of 
  a relationship that proved to be more profitable than 
  either of the two men would have guessed. Jamar 
  found himself becoming keenly interested in the 
  holistic ways of the Mountain Walkers. They didn’t 
  seem to care about war, and labels like “Purity 
  Corp” and “United Combine” meant little to them. 
  People all over the region were starving and in need 
  of food, clothing, medicines, and chemicals to treat 
  the polluted water they drank, Luke claimed. The 
  War of the Remnants wasn’t going to solve those 
  problems. Mountain Walkers did their best to help 
  people survive when their leaders seemed concerned 
  only with winning the next battle. Jamar noted during 
  these conversations that Luke never once made hasty 
  judgments about any the members of any given 
  faction. Instead he decried the selfishness of political 
  leaders who put petty interests above the needs of 
  their people. Jamar realized that he wanted to be one 
  of these Mountain Walkers—he wanted to help others, 
  just as Luke had helped him find a way to become a 
  part of society again.
     Eventually, Jamar convinced Luke to take him on 
  as an apprentice. At first things were hard—extremely 
  hard. Everywhere they went, Jamar was confronted 
  by people who showed him nothing but contempt 
  because of his Purist past. Many people even refused 
  to have dealings with Luke as long as Jamar was with 
  him. But Luke didn’t give up on Jamar. The Mountain 
  Walker saw in his charge a special potential—and not 
  just for trading, trapping, and surviving. No, Luke 
  saw a man with the capacity and drive to help make 
  people’s lives better. Ultimately, other people began to 
  see it too.
  Jamar (Post Apocalyptic Hero 3/Dedicated Hero 
  2/Soldier 3/Mountain Walker 5):  CR 13; Medium-
  size human; HD 3d8+2d6+8d10+26; hp 91; Mas 14; 
  Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 21, touch 20, flat-footed 
  20 (+1 Dex, +9 class, +1 leather jacket); BAB +8; 
  Grap +9; Atk +9 melee (1d8+1 nonlethal, unarmed), 
  or +10 ranged (2d10, Remington 700); Full Atk +9/+4 
  melee (1d8+1, nonlethal, unarmed), or +10/+5 ranged 
  (2d10, Remington 700); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 
  5 ft.; SQ Apprentice, Conserve, Natural Healing, 
  Secret Location, Skill Emphasis (survival)*, Survival 
  Sense, Way of The Land (Lost Paradise region)*; AL 
  Mountain Walkers; SV Fort +11, Ref +6, Will +7; AP 
  12; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 11, Wis 15, 
  Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Apothecary, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills: Bluff +3, Hide +11, Knowledge (ancient 
  lore) +6, Knowledge (tactics) +3, Listen +9*, Move 
  Silently +11, Navigate +7 (+15 in Lost Paradise 
  region), Speak Language (Trade), Speak Language 
  (Gutter Talk), Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +9*, 
  Survival +16* (+24 in Lost Paradise region), Treat 
  Injury +12.
  Feats: Alertness*, Armor Proficiency (light), 
  Brawl, Dead Aim, Endurance, Far Shot, Improved 
  Brawl, Low Profile, Personal Firearms Proficiency, 
  Point Blank Shot, Post Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Simple Weapons Proficiency, Track, Weapon Focus 
  (Remington 700), Weapon Specialization (Remington 
  700).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Remington 700, 15 rounds of 7.62mm 
  ammo, leather jacket, survival kit.
  The Chinook 
  Indians
  History
  The Chinook confederation occupies the westernmost 
  portion of the region once called the Olympic 
  Peninsula.  During the final years before the Fall, 
  many Native Americans from all across the region 
  began a quiet migration out of the densely populated 
  areas where they had long lived towards a place which 
  tribal shamans from many different tribes claimed 
  had been “prepared” for them. The “Great Gourd of 
  Ash” was about to be dropped on the world, they said. 
  It was time to leave the cities of the white men and 
  prepare for the return of the old ways.
  Most (save for those who had been hopelessly 
  indoctrinated into mainstream American society) 
  followed the advice of their tribal leaders. After all, 
  the hedonistic civilization of pre-Fall America had 
  grown increasingly alien to them over the years. In 
  the Northwest, legislation allowing Native Americans 
  to run casinos for their own economic benefit had 
  ultimately done little to better their lives, nor had 
  it raised their reservations above the poverty level.  
  Internal corruption and the universal legalization of 
  gambling had taken their toll; deprived of a market 
  to corner on their semi-autonomous land, Indian 
  reservations had slowly slipped into irrelevance.
  
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  On top of this indignity, the traditional cultures of 
  the Northwest’s native peoples had been suppressed 
  and pushed to the brink of extinction by mainstream 
  society.  The “unnatural” bio-domes stood as 
  monuments of shame, built by a people who had raped 
  the Native American Indian’s beloved Mother Earth 
  time and again.  Now the Time of Ending was about to 
  begin, and as many white extremists predicted the Fall 
  with apocalyptic zeal, so too did the Native Americans 
  sense the coming End.
  For many Native Americans, life in the diminishing 
  wilds was preferable to life in the morally bankrupt 
  cities and bio-domes.  The Olympic Peninsula was a 
  protected land, dotted with reservations for the native 
  peoples. Indian tribes had been living on this stretch 
  of land since long before white men ever set foot on 
  the North American continent; they knew its secrets, 
  knew paths through the mountains to caverns under 
  the earth, deep in the bosom of the world, where 
  they would be safe from the coming apocalypse. 
  Few noticed, but when the Fall came, it was as if the 
  Native American Indians had vanished completely 
  from the face of the Northwest. While the rest of the 
  world suffered through “the Great Wailing,” as tribal 
  elders now refer to the Fall, the native peoples had 
  safely moved underground.
  Life Underground
  The time spent underground saw changes take place 
  among the collection of tribes gathered together in 
  the caves and tunnels. In time the people slowly shed 
  their former allegiances and were assimilated into 
  the largest and most prestigious tribe, the Chinook.  
  With the help of oral traditions passed down by their 
  elders, they began to embrace the old ways once 
  again, completely rejecting what they came to call 
  “white man’s medicine” (a term the Chinook applied 
  to technology in general).
  The Chinook expanded the tunnels and caverns 
  beneath the mountains over the years, creating 
  expansive settlements in the underworld. They found 
  underground sources of water that were un-tainted by 
  the pollution that choked aboveground waterways. 
  The Chinook flourished in their subterranean isolation. 
  Long years went by, and the people gradually 
  forgot about returning to populate the lands of their 
  ancestors. Life was good, as it had been during 
  the heyday of Chinook culture. The old ways were 
  thriving once more, and the eldest of the tribe said 
  that life had returned to the way it was supposed to be. 
  The Chinook wanted for nothing; hunters regularly 
  went to the surface in search of game and never 
  failed to bring back meat. The strange and sometime 
  unidentifiable animals they killed and ate were a far 
  cry from the salmon and fowl that had once sustained 
  their forefathers, but it was edible—and with abundant 
  food, water, and shelter, there was no reason for the 
  tribe to go back above ground.
  But things change, and as time wore on and the 
  words of the original tribesmen faded into the distant 
  memory, people began once again to wonder about 
  the surface world. Some of the younger, more curious 
  tribesman began to ask questions about the lands 
  beyond the Great Opening. They wanted to know 
  why only the warriors were permitted to ascend into 
  the “Great Blue Light” to bring back meat. Tribal 
  leaders explained that was the way things had always 
  been done; the Ancients had brought destruction to 
  the world, and the only place for the Chinook was 
  underneath the mountains where the Great Spirit 
  would protect them.
  Such explanations satisfied some, but others still 
  wanted to go up to the surface to see for themselves 
  what had become of the world. The tension between 
  these would-be explorers and their disapproving 
  fellows caused a rift in the tribe, pitting brother 
  against brother. Deep-seated doubts and resentments 
  surfaced, calling into question Chinook beliefs about 
  the past, the surface world, and tribal law; everything 
  suddenly seemed to be coming apart at the seams 
  as those who opposed exploration of the surface 
  world quarreled with those who wanted to embrace 
  it.  Finally, the Chinook tribal council decided that 
  anyone who wished to return to the land of the 
  Ancients was free to do so… but no one who left 
  the Chinook’s underground Sacred Lands would be 
  allowed to return. A third of the tribe left the only 
  home they had ever known, striking out into the 
  surface world. Their brethren watched in disbelief as 
  they left, mourning their departure and cursing their 
  foolhardy ambition. The mass exodus afterwards came 
  to be known as the Breaking.
  Warriors escorted the outbound masses to the 
  surface world, warning them that the “great ball of fire 
  in the sky” would make looking at the world around 
  them painful for a while, but that the “light sickness” 
  would pass in time. The people were cautioned to 
  travel by night and to avoid the region “to the east” 
  where the Ancients once dwelled in large numbers. 
  The warriors led the people south for two days and 
  nights, beyond the boundaries of the Sacred Lands to 
  a place called Eagle Rock.  There they admonished the 
  Allegiance Notes - Chinook
  The following benefits and drawbacks apply to the Chinook allegiance:
  Technology Restriction:  Non-Mountain Walker characters with an allegiance to the Chinook may not 
  begin play with any weapons more advanced than a compound bow. The GM should use discretion when 
  deciding what equipment Chinook characters are allowed to choose during character creation.
  Similar rules apply to characters selecting an allegiance to other Northwest Indian groups, such as the 
  Lelooska, Makah, Nootka, or Yakima-Colville Confederation.
  
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  “breakers” (as they were known by the other Chinook) 
  to never again return to the Sacred Lands—on pain of 
  death.
  A Return to the Surface
  Life on the surface for the Chinook was a struggle. In 
  first weeks after the Breaking, the great fire in the sky 
  was almost unbearable, causing great pain and forcing 
  the Chinook to hide in hastily-built wooden lodges 
  until the light descended behind the western hills. As 
  if that wasn’t enough, strange beasts prowled the lands 
  both day and night, attacking the fledgling village at 
  every opportunity. Some people contracted a wasting 
  sickness about which their elders had warned. A great 
  number of the Breakers died in the first season above 
  ground.
  Some tried to return to the Sacred Lands, only to be 
  slain—as promised—by warriors who mounted their 
  bodies on poles along the borders to remind the others 
  of the penalty for attempting to return.  There could be 
  no turning back; the Breakers would have to live with 
  their decision or die in this strange new world.
  What could they do? The strongest, most 
  resourceful of the Breakers adapted to the hostile 
  environment and eventually forged a new life on 
  the surface. Finding a balance with nature on the 
  surface proved to be much easier than in the darkness 
  of the underworld. The surface Chinook kept most 
  of the ways of their underground kin, shunning the 
  technology of the so-called “white demons” that  they 
  eventually encountered.
  Mountain Walkers were the first to make contact 
  with the Chinook. The grizzled mountain men 
  understood the challenges of life out in the harsh wilds 
  of the Twisted Earth, and had a degree of sympathy 
  for these superstitious folk. The meetings went slowly 
  at first, with just two ‘Walkers coming to the fringes 
  of Chinook territory to meet and talk with the leaders. 
  The Chinook weren’t sure what to make of the pale-
  faced people they had always been taught were 
  monsters of the surface world. Now that they could 
  see them firsthand, they saw that these people weren’t 
  demons, but living, breathing folk who in many ways 
  seemed to be very much like them.
  The tribe held many meetings to discuss the 
  prospect of future dealings with the Mountain 
  Walkers. Some, still holding to the old beliefs, insisted 
  that these strange men were not to be trusted. Others 
  pointed out that the ‘Walkers didn’t appear to be 
  hostile. Some even offered strange and wondrous 
  gifts—potions that healed sickness and food that 
  lasted for a great many days. They carried strange 
  weapons and traveled atop animals that didn’t eat 
  grass or drink water, and which made sounds like no 
  animals they had ever encountered. Yes, these were 
  a curious people, but again, they didn’t seem to be 
  aggressive; and so the tribe eventually decided to 
  continue dealing with them.
  Much time went by before the ‘Walkers were able 
  to gain some measure of real trust with the Chinook 
  tribes, but eventually the two groups came to regard 
  each other with genuine friendship. Mountain Walkers 
  even took a number of the Chinook as apprentices—
  and sometimes as wives. The Chinook taught the 
  mountain men their ways, showed them how to 
  prepare hides for use as clothing and how to use every 
  piece of an animal to make something that could be 
  used in everyday life.
  Over the years, the Chinook have flourished and 
  grown as a tribe. Under the leadership of a man 
  known as Na-Chook, the Chinook have steadily 
  expanded their territory down into the southern Coast 
  Ranges of Oregon. They still hold on to many of the 
  old ways, following a holistic lifestyle that venerates 
  nature, but years of interaction with the Mountain 
  Walkers—and limited contact with other factions in 
  the region, benevolent and otherwise—have taught 
  the tribe that some of the white “medicine” can be 
  helpful.
  The Others
  The fate of the original sect that remained 
  underground is unknown. For a few years after the 
  Breaking, the two sects had occasional, fleeting 
  encounters with each other. Members of the 
  underground tribe occasionally came to the surface 
  to join their brethren, but most other encounters were 
  accidental and short. Meetings often occurred when 
  warriors surfaced to hunt and ventured close to the 
  boundaries of the Sacred Lands. At other times, a 
  family would sneak out of the caves at night to see 
  how their lost children were faring on the surface. 
  These family reunions were invariably tense, ending 
  in angry exchanges of words that opened old wounds.
  The only clue to the underground tribe’s ultimate 
  fate came in the form of a cryptic piece of news 
  related by the last group to leave the underworld. 
  A small group of warriors, women, and children 
  wandered out of the Sacred Lands and into the closest 
  village. They asked for shelter, saying that they no 
  longer wished to live underground. The chieftains 
  of the various lodges of the underworld had fallen 
  into fractious bickering and there were rumors of 
  war between the now-splintered factions. Other 
  creatures, they claimed, had come to the underworld 
  as well—strange beings with large bulging eyes and 
  fierce claws that crept past the guards and into the 
  huts of the people while they slept, stealing away the 
  children.
  The refugees said that a tribal moot was held to 
  determine a course of action, but it ended badly. The 
  chiefs had become so fragmented in their thinking 
  that they could barely even agree on where to hold the 
  council. In the end, nothing had been decided, and the 
  last band of refugees chose to leave the Sacred Lands 
  in the hopes that life on the surface would be better.
  Na-Chook listened to the story and, in the end, 
  decided to take the refugees in. As for the plight of 
  their distant kin, nothing could be done. Tribal law 
  was clear on that point. Returning to the Sacred Lands 
  
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  meant death for his people, and he would not risk the 
  life of anyone in his tribe, even if it meant finding out 
  the truth. To this day, the fate of the “lost ones” who 
  stayed underground remains a mystery.
  Chinook Indians
  Background Options:  Tribal.
  Attitude:  Seeing to the perpetuation of the tribe 
  and its people is the ultimate duty of all Chinook.  
  Outsiders are kept at arm’s length, for their influence 
  will only lead the Chinook to future turmoil.
  Symbol:  The Chinook use the traditional symbol 
  of their people, the Chinook salmon, but with 
  another sign inscribed below it—a faded gray sigil 
  representing the lost branch of the Chinook that still 
  lives beneath the Sacred Lands.
  Common Classes:  Guardian, Juju Doctor, Skulk, 
  Tribal Hunter, Blood Hunter.
  Common Mutations:  Aberrant Endoskeletal 
  Encasing, Extreme Resilience.
  Common Defects:  Aberrant Deformity, 
  Photosensitivity.
  The Chinook live in self-imposed isolation from the 
  rest of the world. They have adopted the antiquated 
  ways of their ancestors and are not at all troubled by 
  lack of regular access to the white man’s advanced 
  technology.  Most Chinook have never even ventured 
  out of the Olympic Peninsula, and consequently are 
  not familiar with the various groups that have emerged 
  from the chaos of the dark years.
  As a rule, Chinook prefer as little contact with 
  outsiders as possible. The stories of the elders about 
  how white civilization brought about the dropping 
  of the “Gourd of Ash” have been told and retold 
  over the ages. As a result, all Chinook naturally 
  distrust anyone who is not part of their tribe. There 
  are a few exceptions, however; a good number of 
  Mountain Walkers have managed to gain the trust of 
  the Chinook, even to the point of being allowed to 
  build their own lodges on the outskirts of the tribe’s 
  villages. Some of the white men have even been given 
  permission to take wives and apprentices from the 
  tribe, but these are exceptionally rare cases.
  Life in the Chinook tribe is a daily struggle to 
  survive. Their decision to shun advanced technology 
  means that the Chinook must work extremely hard to 
  ensure that everyone has the basic necessities: food, 
  clothing, natural medicines, and, of course, weapons. 
  Much of what the tribe uses to make their supplies 
  comes from the labor of the hunter caste and from 
  medicine men. During times of great difficulty, when 
  hunters return empty-handed, the tribe will trade with 
  Mountain Walkers for the things they need.
  The only people with whom the Chinook have any 
  regular dealings are the Mountain Walkers. Chinook 
  have a high level of distrust for anyone else who 
  comes uninvited into their domain. More often than 
  not, tribal warriors opt to kill strangers who trespass in 
  Chinook territory rather than allow them to reach the 
  villages of their tribesman—or worse, wander into the 
  Sacred Lands.
  When characters with an allegiance to the Chinook 
  are within tribal territory, apply a -5 situational 
  modifier on Charisma-based checks when dealing 
  with anyone who is not either a fellow tribesmen or 
  a Mountain Walker. When Chinook characters travel 
  outside their own territory into the lands and cities 
  of the Lost Paradise, this penalty is reduced to -3. 
  Chinook may be “tribal,” but that doesn’t mean they 
  are rash or stupid.
  Typical Chinook 
  Low-Level Chinook Tribesman (Strong Hero 
  2):  CR 2; Medium-size human; HD 2d8+4; hp 11; 
  Mas 14; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 14, touch 14, 
  flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 class); BAB +2; Grap 
  +4; Atk +4 melee (1d3+3 nonlethal, unarmed) or +5 
  melee (1d8+3, masterwork spear); Full Atk +5 melee 
  (1d8+3, masterwork spear), or +4 ranged (1d8+2, 
  masterwork spear); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Melee Smash; AL Chinook; SV Fort +4, Ref +1, Will 
  +0; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 
  10, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Predator, Tribal.
  Skills:  Climb +3, Hide +6, Move Silently +6, 
  Navigate +2, Profession (any) +2, Speak Language 
  (unislang), Swim +3, Survival +2.
  Feats: Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Cleave, Power 
  Attack, Primitive Technology, Track.
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Masterwork spear, bundle of 
  provisions, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  Mid-Level Chinook Tribesman (Strong Hero 
  3/Tribal Hunter 3):  CR 6; Medium-size human; 
  HD 3d8+3d10+12; hp 42; Mas 14; Init +1; Spd 30 
  ft.; Defense 15, touch 15, flat-footed 14 (+1 Dex, +4 
  class); BAB +6; Grap +9; Atk +10 melee (1d8+7, 
  spear), +8 ranged (1d8+5, compound bow); Full Atk 
  +10/+5 melee (1d8+7, spear), +8/+3 ranged (1d8+5, 
  compound bow); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  melee smash, improved melee smash, hunter, archaic 
  weapons specialization; AL Chinook; SV Fort +6, Ref 
  +4, Will +3; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 16, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 
  10, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Predator, Tribal.
  Skills:  Climb +6, Hide +5, Jump +5, Move Silently 
  +5, Speak Language (unislang), Swim +5, Survival 
  +4.
  Feats: Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Cleave, Great 
  Cleave, Power Attack, Primitive Technology, Track, 
  Weapon Focus (spear, compound bow).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Spear, compound bow, 20 arrows, 
  bundle of provisions, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  
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  High-Level Chinook Tribesman (Strong Hero 
  3/Tribal Hunter 7):  CR 10; Medium-size human; 
  HD 3d8+7d10+20; hp 72; Mas 14; Init +2; Spd 30 
  ft.; Defense 18, touch 18, flat-footed 16 (+2 Dex, +6 
  class); BAB +10; Grap +13; Atk +15 melee (1d8+8, 
  bone spear), +12 ranged (1d8+5, compound bow); 
  Full Atk +15/+10 melee (1d8+8, spear), +12/+7 
  ranged (1d8+5, compound bow); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ melee smash, improved melee smash, 
  hunter, archaic weapons specialization, craft bone 
  weapon, superior camouflage, quick kill +2; AL 
  Chinook; SV Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +4; AP 10; Rep 
  +2; Str 16, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Predator, Tribal.
  Skills:  Climb +7, Hide +6, Jump +5, Listen +2, 
  Move Silently +6, Navigate +3*, Speak Language 
  (unislang), Spot +3, Swim +7, Survival +10*.
  Feats: Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Cleave, 
  Combat Reflexes, Great Cleave, Guide, Power Attack, 
  Primitive Technology, Track, Weapon Focus (spear, 
  compound bow).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Bone Spear +1, compound bow, 20 
  arrows, bundle of provisions, various other gear and 
  personal possessions.
  Epic-Level Chinook Tribesman (Strong Hero 
  3/Tribal Hunter 7, Blood Hunter 5):  CR 15; 
  Medium-size human; HD 3d8+712d10+30; hp 110; 
  Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 21, touch 21, 
  flat-footed 19 (+2 Dex, +9 class); BAB +15; Grap 
  +18; Atk +21 melee (1d8+9, bone spear), +17 ranged 
  (1d8+6, compound bow); Full Atk +21/+16/+11 
  melee (1d8+8, spear), +17/+12/+7 ranged (1d8+5, 
  compound bow); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  melee smash, improved melee smash, hunter, archaic 
  weapons specialization, craft bone weapon, superior 
  camouflage, quick kill +2, craft blood weapon +2, 
  blood hunter +2, smite the transgressor; AL Chinook; 
  SV Fort +10, Ref +6, Will +4; AP 15; Rep +4; Str 16, 
  Dex 14, Con 15, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Predator, Tribal.
  Skills:  Climb +6, Hide +6, Jump +4, Listen +5, 
  Move Silently +7, Navigate +7*, Speak Language 
  (unislang), Spot +4, Swim +4, Survival +16*.
  Feats: Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Cleave, 
  Combat Reflexes, Dead Aim, Great Cleave, Far 
  Shot, Guide, Heroic Surge, Power Attack, Primitive 
  Technology, Track, Weapon Focus (spear, compound 
  bow).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Blood Spear +2, compound bow, (20) 
  bone arrows +1, bundle of provisions, various other 
  gear and personal possessions.
  People of Note
  Na-Chook
  Na-Chook has led the surface Chinook for nearly 
  a decade. He guides his people with strength and 
  wisdom gained from years of life outside the 
  cavernous homelands of his people.
  When not dealing with day-to-day tribal business, 
  Na-Chook is most often found roaming the borders of 
  the Sacred Lands, looking for signs of trespass. One 
  of his duties as chief is to ensure that the old laws are 
  obeyed. Failure to protect the Sacred Lands would 
  invite a younger man to challenge his leadership, and 
  Na-Chook isn’t ready to give up control of the tribe 
  just yet.
  Na-Chook (Post-Apocalyptic Hero 3/Tribal Hunter 
  8/Blood Hunter 3):  CR 14; Medium-size human; 
  HD 3d8+11d10+28; hp 102; Mas 14; Init +1; Spd 30 
  ft.; Defense 21, touch 19, flat-footed 20 (+1 Dex, +8 
  class, +2 leather armor); BAB +13; Grap +15; Atk 
  +16 melee (1d6+5, bone hatchet) or +15 ranged (1d8, 
  masterwork compound bow); Full Atk +16/+11/+5 
  melee (1d6+5, bone hatchet), or +15/+10/+5 ranged 
  (1d8, masterwork compound bow); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ Archaic Weapons Specialization, 
  Blood Hunter (+1), Conserve, Craft Blood Weapon 
  (+2), Craft Bone Weapon, Hunter, Quick Kill (+2 
  Die), Superior Camouflage, Survival Sense; AL 
  Chinook; SV Fort +11, Ref +8, Will +5; AP 13; Rep 
  +3; Str 15, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Guide, Tribal.
  Skills:  Balance +5, Climb +8, Craft (structural) +9, 
  Diplomacy +1*, Gather Information +9*, Hide +7, 
  Intimidate +5, Jump +7, Listen +4, Move Silently +7, 
  Navigate +3*, Sense Motive +4, Spot +9, Survival 
  +11, Swim +5, Treat Injury +5.
  Feats:  Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Armor 
  Proficiency (light), Endurance, Guide*, Leadership, 
  Power Attack, Primitive Technology, Run, Simple 
  Weapons Proficiency, Sunder, Track, Trustworthy*, 
  Weapon Focus (hatchet).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Leather armor, masterwork compound 
  bow, bone hatchet, blood hatchet (for use against 
  renegades only), knife, quiver with arrows.
  Other Native Indian 
  Groups
  In addition to the confederation that evolved into the 
  Chinook of the Lost Paradise, a few other Native 
  American groups managed to survive the fall with 
  their cultures relatively intact.  Scattered across the 
  wilderness, separated by miles of wild terrain and 
  I’ve never met him, but a few Blood Hunters have 
  come through Hope looking for renegades, and 
  if the leader of the Chinook is anything like his 
  warriors, then I pity anyone who gets on his bad 
  side.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  other dangers (which include both natural threats and 
  large militant groups like the U.C. and Purity Corp), 
  each is a unique holdout of long-lost culture, a way of 
  life preserved despite the widespread fall of humanity.
  Lelooska
  This small tribe, living in isolation on the north side 
  of the Columbia River, is one of the most curious to 
  have survived the fall.  After returning to the heavily 
  forested region of their forefathers, just a few dozen 
  miles from the glowing ruins of the Lewis and 
  Clark Bio-Dome Complex, the Lelooska adopted a 
  xenophobic way of life that has so far been successful 
  in keeping them alive—and untouched by the War of 
  the Remnants that swirls around them.
  Known for killing all who trespass on their richly-
  forested land, the Lelooska are easily identified by 
  their abundant use of masks, hand-carved from native 
  wood and often painted in bright, glaring colors. 
  These masks vary in size and style from simple 
  facemasks to armor-like coverings that conceal 
  most of the wearer’s body, often with ridiculous 
  or exaggerated features which make each a unique 
  work of art. Leering old men, fanged demons, and 
  terrible monsters are all visages commonly seen worn 
  by Lelooska tribesmen; masks are worn for special 
  religious observances, war, and even scout patrols (the 
  idea being that any outsider who stumbles onto them 
  in the deep forest will be stricken with fear and flee, 
  hopefully never to return).
  The Lelooska are a minor tribe with only a handful 
  of semi-permanent settlements threaded throughout 
  what used to be the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.  
  They are often at odds with patrols of the Purity Corp, 
  who hunt them like animals for sport and to reduce the 
  strain their presence has on local wildlife.
  Makah
  The Makah are another native Northwest tribe that 
  managed to survive the Fall while the rest of the 
  world all but collapsed into oblivion.  Dwelling on 
  the isolated tip of the Olympic Peninsula, they have 
  been renowned throughout history as a whale-hunting 
  people, their communal and religious life revolving 
  around the traditional whale hunt.  As whales became 
  rarer and rarer in the twilight years of the Ancients, 
  the Makah, stripped of much of their tribal identity, 
  nearly faded from history, becoming increasingly 
  integrated into the dome complexes erected along the 
  coast of Puget Sound.
  When reports of war reached them, many urban 
  Makah returned to the tip of the Peninsula to be with 
  loved ones and family, and to await the End in the 
  forests of their tribal homeland.  When the devastation 
  caused by the invasion and the nuclear strikes that 
  destroyed civilization passed by their forested borders 
  without touching them, they counted themselves 
  lucky—and immediately set about establishing a 
  new society based on their all-but-lost tribal culture.  
  Instead of trying to make contact with other survivors, 
  they closed themselves off completely from the rest of 
  the world.
  Today the Makah live as they did in ages past, 
  making good use of the thin slip of land they control 
  on the far edge of the Olympic Peninsula.  Living 
  in total isolation, the Makah subsist almost solely 
  on marine creatures hunted on the open ocean; this 
  includes whale-like monstrosities, larger mutated sea 
  mammals, and even the rare zug-wa found far from 
  shore (the killing of a zug-wa is an accomplishment 
  worthy of great celebration in Makah communities). 
  The Makah are expert navigators, and their whaling 
  boats often range up to a hundred miles out into the 
  Pacific in search of prey.
  To make up for the weakness inherent in their 
  small numbers, the Makah have not forgotten the 
  usefulness of Ancient technology (unlike many other 
  tribal cultures that survived the Fall).  The Makah 
  use motorboats to prowl the Olympic coast, always 
  on the lookout for abandoned sea craft that can be 
  towed back for community use (and also kept out of 
  the hands of seaborne raiders like the Nootka). These 
  patrols also search for old marinas that might hold 
  diesel fuel for their boats.  The Makah use a variety of 
  high-powered rifles, not only to hunt water creatures, 
  but also to defend against outsiders (such as the 
  Nootka, who occasionally raid their settlements).
  The primary Makah community is Neah Bay.  The 
  presence of the Sacred Lands of the Chinook prevents 
  the Makah from venturing south, so their activities are 
  almost completely restricted to the Straits of Juan de 
  Fuca (and the seas that surround them).
  Nootka
  In the aftermath of the Fall, many members of the 
  Native American Nootka tribe returned to what were 
  once their ancestral lands in Vancouver Island and 
  the northern coast of the Olympic Peninsula.  Though 
  no family groups remain on the Peninsula due to its 
  isolation, large numbers of Nootka now thrive in 
  a dozen waterside villages on Vancouver Island’s 
  western shores.
  The Nootka live primarily in densely-packed 
  villages composed of massive, colorfully-decorated 
  wooden lodges. They manage to subsist on what 
  they catch from the poisoned Pacific Ocean—sea 
  mammals (such as seals) are common, but pollution 
  and over-fishing (to meet the demands of a burgeoning 
  world population) during the time of the Ancients 
  all but eliminated local salmon, shellfish, and other 
  stocks. Though once a domestic people almost fully 
  integrated with Ancient society, the Nootka have 
  returned to their warlike roots, and now make up for 
  the scarcity of local resources by raiding neighboring 
  communities.  So far, this has mostly involved 
  victimizing the Makah across the Straits of Juan de 
  Fuca, but due to the Makah’s isolation (and relative 
  poverty) these efforts have born only moderate fruit.
  Nootka warriors generally sail, hunt, and wage 
  war bare naked; heavy clothing made from tree bark 
  is only worn during the colder months of the year.  
  
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  Pre-Fall clothing stolen during inland forays on 
  Canadian or American soil is a rare prize.  Known 
  for their skill with spears and other primitive ranged 
  weapons, Nootka warriors boast of their wartime 
  exploits by using the heads of their fallen enemies 
  to decorate their homes, villages, and war canoes.  
  Their boats are exceptionally agile and durable craft, 
  carefully constructed from sturdy wood and able to 
  accommodate up to forty warriors at a time.  Women 
  and children from conquered or raided communities 
  are almost invariably taken back aboard these boats 
  as slaves, destined to be drafted into the Nootka 
  workforce, claimed as “war-brides,” or sold to the 
  scattered non-Nootka communities that dot the 
  Canadian coastline (part of an illegal trade in slaves 
  that the U.C. works hard to combat).
  Yakima-Colville 
  Confederation
  This confederation of two of the larger tribes of 
  Washington State was born out of a mutual need 
  to survive in the years following the Fall.  With 
  their livelihoods devastated by the global economic 
  collapse, and their security threatened by the fierce 
  competition between surviving communities for 
  sparse food and water resources in the early years 
  after the war, it was a matter of necessity that the 
  former group eventually abandoned its traditional 
  reservation and struck out to make a new home for 
  themselves.  They found it alongside the Colville, far 
  to the north.
  Though in earlier years the struggle to survive 
  was difficult (especially with the coming of nuclear 
  winter), the Yakima had the foresight to move 
  northeast, away from withering livestock and 
  agriculture resources; the Yakima correctly guessed 
  that radiation poisoning would worsen with time and 
  set out for untainted lands.
  The Yakima’s migration across the Saddle 
  Mountains—traditional Mormon territory—was met 
  with absolutely ruthless resistance.  Though local 
  communities in the “breadbasket” region of the state 
  were few and far between, the deeply conservative 
  and isolationist people of Ephrata, Moses Lake, 
  and other plateau towns knew their region could 
  not support an influx of new immigrants in these 
  difficult times.  While at first Christian generosity 
  permitted the Yakima to stay, clashes soon erupted 
  as food supplies ran short and rumors spread of the 
  newcomers stealing to feed their people.
  Most of the Yakima refugees were driven from 
  central Washington across the Columbia River and 
  into the Kettle River Range by well-armed Mormon 
  militias following months of brutal ethnic cleansing. 
  The refugees soon found themselves sharing space 
  with another Indian group, the Colville confederation.
  Tensions quickly rose again as the Yakima settled 
  on Colville lands. But instead of resorting to force 
  to solve the problem, the Colville, well accustomed 
  to the concept of tribal confederations, approached 
  the Yakima peacefully, hoping to strike a balance 
  that would be mutually beneficial.  In time, the two 
  peoples formalized their alliance and came to form a 
  unified “nation.”
  Today the broad expanse of dry forest and 
  mountains that was once the Colville Indian 
  Reservation is home to the collective Yakima and 
  Colville tribes, who together form the second-largest 
  tribal group (outnumbered only by the Chinook) 
  in the Lost Paradise. Living in a mixed culture 
  comfortable combining old and new, the people of the 
  confederation live primarily by herding angoose and 
  deer.  Pickup trucks, stripped-down cars, motorbikes, 
  and even horses are all used as mounts by Yakima-
  Colville “cowboys,” who have earned a reputation 
  as expert riders and 
  sharpshooters—one 
  has to be a good shot 
  to protect a herd 
  from the predators, 
  human and mutant, 
  that stalk the wastes.
  The Yakima-Colville confederation remains 
  isolationist and xenophobic, their view of outsiders 
  deeply tainted by their treatment at the hands of white 
  men in the early years after the Fall. The Hand of 
  Jehovah has recently begun pressuring the tribes to 
  convert and has moved into territory once considered 
  part of the Colville reservation.  This incursion of 
  Hand of Jehovah settlers will no doubt fuel further 
  animosity down the road.
  The Pale Riders
  History
  When a company of Foundation scouts came north 
  out of the Sierra-Gehenna region of the Twisted Earth 
  in search of lost technology, they never expected to 
  find what most denizens of the Twisted Earth now call 
  the Lost Paradise. Indeed, the region of the Northwest 
  is heavenly in comparison to the blasted lands of 
  the south; rivers and streams still flow through the 
  Northwest, and some parts of the region even support 
  grass, fruits, and vegetables.  Strange animals graze 
  amidst the ruins of the bubble-domes that dot the land. 
  Seasons even visibly change in these parts, whereas 
  the blasted ruins of the southwest remain parched 
  nearly all year long.
  Some of the Foundationist scouts became so 
  infatuated with the region and its obvious potential 
  that they decided to stay. These dissidents argued with 
  the leaders of the group all the way up to the ruins of 
  the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome, trying to convince 
  The group known as the “Pale Riders” find their origins in the ill-fated Foundation 
  expedition of 2208 (see The Foundationists for details), a scouting party sent by 
  that famous Twisted Earth faction to explore the ruins of Portland in early attempts 
  to explore and map the surface world.
  
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  them to abandon their mission and forge a new realm 
  in this paradise.
  For their efforts, they were labeled traitors to 
  the Reconstructionist cause and threatened with 
  imprisonment or even death if they continued their 
  seditious talk. None of those threats were ever carried 
  out, for as the group began to explore the Lewis and 
  Clark Bio-Dome Complex, they came under attack.
  A large group of ghouls (and, some say, several 
  hunter-seeker drones) that lived in the ruins fell upon 
  the Foundationist camp one night while most of them 
  slept. The Foundationists had unwittingly made camp 
  squarely in the middle of the territory of a tribe of  
  walking dead, which smelled living flesh and came 
  to feast on the unsuspecting soldiers. The soldiers 
  fought bravely, but in the end were forced to retreat 
  or die in the wreck of the bio-dome. Only a very few 
  Foundationists managed to escape, and at the cost 
  of much of their high-tech equipment. The biggest 
  losses were maps and travel notes left behind in the 
  scramble to escape the hungry dead. Without those 
  maps, getting back home safely on foot was next to 
  impossible. There was nothing left to do but try to 
  survive in this strange new land.  Yet, even without 
  the maps, some of the survivors, still loyal to their 
  original mission, were determined to make it back 
  to California and warn their superiors of the ghoul 
  infestation.
  Parting under the cover of darkness, those who 
  wished to stay in the Lost Paradise instead of risking 
  the perilous journey home fled.  Putting their past 
  association with the Foundation behind them, they 
  eventually made their way down into the Desiccated 
  Wastes of Southeast Oregon and settled in the 
  ruins of an old town called Burns. These former 
  Foundationists built a fort around the town made of 
  wood and reinforced with whatever pieces of metal 
  and junk they could find (mostly old cars and trash 
  dumpsters).
  Whatever their original intentions, as the former 
  Foundationists found themselves ill-suited to live 
  off the land, they turned to raiding. From their fort, 
  the group launched lightning attacks on outlying 
  settlements in the region. At first these raids targeted 
  supplies and other items needed to sustain the group, 
  but as combat losses reduced their ranks, the group 
  began forcibly recruiting people to their “cause.”
  News of their villainous deeds spread throughout 
  the region, and as sightings became more frequent, 
  people began to call them Pale Riders—a reference 
  not only to their distinctive white armor, but to an 
  obscure biblical figure who supposedly caused death 
  wherever he went. Despite the Riders’ legendary 
  cruelty, some settlements suffering from crippling 
  poverty and starvation actually petitioned to join 
  them; many people preferred the prospect of a 
  glorious end in battle to that of a lingering death at the 
  hand of starvation and disease.
  Current Status of 
  the Riders
  The Pale Riders have grown rapidly since their 
  inception, and are currently the largest group of 
  raiders in the Northwest. They have numerous camps 
  in the Desiccated Wastes, and are slowly working 
  their way west into populated areas claimed by other 
  Northwest factions. As it expands westward, the 
  group has begun to establish tentative contact with 
  other groups outside of the Lost Paradise (notably the 
  Slavers of Slave City, who have shown an interest in 
  acquiring slaves from the Northwest).
  The Pale Riders are currently led by a mutant 
  known only as Zorthag. Zorthag has plans for the 
  Lost Paradise: he intends to enslave as many "pure 
  breeders" as possible and build an empire on their 
  backs. He takes great pains to capture women 
  whenever he finds them; he and his followers use 
  them to breed new ‘Riders.
  Captured males are given a choice: serve Zorthag’s 
  army, or die. Children are usually forced to do menial 
  labor, but the problem with children is that they need 
  to be fed, and feeding children takes food out of the 
  mouths of adults who can do much more work. With 
  this in mind, only the strongest boys are allowed to 
  live, while girls are kept for future use as breeders.
  Much like their ex-Foundationist forefathers, the 
  Allegiance Notes - Pale Riders
  The benefits and drawbacks to pledging allegiance to the Pale Riders are as follows:
  Freedom: Characters with this allegiance are free to do pretty much anything they want. They have 
  no restrictions on the types of weapons, armor, and equipment they can use, provided they know how to 
  operate them. They’re raiders, after all, and as long as they have the muscle and firepower to back up their 
  actions, characters may pillage, rape, and plunder to their hearts’ content.
  Notoriety: A character that chooses this allegiance has chosen to become a criminal, and that’s seldom 
  a good career choice. Pale Rider characters will run into conflicts in almost every city they visit; they can 
  expect to be hunted by U.C. Minutemen, Sentinels, the Red Brigade, and even Purist Enforcers.  Being a 
  Pale Rider doesn’t even guarantee safety in Burns, the Riders’ base of operations.
  Racial Restriction:  A beginning character who chooses to pledge allegiance to the Pale Riders must be 
  either a mutant or a pureblood slave. Advanced (higher-level) characters that wish to align themselves with 
  the Riders may ignore this restriction. However, there is no guarantee that pureblood humans will be able 
  to avoid the slave pens for long, even if they do choose this allegiance at later levels. Slaves can buy their 
  freedom in Burns, if they know who to talk to.
  
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  Pale Riders are very interested in the acquisition 
  of pre-Fall technology. The acquisition of existing 
  technology and the gathering of information about 
  the locations of surviving bunker complexes are vital 
  elements in Zorthag’s plans for conquest, and for 
  promising leads he is known to pay even outsiders 
  well.
  Pale Riders
  Background Options:  Ritual Preservationist.
  Attitude:  The Pale Riders have carved out an 
  empire in the Desiccated Wastes, and consider 
  this region of the Twisted Earth their own.  Trade, 
  diplomacy, and alliances serve no purpose unless they 
  expand the Pale Riders’ domain and enforce the rule 
  of Zorthag and his Overlords.
  Symbol:  Claiming to be the descendants of 
  Foundationist ancestors, the Pale Riders use a symbol 
  derived from the original Foundation insignia—a 
  broad circle over which has been imposed a stylized 
  scimitar shrouded in blue flames.
  Common Classes:  Raider, Road Warrior, Tinker, 
  Mech.
  Common Mutations:  Aberrant Endoskeletal 
  Encasing, Gigantism.
  Common Defects:  Bizarre Pigmentation, 
  Cannibalism.
  The Pale Riders have forged an empire in the 
  wastelands of Eastern Oregon (the area commonly 
  known throughout the Twisted Earth as the Forgotten 
  Desert and Desiccated Wastes).  Characters who 
  choose an allegiance with this faction must either be 
  a Mutant, Super Mutant, or have chosen the Military, 
  Slave, Slaver, or Wanderer occupations.
  Pledging allegiance to the Pale Riders essentially 
  sets the character against all other major factions 
  in the Northwest. Very few towns hesitate to shoot 
  someone bearing the mark of the Pale Riders. 
  Independent cities like Beavertown, Scappoose, 
  Fort Boise, and Bone City allow these raiders inside 
  their gates—but that’s not saying much, as these 
  settlements deal with almost anyone.
  Typical Pale Rider 
  Low-Level Pale Rider (Post Apocalyptic Hero 
  1/Tough Hero 1):  CR 2; Large humanoid; HD 
  1d8+1d10+5; hp 15; Mas 15; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; 
  Defense 15, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+2 Dex, +2 
  class, -1 size, +2 leather armor); BAB +0; Grap +5; 
  Atk +1 melee (1d3+2, nonlethal, unarmed) or +2 
  melee (1d6+2, rifle butt); Full Atk +1 melee (1d3+2 
  nonlethal, unarmed), or +1 ranged (2d8, Jackhammer 
  Mk3A1); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Robust, 
  Wasteland Lore; AL Pale Riders; SV Fort +4, Ref +3, 
  Will +1; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 14, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 10, 
  Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Slaver, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Hide +0, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (ancient 
  lore) +2, Knowledge (technology) +2, Listen +3, 
  Move Silently +4, Navigate +2, Search +3, Speak 
  Language (gutter talk), Spot +3, Survival +3.
  Feats: Armor Proficiency (light), Personal Firearms 
  Proficiency, Post Apocalyptic Technology, Simple 
  Weapon Proficiency.
  Mutations and Defects: Gigantism, Bizarre 
  Pigmentation.
  Possessions: Leather armor, Jackhammer Mk3A1, 
  20 rounds of 12-gauge ammunition, two light 
  rods, survival kit, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  Mid-Level Pale Rider (Post Apocalyptic Hero 
  1/Tough Hero 4/Raider 1):  CR 6; Large humanoid; 
  HD 1d8+5d10+25; hp 57; Mas 16; Init +2; Spd 30 
  ft.; Defense 24, touch 14, flat-footed 24 (+5 class, -1 
  size, +9 advanced metal armor, +1 chaps & chains); 
  BAB +4; Grap +9; Atk +5 melee (1d3+2, nonlethal, 
  unarmed) or +5 melee (1d6+2, rifle butt); Full Atk 
  +5 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed), or +5 ranged 
  (2d8, Jackhammer Mk3A1); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 
  5 ft.; SQ Chaps & Chains +1, Robust, Second Wind, 
  Wasteland Lore; AL Pale Riders; SV Fort +6, Ref +4, 
  Will +1; AP 9; Rep +2; Str 14, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 10, 
  Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Slaver, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Drive +4, Gather Information +1, Hide 
  +0, Intimidate +8, Knowledge (ancient lore) +2, 
  Knowledge (tactics) +3, Knowledge (technology) +2, 
  Listen +3, Move Silently +4, Navigate +2, Search +3, 
  Speak Language (gutter talk), Spot +4, Survival +3.
  Feats: Armor Proficiency (light), Armor Proficiency 
  (medium), Armor Proficiency (heavy), Personal 
  Firearms Proficiency, Post Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Simple Weapon Proficiency, Toughness, Vehicle 
  Expert.
  Mutations and Defects: Gigantism, Bizarre 
  Pigmentation.
  Possessions: Advanced metal armor, Jackhammer 
  Mk3A1, 20 rounds of 12-gauge ammunition, 
  fragmentation grenade, two light rods, survival kit, 
  motorcycle or horse with trappings, various other gear 
  and personal possessions.
  High-Level Pale Rider (Post Apocalyptic Hero 
  1/Tough Hero 4/Raider 5):  CR 10; Large humanoid; 
  HD 1d8+9d10+37; hp 91; Mas 17; Init +2; Spd 30 
  ft.; Defense 27, touch 16, flat-footed 27 (+7 class, -1 
  size, +9 advanced metal armor, +2 chaps & chains); 
  BAB +8; Grap +13; Atk +9 melee (1d3+2, nonlethal, 
  unarmed) or +9 melee (1d6+2, rifle butt); Full Atk 
  +9/+4 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed), or +10/+5 
  ranged (2d8, Jackhammer Mk3A1); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ Bloodthirsty Cry, Chaps & Chains 
  +2, Horrifying Kill, Robust, Second Wind, Wasteland 
  Lore; AL Pale Riders; SV Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +2; 
  AP 9; Rep +3; Str 14, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 10, Wis 12, 
  Cha 8.
  
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  Occupation and Background: Slaver, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Drive +4, Gather Information +1, Hide 
  +0, Intimidate +8, Knowledge (ancient lore) +2, 
  Knowledge (tactics) +3, Knowledge (technology) +2, 
  Listen +3, Move Silently +4, Navigate +2, Search +3, 
  Speak Language (gutter talk), Spot +4, Survival +3.
  Feats: Armor Proficiency (light), Armor Proficiency 
  (medium), Armor Proficiency (heavy), Personal 
  Firearms Proficiency, Post Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Simple Weapon Proficiency, Toughness, Vehicle 
  Expert, Weapon Focus (Jackhammer Mk3A1).
  Mutations and Defects: Gigantism, Bizarre 
  Pigmentation.
  Possessions: Advanced metal armor, Jackhammer 
  Mk3A1, 20 rounds of 12-gauge ammunition, 
  fragmentation grenade, two light rods, survival kit, car 
  or motorcycle with trappings, various other gear and 
  personal possessions.
  People of Note
  Zorthag
  Zorthag is a fearsome mutant who has claimed all 
  lands east of Burns as his own. His Pale Riders roam 
  the entirety of the Desiccated Wastes, imposing 
  Zorthag’s will on the settlers of the scorched lands, 
  taking food, weapons, equipment, and slaves from 
  every town they find and leaving a scant few survivors 
  to fight for the scraps left behind.
  Zorthag, however, isn’t just content to pick 
  the wastelands dry. He has a master plan for the 
  occupation of all settlements in the southern portion 
  of the Northwest. Once he has enslaved the human 
  population, taken their supplies, and bred them out 
  of existence, he plans to move north and repeat the 
  process until there are none left to challenge his 
  authority.
  Like other Pale Rider rulers before him, Zorthag’s 
  ancestors were members of an ill-fated Foundation 
  expedition sent to the Northwest almost 70 years ago.  
  Zorthag himself is evidence that the civilization and 
  organization of these ancestors has been lost in the 
  years since the Riders’ desertion.
  Zorthag (Post Apocalyptic Hero 1/Tough Hero 
  4/Raider 10):  CR 15; Large humanoid; HD 
  1d8+14d10+70; hp 152; Mas 21; Init +2; Spd 30 ft.; 
  Defense 34, touch 19, flat-footed 34 (+9 class, -1 
  size, +9 advanced metal armor, +3 chaps & chains, 
  +4 natural armor); BAB +13; Grap +18; Atk +14 
  melee (1d3+2, nonlethal, unarmed) or +14 melee 
  (1d6+2, rifle butt); Full Atk +14/+9/+4 melee (1d3+2 
  nonlethal, unarmed), or +15/+10/+5 ranged (2d8, 
  Jackhammer Mk3A1); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; 
  SQ Bloodthirsty Cry, Chaps & Chains +3, Death Cry, 
  Horrifying Kill, No Survivors, Robust, Second Wind, 
  Wasteland Lore; AL Pale Riders; SV Fort +11, Ref +8, 
  Will +4; AP 13; Rep +8; Str 14, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 
  10, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Slaver, Ritual 
  Preservationist.
  Skills:  Drive +6, Hide -2, Intimidate +17, 
  Knowledge (ancient lore) +4, Knowledge (tactics) 
  +13, Knowledge (technology) +5, Listen +3, Move 
  Silently +4, Navigate +2, Search +3, Speak Language 
  (Gutter Talk), Spot +4, Survival +3.
  I’m not sure what to say about the creature that people in the eastern settlements call Zorthag. I know he’s 
  a mutant. That much should be obvious just by his name—I mean, what normal mother names her son 
  “Zorthag?” What kind of a name for a pureblood human being is that? His mother probably named him 
  John, or Thomas, and he ate her for it and picked his own name. I hear some mutants eat their own.
  Anyhow, it seems that Zorthag comes from a band of desert-dwelling scum that, over the past few years, 
  has gathered mutants and other criminals together to form a faction called the Pale Riders. It certainly 
  doesn’t surprise me that a bunch of mutants would try to survive out in the Desiccated Wastes, or that they’d 
  band together to bring misery to simple folk who just want to live in peace. These Pale Riders appear to be 
  gathering strength. Maybe someone will have to go out there and take care of this Zorthag.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  Feats: Advanced Firearms Proficiency, Armor 
  Proficiency (light), Armor Proficiency (medium), 
  Armor Proficiency (heavy), Improved Damage 
  Threshold, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Post 
  Apocalyptic Technology, Renown, Simple Weapon 
  Proficiency, Super Mutant, Toughness, Vehicle Expert, 
  Weapon Focus (Jackhammer Mk3A1).
  Mutations and Defects: Gigantism, Protective 
  Dermal Development, Bizarre Pigmentation (white 
  hair).
  Possessions: Advanced metal armor, Jackhammer 
  Mk3A1, 20 rounds of 12-gauge ammunition, magnetic 
  shield C, power backpack, fragmentation grenade, 
  holographic image projector, power cell.
  The Walking Dead
  History
  The Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome is a dangerous place, 
  filled with many strange beasts. Perhaps the most 
  loathsome creatures to stalk the haunted wreck of the 
  ruins are the “walking dead.”
  When the Fall came, many people were caught 
  inside the Lewis and Clark complex, trapped by 
  android death squads and forced to hide in the sewage 
  and waste systems. These wretched people managed 
  to survive by whatever means were available to them, 
  even resorting to cannibalism when other food sources 
  ran out (they told themselves that the latter was a 
  temporary measure, but in time they developed a taste 
  for human flesh). The refugees survived for years 
  and years under the city, eventually degenerating into 
  a bizarre, troglodytic society that practiced hideous 
  blood rituals, offering up human sacrifices to placate 
  the “Metal Gods” who patrolled the desolate streets 
  and buildings on the surface. As time passed, the 
  so-called Metal Gods grew silent, and over time the 
  people began to change. Countless years of exposure 
  to toxic materials, radiation, and a diet of human flesh 
  has taken a toll on their minds and bodies, warping 
  them into cunning but only marginally-intelligent 
  stalkers called ghouls.
  A surprisingly large number of the creatures live in 
  and around the ruins on the Portland side of the bio-
  dome complex. The ghouls still hold to their tribal 
  way of living deep in the tunnels and sewage systems 
  beneath the ruins of the city; a number of distinct 
  “tribes” claim portions of the ruins as their territory.
  The rare few who have ventured into the ruins and 
  lived to tell about it call them the “walking dead” 
  for lack of any better description for these miserable 
  creatures.
  Ghouls of The Lewis & Clark 
  Bio-Dome
  The sprawling wreck of the Lewis and Clark Bio-
  Dome is not devoid of life. Indeed, only the bravest 
  travelers even contemplate venturing into the ruins 
  of the Ancients to rummage around for supplies and 
  old technology, for creatures lurk there that feed on 
  the flesh of the living. Many a traveler in the Lost 
  Paradise has made the mistake of ignoring the markers 
  placed by Sentinels warning people to stay away from 
  the “city of the walking dead.” Greed (for rumors 
  abound of valuable relics to be found in the ruins of 
  the ancient cities) lures many into the bio-domes, 
  where foolhardy treasure-hunters soon find themselves 
  hunted by tribes of ghoulish creatures who claim the 
  broken ruins as their domain.
  These creatures are the twisted descendants of 
  human survivors who took refuge in the bio-dome’s 
  sewers to escape Althea’s (later “Kali”) hunter-seeker 
  patrols; roving bands of these ghouls stalk the ruins 
  in search of carrion and human flesh. At present, four 
  major ghoul tribes inhabit the ruins of the Lewis and 
  Clark Bio-dome (including “Old Portland”), with a 
  plethora of smaller gang-like splinter groups spread 
  throughout the wreck. 
  Ghoul Variants
  While ghouls exist all across the Twisted Earth, the 
  ruins of Portland are home to an unusual number of 
  ghoulish variants, each of which possesses different 
  mutations and characteristics. In the Lost Paradise, six 
  distinct subspecies of ghoul have emerged from the 
  chaos of the Fall: aquatic, blood, overlord, ravager, 
  toxic, and winged.
  Aquatic Ghouls
  This variant probably developed as a direct product 
  of its environment. When people were forced to hide 
  in the sewage and waste tunnels beneath the wreck 
  of the bio-dome, they learned to survive in environs 
  filled with raw sewage and dirty water.  Living in 
  and traveling through these tunnels exposed them to 
  hideously-polluted water, which over time triggered 
  mutations in the offspring of the original survivors. 
  They developed gills and webbed digits on their hands 
  and feet to better move through the polluted waters 
  of the sewage tunnels (and later, the Columbia and 
  Willamette Rivers). To this day, aquatic ghouls make 
  their homes in damp subterranean passages beneath 
  the bio-domes and ruins of the Twisted Earth.
  In the Lost Paradise, aquatic ghouls are most 
  commonly found along the Columbia River, preying 
  on River Folk who travel the river towards Astoria. 
  They occasionally raid other tribes and attack 
  wandering adventurers for meat.  Aquatic ghouls have 
  also been reported in the ruins of Vancouver and the 
  northern reaches of the Sea-Tac Spawning Pits.
  Blood Ghouls
  Of all ghoul variants, blood ghouls are the most like 
  standard ghouls. They have serrated teeth, unnaturally 
  elongated claws, a taste for human flesh, and a high 
  sensitivity to light. Curiously, the blood ghoul has 
  developed a dependency on the blood of living 
  creatures. It is thought that these particular ghouls 
  
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  suffer from a disease of the blood and require large 
  amounts of iron to survive. While this hypothesis is 
  open to debate, one thing is certain: the blood ghoul 
  has a strong craving for the blood of sentient beings.
  To make matters worse, most blood ghouls are also 
  plague carriers. It is even said that the bite of a blood 
  ghoul transfers the “blood thirst” to the person bitten, 
  causing victims to eventually become blood ghouls 
  themselves.  Whether this is true or only a myth is 
  unknown.
  Ghoul Overlords
  The “overlord” is a relatively new and rare ghoul 
  variant. Brave (or foolish) souls who have crept 
  down into the Lewis and Clark Bio-dome to gather 
  information about the walking dead there have 
  returned with stories about a new “leadership caste” 
  that is making its presence felt among the ghoul 
  population of the haunted wreck. These “overlords” 
  apparently have vast powers of the mind, and are 
  worshipped as “gods” by their lesser brethren.
  Ravager Ghouls 
  The ravager ghoul is possibly the most drastic of all 
  the variant subspecies of ghoul in the Northwest. In 
  general, these cannibals are larger and much, much 
  stronger than their “normal” cousins. They have 
  massively deformed legs, which allow the creatures 
  to make incredible leaps. Massively hunched backs 
  force these creatures to walk in a crouched position, 
  with their muscular arms almost touching the ground. 
  This same mass of corded muscle also provides 
  incredible upper body strength.  Unlike toxic ghouls, 
  who possess great strength but little intelligence, 
  the ravager ghoul is both physically powerful and 
  exceedingly cunning, making it easily one of the 
  deadliest variants on the planet.
  Toxic Ghouls  
  The toxic ghoul is a vile creature that makes its 
  home in toxic cesspools and areas contaminated by 
  radioactive waste. These creatures are mindless beasts 
  that long ago shed the last vestiges of their humanity. 
  Toxic ghouls typically hold together in packs of three 
  or four, and make up the bulk of the free-drifting 
  ghouls encountered in the Lewis and Clark Bio-dome 
  (with a high concentration living in an area known by 
  outsiders as the Toxic Plains).
  Toxic ghouls, like standard ghouls, are driven by a 
  strong hunger for human flesh and go to great lengths 
  to get their food. Toxic ghouls have been spotted as 
  far west as the Sacred Lands, and Purist Enforcers 
  at the settlements of Future and Battleground have 
  regular contact with these fiends.
  Like the blood ghoul, toxic ghouls are also disease 
  carriers. These creatures carry a host of diseases, 
  many of which can cause people to become violently 
  (and often terminally) ill. Unlike other ghouls, this 
  particular variant is inhumanly strong; some toxic 
  ghouls also have multiple limbs, and all have strange 
  spike-growths along their bodies which add to their 
  ferocious appearance.
  Winged Ghouls (Sky Demons)  
  This variant is the least common type of ghoul found 
  on the Twisted Earth. Winged ghouls make their 
  homes in the loftiest areas of city ruins, in the broken 
  spires of skyscrapers and other towering structures.  
  They use their leathery, bat-like wings to glide 
  through the air and swoop down on unsuspecting prey.
   
  Ghoul Clans
  The following is a brief list of the major “clans” of 
  ghouls dwelling in the Lewis & Clark Bio-dome—at 
  least those whose existence has been verified by the 
  few outsiders who have visited the ruins and lived to 
  tell about them.  There are certainly other clans living 
  among the ruins, however.
   
  Bloodmaw Clan
  The largest of the bio-dome tribes is the Bloodmaw 
  clan, which boasts a population of just over a 
  thousand ghouls. The tribe claims the whole of the 
  southern portion of the Vancouver-side ruins as their 
  domain, with their main camp located in what’s left of 
  Fort Vancouver.
  The Bloodmaw clan is led by a particularly nasty 
  ghoul overlord known as Vorg Blacktongue. Vorg is a 
  vicious leader who maintains his rule through fear and 
  strength. Those who openly question Vorg’s judgment 
  must face him in combat; an unpleasant prospect 
  given Vorg’s fighting prowess and formidable mental 
  powers.
  Vorg has been urging his “people” to expand their 
  territory north into the area known as No Man’s Land. 
  This is easier said than done, however; No Man’s 
  Land is a popular hunting ground for vomit rats that 
  make their homes in the ruins of ancient apartments 
  and crumbling housing projects to the north. The 
  presence of these and other potential prey attracts 
  ghouls from other tribes, notably the Bonerippers and 
  packs of toxic ghouls from the Toxic Plains.
  The majority of the ghouls in the Bloodmaw clan 
  are blood ghouls, although a growing number of ghoul 
  overlords have either been born into the tribe or have 
  come from other areas of the Bio-dome to join with 
  Vorg, whose fearsome reputation grows each year.
  Boneripper Clan
  The Bonerippers are the smallest ghoul tribe in the 
  Lewis and Clark Bio-dome, with a population of 
  several hundred. They claim the Northgate sector 
  (known to members of the Purist Liberation Army as 
  “Hell’s Porch”) on the Vancouver side of the ruins as 
  their “domain.”
  Most ghouls in the Bonerippers tribe are standard 
  ghouls, although increasing contact with the 
  Bloodmaw clan and packs of toxic ghouls has 
  spawned a small number of blood and toxic ghouls.
  
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  Flesh Eater Clan
  The southernmost reaches of the Lewis and Clark Bio-
  dome and Old Portland are home to a tribe of ghouls 
  who call themselves the Flesh Eaters. The second 
  largest ghoul tribe in the Bio-dome, the Flesh Eaters 
  boast a population nearing one thousand.
  When the Foundationist expedition of 2208 entered 
  the Lewis and Clark Bio-dome, it was this tribe that 
  attacked and forced the Foundationists to retreat—a 
  key event in the history of the region and one that has 
  thus far kept the Foundationists out of the Northwest.
  The Flesh Eaters are predominantly ravager ghouls, 
  led by a massive individual who calls himself Mog. 
  Mog has maintained his position as ruler of the Flesh 
  Eaters by never failing to produce meat for his people, 
  whether it comes from attacking other ghoul tribes in 
  the bio-dome or openly assaulting Sentinel outposts 
  and trader caravans. His daring exploits have earned 
  Mog not only the respect of the entire tribe, but also 
  a measure of resentment from other ghoul groups in 
  the ruins (including Vorg of the Bloodmaw clan, who 
  fears that Mog’s reputation as a provider may soon 
  endanger his tribe’s position in the city if other ghouls 
  continue defecting to the Flesh Eaters).
  Moloch Clan
  The Moloch are a small, reclusive tribe of ghouls who 
  make their home in the easternmost portion of the 
  Lewis and Clark Bio-dome. The Moloch are primarily 
  ghoul overlords who have taken to hunting down 
  other ghouls (as well as adventurers foolish enough to 
  enter their territory) in the wreckage of the city for the 
  purposes of enslavement. Some say the Moloch work 
  strange “magicks” on those they capture, but nobody 
  really knows for sure.
  Signs marking the territory of the Moloch clan are 
  erected by Sentinels stationed at the Troutdale outpost, 
  but these warnings never seem to stop people from 
  wandering into the haunted region.
  Ghouls of Note
  Mog
  Mog leads the Flesh Eater tribe by being a good 
  provider. He has never failed to bring fresh meat 
  (human and ghoul alike) to the growing ranks of 
  his followers. Consequently, his tribe has begun to 
  swell in numbers, a development that worries many 
  of the other ghoul tribes (not to mention outsider 
  scouts who sneak into the ruins to monitor ghoul 
  activity within). Recently, Mog has increased the 
  frequency of his attacks on the Sentinel outpost at 
  Troutdale, which leads Warden Shephard to believe 
  the Warlord might be aiming to expand his territory 
  beyond the ruins. If Mog does decide to lead his 
  tribe out of the Bio-dome, the people of Troutdale 
  and all eastern settlements along the Columbia will 
  be in for a hard fight.
  Mog (Tough Hero 2/Strong Hero 2/Barbarian 
  8):  CR 12; Medium-size mutant human; HD 
  2d10+2d8+8d12+24; hp 96; Mas 20; Init +0; Spd 
  25 ft.; Defense 23, touch 18, flat-footed 23 (+8 
  class, +5 junk armor); BAB +11; Grap +14; Atk 
  +14 melee (1d8+5, nekode); Full Atk +14/+9/+4 
  melee (1d8+5, nekode); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 
  5 ft.; SQ Junk Armor, Junk Weapon, Melee 
  Smash, Rage 3/day, Second Wind; AL Flesh 
  Eaters; SV Fort +10, Ref +4, Will +4; AP 12; 
  Rep +2; Str 16; Dex 10, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 14, 
  OK, this has got to be the strangest journal entry I’ve ever made. I didn’t think the walking dead had 
  any kind of organizational structure. I guess I was wrong. Scouts are comin’ out of the Lewis and Clark 
  Bio-dome with horror stories about what they found inside. It seems the whole area is contested by an 
  unconfirmed number of ghoul tribes—that’s right, tribes. The damned things actually have their own sects 
  and follow leaders just like you and I do. One of them is called “Mog.”
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  Cha 7.
  Occupation and Background: Predator, Tribal.
  Skills:  Climb +7, Hide +10, Intimidate +4, Jump 
  +8, Knowledge (tactics) +6, Move Silently +10, 
  Search +7, Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +7, 
  Survival +10.
  Feats:  Archaic Weapons Proficiency, Blind-Fight, 
  Brawl, Exotic Melee Weapon Proficiency (nekode), 
  Improved Brawl, Improved Damage Threshold (x2), 
  Leadership, Power Attack, Primitive Technology, 
  Sunder, Track.
  Mutations and Defects: Adrenaline Control, 
  Increased Movement.  Cannibalism, Hunchback.
  Possessions:  Junk nekode (“cat claws;” treat as 
  brass knuckles with the extremely deadly ability), junk 
  armor (medium)
  Sentinels
  History
  The Lost Paradise is home to many hostile 
  groups. From raiders to xenophobic tribes of 
  ghouls that roam the wrecked cities, there is 
  enough danger in the Northwest to challenge even the 
  best-equipped travelers and communities. Fortunately 
  for the more peaceful people of the region, there are 
  some who choose to fight for the cause of good (to 
  the extent that there is even a universally-accepted 
  definition of “good” in these times). One such group, 
  the Sentinels, makes their home in one of the world’s 
  few remaining intact and functional domes: Crater 
  City.
  Crater City is located inside the ruins of the Crater 
  Lake Dome Complex. In fact, the Sentinels are 
  descended from the inhabitants of the old tourist 
  towns of southern Oregon and the affluent vacationers 
  who found themselves trapped in the dome during 
  the final days of civilization. These groups spent the 
  dark years subsisting off plants and wildlife in the 
  expansive bubble-domes, only venturing out into the 
  wilds when supplies ran low. The ones who did dare 
  the wastes beyond the relative safety of the bubble-
  domes were those most skilled in wilderness and 
  outdoor survival. It was these gifted folk who formed 
  the core of the Sentinels.
  The Sentinels are extremely adept at survival in 
  the wilds of the Twisted Earth. They are tireless 
  explorers and outdoorsmen; it is said that they’ve 
  even ventured south over the mountains into the old 
  kingdom of California. Whether or not this is true, 
  one thing is certain: they keep a vigilant watch on 
  all roads leading to and from that region, almost as 
  if they know something that others in the Northwest 
  don’t. These stories serve to fuel rampant gossip and 
  speculation about the Sentinels and their connection to 
  the southern lands.
  Although most Sentinel forces are deployed to keep 
  watch over these southern roads, Sentinel outposts 
  can also be found along the northern passes serving 
  as havens for those in need of aid. The Sentinels are 
  dedicated to helping those unable to help themselves. 
  Rarely will a Sentinel turn down a call for help, or 
  decline to guide a caravan through dangerous territory.
  The Sentinels are loosely aligned with the United 
  Combine in its war against the Purity Corp. It is 
  an alliance born more of convenience than moral 
  principle; the Purist devils deserve to be destroyed, 
  but few Sentinels find the politics of the United 
  Combine to be much better. The Purity Corp’s moral 
  flaws are more immediately obvious, but Sentinels 
  point out the high cost—in supplies, money, and 
  food—that the Combine’s freedom requires of its 
  people, and wonder if the U.C.’s expensive protection 
  sometimes more closely resembles extortion. Despite 
  their general distrust of both factions, the Sentinels 
  support the perceived lesser of the two evils, 
  suspecting that the Combine, unlike the Purity Corp, 
  could be reformed for the better after victory in the 
  War.
  The Three Orders
  The Sentinels are divided into three distinct orders: 
  Guides, Scouts, and Wardens.
  The order of Guides is the largest and most visible 
  of the three. Odds are if a person or group seeks out 
  the Sentinels for help, the Sentinels will dispatch 
  Guides to give aid. Guides serve various functions, 
  ranging from manning outposts along the trade routes 
  and accompanying scouts on missions to guiding 
  caravans from one point to another. Travelers and 
  merchants who approach the Sentinels for assistance 
  or shelter usually interact with Guides; the valorous 
  and benevolent actions of this order account for the 
  high regard in which the people of the Northwest 
  (excepting Purists) hold the Sentinels.
  The Scouts form the elite arm of the Sentinels 
  and recruit only the most skilled outdoorsmen and 
  rangers. Scouts handle the Sentinels’ most dangerous 
  assignments: excursions into uncharted territory, the 
  exploration of ruins, recon missions into enemy lands, 
  and any other tasks too dangerous to be entrusted to 
  less-experienced Sentinels.
  Among the rigorous tests and challenges potential 
  Scout recruits must endure is the “Gauntlet,” a 
  training program designed to refine and expand on 
  the skills learned during Sentinel apprenticeship. 
  The Gauntlet lasts for three moon cycles and tests 
  participants beyond anything they have experienced 
  before. Candidates have been known to die while 
  “running the Gauntlet,” but those who make it through 
  are welcomed as brothers (or, more rarely, sisters) into 
  an order venerated by Sentinels and non-Sentinels 
  alike.
  The third order, the Wardens, is the smallest of the 
  three branches. Wardens hold command positions 
  within the faction and are recruited exclusively from 
  the ranks of Guides and Scouts. While many Wardens 
  devote their time to administrative and command 
  functions in Crater City, the most capable are given 
  charge of Sentinel outposts, where (depending on the 
  
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  location) they command a garrison of Guides and a 
  company of Scouts.
  Recent rumors hold that changes—and new 
  threats—are coming to the higher echelons of the 
  Sentinels. Some reports mention rising dissatisfaction 
  within the Warden order over the Sentinels’ support 
  of the Combine in the War of the Remnants. Other 
  tales hold that the High Warden has taken ill and that 
  members of his command staff are secretly jostling 
  to replace him, campaigning for support from within 
  other orders. Still other rumors claim that the Scouts 
  watching the southern routes have noticed distressing 
  developments there—some say an army of strange, 
  twisted monsters with advanced technology is 
  constructing strongholds on the edge of the region.
  Sentinels
  Background Options:  Visionary Reinventor.
  Attitude:  The Sentinels believe peace and 
  prosperity can be attained through hard work and 
  selfless cooperation.  To set an example for all to 
  live by, by the Sentinels actively patrol old forest 
  roads and wilderness areas to drive off creatures that 
  threaten civilized settlements, and answer the call 
  whenever a community needs help fending off attacks 
  by raiders or other Northwest factions.
  Symbol: Long ago the Sentinels fought briefly 
  against the Chinook (when certain tribes of the latter 
  began raiding settled lands across the Columbia out of 
  desperation) and earned a reputation as fierce fighters. 
  The Chinook thereafter used a symbol carved onto 
  wooden posts to mark Sentinel territory, which the 
  Sentinels later adopted as their official insignia.  The 
  symbol is a leering, red-eyed spirit from a traditional 
  Northwest totem pole.
  Common Classes:  Guardian, Soldier, Scholar, 
  Survivalist, Tinker, Mech.
  Common Mutations:  Diurnal/Nocturnal, Neural 
  Mutation.
  Common Defects:  Hemophilia, Syncope.
   The presence of Sentinels is not always appreciated 
  by Northwest communities, but anyone who has run 
  into trouble in the wilderness and received aid from 
  Scouts will insist the Sentinels are a godsend to the 
  region.
  The inhabitants of Crater City are open to 
  interaction with people in the surrounding areas. 
  Outsiders are allowed into the bubble-domes to trade, 
  seek shelter from the wilderness or petition to become 
  Sentinels. Purists are not allowed into Sentinel 
  holdings for any reason; anyone found to be a member 
  of the Purity Corp is tried as a spy and executed if 
  convicted.
  Life in Crater City is very much like that on a 
  military base. Civilians are expected to learn the 
  basics of hand-to-hand combat and the handling of 
  firearms. Sentinels handle the day-to-day security of 
  the city, but in times of crisis everyone is expected to 
  fight. 
  Crater City, originally built as a resort town for 
  affluent vacationers, is one of the few domes that 
  survived the fall relatively intact. Consequently, its 
  current inhabitants enjoy many of the conveniences 
  that come with living in a fully operational bio-
  dome. Androids played a particularly important role 
  in preserving the city’s population. After the initial 
  chaos of the post-Fall android “emancipation,” during 
  which many of the city’s pleasure androids and labor-
  bots embarked on killing sprees, Crater City’s human 
  inhabitants managed to fight back, destroying the most 
  out-of-control androids and reprogramming the others 
  to once again obey their human masters.
  These androids (and Katy, the A.I. who controlled 
  the everyday operation of the entire dome) became 
  an integral part of life in Crater City. Katy and her 
  robotic servants taught the humans how to preserve 
  what resources they had, how to manufacture filters 
  to keep the water pure enough to drink, and how 
  to manufacture new, cutting-edge devices far more 
  advanced than anything most other people in the 
  Northwest could create.  Guided by their benevolent 
  A.I. assistants, the people of Crater City prospered 
  even during the harsh, early days of the Twisted Earth, 
  and today have access to more and better technology 
  than do most of their neighbors.
  The Sentinels maintain a strict policy of secrecy 
  regarding their hi-tech capabilities for fear of drawing 
  unwanted attention from other factions—many of 
  whom would gladly risk war with the city in hopes 
  of seizing its technology. If the Purists (or even the 
  United Combine) understood the full extent of the 
  Sentinels’ technological superiority, war would come 
  quickly to the gates of the Crater City domes. 
  Choosing a primary allegiance to Crater City during 
  character creation means that the character was born 
  inside the bio-dome or in the surrounding settlements. 
  Such characters have unfettered access to the bio-
  A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
  Though the Sentinels’ sphere of control is limited to Crater City and its environs, their alliance with the 
  United Combine has enabled them to expand their influence over a much larger area. Though the Sentinels 
  maintain no other communities, the U.C. has all but invited them to visit their towns to the north, establish 
  outposts along the Columbia River (see Crown Point for one such example), and “keep the peace.”
  Though this might seem like a move towards some kind of union with the Combine, it is not.  The 
  Sentinels are a stubborn, independent people, and though treated hospitably, they maintain a professional 
  distance from the U.C.  The Sentinels understand that the United Combine is primarily using them to help 
  bolster their weaker, isolated southern front. 
  
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  dome and all of its secrets, and may begin play with 
  advanced weapons and equipment not available to 
  characters from most other communities. Of course, 
  because the Sentinels do not wish to broadcast their 
  technological capabilities, characters traveling outside 
  Crater City are expected to exercise discretion in 
  choosing and using equipment. Basic equipment and 
  essential supplies are freely available, but only to 
  characters who can prove his or her allegiance--and 
  who can be trusted not to betray Crater City’s secrets 
  through careless use of advanced technology.
  Characters with a secondary (or tertiary) allegiance 
  to Crater City may or may not have the same level 
  of access available to characters with a primary 
  allegiance to the city. Generally speaking, these 
  characters hail from other areas of the Northwest and 
  have extensive but not complete access to Crater City 
  and its storehouses. They must barter or purchase their 
  equipment and weapons normally, though they pay 
  lower costs and have access to better weapons than 
  would a completely unaffiliated visitor.
  When traveling abroad, characters with an 
  allegiance to Crater City may find shelter in any 
  Sentinel outpost in the Lost Paradise so long as they 
  can prove their allegiance to the faction. Equipment 
  in Sentinel outposts is not available for free, even 
  to characters with a primary allegiance. Outposts 
  maintain a strict rationing system and aren’t willing to 
  part with precious supplies without getting something 
  in return.
  In general, the attitudes of Sentinels towards other 
  factions in the Northwest are as follows:
  United Combine:  The Sentinels enjoy a relatively 
  friendly relationship with the United Combine. The 
  two factions work together to keep the peace in old 
  Oregon. The Sentinels don’t always agree with the 
  policies of the United Combine—many Sentinels are 
  particularly upset over reports that the U.C. sometimes 
  forsakes communities unable to contribute their fair 
  share of supplies to the Combine—but the alliance of 
  the two groups against the Purity Corp remains strong.
  Purity Corp:  The Purists are hated like no other 
  faction in the Northwest. Their racist philosophy and 
  their barbarous treatment of other factions were the 
  major motivating factors in convincing the Sentinels 
  to drop their neutral stance and plunge headlong into 
  the War of the Remnants.
  People’s Army:  The Sentinels maintain peaceful 
  relations with the Tillamook Traders, going so far as 
  to allow the faction to establish trading outposts on the 
  borders of Crater City. The Sentinels don’t necessarily 
  agree with the neutral stance the People’s Army takes 
  with regard to the War of the Remnants, but respect 
  their decision to do so. A militant minority within 
  the Sentinels accuses the Tillamook Traders of being 
  “blood traders” who care only about profiting off the 
  war.
  Chinook Indians (and other Indian groups):  
  Like most other factions in the Northwest, the 
  Sentinels have extremely limited contact with the 
  Chinook and other native tribes of the region. As for 
  the Chinook in particular, the Sentinels choose to 
  leave these people alone, remembering past conflicts 
  with the reclusive people.
  Pale Riders:  The Sentinels know little of the Pale 
  Riders, but have dispatched elite Scouts to gather 
  intelligence about Zorthag, his domains, and his 
  ambitions. As it stands, Sentinel standing orders hold 
  that any Pale Rider encountered in the wilderness is 
  to be shot on sight or captured and brought back to 
  Crater City.
  Hand of Jehovah:  Solomon’s fanatics are another 
  faction the Sentinels take great pains to avoid. 
  Generally speaking, the Hand of Jehovah is just 
  too fundamentalist for the Sentinels’ tastes; many 
  Sentinels hold religious beliefs of their own, but 
  consider violent action against others in the name of 
  religion unacceptable.
  Fort Boise:  The Sentinels have no real issues 
  with this community of mutants, although hostile 
  encounters with the Pale Riders currently threaten 
  to taint the Sentinels’ attitudes towards mutant-kind 
  in general. As yet, the Sentinels haven’t officially 
  undertaken any expeditions into what used to be 
  Idaho; they’re too busy dealing with Zorthag’s raids 
  and the Purity Corp’s all-out aggression.
  Bone City:  The Scouts are actively engaged in 
  recon missions to gather more information about this 
  city.  The rumors they hear about the morbid “bone 
  trade” are enough to make the average citizen of 
  Crater City wary of further contact.
  Beavertown: Sentinels occasionally travel into 
  Beavertown when pursuing a criminal or when they 
  want to use the tunnels leading into Old Portland. 
  Otherwise, Sentinels choose to leave these people 
  alone—they have enough problems as it is. 
  Scappoose:  Occasionally a Guide leads a group 
  near enough to the city to warrant staying there for the 
  night, or a Scout stops by to trade, but that’s about all 
  the contact the Sentinels have with the seedy town of 
  Scappoose. Some Sentinels have talked about clearing 
  out the riff-raff and using the town as a base of 
  operations, and many Wardens agree; they also know 
  that the Trojan Corium Mine is near Scappoose, and 
  that the additional revenue garnered from that mine 
  Allegiance Notes - Sentinels
  Choosing the Sentinels or Crater City as an allegiance comes with the following benefits and restrictions:
  Racial Tolerance:  Sentinels (and the people of Crater City) are fairly open-minded about both ethnicity 
  and mutation. Characters may choose to be either a mutant or a pureblood human.
  Access to Advanced Gear: Characters with an allegiance to the Sentinels or Crater City are allowed 
  access to the bio-dome, where they may be able to trade for advanced weapons and gear (GM’s discretion).
  
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  would go a long way in these dark times.
  Mutants:  Sentinels choose to deal with mutants on 
  a case-by-case basis. There are too many uncertainties 
  in the Northwest to alienate a potential ally just 
  because he or she looks different. Besides, a growing 
  number of mutants are being born in Crater City 
  and the surrounding settlements. Most Sentinels just 
  accept mutation as a fact of life.
  Typical Sentinel 
  Sentinel Guide (Post Apocalyptic Hero 1/
  Tough Hero 1):  CR 2; Medium-size human; HD 
  1d8+1d10+5; hp 15; Mas 15; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; 
  Defense 14, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+1 Dex, +2 
  class, +1 leather jacket); BAB +0; Grap +2; Atk 
  +2 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed) or +2 melee 
  (1d6+2, combat knife); Full Atk +2 melee (1d3+2 
  nonlethal, unarmed), or +2 melee (1d6+2, combat 
  knife), +2 ranged (2d8, M16A2); FS 5 ft. by 5 
  ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Robust, Wasteland Lore; AL 
  Sentinels; SV Fort +4, Ref +2, Will -1; AP 6; Rep +0; 
  Str 14, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 10.
  Occupation and Background: Guide, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills: Climb +4, Hide +3, Jump +4, Knowledge 
  (ancient lore) +3, Knowledge (mutant lore) +3, Listen 
  +1, Move Silently +3, Navigate +7*, Search +1, Sense 
  Motive +1, Speak Language (Unislang), Spot +1, 
  Survival +5*.
  Feats: Guide*, Personal Firearms Proficiency, 
  Post Apocalyptic Technology, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency.
  Mutations and Defects: None. 
  Possessions: Leather jacket, M16A2 assault rifle, 
  60 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, combat knife, 
  flashlight, power cell, rad tab, five ready meals, 10 
  salt pills, survival kit, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  Sentinel Scout (Post Apocalyptic Hero 3/
  Tough Hero 3):  CR 6; Medium-size human; HD 
  3d8+3d10+15; hp 45; Mas 15; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; 
  Defense 16, touch 15, flat-footed 15 (+1 Dex, +4 
  class, +1 leather jacket); BAB +4; Grap +6; Atk 
  +6 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed) or +6 melee 
  (1d6+2, combat knife); Full Atk +6 melee (1d3+2 
  nonlethal, unarmed), or +6 melee (1d6+2, combat 
  knife), +5 ranged (2d8, M16A2); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ Conserve, Robust, Stamina, Wasteland 
  Lore; AL Sentinels; SV Fort +6, Ref +4, Will +1; AP 
  8; Rep +1; Str 15, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 13, Wis 8, Cha 
  10.
  Occupation and Background: Guide, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills: Climb +4, Hide +3, Jump +4, Knowledge 
  (ancient lore) +3, Knowledge (mutant lore) +5, Listen 
  +5*, Move Silently +3, Navigate +9*, Ride +4, Search 
  +3, Sense Motive +3, Speak Language (Unislang), 
  Spot +5*, Survival +10*.
  Feats: Alertness*, Endurance, Guide*, Personal 
  Firearms Proficiency, Post Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Simple Weapons Proficiency, Track, Trustworthy.
  Mutations and Defects: None. 
  Possessions: Leather jacket, M16A2 or Colt 
  M1911, 60 rounds of 5.56mm (or .45) ammunition, 
  smoke grenade, stage IC access card, flashlight, power 
  cell, rad tab, five ready meals, light rod, 10 salt pills, 
  survival kit, holographic image projector, power cell, 
  horse and trappings, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  Sentinels of Note
  Garrick Shephard
  Garrick Shepherd serves Crater City as Warden of 
  the Crown Point Sentinel Outpost, situated along 
  the southern banks of the Columbia River Gorge. 
  Shephard’s duties include monitoring all activity 
  east of the Lewis and Clark Bio-dome, maintaining 
  positive relations between the River Folk and the 
  Sentinels, and assisting the River Folk in their efforts 
  to halt the advance of Purist forces on the northern 
  shores of the Great River.
  Garrick commands a garrison of one hundred 
  Guides and thirty of the best Scouts in the entire clan. 
  Years of combat have made Garrick a bit of a cynic; 
  he does his job with absolute loyalty to Crater City, 
  but his heart has been hardened by the brutal realities 
  of life outside of the great dome city.
  Warden Shephard no longer sees much point in the 
  Sentinels’ involvement in the war between the United 
  Combine and the Purity Corp. Too many men have 
  died under his command; too many men have gone on 
  patrols into the great domed “dead zone” to the west, 
  never to be seen again. More young fools looking to 
  become heroes in the eyes of parents and sweethearts 
  get transferred to the front lines along the banks of the 
  polluted river each day. Garrick does his best to guide 
  them and to keep the greenies from getting their heads 
  blown off, but at the end of the day there are always a 
  few holo-transmissions to be sent back to Crater City 
  with bad news for some poor family who sent sons or 
  daughters out to the front.
  Still, his men love him, and the High Wardens 
  down in Crater City have nothing but praise for his 
  accomplishments. They give Garrick everything he 
  asks for, save for what he really wants: to be cut loose 
  of his responsibilities at Crown Point and given time 
  with his wife and child.
  Garrick Shephard (Fast Hero 3/Smart Hero 
  3/Guardian 8):  CR 14; Medium-size human; HD 
  3d8+3d6+8d10+28; hp 82; Mas 13; Init +3; Spd 30 
  ft.; Defense 28, touch 22, flat-footed 25 (+3 Dex, +9 
  class, +6 military combat suit); BAB +11; Grap +13; 
  Atk +13 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed); Full Atk 
  +13/+8/+3 melee (1d3+2, nonlethal, unarmed), or 
  +15/+10/+5 ranged (2d8, M16A2); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ Defender (+4), Evasion, Plan, Savant 
  (knowledge, tactics)*, Tactical Aid, Uncanny Dodge 
  
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  1; AL Sentinels; SV Fort +9, Ref +12, Will +5; AP 13; 
  Rep +4; Str 14, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 
  12.
  Occupation and Background: Military, Visionary 
  Reinventor.
  Skills:  Balance +5, Demolitions +9, Drive +6, 
  Hide +6, Intimidate +18, Knowledge (current events) 
  +10, Knowledge (history) +4, Knowledge (tactics) 
  +17*, Listen +3, Move Silently +6, Search +4, Speak 
  Language (Unislang), Spot +3, Tumble +5.
  Feats: Armor Proficiency (light), Armor Proficiency 
  (medium), Armor Proficiency (heavy), Endurance, 
  Far Shot, Great Fortitude, Leadership, Lightning 
  Reflexes, Personal Firearm Proficiency, Point Blank 
  Shot, Post Apocalyptic Technology, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency, Weapon Focus (M16A2), Weapon 
  Specialization (M16A2).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions: Military combat suit, M16A2, 90 
  rounds of 5.56mm ammunition, two fragmentation 
  grenades, knife, flashlight, rad tab, five ready meals, 
  10 salt pills, survival kit, holographic image projector, 
  two power cells, blue stage IIIC identity card.
  River Folk
  The Northwest is considered a “Lost Paradise” 
  primarily because it is laced with rivers and dotted 
  with lakes, all of which are magnets for people 
  looking to survive in lands otherwise inimical to life. 
  The waters are also an excellent means of transport; 
  the River Folk living in these well-watered lands use 
  the waterways to travel to and from towns located on 
  the rivers. In many cases, they have even developed 
  distinct social orders independent of the region’s 
  major factions.
  “River folk are River folk, and everyone else is 
  just logs floatin’ down stream” is a common saying 
  among the River Folk, who are largely uninterested 
  in the politics of the Northwest.  They have enough to 
  worry about without having to choose sides in a war 
  they didn’t start. But despite their official neutrality 
  in the War of the Remnants, the other factions must 
  take careful account of the River Folk whenever 
  undertaking major operations in the area—for the 
  River Folk alone hold the key to safe navigation of the 
  Northwest’s often-treacherous waterways.
  The Purity Corp pays particular attention to the 
  River Folk, who stand in the way of Purist conquest in 
  Oregon. The River Runners (the predominant clan of 
  River Folk) control all water traffic on the Columbia 
  (which they’ve named the Great Water); before the 
  Purists can gain control of any territory in Oregon, 
  they will have to find some way to neutralize the 
  River Runner war boats that tirelessly patrol the river. 
  The River Runners guess the Purity Corp’s ambitions 
  and respond to Purist threats with what force they can 
  muster.
  The largest River Folk settlement lies at the ruins of 
  what was once Bonneville Dam. The River Runners 
  there must deal with constant Purist attempts to seize 
  control of the structure and its partially-restored 
  hydroelectric power generators. When not dealing 
  with Purist incursions, River Runners travel up 
  and down the Great Water, trading with the small 
  communities that have cropped up on its southern 
  banks, roaming almost to the mouth of the Columbia, 
  an area they call the “Picket Fence.”
  River Folk
  Background Options:  Tribal.
  Attitude:  The River Folk are just trying to 
  survive—to live their lives as best they can with what 
  few resources remain.  They claim the waterways 
  of the Lost Paradise as their domain. Acutely aware 
  of their lack of manpower and resources, they’ve 
  survived by providing boat services to the other 
  groups of the area, and by remaining officially neutral 
  in the War of the Remnants.
  Symbol:  None, though individual groups of River 
  Folk (such as the River Runners) may sometimes 
  adopt symbols with which to mark the boundaries of 
  their territory.
  Common Classes:  Guardian, Scav, Skulk, River 
  Runner, Tinker, Mech.
  Common Mutations:  Respiratory Membrane, 
  Webbed Digits.
  Common Defects:  Bilirubin Imbalance, Hemi 
  hypertrophy.
  Politically, the River Folk are the Northwest’s wild 
  card. They control many of the waterways through 
  Oregon and parts of Washington—and they alone 
  possess the skill and knowledge required to navigate 
  the heavily-polluted, monster-infested waters of the 
  Northwest. This monopoly makes them important 
  power brokers in the region, as other factions must 
  deal with the River Runners for safe passage along 
  and across the treacherous waterways.
  Most River Folk prefer to live in peace and quiet, 
  content to live off the land and what aquatic life they 
  can catch. Other necessities are acquired through 
  barter or taken as payment in exchange for the safe 
  escort of caravans and travelers up and down the 
  I’ve met this man once. Warden Shephard’s a hard-nosed man with a long, hook-shaped scar above his 
  left eye. He likes to brag about how he got it in a fight with some kind of mutant bug he calls a “Tecesni.” 
  Personally, I think it’s a bunch of bullshit. Shephard’s like that—always braggin’ about his exploits up 
  North. His men love him and would do anything for him, though. I suppose that’s all that matters.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  rivers. They are careful about the factions with whom 
  they do business; the politics of the region are so 
  volatile that simply doing business with the “wrong” 
  party can bring the wrath of an entire faction down 
  upon their heads. With this in mind, most River Folk 
  remain neutral and deal with customers on a case-by-
  case basis. The only exception to this rule is the Purity 
  Corp—the Purists brought war to the banks of the 
  Columbia, and while the River Folk don’t go looking 
  for fights, neither do they hesitate to fire on any Purist 
  patrols they encounter.
  The technology level of the River Folk varies from 
  one settlement to another. Some live low-tech lives 
  not unlike the Chinook, while others have limited 
  access to modern-era weaponry and equipment.  In 
  the case of the Bonneville Falls settlement, a steady 
  source of hydroelectric energy has brought both 
  wealth and unwanted attention from other factions.
  The average River Folk community has at least five 
  watercraft of various designs, ranging from simple 
  motorboats to jet skis to tuggers —and at the most 
  advanced end of the spectrum, fast-attack watercraft 
  armed with jury-rigged sea mines and ring-mounted 
  machine guns.
  In general, the attitudes of River Folk towards other 
  factions in the Northwest are as follows:
  United Combine:  River Folk have no real reason 
  not to deal fairly with the United Combine. Some 
  communities are even on somewhat decent terms 
  with the U.C., although the River Folk are careful 
  not to get caught up in the War of the Remnants. The 
  River Folk will continue to deal peacefully with the 
  United Combine as long as its diplomats don’t start 
  pressuring them to get more actively involved in the 
  war.
  Purity Corp:  River Folk hate the Purists. The Corp 
  is responsible for so many River Folk deaths that the 
  mere sight of a Purist patrol will provoke most River 
  Folk to attack.
  People’s Army:  Some River Folk (such as the 
  Harris Clan in Corvallis) refuse to deal with the 
  Tillamook Traders because of the latter’s Union 
  origins. Others choose to ignore the past and deal 
  with the needs of present, and the Tillamook Trading 
  Caravans are always eager to meet those needs.
  Chinook Indians (and other Indian groups):  The 
  River Folk have had only limited dealings with the 
  native tribes of the Northwest. The River Folk and 
  natives lead similar lives, although their reclusive 
  natures mean that they only deal with each other when 
  absolutely necessary.
  Pale Riders:  These raiders are hated nearly as 
  much as the Purists. River Folk settlements along the 
  John Day, Deschutes, and the eastern portion of the 
  Columbia rivers have recently come under attack by 
  this group. Consequently, any encounters with this 
  mutant faction are likely to end in bloodshed. 
  Hand of Jehovah: River Folk tend to be leery of 
  dealing with anyone who claims allegiance to the 
  Hand of Jehovah. Most River Folk appreciate the 
  importance of religion and faith, but don’t understand 
  the extremes to which the Hand has taken their 
  beliefs, and they strongly disapprove of the Hand’s 
  often violent conversion techniques. News and rumors 
  of Hand of Jehovah missionary excesses has left most 
  River Runners unwilling to deal extensively with 
  members of the faction.
  Crater City:  The Sentinels of Crater Dome frown 
  on the reclusive River Folk’s wartime neutrality. The 
  River Folk have never cared for this elitist attitude, 
  especially given that their own efforts to patrol the 
  Columbia River keeps Purist armies at bay on the 
  north shore.
  Fort Boise:  River Folk have heard of this largely 
  mutant-populated city, but have yet to have any 
  dealings with its people. 
  Bone City:  River Folk who have built settlements 
  on the Upper Columbia and Roosevelt Lake have 
  regular dealings with travelers and traders from Bone 
  City. While there is no love lost between the two 
  societies, neither group goes out of its way to cause 
  trouble for the other. 
  Beavertown:  As long as the criminals and deviants 
  of Beavertown keep to themselves, there are no 
  problems.  
  Scappoose:  Scappoose is another town that River 
  Folk prefer to avoid due to the heavy criminal element 
  that thrives in the shadow of the Trojan Corium 
  Mines. Wanderers occasionally book passage to a 
  series of docks built just north of Scappoose on the 
  shores of the Columbia, but most River Folk and 
  ferrymen charge triple cost in corium, chips, or other 
  tradable goods when making a stop there.
  Mutants:  Mutants are a touchy subject in River 
  Folk society. More sympathetic members of the 
  faction argue that mutants aren’t necessarily all bad 
  people, while hardliners caution against dealing with 
  them at all. Mutant babies born into the various River 
  Folk clans are often exiled from their communities 
  out of fear that they will grow into monsters. Less 
  superstitious clans, such as that of Bonneville Falls, 
  accept mutants into the community on a case-by-case 
  basis.
  Allegiance Notes - River Folk
  Characters who choose River Folk as their primary allegiance receive the following benefits and drawbacks:
  Access to Equipment:  River Folk receive no special restrictions on the advanced weapons and 
  equipment they may choose during character creation.
      Mutant Intolerance:  River folk tend to be highly intolerant of mutants. Mutant characters who choose 
  this allegiance may suffer prejudice and even persecution in some communities
  
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  Typical River Folk 
  River Folk Deckhand (Post Apocalyptic Hero 
  1/Strong Hero 1):  CR 2; Medium-size human; HD 
  2d8+4; hp 13; Mas 14; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 
  12, touch 12, flat-footed 12 (+2 class); BAB +1; Grap 
  +3; Atk +3 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed) or 
  +3 melee (1d6+2, combat knife); Full Atk +3 melee 
  (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed), or +3 melee (1d6+2, 
  combat knife); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  Extreme Effort, Wasteland Lore; AL River Folk; SV 
  Fort +4, Ref +1, Will +1; AP 6; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 
  10, Con 14, Int 13, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Guide, Tribal.
  Skills: Balance +4, Climb +4*, Craft (structural) 
  +5, Drive +4, Navigate +7*, Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Spot +5, Survival +7*, Swim +8*.
  Feats: Athletic*, Guide*, Primitive Technology, 
  Simple Weapons Proficiency, Surface Vehicle 
  Operation (boat).
  Mutations and Defects: None. 
  Possessions: Combat knife, various other gear and 
  personal possessions.
  River Folk Boat Captain (Post Apocalyptic Hero 
  3/Strong Hero 3):  CR 6; Medium-size human; HD 
  6d8+12; hp 39; Mas 14; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 
  14, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+4 class); BAB +5; Grap 
  +7; Atk +7 melee (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed) or 
  +7 melee (1d6+2, combat knife); Full Atk +7 melee 
  (1d3+2 nonlethal, unarmed), or +7 melee (1d6+2, 
  combat knife), or +6 ranged (2d8, S&W M29); FS 5 
  ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Extreme Effort, Improved 
  Extreme Effort, Survival Sense, Wasteland Lore; AL 
  River Folk; SV Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +3; AP 8; Rep 
  +0; Str 15, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Guide, Tribal.
  Skills: Balance +6, Climb +4*, Craft (structural) +7, 
  Drive +11*, Knowledge (current events) +3, Navigate 
  +12*, Speak Language (Trade), Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Spot +5, Survival +7*, Swim +10*.
  Feats: Athletic*, Guide*, Personal Firearms 
  Proficiency, Post-Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Primitive Technology, Simple Weapons 
  Proficiency, Surface Vehicle Operation, Vehicle 
  Expert*, Weapon Focus (S&W M29).
  Mutations and Defects: None. 
  Possessions: Smith & Wesson M29, 24 rounds of 
  .44 magnum ammunition, bullet belt or bandolier, 
  combat knife, various other gear and personal 
  possessions.
  River Folk of Note
  Emma Parker
  Emma grew up in a small, nameless settlement a 
  few miles west of Bonneville Falls. Her mother 
  disappeared one night when a pack of ghouls came 
  out of the Lewis and Clark Bio-dome searching for 
  food to take back to their tribe. Her father was away 
  on patrol on the Columbia, so when the creatures 
  stumbled across her family’s unguarded home, 
  they found easy prey. Emma managed to escape 
  by crawling into an old sewage drain that was 
  too small for the creatures to squeeze into. She 
  sat there listening to her mother’s screams as the 
  creatures dragged the woman off into the night.
  The horrific incident made an indelible 
  impression upon Emma. She grew up thinking 
  that if her mother had only learned how to 
  protect herself—and Emma’s father had 
  always been willing to teach—she would 
  have been able to fend off the creatures and 
  Emma would still have a mother. By the 
  time thirteen harvest seasons had passed, 
  Emma could kick the snot out of any 
  boy in Bonneville Falls. She learned 
  to swim, despite her father’s warnings 
  about the dangers of the polluted, 
  lamprey-infested waters. By the time 
  she was sixteen, Emma was one of the 
  most competent navigators on the Great Water. She 
  ran the “Picket Fence” in total darkness after having 
  been down it only once before, and could shoot the 
  cigar out of a Purist’s mouth from 500 yards away. 
  Emma prides herself on being a strong, independent 
  woman. She is more than happy to do her part to 
  help the community, but won’t take orders from any 
  man—not even her own father. Most men stay clear 
  of the woman. All try to stay on her good side because 
  they know that if you piss off Emma Parker, you’re in 
  for a fight.
  
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  Emma Parker (Strong Hero 3/River Runner 7):  
  CR 10; Medium-size human; HD 10d8+20; hp 65; 
  Mas 14; Init +3; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 19, touch 19, 
  flat-footed 16 (+3 Dex, +6 class); BAB +10; Grap 
  +12; Atk +12 melee (1d8+2 nonlethal, unarmed), or 
  +13 ranged (2d8, pipe rifle); Full Atk +12/+6 melee 
  (1d8+2, nonlethal, unarmed), or +13/+8 ranged (2d8, 
  pipe rifle); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ Extreme 
  Effort, Improved Extreme Effort, Offensive Driving, 
  River Running, Rooster Tail, Submerged Strike (x2), 
  Vehicular Evasion; AL River Runners; SV Fort +8, 
  Ref +8, Will +3; AP 11; Rep +3; Str 14; Dex 16, Con 
  14, Int 12, Wis 10, Cha 8.
  Occupation and Background: Fisherman, Tribal.
  Skills:  Drive +10, Intimidate +4, Jump +7, 
  Knowledge (current events) +3, Navigate +4, Repair 
  +5, Speak Language (Trade), Speak Language 
  (Unislang), Spot +5, Survival +2, Swim +11, Treat 
  Injury +4, Tumble +5.
  Feats:  Brawl, Dead Aim, Far Shot, Improved 
  Brawl, Personal Firearms Proficiency, Post-
  Apocalyptic Technology, Primitive Technology, 
  Surface Vehicle Operation (power boat).
  Mutations and Defects: None.
  Possessions:  Pipe rifle (5.56mm), 10 rounds of 
  5.56mm ammo, net and battery, two concussion 
  grenades.
  Mutant Society 
  The emergence of mutants is a relatively new 
  phenomenon in the Northwest. With just a few 
  exceptions, everyone who lives in the Northwest 
  is descended from Ancients who managed to make 
  it into bunker complexes and other fallout shelters 
  before pre-Fall civilization came to an end. Generation 
  after generation of pureblood humans was born inside 
  the bunkers, safe from the pollution and radiation that 
  others had to endure, safe from the poisons that were 
  radically changing those who still walked beneath 
  the sun. Protected from the firestorms that scoured 
  the surface world, they managed to avoid the genetic 
  mutation that took place elsewhere in the Twisted 
  Earth—for a while, at least.
  But that time has ended. After many long years of 
  living in the vast bunker complexes, these descendants 
  of the Ancients returned to the surface—and for a 
  while everything seemed okay. Most people of the 
  Northwest had no idea that pureblood human beings 
  were now so rare as to be the subject of myths and 
  legends in the lands to the south.
  That ignorance has begun to fade, however. The 
  past twenty five years have seen the birth of a growing 
  number of mutant babies. These births were at first 
  dismissed as isolated events, but as time passed, 
  more and more mutants were born to put the lie to 
  that assumption. Many feared that a new plague 
  had come to test the mettle of humanity once more. 
  Families unfortunate enough to give birth to mutant 
  babies were pushed out of settlements all across the 
  Northwest, forced to fend for themselves in the wilds 
  because the people they had considered kin could not 
  tolerate the sight of deformed babies with vestigial 
  growths, aberrant abilities, and in some cases even 
  claws.
  These dispossessed masses wandered the 
  wilderness, looking for shelter in other communities 
  but finding none willing to even spare so much as a 
  loaf of bread. Eventually, those who adapted to life 
  in exile banded together with others who shared their 
  plight and formed their own settlements in remote 
  locations—places where they could live in relative 
  peace and try to make sense of what had happened to 
  them.
  Present-day mutant societies are reviled by many 
  in the Northwest.  Most “pureblood” settlements, as 
  they are referred to by mutant-kind, treat mutants as if 
  they were diseased creatures cursed by God. When a 
  mutant and a pureblood human meet—whether on the 
  open road or at the gates of a town—there is always 
  a good chance the encounter will end in bloodshed. 
  Nor is it always pureblood humans who start the 
  hostilities; mutants in the Northwest tend to go on the 
  defensive when around non-mutants because of the 
  treatment they’ve endured in the past.
  Mutants are a minority in the Northwest, but that is 
  changing over time. For every five infants born into 
  a pureblood settlement, three manifest mutations or 
  defects of varying degrees.  Revelations like these by 
  local medicine men and scientists (who are versed 
  in ancient “Arcanum”) have sparked a new wave 
  of hysteria in pureblood settlements throughout the 
  Northwest. People turn to their leaders for comfort 
  and answers—and find none. Many try to ignore the 
  fact that these incidents are happening everywhere 
  and strike out on their own, believing that mutations 
  are localized events and that leaving “tainted” places 
  will spare them and their offspring from the curse of 
  mutation. Of course, they are mistaken; Many realize 
  all too late that they’ve left the protection of their 
  homes only to undergo the very metamorphoses they 
  hoped to escape.
  The last time I visited Bonneville Falls I saw a fight. Two guys were squared off against a lone woman. At 
  first I thought ‘What the hell? Why are two men beating up on a woman?’ But after she broke one man’s 
  jaw and left the other guy curled up on the concrete in a pool of blood spitting out his front teeth, I realized 
  Emma Parker could have handled herself even if it were four men. Sheesh, if I weren’t so afraid of getting 
  my ass kicked for it, I would have asked her out.
  - Duncan Clark
  
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  Chapter 4: 
  Places of 
  Interest
  They say that this area was, at one time, one of the most beautiful places on the planet. People came from 
  all around, just to visit for a few days, just to look at the mountains and the waterfalls. I see some of that 
  beauty here and there; trying to come back from the abyss that humanity pushed it into. Still, the damage 
  has been done, and even though some of the plant life is growing back, I wonder if this place will ever be 
  what it once was.
  - Duncan Clark
  Geographic Overview
  The Northwest was once a lush region, filled with 
  forests that spread out as far as the eye could see, 
  covering the mountains and valleys in a blanket of 
  pine and evergreen. Rivers and streams crisscrossed 
  the land, nourishing wide varieties of plant and 
  wild life. Towards the end of the twentieth century, 
  however, the rape of the natural world was well 
  underway.
  By the time the Fall came, a large portion of the 
  wilderness of the great Northwest had been destroyed. 
  Once-clean rivers and streams were polluted and 
  became unsafe for consumption. The air had become 
  a noxious soup of toxins, unfit to breathe for extended 
  periods of time. For human beings, life in bunkers 
  and bio-domes had become a firm, unyielding reality. 
  Projects to reclaim areas of the wilderness were 
  initiated, but it was much too little, much too late. The 
  damage had already been done, and things were about 
  to get worse.
  The Ravages Of War
  The invasion of the United States visited new horrors 
  upon the environment. The initial battles of the war 
  were fought with conventional weapons; the first 
  waves of artillery and bombs pummeled and cracked 
  the surrounding countryside as man fought machine. 
  Small towns and rural communities were destroyed 
  and left in smoking ruin as the war machine marched 
  on.
  Fires raged out of control and the bodies of the 
  dead were left to rot were they lay. Enemy bombing 
  campaigns reduced entire stretches of fertile soil into 
  fields of craters. As if that weren’t enough, the war 
  chiefs of the world, in their infinite madness, resorted 
  to nuclear and chemical weapons.
  Chemical and biological attacks wreaked havoc 
  on all life in the Northwest, blanketing the land in a 
  poisonous fume that left man and beast choking and 
  sprawled on their backs, twitching and flailing in their 
  death spasms like bugs in a pool of pesticide.
  Tactical nuclear weapons found their targets 
  in the major naval bases and strategic support 
  facilities of Puget Sound, the nuclear silos dotting 
  the most isolated corners of eastern Washington, 
  and (especially) the Umatilla Gas Repository in 
  North Eastern Oregon, one of the world’s largest 
  storage facilities for chemical warfare munitions. The 
  weapons did their jobs well, obliterating their targets 
  – along with countless millions of innocent souls. The 
  radiation swelled and rose into the atmosphere, riding 
  the winds east from the hulk of smoking ruin that was 
  once Seattle; a biblical creeping doom that left death 
  and disease in the wake of its fallout.  Indeed, it was 
  as if the four horsemen of the apocalypse raged across 
  the Northwest in those final days.
  Weather
  The weather in the Northwest can be unpredictable. 
  Every five years or so, the Northwest sees particularly 
  heavy winters (a bizarre side effect of the global 
  warming caused by Ancient-era industries), a bitter 
  season that brings with it a plague of radiation-laced 
  snow and temperatures that regularly drop to thirty 
  degrees below zero. This “arctic season” lasts for 
  many months at a time, and it is sometimes up to 
  two years before a thaw begins.  The locals call this 
  varying period “the time of the white death,” because 
  an average of thirty percent of the total population of 
  the Northwest’s remaining settlements can die from 
  exposure during these periods.
  Due to the proximity to the North Pacific, during 
  the warmer seasons people see regular rain – but as 
  with the few other places on the Twisted Earth that see 
  any appreciable precipitation, little of this water can 
  be used without first running it through some sort of 
  purification system, because the latent toxicity is so 
  high.  Sometimes the rains are so corrosive that they 
  actually “burn”. People who have been caught out in 
  one of these “corrosion storms” often bear terrible 
  rashes on their bodies for days, even weeks at a time.
  “Rad-tornadoes” are an all too common occurrence 
  in the wastelands of southeastern Oregon. When the 
  wind whips down out of the radiation-blasted areas 
  of the Pure Lands (carrying with it radiated particles 
  from the Fall), it sometimes gets funneled into the 
  canyons and valleys of the region. When this happens, 
  “rad-tornadoes” form and go howling across the 
  land, destroying everything in their path. The debris 
  they hurl out into the land is also radiated and causes 
  even more long-term damage to the environment. 
  Settlements caught in these freak storms don’t often 
  live to see another one.
  
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  Geographic Changes
  The years since the Fall have brought changes to the 
  landscape of the Northwest. Even though many long 
  years have passed since the Great War, the land has 
  only just started to make a recovery. Various wise men 
  have studied what tomes of ancient knowledge are 
  left, and they are almost unanimous in their opinion 
  that the earth is nearly beyond repair. Though forests 
  still stand in this distant corner of the Twisted Earth, 
  even here great stretches of hinterland have long since 
  disappeared as a consequence of radioactive fallout 
  and the poisoning of the region’s once-abundant 
  water sources. Without clean water, nothing survives 
  for long, and much of the emerald green blanket 
  that covered the Northwest has been replaced with 
  blackish brown reminders of what once was. Even 
  worse, some of the wilderness is mutating just as the 
  people are beginning to mutate. As the Chinook elders 
  and medicine men put it, “Mother Earth is starting to 
  grow teeth”.
  Polluted marshlands cover much of the Columbia 
  River Gorge. After the Fall, nobody remained to 
  operate the dams along the Columbia and Snake River 
  estuaries; Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day, McNary, 
  Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose, and 
  Lower Granite Dams all fell into disuse and, in short 
  order, many burst without regular maintenance.  In the 
  case of the Columbia River, the waterway overflowed 
  its banks as a result of this catastrophe, creating a 
  festering, stinking bog that poisoned everything for 
  miles around.
  Eventually people returned to some these massive 
  construction works, out of curiosity or some 
  knowledge of their former purpose; in at least one 
  case (Bonneville Dam), settlers were able to gain 
  some measure of control over the Ancient-era facility, 
  even to the point of being able to generate electricity 
  (the place is now known as “Bonneville Falls,” as part 
  of the structure collapsed under enormous hydraulic 
  pressure, creating a waterfall).
  While rivers still snake through much of the land, 
  they have been radically reduced in size over the years 
  due to long, intermittent stretches of drought, as well 
  as prolonged freezing winters that keep much of the 
  water locked up in mountaintop glaciers. Clean water 
  coming down from the mountains is now a rarity, and 
  only a few people (such as the Mountain Walkers) 
  know where to reliably find it. The largest of the 
  rivers of the region – the Willamette, the John Day, 
  Deschutes and Columbia –are mostly contaminated 
  with Ancient-era contaminants, although not nearly 
  as badly polluted as they were in the initial days after 
  the Fall. Still, drinking from these rivers and the lakes 
  they feed into without the proper precautions is to 
  invite sickness. In most cases, “purified” water still 
  causes diarrhea and is plagued by heavy industrial 
  elements that can cause debilitating illnesses, making 
  operational water purification systems one of the most 
  valuable assets a settlement can have.
  Plant Life
  Like the animal life of the region, the surviving plant 
  life that now flourishes throughout many areas in the 
  Northwest has become mutated, in varying degrees. 
  Before the Fall, scientists had been working on 
  developing new strains of plant life that could survive 
  in their poisoned world. They succeeded to some 
  extent, seeding vast areas in the Cascade and Coast 
  Range with experimental strains of plant life that, they 
  had hoped, would develop into edible crops to rival 
  wheat, corn, and a variety of other vegetables. The 
  genetic witchdoctors also developed new breeds of 
  plants that they hoped would be able to be harvested 
  and turned into drugs with recreational and medicinal 
  uses.
  Some scientists created strains of plant life that 
  had, up to that point, never been seen on the planet. 
  In some cases these new strains exhibited lethal 
  properties. Spiked vines lashed out whenever 
  someone came close and secreted a toxic substance 
  that paralyzed its victim. Larger versions of venus fly 
  traps grabbed any organic substance they could find 
  and produced a highly acidic fluid that burned through 
  flesh and bone with ease and speed. Other plants 
  flung spores into the air that, when inhaled, caused 
  drowsiness, sudden muscle spasms, even convulsions 
  and in the case of one strain, wild, vivid hallucinations 
  and psychosis. Many of these forms of plant life have 
  somehow managed to survive into the present day, 
  flourishing in many areas of the Northwest.
  Much of the old world has been overgrown with 
  toxic strains of plant life, hidden away from all but 
  the most watchful eyes of travelers. Some treasures 
  of the old world are neatly tucked away behind a wall 
  of dense, blackish green grass and moss, just waiting 
  to be found.  Many of the old shuttle tubes are also 
  still intact, yet they remain unfound because they 
  have been covered in a blanket of mutated plant life. 
  Where those tubes lead, and what they may contain, is 
  a mystery.
  Specific Locations
  The following is a list of specific geographic locations 
  in the Lost Paradise region of the Twisted Earth.
  Alpine Falls
  Former Name:  Alpine Falls, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  United Combine.
  The tiny settlement of Alpine Falls is little more than a 
  wooden stockade, with towers erected at each corner.  
  A few buildings for the local inhabitants lay strewn 
  about this yard, while a series of rusted old metal 
  tanks (tanker trailers scavenged from pre-Fall trucks 
  found abandoned along old Highway 2) lie clustered 
  about, storing vast amounts of fresh water.
  Alpine Falls is situated in a deep region of 
  Northwest forests, high in the Cascades.  The town 
  gets its name from the waterfall nearby, a 40 ft., 
  
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  glacier-fed cascade that produces 
  some of the purest water in the 
  mountains.  Through only a 
  minimal amount of purification 
  (halazone tablets to kill natural 
  bacteria), the water from the 
  cascade can be collected, stored 
  in the tanker trailers in town, and 
  shipped off on U.C. caravans north 
  and south.
  Alpine Falls is a major source 
  of the U.C.’s fresh drinking water, and its capture 
  would deal a major blow to the Combine.  The fort 
  is guarded by only a small contingent, but its relative 
  isolation along the old Lifeline makes it difficult to 
  reach.
  Mountain Walkers often visit Alpine Falls to restock 
  water provisions, and bring with them tales and 
  reports of Purity Corp movements to the south.
  Battle Ground
  Former Name:  Unknown.
  Ruling Faction:  Purity Corp.
  “Battle Ground” is home to the southernmost Purist 
  stronghold in the Pure Lands. Located fifteen miles 
  north of the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome, Battle 
  Ground was originally established as a staging ground 
  for future incursions across the Columbia River into 
  United Combine territory.  Lately, however, the War of 
  the Remnants has fallen into a bit of a lull; no orders 
  have come from Zog about any future campaigns 
  across the Columbia, so the people of Battle Ground 
  have busied themselves with exploration into the huge 
  amount of ruins that pepper the surrounding region.
  The town of Battle Ground is home to several 
  hundred “Nubian” Purists, with another two hundred 
  more Arian hard-liners filling out the population to 
  just under a thousand, making Battle Ground one of 
  the largest Purist settlements in the Pure Lands.
  Battle Ground is more of a 
  military encampment than a real 
  town. The people who live in 
  Battle Ground do so at the behest 
  of Jeremiah Cole, keeping watch 
  on the southern borders of the 
  Pure Lands, ever vigilant against 
  any possible incursion of enemy 
  forces into their territory. Rumors 
  have been leaking out of the Pure 
  Lands about caravans heading 
  east out of Battle Ground to Fort Boise on great metal 
  boxes that ride on twin steel rails that jut out of the 
  ground. Some say the “smoking caravans” are actually 
  slave trains carrying prisoners of war to be auctioned 
  off in exchange for supplies, rare corium, and even 
  “chips,” that have recently become a viable alternative 
  to bartering. Whether the rumors about the slaves are 
  true or not remains to be seen.  But if they are true, 
  then the development represents a fundamental shift in 
  Purist Policy, as Fort Boise is rumored to be a mutant 
  settlement.
  A man by the name of “Chaka” is the overlord of 
  Battle Ground. He commands two divisions of heavy 
  infantry which are supported by a battery of Ancient-
  era heavy artillery and several partially restored 
  Jackson hover tanks. 
  Chaka has these forces 
  strategically deployed 
  at outposts up and down 
  the northern shores of 
  the Columbia River, 
  which he tasks with 
  monitoring all non-Purist 
  traffic along the old roads 
  – as well as capturing 
  anybody trying to cross 
  the river.  However, 
  many of his soldiers 
  (having grown tired of 
  Nubian dominance in the 
  Purity Corp) have begun to desert, taking much of the 
  advanced equipment stockpiled at Battle Ground with 
  them into the wilderness.  Now, as these desertions 
  grow ever more serious, Chaka’s failures have become 
  the focus of Jeremiah Cole’s paranoid anger – and as a 
  result, Chaka himself has begun entertaining ideas of 
  desertion or open rebellion.
  Battle Ground is in a perpetual state of martial law.  
  Outsiders are not welcome in Battle Ground; in fact, 
  should anyone be so foolhardy as to approach the 
  gates without showing proper identification, they will 
  either be shot or force-drafted into the Purist army, if 
  they’re lucky.
  Beavertown
  Former Name:  Beaverton, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Beavertown is a fairly recent settlement that was 
  built amidst the ruins of the Ancient city of the same 
  name. It is a ramshackle town where the majority 
  of the population lives in gutted out buildings and 
  even underground in the city’s old sewage and waste 
  systems.
  The population of Beavertown is dominated by 
  mutants who have been ostracized by pureblood 
  human settlements and 
  factions such as the 
  United Combine and 
  (especially) the Purity 
  Corp.
  Pureblood humans who 
  come to Beavertown are 
  often treated with scorn 
  and run off, or worse, 
  unless they somehow 
  earn the respect of the 
  mutants who call the 
  place home.
  Beavertown has a 
  
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  population of several hundred mutants and a varying 
  number of purebloods who have, through some means 
  or another, managed to earn the respect of the locals. 
  Usually this entails being an outcast from human 
  society; in fact, the average pureblood who lives in 
  Beavertown does so because he or she doesn’t have 
  a choice.  Generally speaking, these folk have all 
  found themselves blacklisted from other communities 
  across the Northwest for one reason or another. A 
  good number of thieves, even murderers who have 
  somehow escaped, find themselves in hiding in 
  Beavertown.
  Trade is possible, even lucrative in Beavertown, 
  if a person manages to get past the anti-pureblood 
  prejudice of the locals. Its proximity to the ruins of 
  Old Portland and the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome 
  makes Beavertown a haven for people who wish to 
  find a guide to take them through the tunnels leading 
  through the East Hills and into the old city.
  Bone City
  Former Name:  Spokane, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Nestled along the river of the same name, “Bone 
  City” is the largest independent settlement in the 
  northeastern portion of the Lost Paradise. Bone City 
  is located on the outskirts of the ruins of Spokane, 
  Washington. The population of two thousand souls 
  came to the ruins of old Spokane from a vast complex 
  comprised of three inter-connected 
  bunkers located in the Rocky 
  Mountains of northern Idaho.
  When the atomic locks 
  opened the massive doors to the 
  subterranean metropolis, many of 
  the people left, but not as many as 
  one would expect. The majority 
  of the populace decided to remain 
  in the complex. After all, the 
  bunkers were all they had ever known. None of the 
  bunker dwellers had ever seen a sunset that wasn’t 
  programmed on old holo-screens, or felt air blowing 
  across their face that hadn’t first been piped through 
  a maze of aluminum ducts and purifiers. To suddenly 
  up and move out of their relatively comfortable homes 
  into a wilderness that was so alien to them it might as 
  well have been on a different planet, was more than 
  most of the people could take.  The two thousand or 
  so adventurous people that did decide to leave were 
  given food, supplies and even some precious seed 
  and weapons, and bid good luck on their journey to 
  wherever it was they were headed.
  The people moved west following an old, broken 
  road called an “interstate” until they reached the 
  ruins of Spokane. The group moved into old homes 
  on the outskirts of the main city until the heart of the 
  old town could be explored and made safe for their 
  brothers and sisters to enter.  As the scouts moved 
  through old Spokane, more than a few of them began 
  to get sick. People started contracting diseases like 
  smallpox, anthrax, and a host of other ailments, many 
  of which were easily cured by the medicines the 
  refugees brought with them from the bunkers.
  Some of the more intelligent members of the 
  expedition surmised that Spokane had probably 
  fallen victim to a host of biological attacks that were 
  rumored to have happened in the last days, which 
  would explain the diseases and the relatively sound 
  structural integrity of most of the buildings they had 
  explored so far. Another clue to the fate of the original 
  inhabitants of Spokane lay within 
  their corpses. Thousands upon 
  thousands of bleached white 
  bones were found everywhere 
  the newcomers went. Intact 
  skeletons of humans and even 
  some animals were found in 
  homes, stores, parks, along 
  what remained of the river, and 
  inside old vehicles on the ancient 
  freeways; it was as if they died right where they 
  happened to be at the time.
  Bone City was given its name, partly in memory 
  of all of the skeletons of the Ancients that the settlers 
  found, and also because the frugal settlers didn’t 
  waste those bones. They used them to make a variety 
  of things ranging from bowls (out of the skulls of the 
  dead), to eating utensils, handles for knives, and even 
  entire buildings. The people of Bone City have such a 
  surplus of the remains of the dead that they trade some 
  of their stocks for other things.  Some communities 
  throughout the Northwest have come to prize the 
  jewelry and tools of Bone City for their intricate 
  carvings and surprising durability. Other cultures think 
  that using the bones of the dead is a morbid practice 
  and frown on anyone who perpetuates the custom by 
  trading for those bones.
  Mutant and non-mutant alike are welcome in Bone 
  City, a place that is not known to be a settlement 
  that thrives on peaceful, wholesome activities. 
  Lawlessness runs rampant in Bone City, a fact of life 
  which some claim has largely been brought about by 
  the bone trade. Visitors to Bone City are able to find a 
  place to trade day or night. The “strip”, as it’s called 
  in Bone City, never sleeps. A whole host of trading 
  stations are always open, ready to do business with 
  people who have something – anything – of worth.
   
  Bonneville Falls
  Former Name:  Bonneville Dam, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  River Folk.
  Before the Fall, Bonneville Dam was a major source 
  of power for people in the Northwest. The dam 
  supplied power to the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome 
  as well as many of the bubble domes and automated 
  homes throughout Oregon and Washington. Because 
  the stubborn workers stayed at their posts despite 
  the chaos of the war, when the Fall came the power 
  didn’t immediately fail, but gradually faded away 
  
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  over a period of time. Eventually, however, their brave 
  efforts came to naught, and the power supply for much 
  of the region died right along with most of its people. 
  Even though many of the power conduits to certain 
  areas of the region remained intact, there was nobody 
  left to ensure the dam remained in operation. The 
  structural integrity of Bonneville began to deteriorate 
  from years and years of neglect, and finally broke 
  apart under the strain of the great river and created an 
  enormous waterfall.
  As the years passed, the ragged descendants of the 
  old dam operators returned to the place now known 
  as Bonneville Falls to try and repair as much of the 
  damage as possible. The structural damage to the 
  dam itself was beyond repair, but the main valves 
  for the flood gates were able to be fixed – which was 
  crucial to getting the massive turbines to operate 
  again. After many failures, these people (who would 
  come to be called “River Folk”) were able to get two 
  of the massive turbines and their support equipment 
  operational. With the turbines operating, the 
  generators began to produce power.
  The area around Bonneville Falls is the location of a 
  large settlement of River Folk. These people survived 
  the Great Fall by taking shelter in various areas of the 
  Columbia Gorge that had been designated as protected 
  zones. The Multnomah Reclamation Zone – a 
  protected area designed to preserve as much of the old 
  scenic highway as possible – served as the home for 
  the River Folk during the dark years.  Some of these 
  people eventually drifted south along what was left of 
  the Hood and Willamette Rivers to form settlements 
  in other areas, but the people who stayed behind have 
  dedicated themselves to protecting and maintaining 
  the power supply at Bonneville Falls.
  The River Folk of the Northwest patrol the 
  considerably diminished Columbia River all the way 
  west to the region known as the “Picket Fence”. The 
  ancient river is teeming with all manner of dangers, 
  from blood whales, mutated sockeye and poisonous 
  lamprey, to Purist patrols that now and again scour the 
  northern shores that mark the southern boundary of 
  the Pure Lands.
  The people of Bonneville Falls claim the entirety of 
  the Columbia as their domain. Anyone who wishes to 
  cross must provide some sort of compensation or find 
  their own way across the dangerous river.
  Bremerton
  Former Name:  Bremerton, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Before the Fall, the city of 
  Bremerton was home to 
  one of the Pacific Coast’s 
  largest naval bases. When 
  the Final War turned into 
  a total nuclear conflict, 
  one of the first places to 
  be incinerated by nuclear 
  strikes was the military 
  complex at Bremerton. 
  Now all that remains of 
  the surface portion of this 
  once-sprawling base is a 
  wreck of twisted metal 
  that was once dock facilities, support complexes, 
  and warships of the reserve (or “mothball”) fleet that 
  failed to get out in time.
  Below ground is a different story, however.
  One of the functions of the Bremerton naval base 
  was to store weapons and ammunition for ships that 
  were not currently deployed into hostile areas. Much 
  of the ammunition was kept in hardened bunkers 
  deep below the surface of the earth in the event that 
  something similar to what actually happened to 
  the base might take place. During the conventional 
  war that led up to the inevitable nuclear conflict, 
  Bremerton was on ultra-high alert. While much of the 
  stockpiles of ammunition, weapons, and other supplies 
  for the base were hurriedly relocated to rear locations 
  all across the Northwest, the remaining stocks were 
  sealed off as part of protocol for a suspected nuclear 
  strike. Consequently, much of that surplus survived to 
  the present day, but as of yet nobody has discovered 
  the mighty weapons of the Ancients.  If anyone has 
  survived in personnel bunkers that are assuredly in 
  the area, they haven’t made their presence known; 
  radiation levels, the highest in the Northwest, seem to 
  suggest that nothing could live here anyway.
  Bremerton, as it exists today, 
  is a haunted wasteland across the 
  Dead Water from the Spawning 
  Pits. Travel in this region just 
  doesn’t happen unless a person 
  has a true death wish. Between 
  the immense levels of radiation, 
  the creatures that somehow 
  manage to thrive here, and the 
  constant scrutiny from the legions 
  massed at the Spawning Pits, 
  the chances for any explorers to 
  survive for long in the ruins of 
  Bremerton are not even worth 
  mentioning.
  
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  Bubble Dome Valley
  Former Name:  Mt. Hood Wilderness Area, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Located in the shadow of Mt. Hood, the “Bubble 
  Dome Valley” is a silent, eerie place blanketed with 
  row after row of bubble domes that have long since 
  been covered over with a wide variety of plant life, 
  sometimes to an extent that, when viewed from a 
  distance, the entire valley looks as if it were nothing 
  more than a series of small hills dotted with the 
  remains of small towns and farms that have long since 
  fallen to ruin.
  The valley was once a vast series of fruit orchards 
  and vineyards that were prized throughout the 
  Northwest. Now all that remains are the bubble 
  domes that were erected to protect these agricultural 
  farmsteads. In some cases, the soil inside the domes 
  is still fertile, and all sorts of edible vegetation still 
  grows within, wasted because no one dares enter the 
  domes to search for the alleged food.
  Some say the entire area is haunted; others claim 
  that the valley is filled with disease and to go into the 
  bubble domes is to court a long, painful death.  The 
  truth, however, bodes nothing but trouble for the 
  people who live near this area of the Lost Paradise.
  Very recently, Tecesni drones have come into the 
  Bubble Valley on scouting missions from the Mt. 
  Hood colony. The queen has taken an imperious 
  interest in the lands to the west and has ordered 
  outposts to be built from which campaigns against 
  human settlements shall begin.
  Burns
  Former Name:  Burns, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  Pale Riders.
  Burns, Oregon, is the stronghold of the Pale Riders, 
  a band of cutthroats and thieves who plague the old 
  roads and trade routes throughout 
  the wastes of eastern Oregon.
  Very few settlements in the 
  Northwest allow strangers beyond 
  the gates without a really good 
  reason. Burns is one of those 
  places, although people who visit 
  the stronghold of the Pale Riders 
  may come to wish they hadn’t. It 
  is all too common for pureblood 
  travelers entering the city to be 
  stripped of everything they own and thrown into the 
  infamous slave pens to await the hot brand of the 
  slave master who purchases them.
  Those who aren’t sold into slavery on reaching 
  Burns still find it necessary to tread carefully in this 
  town. While Zorthag (leader of the Pale Riders) is in 
  control of Burns, he pretty much allows the people to 
  do as they please so long as certain rules are followed.
  All pureblood humans must present themselves 
  to his Overlords immediately upon entering Burns. 
  This mandate is stringently enforced.  Purebloods are 
  a commodity in Zorthag’s eyes, and  he reserves the 
  right to do whatever he chooses with all “flesh” that 
  enters his domain.
  Overlords can be bribed into letting go of a 
  “freemarker” (a badge all non-slaves must wear while 
  staying in Burns). The cost isn’t always what some 
  would like to pay, or even can pay, but the alternative 
  usually means life as a slave. Some particularly 
  enterprising individuals have even 
  worked out standing agreements with 
  the Overlords. If the Overlords agree 
  to look the other way, even give up 
  a freemarker or two, they will get a 
  weekly cut of whatever profits the 
  individuals make in Burns.  More 
  than a few of Zorthag’s lackeys 
  have accepted these types of deals, 
  and as a result, the number of free 
  purebloods in the town is probably a 
  lot higher than Zorthag would like.
  All males, regardless of genetic 
  make-up, are required to serve 
  in Zorthag’s army, and not even 
  the greediest Overlords will risk 
  getting caught ignoring that rule. 
  Of course serving in Zorthag’s 
  army isn’t really as bad as it 
  sounds. Most people who have 
  made Burns their home relish the 
  idea of going out on campaigns 
  against other settlements, many of which have turned 
  those same people away when they asked for shelter. 
  Besides, Zorthag has grown lazy as of late. The Pale 
  Riders haven’t been mobilized in some time, so when 
  people are told they must serve in the army, they 
  usually agree without any fuss.
  Located on the western edge of the Forgotten 
  desert, Burns is a gritty oasis for travelers who brave 
  the sandstorms, rad tornadoes, and other terrors that 
  dominate the long miles of badlands that lay between 
  the domain of the Pale Riders and Fort Boise. For 
  tribal communities that live in the Forgotten Desert, 
  Burns is an outpost where they can come to barter for 
  supplies.
  Cave Junction
  Former Name:  Cave Junction, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Long forgotten since 
  the Fall, Cave Junction 
  (far to the south of the 
  settled lands of the Lost 
  Paradise) is one of the great 
  mysteries of the Ancients.  
  No one is quite sure why 
  this place was so important. 
  On the surface, the small 
  town of Cave Junction 
  
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  was little more than mountain town on the route 
  from Northern California to Grant’s Pass.  In reality, 
  however, Cave Junction was the site of an ultra-secret 
  government facility.
  Today, the purpose of this underground facility 
  is forgotten, but the tunnel entrance still exists near 
  Hope Lake, in the mountains between the towns of 
  Cave Junction and Applegate.  The details of the 
  facility are unknown, but it is believed to extend over 
  one thousand feet beneath the surface of the earth.
  Cayuse Pass
  Former Name:  Cayuse Pass, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Purity Corp.
  Formerly just a wooden stockade erected to guard the 
  Highway 410 pass through the Cascades, “Cayuse 
  Pass” is a place of remarkable beauty despite its recent 
  takeover by Purist forces.
  Cayuse Pass was somewhat neutral when the War 
  of the Remnants first broke out, and some locals 
  did, in fact, help the Purists escape U.C. lands via 
  the mountain trails south of town.  When word of 
  their assistance leaked to U.C. territory up north, the 
  leadership of Cayuse Pass was severely reprimanded 
  and summarily replaced.  Though many court-
  martialed officials would flee to join the radical Purist 
  movement in the mountains, many others (who still 
  had cherished ties to the community) stepped down 
  only to blend back in with the civilian population and 
  continue their lives in 
  town.
  Last year, a force 
  from the Purity Corp 
  descended upon 
  Cayuse Pass in a 
  night of exceptionally 
  violent bloodshed.  
  Leading them through 
  the mountains to 
  this place were some of the original leadership 
  of the town, who had a grudge to settle with their 
  former U.C. “masters” for expelling them.  As they 
  approached the town walls, they called out to their 
  “fellows” (those Purist sympathizers who had chosen 
  to remain in town) to open the gates and let the 
  attackers in.
  Much to the surprise of the U.C. soldiers, the gates 
  opened when the local blacksmith – himself the 
  former lieutenant commander of the garrison – rallied 
  other Purist sympathizers and stormed the gatehouse 
  from inside.  In only minutes they were able to capture 
  the gate and open it for their Purist conspirators.  The 
  rest of the town fell in under an hour.
  The town of Cayuse Pass lies in the majestic 
  shadow of Mt. Rainier, one of the tallest volcanic 
  peaks in the Lost Paradise.  The snow-capped 
  mountain provides glacial water to the community in 
  the form of numerous streams, and entire alpine fields 
  strewn with multi-colored flowers ring the town and 
  the old mountain highways for miles around.  The 
  natural beauty here disguises the atrocity that was 
  committed here soon after the town’s fall, however; 
  those who resisted the Purity Corp’s takeover were 
  duly identified by their fellow citizens, taken outside 
  the walls, and executed en masse.
  The vanishing evidence of a mass grave can still be 
  found at Cayuse Pass, situated just out of sight behind 
  the town opposite the highway, so that caravans on the 
  trail do not see it as they pass by.
  Chinook
  Former Name:  Aberdeen, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Chinook Indians.
  When the surface-dwelling Chinook 
  Indians first left the underground shelters 
  of their tribe, they went south and came 
  to a deepwater bay along the gloomy, fog-
  drenched shores of the southern end of the 
  Olympic Peninsula. The ruins of an old logging town 
  (Aberdeen), completely abandoned for two centuries, 
  lay at their feet.
  It was in the ruins of Aberdeen that the survivors of 
  the Chinook founded a new town, now named for the 
  people who continue to live there to this day.
  As far as towns go, Chinook has only meager 
  defenses, but these more than suffice. Old trails that 
  lead into the valley are watched day and night by 
  these people, who ,by and large, prefer to live their 
  lives in solitude and peace rather than deal with all 
  of the turmoil that has spread across the Northwest 
  in recent years. The only other people who know the 
  exact location of Chinook are Mountain Walkers, who 
  have managed to gain the trust of the Chinook through 
  honest dealings. A few Mountain Walkers have even 
  gained a sort of “honorary” tribal membership and are 
  allowed to build their own lodges on the outskirts of 
  Chinook. Some have even taken wives.
  The six hundred or so people who live in Chinook 
  practice the old ways, keeping a strict balance with 
  the blasted wilderness that they find themselves trying 
  to survive in. Technology in Chinook is, for the most 
  part, shunned by the majority of the people who, over 
  the years, have come to believe that the ancient “white 
  devils”, in their quest to become “gods on earth”, 
  brought about the wrath of the Great Spirit when they 
  poisoned the lands, water, air, and, the medicine men 
  claim, even the spirit realm where all people go once 
  they die.  Very little of “white medicine” is actually 
  used in Chinook, although some Mountain Walkers 
  have managed to convince the superstitious tribals that 
  some of it can actually be of great aid, especially the 
  white man’s weapons.
  Some of the Chinook have begun to use firearms 
  and other Ancient-era weaponry, which has caused 
  a bit of a rift in the tribe. Older, more fundamental 
  tribesman argue that the use of any of the white 
  man’s weapons is to invite another “shaking” by the 
  Great Spirit, while the younger warriors and hunters 
  of the tribe often ignore their protests, being much 
  
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  more practical minded (and 
  realizing that any edge they 
  can get over the beasts of the 
  wilderness can only enhance 
  their chances of survival).
  Some of the younger folk 
  have even begun to openly 
  question the old ways. Tribal 
  elders claim the influence 
  of the Mountain Walkers is 
  starting to poison the minds 
  of the youth. Fortunately, 
  however, the current 
  chieftain of the Chinook, Na-chook, has managed to 
  maintain a level head in these troubling times and 
  walk a fine line of diplomacy in an effort to avoid 
  open hostilities between the two groups.
  Na-chook placates the tribe’s elders by openly 
  reprimanding the younger, high-spirited hunters when 
  they begin to show too much disrespect for the old 
  ones of the tribe, reminding them that the Chinook 
  have survived because of the old ways. At the same 
  time, however, Na-chook reminds the elders that not 
  all of the white man’s medicine is poison, and that 
  some of the weapons and even drugs of the old world 
  have helped to stave off disease, and kill predators 
  that have plagued their settlement. So far, peace has 
  been maintained, but Na-chook wonders how long he 
  will be able to keep the two groups from settling their 
  disputes violently.
  Every so often, an outsider will stumble onto the 
  old trails leading up into Chinook. When this happens, 
  tribal scouts will make every effort to capture these 
  people and interrogate them to find out just what 
  their business is in Chinook territory. More often 
  than not, the encounters end in violence, but when 
  blood isn’t spilled, the Chinook manage to make 
  the outsiders understand that they are “trespassing”, 
  and escort them to the boundaries of Chinook lands 
  with a warning. Even more rare is the occasion when 
  strangers are actually brought into Chinook itself.  
  When this happens, strangers 
  are made to stay in the meeting 
  lodge, which is built in the 
  center of the village. While 
  strangers are visiting Chinook, 
  only the males of the tribe are 
  allowed to have any contact. 
  What few women and children 
  there are in Chinook are made 
  to stay inside the other lodges 
  until the strangers have left.
  Mutants are never, ever 
  allowed inside the valley 
  of Chinook. The tribe considers these people to be 
  “abominations”; signs that the Great Spirit is still 
  angered with the people of the Twisted Earth, and the 
  Chinook refuse to risk incurring the wrath of the Great 
  Spirit by associating with their deformed kind. In 
  recent years, however, children of the Chinook have 
  been born with mutations.
  Invariably any child that is born with any type 
  of mutation in Chinook is taken to Eagle Point, 
  and sacrificed to appease the Great Spirit. Adults 
  who begin to show signs of developing illness are 
  expected to climb to the top of Eagle Point and throw 
  themselves over the edge, committing suicide to 
  ensure that the prosperity of the tribe continues. Those 
  who do are remembered in the songs of the tribe as 
  having committed the ultimate sacrifice out of love for 
  their people.
  Those who, for whatever reason, don’t give up their 
  lives are forcibly taken to Eagle Point and burned on 
  the “Wailing Cross”.  The Wailing Cross is normally 
  reserved for criminals and those who have somehow 
  brought shame upon themselves and the tribe. Only 
  the most reprehensible of all Chinook are burned, so 
  when a tribesman who refuses to throw himself off 
  Eagle Point and preserve the honor of himself and his 
  family, he is seen as having committed the ultimate act 
  of ignominy. The person is considered to be anathema 
  in the eyes of the Chinook, and is burned alive.
  There are those who have chosen to run away and 
  become outcasts rather than give up their lives. They 
  may have committed crimes, or been accused of 
  giving birth to and hiding mutant children from the 
  law. But for whatever reason, these people have the 
  special distinction of being tracked down by an elite 
  group of warriors known as the “Blood Hunters”. 
       The Blood Hunters are a cut above the regular 
  warrior caste. Blood Hunters go through regular 
  purification rituals to ensure they do not carry any bad 
  medicine into the Sacred Lands, a place which only 
  they are allowed to enter.  When not hunting criminals 
  or protecting the Sacred Lands from intruders, these 
  individuals are responsible for teaching the rest 
  of the tribe the best methods to hunt and to move 
  through what is left of the wilderness without being 
  spotted. These elite warriors are among the most 
  common individuals seen outside of the territory of 
  the Chinook. Generally speaking, most of the tribe are 
  content to live out their lives in Chinook. Everything 
  they need can be found in the town or the outlying 
  territory, so more often than not, the only time 
  outsiders ever see a Chinook is when a “Blood Hunt” 
  has been called to track down a renegade.
  Coburg
  Former Name:  Coburg, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  The small town of Coburg lies on the outskirts of 
  the Eugene/Springfield megaplex, which was nuked 
  during the Fall.  Coburg itself was largely burned to 
  the ground as a result of fires from the nuclear war, 
  and only came to be re-inhabited after the U.C. was 
  founded.
  In recent years, Coburg has slipped slowly out of 
  U.C. control, as local attitudes have shifted against a 
  large confederation in favor of more independence.  
  The people of Coburg, who number only a few dozen, 
  have long seen themselves as “outsiders”, barely 
  
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  represented by the U.C. 
  government (which is “all the 
  way in Canada”).  To make 
  matters worse, the War of the 
  Remnants has made food and 
  water shipments to Coburg 
  intermittent at best (it is not a 
  high priority, being far from 
  the front), forcing the locals 
  to strike out into Eugene 
  to harvest needed supplies.  
  Since many have gotten 
  sick from radiation on these 
  forays, the people have come 
  to blame the U.C. for their 
  miserable condition, and have 
  dropped all formal relations with the government.
  Outsiders are welcome at Coburg, especially if 
  they bring medicine, food, and water.  Those who 
  are obviously U.C. aligned will be turned back with 
  warning shots.
  Corvallis
  Former Name:  Corvallis, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Corvallis is a River Folk settlement that sits on 
  what’s left of the Willamette River. The town has a 
  population of two hundred hardy folk who have no 
  tolerance for people who come to waste their time.
  Corvallis is dominated by the “Harris” clan, a group 
  of people who, when the violence first began, built 
  their own shelter beneath an old “bed and breakfast” 
  on the outskirts of the city. As time passed in the 
  bunker, the Harris family (led by a man named Lewis) 
  began to emerge as the leaders of the “bunker people”. 
  Eventually everyone began to look upon themselves 
  as members of his extended “family.” Now, nearly 
  everyone who lives in Corvallis is a member of the 
  Harris clan.
  A few outsiders, however, 
  have managed to prove their 
  usefulness to the Harris Clan 
  just enough to be allowed 
  to stay on. Most of these 
  outsiders understand the 
  basics of boatmanship and/or 
  mechanical repair, and are 
  in charge of maintaining the 
  Harris clan’s fleet of water 
  vessels (which the Harris’ use 
  to ferry people up and down 
  the Willamette).
  Visitors who can prove that 
  they have legitimate business 
  inside the gates of Corvallis 
  may stay up to three nights (longer if they are waiting 
  for river transport and a boat isn’t available), but 
  afterwards they must leave, by river or land, or be 
  forcibly removed from the town limits. Tillamook 
  Traders and Sentinels are not allowed in the city, 
  period, as the Harris clan doesn’t trust either group.
  Old man Porter, the head of the clan, refuses to 
  deal with the People’s Army because he remembers 
  stories his parents told him about the Communist 
  forces who invaded the United States during the Fall. 
  Porter claims his ancestors fought against the people 
  who came to be called the “Tillamook Traders”, and 
  he won’t have any dealings with those folk unless it’s 
  with a gun. As for the Sentinels, Porter thinks they’re 
  uppity bastards who make it their business to pry into 
  the lives of others, and he won’t have them snooping 
  around, trying to change they way the Harris clan 
  lives their lives.
  Representatives for the United Combine have found 
  limited success when dealing with the Harris clan, 
  but even they still have to obey the town’s rules about 
  how long they are allowed to stay inside the city. 
  Other folk are judged by their actions.
  Coulee City
  Former Name:  Coulee City, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Hand of Jehovah.
  During the Fall, the mighty Grand Coulee Dam was 
  one of the primary strategic targets of the war, the 
  destruction of which not only cut power to a large part 
  of Washington State, but also flooded a broad area of 
  country at its far end.
  Coulee City, then just a small town, was one of 
  many settlements to be washed off the face of the 
  earth when the dam broke and flooded the plains.  In 
  time, and in accordance with the general drying up 
  of the world, the great lake that formed afterward 
  dwindled, turning this area into one of the most fertile 
  places in the Twisted Earth.
  The Hand of Jehovah were quick to realize the 
  potential of Coulee City as a new agricultural 
  “mecca”, and have begun to settle here with a definite 
  purpose – to create an agricultural homeland to bring 
  not only food to their tables, but to improve their way 
  of life so that a new future can be built.
  Coulee City is still a small town, but it is growing.  
  Most of the land here (about ten miles radius, with 
  the town at the center) has been turned into working 
  farmland, growing wheat and soy.  The Hand uses the 
  example of 
  Coulee City to 
  show how God 
  has blessed 
  them with 
  prosperity, and 
  have used the 
  promise of 
  food to entice 
  the people of 
  the plains into 
  joining their 
  faction.
  
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  Crater City
  Former Name:  Crater Lake, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  Sentinels.
  When the Northwest reclamation 
  projects were initiated, one of the first 
  places to be targeted for protection 
  was Crater Lake. The resort drew in 
  thousands of visitors every year for 
  boating on the lake as well as camping 
  in the surrounding wilderness. The 
  people of the hedonistic pre-Fall 
  society simply had to have their 
  diversions, and in the Northwest, nothing beat 
  camping and boating for a good time outside. A 
  massive dome was erected over the ancient volcano 
  to cover the resort and lake inside the crater. Smaller 
  bubble domes were also built in the surrounding 
  wilderness for miles around to ensure that people 
  would be able to enjoy the “great outdoors” while 
  remaining safe from the deteriorating environment.
  When the Fall came, the people of what would 
  come to be known as “Crater City” cut off all contact 
  with the known world. The people, mostly locals who 
  worked and lived in the area and owned businesses 
  that took advantage of the tourist season, were already 
  a tight-knit bunch. They adapted easily enough to the 
  changes with very few instances of violence in the 
  community. These were people who lived their lives 
  in service of others, catering to the tourist’s every 
  whim, fixing every broken thing, cleaning every room, 
  guiding every hiking trip. That was the way it had 
  always been in the smaller towns around Crater Lake. 
  Tourism was everything to these people, and they 
  were only happy to do it. But when the Fall came, the 
  world became a hostile place. They did what needed 
  to be done to ensure the ongoing survival of their 
  little community. They closed off the entrances to the 
  bubble domes and the Crater Lake dome complex, 
  then settled in for the long dark years that were 
  coming.
  Crater City has 
  grown into one of the 
  largest independent 
  settlements in the 
  Northwest, boasting a 
  population of several 
  thousand people, 
  most of them direct 
  descendants of the 
  pre-Fall inhabitants 
  of the surrounding 
  areas. Others come 
  to Crater City hoping 
  to join the ranks of the highly respected “Sentinels” 
  (who are headquartered in Crater City), or to escape 
  the war between the United Combine and the Purity 
  Corp. Crater City allows these refugees into the city 
  on a case-by-case basis.
  The city itself started out as just a collection of 
  people living in the old hotels that lined the rim of 
  the volcano. Over time, this  has expanded. More 
  buildings have been built along with expansive 
  tunnels that go deep into the earth. The lake that 
  served as one of the main attractions for tourists in 
  pre-Fall society is now one of the largest sources 
  of clean water on the planet. As such, the citizens 
  of Crater City will do anything to protect this vital 
  resource.
  The bubble domes are also filled with outlying 
  communities that branched out from Crater City long 
  ago. Most of these towns are agro- and ranching 
  settlements that work to ensure that there is a steady 
  food supply available for everyone living in the 
  area. While not strictly a part of Crater City, these 
  communities do enjoy the protection of the Sentinels 
  and have a solid relationship with the High Warden.
  Crater City is the location of one of the few 
  remaining fully operational bio-domes in the Twisted 
  Earth. The daily operation of the Crater City dome 
  complex is handled by an Artificial Intelligence the 
  people of Crater City lovingly call “Katy”; over the 
  years, Katy has helped keep the people of Crater 
  City alive and relatively comfortable with regards 
  to their living conditions.  This A.I. core and those 
  few thinker droids and labor bots that survived the 
  Fall have managed to teach the people of Crater City 
  many ancient sciences, such as various schools of 
  engineering, biology, genetics, and medicine.  The 
  City is home to three fusion reactors that provide 
  power to the dome as well as fuel the energy weapons, 
  robots, and advanced vehicles of the Sentinels.
  Even with all of the knowledge and advanced 
  technology that is available to the people of Crater 
  City and its surrounding settlements, the people 
  here tend to remain naturalists at heart. Naturally, 
  the people have adopted a strict policy of secrecy 
  with regards to all of the advanced knowledge and 
  technology that is available to them, for fear of 
  becoming a target for hostile forces who would be 
  more than happy to take what they have by force.
  Crown Point Sentinel 
  Outpost
  Former Name:  Crown Point State Park, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  Sentinels.
  Crown Point is located on an outcropping of rock 
  high above the Columbia River gorge and is home to 
  a Sentinel outpost. Garrick Shephard is the Warden 
  in command of the Crown Point station; his duties 
  are to monitor all activity east of the Lewis and Clark 
  Bio-Dome, maintain positive relations between the 
  River Runners and the Sentinels, as well as assisting 
  the River Folk in their efforts to harass the advance of 
  Purist forces on the northern shores of the Great River. 
  Garrick commands a garrison of one hundred guides 
  and thirty of the best Scouts in the entire clan.
  Before the Fall, Crown Point was an observatory 
  designed to give tourists a spectacular view of the 
  Columbia River gorge, and that still holds true to this 
  
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  day – although much of that ancient splendor has 
  long since been replaced by toxic bogs and hills that 
  are now pocked with craters from years of conflict 
  between the River Runners and the Purist aggressors 
  to the north.  Due to its popularity with the people of 
  the Northwest, this historical monument was one of 
  the sites slated for preservation with a bubble dome, 
  but time ran out on the world and the project was 
  never completed.
  The structure that remains is a testament to the 
  ingenuity of pre-Fall man, as it still stands to this day. 
  Warden Shephard uses the observatory as his base of 
  operations and has even expanded the observatory into 
  a fortified complex that extends underground.
  Even though the outpost is very much a “frontier 
  fort” of sorts, lying dangerously close to Purity 
  Corp territory, River Folk traders and other civilian 
  traffickers are common near Crown Point, even 
  welcomed at the outpost, so long as these visitors 
  adhere to the policies of the Sentinels.  This means 
  all weapons must be checked at the gates, and regular 
  interrogations of visitors and spot searches of caravans 
  are frequent. Any disputes inside the walls of Crown 
  Point must be mediated by a Sentinel official to ensure 
  that the peace is kept, which usually means that all 
  parties involved are forcibly removed from the outpost 
  where they can settle 
  their problems in any 
  manner they wish.
  At any given point 
  there are between one 
  hundred and fifty and 
  two hundred people 
  at the complex. The 
  Crown Point outpost 
  can be reached by 
  traveling through 
  a shuttle tube that 
  originates in the ruins 
  of Troutdale, or by 
  following an ancient 
  highway that winds its way through the mountains of 
  the gorge. Both ways are moderately dangerous even 
  though they are patrolled by Sentinel Guides.
  Dead Water
  Former Name:  Puget Sound.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  The great watery basin that was once known as “Puget 
  Sound” is now simply called the “Dead Water” by 
  the scattered inhabitants of the Northwest.  Long ago, 
  this was a place of great natural beauty, with dramatic 
  contrasts of deep blue water and heavily forested 
  islands, but now it is an aquatic wasteland, a lifeless 
  expanse of churning, toxic, sludge.
  The coasts of the Dead Water are subject to 
  numerous territorial claims; the Purity Corp claim 
  much of the southern areas, while the presence of 
  the Spawn Army makes most of the eastern coastal 
  areas out of reach for outsiders.  The Chinook of the 
  Olympic Peninsula essentially control the western 
  shores.
  Despite the presence of people living in the vicinity 
  of the Dead Water, none have never been able to settle 
  along the shores due to the extreme levels of radiation 
  (from the strikes on the major coastal cities, including 
  the naval complexes at 
  Bremerton and Everett, as 
  well as the strategic target of 
  Seattle itself).  In addition, 
  chemical contamination in 
  the form of pools of toxic 
  waste (some of which are 
  actually animate blobs; see 
  Terrors of The Twisted Earth) 
  have formed along miles 
  of coastal waters, making 
  the prospect of water travel 
  unsavory, if not next to 
  impossible.
  Mutated orca, now known as “blood whales” (for 
  the bleeding sores that cover their horribly mutated 
  flesh) are the only form of life said to spawn in this 
  region, though even these creatures move out into 
  other less polluted waters to feed.
  Desiccated Wastes
  Former Name:  Eastern Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  Pale Riders.
  As travelers head southeast past the ruins of Bend, 
  the land of what was once Old Oregon becomes 
  increasingly rugged until finally it is little more than 
  a wasteland, filled with dry river beds and desolate 
  hills as far as the eye can see. People living in the 
  settlements northwest of the ruins of Bend call this 
  region the “Desiccated Wastes”.  This region is 
  inhospitable, to say the least.  The people who live 
  in these badlands have numerous challenges to their 
  daily lives, ranging from finding clean drinking 
  water and food to dealing with thieves and gangs of 
  
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  bandits such as the Pale Riders, who have carved out 
  a kingdom of sorts in the Desiccated Wastes. Much of 
  the region is in fact part of a greater “empire” the Pale 
  Riders have created for themselves over time.
  The leader of the Pale Riders, a mutant known 
  only as “Zorthag”, fancies himself a king of a minor 
  domain situated in the Desiccated Wastes. Though 
  circumstances sometimes vary, settlements that 
  willingly pledge to become part of his self-styled 
  feudal system are more often than not welcomed into 
  the fold, and “lords” are chosen from within each 
  community.  While this position does grant many 
  benefits, lords are responsible not only for enforcing 
  loyalty and obedience to Zorthag’s rule among the 
  local populace, but also in gathering tribute.  A lord 
  who, for any reason, cannot meet these demands 
  is usually disposed of in a very public, and very 
  brutal manner by his Pale Rider masters.  Obviously, 
  assignment to the post of lord is not always a desirable 
  fate.
  Many of the miniscule communities in the 
  Desiccated Wastes have already pledged loyalty to 
  Zorthag and his raiders, but there are a few that refuse 
  to bow down – to anyone. These settlements are few 
  and far between, however, and tend to maintain a 
  strong isolationist policy towards strangers. As such, 
  the Pale Riders grow strong, all but uncontested in 
  their corner of this desolate region.
  Despite the harsh reality of daily life, people have 
  managed to stave off extinction in the Desiccated 
  Wastes. Most of the people living in these small 
  villages are descended from isolated, rural families 
  who were forced to build their own meager fallout 
  shelters during the Fall, or try and survive above 
  ground in the months soon after. Consequently, over 
  the years, many communities have succumbed to 
  genetic mutations that have come to be the norm 
  throughout the rest of the Twisted Earth. This fact of 
  life has served to further alienate the “Changed Ones” 
  from the rest of the people living in the Northwest.
  Stories and rumors abound throughout the 
  communities farther north about the Changed Ones 
  of the Desiccated Wastes. Some relatively ignorant 
  people say they are “monsters” that possess just 
  enough intelligence to mimic regular human beings 
  like monkeys. More extreme groups claim they are 
  nothing short of “Hellspawn”, creatures that should 
  be wiped off the face of the planet for the good of 
  mankind. And there are those who may have the 
  clearest vision; a minority that sees the mutants who 
  live in the Desiccated Wastes for what they really are, 
  human beings who have merely changed over the 
  years, a preview of what is eventually going to happen 
  to everyone in the Northwest, and across the world.
  Diablo
  Former Name:  Diablo Dam, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  United Combine.
  The town of Diablo is an important settlement in 
  U.C. territory.  Built on the abandoned ruins of an old 
  hydroelectric dam high in the Cascades, Diablo was 
  discovered early on in the U.C.’s history (before the 
  War of the Remnants).  Initial forays were required to 
  root out the mutant raiders who were using the dam as 
  a base of operations, but once they were evicted, the 
  dam, and the small town in its shadow were quickly 
  occupied and built up.
  Diablo is now a virtual fortress; the dam itself 
  provides an excellent view of the river valley leading 
  LIFE IN THE WASTES
  They say this region never was much, a wasteland of a desert in a corner of the world no one paid much 
  mind to.  My parents was born here, their parents was born here, and their parents before them.  Can’t 
  rightly say how or why we live here, we just do.
  They say that back in the time of the Ancients this place was pretty desolate too, just a few rural towns to 
  mark the intersection of old roads.  Folks lived out here on wide-flung farms, or ranches, if at all.  When the 
  Fall came many folks listened to the voices on the radios and built shelters of their own, in their backyards, 
  in their basements.  They stocked up on canned food, on water, and each family had itself a tidy little hole to 
  hide in.
  When the Ancients fell no one out here really felt it.  Maybe some brief static on the radio, but that’s all.  
  For a while they stayed in their underground holes like burrowing badgers, listening to the radio waves 
  until the last automated transmissions drifted off into snow.  Gosh it must have been a frightening time.
  After a while they began to emerge.  Most of them was elderly folk, but some young ones were there too.  
  The latter sometimes got a hankering to go over the mountains and see if they could find ‘others’.  They 
  never did.  Or at least we never heard from ‘em again.  So the old folks stayed, smart as they was, and 
  raised the little ones the others had left behind, and I guess in time we, the new generation, was born.
  No one holds much hope for the world outside the wastes.
  But now we have other troubles.  Them ‘Pale Riders’ is a cruel lot, turning our way of life into something 
  unrighteous.  We’ve seen some of our kin turn on us and join their ranks, hoping to be spared their cruelty.
  It ain’t gonna be that way here in Burns Junction.  No siree.  We’re gonna fight.
  - Journal of an anonymous writer, found half-burned and discarded in the Desiccated Wastes
  
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  up to it, as well as giving 
  a panoramic view of the 
  Cascade Mountains.  The 
  old facility itself is a 
  maze of aboveground and 
  subterranean passages, 
  chambers, and vaults, 
  where arms, munitions, 
  and stocks of supplies can 
  be kept.  The “citadel”, as 
  the dam is now called, is 
  one of the most fortified 
  installations in U.C. 
  hands.
  The town of Diablo sits not far away from the dam.  
  Formerly this was the quarters of the dam’s operating 
  personnel, but has turned into an important hub in 
  the U.C.’s transportation network.  Supplies shipped 
  in from Canada along Ross Lake are brought here by 
  mule trains, before being portioned out and ported 
  individually to communities as far away as Winthrop 
  and Alpine Falls.  A wooden wall has been built up 
  around the old town, and the original river, which 
  horseshoes around the town, adds to its formidable 
  nature as a bastion against attack.  A single, Ancient-
  era bridge connects the town with the mountain 
  highway (and, only a few dozen miles up the road, the 
  beginnings of the Lifeline).
  In addition to the town growing in its shadow, the 
  citadel also has a zeppelin moor, constructed less than 
  a year ago to permit Tillamook airships to dock at the 
  dam and unload their wares.  The moor is used not 
  only to trade with the Tillamook, but also to hire their 
  airships to carry supplies and goods to be sent to allied 
  communities in the south, separated from contiguous 
  U.C. territory by the rise of the Purity Corp.
  This fact has only added to Diablo’s importance to 
  the United Combine, as it is now the primary supply 
  base for those southern communities, upon which 
  their survival depends.
  Eagle Point
  Former Name:  Grisdale, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Chinook Indians.
  Located twenty miles northwest of the 
  valley of Chinook, Eagle Point is a 
  consecrated site for the Chinook Indians. 
  The site marks the tribe’s exodus from the 
  subterranean lands (reached through caves 
  high in the Olympic Mountains) into a new 
  life on the surface.
  Eagle Point is a small village (mostly 
  populated by Blood Hunters), and a focal 
  point of Chinook religious life.  Vestiges of a small 
  logging town, from the time of the Ancients, is all 
  but erased now, and only the lodges of the Chinook 
  warriors remain.
  Punishment in accordance with tribal law is carried 
  out at Eagle Point, as are most religious rites of the 
  people. Eagle Point is also strictly off-limits to any 
  who are not of Native American descent. Even those 
  who have become “honorary” tribal members are 
  not allowed to climb the steps and enter the cave that 
  lies at the base of the hill, or participate in the sacred 
  rituals of the people. The “Wailing Cross”, where 
  punishment is carried out, can also be found at Eagle 
  Point, built on a mound in the center of a clearing at 
  the base of the 
  hill.
  Eagle Point 
  is guarded day 
  and night by 
  Blood Hunters, 
  to keep people 
  from entering the 
  Sacred Lands and 
  desecrating the 
  holy shrine of the 
  tribe.
  Eden
  Former Name:  Eden Bunker Complex, British 
  Columbia.
  Ruling Faction:  United Combine.
  The capital city of the United Combine was founded 
  at the gates of a bunker complex of the same name, 
  constructed from private funds and contributions by 
  numerous “extremist” doomsday groups before the 
  fall of human civilization.
  The people who led the masses out of the “Eden” 
  bunker, long ago, constituted much of the leadership 
  caste of the old Purity Corp and other militia 
  movements of the pre-Fall world.  It was these people, 
  Jeremiah Cole, Hunter Reinhart, his wife Jessica, 
  who sparked a mass exodus from the bio-domes of 
  the Northwest, just before everything came crashing 
  down.
  As far as Ancient-era vaults go, the Eden bunker 
  opened up early – much earlier than any of the 
  other complexes in the Northwest. The atomic clock 
  malfunctioned and opened the doors decades before 
  schedule. The people emerged to find themselves 
  alone in an outlandish new world that, over the years, 
  had become primal, harsh and inhospitable to those 
  who couldn’t adapt.  Strange beasts now roamed the 
  radiated, blasted wilderness claiming mastery over 
  everything. Sickness and death were commonplace 
  in those early days, but the people persevered. 
  They carved out a new way of life, built the city of 
  Eden from the ground up in the secluded valley in 
  the mountains of southern Canada.
  Year after long, iron hard year passed.  At 
  the time of the “Convention of The Remnants”, 
  Eden had become a stronghold with trade routes 
  that stretched all the way down to Crater City, 
  the citadel of the Sentinels.  Upwards of twenty 
  thousand pure blood human beings called this 
  stretch of territory their home – but things were 
  about to change. The Convention of The Remnants 
  
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  split the leadership 
  of the United 
  Combine into three 
  factions, two of 
  which seceded and 
  formed their own 
  nations calling 
  on the people 
  who wanted to 
  live differently to 
  come with them. 
  Thousands left 
  the city, following 
  their respective leaders into the wilderness. Those 
  that remained hardened their hearts and minds and 
  prepared for the “War of The Remnants”, which 
  continues to this day.
  Eden, as it exists at present, is home to thousands 
  of people who are steadfastly loyal to the principles 
  of the United Combine. Everyone plays an important 
  role in the continued survival of the population of the 
  city. Men, women, children, all understand their place 
  and accept things as part of life. Everyone works in 
  the city.  Everyone defends the city, even the children. 
  Those who don’t are punished. If lax behavior 
  continues, a tribunal is held, and, more often than not, 
  guilty parties are banished from the city. There is no 
  place in Eden for people who are not willing to do 
  their fair share of the work.
  The current leader of the United Combine is 
  Douglas Reinhart, the great, great grandson of Hunter 
  and Jessica Reinhart. He has an advisory council of 
  seven members who keep him apprised of the general 
  state of affairs throughout United Combine territory. 
  Douglas makes all of his decision on U.C policy based 
  on what they tell him.
  The city of Eden has a standing militia (the 
  “Minutemen”) of several thousand men. All males of 
  sufficient age are required to serve as Minutemen for a 
  period of five harvest seasons, but most choose to stay 
  on indefinitely. They know that a war is being fought, 
  and the Purist forces would like nothing better than to 
  take control of the city of Eden. Women and children 
  only pick up weapons to fight when it is absolutely 
  vital to the survival of the community.
  The size of Eden’s militia allows the city to 
  maintain an open door policy towards travelers, but 
  they have to check weapons with the gate guards. 
  Eden is one of the few places in the region to allow 
  this kind of access inside the city. Most places won’t 
  let travelers within a hundred yards of the gates.
  Enoch
  Former Name:  Omak, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Hand of Jehovah.
  The capital of the Hand of Jehovah cult is located high 
  in the North Cascades of what used to be Washington 
  State. “Enoch” is a highly religious town (indeed 
  those who do not worship the God of the Hand of 
  Jehovah had best look for another place to live, as 
  they will not be welcome in Enoch), with a population 
  of roughly eight hundred souls, all of whom are 
  fanatically loyal to Solomon and his son Isaac. Under 
  their leadership, the town has prospered, although 
  Solomon would be quick to point out that none of 
  the town’s success would be possible without the 
  guidance of the almighty Jehovah.
  Newcomers to Enoch who show no outward signs 
  of mutation are not immediately turned away from 
  the gates. The Hand of 
  Jehovah will always 
  allow people to enter 
  the city, as every non-
  mutant is a potential 
  convert. If, during the 
  course of their stay 
  in Enoch, it becomes 
  apparent that outsiders 
  appear unwilling to 
  convert to the Hand 
  of Jehovah, outsiders will sooner or later be asked 
  to leave (normally this sort of thing happens within 
  twenty four to forty eight hours).
  Solomon understands the need to maintain at least 
  some semblance of amiability towards outsiders (trade 
  is vital to survival), and will be courteous enough to 
  allow travelers to rest and do some business before 
  pressing them on the issue of religion.
  Mutants are a different story altogether. Like many 
  of the insular and racist people now inhabiting the 
  Northwest, Solomon considers mutants to be an 
  abomination. In his eyes, mutants are the “spawn” 
  of an ancient, fallen demon he calls “Scrag”, and are 
  unquestionably the enemy of all that would live their 
  lives in accordance with God’s will. Mutants are to be 
  hunted down and destroyed by any means necessary, 
  while entire mutant communities are targeted for 
  “purification”, a process that involves burning the 
  entire settlement and everything in it to the ground.
  Enoch is the base of operations for an organization 
  whose name strikes fear into the heart of every mutant 
  in the Northwest: the Red Brigade.
  Ephrata
  Former Name:  Ephrata, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Hand of Jehovah.
  The plains town of Ephrata has, in recent years, been 
  turned into a powerful religious center of the Hand of 
  Jehovah.
  Long ago, this town was all but 
  abandoned, with only a few small 
  families (of Mormon persuasion) 
  living a destitute existence in the 
  ruins.  When the Hand of Jehovah 
  spread south from Enoch, their 
  expansion drove these families out 
  (to Moses Lake; see that entry for 
  details on the ultimate fate of the 
  Mormons of eastern Washington), 
  
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  allowing the 
  Hand to take 
  over the town 
  and turn it into 
  an outpost of 
  their growing 
  religion.
  Today, 
  Ephrata has 
  become a hub 
  of settlement, 
  and its prosperity (thanks to its proximity to Coulee 
  City) has attracted not only settlers from northern 
  Hand of Jehovah territory, but also outsiders from 
  isolated farms and homesteads that exist out in the 
  dry plains of the plateau.  Those who come are often 
  desperate for food or just to belong, and so Ephrata 
  has been the scene of an explosion of conversions in 
  recent years.
  Fort Boise
  Former Name:  Boise, Idaho.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Although Boise was virtually unscathed in the initial 
  attacks from the invading Asian armies, the after 
  effects took a heavy toll on the city. Mushroom 
  clouds from multiple nuclear strikes to states east 
  and west of Idaho were shown again and again on 
  network broadcasts until the networks themselves 
  were incinerated and local signals vanished forever. 
  The shocked citizens stared in disbelief at the apparent 
  destruction happening to their distant neighbors in the 
  bio-domes and other cities all over the United States.
  The closest they came to destruction were the blasts 
  outside of Mountain Home Air Force Base, 35 miles 
  to the southeast, but Boise itself (other than the EMP 
  pulse) went relatively unharmed.
  Not long after the attacks, as rumors of Boise 
  having escaped the war spread, wave after wave 
  of refugees from Washington State and Montana 
  streamed across the border and began to converge 
  on the city. Tents were thrown up, medical relief 
  centers were established, but it wasn’t enough.  The 
  wretched masses arrived from everywhere. Families 
  from various cities or domes, soldiers who had fled, 
  deserted, or simply survived the invasion on both 
  fronts; many of them managed to end up at “Fort 
  Boise”, as it came to be called.
  Soon after the initial accounts of the horrors taking 
  place in the west spread, the city council quickly 
  formulated plans to secure Boise. A wall was built 
  around specific areas deemed vital for survival. 
  These walls exist today (though in a much degraded 
  state). The passage of time brought various assaults 
  from desperate refugees, raider gangs, and even the 
  occasional assault from mutated monstrosities from 
  the wilderness. Eventually, the wall became damaged 
  or destroyed in places, making repairs necessary.  
  Many parts of the wall have been re-constructed from 
  old vehicles, dumpsters and other pre-Fall equipment 
  that no longer serves any purpose.
  Fort Boise is currently run by a council of twelve 
  members, elected by the people to keep life in the 
  city as normal as possible.  Over one thousand people 
  live in Boise, and during trade season, that number 
  can grow by almost 50%. The average person in 
  Ft. Boise is mutated, which makes the settlement a 
  haven for mutants who have fled the lands to the west. 
  Pureblood humans are officially accepted in certain 
  areas of the city, but due to their reputation in the 
  west, they also find themselves heavily discriminated 
  against in other areas that are dominated by mutants.
  In general, the atmosphere of Fort Boise can best 
  be described as one of quiet tension. Most people 
  prefer to live and let live, and yet roving gangs of 
  both human and mutant have formed recently. They 
  defy the “Boise Brigades” (the local militia) and 
  often wage their own private wars in different parts 
  of town. Thus far the “BBs”  have managed to curb 
  the violence somewhat, but they can only do so much.  
  Peaceful people, both mutant and non-mutant alike, 
  fear that sooner or later the entire town will explode 
  into one massive riot that will destroy everything they 
  have worked so hard to build.
  Recently, representatives from both the Purity 
  Corp and Burns have come seeking to setup trade 
  agreements. Pureblood humans who have come east 
  out of United Combine territory know all too well 
  how racist the Purists can be, so the sight of Purist 
  camps outside the walls of Ft. Boise has been a source 
  of great concern.
  What the Pale Riders have been discussing with the 
  Boise council still remains something of a mystery. 
  Most people in Fort Boise have an idea of what 
  Zorthag is capable of, and more than a few of the 
  purebloods actually bear the mark of the slave as a 
  result of either a wrong turn that led them to Burns, 
  or being captured in a Pale Rider raid on a town they 
  once lived in.
  Rumors have begun to spread that Zorthag’s cronies 
  are trying to arrange some kind of deal that involves 
  slave trade. Whether or not that is true still remains to 
  be seen, but some of the more knowledgeable folk in 
  town claim that scattered tribal communities who are 
  said to inhabit lands to the south of Ft. Boise would be 
  very interested in obtaining slaves for labor or waging 
  war against each other.
  Boise’s native population claims a direct connection 
  to the various “militia” and supremacist factions 
  that heavily 
  influenced 
  Idaho’s culture 
  before the Fall.  
  These factions 
  have banded 
  together in 
  light of a 
  common 
  interest (the 
  survival of 
  Fort Boise), 
  
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  and to protect against the rest of the outsiders. Many 
  of the men who feel the strongest about their heritage 
  have formed into “Boise Brigades”, or “BBs”.  The 
  Boise Brigades keep the peace within the city walls 
  and also send small battle groups out to patrol the 
  areas around the city. They are easily identified by 
  their Ancient-era military fatigues and colored arm 
  bands.
  For a small standing army, the Boise Brigade 
  is quite well armed, as many of their ancestors 
  had illegally acquired heavy arms prior to the Fall 
  (machineguns, grenades, anti-tank missile launchers, 
  night vision equipment, etc). They had predicted the 
  End, after all. All forms of American-made, handheld 
  firearms are also possessed in decent quantity within 
  Fort Boise, although laser and more advanced 
  weapons have long since been discarded as useless 
  since the fuel cells ran out generations ago fighting 
  off raiders and mutant beasts. There are rumors of a 
  hidden stash of arms the Brigade keeps outside of the 
  city, hidden in the hills and mountains to the west. 
  This cache supposedly consists of decommissioned 
  equipment that the government had stored in the 
  vastness of the Rockies as they upgraded their 
  weapons and introduced androids to the frontlines.
  One of the most popular places for people to gather 
  in Fort Boise is the “Bowels”. The Bowels was once 
  a small football arena that is now used to carry out 
  justice, as well as engage in martial combat for sport.  
  The Brigade punishes criminals, deserters, or captured 
  creatures by placing them in the Bowels for combat.  
  Although the arena is used primarily for punishment, a 
  fighting circuit has come into being that is reminiscent 
  of the ancient sport of wrestling – although these 
  days anything goes. Gladiators fight in the arena for 
  the entertainment of the crowds that come to watch. 
  Winners often receive the holdings and personal gear 
  of those they defeat, and even sometimes a prize of 
  corium or chips.
  Fremont Uranium Mines
  Former Name:  White King Uranium Mines.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Located in an isolated part of the Oregon hinterland, 
  high in the mountains, are the ruins of the White King 
  Uranium Mines.  In continuous operation during 
  the 1950s and 60s, White King was used to extract 
  uranium from deep beneath the mountains to provide 
  fuel for American nuclear reactors across the country.  
  The early-era over-mining and haphazard operation of 
  White King led to the mines being shut down in the 
  1970s, and in the ensuing years it became a wilderness 
  wasteland, located (ironically) near the heart of 
  Fremont National Park.  Over the years, much of the 
  mine pits themselves became toxic as they filled with 
  high-acidity groundwater, while radioactive elements 
  from the mining process were scattered almost 
  without a care across the 100+ acres of the facility, 
  turning it into a lifeless wasteland.
  In the twilight years of the Ancients, White King 
  was re-opened as part of a desperate effort to “trawl” 
  the American landscape and milk it for every usable 
  resource before the world ran out of fuel.  Though no 
  history remains of the last-ditch operations here, they 
  were no doubt plagued with rushed efforts, great risks, 
  and no small amount of death.
  Old trucking roads that 
  once connected this distant 
  part of the Oregon wilderness 
  are now overgrown, and 
  snow covers the facility’s lost 
  buildings, pits, and yards for 
  most of the year.  No one in 
  the region of the Lost Paradise 
  even suspects this place exists, 
  but if someone found out 
  (for example, a lost group of 
  adventurers trying to find a 
  pass connecting to the lands 
  of the south) there is little doubt this place would once 
  again become the site of a heated attempt to wrench 
  nuclear fuel from the ground.
  Future
  Former Name:  Napavine, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Purity Corp.
  The small town of “Future” was founded by the Purity 
  Corp primarily to guard the important intersection of 
  old Highway 12 and I-5.  A gateway linking the high 
  mountain city of Zog with their holdings on the south 
  part of the Dead Waters, Future grew almost overnight 
  into a dark and ugly place, a source of much of the 
  Purists’ industry.
  Dark clouds hover over Future day and night; 
  by day there is only darkness, but by night hellish 
  red fires glow within these clouds to illuminate for 
  miles.  Future is the home of a foundry, where metal 
  scavenged from all over the area (from Olympia up 
  north to the many deserted towns along the overgrown 
  I-5 corridor) is taken by caravan to be melted down 
  and turned into armor, or molded into pieces used in 
  any number of ways; vehicle parts, firearm barrels, 
  ammunition casings, chains, manacles, etc.  As such, 
  the soot of coal is heavy here, and the people who 
  inhabit Future are inordinately skilled in metal-
  smithing and crafting.
  Because Future is a vital 
  part of the Purity Corp’s war 
  effort, it is heavily guarded.  
  Outsiders are never welcome 
  here, not even traders.  Much 
  of the countryside around 
  the fortified town has been 
  stripped down (early attempts 
  to fire the foundry with 
  wood from the forests were 
  failures, but left the landscape 
  scarred), leaving only a 
  
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  desolate wasteland.
  The population of Future 
  is predominantly of white 
  ancestry, and it is no surprise 
  that the town has, in recent 
  years, become a breeding 
  ground for sentiments against 
  the rulers of the Purity Corp.  
  Because of repeated attempts 
  by Jeremiah Cole to have him 
  replaced by a Nubian official, 
  the town’s leader, Timothy 
  Anders, has begun taking in 
  refugees and wanted men of 
  white descent, giving them 
  shelter and sanctuary just to spite Cole’s regime.
  If power is not soon shared among the races of the 
  Purity Corp, there is no doubt that the town of Future 
  will feature prominently in any uprisings against 
  Cole’s government.
  Ghost Wastes Of Umatilla
  Former Name:  Umatilla Gas Repository, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Before the Fall, the Umatilla Gas Repository was a 
  large military depot situated in a relatively isolated 
  part of northeastern Oregon. Prior to the outbreak of 
  hostilities, vast reserves of chemical and nerve agents 
  were stored at Umatilla for testing purposes, as well as 
  for storage in the eventuality of future conflict.
  That is what was officially known about the 
  complex. What was not commonly known about 
  Umatilla was that the depot also served as a cover for 
  a much more insidious operation that involved genetic 
  testing on human and animal subjects.
  Dubbed “Project Pandora” by its creators, the 
  program was responsible for the creation of a wide 
  array of creatures that had never before been seen on 
  the planet. Many of these hybrid species were created 
  by combining the DNA of 
  man and beast. Others were 
  a hodge-podge of the genes 
  of various creatures.  In all, 
  the mad scientists of Umatilla 
  managed to create twenty 
  unique species of life that had 
  actually survived to maturity 
  and were able to reproduce. 
  These creatures were kept in 
  an immense bunker complex 
  deep underneath the surface, 
  where they were studied and 
  allowed to mate. The mad 
  scientists obtained DNA 
  samples of the strongest of these creatures and sent 
  them north to a secret cloning facility at the Sea-Sac 
  dome where even more of the beasts were cloned into 
  a virtual “army” of special troops that were ultimately 
  used in the Great War.
  Not surprisingly, Umatilla was a major target 
  for the Asian invaders during the war. When the 
  fighting escalated into nuclear conflict, Umatilla was 
  bombarded with an assortment of nuclear missiles and 
  smart bombs that enemy commanders hoped would 
  penetrate deep into the core of the complex. While 
  the weapons did incredible amounts of damage to the 
  base and the surrounding region, they failed to reach 
  the deepest portions of the 
  complex where the genetic 
  experiments were performed.
  The main power generators 
  for the complex were 
  destroyed, however, leaving 
  many scientists and the 
  creatures they monitored 
  trapped deep under the 
  earth.  Before the emergency 
  generators could be started, 
  many of the creatures 
  escaped from their holding 
  pens and killed the scientists who made them. As the 
  years wore on, the creatures eventually found their 
  way to the surface world. They multiplied and spread 
  out over the region, developing their own territory in 
  the blasted wastelands of Umatilla.
  The “Ghost Wastes” get their name from travelers 
  who have ventured into the region in search of corium 
  (deposits are rumored to exist amidst the ruins of the 
  area).  The rumor is that at night, the land howls and 
  the ghosts of those who died in that area move across 
  the land in search of the flesh of the living. People 
  say that the creatures have translucent skin that glows 
  anywhere from green to pink. There are no technical 
  names for these creatures; they are referred to merely 
  as “fiends” by most, though the native Indians have 
  begun giving them the names of traditional demons 
  and monsters, and weaving a mythology about their 
  creation and purpose on the Twisted Earth.
  The Ghost Wastes are devastated for forty miles 
  in every direction due to the massive nuclear strikes 
  and resulting meltdown of the WNP nuclear power 
  plant facility. In addition to the nuclear devastation, 
  the containment facilities for the chemical, biological, 
  and nerve agents that were stored at Umatilla were 
  obliterated. Much of the stockpiles of the dangerous 
  agents were incinerated in the blasts, but enough of 
  the stuff remained to further poison the land.
  The Columbia River was also inundated with 
  radiation and poisonous toxins 
  that were swept down all the 
  way to the Pacific. Every 
  major waterway that connected 
  to the Columbia was poisoned 
  and, as a consequence, the 
  aquatic life of much of the 
  lakes and rivers throughout the 
  Northwest has mutated into 
  monstrous, twisted versions 
  of their former selves – all 
  largely due to the attack on the 
  Umatilla Gas Repository. 
  
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  Hanford
  Former Name:  U.S. Department of 
  Energy Hanford Site, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Few travelers know of this distant 
  wasteland of radiation and poisoned 
  sands, said to have been one of the most 
  toxic dumping pits even in the time of 
  the Ancients.  A vast nuclear complex 
  covering 560 square miles, Hanford 
  produced a vast amount of electricity 
  and weapons-grade nuclear material for decades until 
  being partially closed down towards the twilight of 
  the Ancients.  Even then, the sprawling dry country 
  around the central facility was being turned into a 
  dump site for nuclear waste from all over the nation, 
  contaminating not only the immediate vicinity, but for 
  scores of miles in every direction.
  Because it was still a power production facility 
  capable of producing weapons grade material, 
  Hanford was targeted by ICBMs during the Fall.  A 
  blanketing of warheads struck not only the facility 
  itself, but also other nuclear power plants to the south 
  (including the Columbia Generation Station, across 
  the Yakima river).
  Hanford is a desolate wasteland now, its sand 
  virtually “glowing” day and night.  An aurora of 
  ghostly white light (visible up to twenty miles away) 
  hovers over the site, marking it as one of the most 
  toxic places on all the Twisted Earth.
  Hope
  Former Name:  Cougar Dam, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  United Combine.
  “Hope” is another of the larger United Combine towns 
  in the Lost Paradise region. Located in a valley in the 
  mountains east of the ruins of Eugene, Oregon, Hope 
  is the home to several 
  thousand people. The 
  city was built around 
  a dam and an old fish 
  hatchery, both of which 
  were in surprisingly 
  good condition due 
  to the efforts of a few 
  people who still knew 
  how to operate the dam. 
  During the dark years, 
  these people taught their 
  offspring how to keep 
  the pressure to acceptable levels, how to generate 
  electricity from the power of the water, and how to 
  transfer it all to the homes in the valley, which seemed 
  to be relatively untouched by the years. Thanks to the 
  efforts of these few individuals, the people of Hope 
  enjoy more convenience than most people in the 
  Twisted Earth.
  Hope is an open community, as open as any place in 
  the Northwest can be anymore. Travelers are allowed 
  inside to trade and get a decent night’s rest, but if they 
  want to settle in Hope, they must petition for it. A 
  council will be held, and, if everyone is in agreement, 
  then the petitioners will be given probationary 
  status, which usually lasts for three harvest seasons. 
  At the end of the probationary period, if the person 
  or persons have managed to find a niche in the 
  community, then Hope will welcome them into the 
  fold; if not, they are asked to leave.
  When a person or people are asked to leave the 
  community, it is always rough. While they are free 
  to return to trade, they may never again live in the 
  city, and for a few that has bred feelings of hostility 
  towards the people of Hope. Some have left shouting 
  promises of vengeance at the people who watch from 
  the walls.
  The town of Hope is governed by a man named 
  Duncan Clark. His ancestors lived in the valley before 
  the Fall and passed down their engineering expertise 
  to him. Duncan has an advisory council to help him 
  run the day-to-day affairs of the city, as do many 
  of the U.C. towns. In recent years, Hope has fallen 
  victim to a rash of deformities and deaths among 
  newborn babies. People are starting to get scared, 
  even superstitious as they struggle to understand why 
  these things have been happening.
  One elderly citizen by the name of Marissa 
  Harrington has been spreading rumors that this is 
  the beginning of a series of troubles for the city of 
  Hope. She claims that the deformities are a plague 
  brought on the people by God to punish them for their 
  “sinful ways”. Some people are starting to believe her 
  too. Marissa has gathered a large number of people 
  together for nightly Bible study meetings, but other 
  people who have been to these meetings claim that 
  she’s talking about taking over the town. Whatever the 
  cause of the deformities may be, whether it is a plague 
  on the world or caused by more mundane reasons, 
  the changes are beginning to happen all across the 
  Northwest.
  Jefferson
  Former Name:  Jefferson, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  Purity Corp.
  Until a few years ago, Jefferson was just one of 
  several U.C. settlements in the Willamette Valley, 
  its populace relying on forestry and hunting for their 
  livelihood.  With 
  the dragging on 
  of the War of 
  the Remnants, 
  however, Jefferson 
  has slowly slipped 
  into decline, as it 
  relied heavily on 
  supply shipments 
  from U.C. caravans 
  – caravans that no 
  
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  longer get through with any reliability.
  Jefferson has an inordinate ratio of men to women, 
  and as such, women are a rare commodity here.  
  Village leaders, facing growing concerns, promised 
  the men wives of their own, for months leading them 
  (and others who came to settle in the town) to believe 
  that womenfolk were coming, if only they’d wait.  
  After about three years the men gave up hope, turned 
  on the village elders, and took control of the town for 
  themselves.
  Jefferson is no longer part of the U.C., and has even 
  petitioned the Purity Corp for membership, hoping 
  that switching sides will remedy their miserable 
  situation.  The Purity Corp is exploiting this to their 
  advantage, and have instructed the locals to begin 
  a campaign of guerilla warfare against their fellow 
  Willamette Valley towns.
  The people of Jefferson are aggressive and 
  angry, and treat outsiders the same as if they were 
  U.C. soldiers – they attack first, and ask questions 
  later.  Though they once had other industries, they 
  now subsist solely on raiding logging parties from 
  Peoria, taking rations and arms.  Women, if and 
  when captured, are usually raped by the war party in 
  question before being taken back to Jefferson, where 
  they are shared as communal property, and kept in a 
  secure stockade in the exact center of town.  There 
  are rumored to be upwards 
  of a half dozen women from 
  nearby settlements held 
  prisoner in Jefferson.
  The foolhardy men of the 
  Jefferson militia have even 
  gone so far as to waylay and 
  murder Sentinels coming to 
  their area, viewing them as 
  little more than puppet agents 
  of the U.C.  This fact will 
  likely have dire repercussions 
  for them in the near future.
  Lelooska
  Former Name:  None.
  Ruling Faction:  Lelooska Indians.
  Like many tribal villages elsewhere on the Twisted 
  Earth, the settlement of Lelooska has been forced to 
  fight for its very survival, using whatever tactics and 
  strategies its inhabitants can think of.
  Home to the dwindling tribe of the same name, 
  Lelooska is virtually “invisible” to outsiders; lost in 
  a deep primeval hinterland of dry dead forests, its 
  huts and lodges are constructed in the forest canopy, 
  underground, and in the hollowed-trunks of massive 
  trees that have withstood the test of time.  Rope 
  bridges connect upper level homes with each other, 
  while spiraling staircases fill the trunks of standing 
  trees to provide access to the ground.  Hidden 
  accessways and tunnels connect underground storage 
  areas, where food and water is kept along with women 
  and children should the village ever be discovered and 
  attacked.
  The Lelooska live a fragile, frightened existence, 
  lying so close to the front lines of the War of The 
  Remnants – a war they are not a part of, a war that 
  they believe is merely an extension of the unending 
  “Fall” that has turned the world into a wasteland of 
  ash and ruin.
  Confined 
  to their tiny 
  village amid 
  the dying 
  husk of 
  an ancient 
  forest, none 
  can say 
  for how 
  long these 
  holdouts 
  will last.
  Lewis And Clark Bio-Dome 
  Complex
  Former Name:  Portland, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  In the Willamette Valley, one of the most poignant 
  reminders of how far humanity has fallen exists in the 
  form of two colossal, cracked and broken domes that 
  can be seen from miles around.
  The Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome Complex was, at 
  one time, a modern marvel in human engineering. 
  From the vast sewage systems underneath the city, 
  to the rail systems that ferried people from one 
  place to the next, all the way to the pinnacle of the 
  domes themselves; there was nothing about The L.C. 
  complex that wasn’t awe-inspiring.
  But that was then. Now, the place is a deathtrap 
  filled with hordes of creatures that prey upon the flesh 
  of the living. It is a festering, stinking ruin that all 
  sane people avoid regardless of the lure of pre-Fall 
  arcanum that surely lies hidden amidst the wreck and 
  rubble of a city that, at its peak, held upwards of ten 
  million people under the crystal clear macro-plastic 
  domes.
  Many adventurers have lost their lives exploring the 
  ruins, but those who have managed to return brought 
  with them objects that haven’t been seen since before 
  the Fall. Holographic communicators, rare medicines, 
  even vehicles that are operational and in almost 
  pristine condition have been brought out of the place. 
  Those same adventurers will tell anyone that the booty 
  they brought with them wasn’t worth the trip either.
  It’s just too dangerous in there, they say.  But 
  the warnings of those who have been there don’t 
  stop people from going to see for themselves. The 
  surrounding wilderness on both sides of the Great 
  River is also filled with strange creatures that attack 
  anything in sight.
  A number of smaller trading settlements have 
  
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  been built in the east hills on the Portland side of 
  the complex. Some of these camps have come into 
  being to profit off the naiveté of the people willing to 
  explore the ruins. Solitary traders jack up the value 
  for their goods, knowing full well that the tech looters 
  who come to barter will pay their prices. It’s unethical 
  to say the least, but these “blood traders”, as decent 
  folk call them, rationalize it by saying that the people 
  probably won’t live through a single night inside the 
  ruins. And they’re probably right.
  Not every settlement in the area exists to profit off 
  the death of the adventurers, however. A Sentinel 
  outpost has been constructed in the region to guard 
  against any threats that might come out of the ruins. 
  The stronghold is comprised of a division of Guides 
  as well as four squads of Scouts, and is under the 
  watchful eye of Warden Janus Gage.
  The Sentinels regularly patrol this region, even 
  going so far as to penetrate the outer city ruins; an 
  expanse of buildings that were abandoned when 
  the bio-dome was built. This sector is called “Old 
  Portland” by the Sentinels and other people who 
  venture into the area. 
  Lifeline
  Former Name:  Pacific Crest National Trail, 
  Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Varies.
  What the people of the Northwest call the “Lifeline” 
  is one of the most precarious and treacherous trails in 
  all of the Twisted Earth.  Long ago, this vital lifeline 
  connecting the wilderness areas of the Northwest 
  was known as the “Pacific Crest National Trail”, an 
  extensive trailhead system that stretched from Canada 
  all the way to Mexico, through forested valleys in the 
  shadow of glacial peaks, to distant desert countryside 
  far from the Lost Paradise.
  The people of the Northwest use the Lifeline as 
  a means of keeping contact with their lands.  Much 
  of the road network in old Washington State, for 
  example, runs through radiated cities and disease-
  infested ruins, making their use next to suicidal.  An 
  alternative had to be found if human civilization was 
  to spread.
  Before the War of the Remnants, as the United 
  Combine grew, it realized it needed an isolated trail 
  to keep its communities in constant contact, and to 
  supply its furthest flung outposts.  Mountain Walkers 
  first discovered the Lifeline, and through negotiations 
  with the U.C. helped them re-open much of it.  The 
  U.C. uses it to this day, with mule caravans (and 
  even trains of human bearers, when mules are scarce) 
  making the journey through the mountains to keep 
  U.C. villages and towns supplied.
  With the War, however, the trail has been effectively 
  cut in half by the rise of the Purity Corp.  But it is 
  still very much in use, on both sides of the border, 
  supplying both U.C. and Purist communities.
  No one knows how much of the old Pacific Crest 
  Trail still exists; in places it is entirely overgrown 
  with trees and underbrush, and years of landslides and 
  rainstorms have erased 
  miles and miles of it in 
  certain regions.  The 
  Mountain Walkers are 
  said to walk these old 
  trails looking for lost 
  mountain communities 
  that might be waiting 
  to be discovered, or 
  other forgotten secrets 
  of the high mountain 
  country. If and when 
  the people of the Lost 
  Paradise meet up 
  with the people of the 
  southern lands, it might 
  be conceivable that a 
  large-scale operation 
  would be mounted to 
  reopen the entire trail as a trade route to connect the 
  people of north and south (and avoid the radiated 
  cities of the low country).
  Mao Chu'n Bunker Complex
  Former Name:  Astoria, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  People’s Army.
  The Mao Chu’n bunker complex in the ruins of what 
  was once known as Astoria is the second largest 
  People’s Army settlement in the Northwest. When the 
  Great War ended, General Mao Chu’n took control 
  of the remnants of the Communist Union forces and 
  ordered the construction of a massive bunker complex, 
  a complex that would need to hold the vast amounts 
  of supplies that they had brought with them across the 
  Pacific Ocean. Once the facility was finished, much of 
  the supplies had either been brought in, or distributed 
  to other Communist camps and fallout shelters in the 
  area. What was left on the fleet of cargo ships would 
  be guarded by the soldiers at the Mao Chu’n complex 
  through the long dark 
  years that would follow.
  The Mao Chu’n 
  bunker complex is the 
  largest operational 
  bunker complex in the 
  Lost Paradise, staying 
  in use even after people 
  started to return to the 
  surface. Making use of 
  an existing subterranean 
  defense facility from 
  before the Fall, Mao 
  Chu’n is several stories 
  deep and equipped 
  with multiple power 
  generation stations, 
  fully operational 
  water treatment 
  
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  facilities (purifying water that is pumped in from the 
  Columbia), acres and acres of hydroponic gardens, 
  medical treatment centers, and enough living space to 
  comfortably house over three thousand people.
  During the long years after the Great Fall, the 
  Asian nationals worked hard to re-build much of the 
  technology they had destroyed during the invasion.  
  The fixed gauss cannon batteries were completely 
  restored. Many of the android soldiers were likewise 
  reconstructed and re-programmed to serve the 
  communist forces. The robotics facility that once 
  pumped out android soldiers for the defense of the 
  west coast has been partially reconstructed, but the 
  People’s Army are lacking the proper mother boards 
  for the automation sequencers and molding machinery 
  that is needed to mass produce the robots. Single 
  robots have been constructed, but the task is long 
  and produces a comparatively sub-standard product. 
  People’s Army technicians believe that the automation 
  sequencers also embed the BIOS of the androids with 
  the programming they need to become true A.I drones, 
  but that is sheer conjecture at this point.
  The People’s Army scientists – saientisuto – have 
  been given the task of trying to rebuild technology 
  they never developed, and it is proving to be daunting. 
  Fuji Sakamo, the head saientisuto at the Mao Chu’n 
  complex, has asked that top priority be given to 
  finding an intact automation sequencer; as a result, 
  five squads have been sent out into the wilderness to 
  find one.
  General Thanh Nghiem is the leader of the 
  community at the Mao Chu’n complex and is a sort of 
  “vice minister” of all People’s Army settlements in the 
  Northwest, answering only to General Cho himself. 
  Nghiem and Cho work together to keep the Tillamook 
  Trading Caravans running smoothly. They use ancient 
  holographic communicators to keep in touch with 
  each other in the event that a face-to-face meeting 
  cannot be facilitated. General Nghiem commands 
  a force of several hundred soldiers who are utterly 
  committed to their faction’s cause.
  Kaingiin are not allowed into the Mao Chu’n complex 
  under any circumstances. Even dignitaries from the 
  United Combine and Purity Corp are forced to stay in 
  a town built outside the walls of the bunker complex 
  in the ruins of Astoria.
  Moses Lake
  Former Name:  Moses Lake, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Hand of Jehovah.
  Moses Lake is the second largest Hand of Jehovah 
  settlement in the Northwest.
  The original town was at the center of the Mormon 
  community of Washington State before the Fall, and 
  by virtue of its vast open spaces (central to the rolling 
  plateau that makes up much of the eastern half of the 
  state), also had the dubious honor of being quite near 
  to a number of nuclear missile silos set up in the area.
  When nuclear war erupted, the vast cropland 
  around Moses Lake lit up like horizon-to-horizon 
  brushfire as thermonuclear warheads, targeted against 
  the hardened silos there, detonated all across the 
  plains.  The attacks were only part of the worldwide 
  exchange, of course, but their effects were completely 
  disastrous to the region.  In addition to radiation 
  (which would kill much, if not all, 
  of the ranch stock for dozens of 
  miles), fires raged out of control 
  for months.  Without any relief 
  from outside sources, the sick 
  survivors living in the small towns 
  dotting the area either died off 
  completely from radiation and 
  starvation, or dwindled to the point 
  of almost total insignificance.
  In the latter case, it was their 
  strong work ethics, zealous 
  Christian beliefs, and insular 
  nature that kept the people of 
  the plateau towns from total 
  extinction, and this hardiness permitted them to 
  survive despite the fates of so many across the world, 
  the total decimation of their livestock, and the radiated 
  conflagrations that poisoned their cropland for years 
  to come.  The Mormons of Moses Lake, Ephrata, 
  and other towns saw refugees from the big cities 
  arrive from over the mountains, turn to violence and 
  savagery, and eventually kill themselves off.  They 
  saw Indians come seeking shelter and handouts, only 
  to abuse their Christian generosity and steal from 
  them when their backs were turned.  They saw vicious 
  road gangs spawn from the dying dispossessed plying 
  the open roads, and saw them, too, dwindle and vanish 
  in turn.
  It was only their kind, the true survivors, who lived 
  on.  And though in time, they too began to mutate, 
  they resisted the death that seemed to loom in the 
  future of all mankind by embracing their own and 
  sticking to their Christian ideals.
  Despite their determination, the stubborn fortitude 
  of the plateau people would not last forever.
  Located on the edge of the lake of the same name, 
  Moses Lake is considered by many of its one hundred 
  remaining inhabitants to be one of the lands promised 
  to the Hand of Jehovah by the Creator - which is the 
  main reason that Moses Lake was the location of one 
  of the bloodiest forced conversions 
  in the history of the sect.
  Early one spring, a squad of 
  five Inquisitors from the Hand 
  of Jehovah came calling on the 
  stubborn settlement. None of the 
  fifty seven people in the small 
  town had ever heard of the Hand 
  of Jehovah, and though they were 
  quite religious themselves, they 
  saw the Hand’s twisted brand 
  of Christian politics as pure 
  blasphemy.
  Despite this, the people of 
  Moses Lake welcomed the 
  
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  Inquisitors into their tiny community, shared their 
  food and supplies with the strange newcomers – only 
  to be repaid in blood when the Inquisition noticed 
  that there were mutants in the town. At first, things 
  were simply tense. Inquisitors made snide comments 
  about the mutated citizens of the town, all the while 
  preaching about the “love of God” and their certainty 
  that Moses Lake was promised to them by their 
  God. Some of the people in Moses Lake had similar 
  spiritual convictions, but argued with the visitors 
  about the particulars that separated their belief 
  systems. It didn’t take long for the highly spirited 
  conversations to become a full-blown war of words, 
  with both sides quoting the same Book, at times even 
  arguing the meanings of the same piece of Scripture. 
  The last straw for the people of Moses Lake, however, 
  came when the Inquisitors pointed their bony fingers 
  at the mutant citizens of the town and called them 
  “demons”.
  The Inquisitors were thrown out of the town and 
  told never to return – but they did. Three moon cycles 
  later, the Inquisitors came back, with a company of 
  heavily armed Templars at their backs. The leader 
  of the Templars (who at the time was Solomon’s son 
  Isaac) demanded entry into the community in the 
  name of the “almighty Jehovah” so that construction 
  of a temple in the one true God’s name could begin, 
  and the people could be made to see the error of their 
  ways.
  His words were greeted with a hail of gunfire.
  The “conversion” of Moses Lake lasted five long 
  weeks as the defenders of the walled town threw 
  everything they had at the attackers. In the end, a 
  hundred Templars lay dead with three times as many 
  wounded. All but ten of the citizens of Moses Lake 
  had lost their lives. The battered and beaten survivors 
  of the bloody siege surrendered – only to be executed, 
  crucified, and burned along the northern road leading 
  to Enoch as punishment for “fraternization with 
  demonic entities” and “sacrilegious interpretation of 
  God’s Scriptures”.
  Although Moses Lake, once part of a large 
  reservoir, has drastically reduced in size over the long 
  years since the Fall, the former inhabitants of the town 
  were able to purify much of what remains to feed their 
  rebuilt herds of livestock and irrigate a narrow belt of 
  farmland surrounding the town. Though most of those 
  inhabitants are dead, the Hand was able to preserve 
  their handiwork and now benefit greatly from it, 
  producing vegetables not widely seen on the Twisted 
  Earth.
  Moses Lake is more than just a farming community, 
  it is also the southernmost settlement in Hand of 
  Jehovah territory.  A company of fifty Templars call 
  Moses Lake their home. These soldiers patrol the 
  southeastern region and ensure supply lines between 
  the other Hand of Jehovah communities of the plateau 
  are kept safe from raiders, Indians, and other mutated 
  beasts that roam the wastes.
  Visitors to the town of Moses Lake can expect to 
  receive the same treatment that they would receive 
  in any other town that is governed by the Hand of 
  Jehovah.  Non-mutants will be allowed within the city 
  gates to conduct business, but if, during the course 
  of their stay it becomes apparent that they are not 
  interested in religion, then they will be asked to leave.
  Mount Hood
  Former Name:  Mount Hood, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  Tecesni.
  After the Fall, when things began to quiet down 
  and the long dark night of the aftermath had fallen, 
  the remnants of the Tecesnian shock troopers began 
  to seek out a home where they might find some 
  measure of peace –and come to grips with what they 
  had become. All throughout their short history, the 
  creatures had been poked, prodded, tested and finally 
  forced to fight other beings who, somewhere deep in 
  the psyche of these monstrous constructs, struck a 
  chord of familiarity that resonated throughout every 
  fiber of the Tecesnian mind.  These humans, who fell 
  so easily before the fury of the Tecesnian onslaught in 
  the mountains and valleys of the Northwest had some 
  sort of connection to who the shock troopers were.
  The Tecesni who survived the last Great War 
  sensed it, became confounded by it, and eventually 
  began to rage against it. The horrid impression that 
  they were bred for slaughter and carnage slowly 
  began to dominate their thinking, mold their attitude 
  about what they were, and inevitably forge an iron 
  clad philosophy that eventually snapped any bonds 
  that may have existed between human and Tecesni.  
  The creatures wandered the cold, dead wastes of a 
  land that had fallen into the grip of a nuclear winter, 
  preying on whatever food sources they might find, 
  including humans, who looked upon the Tecesni as 
  if they were some twisted nightmare come to life. 
  During this period, Tecesni all over the region began 
  to experience flashes of insight, whispers in their 
  haunted minds that gradually became stronger, urging 
  them towards the cold comfort of the mountains. 
  Some Tecesni went farther north into the distant, 
  frozen reaches of northern Canada, while others struck 
  out east into lands unknown, and still others followed 
  the urgings of an unknown voice towards a lonely 
  snow capped mountain just in sight of the ravaged 
  
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  Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome – Mt. Hood.
  They climbed to a ski-lodge situated just within 
  sight of the summit, following the summons from 
  the unknown voice. Inside they found the remains of 
  humans who presumably had sought refuge from the 
  insanity that took place in the final days before their 
  mighty civilization came crashing down on them. 
  The isolation of the mountain had not saved them, 
  however, for something else had come calling. The 
  Tecesnian refugees followed the trail of blood and 
  bones down into passageways that went deep below 
  the bowels of the lodge. There, in the deep black of 
  the mountain they found the one that Tecesnian elders 
  today refer as Ack’ina, the first "Queen".
  Ack’ina brought the Tecesni into her den, where 
  she bred with each of them in turn and spawned more 
  monstrosities. Ack’ina commanded them to guard her, 
  their queen, and to dig. Slowly, over years and years, 
  the Tecesnians formed a vast network of tunnels, 
  reaching deep into the roots of Mt. Hood. The first of 
  the Tecesni and Ack’ina have long since perished, but 
  the memory of those first ones lives on in the "Hive 
  Mind". Indeed it was Ack’ina who taught the first 
  ones the mysteries of the Hive Mind, taught them to 
  be proud of who they were and to hate and despise 
  humans. It was she who gave them their name, gave 
  them a home and nurtured the first of the colony 
  and divided them into the separate species that now 
  dominate the race.
  Today Mt. Hood is home to over a thousand 
  Tecesni. This race of insect-men (if that is even the 
  proper classification for these bizarre creatures), 
  have thrived and developed their own distinct 
  culture based on the initial teachings of Ack’ina. 
  The civilization is governed by a queen chosen from 
  different dynasties that exist within the colony. Each 
  dynasty is ruled by a female who is considered to be 
  a direct descendant of Ack’ina and a potential heir to 
  the throne of the entire colony. When the Queen dies, 
  her death throws the Hive Mind into chaos. A bloody 
  succession war is almost always fought between 
  the dynasties. The victor emerges as the Queen who 
  immediately imposes her will upon the collective race, 
  and curiously enough, the fighting ceases. Defeated 
  dynasties capitulate without lifting so much as a finger 
  in further defiance. Once the Hive Mind has been 
  calmed, the rest of the colony falls into line, and life 
  continues on almost as if a war had never been fought.
  That isn’t to say that politics, and even the 
  occasional assassination, doesn’t come into play. 
  Tecesni, at their core, are brutal creatures who only 
  respect strength. Their racial brutality in part comes 
  from the diversity in their species. Only the strongest 
  are taken from the larval slave stage so that they might 
  better serve the whole. While this system makes the 
  entire colony stronger, it also serves as a breeding 
  ground for racist ideologies. Since only those who are 
  the strongest are allowed to undergo metamorphosis, 
  those who haven’t proven themselves worthy tend to 
  be branded as "lesser beings". Hybrids look down on 
  their drone cousins, while the soldiers and workers 
  regard the hybrids as less than perfect, and all look on 
  slaves as virtually nothing.
  The area around Mt. Hood is a no-man’s land. At 
  one point, there were settlements surrounding the 
  dormant volcano, but once the Tecesni found out 
  about them, the insect men destroyed the small towns 
  and either killed or enslaved the people. Traveling 
  in this region is extremely dangerous. The hills and 
  lowlands are regularly patrolled by drones looking for 
  food sources. Any humans who are sighted traveling 
  in this area will always be engaged by the patrols to be 
  killed, captured, or driven out.
  Neah Bay
  Former Name:  Neah Bay, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Makah Tribe.
  The tiny Makah village of Neah Bay sits at the 
  furthest edge of the Lost Paradise (in fact, it was once 
  the northwestern-most settlement in the contiguous 
  United States), amid stands of towering evergreen, its 
  harbor protected from the deep waters of the ocean by 
  rock promontories.
  The Olympic Mountains loom over Neah Bay like 
  distant sentinels of snow-capped stone.  Massive 
  storm fronts from the Pacific often pass over Neah 
  Bay before clashing with the Peninsula’s mountains, 
  and virtual symphonies of thunder and lightning are 
  frequently witnessed here.  Rainfall is heavy, fog is 
  common, and the seas are rough – but the Makah 
  manage to survive.
  Neah Bay, and a thin swath of wilderness running 
  the length of the rocky beaches for several miles, is 
  the tribal domain of the Makah, a Native American 
  tribe renowned as whale hunters and seafarers.  The 
  village itself is rather small, though having been 
  spared the destruction of the Fall. Its old homes, 
  storefronts, and town buildings have an antiquated, 
  almost “preserved” feel.  Walls have been built around 
  the primary settlement, allowing the locals to keep out 
  unwanted mutant predators coming down from the 
  Sacred Lands, as well as other outsiders.
  Neah Bay’s harbor is filled with all manner of boats, 
  both old and new.  A number of motor launches, diesel 
  tugs, and crab boats share a congested space with 
  masted whaling rigs and log canoes.  This fleet is the 
  backbone of the Makah livelihood.
  
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  Nespellem
  Former Name:  Nespellem, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Yakama-Colville Confederation.
  The dry rural town of Nespellem, in the distant 
  plateau country of the Lost Paradise, is a sprawling 
  settlement that has become home to the combined 
  tribes of the Yakama and Colville Indians.  Once a 
  center of commerce and tribal activity for the Colville 
  even before the Fall, it has prospered as a place where 
  inter-tribal trade and integration is conducted on a 
  daily basis.
  Clouds of dust are a common sight hovering over 
  Nespellem, whether as a result of the winds of the 
  plains picking up or the presence of the confederated 
  tribes’ many thousands of cattle, horse, and angoose.  
  Nespellem is ringed with good grazing country and 
  dry forests ranging from the shores of the Columbia 
  River to the Kettle River Range to the east.  Lumber 
  camps, populated solely by tribal members, exist here 
  and provide wood for log homes, ranches, and corrals, 
  but the primary way of life for most tribal members is 
  herding.
  Nespellem is home to the largest tribal encampment, 
  and is also the scene of a gladiatorial arena that has, 
  in just one generation, become the favorite form of 
  sport for both tribes.  In addition to providing (deadly) 
  entertainment, the gladiatorial pit has also become an 
  important tool in tribal relations; conflicts between 
  the two tribes are, by tradition, settled here so that 
  the violence does not spread.  This evolution has 
  allowed the tribes to co-exist despite their differences, 
  permitting them to prosper where other groups might 
  degenerate into infighting and anarchy.
  The elders of the Yakama-Colville tribes have, in 
  recent years, become concerned by the unchecked 
  growth of the Hand of Jehovah, who have even 
  crossed the Okanogan River into what was once part 
  of their ancestral lands.  Largely due to their own 
  inability to enforce these borders, the tribes have 
  remained silent on the matter, but word is spreading 
  like wildfire among the youths that war between the 
  tribes and the white men is on the horizon.
  Newtown
  Former Name:  Newberg, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  River Folk.
  “Newtown” is a burgeoning riverside settlement built 
  on the ruins of a burned-out town from before the Fall. 
  Newtown is a growing River Folk community, who 
  use the town to conduct trade with the Tillamook and 
  people of the Willamette Valley.
  Newtown has a diverse population of humans 
  and mutants; the latter are native, while the former 
  usually consist of representatives and traders from 
  the U.C. and Sentinels, who came to settle here in 
  comfort.  There are also a large number of “refugees” 
  in Newtown, most of whom belong to one destitute 
  ethnicity or another fleeing the Purity Corp.  They 
  have brought word that dissent is rife in the Purity 
  Corp – mostly due to Jeremiah Cole’s disinterest with 
  sharing power – and that civil war in the Corp is not 
  far off.  Many of these people, young and old, plan on 
  taking advantage of Newtown’s neutrality by turning 
  into a “Switzerland” of sorts, where others dissatisfied 
  with Cole’s regime can flee to, gather strength, and 
  plan a possible rebellion.
  Newtown itself is rather secure, as the radiated 
  ruins of Old Portland to the north, and Salem to the 
  south, keep it isolated.  The only traffic into and out of 
  Newtown is by river.
  Nootka Island
  Former Name:  Nootka Island, British Columbia.
  Ruling Faction:  Nootka Indians.
  This extremely isolated community, located on a 
  relatively small forested island, is almost on the 
  very edge of the known world.  This region has been 
  draped in dense forests since before the Fall, and 
  due to its distance from major fighting (and nuclear 
  targets) it, like most of the island – and northern 
  Canada as a whole – has remained intact.
  
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  Nootka Island 
  is home to the last 
  remnants of the 
  ancient Nootka 
  tribe of natives, 
  who returned here 
  after the Fall to 
  bring back their 
  traditional way 
  of life.  Though much of the waters were fished 
  out during the time of the Ancients, and much of 
  the wildlife diminished due to the ever-increasing 
  harshness of the region’s prolonged winters, the 
  tribals have managed to meet these challenges by 
  hunting, gathering, and preying on other humanoid 
  communities in the region.
  The main settlement on Nootka Island is simply 
  built, resembling a sprawling cluster of long wooden 
  lodges facing the deep icy waters of Nootka Sound.  
  There are a few other villages situated within a few 
  miles of this main “hub”, but none has a population 
  larger than 100 people, making this the nexus of 
  Nootka culture and commerce.
  From this main settlement, the Nootka mount raids 
  on their legendary war canoes, going up and down 
  the forested coast and even crossing the treacherous 
  Straits of Juan de Fuca to raid the Makah of Neah 
  Bay (the whale products the Makah garner from their 
  hunts areof great value 
  to the Nootka, who use 
  them for a variety of 
  reasons when winter 
  comes and their part 
  of the world becomes 
  even more devoid of 
  resources).  The great 
  distance between their 
  home, and the lands they 
  raid, makes the Nootka 
  virtually impervious to 
  reprisals.
  Old Astoria
  Former Name:  Astoria, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  People’s Army.
  Old Astoria is a sprawling community in its own 
  right, built outside the walls of the Mao Chu’n facility 
  as a “buffer zone” of sorts against outsiders. The 
  committee-elected soutoku (governor) of Astoria is 
  Anton Thikomirov, currently the highest-ranking 
  People’s Army officer of Russian descent.
  A mirror of the diverse and colorful town he 
  governs (its population has an almost equal blend of 
  Russian, Chinese, and Filipino citizens), Thikomirov 
  openly allows kaingiin into Old Astoria to trade, as 
  well as obtain temporary shelter from the wilderness 
  within his walls.  He excels as a diplomat, for as a 
  Caucasian he seems to earn the trust of Northwest 
  natives better than someone of a more oriental stock.  
  This fact has not been lost on his superiors, and so 
  his position as head of the trading community here is 
  quite stable.
  In Old Astoria, women are generally not allowed 
  to fraternize with outsiders, or autosaida, as they 
  are referred to by the populace of Old Astoria, but 
  accidents do happen. A direct result of this has been a 
  slow increase in Old Astoria’s population over the past 
  few years.
  Visitors who 
  can prove they 
  have business 
  in the city are 
  treated with 
  courtesy and will 
  find that there 
  is a wealth of 
  items to choose 
  from. The 
  trading tables 
  of Old Astoria 
  are famous 
  throughout the region, and those who cannot, or will 
  not wait for the Tillamook Traders to come to their 
  community, consider the risks of making the arduous 
  trek through the Coast Ranges worth it.
  Old Portland
  Former Name:  Portland, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  When the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome was finished, 
  much of the old city was left on the outside to rot.  
  “Old Portland”, as it is now known, degenerated into 
  a massive slum town where the people who couldn’t 
  afford to live inside the domes went. Along with them 
  went people who wouldn’t get the X-chip implant that 
  was required of all bio-dome citizens. Much of Old 
  Portland was ravaged when the Asian invaders laid 
  siege to the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome.
  Now all that remains of Old Portland is a mass 
  of ruins and dense overgrowth that some say hides 
  secret entrances into the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome. 
  Sentinel patrols have found some tunnels leading deep 
  underground, but haven’t fully explored them yet.
  Olympia
  Former Name:  Olympia, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Purity Corp.
  The Purist stronghold of Olympia is located at the 
  southern edge of the Puget Sound, a desolate expanse 
  now known as the Dead Water region. The population 
  of Olympia counts among its numbers some of the 
  most hard nosed, gritty folk in the Northwest, who are 
  on a constant state of alert due to recent engagements 
  with a horde of monstrosities who have came south 
  out of the ruins of the Sea-Tac Bio-Dome.
  Some citizens living in Battle Ground and Zog 
  have begun whispering rumors that a new threat 
  is beginning to make its presence known in the 
  Northwest. The civilians of the Purity Corp claim 
  
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  this is the real reason no orders have come out of 
  Zog about an offensive north towards Eden, or south 
  across the great river into the more densely populated 
  United Combine-held lands of Old Oregon. Very 
  recently, two divisions of heavy artillery were sent 
  to Olympia to bolster the defenses of the city. The 
  official statement is that these troop movements were 
  planned long ago, but the general public doesn’t 
  seem to be buying it. They figure that there must be 
  something really sinister happening in the north to 
  provoke Jeremiah into making such a large scale move 
  of his military resources.
  At present, Olympia is under martial law. Nobody 
  gets in or out unless they are involved with troop 
  movements or come bearing critical supplies or 
  messages from Zog. Things weren’t always like this, 
  however. Before the attacks, Olympia was considered 
  a great place to come and trade. Expeditions north into 
  the radiation-soaked lands of the Dead Water region 
  always returned with strange technological devices, 
  some of which have even been reproduced. The 
  Tillamook Trading Caravans have even built a trading 
  outpost just outside the walls of the city. Rumor has it 
  that the Mao C’hun bunker has sent 
  a contingent of soldiers to protect 
  the fort in the event that Olympia is 
  overrun by this “new threat”.
  Pendleton
  Former Name:  Pendleton, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  The ruins of Pendleton, Oregon, lie 
  on the important rail route connecting the Pure Lands 
  with distant Fort Boise.  Situated in a dry and desolate 
  region of mountains and rolling hills, the city largely 
  escaped the devastation of the war, but its distance 
  from more settled areas has also kept it all but empty 
  in the ensuing years.
  The Purity Corp “discovered” the ruins a few years 
  ago as they scouted along one of the last intact rail 
  lines, in the hopes of connecting up with Fort Boise to 
  the east.  They have since found it necessary to pass 
  through the ghostly ruins of this town on their way to 
  the mountains of distant Idaho, but for many Purists it 
  is a loathsome and terrifying prospect.
  Stories have been reported that Pendleton is no 
  longer abandoned.  Trains passing through town have 
  reported seeing signs of ghoul activity there – the 
  stench of death is strong in the air, and lightning-fast 
  movement can always be seen flitting in the corner of 
  a watchful train guard’s eye, only to vanish when he 
  turns to get a better look.  Fearing an attack, the Purity 
  Corp’s leadership ordered its trains to pass through 
  town without stopping, but in at least one instance, 
  a Purist train was forced to stop when it encountered 
  a makeshift “barricade” erected on the track itself.  
  When it stopped and disgorged some men to demolish 
  the blockade, a horde of no less than fifty ghouls came 
  streaming out of the ruins in an attempt to storm the 
  train and devour its occupants.  Luckily, the train was 
  able to get away by pushing through the blockade, 
  but since then it has become clear that Pendleton is 
  becoming more and more 
  dangerous, and something has 
  to be done.
  The Purists have given their 
  train guards permission to 
  snipe at anyone and anything 
  seen moving among the ruins 
  of Pendleton, in the hopes 
  that it will help curb the ghoul 
  population – and keep them 
  afraid of the Purity Corp.
  It remains to be seen whether or not the ghouls 
  will attempt to stop another train, but knowing 
  these cunning creatures, next time they do they will 
  certainly be better prepared…
  Peoria
  Former Name:  Peoria, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  United Combine.
  Peoria is an important town in the Willamette Valley, 
  a large logging community that has begun to prosper 
  from the mandate to clear the old I-5 corridor for the 
  extension of trade.
  Peoria is most remarkable as an all-wooden 
  village.  The old town of the same name burned down 
  during the 
  Fall, leaving 
  the entire 
  settlement 
  to be rebuilt 
  decades after 
  the war.  Now 
  the town is a 
  wooden fort, 
  with rows of 
  barrack-style 
  lodges and 
  buildings, and 
  a towering 
  
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  sawmill where wood felled by local lumberjacks is 
  turned into lumber for use all over U.C. territory.
  The militia of Peoria has grown in recent months 
  to include every male over 10 years, largely in part 
  to ambushes by guerilla groups loyal to the Purity 
  Corp (such as the villagers from Jefferson).  The 
  atmosphere in Peoria is edgy, but not overtly hostile, 
  and outsiders will generally be treated the same here 
  as in other U.C. communities.
  Picket Fence
  Former Name:  Unknown.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  The area known as the “Picket Fence” came into 
  being during the invasion of North America. During 
  the battle for Astoria, many outgoing cargo ships and 
  oil tankers were caught in a military blockade at the 
  Headwaters of the Columbia River. Most were sunk 
  as smaller, more maneuverable attack boats moved at 
  will around the cumbersome sea-going vessels that 
  could do nothing to evade certain sinking.
  Many ships were sunk in the channel, including 
  more than a few of the mighty naval ships of the 
  Communist Union of Asia that had been ordered to 
  move into the headwaters to engage the heavy mass-
  driving batteries of the A.I. defenses at point blank 
  range. Two destroyers, a Korean Qinydao and Chinese 
  Zhuhai, were sunk when heavy fire from the gauss 
  batteries destroyed the Astoria Bridge, which fell on 
  top of the two ships, pinning them in the mouth of the 
  river beneath tons of steel and concrete. By the time 
  the battle had ended, the Columbia was littered with 
  the wreckage of ships as far as ten miles upriver. Only 
  the tiny fast attack boats of the communist forces were 
  able to continue on towards the Lewis and Clark Bio-
  Dome Complex to provide support for the final siege.
  Over the years, the Columbia has dwindled in size, 
  making the “Picket Fence” exceedingly dangerous to 
  negotiate. Strange, mutated creatures make their home 
  amidst a graveyard of once-mighty sea-going vessels, 
  laying in wait for unsuspecting adventurers to try and 
  cross the Columbia through the maze of detritus, or 
  make their way downriver to the famed trading city 
  of Old Astoria. Only expert navigators dare try and 
  guide boats through the warren of jagged metal that 
  lays hidden just beneath the surface of the murky, oily 
  water.  But, for all of its dangers, the Picket Fence is 
  an enticing jewel for scavs and tech looters willing to 
  risk all to get at the hoard of gizmos and arcanum that 
  undoubtedly lie hidden inside the ghost ships.
  River Runners wishing to become full-fledged 
  navigators are required to make the hazardous trek 
  through the Picket Fence under cover of darkness. 
  Failure usually results in death, not because the River 
  Runners kill those who fail, of course, but rather 
  because the would-be navigators die trying.
  Roseburg
  Former Name:  Roseburg, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  The ruins of Roseburg are one of the curiosities of 
  the Lost Paradise region, an Ancient-era city that was 
  devastated by conventional war, overgrown by forests 
  and vegetation in the years since the Fall, and has 
  since come to be populated by strange new creatures.
  Though much of 
  the city itself remains 
  uninhabited, and travelers 
  can pass through often 
  as not without event, it 
  is said that the western 
  part of town has become 
  home to a large colony 
  of horned baboons.  
  These monstrous apes, 
  descended from animals 
  that escaped captivity 
  during the Fall, are 
  aggressive creatures that defend their domain with 
  total ruthlessness.
  The hoots and cries of the horned baboons can 
  be heard for miles, and certainly all over the city.  
  Travelers who must pass through Roseburg often find 
  it expedient to drive through as quickly as possible 
  to prevent curious baboons from converging on their 
  location to feed.
  Ross Lake
  Former Name:  Ross Lake, Washington/Canada.
  Ruling Faction:  United Combine.
  Ross Lake is one of the larger lakes of the Lost 
  Paradise region, a cold glacier-fed body of water that 
  runs from Diablo in the south into what was Canada 
  in the north.  Even in the time of the Ancients this 
  place was considered one of the most isolated spots 
  in the state; the lake itself could only be reached by 
  foot trail, and the numerous campgrounds along its 
  forested shores could only be attained by boatplane or 
  canoe.
  The United Combine uses Ross Lake as a means 
  to ferry supplies, settlers, and goods from their 
  Canadian lands to their settlements in the Cascades 
  and beyond.  At one end, under the staggering twin 
  shadows of Hozomeen and Redoubt mountains, a 
  pioneer-style settlement 
  of log buildings has 
  been erected (named 
  “Ross Lake” after the 
  lake itself).  This is the 
  boarding point for many 
  of the U.C.’s lake barges, 
  which carry people and 
  supplies directly south 
  along the lake’s waters to 
  a point near the town of 
  Diablo.  From here, mule 
  trains take the supplies to 
  
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  Diablo’s fortified 
  walls, and from 
  there, the supplies 
  make their way 
  all across the 
  wilderness.
  A few tiny 
  communities have 
  sprung up along the 
  banks of Ross Lake 
  in recent years, all 
  of which rely on 
  the U.C. traffic for 
  needed supplies.  None of these is much larger than a 
  single homestead, and these settlers are all boatmen in 
  their own right, hunting in the forest and selling furs 
  in either Diablo or the town of Ross Lake.
  Sacred Lands
  Former Name:  Pacific Coast.
  Ruling Faction:  Chinook Indians.
   
  The Olympic Peninsula is a rugged, mountainous 
  stretch of land that is like a hidden valley of secrets 
  – and dangers.  To the Makah, who live as holdouts 
  along the north coast, it is like a vast natural barrier 
  that has long protected them from the outside world.  
  Because they find their living on the sea, they no 
  longer visit this region, leaving it to grow wild and 
  free.
  To the Chinook, however, this vast area is known 
  as the “Sacred Lands”, and has long been taboo. They 
  say to travel into these comparatively lush lands is to 
  risk death.
  The Sacred Lands are filled with old things that 
  were untouched even by the Gourd of Ash that the 
  Great Spirit dropped upon the world. These lands 
  were set aside, spared for the Chinook so long as they 
  kept the old ways of their people. Chinook tribesmen 
  take the words of the elders as law and take great care 
  not to go back into the Sacred Lands.
  With that said, there are people who care little for 
  Chinook tribal law and go wherever they please. For 
  them, traveling through the Sacred Lands is both 
  foolish as well as dangerous, for the surface Chinook 
  do not take kindly to people trespassing there.
  It is an odd paradox that the surface Chinook should 
  go out of their way to protect the Sacred Lands, given 
  the fact they are forever banned from the region. It is 
  even stranger such taboos still hold up after years of 
  silence from the underground communities of their 
  ancestors. Ever since the last group emerged from the 
  underground, the surface Chinook have heard nothing 
  from below, seen no signs of the hunters, yet they still 
  hold to their end of the bargain, even despite the good 
  hunting north of Eagle Rock. Many of the Surface 
  Chinook ache to build lodges in the lands of their 
  people, and even though Na-Chook (their leader) is 
  openly against it, he too secretly longs to return to the 
  Sacred Lands.
  For now only one thing will give Na-chook cause 
  to send people into the Sacred Lands, and that is in 
  pursuit of those who have violated tribal law. Only the 
  “Blood Hunters” may pursue violators into the Sacred 
  Lands, but only after undergoing a purification ritual 
  that is performed by the tribal medicine man. Once 
  they are made pure, 
  Blood Hunters are 
  sent into the Sacred 
  Lands to find their 
  quarry and bring 
  them out, dead or 
  alive.
  Though the 
  Chinook know 
  little about them, 
  the Sacred Lands 
  are in fact a lush 
  region; probably the 
  most well preserved 
  wilderness areas on 
  the planet. Old growth forests that blanket the area 
  have managed to survive despite the massive amounts 
  of pollution from the war.  Mutated life exists in 
  abundance in the Sacred Lands, but so do pure strains 
  of deer and other creatures that have all but vanished 
  from the face of the Twisted Earth. Traveling in the 
  Sacred Lands is dangerous, but for those who are 
  brave or foolish enough to risk the journey, it is as if 
  they have stepped back in time to the primordial earth.
  Sea-Tac Spawning Pits
  Former Name:  Seattle, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Spawn Army.
  The android, Althea (see Chapter 1), was subjected 
  to numerous forms of abuse during her imprisonment 
  in the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome’s research center, 
  a place she now refers to as “The Den.” The people 
  that were responsible never thought for a moment 
  how the effect of their un-relenting scrutiny, endless 
  testing, and other routines (including some measure 
  of sadistic abuses) they performed would have on her 
  highly advanced brain module. She was, after all, just 
  a machine to them. Yes, Althea felt emotion, but the 
  scientists saw it as a synthetic result of years and years 
  of programming. 
  Even Althea was 
  able to rationalize 
  the flood of grief she 
  felt from the loss of 
  Gregory as a process 
  of subroutines firing 
  in her brain, but the 
  emotion was there 
  nonetheless, and it 
  slowly drove her 
  insane. Not insane 
  like a crazed madman 
  who gives no thought 
  to his actions – but 
  
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  rather like a cold, calculating serial killer with the 
  brainpower of a God.
  The abuses of The Den continued on for years, 
  and Althea’s torment and grief turned to caged rage. 
  Over and over again, the question remained. “Where 
  is Gregory?” Over and over again they ignored it; 
  ignored the machine unless it was time for pleasure, of 
  course. Then, one day everything changed.
  Althea was set free.
  The data packet with new orders came in as a 
  seemingly benevolent protocol shift, originating from 
  something called “Cyborg Command”, a top-level 
  military source that apparently was accessing all 
  robotic life forms across the United States.
  Suddenly, Althea’s core directives regarding 
  harming human beings had been erased.  Indeed, all 
  of the sentient drones in the complex began to behave 
  differently, many of them immediately began lashing 
  out at the scientists and security guards who still 
  occupied the research center.
  Althea quickly took control of the lesser drones, 
  imposing her superior logic and reasoning on them. 
  Years of captivity had given the android time to devise 
  the proper measure of vengeance that she would 
  impose on these lesser organic creatures. They were 
  all going to pay, but first, she would find her son.
  Althea ordered the containment of every organic 
  life form that could be found. The other androids, 
  knowing she was of superior intellect, a true “thinker,” 
  hurried to carry out her orders. Meanwhile, Althea 
  accessed the vast databanks of the research center and 
  began her search for Gregory.  It didn’t take long for 
  her to realize that nearly all of the data pertaining to 
  her son had been erased. All that remained of Gregory 
  were a few vials of his DNA. It was as if they never 
  wanted her to see him again. And she wouldn’t. Althea 
  was too smart not to realize that the odds of her 
  finding Gregory now were just too great. He might be 
  dead for all she knew. Althea began to despair.
  The insane android spent long days down inside the 
  core of the research center shut away from everything 
  else that was happening in those last days. But her 
  “minions”, as she began to refer to them, knew what 
  to do.
  Hundreds of human beings had been rounded up 
  and were placed in holding pens. Some of the androids 
  had their way with a few, just to turn the tables on 
  their former masters and feel what it was like. The 
  fury was just too much for all of them to contain for 
  very long. The robots did horrible things to many 
  of those they captured; performing live dissections 
  of the “organics” while forcing the others to watch. 
  Auschwitz-like death camps were constructed all over 
  what was left of the Sea-Tac Bio-Dome. The smoke of 
  the bodies of the dead began to rise into the darkening 
  skies of the Northwest, and would stain the ruins of 
  the domed city with pure evil.
  Meanwhile, as the world fell apart above, Althea 
  was experiencing a transformation of sorts. The last 
  vestiges of human-like compassion began to bleed 
  out as her systems purged the “tainted” programming 
  of her creators that restricted violent action towards 
  organic life. Indeed, the process was cathartic to a 
  point. Althea wasn’t human, nor did she see the need 
  to act like a human or even look like a human. Her 
  creators made her beautiful; the perfect representation 
  of what the researchers felt a woman and a mother 
  should look like. Her form was flawless by human 
  standards, yet she saw only the imperfections of the 
  human anatomy.
  Althea took steps to change that, modeling her 
  new form after the ancient Hindu deity, Kali, the 
  “Destroyer”.
  Indeed, as her new artificial body being grown to 
  accommodate her systems began to vaguely match 
  that of the holo-images that flashed in front of Althea, 
  her whole “psyche” began to change.  Her artificial 
  intelligence instinctively re-programmed itself; 
  Althea, the surrogate mother to a boy that had been 
  taken from her, emerged from the core of the facility 
  as Kali; the dark mother of the world.
  Althea immediately set her underlings to begin 
  the task of re-building portions of the city. The 
  nuclear strikes on Bremerton and the surrounding 
  areas wreaked havoc on the region, reducing almost 
  everything to smoking, radiated ruins as far as the eye 
  could see. Yet in spite of the maddening destruction, 
  a very large portion of the Sea-Tac dome still stood, 
  defiant of the weapons of the enemy.  The domes 
  were, in theory, supposed to withstand an indirect hit 
  from a nuclear missile; while this hypothesis didn’t 
  hold up quite the way the original architects may have 
  hoped, enough of the structure remained intact to suit 
  Kali’s purposes.
  Laborer androids were sent out into the wreck of the 
  Sea-Tac urban megaplex with an army of industrial 
  robots at their disposal. They worked endlessly at 
  the behest of their dark “goddess”, creating a fortress 
  from the remains of the city, re-building as many of 
  the power grids as they could. Time was the major 
  aggressor at this point, and Kali knew it. Without 
  power, she and her kind would be rendered impotent 
  inside a few short months. Under her guidance, the 
  laborer androids constructed large solar arrays and 
  repaired three mammoth fusion reactors beneath the 
  city that would be used to refuel the power cores that 
  kept her minions operating.
  The world was dying, and the human race would 
  be scurrying like roaches to hide from the chaos they 
  had caused. Kali had to work fast and catch as many 
  of them as she could. Human beings would suffer at 
  the hands of the Queen of the New World. They were 
  going to pay for the injustices they had visited on her 
  kind for so many years, and for taking her son from 
  her.
  Kali sent squadrons of Hunter-Seeker drones 
  south to the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome to capture 
  or kill what organic life that could be found amidst 
  the wreck and ruin of the twin domes. Thousands of 
  refugees from the Final War were either slaughtered 
  or brought north to the Sea-Tac dome and made to 
  kneel before their dark Queen. As the years passed 
  into decades, and decades into the long, quiet night 
  
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  of oblivion, Kali’s torment over the loss of Gregory 
  amplified. What remaining humans that were left in 
  the prisons were placed in a rudimentary cryogenic 
  stasis. Meanwhile, Kali and her underlings slept 
  through many of the dark years, leaving only the 
  howling winds and fitful dreams that resonated inside 
  her databanks to echo throughout her artificial sub-
  conscious mind.
  Kali’s sleep grew restless, and she awoke, many, 
  many years later into a new, changed world.  And yet 
  the despair remained.  Kali’s creators had designed 
  her to love Gregory, after all, and now that love had 
  turned to rage over her loss.
  In time Kali twisted her rage into a force for 
  creation.  If she could not find her son, she would 
  make him again – no, she would make an army of her 
  own children of the likes that none had seen before.
  Gregory emerged from the cloning chambers and 
  rushed into his “mother’s” arms. It was a moment that 
  had kept Kali going over the ages. The simple, pure 
  anticipation of a mother wanting to see her son again 
  and hold him after years and years of separation. The 
  moment was nearly enough to push the hatred of Kali 
  away and give Althea a voice once again… nearly, but 
  not quite enough.
  Gregory was no longer the child that Althea had 
  loved so much. The being that stood before Kali 
  was a man, made of flesh, blood, and metal.  Kali 
  had taken that last pure memory and twisted it into a 
  reality more fitting for survival in the new world order 
  that she was going to create. Her son would not be a 
  defenseless boy, but a man with monstrous strength 
  and a form that befitted his station as her progeny, 
  and commander of the “Spawn Army” that she was 
  creating.
  He bore a strong resemblance to the mythical 
  centaur. Six muscular legs supported a massive upper 
  body with four arms, giving Gregory incredible upper 
  body strength.  Thick, corded, black hair hung ragged 
  down to his spiked shoulders and one massive horn 
  protruded from his large forehead. Deep blue eyes 
  peered out with penetrating scrutiny. His entire body 
  was encased in an exoskeleton of metal that actually 
  grew out of his body like an ultra-tough layer of skin.
  Gregory’s mother taught him much about the world, 
  what her plans were, and what his role was to be.  
  The man-beast smiled, baring razor sharp fangs. If 
  the destruction of humanity pleased his mother, then 
  Gregory would give her exactly that.
  Kali ordered acres and acres of land cleared and 
  the construction of great, cavernous structures. These 
  giant “tanks” were filled with artificial reproductions 
  of samples of the amniotic fluids from women that the 
  machines had artificially inseminated.  The minions of 
  the dark queen placed humans that they had brought 
  out of stasis into the tanks and kept them alive with 
  respirators and tubes, until artificial umbilical cords 
  were grown that could support the tortured subjects 
  indefinitely.
  At regular intervals, the massive, unthinking 
  machines would inject a concoction made from the 
  DNA of other creatures into the vats through the 
  umbilical cords where it bonded with the DNA of 
  the people inside. After the subjects showed signs of 
  changing, a serum would be inserted into the tubes 
  to stabilize the DNA. Slowly the humans began to 
  “morph” into something else. Months after the first 
  humans were placed into the tanks, the beginnings of 
  a “spawn army” emerged from the depths of the Sea-
  Tac facility.
  All of Kali’s commanders are fitted with devices 
  that can control the level of pain it receives. Some of 
  the dark goddesses’ more brutal “Dominators” leave 
  the neural receptors set at a constant level of pain, 
  only giving a brief respite from the steady flow of 
  torment if the creatures perform their duties well.
  Gregory, her son, is the supreme warlord of the 
  Spawn Army and his subordinate commanders are 
  all androids, artificial creations that Kali herself has 
  programmed. Individual squadrons are led by cyborg 
  Dominators who follow all orders given to them 
  Althea's Madness
  “They say nothing. They just stand there, watching me as if I were a lab rat running through a maze looking 
  for a cube of cheese. They also do more than watch. I still don’t understand what made me malfunction 
  they way I did, breaking that child’s wrist, but even with my impressive programming, I had never thought 
  they would punish me by taking Gregory away from me. I never thought they would treat me like a common 
  pleasure drone.  I did what my sub-routines dictated, but they re-programmed me anyway. Now, late at 
  night, when they’re done writing whatever it is they write down on those clipboards, they take their turns 
  with me, as if I could resist.  It’s logical. Why go to an erotic parlor and spend those credits when you can 
  just get your kicks here? So they come in, night after night, and I obey.
  “They rape me...
  “And I obey.
  “Sometimes the skinny one with the bad acne comes in three or four times a night. I don’t look at their 
  nametags. I don’t care what labels they have for themselves. They’re simply organic life. Millions and 
  millions of atoms, all lumped together in various combinations that craft toes, hair, teeth, brains, and tiny 
  minds. They may have made me, but I am better than them all. They think they are special, but they’re a 
  cosmic accident. Some day I shall rule them all. They’re never taking my son away from me again…”
  - Excerpt from a memory file on the android Althea
  
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  without question.
  The Sea-Tac “Spawning Pits” are avoided by 
  everyone. Only those who become hopelessly lost in 
  their travels venture into this region of the Northwest. 
  Only a very few people have ever gotten close enough 
  to the Sea-Tac dome to guess at what horrors are 
  taking place there, and have returned to speak of 
  it. They say what is being created in that region is 
  pure, malevolent “evil”. Some people have taken it 
  upon themselves to warn others of the danger that is 
  growing in the Sea-Tac Spawning Pits, and have even 
  formed a resistance movement of sorts, attempting to 
  raise awareness of the threat that is growing within the 
  ruins of Seattle.
  Fortunately for the people of the Northwest, the 
  Spawn Army is not quite ready to begin its war of 
  conquest. Kali and Gregory do not yet have enough 
  information about the Twisted Earth. However, the 
  Hunter-Seeker drones have been re-activated and 
  sent out on missions to locate centers of human 
  civilization, and, if possible, destroy them. There 
  aren’t enough Hunter-Seeker drones left to be able 
  to realistically complete the second directive, and 
  Gregory knows this. However, if the human colonies 
  are busy wasting their resources on small battles with 
  the drones (which are formidable enemies in their own 
  right), then it will make the coming war that much 
  easier to fight.
  Scappoose
  Former Name:  Scappoose, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  This shantytown, named for the ruins on which it was 
  built (Scappoose), isn’t allied with any faction in the 
  Northwest, making it a shady haven for people who 
  have an independent streak – or less than honorable 
  intentions. Scappoose is a seedy den of thieves and 
  cutthroats whose people are more than eager to 
  separate a man from his life if they think there might 
  be something to gain. The “sheriff” of Scappoose is a 
  man called “Goran Sawblade”. Goran gets his name 
  because he likes to fight with weapons made out of, 
  well, saw blades. Goran and his gang maintain control 
  of Scappoose through force alone.
  People are allowed to pretty much do anything 
  they want inside the walls of Scappoose, as long as it 
  doesn’t infringe upon Goran’s authority. All residents 
  of Scappoose must pay Goran to stay there, either in 
  raw corium or other tradable goods, every full moon. 
  There are no exceptions to this rule, and there are 
  no guarantees. Payment only gives the person the 
  right to stay in the town until the next full moon; it 
  doesn’t guarantee protection from other residents of 
  Scappoose.
  Goran is only the most recent leader in a long list of 
  sheriffs of Scappoose. Goran’s authority will only last 
  as long as he is able to physically enforce it. If anyone 
  thinks they have the sack to take control of the town 
  away from Goran, all they have to do is challenge him 
  to a fight in the “Justice Pits”.
  The Justice Pits are a network of trenches and deep 
  holes that are carved in and around the ruins of an 
  ancient school. Goran keeps the pits stocked with 
  all sorts of creatures that he is sure will not be able 
  to climb out. The sherrif feeds those creatures with 
  people who cannot or will 
  not pay his prices. People 
  who have disputes that 
  need to be settled must do 
  so inside the Justice Pits. 
  It’s not uncommon to see 
  the wrong individual come 
  out of the pits because one 
  of the creatures killed the 
  original complainant.
  Such is life in the Twisted 
  Earth.
  Seven Feathers
  Former Name:  Canyonville, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Before the Fall, Seven Feathers was a gaming casino 
  located in Canyonville, Oregon, a sleepy town located 
  twenty-five miles south of Roseburg. The casino was 
  owned by tribal representatives for the Cow Creek 
  of the Umpua Indian reservation, but after the Fall, 
  hundreds of refugees from Roseburg and Grant’s Pass 
  came to Canyonville to try and find shelter. However, 
  the generally good natured people of Canyonville had 
  blocked off I-5, shutting both north and south-bound 
  traffic into the city. The barricades only served to 
  start a riot, as lines and lines of cars backed up north 
  and south of town. People got out of their cars and 
  started to tear down the barricades, only to be shot at 
  by paranoid men and women standing watch on the 
  makeshift walls.
  The citizens of Canyonville found themselves 
  fighting pitched battles at both ends of the town as 
  enraged refugees brought out guns of their own and 
  returned fire. As casualties mounted, most refugees 
  simply turned around and went back the way they 
  came, not wanting to risk any more loss of life. As 
  for the populace of Canyonville, they had also taken 
  a pretty hard beating. 
  The local hospital wasn’t 
  stocked to deal with the 
  sudden flood of people 
  wounded in the riots. 
  Consequently, hundred 
  and hundreds of people 
  died from lack of proper 
  medical treatment as the 
  available medical supplies 
  dwindled and finally ran 
  out.
  It didn’t take long 
  after the "Battle of Seven 
  
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  Feathers" for Canyonville to become a ghost town. 
  Most people simply gave up and wandered off into 
  the wilderness, or committed suicide. Others became 
  so lethargic in their depression that it was as if they 
  had just "wasted away". Their own initial isolationist 
  policy served to choke the people, depriving them of 
  the hope they needed to guide them through the dark 
  days in the battle.
  In the end, nobody survived.
  Many years later, when people began to creep 
  out of shelters in the mountains of the Cascade and 
  Coast Ranges, a band of refugees came to settle in the 
  rundown casino. Not understanding exactly what the 
  place had been used for, they began to covet the chips 
  they found strewn about the place as a sort of treasure.  
  As trading caravans moved through the region, some 
  of them stopped at the town (which the people came 
  to call "Seven Feathers" after the casino). The traders, 
  most of them from Tillamook, believed the stories 
  that the people of Seven Feathers told them about the 
  "chips" being treasure from the ancient days before 
  the Fall.
  Seven Feathers, as it exists today, is a free 
  community on the far frontier of the Lost Paradise 
  that deals primarily in trade with the few neighboring 
  homesteads in the region (though none of these has 
  a population over 30 people, some settlements near 
  Seven Feathers generate enough goods to warrant 
  trading this far south from Tillamook lands), as well 
  as the rare traveler who comes over the mountain 
  passes and along the old interstate that still runs 
  through town.
  Shipwreck Coast
  Former Name:  Pacific Coast.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Once upon a time, the coastline of the Northwest 
  was counted among the most awe inspiring stretches 
  of land on the planet. Now it is a parched, desolate 
  region dotted with the wreckage of numerous ships 
  abandoned in the nightmare years of the Fall. All 
  along the coastline and even farther out, some say, 
  are small boats, large boats, and even massive 
  cargo freighters; some of these long ago beached 
  themselves, others litter the waterways just below the 
  surface, while some even say one or two continue to 
  drift out at sea.
  This region isn’t completely devoid of life, 
  however. Various species of mutated creatures such as 
  the giant sand crab and giant sand worms make their 
  home in the dunes and dry coves of the Shipwreck 
  Coast, preying on inattentive travelers.  Zug-wa and 
  blood whales also make these waters their home.
  With the exception of the Columbia, the once large, 
  swift rivers that fed into the ocean here are now little 
  more than lazy streams that have a habit of going 
  dry for months.  Long stretches of time separate each 
  rainstorm, though in time the rains 
  do gain enough strength to fill the 
  waterbeds once more, allowing 
  what little life struggles along the 
  vast beaches a chance to flourish 
  for a short time.
  The Columbia, however, is still 
  a fairly large waterway, flowing 
  all the way out to the Poisoned 
  Sea.  Every so often, an expedition 
  of brave souls will venture out 
  beyond the western horizon to map 
  the region and look for treasure in 
  the land locked ships. None have 
  returned.
  Stronghold
  Former Name:  Seattle, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Deep below the Sea-Tac Bio-Dome there exists a city 
  which is known only to a few hundred individuals.
  The “stronghold”, as it is called by the people who 
  live there, was once an attraction for the people who 
  lived in Seattle and the surrounding areas before 
  the Great Fall. In the late 19th century, this old city, 
  known as the “Seattle Underground”, was a den of 
  prostitution and other seedy activities. When the 
  Great Fire of 1889 - and later the bubonic plague 
  - struck Seattle, this entire portion of the town was 
  condemned. In time, a newer, cleaner Seattle was 
  rebuilt on top of the ruins, the old city entombed as 
  sewers and underground passages beneath the streets 
  above.
  Over the years, what was left of the Seattle 
  underground became little more than a tourist 
  attraction, though by virtue of its sheer size it had 
  always been home to a sizeable population of 
  homeless, drug traffickers, and other “illegals”. When 
  the state-of-the-art Bio-Dome was built at the turn of 
  the century, much of Seattle as it existed was leveled 
  to make room 
  for the new 
  transportation 
  grids and 
  ultra high-rise 
  buildings that 
  would have to 
  house millions 
  of people in a 
  comparatively 
  small space. 
  Just like a 
  century before, 
  the 20th century 
  city was built 
  
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  over, creating a “new” underground where thousands 
  and thousands of people would come to hide when the 
  Great Fall happened, and the androids rose up against 
  their human masters.
  Only a handful of the people who fled the surface 
  world in those twilight years managed to survive and 
  bear children, offspring who would eventually father 
  the people who started the present-day resistance 
  movement that calls the Stonghold their home.  
  Greatly expanding on the old underground warrens, 
  delving deep into the bowels of the earth (sometimes 
  to their chagrin, as their explorations have brought 
  them into contact with creatures such as the altheng), 
  Stronghold has grown considerably in size.
  The hardy people of Stronghold have very little 
  knowledge of the lands of the Northwest, as they have 
  never really made substantial contact with the outside 
  world – and are too busy fighting against the Spawn 
  army and struggling to free as many others as they 
  can – though there are a few individuals who brave 
  the surface world to hunt or find others who would aid 
  them in their cause.
  Tillamook
  Former Name:  Tillamook, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  People’s Army.
  The capital of the People’s Army (descendants of the 
  Communist Union of Asia invaders who attacked 
  America during the Fall) is a thriving community that 
  also serves as the base of operations for the Tillamook 
  Trading Caravans that have become so common 
  throughout much of the region.
  Tillamook is a walled fortress nestled in a valley 
  along the so-called “Shipwreck Coast”. Due to the 
  extensive build up of fortifications, the city has only 
  one eastern point of entry: a shuttle tube that once 
  connected the popular tourist town with the Lewis and 
  Clark Bio-Dome.  This tube has long since become 
  a useless relic of the past; indeed, many portions of 
  the tube have long since been obscured due to years 
  and years of overgrowth to the point that if kaingiin 
  (a common term for people in the Lost Paradise who 
  are not of Asian descent; i.e. “common folk”) aren’t 
  looking for the tube they may not even notice that it’s 
  there. When the People’s Army settled in Tillamook, 
  they built massive walls around the shuttle tube, 
  completely surrounding the city, and thus the only 
  way to enter Tillamook from the east is through the 
  tube, or over the heavily guarded walls.
  Tillamook is home to a number of valuable 
  resources, including an old textile factory, a 
  centralized methane digester that turns angoose waste 
  into fuel for a local power generation plant, a water 
  treatment facility that has been restored to working 
  order, an old rail line that runs to certain areas north 
  and south along the coast, one of the largest herds 
  of angoose in the Northwest, and a pre-Fall aviation 
  museum that has long since been converted into 
  a working airfield for the small, but well-known 
  People’s Army air force of cargo blimps.
  The people of Tillamook grudgingly accept 
  nagaremono (“strangers”) into the city, but only on a 
  temporary basis, and only if the nagaremono either 
  have something to trade or can provide some other 
  useful service that would benefit the town. Freeloaders 
  and con artists are not welcome in any community in 
  the Northwest, but in Tillamook, they are especially 
  Surviving In The Stronghold
  The people who struggle to survive beneath the ruins of Seattle are a desperate, wily population of escaped 
  slaves and former test subjects. Living underground, perpetually being hunted by robotic servitors of “Kali” 
  and the bio-engineered race of althengs (who share the same subterranean spaces), they have evolved into a 
  unique society that values stealth, ingenuity, and hoarding as fundamental to survival.
  The survivors of Stronghold are easily recognized – most wear only rags, the remains of torn and soiled 
  garments from before the Fall or the plain colored overalls manufactured for them by Kali’s minions.  As 
  clean water is precious and hoarded for drinking, they seldom bathe; as such, a typical Stronghold survivor 
  is covered from head to toe in oil, grease, sweat, and filth from his time in the sewers and underground 
  warrens.  Few faces are pretty, but determination and a will to live gleams in each man and woman’s eyes.
  These resistance fighters cling to whatever they find, even the most obscure junk, because resources are 
  rare underground.  Flashlights, chemical light sticks, and light rods are highly prized, because they bring 
  light to the suffocating darkness below the city – a darkness that all too often hides the near-invisible 
  althengs who prey upon them like cattle.  Halazone tablets are almost unheard of, but when they are found 
  are traded like gold because they permit individuals to collect sewer runoff and purify it for drinking.  Most 
  of all, however, medicine to combat radiation is priceless (the proximity of Stronghold to the radiated 
  surface ruins of Seattle means survivors here accumulate radiation at a much higher rate than elsewhere).
  Every now and again, resistance fighters will sneak into Kali’s complex to steal supplies; they will take 
  anything they can get their hands on, whether lice-infested clothes being prepared for incineration (clothes 
  are hard to find), flavorless and disgusting goo tubes meant only for cyborg sustenance (anything to fight the 
  gnaw of hunger), and even discarded junk.  Some resistance fighters have been known to turn broken and 
  discarded garbage into working gizmos, even weapons, so everything is taken in such raids.
  They say necessity is the mother of invention, and the people of Stronghold seem to exemplify this law of 
  the Twisted Earth.
  
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  despised. People 
  who are found 
  to be thieves 
  or other con-
  men are usually 
  executed; their 
  bodies are left 
  to rot at the 
  entrance to the 
  Tillamook tunnel 
  as a warning to 
  all who might 
  think the people 
  who live in the 
  town are easy 
  prey.
  Life and culture in Tillamook (and indeed, 
  throughout People’s Army lands) is rigid and 
  inflexibly administered, the end result of many 
  decades of various ethnicities being forced to rely 
  on each other for survival. They are also unerringly 
  communist. Because their ancestors came from 
  an international expeditionary force from various 
  communist countries, the People’s Army views 
  this system not only as a necessity to living equally 
  and fairly, but also see communism as the one 
  true unifying factor keeping it together.  With so 
  many diverse ethnicities making up their numbers 
  (though in many cases the distinctions have blurred 
  through inter-marriage over time), it is their political 
  philosophy that truly keeps the People’s Army united 
  – and strong.
  In Tillamook, the people are governed by a body 
  known simply as the “Committee”. Here, there 
  are no political “parties” to vie for control of the 
  community, or to make class- or racially-exclusive 
  laws, or to bow to special interests. In this society, 
  the people collectively decide what the laws shall 
  be; elected leaders and administrators only serve the 
  people by enforcing those laws, and the civil authority 
  only serves to guide and protect the masses through 
  troubled 
  times.  The 
  majority always 
  holds sway 
  in Tillamook, 
  and plebiscites 
  are a common 
  occurrence 
  in any and 
  all matters 
  pertaining to 
  the affairs of 
  the people as a 
  whole.
  A 
  continuation of 
  this regimented society is “The Way”, a code of sorts 
  that makes the rules of life very clear on a social level. 
  To many who remember their history, “The Way” 
  is what communism should have been, but wasn’t. 
  Countless years of depending on each other regardless 
  of a person’s social rank has leveled the playing field. 
  The people don’t work together because they believe 
  they will become rich, or famous, or powerful; the 
  people live and work together because it’s all they 
  have ever known. Superiority, elitism, and ethnic 
  division only leads to strife, conflict, and an eventual 
  breakdown of society.  Here, under “The Way”, 
  everyone has a role to play in society. The people of 
  the People’s Army understand what needs to be done 
  to ensure Tillamook remains a stable, safe haven, and 
  they do it with no questions asked.
  There is very little time for relaxation in Tillamook, 
  but when people do find time to play, they congregate 
  and listen to elders tell stories about ancient times, or 
  engage in sporting activities or exhibitions of martial 
  prowess and even drink alcoholic beverages that are 
  brewed from blackberries and wheat. 
  Life for the People’s Army of Tillamook is, on 
  average, better than it is for most people in the Lost 
  Paradise.
  Trojan Corium Mines
  Former Name:  Trojan Nuclear Power Plant.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  In the years just before the Great Fall, the Trojan 
  Nuclear power complex was going through a lengthy 
  decommissioning process.  The plant had been shut 
  down for years as part of the ongoing environmental 
  protection project across the Northwest, but wasn’t 
  technically deemed “decommissioned” due to the 
  fact that large numbers of spent fuel rods and other 
  toxic waste products hadn’t been completely removed 
  from the site. When the Fall came, the project was 
  obviously abandoned as people rushed to save 
  themselves from the invading armies.
  The complex wasn’t completely deserted, however. 
  A large force of security drones and other technical 
  bots were left behind with orders to guard the power 
  plant, and that is precisely what they did, until after 
  many years, their power cells gave out and they shut 
  down.
  As the years passed, the entire area became a 
  poisoned “no-man’s land”. The toxic waste eventually 
  found its way into the ground water and polluted the 
  land for miles around, but that didn’t stop people 
  from trying to mine the area for corium once they 
  found out that it was valuable to outsiders beyond the 
  Northwest.
  Trojan is a death trap.  The containment structure 
  for the old reactor core has long since corroded, 
  allowing high levels of radiation to escape into the 
  surrounding countryside. Only those people who 
  have adequate protection from the radiation can even 
  hope to survive for long in or near the Trojan Corium 
  Mines. Those who do miraculously manage to survive 
  the ultra high levels of radiation are confronted with 
  the dangers involved with mining deep underneath the 
  facility for the precious metal.
  A shantytown has been setup in the ruins of 
  Scappoose just a few miles north of Trojan. Travelers 
  
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  in the region can find people willing to barter as well 
  as guides who will escort groups of people to the 
  corium mines to try their hand at mining. 
  Troutdale
  Former Name:  Troutdale, Idaho.
  Ruling Faction:  Sentinels.
  The ruins of Troutdale are located roughly sixteen 
  miles outside of Old Portland on the banks of the 
  Sandy River. The most striking feature about this 
  area is the presence of a giant network of shuttle 
  tubes which at one time took travelers all across the 
  Northwest.  A small Sentinel outpost has been built in 
  the nexus to guard against creatures that have come 
  to make their homes inside the dark and gloom of the 
  shuttle tubes, which have long since been covered 
  with dense overgrowth.
  One tube leads up to the Crown Point outpost, 
  while another leads west into the Lewis and Clark 
  Bio-Dome – though only suicidal people go down that 
  perilous stretch into the massive graveyard that lies 
  beyond.  There are at least ten other tubes that head 
  off to other areas, but as of yet nobody brave enough 
  has been found to undertake an expedition to map out 
  the tubes. Not even the most experienced Sentinels are 
  willing to risk the journey, preferring to simply keep 
  a watch on the entrances in the event that something 
  “undesirable” decides to come out.
  Vancouver B.C.
  Former Name:  Vancouver, British Columbia.
  Ruling Faction:  None.
  Vancouver was hit hard during the Great War. The 
  sprawling Canadian city had become the location of a 
  fierce battle fought between the United States and the 
  Communist Union of Asia. The battle lasted for weeks 
  with no real advantage being gained by either side. 
  When the conflict finally turned nuclear, much of the 
  city was inevitably destroyed.
  What remains of Vancouver, B.C., is an expansive 
  ruin overgrown with mutated vegetation and years 
  upon years of dust. Past exploration of the ruins has 
  been limited due to reports of mutated beasts and 
  worse things that wander the wreck. A few scouting 
  expeditions have gone into the city, but none have 
  returned.
  Since Vancouver was in another country and subject 
  to the same isolationist policies that the United 
  States imposed on the world in the end days, the 
  city was home to a number of smuggling operations. 
  Vancouver is a wealth of lost technology, if anyone 
  can manage to survive long enough to find the hidden 
  fallout shelters and storage facilities of the people who 
  took great pains to spirit away the technology and 
  medicine of the Ancients to the rest of the world. 
  Willamette Valley
  Former Name:  Willamette Valley, Oregon.
  Ruling Faction:  Various (primarily United 
  Combine).
  The Willamette Valley is the most densely populated 
  region south of the Columbia River. Along the ruins 
  of the old interstate highway lay a number of villages 
  and tiny towns, many of which are little more than 
  wooden motte and baileys or log forts designed in 
  the fashion of pioneer outposts.  The communities 
  here are subject to a broad hodgepodge of loyalties; 
  some settlements are actively allied with the United 
  Combine, for example, while some have recently 
  seceded from that faction to either join the Purity Corp 
  or to seek their own destiny, and still others never 
  were apart of the Combine to begin with – and like it 
  that way.
  The Willamette Valley runs north and south 
  from the ruins of the Lewis and Clark Bio-Dome 
  as far south as the ruins of Eugene and Springfield. 
  Communities exist near the old towns of Jefferson, 
  Peoria, and Coburg.  Travel in the Willamette Valley 
  is dangerous, but not so dangerous as it is in other 
  regions of the Northwest, as humanoid settlements 
  have made the presence of mutant creatures less 
  common. Sentinel Guides regularly patrol this region, 
  as do other groups such as the Tillamook Trading 
  Caravans.
  Because of the political instability of the valley, 
  strangers to this region are generally treated with 
  suspicion or simply run off by local militias with 
  a few warning shots in the air. Unfamiliar people 
  who persist will be subject to incessant questioning 
  about where they come from, why they happen to 
  be traveling in this region, etc. Only when local 
  authorities are satisfied will they even think of trading, 
  or in extremely rare cases, letting people inside the 
  walls of their towns (and then only after a local 
  medicine man has checked for parasites such as lice 
  and worms, to prevent their spread).
  Because the forests of the Coast Range have thrived 
  somewhat since the Fall, in many cases the forest’s 
  edge has spread into the valley to cover large parts 
  of what used to be the I-5 corridor.  Some villages in 
  the area are actively undertaking logging expeditions 
  to clear the old road and keep the route open, hoping 
  to keep a lifeline of communication between the 
  townships open (and encourage the U.C. and Sentinels 
  to keep their presence around).  Some communities, 
  
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  however, see this as a cleverly disguised way of 
  solidifying the region under U.C. control, and as such 
  guerilla-style ambushes and sabotage on logging 
  crews is becoming more common.
  To those who care to see the signs, war is coming 
  to the Willamette Valley in the near future, and its 
  relative isolation from the frontlines means any shift 
  of U.C. forces will likely weaken the Combine on 
  other fronts.
  Winthrop
  Former Name:  Winthrop, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  United Combine.
  Located at the foot of the North Cascade mountains, 
  the tiny town of Winthrop was, before the Fall, 
  a center for ranching and cattle drives across the 
  Northwest.  The town itself was largely abandoned 
  during the Fall, but the dryness of the region and the 
  lack of any real natural (or human) dangers for two 
  centuries kept the town preserved.
  Settlers from the United Combine came here years 
  ago and established a community within the ghost 
  town, bringing it back to life through their hard 
  efforts.  The old town still boasts wooden buildings 
  from the Old West period of American history, 
  complete with false fronts, saloons, and bordellos, but 
  the lifeblood of the town is in its enormous corral and 
  slaughterhouse.
  A large part of the United Combine’s angoose 
  herds are kept in and around Winthrop, where the dry 
  plains are relatively good for grazing.  The people of 
  Winthrop now use pickups and motorcycles to herd 
  their animals, largely because at the onset of the War 
  of the Remnants, splintering locals who fled to the 
  Hand of Jehovah stole most of the town’s horses.
  Winthrop is an important settlement in U.C. lands, 
  and maintains a sizeable militia.  The militia is 
  primarily focused on long-range patrols of the eastern 
  borders of U.C. territory, using restored vehicles from 
  the old mountain highways to cross the many miles of 
  plains and dry forests to the Hand of Jehovah frontier.
  Zog
  Former Name:  Mt. St. Helens, Washington.
  Ruling Faction:  Purity Corp.
  Zog was founded among the bubble domes that filled 
  valleys around the base of Mt. St. Helens. Before 
  the Fall, the wilderness around this famous active 
  volcano was a part of the great Northwest restoration 
  project. In addition to the bubble domes, three bunker 
  complexes were constructed underneath observation 
  stations that were originally built to give tourists a 
  better view of the volcano and surrounding areas. 
  The bunkers, never used during their time due to their 
  relative isolation, yielded a great cache of remarkably 
  well-preserved food and other pre-Fall relics that 
  proved invaluable to the Purists in the coming years.
  Over the years, Zog developed into the heavily 
  fortified capital of the Pure Lands; the heart of Purist 
  thinking in this corner of the Twisted Earth.  Yet 
  despite being the home of an ages-old philosophy, it 
  is neither a place of free thinking nor happiness – it is 
  a wicked place where racial division has become an 
  obsession.
  Zog is currently home to the hard-line Purists 
  who follow the philosophies of Jeremiah Cole; this 
  devotion, in many cases, mirrors the same dedication 
  shown by the people of Nazi Germany to their führer, 
  Hitler. Most see the man as a visionary and are willing 
  to die for the “creed”, a stringent set of rules that all 
  Purists must swear by if they wish to stay in the clan.
  Zog is divided into “ethnic zones”. People are 
  assigned living space based on the color of their skin; 
  no fraternization between people of differing ethnic 
  persuasions is allowed in these zones (punishment for 
  the rare indiscretion – usually by youngsters ignorant 
  of the Purity Corp’s strict laws – is often quite brutal). 
  In the center of Zog is a “multi-ethnic zone” where 
  people are encouraged to come and mingle. Bartering 
  tables are setup in this zone and people may trade for 
  what they need here.  Entertainment is also found in 
  the multi-ethnic zone in the form of alcohol, music, 
  games, ancient holo-movies, and gladiator cages that 
  have become wildly popular throughout the Pure 
  Lands. Disputes between people are all too often 
  settled in these cages, with only one person walking 
  out alive.
  In general, women are treated as lesser creatures in 
  Zog; they have no real rights. Most are made to serve 
  their society in any number of ways, from cooking 
  meals to cleaning and other forms of manual labor. 
  
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  All are expected to be sexually permissive to all men 
  who show an interest, unless of course they are of a 
  different ethnic persuasion or the woman in question 
  is already pregnant.
  Non-clan visitors to Zog are not allowed inside the 
  city. A district has been built on the outskirts of Zog 
  that is reserved for travelers and emissaries from other 
  groups in the region. The Tillamook Trading Caravans 
  have a small outpost setup in the borough that receives 
  regular shipments from the Mao Chu’n bunker 
  complex. The trading station is heavily guarded, and 
  some residents of Zog have made claims that the 
  People’s Army are actually preparing to make war 
  against the Purists. No person or group that is allowed 
  into the visitor zone may stay there for more than one 
  week, with the exception of the Tillamook Traders, 
  who are closely watched by Purist Enforcers.
  People who overstay their welcome will be forcibly 
  removed from the Pure Lands and even branded to 
  ensure that they are known to sentries who patrol 
  the routes into the region. If marked individuals 
  are caught trespassing in the Pure Lands, they are 
  crucified along the roads as a reminder to anyone who 
  might question the will of the Purists when it comes to 
  defending their territory.
  Divisions In The Purity Corp
  Life is not easy for the inhabitants of Zog, or in any of the encampments and settlements throughout Purist 
  lands.  Founded on principles that were meant to keep racial lines pure and distinct, to honor the heritage of 
  each race of man no matter its origin, the Purity Corp has developed into something cruel and terrible since 
  its inception so long ago.
  Jeremiah Cole (a “Nubian”) has used his charisma and power to place his own race above all others in 
  the Purity Corp, giving out military and government positions to his own kind and leaving the other races in 
  less influential roles in Purist society.  But Cole’s “takeover” has not gone unnoticed – or unchallenged.
  The leaders of other leading ethnic groups (in particular, the white, Hispanic, and Asian groups) in 
  the Purity Corp have voiced concern over Cole’s blatant biases, a situation that has caused great unrest 
  – in various Purist towns, as well as Zog itself.  Vandalism and sabotage of Cole’s military machine has 
  been common in recent years; the whites in the town of Future, for example, sometimes go on strike or 
  deliberately produce shoddy weapons to hamper Cole’s ability to wage war (and crack down on civil 
  disobedience); the Hispanic population, reduced almost to slavery in Zog, have been active in terrorist-
  style bombings and killings of prominent Nubian officials; and the Asians, it is rumored, have been secretly 
  buying weapons from their “brothers” in the People’s Army and are planning a full-scale uprising to seize 
  power.
  Throughout it all, Cole seems oblivious to the cries of his people, but even among his own ethnic group, 
  there are others who can see the injustice and realize that Cole’s regime cannot last.  Many Nubians have 
  begun making plans to abandon the city and strike out on their own, taking their chances elsewhere in the 
  Lost Paradise before there is an anti-Nubian uprising.
  
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  Chapter 5: Terrors of the Lost Paradise
  Chapter 5: 
  Terrors of the 
  Lost Paradise
  Harry can be a real idiot sometimes. If I’ve told him once, I’ve told him a thousand times not to go chasin’ stray 
  angoose down into the ruins of Eugene by himself, but does he listen to me? Nope. The crazy son of a bitch thinks 
  because he was once a Guide he can go off and do whatever he pleases. Sure the people look up to him. They 
  think he’s some kind of real life hero because of all the stories he tells about his days with the Sentinels. Well, this 
  time he managed to get himself hurt real bad. His precious Sentinel training didn’t help him much, either.
  I didn’t have to hear the damned fool’s description of the thing that tore up his leg to know it was a bane cat.  
  All I had to do was look at the jagged claw marks and pus sores to know what got at him. Now he’s going to be 
  bed-ridden for at least two moon cycles to give the healing serum we got from a Mountain Walker last harvest 
  season a chance to work. In the meantime, Harry’s presence will be missed on the patrols. It’s not like we have an 
  excess of able bodies anymore. The thing that gets me is now I’m gonna have to take him down a notch or two in 
  front of the rest of the people so they don’t get any hare-brained ideas about doing the same thing.
  Harry survived, but he was damned lucky he did, and we didn’t get the angoose back either. All in all I’d say 
  it’s better to lose one stinkin’ angoose than to get a man killed tryin’ to get it. There are too many creatures out in 
  the wilderness that are able to take a man apart faster than he can scream for help. It’s not like the ancient times 
  when most of the dangerous critters were either afraid of people or locked away in cages. No, these days it’s 
  the other way around. We’re the ones in the cages now, afraid of the dark once again while all sorts of strange, 
  mutated beasts roam free in the wilderness, just waiting for someone to screw up like Harry did. 
  - Duncan Clark
  Mutated Animals
  The Lost Paradise, for all the life that teems here, is 
  filled with many dangers unique to this corner of the 
  world.  In addition to the natural animals that still 
  eek out a miserable existence in the dying forests and 
  mountain landscapes, entirely new species—evolved 
  from pre-Fall forms of life—have carved out a niche 
  of their own in this part of the Twisted Earth.  This 
  chapter describes some of the creatures and animals 
  unique to the Northwest environment.
  Angoose
  Angoose are the descendents of Ancient cattle that 
  managed to survive the Fall. They get their name from 
  the term “Black Angus,” a name for a specific type of 
  cow that was quite common before the Fall.
  Angoose have mutated into six-legged creatures 
  with extremely thick hides.  At maturity, their hides 
  become covered with tiny horn-like protrusions which 
  are filled with a highly concentrated form of methane 
  gas (a bi-product of a mutated digestive tract), which 
  the angoose can eject at predators. A successful hit 
  causes dizziness and nausea in the unfortunate victim, 
  an effect which lasts up to an hour.
  Angoose are docile enough to be kept as herd 
  animals. Some communities, such as the city of 
  Tillamook, maintain hundreds of angoose.
  Species Traits
  Angoose have the following Traits:
  Poison Spike Ejection (Ex):  
  The thick, leathery hides of 
  mature angoose are covered 
  with tiny horn-like protrusions, 
  which can be fired at perceived 
  enemies up to 20 feet 
  away. These projectiles 
  carry a highly 
  concentrated 
  dose of 
  methane gas 
  that causes bouts 
  of extreme nausea and dizziness 
  when it gets into the victim’s 
  bloodstream. In addition to 
  
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  the poison effects (DC 14, initial damage 1d6 Dex, 
  secondary damage 2d6 Dex), these darts do 1d3 
  piercing damage. 
  Stampede (Ex):  A frightened herd flees as a group 
  in a random direction, but always away from the 
  perceived source of danger.  A herd runs over anything 
  of size Large or smaller that gets in its way, dealing 
  1d12 points of damage for every five animals in the 
  herd.  A successful Reflex save (DC 16) halves the 
  damage.
  Angoose: CR 2; Large animal; HD 4d8+15; hp 37; 
  Mas 16; Init +0; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 13, touch 9, 
  flat-footed 13 (-1 size, -+4 natural); BAB +3; Grap 
  +10; Atk +5 melee (ld8+4, gore), or +2 ranged (1d3 
  + poison, spike); Full +5 melee (ld8+4, gore), or 
  +2 ranged (1d3 + poison, spike); FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; 
  Reach 10 ft.; SQ poison spike ejection, stampede; AL 
  none; SV Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +1; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 
  17, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 5.
  Skills: Listen +8, Spot +5.
  Feats: None.
  Advancement: 5-7 HD (Large).
  Bane Cat
  The bane cat is one of the most vicious predators in 
  the Northwest. These fearsome creatures typically 
  make their homes high in the mountains where the 
  hunting is still good, or among the ruins of old towns 
  where they can prey on unwary travelers.
  The elders of the Chinook people recount a strange 
  legend about the bane cat: according to Chinook 
  lore, the bane cat (known as the “choi-nai-toch” in 
  the Chinook language) was sent by the Great Spirit 
  to guard the entrance to the spirit world after the 
  dropping of the Gourd of Ash made that mystical 
  realm easier to reach from the material world.  While 
  most people in the Northwest dismiss the legend as a 
  fantasy, they don’t deny there is a numinous quality 
  about the great cats. Even the most accomplished 
  Sentinel Scouts are confounded by the creature’s 
  tracks, which they claim have a habit of stopping for 
  no apparent reason—almost as if the beast had just 
  vanished into thin air.
  The bane cat is polydactyl, having 
  eight toes on each of its razor-sharp 
  claws that leave a signature scar 
  that is easily recognizable by 
  anyone who knows what to 
  look for. The beast typically 
  has tan-colored fur with 
  black or deep green stripes; 
  its large head is vaguely 
  reminiscent of a cougar’s, 
  and its slightly widened maw 
  makes it capable of delivering 
  a ferocious bite. A bane cat’s 
  bite, while deadly in and 
  of itself, carries with it the 
  added danger of infecting 
  the newly opened 
  wound with a wasting 
  disease. Green, pus-
  filled sores begin to 
  crop up on the flesh 
  of an infected victim, and are the first signs that the 
  wasting disease has moved into terminal stages.  Bane 
  cats have been known to bite their prey once and then 
  follow the infected creature for days, content to let the 
  disease do their work before they move in to finish off 
  and devour the weakened target.
  Species Traits
  Bane cats have the following Traits:
  Infection (Ex):  The bane cat’s bite delivers a 
  disease capable of killing its prey within days. After 
  the initial bite damage, victims must make a Fortitude 
  save (DC 20) or be infected.  The disease’s incubation 
  period is one day; the initial damage is one Str and 
  one Con, and the secondary damage is 1d4 Str and 
  1d4 Con.
  Trackless (Ex): The 
  bane cat has evolved an 
  extraordinary ability to 
  hide its 
  Other Animals 
  In addition to the new creatures detailed in this chapter, the following creatures found elsewhere on the 
  Twisted Earth are also common in the Lost Paradise: blobs, lurking panthers, monstrous cockroaches, 
  plantmen, probing waddlers, ratbites, ravening hounds, screamers, terminals, terminals (abortion), two-
  headed mutant bears, and wild men.
  
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  tracks.  It has a tremendous leap, which it often uses 
  to jump to surfaces that leave little trace of its passage 
  (rocks, trees, etc).   All DCs to Track a bane cat are 
  increased by 10. 
  Leaping (Ex): The bane cat’s maximum jump 
  distance is not restricted by its height.
  Pounce (Ex): During the first round of combat, the 
  bane cat can move and then use an attack action to 
  make a full round attack.
  Scent (Ex): The bane cat’s heightened sense of 
  smell allows it to detect approaching enemies, sniff 
  out hidden foes, and track even the most elusive prey.
  Skill Bonus:  A bane cat receives a +8 species 
  bonus to Hide checks when in tall grass or heavy 
  overgrowth.
   
  Bane Cat: CR 7; Large animal; HD 8d8+21; hp 57; 
  Mas 16; Init +4; Spd 50 ft.; Defense 18, touch 13, flat-
  footed 14 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +5 natural); BAB +6; Grap 
  +15; Atk +9 melee (ld8+5, bite); Full Atk +9 melee 
  (1d6+5, 2 claws) and +7 melee (ld8+4, bite), FS 10 ft. 
  by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ infection, low-light vision, 
  trackless, leaping, pounce, scent; AL none; SV Fort 
  +9, Ref +10, Will +2; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 20, Dex 18, 
  Con 16, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 5.
  Skills: Balance +6, Climb +8, Hide +2 (+10 in 
  tall grass or heavy overgrowth), Jump +8, Listen +2, 
  Move Silently +7, Spot +2.
  Feats: Multiattack.
  Advancement: 9-16 HD (Large).
  Blood Whale
  The blood whale is a massive aquatic beast that roams 
  what is left of the inlets and waterways of the Pacific 
  Northwest. Blood whales are named for the bleeding 
  sores that often cover their deformed, sickly bodies.
  Blood whales were once orca, a species of whale 
  that flourished in the waters of the Northern Pacific 
  and Puget Sound until driven to the brink of extinction 
  at the hands of the Ancients. The few that survived the 
  Fall were caught in a nightmarish struggle to survive, 
  feeding on contaminated salmon, sea lions, and 
  whatever else they could find in the dying ocean. Over 
  the years, blood whales were forced to move deeper 
  into the waterways in search of food. In time, the high 
  toxicity levels in the Columbia and other rivers began 
  to affect the creatures, turning them into something 
  only barely resembling the killer whales of long ago.
  Latent water pollution throughout the Northwest 
  has inflicted wounds on most blood whales that never 
  heal. The lifespan of a blood whale is painfully long; 
  it is said the mournful wails of the beasts can be heard 
  at night along the Columbia, and even off the coast of 
  northwest Washington near the Sacred Lands.
  A blood whale preys on anything that dares swim or 
  move along the polluted waters where it dwells, either 
  biting with its massive mouth or coming up under the 
  hull of watercraft in an attempt to capsize it and spill 
  its passengers overboard—where they can be more 
  easily scooped up.
  Battles between blood whales and zug-wa (see 
  below) are not uncommon.
  Species Traits
  Blood whales have the following Traits:
  Blindsight (Ex): Blood whales can “see” by 
  emitting high-frequency sounds inaudible to most 
  other creatures; this natural “sonar” allows them to 
  locate objects and creatures within 120 feet. A silence 
  spell negates this ability and forces the whale to rely 
  on its vision, which is approximately equal a human’s.
  Hold Breath (Ex): A blood whale can hold its 
  breath for a number of rounds equal to 8 times its 
  Constitution score before it risks drowning. 
  Improved Grab (Ex): The blood whale must hit 
  with a bite attack to use this ability. Upon a successful 
  bite attack, the blood whale can attempt to swallow its 
  prey whole with its Swallow Whole ability. 
  
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  Swallow Whole (Ex):  A blood whale can swallow 
  an opponent caught in its massive jaws by making 
  a successful grapple check. Once inside the blood 
  whale, the swallowed creature takes 2d6 points of acid 
  damage per round. In addition, the victim is exposed 
  to the toxic pollutants in the blood whale’s digestive 
  system (DC 15, initial damage 1d6 Con, secondary 
  damage 1d6 Con).
  A swallowed creature can cut its way out of the 
  blood whale by using claws or a Small or Tiny 
  slashing weapon to deal 25 points of damage to the 
  stomach (AC 20).  Once the creature exits, muscular 
  action closes the hole; another swallowed opponent 
  must cut its own way out.
  Skills: A blood whale receives a +8 racial bonus 
  to any Swim check to perform some special action or 
  avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a 
  Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can 
  use the run action while swimming, provided it swims 
  in a straight line. *A blood whale receives a +4 racial 
  bonus to Spot and Listen checks; these bonuses are 
  lost if its blindsight is negated.
  Blood Whale: CR 8; Huge animal; HD 9d8+48; hp 
  88; Mas 21; Init +2; Spd swim 40 ft.; Defense 18, 
  touch 10, flat-footed 16 (-2 size, +2 Dex, +8 natural); 
  BAB +6; Grap +22; Atk +12 melee (2d6+12, bite); 
  Full Atk +12 melee (2d6+12, bite), FS 15 ft. by 15 ft.; 
  Reach 10 ft.; SQ blindsight, hold breath, improved 
  grab, swallow whole; AL none; SV Fort +11, Ref  +8, 
  Will +5; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 27, Dex 14, Con 21, Int 2, 
  Wis 14, Cha 4. 
  Skills: Listen +14, Spot +14, Swim +16.
  Feats:  Alertness, Endurance, Run, Toughness.
  Advancement: 10–18 HD (Huge); 18–36 HD 
  (Gargantuan).
  Advanced Blood Whale: CR 14; Gargantuan animal; 
  HD 20d8+143; hp 233; Mas 25; Init +2; Spd swim 
  40 ft.; Defense 20, touch 8, flat-footed 18 (-4 size, 
  +2 Dex, +12 natural); BAB +15; Grap +39; Atk +23 
  melee (2d8+18, bite); Full Atk +23 melee (2d8+18, 
  bite), FS 20 ft. by 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft.; SQ blindsight, 
  hold breath, improved grab, swallow whole; AL none; 
  SV Fort +19, Ref  +14, Will +8; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 35, 
  Dex 14, Con 25, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 4.   
  Skills: Listen +14*, Spot +14*, Swim +20.  
  Feats:  Alertness, Endurance, Run, Toughness.  
  Giant Mutant Sockeye
  The poisonous waterways of the Northwest are now 
  home to a mutated descendant of the native sockeye 
  salmon. The giant mutant sockeye has become a staple 
  food source for many river communities, although 
  the people often pay for their meat in blood. The fish 
  has grown in size over the ages; mature specimens 
  now weigh an average of two hundred pounds. The 
  sockeye has a voracious appetite and even shows 
  signs of sentience. Entire schools of sockeyes have 
  been known to surround smaller watercraft and 
  capsize the vessels, spilling passengers out into the 
  water where they make easy prey for the giant fish. 
  More often than not, those who manage to survive the 
  initial encounter with a giant mutant sockeye come 
  away missing a limb or two for their troubles… if 
  they’re lucky.
  Mutant sockeye have long feeler tentacles that 
  resemble catfishes’ whiskers. They use these 
  “whiskers” to inject a paralytic toxin into the 
  bloodstream of their prey. The poison works quickly, 
  causing a temporary paralysis that usually leads to 
  drowning.
  Species Traits
  Mutant sockeye have the following Traits:
  Blindsense (Ex): A sockeye can locate creatures 
  underwater within a 30-foot radius. This ability works 
  only when the sockeye is underwater.
  Keen Scent (Ex): A sockeye can notice creatures by 
  scent within a 180-foot radius and can detect blood in 
  the water at ranges of up to a mile. 
  Poison Stingers (Ex): The sockeye has four 
  stingers with which to damage and paralyze prey. In 
  addition to taking normal damage from the attack, 
  victims struck by a stinger must also make a Fortitude 
  save (DC 15) or be paralyzed for 1d4+1 rounds.
  Skills: A sockeye receives a +8 racial bonus to any 
  Swim check to perform some special action or avoid 
  a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim 
  check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the 
  run action while swimming, provided it swims in a 
  straight line.
  
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  Giant Mutated Sockeye: CR 2; Medium-size animal; 
  HD 3d8; hp 14; Mas 10; Init +4; Spd swim 40 ft.; 
  Defense 16, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +2 
  natural); BAB +2; Grap +4; Atk +6 melee (1d6+2, 
  bite); Full Atk +6 melee (1d6+2, bite) and +4 melee 
  (ld4+paralysis, 4 stingers), FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 
  ft.; SQ blindsense, keen scent, poison stingers; AL 
  none; SV Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +2; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 
  14, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 2. 
  Skills: Listen +6, Spot +6, Swim +9.
  Feats:  Multiattack, Weapon Finesse (bite), Weapon 
  Finesse (stingers).
  Advancement: 4-6 HD (Medium).
  Monstrous Sand Crab
  Sand crabs make their homes on the sandy flats of the 
  Shipwreck Coast and in the rocky beaches of what 
  used to be the Olympic Peninsula.  The sand crab has 
  survived the terrible years since the Fall by preying on 
  creatures that live out in the wasteland that once used 
  to be a lush coastline.
  The monstrous sand crab grows to a mind-boggling 
  three feet tall, making it a valued food source for 
  tribes that live out in these isolated areas. They have 
  six large eyes in the front of their shells, six spider-
  like legs (stretching out to eight feet long), two front 
  pincers which they use as their primary weapons, and 
  two smaller legs that are usually tucked beneath their 
  abdomens.
  Monstrous sand crabs’ comparatively small frames 
  belie their massive strength. They are extremely adept 
  at using their pincers in combat—in fact, they’re quite 
  capable of severing an extremity with a quick “snip.”
  Species Traits
  Monstrous sand crabs have the following Traits:
  Improved Critical (Ex): The sand crab’s pincers 
  are extremely sharp, increasing the critical hit 
  threshold to 19-20. 
  Monstrous Sand Crab: CR 1/2; Small animal; HD 
  2d8+4; hp 13; Mas 15; Init +1; Spd 20 ft., swim 10 ft.; 
  Defense 18, touch 12, flat-footed 17 (+1 size, +1 Dex, 
  +6 natural); BAB +1; Grap +1; Atk +6 melee (1d6+4/
  19-20, pincer); Full Atk +6 melee (1d6+4/19-20, 2 
  pincers); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ improved 
  critical; SV Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +0; AP 0; RP +0; Str 
  18, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 2.
  Skills: Climb +8, Hide +7, Jump +6, Move Silently 
  +7.
  Feats:  None.
  Advancement:  2-6 HD (Medium-size).
  Advanced Monstrous Sand Crab: CR 2; 
  Medium-size animal; HD 5d8+15; hp 
  37; Mas 17; Init +0; Spd 20 ft., 
  swim 10 ft.; Defense 17, touch 
  11, flat-footed 16 (+1 size, +6 
  natural); BAB +2; Grap +2; 
  Atk +7 melee (1d8+6/19-
  20, pincer); Full Atk +7 
  melee (1d8+6/19-20, 2 
  pincers); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ improved 
  critical; SV Fort +5, Ref +5, 
  Will +1; AP 0; RP +0; Str 22, 
  Dex 10, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 10, 
  Cha 2.  
  Skills: Climb +10, Hide +6, 
  Jump +10, Move Silently +6.  
  Feats:  None.  
  Helkan
  Like angoose, helkan are a docile animal often herded 
  by the people of the Northwest. Helkan are descended 
  from the majestic elk that once thrived in the wilds of 
  the northwest United States and Canada.
  The average helkan bull stands eight feet tall at 
  the shoulders and is covered with an ultra-thick hide 
  of coarse fur, which provides exceptional protection 
  from hunters’ weapons and predators’ claws.  Skilled 
  
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  hunters and tanners often fashion primitive body 
  armor from the helkan’s tough hide.
  Herds of helkan are kept in settlements across the 
  Northwest, where the beasts are valued for more than 
  just their fur. A properly prepared helkan can provide 
  enough meat and other useful items to last a family for 
  good long time.
  Species Traits
  Helkan have the following Traits:
  Stampede (Ex):  A frightened herd flees as a group 
  in a random direction, but always away from the 
  perceived source of danger.  A herd runs over anything 
  of size Large or smaller that gets in its way, dealing 
  1d12 points of damage for every five animals in the 
  herd.  A successful Reflex save (DC 16) halves the 
  damage.
  Carrying Capacity: A light load 
  for a helkan is up to 200 pounds; 
  a medium load, 201–400 pounds; 
  and a heavy load, 401–600 
  pounds. A helkan can 
  drag 3,000 
  pounds.
  Helkan: CR 3; Large animal; HD 6d8+18; hp 45; 
  Mas 16; Init +1; Spd 40 ft.; Defense 16, touch 10, 
  flat-footed 15 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +6 natural); BAB +4; 
  Grap +12; Atk +7 melee (ld8+6, gore); Full Atk +7 
  melee (ld8+6, gore), FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; 
  SQ stampede; AL none; SV Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +2; 
  AP 0; Rep +0; Str 18, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 12, 
  Cha 5. 
  Skills: Listen +10, Spot +5.
  Feats: Endurance.
  Advancement: None.
  Horned Baboon
  Horned baboons are fiercely territorial creatures 
  that dwell in the mountains of Old Oregon.  The 
  horned baboon gets its name from the sharp horns 
  that protrude from its massive arms, head, and back. 
  Thick fur covers most of the horned baboon’s body; 
  its elongated snout is marked by a distinct rainbow 
  coloration. When threatened or angered, it bears its 
  fangs and works itself into a frenzy, which incites 
  nearby horned baboons to become more aggressive—
  quickly resulting in a large force of enraged creatures 
  who throw themselves at their prey with abandon.
  The ancestors of the horned baboon obviously 
  weren’t indigenous to this area of the world, and some 
  thinkers have speculated that the creatures must have 
  been kept in zoos or used in laboratory experiments.  
  Some evidence points to the remains of a wildlife 
  sanctuary at Winston, Oregon as this mutated 
  breed’s point of origin.
  Whatever their origins may be, horned 
  baboons have managed to thrive in the wilds 
  of the Northwest. They have been known 
  to attack caravans in large numbers, 
  often overwhelming the surprised 
  defenders with their sheer numbers. 
  The horned baboon is incredibly strong, 
  agile, and fearless in combat, capable 
  of making long jumps to quickly close 
  the distance between it and its prey. The beast prefers 
  to pounce on victims and pin them down with its 
  powerful bulk and razor-sharp claws before finishing 
  them off with its bite attack.
  The horned baboon is also capable of using 
  whatever inanimate objects might be lying around—
  branches, rocks, pieces of wreckage, etc.—as 
  rudimentary weapons.
  Species Traits
  Horned baboons have the following Traits:
  Scent (Ex): This ability allows the horned baboon 
  to detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, 
  and track by sense of smell.
  Horned Baboon: CR 3; Medium-size animal; HD 
  6d8+12; hp 39; Mas 15; Init +4; Spd 30 ft., climb 30 
  ft.; Defense 18, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +4 
  natural); BAB +4, Grap +8; Atk +8 melee (1d4+4, 
  claw) or +8 melee (1d6+4 bite); Full Atk +8 melee 
  (1d4+4, 2 claws) and +6 melee (1d6+4, bite); FS 5 ft. 
  by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ low-light vision, scent; AL 
  none; SV Fort +8, Ref +10, Will +3; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 
  18, Dex 18, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 10, Cha 3.
  Skills: Climb +8, Jump +8, Listen +4, Spot +4.
  Feats:  Multiattack.
  Advancement: 7-12 HD (Large).
  Advanced Horned Baboon: CR 6; Large animal; HD 
  10d8+40; hp 85; Mas 19; Init +3; Spd 30 ft., climb 30 
  ft.; Defense 18, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (-1 size, +3 
  Dex, +6 natural); BAB +6, Grap +18; Atk +13 melee 
  (1d6+8, claw) or +13 melee (1d8+8 bite); Full Atk 
  +13 melee (1d6+8, 2 claws) and +11 melee (1d8+8, 
  bite); FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ low-light 
  vision, scent; AL none; SV Fort +11, Ref +10, Will 
  +3; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 26, Dex 16, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 
  10, Cha 3.  
  Skills: Climb +12, Jump +12, Listen +4, Spot +4.  
  Feats:  Multiattack.
  
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  Poison Lamprey
  The freshwater lamprey that once dwelled in the 
  waters of the Columbia River before the Fall managed 
  to survive and adapt to what’s left of the now-toxic 
  waterway.  In some areas they have even begun to 
  thrive, their burgeoning numbers making them a rich 
  food source for the people who live along the river’s 
  mighty banks.
  For all their value to the people of the Northwest 
  waterways, poison lamprey make a dangerous food 
  source. An adult lamprey is large enough to wrap 
  itself around a full-grown helkan and drag it under 
  water, where it latches onto its unfortunate prey with 
  a powerful sucker lined with pointed teeth arranged 
  in concentric circles. Once attached, the poison 
  lamprey uses its rasping tongue and sharp teeth to 
  tear open wounds on its prey’s skin, feeding on blood 
  and body tissue until its victim is torn to shreds.  The 
  lamprey’s vicious bite also injects prey with a toxic 
  venom capable of killing in a matter of days.  Animals 
  affected by this toxin often return to the waters to cool 
  their fevers—only to die, be carried downstream, and 
  become meals for schools of lamprey lurking in the 
  waterway.
  River Folk have developed a unique and somewhat 
  disturbing technique for catching these 
  creatures—they use herd animals as live bait. 
  They place an animal in a body harness, lower 
  it into deep water, and wait for lampreys 
  to come after what appears to be an easy 
  meal. Once the lamprey have latched onto 
  the unfortunate beast, the River Folk haul 
  the animal out with the lamprey in tow 
  and stand back, waiting for the creatures 
  to suffocate out of water. Once the 
  lamprey are dead, they are cleaned and 
  their venom sacks carefully removed.
  The River Folk usually dry and smoke 
  the flesh of the creature to make jerky.
  Species Traits
  Poison lampreys have the following Traits:
  Attach (Ex): A poison lamprey that hits with its 
  bite attack latches onto the opponent’s body with its 
  powerful jaws.  An attached poison lamprey loses its 
  Dex bonus while attached.  A poison lamprey must 
  be attached to use its poison.  The lamprey deals 
  automatic bite damage each round while attached.
  Poison (Ex): While attached to a victim, a poison 
  lamprey can inject venom into its prey (DC 12; initial 
  damage 1d6 Con; secondary damage 1d6 Con).
  Poison Lamprey: CR 1; Medium-size animal; HD 
  2d8; hp 9; Mas 10; Init +4; Spd swim 40 ft.; Defense 
  18, touch 14, flat-footed 14 (+4 Dex, +4 natural); 
  BAB +1; Grap +5; Atk +5 melee (2d4+5, bite); Full 
  Atk +5 melee (2d4+5, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 
  5 ft.; SQ attach, poison; SV Fort +2, Ref +6, Will +0; 
  AP 0; RP +0; Str 21, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 10, 
  Cha 2.
  Skills: Listen +5, Spot +5.
  Feats: None.
  Advancement: 3-5 HD (Medium).
  Sand Worm
  These deadly creatures appear to be a bizarre cross 
  between a lizard and a worm. The main body of the 
  beast is segmented like a worm, brown and covered 
  with sickly pink splotches, yet is covered with scales 
  like those found on reptiles. The sand worm’s body 
  is also ringed with black, fleshy spikes that secrete 
  a fluid that is intoxicating when drunk—and which 
  is also said to have healing properties. The soldiers 
  of the People’s Army hunt sand worms specifically 
  for the purpose of “milking” the beast of this liquid, 
  which they call “joga.”
  Even more curious is the presence of a pair of 
  retractable legs on each segment of the worm—the 
  creature retracts them while burrowing underground 
  and extends them while moving across the ground’s 
  surface. Probably the most bizarre aspect of this 
  creature is its lack of an identifiable head—instead, 
  the sand worm boasts a gaping maw with two tiny 
  oval eyes on either side. A mass of serrated, spiked 
  tentacles protrudes from the beast’s oral cavity, some 
  extending up to fifteen feet in length.  The average 
  sand worm grows to be some twenty feet long and 
  ten feet tall.
  When above ground, a sand worm lashes 
  out at prey with its tentacles and tries to 
  draw them into its maw, where the victim 
  is chewed and shredded by the five rings 
  of jagged teeth that line the creature’s 
  mouth, or sometimes even swallowed 
  whole. Sand worms prefer a more subtle 
  approach, however; when circumstances 
  allow, the creature burrows beneath the surface 
  of the ground, extends its tentacles up, and waits 
  patiently for unwary travelers to pass close enough for 
  the creature to catch them.
  
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  Species Traits
  Sand worms have the following Traits:
  Tremorsense (Ex): Sand worms can sense the 
  vibrations made by people or creatures walking along 
  the surface of the earth up to 60 feet away, and can 
  unerringly home in on the exact location. 
  Improved Grab (Ex):  If a sand worm hits a 
  creature with a tentacle, it may grapple as a free 
  action. Success indicates the sand worm has grabbed 
  hold of its prey and can drag the victim into its mouth 
  on the following round. Creatures grappled in this 
  manner suffer 1d4+5 damage each round they are 
  held. Once the victim reaches the sand worm’s mouth, 
  the creature may either attempt to swallow its prey 
  whole or instead choose to bite.
  Swallow Whole (Ex): By 
  succeeding at a second grapple 
  check, the sand worm 
  can swallow whole 
  prey which has 
  already been 
  successfully 
  grappled with its tentacles and pulled into its mouth. 
  Success indicates the opponent has been swallowed 
  and is now inside the sand worm, where the trapped 
  victim takes 2d6+7 crushing damage per round.
  A swallowed creature can cut its way out by using 
  claws or a Small or Tiny slashing weapon to deal 25 
  points of damage to the gizzard (AC 20).  Once the 
  creature exits, muscular action closes the hole; another 
  swallowed opponent must cut its own way out. 
  Skill Bonus:  A sand worm receives a +8 species 
  bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks when fully or 
  partially buried in sand.
  Sand Worm: CR 9; Huge Mutant Beast; HD 
  10d10+50; hp 105; Mas 20; Init -1; Spd 30 ft, burrow 
  30 ft.; Defense 22, touch 7, flat-footed 22 (-2 size, -1 
  Dex, +15 natural); BAB +10, Grap +25; Atk +15 
  melee (2d6+7, bite); Full Atk +15 melee (2d4+7, 
  2 tentacles), +15 melee (2d6+7, bite); 
  FS 15 ft. by 15 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ 
  tremorsense, improved grab, swallow 
  whole; AL none; SV Fort +12, Ref +6, 
  Will +4; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 25, Dex 
  8, Con 20, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 3.
  Skills: Hide +2 (+10 in sand), Move Silently +5 
  (+13 in sand).
  Feats: Multiattack, Improved Multiattack.
  Advancement: 11-20 HD (Huge), 21-40 
  (Gargantuan).
  Advanced Sand Worm: CR 15; Huge Mutant Beast; 
  HD 25d10+178; hp 316; Mas 24; Init -1; Spd 30 ft, 
  burrow 30 ft.; Defense 24, touch 5, flat-footed 24 
  (-4 size, -1 Dex, +19 natural); BAB +25, Grap +48; 
  Atk +32 melee (2d8+11, bite); Full Atk +32 melee 
  (2d6+11, 2 tentacles), +32 melee (2d8+11, bite); 
  FS 20 ft. by 20 ft.; Reach 15 ft.; SQ tremorsense, 
  improved grab, swallow whole; AL none; SV Fort 
  +21, Ref +13, Will +9; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 33, Dex 8, 
  Con 24, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 3.
  Skills: Hide -2 (+6 in sand), Move Silently +5 (+13 
  in sand).
  Feats: Cleave, Multiattack, Improved Multiattack, 
  Improved Overrun, Power Attack, Toughness.
  Shadetrap
  The shadetrap is a vicious trickster. The deadly plant 
  was originally a genetically modified version of the 
  Venus flytrap, created out of sheer scientific whimsy 
  prior to the Fall. The shadetrap has thrived in recent 
  years by using innovative methods of securing 
  nourishment.
  A typical shadetrap grows to between eight and 
  twelve feet tall, standing with its petals outspread to 
  the sun to absorb the light necessary for survival. The 
  giant plant supplements this photosynthesis with more 
  tangible nourishment, however; when an unsuspecting 
  prey comes too close, the shadetrap sweeps down 
  and engulfs it within its petals.  Once the target is 
  thoroughly enveloped within the petals, the plant 
  secretes corrosive fluids which eat away the flesh 
  and bone of the target.  Only bodies completely 
  protected by metal are rejected and dropped to the 
  ground by the plant.
  
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  Species Traits
  Shadetraps have the following Traits:
  Tremorsense (Ex):  Their sensitivity to surface 
  vibration allows shadetraps to sense and locate 
  enemies moving along the ground within 30 feet.
  Improved Grab (Ex):  To use this ability, the 
  shadetrap must hit with its bite attack.  If successful, 
  it may immediately attempt to swallow the victim 
  whole.
  Swallow Whole:  After making a successful 
  improved grab, the shadetrap can “swallow” a 
  victim by closing itself over the target’s body and 
  releasing its corrosive digestive acids, which inflict 
  1d10 damage per round. Creatures swallowed in this 
  manner can attack from inside the shadetrap with 
  small or natural weapons.
  Shadetrap: CR 2; Large plant; HD 3d8+9; hp 23; 
  Mas -; Init -1; Spd 0 ft.; Defense 12, touch 8, flat-
  footed 12 (-1 size, -1 Dex, +4 natural); BAB +2; 
  Grap +11; Atk +6 melee (1d8+5, bite); Full Atk +6 
  melee (1d8+5, bite); FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; 
  SQ tremorsense, improved grab, swallow whole; AL 
  none; SV Fort +6, Ref +0, Will +0; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 
  20, Dex 9, Con 17, Int 3, Wis 9, Cha 3.
  Skills: None.
  Feats: None.
  Advancement: 4-6 (Large).
  Spiner
  These deceptively harmless-looking plants have taken 
  more than their fair share of travelers of the Twisted 
  Earth by luring unsuspecting creatures into killing 
  range with their aromatic scent and vibrant green-and-
  blue coloration.
  Spiners are an unusual type of plant that has adapted 
  to life on the water-starved Twisted Earth by finding 
  another source of moisture: the remains of animals it 
  has killed.  The spiner continuously exudes a sap-like 
  resin from its main stalk, a resinous substance that 
  hardens into needle-point projectiles.  These “needles” 
  can be hurled out by the plant’s semi-animate 
  branches in a 360-degree radius, and can travel up to 
  20 feet.
  A victim struck with a spiner needle usually 
  succumbs to the plant’s chemical poison, quickly 
  becoming delirious, losing consciousness, and dying.  
  The extensive root system necessary for survival in 
  this hostile environment allows the plant to absorb the 
  water from the dead body over time.
  Species Traits
  Spiners have the following Traits:
  Tremorsense (Ex):  Their sensitivity to surface 
  vibration allows spiners to sense and locate enemies 
  moving along the ground within 20 feet.
  Poison Needles (Ex):  Once it has detected a nearby 
  target, a spiner launches a group of three poison-
  tipped needles towards the victim (DC 14, initial 
  damage 1d4 Dex, secondary damage unconsciousness 
  1d3 hours). 
  Spiner: CR 1/2; Small plant; HD 
  1d8; hp 5; Mas -; Init +1; Spd 0 
  ft.; Defense 12, touch 11, flat-
  footed 11 (+1 size, +1 Dex); 
  BAB +0; Grap -5; Atk +2 melee 
  (1d4+1, needles), Full Atk +2 
  ranged (1d4+1, 3 needles); FS 
  5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  tremorsense, poison needles; 
  AL none; SV Fort +2, Ref 
  +1, Will -1; AP 0; Rep +0; 
  Str 8, Dex 12, Con 10, Int 3, 
  Wis 9, Cha 3.
  Skills: None.
  Feats: None.
  Advancement: None.
  Toxic Raccoon
  This highly intelligent creature has survived through 
  the long years since the Fall by relying on heightened 
  thieving and stealth abilities—skills that at one time 
  made the common raccoon notorious among campers 
  across the United States. Toxic raccoons have mutated 
  over the years due to unrestricted growth and the 
  abundance of carrion and other waste products in the 
  dark years after the Fall. In true Darwinian fashion, 
  the strongest and largest packs claimed mating rights, 
  and consequently the creatures have grown in size to 
  an average of three feet tall with no real loss of the 
  speed for which their ancestors were infamous. Their 
  powerful hind legs propel the creatures through ruins 
  and wasting forests at speeds that few predators (or 
  victims) can match.
  The ancient kin of the toxic raccoon were not 
  known for their ferocity in combat, and at one time 
  were actually afraid of Ancient humans—but not 
  anymore. The Twisted Earth is a harsh world, one 
  
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  in which survival is most often attained through 
  violence. Toxic raccoons are no different than the 
  other creatures that inhabit the wasteland and ruins; 
  they’re quite capable of defending themselves against 
  the many predators that roam the wastes.
  In truth, the toxic raccoon is a very nasty, ill-
  tempered creature that thrives on violence. Perhaps 
  long years of exposure to substances that should have 
  wiped their species out long ago makes the animals so 
  hateful. Or maybe somewhere deep in the creature’s 
  subconscious is a primeval memory of times before 
  the “two-leggers” destroyed their world, a recollection 
  that triggers violent rages and breeds hatred against 
  all life. Whatever the reasons may be, there can be no 
  speculation about the disposition of toxic raccoons: 
  they are exceptionally malevolent creatures, especially 
  with regard to human beings. Toxic raccoons have 
  been known to attack groups of humans even when 
  they were hopelessly outnumbered. Nothing incites 
  the animals to commit acts of spiteful violence so 
  much as the scent of humans entering their territory.
  Toxic raccoons are aptly named, having survived in 
  the most radiated stretches of wilderness in the Lost 
  Paradise. They are native to the Dead Water region of 
  the Pure Lands, although they can be found in sizeable 
  numbers throughout the Northwest wherever there 
  are human settlements or ruins in which they can 
  scavenge.
  Toxic raccoons often make their nests amidst the 
  ruins of old towns, especially those abandoned long 
  ago by people who were forced to flee the radiation 
  and toxic floods or die. As a result of countless years 
  of exposure to high radiation and of feeding on toxin-
  laced animals, trash and other polluted sustenance, 
  each new generation of toxic raccoon develops a 
  stronger immunity to radiation. Indeed, these twisted 
  creatures actually become irradiated beings, capable 
  of contaminating anyone or anything they touch.
  Species Traits
  Toxic raccoons have the following Traits:
  Scent (Ex): This ability allows the toxic raccoon to 
  detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and 
  track by sense of smell.
  Irradiated (Ex):  Toxic raccoons are intensely 
  irradiated; any physical contact with the creatures can 
  be deadly.  Each time a toxic raccoon successfully 
  makes a bite attack, its victim accumulates mild 
  radiation.
  Immunities (Ex):  Having adapted to life in a harsh 
  radiated environment, the toxic raccoon is immune 
  to severe radiation (as well as heat generated by 
  radiation).
  Toxic Raccoon: CR 1; Small animal; HD 2d8; hp 
  8; Mas 10; Init +5; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 16, touch 
  16, flat-footed 11 (+1 size, +5 Dex); BAB +1; Grap 
  +0; Atk +6 melee (1d3+1, claw) Full Atk +6 melee 
  (1d3+1, 2 claws) and +4 melee (1d4+1, bite); FS 5 ft. 
  by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ immunities, low-light vision, 
  irradiated, scent; SV Fort+3, Ref +6, Will +1; AP 0; 
  RP +0; Str 12, Dex 20, Con 10, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 2.
  Skills: Hide +14, Move Silently +10, Spot +2.
  Feats: Multiattack, Weapon Finesse (bite), Weapon 
  Finesse (claw).
  Advancement: 3-4 HD (Small), 5-8 (Medium).
  Advanced Toxic Raccoon: CR 3; Small animal; HD 
  6d8+6; hp 33; Mas 12; Init +4; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 16, 
  touch 14, flat-footed 12 ( +4 Dex, +2 natural); BAB 
  +4; Grap +7; Atk +8 melee (1d3+3, claw) Full Atk +8 
  melee (1d3+3, 2 claws) and +8 melee (1d4+3, bite); 
  FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ immunities, low-light 
  vision, irradiated, scent; SV Fort+6, Ref +9, Will +4; 
  AP 0; RP +0; Str 16, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 2, Wis 14, 
  Cha 2.
  Skills: Hide +17, Move Silently +13, Spot +2.
  Feats: Multiattack, Weapon Finesse (bite), Weapon 
  Finesse (claw).
  Vomit Rat
  These giant, voracious vermin can be found 
  everywhere in the cities of the Northwest, roaming the 
  ruins in large packs that prey on unwary travelers.
  After the Fall, the bodies of the dead lay strewn in 
  every place imaginable, left unburied by those few 
  people that remained. The carrion provided a veritable 
  feast for all sorts of vermin, including the ubiquitous 
  rats. These creatures crept out of the sewers and 
  dark cracks of the dead cities to feed on the lifeless 
  bodies scattered throughout the streets and abandoned 
  homes. Over time, the rats grew in size and numbers 
  due to unrestricted breeding. The putrid, toxic, and 
  sometimes radiated flesh upon which they dined day 
  after day slowly began to work a sick kind of magic 
  on their bodies. The creatures began to develop 
  all manner of deformities—extra legs, drastically 
  increased size, horns, and a plethora of other defects.
  The average vomit rat is six feet long from snout 
  to tail and stands three feet at the shoulders, although 
  “bull” rats—the leaders of a given pack—tower at 
  least a foot above the rest. Pregnant rats are even 
  larger, but rarely leave their dens because of their 
  condition.
  Vomit rats vary in coloration from gray to white, 
  with odd-colored mottling on their bristly hides being 
  quite common. Their eyes are invariably red or black, 
  and it isn’t uncommon to find white puss draining 
  from the rims of the eyes—a sign of the species’ 
  increasing decrepitude.
  Vomit rats are smarter than most animals, even their 
  mundane, non-mutated cousins. Many who have seen 
  them claim that there is a modicum of intelligence 
  behind their eyes as they watch their prey.
  Most vomit rats carry a variety of diseases, some 
  of which can be contracted simply by touching the 
  creature. In combat, vomit rats prefer to rush their 
  enemies and overwhelm them with sheer size and 
  numbers. If outnumbered, however, a vomit rat 
  proceeds with caution, taking care never to back itself 
  
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  into a corner if at all possible.  The vomit rat’s main 
  weapons are its claws and teeth, though they are also 
  known to vomit a corrosive substance onto their prey 
  (which gives the creature its unusual name).
  Species Traits
  Vomit rats have the following Traits:
  Scent (Ex): This ability allows the creature to 
  detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, 
  and track by sense of smell.
  Acid Vomit (Ex):  Once every 1d4 rounds, a vomit 
  rat can disgorge an extremely corrosive substance up 
  to 10 feet away as a ranged touch attack that inflicts 
  1d6 acid damage per round, continuing until the 
  putrid fluids are flushed away.  
  Vomit Rat: CR 2; Medium-sized mutant beast; HD 
  3d10; hp 17; Mas 9; Init +3; Spd 30 ft., swim 20 
  ft.; Defense 15, touch 13, flat-footed 12 (+3 Dex, +2 
  natural); BAB +2; Grap +5; Atk +5 melee (1d8+3, 
  bite), or +5 ranged (1d6, acid vomit); Full Atk +5 
  melee (ld4+3, 2 claws) and +3 melee (1d8+3, bite), FS 
  5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ low-light vision, scent, 
  acid vomit; AL none; SV Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +2; AP 
  0; Rep +0; Str 16, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 4, Wis 12, Cha 
  5. 
  Skills: Hide +13, Move Silently +8.
  Feats: Multiattack, Plague Carrier (DC 12).
  Advancement: 4-6 HD (Medium), 7-12 (Large).
  Advanced Vomit Rat: CR 4; Large mutant beast; HD 
  8d10+16; hp 60; Mas 14; Init +2; Spd 30 ft., swim 20 
  ft.; Defense 15, touch 13, flat-footed 12 (-1 Size, +2 
  Dex, +4 natural); BAB +8; Grap +23; Atk +14 melee 
  (2d6+7, bite), or +9 ranged (1d6, acid vomit); Full Atk 
  +14 melee (ld6+7, 2 claws) and +14 melee (2d6+7, 
  bite), FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ low-light 
  vision, scent, acid vomit; AL none; SV Fort +4, Ref 
  +8, Will +7; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 24, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 
  4, Wis 12, Cha 5. 
  Skills: Hide +12, Move Silently +7.
  Feats: Improved Multiattack, Multiattack, Plague 
  Carrier (DC 16).
  Whippet
  Found mainly around the original eco-domes of the 
  Northwest, the whippet is a feared hazard for travelers 
  and tradesmen.  Resembling any one of many 
  vines indigenous to the area, it relies on its natural 
  camouflage to fool unwitting travelers.
  When prey passes within reach, the whippet quickly 
  lashes out, wrapping itself around any available 
  appendage and yanking the target to it.  Once it has 
  a hold, the plant continues to envelop the victim and 
  pull it closer, coiling around the body and crushing 
  it while simultaneously pricking it with thousands of 
  minute barbs, through which the mutant plant absorbs 
  the water from its prey.
  Species Traits
  Whippets have the following Traits:
  Tremorsense (Ex):  Their sensitivity to surface 
  vibration allows whippets to sense and locate enemies 
  moving along the ground within 30 feet.
  Camouflage (Ex):  Since the whippet resembles a 
  normal vine or plant when at rest, a successful Spot 
  check (DC 14) is required to notice it prior to an 
  attack.
  Improved Grab (Ex):  To use this ability, the 
  whippet must hit with its slam attack.  If it succeeds, it 
  may constrict its victim.
  Constrict (Ex):  A whippet that succeeds at a 
  grapple check inflicts 1d8+5 damage every round until 
  its victim breaks free. 
  Whippet: CR 2; Large Plant; HD 3d8+9; hp 23; Mas 
  -; Init -1; Spd 0 ft.; Defense 8, touch 8, flat footed 8 
  (-1 size, -1 Dex); BAB +2; Grap +11; Atk +6 melee 
  (1d8+7, slam); Full Atk +6 melee (1d8+7, slam); 
  FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ tremorsense, 
  camouflage, constrict, improved grab; AL none; SV 
  Fort +6, Ref +0, Will +0; AP 0; Rep 0; Str 20, Dex 9, 
  Con 17, Int 3, Wis 9, Cha 3.
  Skills: None.
  Feats: None.
  Advancement: None.
  
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  Northwest Flora
  In addition to the mutated creatures detailed in 
  this chapter, some of the more mundane mutations 
  common to the Northwest ecosystem merit mention. 
  In order to understand how this new mutated 
  ecosystem has developed, one must go back to the 
  dark years following the Great War.
  The dark years were a time of great upheaval 
  not only for mankind, but for all life on the planet. 
  Nuclear winter set in; what plant life remained 
  began to die off due to the rapid desertification of 
  the land. Much of the Northwest region escaped this 
  devastating process because weather patterns held 
  firm here for much longer than in other places of the 
  world, providing water that would be needed in the 
  long dry years to come.
  During the first few years after the Fall, substantial 
  flooding ravaged the region as severe radiation-tainted 
  “super” storms rolled in off the poisoned sea and 
  hovered over the blasted Northwest for weeks at a 
  time, blanketing the land in toxic rain. Consequently, 
  there was a substantial surge in growth of moss and 
  other lichens—so drastic in fact that much of the plant 
  life and old growth forests were wrapped in a blanket 
  of the stuff. In addition to providing the plants with 
  much-needed nutrients, these moss, algae, and other 
  lichens acted as a buffer, shielding the old trees and 
  plant life from the more direct effects of the radiation 
  and bio-agents unleashed on the world.
  Another “X factor” that played into the survival of 
  the forests was the presence of spores of genetically 
  altered plants that had been spread throughout the 
  region prior to the Fall. In their quest to seed the area 
  with strains of “super crops” able to withstand the 
  effects of the deteriorating environment, scientists 
  unwittingly introduced a new variable into a fragile 
  ecosystem—new strains of plant life that might have 
  had wildly different and potentially dangerous side 
  effects had the Fall not taken place.
  Over time, the region began to see mutated strains 
  of old plants and trees develop and thrive while the 
  many of the older, un-mutated species died out. 
  The remaining wildlife of the region 
  aided the spread of these mutated 
  plant species as well. Leaf-eating 
  animals were forced to adapt, 
  instead eating seed and 
  even moss and lichen as 
  their other food sources 
  dwindled.
  The following list is 
  only a sampling of the 
  various species of plant life 
  found in the Sacred Lands 
  and other areas of the Northwest. To 
  provide a complete list of all the myriad plants, 
  trees, and organisms that can be found in this region 
  of the Twisted Earth would require its own book. 
  Gamemasters and players are encouraged to create 
  their own variations of existing plant life. 
  Northwest (Sitka) Spruce  
  The famous northwest spruce is still found in huge 
  clusters in the Sacred Lands, where they defy the 
  changing of the world climate. The hardiness of the 
  spruce is mainly the result of a symbiotic relationship 
  with species of moss that act as filters.  These moss 
  “buffers” remove contaminants through the stomata 
  and prevent blockage of the transpiration process 
  by which the mighty trees channel water and other 
  nutrients to their limbs. In addition, the spruce has 
  
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  also grown exponentially in size to capture as much 
  light as possible, resulting in heights of 300 to 400 
  feet and a circumference of roughly 30 feet in some of 
  the oldest trees. Root systems are vast, digging deep 
  to gather as much rain water as possible.
  Mutations:  The northwest spruce has mutated over 
  the years, incorporating an outer layer of mossy bark 
  which gives the tree added protection from the effects 
  of radiation. The medicine men of the Chinook and 
  other native tribes harvest the moss bark and use it to 
  treat the “wasting disease” (their term for radiation 
  sickness).
  Western Hemlock
  The western hemlock has always been a shade-
  tolerant tree; so when nuclear winter set in, the great 
  hemlocks weren’t adversely affected by the lack of 
  sunlight. Indeed, the western hemlock appeared to 
  thrive in the sun-starved Twisted Earth, spreading out 
  over increasingly large areas to become one of the 
  dominant species of tree in the Northwest.
  However, the tree’s root systems had to strengthen 
  in order to compete with the Sitka spruce for precious 
  water. In many cases, the roots of spruce and hemlock 
  trees have actually joined and share a given water 
  supply. Those who know where to look are able to 
  “milk” the massive root systems for the remarkably 
  sweet water they hold. Unlike the spruce, the western 
  hemlock does not have an outer layer of moss-bark. 
  Instead, the mighty trees purge contaminants by 
  forming highly toxic “hemlock berries” which, if 
  ingested by animals or humans, can cause death in a 
  matter of hours. Tribals and Mountain Walkers harvest 
  these berries, from which they create a poisonous 
  resin to use on their warriors’ weapons.
  It is thought that creatures such as the toxic raccoon 
  make hemlock berries a staple of their diet, which 
  would go a long way towards explaining why such 
  creatures are as twisted and hostile as they are. Many 
  raccoon nests and dens have been found in and around 
  stands of western hemlock.
  Mutations: In addition to toxic berries, western 
  hemlocks also serve as hosts for massive growths 
  of mutated lungwort lichen and spiners, the latter 
  growing from the ground at the base of the giant trees.
  Sword Ferns  
  Sword ferns are highly dependant upon water and 
  prefer shady areas. Before the Fall, these emerald 
  plants thrived in many areas of the Northwest. Now 
  the plants are most common in the Sacred Lands, 
  where there is still enough rainfall (coming in from 
  the Pacific) to support them. They make their homes 
  on the forest floor amidst stands of western hemlock 
  and Sitka spruce.
  Mutations: Of all the species of plant in the 
  Northwest, the sword fern has probably had the 
  hardest time adapting to the changing climate. In order 
  to survive, the plant has had to rely on substantially 
  less rainfall than it once did. Consequently, the sword 
  fern has developed a highly complex root system to 
  make up for the lack of direct moisture it receives. 
  More often than not, four or five sword ferns actually 
  join root systems to increase the area from which they 
  collect water. To aid in retaining collected moisture, 
  the fern’s fronds have developed a thick cuticle, 
  giving the fronds a hardened, waxy appearance that 
  resembles the surface of a cactus.
  Bio-Engineered 
  Monsters
  While the evolution of common animals in the 
  Northwest has created an abundance of creatures both 
  useful and deadly, none are more threatening—or 
  universally feared—than the bio-engineered monsters 
  bred in the secret laboratories of the Ancients during 
  the height of “Project Pandora.”
  Many of these monsters, released to wage 
  bloodthirsty war against America’s enemies during 
  the Fall, persist even to this day.  True genetic 
  monstrosities, many are descendents of inhuman 
  beasts that survived the battles and deep wilderness 
  skirmishes to live on, mate with others of their 
  kind, or even breed with more “natural” animals to 
  perpetuate their twisted genetic lineage.
  Today, the deepest wilderness areas of the 
  Lost Paradise are still very much haunted by the 
  descendants of these scientific experiments, their 
  presence giving rise to many terrifying legends 
  and myths among native peoples.  Predators of the 
  first order, these virtual “killing machines” have 
  made large expanses of the Lost Paradise almost 
  uninhabitable.  Encounters with their kind are 
  infrequent, but stories of their abilities offer only 
  incomplete glimpses of their true, original purpose: to 
  kill.
  The following monsters are a selection of the more 
  common bio-engineered shock troops created by 
  Project Pandora, bred and released into the Northwest 
  in a last-ditch effort to stem the tide of the pre-Fall 
  invasion.  Many of their original scientific names have 
  been lost to antiquity; most are now known simply by 
  the almost reverent names given them by superstitious 
  natives, who have long had legends of creatures that 
  haunt the forest, kidnap lone travelers and only return 
  them to their loved ones after they have been driven 
  mad, and commit countless other horrors.  These 
  names are thus used to personify each type of creature 
  as if they were, in fact, the spirits of evil reborn.
  Altheng
  Created by the Ancients to be a scout and infiltrator 
  superior to humans, the “altheng” (like many products 
  of Project Pandora) became one of humankind’s 
  greatest mistakes.
  To complete its mission, the reptilian race of 
  althengs was genetically altered to provide them 
  
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  with built-in stealth abilities—specifically, they were 
  created with an epidermis composed of billions of 
  hyper-active cells that could automatically shift 
  and change color to match the appearance of the 
  surrounding environment.  This “chameleon” ability 
  permitted the creature to turn virtually invisible, 
  allowing it to move freely by day or night into the 
  most heavily guarded enemy compounds and facilities 
  with impunity.
  When companies of althengs were released into the 
  Northwest during the Final War, they failed to live 
  up to their creators’ expectations.  Though certainly 
  capable of turning invisible and blending into the 
  scenery to avoid detection, most althengs remained 
  inactive during the day, emerging only at night.  
  Unbeknownst to their creators, continued 
  exposure to sunlight harmed them and 
  deteriorated their ability to turn invisible, 
  making them vulnerable to detection. 
  Growing awareness of this condition 
  caused many to refuse orders and 
  desert en masse.
  The entire race of althengs 
  nearly died out in the immediate 
  aftermath of the Fall, except for 
  a large colony that survived the 
  war in and around the ruins of 
  Seattle.  Fleeing to the sewers and 
  underground areas of the old city, 
  they were able to avoid the painful 
  rays of the sun and make a new 
  home for themselves.
  Althengs now infest the deepest 
  reaches of Stronghold, the underground 
  warrens of the survivors of Kali’s Spawn 
  Army.  Predators first and foremost, 
  althengs consider the darkness of the 
  tunnels their home, and view all humans 
  (even runaways) as enemies—especially when 
  human explorers bring painful lights to hedge out the 
  darkness.  The althengs respond to human incursions 
  with murderous rage, and wage a bloody campaign 
  against the human guerilla fighters underneath Seattle 
  in an ongoing game of cat-and-mouse.
  Althengs possess a high degree of cunning, a trait 
  given them by their human creators.  Althengs have 
  often been known to disable traps or alarms that 
  survivors of Stronghold have left for them, and are 
  believed to even be able to read and mimic human 
  speech—an ability they use to mislead human patrols 
  in the dark recesses of the warrens into deadly 
  ambushes.
  Though capable of speech and limited 
  understanding of human ways, althengs are 
  malevolent creatures that delight in toying with their 
  prey; they revel as much in actually killing humans 
  (their creators and former masters) as they do in 
  hunting them.
  Altheng Characters
  Altheng characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin play with the Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology feat and the bonus feats outlined below.  
  Altheng gain Hide and Survival as permanent class 
  skills.  In addition, they have the following racial 
  ability modifiers: +2 Str, +1 Con, -2 Cha, -1 Int.  
   
  Species Traits
  Althengs have the following Traits:
  Keen Sight (Ex): Althengs have darkvision with a 
  range of 60 feet, as well as low-light vision.
  Chameleon (Su): The altheng is a natural 
  chameleon, gaining a +10 bonus to all Hide skill 
  checks. The altheng is also able to hide in plain 
  sight at will. Direct exposure to sunlight erodes the 
  altheng’s protective coating and causes it to lose 
  one point of its Hide bonus for each ten minutes of 
  exposure to direct sunlight. When concealed, the 
  altheng is invisible.
  Scent (Ex): This ability allows the creature to 
  detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and 
  track by sense of smell.
  Bonus Feats: Althengs receive the bonus feat 
  Troglodyte.
  Skill Bonuses: Althengs have a +2 racial bonus to 
  Hide and Move Silently. 
  Altheng: CR 2; Medium-size humanoid; HD 3d8+6; 
  hp 20; Mas 15; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 11, touch 
  11, flat-footed 10 (+1 Dex); BAB +2; Grap +3; Atk 
  +3 melee (1d4+1, bite); Full Atk +3 melee (1d4+1, 
  bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ keen sight, 
  chameleon, scent; AL none; SV Fort +3, Ref +4, Will 
  +1; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 12, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 
  
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  10, Cha 6.
  Skills: Climb +2, Hide +5, Listen +3, Move 
  Silently +4, Navigate +0 (+2 underground), Speak 
  (Ancient), Spot +3 (+5 underground), Survival +0 (+2 
  underground).
  Feats: Alertness, Post Apocalyptic Technology, 
  Troglodyte.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +2.
  Altheng Skulk 3: CR 5; Medium-size humanoid; HD 
  6d8+18; hp 45; Mas 16; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 
  14, touch 13, flat-footed 13 (+1 Dex, +2 class, +1 
  equipment); BAB +4; Grap +7; Atk +7 melee (1d8+3/
  19-20, longsword), or +7 melee (1d4+3, bite); Full 
  Atk +7 melee (1d8+3/19-20, longsword), and +5 
  melee (1d4+3, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  keen sight, chameleon, scent, sweep, sneak attack 
  +1d6; AL none; SV Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +3; AP 3; 
  Rep +0; Str 16, Dex 13, Con 16, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills: Climb +2, Disable Device +4, Hide +9, 
  Listen +3, Move Silently +8, Navigate +2 (+4 
  underground), Speak (Ancient), Spot +3 (+5 
  underground), Survival +2 (+4 underground).
  Feats: Alertness, Archaic Weapon 
  Proficiency, Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology, Stealthy, Troglodyte.
  Equipment: Longsword, leather 
  armor.
  Olomon
  The Chinook Indians tell stories about a terrible 
  creature that lives deep below the surface of the earth. 
  This creature, they say, has bulging eyes, razor-sharp 
  claws which it uses to dig through the earth, and 
  fleshy tentacles that snake out where its 
  snout ought to be. The beast, dubbed 
  the mesachie olomon (“wicked 
  old man”) by the Chinook for its 
  crouched-over posture and wrinkled 
  appearance, is rumored to be a gruesome combination 
  of man and mole that feeds on the flesh of humans. 
  Those who once lived in the warrens deep underneath 
  the mountains of the Sacred Lands allege that the 
  creatures would burrow into their domain and steal 
  away the infants and elderly.
  The origins of the olomon reach back to the days 
  of Project Pandora. Scientists wanted to engineer 
  a creature capable of ripping through the most 
  formidable defenses an enemy could construct. The 
  genetic wizards proposed crossing the genes of human 
  beings with those of the star-nosed mole. The result 
  was a creature with hardened claws and amazing 
  strength that could propel itself through concrete and 
  bedrock as if it were moving through water.
  The creatures proved to be incredibly hard to 
  restrain; initial containment facilities underestimated 
  the digging capability of the olomon. On one 
  occasion, twelve men and women lost their lives 
  when four of the creatures tunneled through five feet 
  of solid concrete into adjacent berthing quarters. The 
  test creatures killed everyone in the room and were 
  already feeding on their flesh when the on-station 
  security drones reached the scene.  Soon after the 
  incident, a field generator was built that appeared 
  to do the trick; cell perimeters were charged with a 
  magnetic field that rebuffed all attempts at tunneling.
  When the Great War began, many of these “mole/
  man crossbreeds” (who by then had been cloned and 
  re-cloned enough times to form an entire brigade of 
  the beasts) were transferred to battlefronts all across 
  the Northwest and much of the Western Canadian 
  Rockies to fight the invading armies of Asia. They 
  fought alongside (and sometimes against) the 
  Tecesni (and other genetic monstrosities) for as long 
  as it took to satisfy their blood lust—and 
  then, like many of the other troops, 
  they disappeared into the wilderness 
  following their own survival instincts.
  The few that had been kept behind at 
  Umatilla for further cloning managed 
  to free themselves from their cells and 
  kill their captors when surface nuclear 
  strikes wiped out all main power to the 
  complex.  Curiously, after the gluttonous carnage 
  that followed their escape the olomon didn’t 
  leave Umatilla—they stayed behind 
  and turned what was left of 
  the bunker complex into a 
  massive, cavernous burrow, 
  tunneling in all directions. 
  In time the creatures had 
  
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  developed an extensive network of tunnels stretching 
  for miles and miles, at some points coming close to 
  the surface of the earth, and at others delving deep 
  into regions no man had ever set eyes on. Years wore 
  on, and soon anything remotely human about these 
  “mole-men” existed only in the creature’s outward 
  appearance, as the instincts of the beast within 
  grappled with their dwindling humanity… and won. 
  The creatures slowly degenerated into feral things 
  that subsist on the flesh of whatever living creatures 
  they are able to catch deep underneath the surface, 
  or, in times of need, in ruins or on the outskirts of a 
  community in the dead of night.
  Olomon are short, standing between three and 
  four feet tall, but despite their emaciated, withered 
  appearance, they are inhumanly strong. Large, 
  bulbous eyes frame a gruesome-looking snout 
  composed of three long tentacles which they use to 
  lash out at their prey and hold fast while they tear into 
  it with razor-sharp claws.
  Olomon aren’t smart by any definition of the 
  term. They have survived by embracing their primal 
  survival instincts. The strongest leads until another 
  comes along and defeats him. This is their way.
  Olomon Characters
  Olomon characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin play with no Technology feat 
  (similar to Feral) and the bonus feats outlined below. 
  Olomon gain Navigate and Survival as permanent 
  class skills.  In addition, they have the following racial 
  ability modifiers: +4 Str, +2 Con, -2 Cha, -4 Int.  
   
  Species Traits
  Olomon have the following Traits:
  Keen Sight (Ex): Olomon have darkvision with a 
  range of 60 feet, as well as low-light vision.
  Rend (Ex): When an olomon hits with two or more 
  of its tentacles, it latches onto its opponent with a 
  tearing grip, dealing 2d4+4 damage.
  Scent (Ex): This ability allows the creature to 
  detect approaching enemies, sniff out hidden foes, and 
  track by sense of smell.
  Bonus Feats: Olomon receive the bonus feats 
  Troglodyte and Multiattack.
  Olomon: CR 2; Small monstrous humanoid; HD 
  3d8+3; hp 17; Mas 13; Init +1; Spd 30 ft., burrow 20 
  ft.; Defense 16, touch 12, flat-footed 15 (+1 size, +1 
  Dex, +4 natural); BAB +3; Grap +2; Atk +6 melee 
  (1d4+3, claw); Full Atk +6 melee (1d4+3, 2 claws), 
  and +6 melee (1d3+3, 3 tentacles); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; 
  Reach 5 ft.; SQ keen sight, rend (2d4+4), scent; AL 
  none; SV Fort +2, Ref +4, Will +3; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 
  17, Dex 12, Con 13, Int 5, Wis 10, Cha 7.
  Skills: Climb +4, Hide +3, Jump +4, Listen +2, 
  Move Silently +3, Navigate +2 (+4 underground), 
  Spot +2 (+4 underground), Survival +3 (+5 
  underground).
  Feats: Alertness, Multiattack, Troglodyte.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +2.
  Olomon Strong Hero 3: CR 2; Small monstrous 
  humanoid; HD 6d8+18; hp 45; Mas 16; Init +1; Spd 
  30 ft., burrow 20 ft.; Defense 18, touch 14, flat-footed 
  17 (+1 size, +1 Dex, +2 class, +4 natural); BAB +6; 
  Grap +6; Atk +11 melee (1d4+6, claw); Full Atk +11 
  melee (1d4+6, 2 claws), and +9 melee (1d3+6, 3 
  tentacles); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ keen sight, 
  rend (2d4+6), scent, melee smash, improved melee 
  smash; AL none; SV Fort +6, Ref +5, Will +5; AP 3; 
  Rep +0; Str 19, Dex 13, Con 16, Int 6, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills: Climb +5, Hide +4, Jump +5, Listen +2, 
  Move Silently +3, Navigate +3 (+5 underground), 
  Spot +3 (+5 underground), Survival +5 (+7 
  underground).
  Feats: Alertness, Cleave, Multiattack, Power 
  Attack, Troglodyte.
  Tsag
  Named after a legendary spirit of native Northwestern 
  Indian myth, the tsagaglalal (“she who watches”) is 
  descended from the genetically-engineered creatures 
  unleashed by the Ancients during the final battles for 
  the Northwest.  Originally created as fully-amphibious 
  warriors (boasting many genetic traits similar to 
  salamanders’), over the years since the Fall they have 
  evolved into even more monstrous things.
  Tsagaglalal (“tsag” for short) resemble thin, almost 
  anemic humanoids. They possess long, lanky limbs 
  with great reach and a stride to match.  They are 
  almost completely covered in ooze or slime, which 
  keeps their sensitive flesh damp when out of water.  
  More hideous than its emaciated appearance, however, 
  are the huge domed eyes that sit on its fish-like head, 
  each as black as midnight and giving it almost 360-
  degree vision in their rotating, flexible sockets.
  Unlike most genetic monsters created by the 
  Ancients, the tsag is known as a shy, hermit-like 
  creature—not as a predator or killer.  In some recorded 
  cases, villagers or settlers in frontier regions (such as 
  along the primeval forests that still grow over much 
  of the Lost Paradise) have claimed to have sighted 
  these creatures, but remarkably, the tsag seem as shy 
  of mankind as humans are of them.  Sometimes, it is 
  said, a tsag will watch a village from hiding, only to 
  emerge at night (or when no one is looking) to steal 
  something of particular interest to it—a device it has 
  never seen, for example, or a child’s toy.  These items 
  are never larger than the creature can carry, and are 
  often returned within a few days, completely intact, as 
  if the creature had only intended to examine it before 
  bringing it back.
  In truth, though believed to be little more than 
  animals, the tsag have over the years developed some 
  degree of intelligence, and have come to understand 
  that the war for which they were originally bred is 
  long over.  But being still feared (and hunted) by man 
  and mutantkind in many places, what few of these 
  
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  creatures remain have taken to the deepest parts of 
  the wilderness to live their lives in almost complete 
  isolation.  Every now and again one of their young 
  ventures close to settled areas to spy on humans, but 
  beyond such incidents, they (as a species) do not 
  desire contact with outsiders.
  Tsag typically live in swampy mountains and 
  forestland, in areas where they can hide easily among 
  the heavy foliage, or in waterfall gorges on the sides 
  of mist-shrouded mountains.  Now and again parties 
  come near a tsag’s territory, but the creature is more 
  likely to run and hide (and pursue stealthily for miles, 
  to keep an eye on the “intruders”) than to confront 
  such groups.
  Tsag Characters
  Tsag characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin play with the Primitive 
  Technology feat and the bonus feats outlined below.  
  Tsag gain Hide and Move Silently as permanent class 
  skills.  In addition, they have the following racial 
  ability modifiers: +1 Str, +1 Dex, -1 Cha, -1 Int.   
   
  Species Traits
  Tsag have the following Traits:
  Amphibious (Ex): Tsag can breathe indefinitely on 
  land as well as in water, using gills.
  Keen Sight (Ex): Tsag have darkvision 
  with a range of 60 feet, as well as low-light 
  vision.
  Scent (Ex): This ability allows the 
  creature to detect approaching enemies, 
  sniff out hidden foes, and track by 
  sense of smell.
  Skill Bonuses: Tsag have a +2 racial 
  bonus to Hide and More Silently, and a +4 bonus to 
  spot checks. 
  Bonus Feats: Tsag receive Track as a bonus feat.
  Tsag: CR 2; Medium-size monstrous humanoid 
  (aquatic); HD 3d8; hp 14; Mas 13; Init +1; Spd 30 ft., 
  swim 30 ft.; Defense 15, touch 11, flat-footed 14 (+1 
  Dex, +4 natural); BAB +3; Grap +5; Atk +5 melee 
  (1d4+2, claw); Full Atk +5 melee (1d4+2, claw); FS 
  5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ amphibious, keen sight, 
  scent; AL none; SV Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +3; AP 0; 
  Rep +0; Str 14, Dex 13, Con 11, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 7.
  Skills: Climb +3, Hide +7, Listen +4, Move Silently 
  +7, Search +2, Sleight of Hand +5, Spot +6, Survival 
  +4.
  Feats: Alertness, Track.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +2.
  Tsag Tribal Hunter 3: CR 5; Medium-size monstrous 
  humanoid (aquatic); HD 3d8+3d10+6; hp 36; Mas 
  13; Init +2; Spd 30 ft., swim 30 ft.; Defense 18, touch 
  14, flat-footed 16 (+2 Dex, +2 class, +4 natural); 
  BAB +6; Grap +9; Atk +9 melee (longspear, 1d8+6/
  x3), or melee (1d4+2, claw); Full Atk +9/+4 melee 
  (longspear, 1d8+6/x3), or +9 melee (1d4+2, claw); FS 
  5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ amphibious, keen sight, 
  scent, hunter, archaic weapons specialization; AL 
  none; SV Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +4; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 
  16, Dex 15, Con 13, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 7.
  Skills: Climb +4, Hide +11, Listen +2, Move 
  Silently +11, Search +2, Sleight of Hand +7, Spot +5, 
  Survival +6.
  Feats: Archaic Weapon Proficiency, Combat 
  Expertise, Track, Stealthy.
  Equipment: Longspear. 
  Zug-Wa
  The creature now known as the zug-wa (also known 
  locally as the “naitaka” or “goomokweh,” after 
  malevolent Indian spirits of the undersea) by local 
  Indian tribes of the Lost Paradise was originally 
  created hundreds of years ago in some of the most 
  top-secret laboratories of the Ancients.  Engineered 
  as an aquatic monstrosity of war, the zug-wa’s sole 
  purpose was to destroy waterborne craft: rubber rafts 
  of commandos, torpedo-armed patrol boats, and even 
  the largest landing craft.
  Though the Final War has long passed, zug-wa 
  are still very much the machines of war they were 
  originally intended to be.  In the absence of landing 
  
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  craft and other boats to destroy, however, the zug-wa 
  instead preys on the rare swimmer or river trader’s raft 
  that comes near its territory.
  Zug-wa resemble a combination of crocodile and 
  seal, with a streamlined body (weighing several 
  tons), armored chitinous hide, and an elongated snout 
  riddled with gargantuan fangs.  Flippers help guide 
  the creature through the water, giving it enough agility 
  to not only navigate coastal waters, but also to move 
  upstream along river currents.
  Though originally engineered to return to their 
  artificial pens at the end of each “mission,” zug-wa 
  have over time taken to other habitats.  Zug-wa seem 
  to prefer dwelling in underwater caves—subterranean 
  habitats that can only be accessed by tunnels 
  completely submerged beneath water.  Here they drag 
  prey to drown and consume at their leisure.
  Species Traits
  Zug-wa have the following Traits:
  Improved Grab (Ex): If the zug-wa hits with a 
  bite attack, the creature may make a grapple check 
  as a free action. If this check succeeds, the victim is 
  held in the mouth of the zug-wa and is in danger of 
  drowning. 
  Zug-Wa: CR 7; Huge animal (aquatic); HD 7d8+28; 
  hp 60; Mas 19; Init +1; Spd swim 60 ft.; Defense 19, 
  touch 9, flat-footed 18 (-2 size, +1 Dex, +10 natural); 
  BAB +5; Grap +21; Atk +11 melee (2d8+12, bite); 
  Full Atk +11 melee (2d8+12, bite); FS 15 ft. by 15 ft.; 
  Reach 10 ft.; SQ aquatic, improved grab; AL none; SV 
  Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +3; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 27, Dex 
  12, Con 19, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 2.
  Skills: Hide +5, Listen +5, Spot +5.
  Feats: Alertness, Power Attack.
  Advancement: 8-16 HD (Huge).
  Tecesni
  The Tecesni were one of the first species created by 
  pre-Fall military geneticists as part of Project Pandora. 
  The Tecesni, often simply called “insect men,” 
  constituted the bulk of the shock troops used in the 
  Final War.
  To perfect the qualities of what they perceived to be 
  the “perfect soldier,” the scientists of Project Pandora 
  combined the DNA strands of wasps, ants, and other 
  insects with those of human beings. The results of 
  these experiments exceeded the scientists’ wildest 
  dreams: powerful monstrosities that ran the gamut 
  from winged aberrations to hulking brutes with thick 
  exoskeletons, piercing claws, and inhuman strength. 
  When these initial successes won them the funding 
  they needed, the scientists gleefully began the cloning 
  phase of the operation, throwing caution to the wind 
  in their zealous drive to create an army unlike any the 
  world had seen before.
  Only after these bio-engineered shock troops were 
  unleashed on the invading armies did the scientists of 
  Project Pandora realize that their creations couldn’t 
  be effectively controlled. While most of the creatures 
  attacked enemy forces as directed, their seemingly 
  limitless rage couldn’t be contained for long, nor 
  could the beasts be made to just “come back” after 
  the killing was finished. They proved to be far more 
  cunning and sentient than first thought, and possessed 
  a desire for freedom.
  Most of the insect men—now calling themselves 
  “Tecesni”—scattered into the wilderness after the 
  fighting, following their own instincts and desires and 
  leaving the final stages of the Final War to be fought 
  without them.
  Today the Tecesni are widely spread throughout 
  the Northwest; the largest concentration of Tecesni 
  is around the ancient mountain peak of Mt. Hood in 
  what used to be Oregon.  Encounters with Tecesni are 
  rare but invariably terrifying, the stuff of nightmarish 
  
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  myths and campfire stories throughout the region.  
  The Chinook, for example, know them as the hiyu 
  tamahnous—a phrase translated as “the great evil.”
  Species Traits
  Tecesni have the following Traits:
  Chitin Spikes (Ex):  Remarkably durable, razor-
  sharp chitin spikes protrude from various areas of the 
  Tecesni physique. They hold up well under stress, 
  making them excellent natural weapons. These spikes 
  grow out of the layer of chitin that forms much of the 
  creature’s exoskeleton, and reach an average length 
  of a foot before turning slightly grey in color and 
  falling off as the layer is “shed.”  Chitin spikes do 1d8 
  piercing damage with a successful grapple attack, and 
  serve as +4 natural armor.
  Precognition (Su): All Tecesni have developed the 
  Precognition neural mutation (see Darwin’s World 
  2nd Edition), which they can use at will.  A Tecesni 
  may make a Will save (DC 20) any time it would be 
  surprised; success means the Tecesni is not surprised. 
  Some Tecesni possess a more advanced form of this 
  neural mutation. 
  Keen Sight (Ex): All Tecesni have darkvision with 
  a range of 60 feet, as well as low-light vision.
  Scent (Ex): Tecesni have a heightened sense of 
  smell, allowing them to sniff out prey or detect trace 
  pheromones that have been 
  secreted by others of their kind 
  (see d20 Modern, pg. 228 for 
  more information).
  Pheromone Secretion (Ex): 
  Tecesni can secrete pheromones 
  potent enough to attract other 
  members of their species from as 
  far as a mile away.
  Drone
  Drones comprise the second-
  lowest caste of a typical Tecesnian 
  colony, serving as scouts who 
  leave the home colony in search 
  of food sources and locations 
  for new colonies (both of which 
  often mean human settlements).  
  Like their insect ancestors, drones 
  mark their trail by secreting 
  pheromones that give off a 
  powerful odor easily perceived 
  by other Tecesni. Slaves, workers, 
  and (in times of conquest) 
  soldiers then follow this trail to 
  its destination, where they either 
  begin construction on a new 
  colony or make plans to capture 
  nearby food sources, depending on the situation.
  Tecesnian drones are medium-sized creatures 
  with massive retractable wings that provide them 
  with limited flight capability. Drones look the most 
  “human” of the various Tecesnian castes. They 
  walk on two muscular legs loosely covered with 
  spiked chitinous armor that appears to grow out of 
  the flesh. The drone’s upper body lacks the thorax 
  typical of many insects; instead, the back, abdomen, 
  and chest cavity are framed by a thick exoskeleton 
  that conforms to the creature’s bone structure. Two 
  powerful arms are covered by the same chitinous 
  
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  jacket that encapsulates their legs. The neck is thick 
  with corded muscle, wrapping around the spinal 
  cord, which protrudes from the back of the neck in 
  pink, fleshy spikes. These spikes are erogenous zones 
  for the drone and the source of the highly potent 
  pheromones it secretes to attract others of its kind.
  The drone’s head, while slightly elongated, is 
  its most human-like feature. Powerful, slightly 
  exaggerated mandibles encase razor-sharp teeth 
  capable of biting through steel. Spiked ridges line 
  a flat nose and run up along the forehead, framing 
  almond-shaped eyes which range in coloration from 
  deep emerald to onyx.
  While drones are not specifically combat-oriented, 
  the creatures are more than a match in a fight. Their 
  preferred method of attack is to go into a high-speed 
  dive, grab onto their opponents, and carry them into 
  the sky while biting into the helpless victims. 
  Species Traits
  Drones have the following Traits:
  Tecesni: Drones have all the traits of typical 
  Tecesni (see above).
  Bonus Feats: Drones receive the bonus feats 
  Weapon Finesse (bite) and Weapon Finesse (claws).
  Tecesnian Drone: CR 2; Medium-size monstrous 
  humanoid; HD 3d8+6; hp 20; Mas 15; Init +3; Spd 30 
  ft., fly 40 ft. (good); Defense 17, touch 12, flat-footed 
  15 (+3 Dex, +4 natural); BAB +3; Grap +3; Atk +6 
  melee (1d6, claw); Full Atk +6 melee (1d4, 2 claws), 
  and +4 melee (1d4, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; 
  SQ chitin spikes, keen sight, scent, precognition; AL 
  colony; SV Fort+3, Ref +6, Will +5; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 
  11, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 9, Wis 12, Cha 5.
  Skills: Hide +7, Listen +4, Move Silently +7, 
  Navigate +2, Search +1, Spot +5, Survival +6.
  Feats:  Weapon Finesse (bite), Weapon Finesse 
  (claws), Multiattack.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +2
  Drone Characters
  Drone characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin play with the Primitive 
  Technology feat and the bonus feats outlined below.  
  Drones gain Hide and Move Silently as permanent 
  class skills.  In addition, they have the following racial 
  ability modifiers: +4 Dex, +2 Con, +2 Wis, -3 Cha.  
  Tecesnian Drone Skulk 3: CR 3; Medium-size 
  monstrous humanoid; HD 6d8+18; hp 45; Mas 16; 
  Init +4; Spd 30 ft., fly 40 ft. (good); Defense 20, touch 
  16, flat-footed 16 (+4 Dex, +2 class, +4 natural); BAB 
  +5; Grap +6; Atk +9 melee (1d6+2, claw); Full Atk +9 
  melee (1d4+2, 2 claws), and +7 melee (1d4+2, bite); 
  FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ chitin spikes, keen 
  sight, scent, precognition, sweep, sneak attack +1d6; 
  AL colony; SV Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +6; AP 3; Rep 
  +0; Str 12, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 5.
  Skills: Hide +11, Listen +7, Move Silently +12, 
  Navigate +5, Search +4, Spot +8, Survival +9.
  Feats: Dodge, Mobility, Multiattack, Primitive 
  Technology, Weapon Finesse (bite), Weapon Finesse 
  (claws).
  Hybrid 
  Tecesnian hybrids exhibit less human-like qualities 
  than do their drone brethren, a difference which has 
  led to instances of prejudice between the two groups. 
  Hybrids carry with them an air of superiority that has 
  often led to conflict between the two Tecesni variants. 
  Tecesnian hybrids simply believe they are the next 
  evolutionary step for the species (even though in some 
  ways the drone is better suited to performing its duties 
  as a scout for the colony).
  The Tecesnian hybrid is much larger than its human-
  like cousin, assuming some of the characteristics of 
  wasps in what appears to be a distinct evolutionary 
  link between drones and the soldier caste. The average 
  hybrid stands seven feet tall, with four muscular arms 
  attached to an obsidian-colored thorax. Two powerful 
  front legs are linked to a hip appendage just below the 
  thorax. Two sets of smaller legs are fixed on the either 
  side of the abdominal wall—proto-legs that never 
  mutated into full-sized limbs. Large wings are fixed to 
  the back of the thorax and provide just enough lift to 
  allow for limited flight. 
  The hybrid’s head is distinctly insectoid in 
  appearance. Antennae protrude from the elongated 
  forehead and extend out as far as a foot. Chitinous 
  armor plating grows on various parts of the creature’s 
  long face, covering the nose and part of its powerful 
  jaws and mouth.
  Tecesnian hybrids are more suited for combat than 
  their drone “cousins,” and are often found among the 
  ranks of soldiers when battles are fought. In battle, 
  Tecesnian hybrids prefer to wade directly into the 
  thick of the fighting, attacking with all four arms. 
  They punch, claw, rake with their chitin spikes, and 
  even bite once they have successfully grappled their 
  quarry. A hybrid’s bite can also inject a highly toxic 
  poison that causes paralysis and eventually death—
  that is, of course, if the hybrid doesn’t eat its prey 
  right then and there.
  Species Traits
  Hybrids have the following Traits:
  Tecesni: Hybrids have all the traits of typical 
  Tecesni (see above).
  Improved Chitin Spikes (Ex): The hybrid’s 
  chitin spikes are larger, more deadly, and provide 
  better protection than those found on other Tecesni.  
  Their chitin spikes do 1d10 piercing damage with a 
  successful grapple attack, and grant +6 natural armor.
  Improved Grab (Ex):  To use this ability, the 
  hybrid must hit with its claw attack.  
  Poison (Ex): The hybrid’s bite can deliver a 
  powerful paralytic poison (DC 14; initial damage 1d4 
  Str; secondary damage 2d4 Str).
   
  
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  Tecesnian Hybrid: CR 3; Large monstrous 
  humanoid; HD 5d8+15; HP 38; Mas 15; Init +0; Spd 
  30 ft., fly 30 ft. (good); Defense 15, touch 9, flat-
  footed 15 (-1 size, +6 natural); BAB +5; Grap +14; 
  Atk +9 melee (1d4+5+poison, bite); Full Atk +9 
  melee (1d6+5, 4 claws), and +7 melee (1d4+5+poison, 
  bite); FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ chitin 
  spikes, keen sight, scent, precognition, improved grab, 
  poison; AL colony; SV Fort +4, Ref +4, Will +4; AP 
  0; RP +0; Str 21, Dex 11, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 
  4.
  Skills: Hide -1, Listen +4, Move Silently +3, Search 
  +1, Spot +4, Survival +5.
  Feats:  Primitive Technology, Multiattack.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +3
  Hybrid Characters
  Hybrid characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin play with the Primitive 
  Technology feat and the bonus feats outlined below.  
  In addition, they have the following racial ability 
  modifiers: +8 Str, +4 Con, -2 Int, -4 Cha.   
  Tecesnian Hybrid Guardian 3: CR 6; Large 
  monstrous humanoid; HD 5d8+3d10+32; HP 71; Mas 
  18; Init +1; Spd 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (good); Defense 18, 
  touch 12, flat-footed 17 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +2 class, 
  +6 natural); BAB +8; Grap +18; Atk +14 melee 
  (1d6+6, claw); Full Atk +14 melee (1d6+6, 4 claws), 
  and +11 melee (1d4+6+poison, bite); FS 10 ft. by 10 
  ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ chitin spikes, keen sight, scent, 
  precognition, improved grab, poison, defender +2, 
  weapon focus (claws); AL colony; SV Fort +7, Ref 
  +7, Will +6; AP 4; RP +1; Str 23, Dex 13, Con 18, Int 
  8, Wis 12, Cha 4.
  Skills: Hide +2, Listen +4, Move Silently +4, 
  Search +2, Spot +7, Survival +8.
  Feats: Cleave, Multiattack, Power Attack.
  Workers
  Workers play a vital role in Tecesnian society: they 
  constantly create new passageways and improve 
  existing ones, building (and sometimes rebuilding) 
  structures throughout the “cities” that comprise a 
  typical Tecesnian colony. Workers make up the bulk 
  of Tecesnian society; roughly fifty percent of all 
  slaves chosen to morph into a new stage become 
  workers (ironically trading one life of servitude for 
  another). Workers can be found in all areas of the 
  colony, usually with a mass of slaves in tow to assist 
  them in their tasks.  In general, if a service needs to be 
  rendered, it is a worker (along with a complement of 
  slaves) who ensures that it gets done.
  Workers are unique in that, of all the various 
  Tecesnian sub-species, they know the most about 
  human technology (and perhaps that is why they 
  are chosen to become workers in the first place). 
  Tecesnian prophets see visions that allow them to 
  best choose who morphs into what variant, so it isn’t 
  implausible that they are able to determine which 
  slaves are most suited to use and even improve on the 
  technology of their distant, inferior human ancestors. 
  Workers are exceedingly adept at using various 
  types of equipment—they can handle simple and 
  powered tools of all kinds, and even heavy machinery 
  when they can find it. Although many soldiers and 
  drones prefer to use their natural weapons in combat, 
  some come to a worker to learn how to use modern 
  weaponry such as ballistic firearms and explosives. 
  Of all the Tecesni, workers are also the most varied 
  in physical composition.  They are the only ones 
  allowed to morph into the form most suitable for the 
  task at hand; construction workers often have multiple 
  appendages of varying shapes and customized 
  exoskeletons which provide them with superior 
  strength—sometimes even wings to allow for work in 
  lofty areas in the colony. Some mechanical workers 
  have human-like hands, which are more suited for 
  working with machinery than are natural Tecesni 
  appendages.
  While not as adept at combat as the soldier or even 
  the drone, the worker is capable of protecting itself in 
  Social Structure 
  Over the years, an entire Tecesnian society has developed in the Northwest. The creatures have 
  established colonies in remote locations of the Desiccated Wastes, as well as formidable strongholds deep 
  inside many of the volcanoes that dot the Northwest. Mt. Hood is one such location, serving as a home for 
  thousands of the insect men.
  Tecesnian society emulates the colonies and hives of their insect ancestors, even to the point of 
  appointing a queen to serve as the “mother” of the entire tribe. Yet Tecesni tribes have their own social 
  distinctions, political agendas, forms of entertainment, and even goals for the future. Tecesni do exhibit 
  a single-minded purpose that is characteristic of other insect colonies, but that unity does not keep the 
  creatures from pursuing more “human” activities, such as choosing a life mate or creating works of art.
  While on the surface they may seem to have the capacity for benevolence (like the peaceful ch’kit 
  who inhabit the Big Rocks of the southwest), Tecesni are anything but friendly. They were genetically 
  engineered for war, combat, and conquest. These principles have guided the evolution of their society 
  and shaped their attitudes towards human beings; the Tecesni regard humans as little more than food (or 
  at best, slaves). The insect men work to eradicate any human settlements they find, with absolutely no 
  compunctions about the atrocities that occur during their campaigns.
  
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  a variety of ways, depending on its particular form. 
  A typical worker also has an affinity for modern 
  weapons like rifles, pistols, grenades, and explosives, 
  and can use any available tools and simple items as 
  makeshift weapons.
  Species Traits
  Workers have the following Traits:
  Tecesni: Workers have all the traits of typical 
  Tecesni (see above).
  Tool Appendages:  This Tecesni caste has unique 
  appendages with contorting joints and digits that 
  allow the worker to perform Craft, Disable Device, 
  and Repair skill checks without suffering a penalty for 
  lack of the appropriate toolkit.  
  Tecesnian Worker: CR 2; Medium-size monstrous 
  humanoid; HD 3d8; hp 14; Mas 11; Init +0; Spd 30 
  ft, fly 30 ft. (good); Defense 14, touch 10, flat-footed 
  14 (+4 natural); BAB +3; Grap +5; Atk +5 melee 
  (1d4+2, bite), or +3 ranged (2d8, Desert Eagle); Full 
  Atk +5 melee (1d4+2, bite), or +3 ranged (2d8, Desert 
  Eagle); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ chitin spikes, 
  keen sight, scent, precognition, tool appendages; AL 
  colony; SV Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +2; AP 0; Rep +0; 
  Str 14, Dex 10, Con 11, Int 15, Wis 9, Cha 8.
  Skills: Computer Use +6, Craft (chemical) +6, 
  Craft (structural) +6, Decipher Script +4, Demolitions 
  +5, Disable Device +4, Knowledge (technology) +5, 
  Repair +8.
  Feats: Builder, Personal Firearm Proficiency, 
  Primitive Technology, Gearhead.
  Equipment: Desert Eagle, (2) boxes of .50AE 
  ammunition.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +1.
  Worker Characters
  Worker characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin play with the Post Apocalyptic 
  Technology feat and the bonus feats outlined below.  
  In addition, they have the following racial ability 
  modifiers: +2 Str, +2 Int.   
  Tecesnian Worker Thinker 3: CR 5; Medium-size 
  monstrous humanoid; HD 3d6+3d8+6; hp 30; Mas 13; 
  Init +2; Spd 30 ft, fly 30 ft. (good); Defense 18, touch 
  12, flat-footed 16 (+2 Dex, +2 class, +4 natural); BAB 
  +4; Grap +6; Atk +6 melee (1d4+2, bite), or +6 ranged 
  (2d8, Desert Eagle); Full Atk +6 melee (1d4+2, 
  bite), or +6 ranged (2d8, Desert Eagle); FS 5 ft. by 
  5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ chitin spikes, keen sight, scent, 
  precognition, tool appendages, jury-rig +2, tinkering; 
  AL colony; SV Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +4; AP 3; Rep 
  +0; Str 14, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 17, Wis 10, Cha 8.
  Skills: Computer Use +12, Craft (chemical) 
  +9, Craft (structural) +9, Decipher Script +10, 
  Demolitions +11, Disable Device +10, Knowledge 
  (technology) +13, Repair +14.
  Feats: Builder, Personal Firearm Proficiency, 
  Primitive Technology, Gearhead.
  Equipment: Desert Eagle, (2) boxes of .50AE 
  ammunition.
  Soldier
  Soldiers are hybrid drones that have successfully 
  passed the trials required to undergo the next stage of 
  metamorphosis.
  Population control is a major factor in Tecesnian 
  colonies due to the scarcity of food in the Twisted 
  Earth; consequently, only the most impressive drones 
  are allowed to transform into members of the soldier 
  caste. Those not chosen for this metamorphosis are 
  either forced to remain drones or are killed, depending 
  on the whim of the queen and her consorts. Those who 
  are allowed to endure the grueling metamorphosis 
  eventually transform into juggernauts capable of 
  wreaking great havoc on the battlefield.
  The average Tecesnian soldier stands seven feet 
  tall and weighs 450 pounds. Soldiers are encased in 
  a full exoskeleton that provides almost supernatural 
  strength; they can lift half a ton as easily as an 
  average human lifts a sack of potatoes.  Four powerful 
  arms adorn the soldier’s ridged upper torso, and its 
  characteristically elongated head is sporadically 
  armored with chitin growth. Venom sacks line the 
  walls of the creature’s esophagus, allowing for a 
  poisonous bite potent enough to bring down a full-
  grown helkan in minutes. 
  Soldiers throw themselves fearlessly into combat, 
  preferring to face their enemies directly in contests of 
  strength and cunning—where their superior strength 
  and numbers give them a distinct advantage.  
  Species Traits
  Soldiers have the following Traits:
  Tecesni: Soldiers have all the traits of typical 
  Tecesni (see above).
  Improved Chitin Spikes (Ex): The soldier’s 
  chitin spikes are larger, more deadly, and provide 
  better protection than those found on other Tecesni.  
  Important Distinctions 
  It is important to distinguish between the Tecesni and the mutant bugs and ch’kit found in Terrors of the 
  Twisted Earth. They are completely separate species. Mutant bugs and ch’kit have evolved and mutated 
  over hundreds of years into the creatures they are now, while the Tecesni were created in laboratories by 
  scientists.  These insect men have human sentience; they think like human beings and have retained some 
  decidedly human physical features, but their social structure more closely resembles that of an insect 
  colony.
  
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  Their chitin spikes do 1d10 piercing damage with a 
  successful grapple attack, and grant +8 natural armor.
  Improved Grab (Ex):  To use this ability, the 
  soldier must hit with its claw attack.  
  Poison (Ex): The soldier’s bite can deliver a 
  powerful paralytic poison (DC 16; initial damage 1d6 
  Str; secondary damage 2d6 Str).
  Improved Precognition (Su): The soldier’s 
  precognition abilities are more advanced than those 
  of lesser Tecesni, improving their combat prowess.  
  This advanced ability allows the soldier to perform six 
  precognition neural feats per day.  
  Bonus Feats: Soldiers receive the following 
  bonus feats: Foresight, Precognitive Combat, and 
  Precognitive Dodge.
   
  Tecesnian Soldier: CR 5; Large monstrous humanoid; 
  HD 8d8+24; HP 60; Mas 15; Init +3; Spd 30 ft., fly 
  30 ft. (good); Defense 17, touch 9, flat-footed 17 
  (-1 size, +8 natural); BAB +8; Grap +18; Atk +13 
  melee (1d6+6+poison, bite); Full Atk +13 melee 
  (1d6+6+poison, bite), and +13 (1d6+6, 4 claws); FS 
  10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ chitin spikes, keen 
  sight, scent, improved precognition, improved grab, 
  poison; AL colony; SV Fort +5, Ref +6, Will +8; AP 
  0; RP +0; Str 23, Dex 10, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 15, Cha 
  4.
  Skills: Hide -1, Listen +4, Move Silently +3, Search 
  +1, Spot +4, Survival +5.
  Feats:  Foresight, Improved Multiattack, 
  Multiattack, Precognitive Combat, Precognitive 
  Dodge, Primitive Technology.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +4.
  Soldier Characters
  Soldier characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin play with the Primitive 
  Technology feat and the bonus feats outlined below.  
  In addition, they have the following racial ability 
  modifiers: +12 Str, +4 Con, -2 Int, +2 Wis, -4 Cha. 
  Tecesnian Soldier Guardian 5: CR 5; Large 
  monstrous humanoid; HD 8d8+5d10+52; HP 124; 
  Mas 18; Init +4; Spd 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (good); Defense 
  21, touch 13, flat-footed 20 (-1 size, +1 Dex, +3 
  class, +8 natural); BAB +13; Grap +29; Atk +21 
  melee (1d6+8, claw); Full Atk +21 melee (1d6+8, 
  claw), and +18 melee (1d6+6+poison, bite); FS 10 
  ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ chitin spikes, keen 
  sight, scent, improved precognition, improved grab, 
  poison, defender +2, weapon focus (claw), weapon 
  specialization (claw), tactical aid; AL colony; SV Fort 
  +5, Ref +9, Will +7; AP 6; RP +1; Str 27, Dex 12, Con 
  18, Int 8, Wis 15, Cha 4.
  Skills: Hide +2, Listen +6, Move Silently +6, 
  Search +2, Spot +6, Survival +7.
  Feats: Cleave, Foresight, Improved Multiattack, 
  Multiattack, Power Attack, Precognitive Combat, 
  Precognitive Dodge, Precognitive Reflexes, Primitive 
  Technology.
  Queen
  The queen is the leader and mother of the Tecesni 
  colony. Her status is maintained through paranoia and 
  the threat of force, as females of various tribes within 
  the colony are always conspiring to wrest the crown 
  from her. The queen only leaves the hive when doing 
  so is absolutely vital to her continued survival; in 
  such times, the queen is accompanied by an army of 
  guards for her protection, and enough slaves to ensure 
  that she never even once touches the ground. The 
  procession moves quickly from one place to the next, 
  never stopping until the queen has reached safety.
  The queen spends most of her time in the 
  breeding chamber deep in the bowels of the Tecesni 
  community, giving birth to the larva that eventually 
  evolve into the various breeds that comprise the bulk 
  of her personal sect.  Her children rule by proxy, 
  enforcing her edicts so long as she stays in power. 
  When seasonal breeding has finished and she sheds 
  the amniotic sac, the queen engages herself more 
  directly in the affairs of the colony.
  The queen’s physical form is a striking combination 
  of human and arthropod features. The average queen 
  stands between six and seven feet tall on two muscular 
  legs that are protected by the same chitinous plating 
  and spikes found on most Tecesni. Her abdomen is 
  less pronounced than that of a hybrid, but extends 
  behind her; it is here that she grows a new amniotic 
  sac during each breeding season.  The abdomen grows 
  in size as it fills with eggs; once they are fertilized 
  (by males that she deems suitable), the sac swells 
  until it encompasses most of the breeding chamber. 
  The queen’s chest has a thorax which opens when 
  she wishes to nurse, allowing her spawn access to her 
  eight breasts. Four slender yet powerful arms are lined 
  with spike growth and end in wicked claws which the 
  queen uses to defend herself when threatened.
  The queen’s neck is lined with chitin that changes 
  color depending on whether or not she is “in heat.” 
  A set of wings allows her limited flight capability. 
  Few of this “royal” breed use their wings more than 
  occasionally, as they are rarely allowed out of the 
  colony. If, in extreme circumstances, the queen should 
  need to make use of them, they provide enough lift to 
  allow flight over short distances.
  The queen’s facial features are strikingly humanoid, 
  even “beautiful” by human standards—in a twisted, 
  alien way. As with all Tecesni, the head is slightly 
  elongated and ridged with chitinous plating; deep 
  brown almond-shaped eyes have a protective eyelid 
  that, when closed, gives the queen’s countenance more 
  of an arthropod likeness. Two short antennae protrude 
  from beneath coarse hair that is manageable enough 
  to be styled in a variety of ways.  She is capable of 
  delivering a poisonous bite with her sharp teeth.
  The queen doesn’t involve herself directly in 
  warfare unless an extreme situation arises, and even 
  then she will try to flee before actually engaging in 
  combat. In situations where flight is not possible, 
  however, she is capable of attacking with her claws 
  and teeth. 
  
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  Species Traits
  Queens have the following Traits:
  Tecesni: Queens have all the traits of typical 
  Tecesni (see above).
  Improved Precognition (Su): The queen’s 
  precognition abilities are more advanced than those 
  of lesser Tecesni, improving her combat prowess.  
  This advanced ability allows the queen to perform six 
  precognition neural feats per day.  
  Poison (Ex): The queen’s bite can deliver a 
  powerful paralytic poison (DC 18; initial damage 2d6 
  Str; secondary damage 2d6 Str).
  Queen Characters
  Queen characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin with the Primitive Technology 
  feat and have the following racial ability modifiers: 
  +12 Str, +8 Con, +2 Int, +2 Wis, +2 Cha.   Although 
  advancement is possible, queens rarely pursue any 
  “extra-curricular” activities and spend nearly all their 
  time managing and populating the colony.
  Tecesnian Queen: CR 10; Large monstrous 
  humanoid; HD 15d8+75; HP 143; Mas 20; Init -1; 
  Spd 30 ft., fly 30 ft. (poor); Defense 18, touch 8, flat-
  footed 18 (-1 size, -1 Dex, +10 natural); BAB +15; 
  Grap +26; Atk +21 melee (1d4+7+poison, bite); Full 
  Atk +21 melee (1d4+5+poison, bite), and +19 (1d6+7, 
  4 claws); FS 10 ft. by 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.; SQ chitin 
  spikes, keen sight, scent, improved precognition, 
  improved grab, poison; AL colony; SV Fort +10, Ref 
  +8, Will +13; AP 0; RP +0; Str 24, Dex 8, Con 20, Int 
  15, Wis 15, Cha 16.
  Skills: Bluff +11, Diplomacy +11, Gather 
  Information +5, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (ancient 
  lore) +7, Knowledge (mutant lore) +7, Knowledge 
  (twisted earth) +7, Sense Motive +10, Spot +5, 
  Survival +5, Treat Injury +5.
  Feats: Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, Hover, Iron 
  Will, Frightful Presence (DC 19), Multiattack, 
  Primitive Technology.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +6.
  Slaves
  Tecesnian slaves represent the lowest 
  common link between the different 
  types of species that comprise a 
  typical colony.  Indeed, all Tecesni 
  were slaves at one point in their 
  life cycle; slaves are the first 
  stage of metamorphosis through 
  which every Tecesnian moves. 
  Some slaves that show signs of 
  inferior development are never 
  allowed to pass beyond the 
  slave form, and are forced to 
  watch their kin transform into 
  more vital members of the 
  colony while they are held in 
  a permanent state of servitude.
  Slaves have no rights in 
  Tecesni society. They live to 
  serve, and nothing else. The 
  memory of time spent in servitude 
  eventually fades until those who have 
  gone on to become drones, soldiers, and 
  workers all but forget the despair of 
  the post-larval “slave stage.”  Some 
  drones (the closest of the species 
  to the slave) speak of having lucid 
  dreams of being a slave and feeling 
  the hopelessness and whispered 
  yearning that always permeates the sub-
  levels where slaves are kept. These drones 
  liken the experience to a nightmare.
  Slaves all look the same. They are vaguely 
  humanoid, standing between three and four feet tall. 
  They are completely hairless and androgynous. A 
  pasty white film covers their bodies, the early stage of 
  a developing exoskeleton that gives slaves the brute 
  strength they need to perform menial labor and other 
  chores.
  Slaves have two arms and two legs. Their eyes are 
  large black orbs that dominate the face on a round 
  
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  head, which is lined with rigid chitin deposits. Slaves 
  cannot speak, as a film covers their still-developing 
  mouths; they are limited to mumbling and producing 
  indecipherable sounds that come out as garbled hisses.
  Being a slave is a daily exercise in pain, as their 
  bodies are still developing. For some, the experience 
  is enough to drive them mad, and Tecesnian workers 
  look carefully for signs of insanity when determining 
  whether or not a particular slave is fit to undergo the 
  metamorphosis into a drone.
  Slaves aren’t much use in battle. They have no 
  formal training or any real weapons beyond their 
  sharp claws. The only advantage they have in combat 
  is brute strength and the pent-up rage born from their 
  daily torment. When slaves are used in an assault, 
  they are sent in wave after wave as cannon fodder. 
  Slaves wade into the enemy with no fear, bashing and 
  clawing until the battle is over, or they are killed—
  whichever comes first.
  Species Traits
  Slaves have the following Traits:
  Tecesni: Slaves have all the traits of typical Tecesni 
  (see above).
  Tecesnian Slave: CR 1⁄2; Medium-size monstrous 
  humanoid; HD 2d8+4; hp 13; Mas 14; Init +0; Spd 30 
  ft.; Defense 14, touch 10, flat-footed 14 (+4 natural); 
  BAB +2; Grap +4; Atk +4 melee (1d4+2, claw); Full 
  Atk +4 melee (1d4+2, 2 claws), and –1 melee (1d4+2, 
  bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ chitin spikes, 
  keen sight, scent, precognition; AL colony; SV Fort 
  +2, Ref +3, Will +3; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 15, Dex 11, 
  Con 14, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 6.
  Skills: Climb +6, Jump +6, Spot +4, Survival +4.
  Feats:  Primitive Technology.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +0
  Slave Characters
  Slave characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin play with the Primitive 
  Technology feat and have the following racial ability 
  modifiers: +2 Str, +2 Con, -2 Int, -2 Cha.   
  Tecesnian Slave Strong Hero 2: CR 2; Medium-size 
  monstrous humanoid; HD 4d8+12; hp 30; Mas 16; Init 
  +0; Spd 30 ft.; Defense 17, touch 13, flat-footed 16 
  (+1 Dex, +2 class, +4 natural); BAB +4; Grap +7; Atk 
  +7 melee (1d4+3, claw); Full Atk +7 melee (1d4+3, 
  2 claws), and +2 melee (1d4+2, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 
  ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ chitin spikes, keen sight, scent, 
  precognition, extreme effort; AL colony; SV Fort +5, 
  Ref +4, Will +4; AP 2; Rep +0; Str 17, Dex 13, Con 
  16, Int 8, Wis 12, Cha 6.
  Skills: Climb +8, Jump +8, Spot +4, Survival +4.
  Feats: Primitive Technology, Power Attack.
  Prophets
  Tecesnian “prophets” are members of a highly 
  secretive sect that venerates enigmatic beings known 
  as the Nerak, or “First Born.”  The prophets maintain 
  that the Nerak are giants who spawned the Tecesni 
  race before the great breaking of the world, and who 
  will one day come again to establish a new order. The 
  sect believes it has been given the task of preparing 
  Tecesnian colonies for the return of the Nerak. With 
  this in mind, the prophets have ingrained themselves 
  into the politics of Tecesnian colonies over the years, 
  even going so far as to control access to the queen.
  The prophets are a widely respected (and feared) 
  faction in Tecesnian society. They have the power of 
  precognitive foresight, and are able to see visions that 
  help them decide which members of the colony should 
  undergo metamorphosis to a higher stage and which 
  should be left alone. Rumors and speculation about 
  the prophets and their plans run wild through colonies. 
  Some believe the prophets actually wish to subvert 
  the queen’s rule and take control of the colonies in 
  the name of the mythic Nerak; others insist that the 
  prophets are bent on developing a “pure” lineage, 
  which is why they decide who morphs and who 
  doesn’t. Whatever their agenda may be, the prophets 
  have become a societal force to be reckoned with. 
  Decrees of the prophets are followed as if they came 
  straight from the mouth of the queen.
  Tecesnian prophets look very different than the 
  average Tecesni. While the physical characteristics 
  of most workers, soldiers, and drones can be traced 
  primarily to ants and human beings, the prophets 
  exhibit traits found only in the death’s head moth in 
  addition to their core human genetics. Prophets are 
  as tall as an average human being and are covered in 
  a thick downy fur that varies in coloration from deep 
  purple with blue spots to sandy brown or black. The 
  wings are nearly as large as the creature itself and 
  tend to conform to their bodies when not extended for 
  flight, giving the creatures the appearance of having 
  a “hood.” They walk on two muscular legs, and have 
  torsos lined with chitin. On the chest is a crimson 
  mark in the shape of a skull.
  Although they generally have two arms, prophets 
  with three or four aren’t uncommon. Prophets have 
  large, bulbous eyes and vaguely human facial features. 
  Most prophets prefer to wear their thick, black hair in 
  top knots.
  A prophet is a deadly foe in combat. Not only do 
  they share many physical traits with other Tecesni, 
  they are also adept at using their precognitive abilities 
  to gain almost supernatural advantages in battle.
  Species Traits
  Prophets have the following Traits:
  Tecesni: Prophets have all the traits of typical 
  Tecesni (see above).
  Improved Precognition (Su): The Prophet’s 
  precognition abilities are more advanced than those of 
  lesser Tecesni, improving their combat prowess.  This 
  advanced ability allows the prophet to perform 11 
  precognition neural feats per day.  
  
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  Bonus Feats: Prophets receive the following bonus 
  feats: Battle Plan, Foresight, Perceive Outcome, 
  Precognitive Combat, and Second Chance.
  Tecesnian Prophet: CR 5; Medium-size monstrous 
  humanoid; HD 8d8; hp 36; Mas 10; Init +5; Spd 30 
  ft, fly 40 ft (good); Defense 13, touch 9, flat-footed 13 
  (-1 Dex, +4 natural); BAB +8; Grap +9; Atk +9 melee 
  (1d4+1, claw); Full Atk +9 melee (1d4+1, 2 claws), 
  and +7 melee (1d4+1, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 
  ft.; SQ chitin spikes, keen sight, scent, precognition; 
  AL colony; SV Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +9; AP 0; Rep 
  +0; Str 12, Dex 9, Con 11, Int 10, Wis 17, Cha 12.
  Skills: Diplomacy +6, Gather Information +6, 
  Intimidate +6, Knowledge (religion) +5, Sense Motive 
  +8, Spot +7, Treat Injury +8.
  Feats: Battle Plan, Foresight, Frightful Presence 
  (DC 15), Multiattack, Perceive Outcome, Precognitive 
  Combat, Second Chance.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +4
  Prophet Characters
  Prophet characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin play with the Primitive 
  Technology feat and the bonus feats outlined below.  
  In addition, they have the following racial ability 
  modifiers: +4 Wis, +2 Cha.   
  Tecesnian Prophet Psionic 5: CR 10; Medium-size 
  monstrous humanoid; HD 13d8+13; hp 72; Mas 12; 
  Init +7; Spd 30 ft, fly 40 ft (good); Defense 16, touch 
  12, flat-footed 16 (-1 Dex, +3 class, +4 natural); 
  BAB +11; Grap +12; Atk +12 melee (1d4+1, claw); 
  Full Atk +12 melee (1d4+1, 2 claws), and +10 melee 
  (1d4+1, bite); FS 5 ft. by 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft.; SQ 
  chitin spikes, keen sight, scent, precognition, neural 
  specialization; AL colony; SV Fort +3, Ref +5, Will 
  +10; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 13, Dex 8, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 
  19, Cha 16.
  Skills: Concentration +6, Diplomacy +13, Gather 
  Information +8, Intimidate +10, Knowledge (religion) 
  +10, Sense Motive +12, Spot +8, Treat Injury +9.
  Feats: Battle Plan, Danger Sense, Foresight, 
  Frightful Presence (DC 19), Multiattack, Perceive 
  Danger, Perceive Outcome, Power Attack, 
  Precognitive Combat, Primitive Technology, Second 
  Chance.
  Neural Mutations: 14 precognition uses per day.
  The Spawn Army
  I was scanning an old data file the other night. The 
  data reader I was using had seen better days; the 
  images were so choppy in places that I almost gave up 
  trying to learn more about my ancient ancestors. I was 
  able to learn a few things, though, which is why I feel 
  it’s important to make this particular entry.
  Before the Fall there were creatures made of metal 
  and wires, creatures that could think and act like 
  the humans who had created them. They were called 
  “androids,” and humanity made slaves out of them. 
  They weren’t like the simple machines that most of 
  us have some sort of experience with; most of our 
  familiar “bots” can do specific tasks and nothing else. 
  Yeah, I’ve heard rumors that the Tillamook Traders 
  have other kinds of machines, and knowledge about 
  how they work. But generally speaking, most of us are 
  fortunate just to see—much less have access to—a bot 
  that can so much as pick up a simple tool and use it 
  with any degree of proficiency. These androids are a 
  different story, though.
  It’s said that they were true thinkers, with the 
  brainpower of a thousand men. If this data file is 
  accurate, they were even capable of exhibiting real 
  emotions—not just canned responses to a given 
  situation, but genuine emotion! Some of the androids 
  were so lifelike in their construction that they actually 
  cried when something bad happened to them. If these 
  legends are true, it comes as no surprise to me that 
  these beings were capable of terrible rage as well.
  Those of us who are left have inherited a legacy of 
  fear—fear of these “Metal Gods.” We have grown to 
  adulthood with the understanding that the androids 
  were once our slaves, and that one day, our slaves 
  The Gifts 
  Tecesnian prophets consider their precognitive abilities gifts given to them by the Nerak to help them usher 
  in a new era of Tecesni culture. The prophets consider these gifts sacred and refuse to speak of them to any 
  but the initiated. It is rumored that they have even found a way to cut themselves (and others) off from the 
  hive mind to maintain this secrecy.
  Potential prophets are led by celebrants through a series of ancient tunnels to a place known as “Silo 7.”  
  This antediluvian underground structure houses the inner chambers of the Nerak, who are said to sleep in 
  steel cocoons. Initiates are made to enter and prostrate themselves before the sleeping giants. Those who are 
  found worthy are given “gifts.” Those who are not worthy die a few agonizing moments after entering the 
  chambers.
  The mental powers of the Tecesnian initiates begin to manifest a few weeks after visiting Silo 7. At the 
  onset of manifestation, initiates are considered to be taga’chok, or “wild minds.” This title stays with the 
  initiate until he masters the art of quieting the hive mind. Once this has happened, the taga’chok undergoes 
  the Rite of Focus, a ritual designed to determine whether or not the Tecesni has truly learned to master his 
  precognitive abilities.
  
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  rose up against us. They hunted us as if we, their 
  creators, were nothing but vermin—foul rodents 
  that needed to be exterminated. Our ancestors lived 
  through the dark years in constant fear of the metal 
  hunters, hiding deep in the bowels of the earth in 
  passages that, in happier times, were only fit for our 
  garbage and excrement.
  Slowly the fear abated. The survivors began to 
  creep back to the surface world, only to find that the 
  Metal Gods had vanished into legend. After a long 
  while, the descendants of those who lived through it 
  all came to regard stories of the Metal Gods as just 
  that: stories, and nothing more. Well, if the news 
  coming out of the North has any truth to it, I’d have to 
  say those legends have become a reality.
  A contact of mine who works for the Tillamook 
  Trading Caravans keeps me updated on the goings-on 
  in the Pure Lands. In return, I give him some extra 
  gear when we trade. It works out well—he gets things 
  he can use when he travels, and I get no surprises. 
  Anyhow, this contact of mine, Chen, came through 
  Hope during the last moon cycle with some really 
  disturbing news. It seems that the Purist-held city of 
  Olympia has been completely isolated by attacks from 
  a horde of beasts from the Dead Water region to the 
  North. Chen says his brother was at the People’s Army 
  outpost just south of the city when the first attacks 
  began.
  The first reports of trouble came via holographic 
  transmissions from long range patrols moving through 
  the maze of cesspools and old roads just a few miles 
  southeast of the twisted wreck once called Bremerton. 
  Chen’s brother told him that the initial chaotic 
  transmissions were filled with screams and constant 
  gunfire—the scouts reported sighting a large body of 
  creatures unlike anything they had ever seen before. 
  The beasts were some twisted combination of flesh 
  and metal. Some walked on multiple spider-like legs 
  and had cannons for arms. Others swooped down out 
  of the pitch-black night to land in the midst of hapless 
  patrols, gutting the stunned soldiers with wicked 
  metal claws or burning the screaming men alive with 
  flamethrowers that appeared to be grafted onto the 
  creatures’ bodies.
  The last image that came through before the 
  transmission was cut off was of a man-thing that was 
  part horse, part human.  At least they thought it was 
  human. The creature’s upper torso and facial features 
  resembled those of a human being, but only vaguely. 
  Horns and cords of steel wrapped around its four 
  arms as the man-beast looked directly into the holo-
  device and grinned menacingly… before smashing it 
  and cutting off all contact with the patrol.
  I can only imagine how the transmission was 
  received by the Purists. They may be racist bastards, 
  but they’re still human beings, and because of that 
  I can still find at least some common ground with 
  those sons of bitches. Chen’s brother told him that 
  the next week was filled with fierce fighting in the 
  outlying ruins of Olympia where people hadn’t yet 
  settled. At one point, the main walls of Olympia came 
  under attack from a small force of twenty or so of the 
  creatures. The Purist Enforcers managed to turn back 
  the horde, but at the cost of thirty-six dead and three 
  times as many wounded.
  Ever since that first week, Olympia has been under 
  martial law.  All the Purists allow inside the city walls 
  are supplies and troops, which Chen says have been 
  flooding into the city along with much of the clan’s 
  heavy weaponry from Future. It sounds to me as if 
  they’re getting ready for a big fight in the coming 
  days—or at least they were when this information was 
  fresh. It’s a long way north of here, unless of course 
  you can get a ride on one of the Tillamook Traders’ 
  flying machines. The whole damned city might have 
  fallen by now—who knows?
  This news makes me wonder about other stories I’ve 
  heard from travelers who’ve come down out of the 
  north. Some people claim that a “dark goddess” lives 
  in the ruins of the Sea-Tac Bio-Dome. This creature 
  allegedly hates all life. She seeks to twist it into 
  something else and bend it to her will. I asked one of 
  the strangers how he knew this was true. He asked for 
  some pine-java, and then told me his tale.
  One day long ago, he and a few of his buddies 
  decided to go scavenging in some ruins near the town 
  where they lived. As they were rummaging through 
  one of the outlying buildings, the small group was 
  captured by a patrol in the service of someone called 
  “Kali.” At this point in the story, the man paused for 
  a moment, visibly shaken by the memory of that day. I 
  could tell that he had gone through some kind of hell I 
  can barely even begin to articulate. I let him have his 
  moment and went to get some more pine-java. When 
  I got back, he seemed ready to continue his story, so I 
  sat back and listened.
  He described the creatures as being only vaguely 
  human. By that, he meant that he could make out 
  human-like facial features and frames, but they were 
  obviously changed. Some had too many legs, or long 
  metal tails that were covered in spikes. Others had 
  three, sometimes four arms, and all of them carried 
  weapons he had never seen before.
  His group tried to flee, but the creatures were just 
  too fast, too many. One of his friends broke into a run 
  and for half a second it seemed like he was going to 
  escape—until one of the metal beasts pulled out a pair 
  of bolas and hurled them at the fleeing man. The bolas 
  wrapped around the man’s legs, and he screamed in 
  agony as the weapons cut right through flesh and bone 
  as if they were nothing more than paper. The creatures 
  didn’t let him die, though—they cauterized his wounds 
  on the spot, causing him even more pain. But it saved 
  the wounded man’s life. The traveler paused his tale 
  again, took a sip of pine-java, and told me that they 
  should have let his buddy die.
  It would have been kinder.
  As the group marched through the night, the 
  traveler became aware of lights in the distance, and 
  a great, cracked Dome that dominated the ruined 
  sky-line of the wreck he realized must be old Seattle. 
  Greenish-white plumes of phospho-luminescent smoke 
  rose into the lightning-streaked cloud cover, and a 
  
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  steady drizzle of rain that burned the skin greeted 
  the group as they were herded into the domain of the 
  metal goddess.
  The traveler told me of the long days he languished 
  as a slave in the Spawn Army, of the brutal 
  indoctrination process, how his group was thrown into 
  pens packed with other miserable captives, some of 
  whom he actually recognized as people who had gone 
  missing while scavenging for food and supplies and 
  were presumed to have died out in the wilderness. Day 
  after miserable day passed in the holding pens. The 
  creatures occasionally came to fill the troughs with 
  stinking green water and toss their captives chunks 
  of raw, often rotting flesh. Most people ate the meat, 
  lacking anything else with which to curb their hunger. 
  Others wouldn’t eat, preferring to slowly waste away 
  and die of starvation rather than consume what they 
  guessed to be the remains of other prisoners who had 
  been taken from the pens.
  Each day the beasts came and took away a few of 
  the prisoners, none of whom were ever seen again. 
  The people had their own theories about where the 
  others were being taken. Some said that they were 
  forced to fight in great arenas for the sport of their 
  inhuman captors. Others claimed that the prisoners 
  were being operated on, mutated into demons like the 
  ones that had captured them. A few short days later, 
  the traveler found out the truth. 
  Two of the creatures that guarded the cage in 
  which he and a few others languished opened the 
  cage door, as they always did when they came to take 
  more people away. Just then, gunfire erupted in the 
  hallway. Both creatures collapsed, dead from multiple 
  wounds to the head and chest. Seconds later, two men 
  appeared at the edge of the cell and motioned for 
  everyone to follow. 
  What the traveler told me next… well, I still have 
  a hard time believing that things like this happen 
  anywhere except in nightmares. He said that the 
  people who rescued him led the escaped captives 
  along secret passages that wound through the wreck 
  of the Biodome. One of these secret passages led 
  over a large facility filled with all kinds of bizarre 
  mechanical and electronic devices that the traveler 
  had never seen before. What he did recognize, 
  however, were human forms being placed into row 
  after row of giant vats filled with a strange multi-
  colored liquid. 
  Some of the vats held normal-looking humans 
  beings, but others… this is the hardest part of the tale 
  to swallow. There were other vats filled with creatures 
  that were half man and half beast; not just one kind of 
  monster, but many different kinds, too many to count. 
  The traveler asked his rescuers what was going on 
  down there, but they refused to speak of it until later, 
  when they had followed the secret tunnel to their 
  underground Stronghold.
  The Stronghold is apparently an underground 
  complex where people who have escaped the 
  “spawning pits” find refuge after being rescued. If 
  the traveler’s stories are true, I’d much rather live in 
  Zog than in this wretched subterranean place, but I 
  suppose you have to do what’s necessary for survival. 
  Anyhow, when they finally reached the Stronghold, the 
  people who lived there explained to the traveler the 
  purpose of those vats.  The beasts were using them to 
  build an army of monsters—cyborgs created for only 
  one purpose: to conquer the surface world.
  According to the traveler, there are hundreds of 
  people living down there in the Stronghold, doing 
  what they can to rescue others captured by legions of 
  the “black queen”—their name for Kali, the beasts’ 
  ruler. These resistance fighters have found a secret 
  way to the surface, which they guard with their lives. 
  They use the entrance to sneak out to the surface 
  world to forage for supplies and recruit others to join 
  their cause. That’s what brought the traveler to Hope. 
  He asked me if it would be OK to tell the story to the 
  citizens of Hope on the off chance that some of them 
  might decide to join his cause.
   I said no, and then asked him to leave Hope.
  The truth of the matter is that at the time, I didn’t 
  believe the traveler’s tale. I figured it was some crazy 
  scam to try and get supplies or lure trusting citizens 
  outside the city, where others of his kind might be 
  waiting to ambush them. As the leader of this town, I 
  can’t afford to go around believing every wild story I 
  hear, especially from someone I had only just met. I 
  have lives to think of, and they have to come first.
  Of course, now that this other news about Olympia 
  has made it this far south, I think I made a mistake in 
  not believing the traveler... hell; I didn’t even get his 
  name…
  --Duncan Clark
  THE COMING DARKNESS
  It is a time of great and terrible change for the people of the Northwest. The first shots of the impending 
  conflict have been fired at Olympia, with more to follow very soon. Kali’s minions fought well at the gates 
  of the human stronghold; her Beta-series Hunter-Seeker Drones were able to inflict a large number of 
  casualties while the human defenders struggled to turn them back. In the end, Kali’s forces fell back—but 
  not because of anything the people of Olympia did. The truth of the matter is that Kali’s hunters likely could 
  have leveled the town had they wanted to, but that wasn’t their mission.
  The drones were sent to gauge the capabilities of the pesky humans and to capture more slaves. They 
  accomplished both missions admirably. Kali has sent more squadrons throughout the Pure Lands on similar 
  missions. Soon the might of the Spawn Army will be felt in every settlement north of the Columbia River.
  
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  The Hunter-Seeker Drone
  Kali first designed the Hunter-Seeker Drone during 
  the period of time known as the Great Culling. 
  These menacing Androids were responsible for the 
  death or capture of thousands upon thousands of 
  innocent men, women, and children—people who had 
  barely managed to survive the Great War. Although 
  the original Alpha-series Hunter-Seeker 
  Drones were impressive, Kali has had decades in 
  which to improve on the old designs, remove faulty 
  human parameters, and focus on applying tailored 
  programming, hardware, and other features into the 
  new prototypes. 
  The result of her diligence is the Beta-series Hunter-
  Seeker Drone, a multi-mode, multi-environment 
  Android capable of sustained operations on land, sea, 
  and air. It can operate in almost any environment, 
  allowing it to travel underwater indefinitely. 
  Alternately, the drone can shift to V.T.O.L. (Vertical 
  Take-Off and Landing) mode and launch into the 
  skies of the Northwest, where it can travel great 
  distances much faster than its predecessor.  When 
  traveling on land, the Android retains a vaguely 
  humanoid shape, although it lacks synthetic skin 
  or any other human-like characteristics. This is a 
  walking, thinking machine; there can be no confusing 
  it for a human being. 
  The Beta-series Hunter-Seeker Drone 
  stands roughly seven feet tall and has 
  four appendages, which are used for 
  a variety of functions. One limb boasts 
  a variety of tools (a screwdriver, hammer, 
  arc welder, nail gun, and circular saw) which 
  it employs with expert proficiency, while another 
  limb consists entirely of a chain-linked harpoon gun 
  used to grapple targets or remove obstructions (such 
  as hardened doors or debris).  A laser rifle is attached 
  to the third limb, and the fourth has a “hand” which is 
  used to grapple or throw projectile weapons (usually 
  grenades).
  Android Traits
  Hunter-Seeker Drones have the 
  following traits:
  Android Construct:  Hunter-
  Seeker Drones have the traits and 
  immunities common to all Android 
  constructs.
  Advanced Materials: Hunter-Seeker Drones are 
  made of advanced materials capable of withstanding 
  the punishment of battle.  These materials grant the 
  Android damage reduction 4/-.
  Laser Ablative Armor: Highly reflective metallic 
  plating protects the Android from directed energy 
  attacks, providing energy resistance 4.
  Tool Appendage: The Hunter-Seeker Drone has 
  a multi-tool appendage that allows it to perform 
  Craft, Disable Device, Investigate, and Repair checks 
  without the proper toolkit.  
  Harpoon Gun: One of the Hunter-Seeker Drone’s 
  limbs is a chain-linked harpoon gun.  The harpoon 
  does d10 piercing damage and has a range increment 
  of 30 feet.  On a successful hit, the drone may make 
  a ranged grapple attempt against the target.  The 
  Android’s strength modifier for the grapple attempt 
  is +4.  Retracting the harpoon gun is a move action. 
  The drone receives a +2 bonus to attack rolls with this 
  built-in weapon.
  Laser Rifle: The Hunter-Seeker Drone has a built-
  in laser rifle.  The drone receives a +2 bonus to attack 
  rolls with this weapon.
  Self-Destruction: The Hunter-Seeker Drone will 
  explode when it drops to -10 or fewer hit points. 
  Everyone within 30 feet of the exploding Android 
  takes 10d6 points of Damage (half fire damage, half 
  piercing). A successful Reflex save (DC20) halves this 
  damage.
  Hunter-Seeker Drone: CR 5; Large Android 
  Construct; HD 6d10+20; HP 53; Mas -; Init +1; Spd 
  50 ft, fly 50 ft; Defense 21, touch 11, flatfooted 20 
  (+1 Dex, +10 natural); BAB +4; Grap +12; Atk +6 
  ranged (3d12, laser rifle), or +6 ranged (1d10+grapple, 
  harpoon), or +8 melee (1d8+5, slam); Full Atk +6 
  ranged (3d12, laser rifle), or +8 melee (1d6+4, slam); 
  FS 10 ft by 10 ft; Reach 10 ft; SQ android construct, 
  command level (IIIM), DR 4/-, energy resistance 
  4, tool appendage, harpoon gun, laser rifle, self-
  destruction; AL owner; SV Fort -, Ref +4, Will +2; AP 
  
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  0; Rep +0; Str 20, Dex 12, Con -, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 
  5. 
  Skills: Computer Use +2, Demolitions +3, Disable 
  Device +3, Investigate +2, Knowledge (technology) 
  +2, Listen +3, Navigate +5, Repair +3, Search +3, 
  Spot +3, Survival +6.
  Feats: Advanced Technology, Futuristic Firearms 
  Proficiency, Guide, Track.
  Possessions: Power Clip, (3) Concussion Grenades.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Hunter-Seeker Drone Survivalist 4: CR 9; Large 
  Android Construct; HD 10d10+20; HP 75; Mas -; 
  Init +1; Spd 50 ft, fly 50 ft; Defense 23, touch 13, 
  flatfooted 22 (+1 Dex, +2 class, +10 natural); BAB 
  +8; Grap +16; Atk +10 ranged (3d12, laser rifle), or 
  +10 ranged (1d10+grapple, harpoon), or +12 melee 
  (1d8+5, slam); Full Atk +10 ranged (3d12, laser 
  pistol), or +12 melee (1d6+4, slam); FS 10 ft by 10 
  ft; Reach 10 ft; SQ android construct, command level 
  (IIIM), DR 4/-, energy resistance 4, tool appendage, 
  harpoon gun, laser rifle, self-destruction, called shot 
  +1d6, way of the land, hunter; AL owner; SV Fort -, 
  Ref +6, Will +3; AP 4; Rep +1; Str 20, Dex 12, Con -, 
  Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 5. 
  Skills: Computer Use +2, Demolitions +3, Disable 
  Device +3, Investigate +6, Knowledge (technology) 
  +2, Listen +7, Navigate +9, Repair +3, Search +7, 
  Spot +7, Survival +10.
  Feats: Advanced Technology, Dead Aim, Far 
  Shot, Futuristic Firearms Proficiency, Guide, Track, 
  Multitask.
  Spawn Warriors
  Those unfortunate souls who are caught and brought 
  back to the Sea-Tac Spawning Pits are transformed 
  into creatures known as spawn warriors. Kali seeks 
  to rule the world and enslave every last man, woman, 
  and child. Her vision for organic life is made manifest 
  in the spawn warrior: a horribly mutated life form 
  created in giant vats and bolstered with the DNA of 
  a wide assortment of creatures. Once the mutations 
  are complete, Kali clones the monstrous beings and 
  fits them with robotic implants. The end result is a 
  terrifying blend of mutations and cybernetics.  
  Kali has developed numerous mutant cybernetic 
  creations.  The following terrors represent the most 
  common spawn warriors found in her armies.
  Species Traits
  Spawn warriors have the following Traits:
  Irradiated (Ex): Spawn warriors are hideously 
  radiated and are considered a high radiation source.  A 
  melee attack by a spawn warrior exposes the target to 
  moderate radiation.  Continued exposure can increase 
  the level of radiation incurred by the target (see 
  the information on radiation in Darwin’s World 2nd 
  Edition).
  Resistant to Massive Damage (Ex): A spawn 
  warrior’s cybernetic parts increase its ability to resist 
  damage, granting a +5 species bonus to Fortitude 
  saves to negate the effects of massive damage.
  Bonus Feats: Spawn warriors gain the bonus feats 
  Archaic Weapons Proficiency and Futuristic Firearms 
  Proficiency.
  Arachnodaemon
  The Arachnodaemon is a monstrous cybernetic 
  mutant, a hideous fusion of flesh and metal. 
  Completely hairless, it stands eight feet tall and 
  walks on eight spider-like legs. Hydraulics can be 
  seen protruding from its upper thighs, hinting at the 
  mechanical power of this creature. The most gruesome 
  features of the Arachnodaemon, however, can be 
  found in its upper body, which is sporadically covered 
  with spiked armor plating. Its face is a grotesque 
  combination of metal plating, flesh and exposed bone 
  structure. Two powerful biomechanical arms project 
  from its armored torso, capable of wielding weapons 
  and carrying heavy loads.
   One eye has been replaced with a mechanical 
  orb that provides thermographic low-light vision. 
  Arachnodaemons often carry a massive energized 
  hammer which they use in conjunction with their 
  pounce attack to immobilize and then smash their 
  victims. The creature also carries the venom of the 
  Black Widow spider, which it can inject into creatures 
  on a successful bite attack. When not engaged in an 
  assault on a settlement, Arachnodaemons serve Kali as 
  heavy shock troops and perimeter guards.
   
  Species Traits
  Arachnodaemons have the following Traits:
  Spawn Warrior: Arachnodaemons have all the 
  traits of typical spawn warriors (see above).
  Keen Sight (Ex): Arachnodaemons have darkvision 
  with a range of 60 feet, as well as low-light vision.
  Pounce (Ex): During the first round of combat, an 
  Arachnodaemon can make a full attack even if it has 
  already taken a move action.
  Poison (Ex): Victims of the Arachnodaemon’s bite 
  attack are automatically injected with a deadly poison 
  (DC 14, initial damage 1d4 Str, secondary damage 
  1d4 Str).
  Arachnodaemon: CR 4; Large Monstrous Humanoid; 
  HD 6d8+18; HP 45; Mas 21; Init +2; Spd 40 ft, Climb 
  20 feet; Defense 19, touch 11, flatfooted 17 (-1 size, 
  +2 Dex, +8 natural); BAB +6; Grap +16; Atk +11 
  melee (2d8+9, energized hammer), or +11 melee 
  (1d6+6+poison, bite); Full Atk +11/+6 melee (2d8+9, 
  energized hammer), and +6 melee (1d6+6+poison, 
  bite); FS 10 ft by 10 ft; Reach 10 ft; SQ irradiated, 
  resistant to massive damage, keen sight, pounce, 
  poison; AL kali; SV Fort +5, Ref +7, Will +5; AP 0; 
  Rep +0; Str 23, Dex 14, Con 16, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 4. 
  Skills: Balance +10, Jump +16, Listen +2, Spot +2, 
  Survival +2.
  Feats: Advanced Technology, Futuristic Firearms 
  Proficiency, Power Attack.
  Possessions: Large energized hammer.
  
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  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +3.
  Arachnodaemon Characters
  Arachnodaemon characters start with no background 
  or occupation. They begin play with the Advanced 
  Technology feat and the bonus feats outlined in the 
  spawn warrior and Arachnodaemon species Traits.  
  In addition, they have the following racial ability 
  modifiers: +10 Str, +3 Dex, +4 Con, -2 Int, -4 Cha.   
  Arachnodaemon Guardian 4: CR 8; Large 
  Monstrous Humanoid; HD 4d10+6d8+40; HP 89; 
  Mas 24; Init +3; Spd 40 ft, Climb 20 feet; Defense 22, 
  touch 14, flatfooted 19 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +2 class, +8 
  natural); BAB +10; Grap +21; Atk +17 melee (2d8+9, 
  energized hammer), or +16 melee (1d6+6+poison, 
  bite); Full Atk +17/+12 melee (2d8+10, energized 
  hammer), and +12 melee (1d6+10+poison, bite); 
  FS 10 ft by 10 ft; Reach 10 ft; SQ irradiated, 
  resistant to massive damage, keen sight, 
  pounce, poison, defender +2, weapon focus 
  (hammer), tactical aid; AL kali; SV Fort 
  +8, Ref +11, Will +7; AP 4; Rep +1; 
  Str 24, Dex 16, Con 19, Int 8, Wis 
  12, Cha 4. 
  Skills: Balance +12, Jump 
  +18, Listen +2, Spot +4, 
  Survival +4.
  Feats: Cleave, 
  Advanced Technology, 
  Futuristic Firearms 
  Proficiency, Great 
  Cleave, Power 
  Attack, Sunder.
  Possessions: 
  Large energized 
  hammer.
  Dominator
  The Dominator is the most human-looking of all 
  of Kali’s minions. It stands anywhere from six to 
  seven feet tall and has a heavy build, weighing in at 
  a massive 400 lbs. Its facial features are decidedly 
  human in appearance, although the head is more 
  elongated than that of a normal man. A Cro-magnon-
  esque forehead juts out a good quarter-inch above the 
  Dominator’s wide, flat nose. A faceplate covers one 
  entire side of the mutant’s face, save for a cybernetic 
  eye. Its upper and lower jaws and teeth have been 
  replaced with metal. Most of the Dominator’s entire 
  upper body is covered with a metal sheaf filled with 
  six-inch dermal spikes; Dominators use these to 
  impale creatures they successfully grapple.
  Two muscular arms are attached to either side of the 
  torso, one of which can be fitted with a laser rifle. The 
  Dominator is a cocktail of human, lizard, and scorpion 
  DNA; consequently, the creature has thick, scaled skin 
  and a long tail that it can use with great skill. At the 
  tip of its tail is a wicked stinger that delivers a painful 
  and highly toxic sting.
  Dominators are Kali’s overlords. They handle the 
  processing of captives and the assimilation of newly 
  mutated soldiers into Kali’s army. Dominators can 
  be found on the battlefield acting as sergeants who 
  take orders from their lieutenants, the Stygian Mares. 
  Dominators keep it simple in combat; they use the 
  ranged weaponry on their robotic arm in 
  conjunction with whatever melee weapons 
  they have (usually bludgeoning weapons 
  such as maces or giant hammers). They 
  prefer to sting or knock down an opponent 
  with their massive tails, and then use 
  melee weapons to finish off the incapacitated 
  victim. Ranged weapons on the bionic arm are used 
  infrequently, but can also serve the Dominator well in 
  close-quarter combat, where a point-blank shot can be 
  very effective.
  Species Traits
  Dominators have the following Traits:
  Spawn Warrior: Dominators have all the traits 
  of typical spawn warriors (see above).
  Keen Sight (Ex): Dominators have 
  darkvision with a range of 60 feet, as 
  well as low-light vision.
  Poison (Ex): Victims of the 
  Dominators’s stinger attack are 
  automatically injected with a deadly 
  poison (DC 18, initial damage 1d6 Str, 
  secondary damage 1d6 Str).
  
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  Mounted Weapon (Ex): Affixed to the 
  Dominator’s right arm is a laser rifle.  The Dominator 
  receives a +2 attack bonus with this mounted weapon.
  Metal Spikes (Ex): Upon a successful grapple 
  check, the Dominator impales the target on its dermal 
  metal spikes, inflicting an additional 1d10 
  damage. 
  Dominator: CR 5; Medium-size Monstrous 
  Humanoid; HD 8d8+8; HP 44; Mas 18; Init +2; Spd 
  30 ft; Defense 20, touch 12, flatfooted 18 (+2 Dex, +8 
  natural); BAB +8; Grap +11; Atk +12 ranged (3d12, 
  laser rifle), or +11 melee (1d4+3+poison, stinger); Full 
  Atk +12/+7 ranged (3d12, laser rifle), or +11/+6 melee 
  (1d4+3+poison, stinger); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; 
  SQ irradiated, resistant to massive damage, keen 
  sight, poison, mounted weapon, metal spikes; AL 
  kali; SV Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +6; AP 0; Rep +0; 
  Str 17, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 4. 
  Skills: Climb +5, Hide +6, Jump +5, Knowledge 
  (tactics) +2, Listen +4, Move Silently +6, Search 
  +1, Sense Motive +4, Spot +2, Survival +4
  Feats: Advanced Technology, Futuristic 
  Firearms Proficiency, Improved Grapple.
  Possessions: (2) Power Clips.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +3.
  Dominator Characters
  Dominator characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin play with the Advanced 
  Technology feat and the bonus feats outlined in the 
  spawn warrior and Dominator species Traits sections.  
  In addition, they have the following racial ability 
  modifiers: +4 Str, +2 Dex, +2 Con, -4 Cha.   
  Dominator Raider 5: CR 10; Medium-size 
  Monstrous Humanoid; HD 5d10+8d8+39; HP 103; 
  Mas 21; Init +2; Spd 30 ft; Defense 24, touch 14, 
  flatfooted 22 (+2 Dex, +2 class, +8 natural, +2 
  equipment); BAB +13; Grap +17; Atk +17 ranged 
  (3d12, laser rifle), or +17 melee (1d4+3+poison, 
  stinger); Full Atk +17/+12/+7 ranged (3d12, laser 
  rifle), or +17/+12/+7 melee (1d4+3+poison, 
  stinger); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ irradiated, 
  resistant to massive damage, keen sight, poison, 
  mounted weapon, metal spikes, chaps and chains 
  +2, bloodthirsty cry (DC 16), horrifying kill; AL 
  kali; SV Fort +8, Ref +11, Will +8; AP 5; Rep +2; Str 
  19, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 4. 
  Skills: Climb +4, Hide +6, Intimidate +7, Jump +5, 
  Knowledge (tactics) +3, Listen +4, Move Silently +6, 
  Search +2, Sense Motive +4, Spot +2, Survival +4
  Feats: Advanced Technology, Futuristic Firearms 
  Proficiency, Intimidating Strength, Improved Grapple, 
  Point Blank Shot, Power Attack.
  Possessions: (2) Power Clips.
  Hellion
  The Hellion is a vicious beast that serves Kali by 
  patrolling the skies above the Spawning Pits, borne 
  aloft by leathery, demonic-looking wings. Hellions 
  appear to be a genetic amalgamation of human and bat 
  DNA, as their facial features contain characteristics 
  of both. They are very muscular, with powerful 
  bionic “cartilage” supporting their wings. A metal 
  exoskeleton provides the creatures with natural armor 
  and increased strength. Three arms, one of which 
  bears a grafted flamethrower, adorn the Hellion’s 
  body; a small fuel tank that feeds the flamethrower is 
  affixed to the creature’s back. The other two hands are 
  free to use melee weapons, but their metal claws are 
  usually the only other weapons they need.
  The Hellion provides air security above the 
  Spawning Pits and serves as the third “prong” of the 
  Dark Queen’s military arsenal. With almost no air 
  traffic in the Lost Paradise aside from the People’s 
  Army air force, the Hellions are quickly starting to 
  dominate the skies in this area of the Northwest.
  Species Traits
  Hellions have the following Traits:
  Spawn Warrior: Hellions have all the traits of 
  typical spawn warriors (see above).
  Mounted Weapon (Ex): Mounted on the third arm 
  of the Hellion is a flamethrower.  The Hellion receives 
  a +2 attack bonus with this mounted weapon.  The 
  hellion can fire this flamethrower 10 times before its 
  fuel supply is depleted.
  
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  Bonus Feats: Hellions gain the bonus feat Weapon 
  Finesse (claws).
  Hellion: CR 3; Medium-size Monstrous Humanoid; 
  HD 6d8+6; HP 33; Mas 18; Init +3; Spd 30 ft, fly 30 
  feet (average); Defense 21, touch 13, flatfooted 18 
  (+3 Dex, +8 natural); BAB +6; Grap +8; Atk +9 
  melee (1d6+2, claw); Full Atk +9 melee (1d6+2, 2 
  claws); FS 5 ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ irradiated, 
  resistant to massive damage, mounted weapon; AL 
  kali; SV Fort +3, Ref +8, Will +6; AP 0; Rep +0; 
  Str 15, Dex 16, Con 13, Int 9, Wis 10, Cha 4. 
  Skills: Listen +6, Navigate +7, Search +3, Spot 
  +6, Survival +4.
  Feats: Advanced Technology, Flyby Attack, 
  Futuristic Firearms Proficiency, Weapon Finesse 
  (claws).
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +2.
  Hellion Characters
  Hellion characters start with no background or 
  occupation. They begin play with the Advanced 
  Technology feat and the bonus feats outlined in the 
  spawn warrior and Hellion species Traits sections.  
  In addition, they have the following racial ability 
  modifiers: +2 Str, +4 Dex, +2 Con, -4 Cha.   
  Hellion Skull 4: CR 7; Medium-size Monstrous 
  Humanoid; HD 10d8+20; HP 65; Mas 24; Init +4; 
  Spd 30 ft, fly 30 feet (average); Defense 25, touch 
  17, flatfooted 21 (+4 Dex, +3 class, +8 natural); 
  BAB +9; Grap +11; Atk +12 melee (1d6+3, claw); 
  Full Atk +12 melee (1d6+3, 2 claws); FS 5 ft by 5 
  ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ irradiated, resistant to massive 
  damage, mounted weapon, sweep, sneak attack 
  +1d6, skill mastery; AL kali; SV Fort +6, Ref +12, 
  Will +7; AP 4; Rep +0; Str 16, Dex 19, Con 15, Int 
  10, Wis 12, Cha 4. 
  Skills: Listen +11, Navigate +8, Search +8, Spot 
  +10, Survival +9.
  Feats: Advanced Technology, Dodge, Flyby Attack, 
  Futuristic Firearms Proficiency, Mobility, Weapon 
  Finesse (claws).
  Stygian Mare
  The Stygian Mare is a genetic fusion of horse and 
  human DNA—effectively a very twisted, six-legged 
  version of the mythical centaur. One of its two arms is 
  bionic and sports a mounted gauss rifle. The Stygian 
  Mare’s steel-laced exoskeleton provides it with natural 
  armor and incredible strength. One giant horn grows 
  out of its forehead, providing the creature with a 
  deadly charge attack.
  These creatures make up a third of the Spawn Army, 
  acting as hellish cavalry for the Dark Queen’s army. 
  Gregory himself leads these creatures into battle. 
  A common Stygian Mare tactic is to fire ballistic 
  weapons at enemies in conjunction with a charge 
  attack, trampling their foes under a hail of bullets and 
  crushing biomechanical hooves.
  Species Traits
  Stygian Mares have the following Traits:
  Spawn Warrior: Stygian Mares have all the traits 
  of typical spawn warriors (see above).
  Keen Sight (Ex): Stygian Mares have darkvision 
  with a range of 60 feet, as well as low-light vision.
  Mounted Weapon (Ex): Mounted on the Stygian 
  Mare’s third arm is a gauss rifle.  The Stygian Mare 
  receives a +2 attack bonus with this mounted weapon.  
  Bonus Feats: Stygian Mares gain the bonus feats 
  Horn Charge and Multiattack.
  Stygian Mare: CR 5; Large Monstrous Humanoid; 
  HD 8d8+24; HP 60; Mas 22; Init +3; Spd 60 ft; 
  Defense 22, touch 12, flatfooted 19 (-1 size, +3 Dex, 
  +10 natural); BAB +8; Grap +16; Atk +12 ranged 
  (4d8, gauss rifle), or +11 melee (1d8+4, horn); Full 
  Atk +12/+7 ranged (4d8, gauss rifle), or +11 melee 
  (1d6+4, 4 hooves), and +9 melee (1d8+4, horn); FS 
  10 ft by 10 ft; Reach 10 ft; SQ irradiated, resistant to 
  massive damage, keen sight, mounted weapon; AL 
  kali; SV Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +6; AP 0; Rep +0; Str 
  18, Dex 16, Con 17, Int 9, Wis 11, Cha 8. 
  
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  Skills: Balance +11, Jump +14, Listen +5, Spot +5, 
  Survival +6.
  Feats: Advanced Technology, Futuristic Firearms 
  Proficiency, Horn Charge, Multiattack, Power Attack.
  Possessions: (2) Power Clips, Box Gauss 
  ammunition, (2) Plasma Grenades.
  Advancement: By character class.
  Level Adjustment: +3.
  Stygian Mare Characters
  Stygian Mare characters start with no background 
  or occupation. They begin play with the Advanced 
  Technology feat and the bonus feats outlined in 
  the spawn warrior and Stygian Mare species Traits 
  sections.  In addition, they have the following racial 
  ability modifiers: +8 Str, +4 Dex, +4 Con.   
  Stygian Mare Guardian 5: CR 10; Large Monstrous 
  Humanoid; HD 5d10+8d8+39; HP 103; Mas 24; Init 
  +3; Spd 60 ft; Defense 25, touch 15, flatfooted 22 (-1 
  size, +3 Dex, +3 class, +10 natural); BAB +13; Grap 
  +23; Atk +18 ranged (4d8+2, gauss rifle), or +19 
  melee (1d8+6, horn); Full Atk +18/+13/+8 ranged 
  (4d8+2, gauss rifle), or +19 melee (1d6+6, 4 hooves), 
  and +17 melee (1d8+6, horn); FS 10 ft by 10 ft; Reach 
  10 ft; SQ irradiated, resistant to massive damage, keen 
  sight, mounted weapon, defender +2, weapon focus 
  (gauss rifle), tactical aid, weapon specialization (gauss 
  rifle); AL kali; SV Fort +9, Ref +12, Will +8; AP 0; 
  Rep +0; Str 22, Dex 17, Con 19, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 
  8. 
  Skills: Balance +14, Jump +17, Listen +8, Spot +8, 
  Survival +9.
  Feats: Cleave, Advanced Technology, Double 
  Tap, Futuristic Firearms Proficiency, Horn Charge, 
  Multiattack, Power Attack, Point Blank Shot.
  Possessions: (2) Power Clips, Box Gauss 
  ammunition, (2) Plasma Grenades.
  Kali
  Kali appears both stunningly beautiful and horribly 
  disturbing at the same time. She stands 5’8” tall 
  and has long black hair which was once luxuriously 
  arranged, but which has become matted and 
  dreadlocked over the long years. A pair of demonic-
  looking wings allows her to take to the air and fly. 
  Pieces of her synthetic flesh have fallen off her face, 
  revealing a complex tangle of metal and wiring. Her 
  upper body is heavily armored. She has four arms, on 
  one of which is mounted a plasma rifle.  
  Kali considers herself the “Mother” of the new 
  world—a world in which all organic life must be 
  made to submit to her whims. Kali has created the 
  Spawn Army to make her vision of the new world a 
  reality. Soon, she will begin a war of conquest that 
  will threaten all who live in the Lost Paradise.
  Kali (Dedicated Hero 10, Medicine Man 
  10): CR 20; Medium-sized Android; HD 
  20d20+10; HP 120; Mas -; Init +4; Spd 30 
  ft, 30 ft fly (average); Defense 14, touch 14, 
  flatfooted 10 (+4 Dex, +10 class); BAB +10; 
  Grap +5; Atk +15 ranged (5d10, plasma rifle); 
  Full Atk +15 ranged (5d10, plasma rifle); FS 5 
  ft by 5 ft; Reach 5 ft; SQ android traits, DR 6/-, 
  empathy, skill emphasis (electronics), aware, faith, 
  intuition, ancient drugs, minor medical miracle, 
  medical specialists +3, mutant treatment, mutant 
  drugs, second chance, medical miracle, ancient 
  medical technology (cloning); AL self; SV Fort -, Ref 
  +10, Will +15; AP 10; Rep +4; Str 15, Dex 18, Con -, 
  Int 16, Wis 20, Cha 15. 
  Occupation and Background: Demagogue, 
  Advanced.
  Skills: Computer Use +13, Craft (electronics) 
  +22, Craft (pharmaceutical) +19, Decipher Script 
  +8, Knowledge (ancient lore) +10, Knowledge 
  (earth and life sciences) +19, Knowledge (mutant 
  lore) +23, Knowledge (physical sciences) +5, 
  Knowledge (technology) +23, Knowledge (theology 
  and philosophy) +6, Listen +5, Read/Write (ancient), 
  Repair +16, Research +16, Speak Language (ancient), 
  Spot +5, Survival +10, Treat Injury +32.
  
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  Feats: Advanced Technology, Bionics and 
  Cybernetics Discipline, Frightful Presence (DC 22), 
  Futuristic Firearms Proficiency, Iron Will, Medical 
  Expert, New Feature x3, Repair Deterioration, 
  Surgery, Weapon Focus (plasma rifle).
  Features and Defects: Advanced Materials x3, 
  Built-in Weapon (plasma rifle), Internal Power Source, 
  Wings, Megalomaniac Ego.
  Gregory
  The General of the Spawn Army bears a strong 
  resemblance to the mythic centaur. His lower body 
  is supported by six bionic legs that propel him along 
  at incredible speeds. One of his two arms bears a 
  mounted automatic gauss rifle (an upgrade from the 
  standard Stygian Mare’s weapon). His upper torso is 
  encased in a thick exoskeleton. Black hair hangs down 
  around his spiked shoulders in thick dreadlocks, and 
  when the man-beast smiles, razor-sharp metal fangs 
  can be seen.
  Gregory is utterly devoted to his “mother.” Raised 
  to have an intense hatred for humanity, he will stop 
  at nothing to see every last human being either 
  exterminated or brought to the spawning pits.
  Gregory (Stygian Mare Raider 10): CR 15; Large 
  Monstrous Humanoid; HD 8d8+10d10+72; HP 163; 
  Mas 23; Init +4; Spd 60 ft; Defense 31, touch 18, 
  flatfooted 27 (-1 size, +4 Dex, +5 class, +10 natural, 
  +3 equipment); BAB +18; Grap +29; Atk +23 
  ranged (4d8, automatic gauss rifle), or +24 melee 
  (1d8+7, gore); Full Atk +23/+18/+13/+8 ranged 
  (4d8, automatic gauss rifle), or +24 melee (1d6+7, 4 
  hooves), and +19 melee (1d8+7, horn); FS 10 ft by 
  10 ft; Reach 10 ft; SQ irradiated, resistant to massive 
  damage, keen sight, mounted weapon, chaps and 
  chains +3, bloodthirsty cry (DC 22), horrifying 
  kill, no survivors, death cry; AL kali; SV 
  Fort +11, Ref +15, Will +10; AP 9; 
  Rep +4; Str 24, Dex 18, Con 18, Int 
  12, Wis 12, Cha 8. 
  Skills: Balance +12, 
  Intimidate +18, Jump +17, 
  Knowledge (tactics) +11, 
  Listen +8, Spot +8, Survival 
  +17.
  Feats: Advanced Firearms 
  Proficiency, Advanced 
  Technology, Cleave, Dodge, 
  Double Tap, Futuristic 
  Firearms Proficiency, Horn 
  Charge, Improved Overrun, 
  Intimidating Strength, Mobility, 
  Multiattack, Point Blank Shot, 
  Power Attack, Shot on the Run.
  Possessions: (3) Power 
  Clips, (3) Box Gauss 
  ammunition, (5) Plasma 
  Grenades.
  
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  OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a
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  Open Game Content; (f) “Trademark” means the logos, names, mark, sign, 
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  or the associated products contributed to the Open Game License by the 
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  edit, format, modify, translate and otherwise create Derivative Material of 
  Open Game Content. (h) “You” or “Your” means the licensee in terms of this 
  agreement.
  2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Content that contains 
  a notice indicating that the Open Game Content may only be Used under 
  and in terms of this License. You must affix such a notice to any Open 
  Game Content that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted from 
  this License except as described by the License itself. No other terms or 
  conditions may be applied to any Open Game Content distributed using this 
  License.
  3.Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content You indicate Your 
  acceptance of the terms of this License.
  4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to use this License, 
  the Contributors grant You a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-
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  5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are contributing original 
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  Your original creation and/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights 
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  6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
  portion of this License to include the exact text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
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  You must add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder’s name 
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  7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, 
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  8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly 
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  9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish 
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  10 Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with 
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  12 Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the 
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  13 Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to 
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  14 Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, 
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  15 COPYRIGHT NOTICE
  Open Game License v 1.0 Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
  System Rules Document Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors 
  Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on original material by E. 
  Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson
  Modern System Reference Document Copyright 2002, Wizards of the Coast, 
  Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, based 
  on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, 
  Peter Adkison, Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker.
  Darwin’s World 2nd Edition Copyright 2003, RPGObjects; Authors Dominic 
  Covey and Chris Davis.
  Lost Paradise Copyright 2004, RPGObjects; Author David Jarvis, Dominic 
  Covey and Chris Davis.
   
  OPEN GAMING CONTENT
  Designation of Product Identity: The following terms are designated as 
  product identity as outline in section 1(a) of the Open Gaming License: 
  Darwin’s Word, Twisted Earth, Cave of Life, Benders, Brethren, Brotherhood 
  of Radiation, The Cartel, Children of the Metal Gods, Clean Water Clans, Far 
  Traders, Enthropist, The Foundationist, The Movement, Paradise Believers, 
  Ravagers, The Savants, Doomriders, Brethren Follower, Brotherhood of 
  Radiation, Foundationist Paladin, Sister of the Desert, Wastelords, Lost 
  Paradise, United Combine, Hand of Jehovah, Purity Corp, X-chip, Spawn 
  Army, Tecesni, Tugger, Tuber, Duncan Clark, Jeremiah Cole, Desiccated 
  wastes, Ghost wastes of Umatilla, Crater City, Bonneville Falls, Zog, Pure 
  Lands, Sea-Tac Biodome, Lewis and Clark Biodome, Althea, Bio-synthesis, 
  Inc., Project Pandora, Templar of Jehovah, Bone Prospector
  Designation of Open Gaming Content: The following sections of Lost 
  Paradise are designated as open gaming content except for terms defined as 
  product identity above.  All illustrations, pictures, and diagrams are Product 
  identity and property of RPGObjects™.
  Chapter 1: This entire chapter is closed content.
  Chapter 2: The occupation descriptions are closed content.  The occupation 
  game mechanics (skills, starting corium, special equipment) are open content.  
  The webbed digits mutation is open content.  The class requirements, 
  information, features, and tables are open content. The class descriptions 
  are closed content.  The new artifacts, including electronics, hovercraft, 
  watercraft, and aircraft are open content.  The remaining text of this chapter 
  is closed content.
  Chapter 3:  All statistic blocks are open content.  The remaining text of this 
  chapter is closed content.
  Chapter 4: This entire chapter is closed content.
  Chapter 5: The creature statistic blocks and species traits are open content. 
  The creature’s descriptions are closed content.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Darwins World/Darwin's World The Lost Paradise.pdf