No Way Out Wiki - User contributions [en]

Template:Combat Rolls

2025-11-26T16:28:21Z

Ppeacherine: /* Melee Combat */

= Combat =
Here at NWO, we pride ourselves on the sense of danger and risk ever-present around our characters and plots. Every combat encounter can be a heroic victory or a crushing defeat, and very often brings with it lethal consequences. Every fight should be entered with the understanding that this...could be it.

While all players are expected to adhere to these rules when engaging in combat between characters on their own, we try to be more open and rewarding towards creativity when interacting with our Staff team in events and encounters. While the rules listed below are the usual standard used by our Storytellers and players during these Staff-hosted scenes, our NPC creations and environmental hazards sometimes require us to make adjustments to the mechanics of a scene to properly simulate the threats or conditions our players are facing.

Not to worry, though, as this same flexibility extends to you as a player! If you want to perform actions not easily expressed through these rules, talk to the Staff running the scene you are within in the OoC chat tab, and they will very often work with you to try and actualize your imagined plan. This is no guarantee that it will work, but player creativity is something we always attempt to reward.
=== Actions & Movement ===
A combat round is typically comprised of an '''Action''' and '''Movement'''. '''Reactions''' can sometimes be taken in special circumstances, such as '''Attacks of Opportunity''' or while '''Grappling''' someone. Exceptions will be noted in the relevant sections.

'''Movement''' is self-explanatory—It is the way a character “moves” around a space. Characters must toggle their movement range on their Dice Panel and may only move in one path to a point within their movement range. Movement imposes a -2 shooting penalty, regardless of the order of one’s Action or Movement.

'''Actions''' include a variety of things such as '''Attacking''', '''Grappling''', '''Shoving''', '''Throwing''', '''Helping''', or virtually anything that is not movement.

Your combat roll in a scenario is determined by the weapon a character has equipped, but will generally be '''Melee''', '''Ranged''', or '''Unarmed'''.

Those who '''apply statuses (AoE, DoT, Suppressive Fire, etc.) or wish to utilize special rulings and mechanics are responsible for enforcing them'''. If you forget to apply your statuses or recall your rulings when using them on others, you lose that turn of said status. This rule applies to NPCs and PCs.
=== Engagement ===
Engagement occurs when one character enters another’s melee range. '''Engagement does not occur if the weapon being held is a ranged weapon'''. By default, this is one tile for all melee weapons except for spears, which have a two-tile range.

While Engaged, characters cannot shoot with two-handed ranged weapons and cannot make any movement without triggering an AOO, including movement around an attacker.
=== Dashing ===
As an action, a character can double their movement speed from 6 to 12 tiles. Dashing is not the same as Disengaging, and can still provoke Engagement or Attacks of Opportunity.
=== Disarming ===
As an action, a character may choose to Disarm their target so long as they have at least one hand free. An attacker with only one hand free attempts their Disarm at disadvantage. An attacker with two hands free attempts their Disarm with no penalty.

Disarms are made with a normal one-handed or unarmed attack roll. On success, the target is disarmed, dropping their weapon on the ground or in the hands of their attacker if the attacker has enough hands free (Attacker’s choice). The disarming character also deals damage equal to the weapon in their hand (1 damage if unarmed).
=== Swapping Weapons ===
Swapping weapons in combat is risky, but often necessary. Swapping weapons takes an action in most scenarios. However, if the weapon you are attempting to swap to is a one-handed weapon that is readily available, such as a holstered sidearm or a sheathed knife, you can choose to drop your currently equipped weapon on the ground to Quick Draw your one-handed weapon within the same turn. Your dropped weapon will require an action to pick up and equip once more. Please note that attachments, equipment, or other factors such as backstory or experience do not affect this rule.
=== Disengaging ===
As an action, a character may choose to Disengage from combat. This allows them to make any movement, barring any conditions which may prevent said movement, without proccing AOOs.

If you are Engaged by two or more people, Disengage actions require a Resolve (DC 12) roll to be attempted.
=== Helping ===
As an action, any character can Help another character by rolling a Resolve (DC 10) roll. On success, the target gains advantage on their next roll, depending on the nature of the help. Helping must be done with a specific intention that is laid out clearly and concisely by the helping player on their turn. In other words, you cannot blanket Help on every possible roll that another character might do. It is recommended to have a brief OOC discussion about what your Helping action will look like with the target.

Some examples of Help rolls might include:
* Attempting to restrain someone who is already grappled to give the attacking player an easier strike (Melee or Ranged Attack—While Grappling)
* Assisting a player in moving a heavy object (Strength)
* Providing an extra pair of hands during a medical emergency (First Aid)
* Providing an extra pair of hands while making dinner (Cooking)

This list is, of course, non-exhaustive. Be creative!
=== Stealth & Ambushing ===
Ambushing a combatant gives several advantages.

To attempt an Ambush, the attacker must succeed on a Hiding roll against the defender’s Perception roll. If the defender’s Perception roll beats the attacker’s Hiding roll, combat initiates as per usual, and no bonuses are obtained.

Combatants who are ambushed are Surprised and cannot act for the first round of combat. Conversely, attackers who have Ambushed a combatant or combatants have advantage on attack rolls made during this Surprise round.
=== Overwatch ===
While using a weapon, players can use their turn to go on Overwatch. Overwatch allows a player to “delay” their attack until certain events happen. Players must define these events clearly and concisely on their turn.

Examples of these events might include:
* When a specific character moves
* When any non-ally character enters a certain area
* Before or after another character acts
* If another character takes or deals damage

When Overwatch is triggered, typical range and rolling rules still apply. If Overwatch is not used, Overwatch ends on the player’s following turn unless used again.
=== Throwables, Areas of Effect (AoE), and Conditions ===
Various weapons, such as throwables, may leave an Area of Affect (AOE). AOEs can apply various Conditions to a target. Some examples of these Conditions include:
* Burning (Fire)
* Burning (Acid)
* Electrocution
* Smoke
* Poison

All of these Conditions apply the same mechanical effect. Regardless of the type, Conditions apply disadvantage to the afflicted character.

As a rule of thumb, AOEs affect a 3x3 tile area and linger on the ground for 3 turns unless specified by the item or Storyteller. A character moving into an existing AOE requires passing a DC 10 Robustness check or else risk taking on the Condition imposed by it.

An action can be spent by an afflicted character to remove a Condition unless attempted while within an AOE that applies it. Conditions can be stacked up to two times.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Throwable Examples
! Name !! Damage On-Hit !! Area of Effect
|-
| Molotov || 2 || 3x3
|-
| Smoke Bomb || - || 5x5
|-
| Acid Attack || 3 || Single Target
|}

Throwables can be tossed onto a tile, affecting the adjacent 3x3 area, by making a Ranged Attack (DC 12) roll. On failure, the throwable is placed in a random location within 2 tiles of the intended location.

The random location is determined using two separate 1d8 rolls. Each roll offsets the AoE one tile in the direction indicated by the chart below:

{|class="wikitable" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: 0px;"
|-
| 1 || 2 || 3
|-
| 4 || X || 5
|-
| 6 || 7 || 8
|}

There’s still a chance the two rolls could end up canceling each other out. If a roll would move the center of the AoE into a solid wall, the shift just doesn’t happen; low barriers do not count.

=== Attacks of Opportunity ===
Attacks of Opportunity (AOO) or Opportunity Attacks can occur when a target chooses to leave an attacker’s Engagement range. Please note that moving while staying within range of an attacker does not trigger an AOO. By default, all Human characters can use one AOO per round of combat, resetting on that character’s turn. Zombies, infected, and other creatures may have more attacks of opportunity, dependent on their individual skill sets and Storyteller preferences.

'''Ranged weapons cannot utilize Attacks of Opportunity to deal a Ranged Attack'''. A person with a ranged weapon may make an '''Improvised Weapon''' roll to hit someone with a stock or “pistol whip,” but they cannot fire at a retreating opponent.
=== Going Prone ===
Prone refers to the act of lying on one’s back or stomach on the ground. In NWO, one can take a prone stance or be made to take a prone stance willingly or unwillingly. The Prone condition comes with several advantages and disadvantages:
* Prone characters can crawl to an adjacent tile while prone. If a character is prone and behind cover, they cannot make an attack unless their target is adjacent and not on the opposite side of said cover.
* Ranged attacks against prone characters are at a disadvantage.
** Ranged attacks have advantage against prone targets within CQC/point-blank range (1 tile). If Engaged, typical Engagement rules apply.
* Melee attacks against prone characters are at advantage.
* Prone characters may use their movement or action to stand from being prone.
* Prone characters cannot Engage characters within melee range.
=== Shoving ===
Players may also choose to shove another player to displace or knock them down.

One player can shove another by engaging in a contested STR vs. STR or FIT (Defender’s choice) roll. Defenders can choose to automatically fail this roll if desired.

Shoving players can knock the target Prone or knock them away—Attacker’s choice.
* If knocked Prone, Prone rules apply.
* If knocked away, the target gets shoved back [Attacker’s ½ STR] tiles in the direction of the Attacker’s choice.
=== Grappling ===
Characters may choose to Grapple a target to prevent escape or otherwise impose various disadvantages.

One character may grapple another by engaging in a STR vs STR contest, so long as one of the Attacker’s hands is free. Attackers can drop a two-handed weapon same turn to attempt to Grapple a target, leaving their weapon on the ground. This weapon would need an action to be retrieved once more.

A Grappled character has the following disadvantages imposed upon them until the Grapple is broken:
* Movement is reduced to 0.
** Grappled characters can rotate around the grappler, but cannot disengage or exit the tile adjacent.
* All attacks from the target are made at disadvantage
* Grappled characters do not provoke AOOs

On the Grappled character’s turn, they may use their action to attempt to break free with another STR vs STR contest. On fail, the Grappled character remains Grappled.

Characters grappling with a target can force that target to a prone state as an action with no additional contest. Both characters are considered Prone.

'''Grappled targets are not restrained or disarmed'''. Grappled characters may still attack any target that would normally be capable of with the weapon they may (or may not) have equipped, including the grappler, at disadvantage. A successful attack on the grappler from the target forces a reroll of the contest.

Grapplers may attack any character with a one-handed weapon at disadvantage. Disadvantage does not apply if their target is '''Cooperative'''.

Targets under duress, such as hostages, are considered '''Uncooperative''', even if they are not attempting to actively fight their Grappler. Targets who are unconscious or otherwise incapacitated are considered '''Cooperative'''.
=== Human Shield ===
As an action or reaction, a Grappler may choose to use their target or themselves as a '''Human Shield'''.

When using a Human Shield, the Grappler gains a Full Cover bonus. When the Grappler is acting as a Human Shield, the target gains a Full Cover bonus.

Any Attacks made against the '''Shielded''' character will require a roll from the Human Shield as well. Regardless of the Shielded character’s success or failure, if the Human Shield fails their Defense roll, they take the attack’s damage as well.
=== Focusing ===
Focusing for a turn or starting combat while Focused gives Advantage to a Ranged Attack made on the next turn. If you do not fire after aiming, this bonus is lost unless Aiming is maintained.

Focusing can be done from cover. Becoming engaged or taking melee damage while Focused “breaks” your focus. If a ranged attack is made against a Focused character, that character must make a DC 12 Resolve roll to remain focused.

Focus is maintained so long as the character does not move or otherwise have their Focus broken. Once broken, Focus needs to be done once more.
=== Reloading ===
Once your available ammunition (clip, magazine, etc.) is spent, players using a ranged weapon must make a roll to Reload (DC 10). On success, their Reload is instant, allowing them to take a normal action. On failure, a turn must be dedicated to Reloading their weapon.
=== Suppressive Fire ===
With a fully automatic weapon aimed at a player behind cover, attacking players can lay down Suppressive Fire. More than half of the weapon’s magazine must remain.

Suppressive Fire requires a typical Ranged ATK vs. Ranged DEF roll. On the attacker’s success, typical damage applies.

Regardless of success or failure, the attacking player burns their magazine of their automatic weapon to attempt to negate movement or action from the defending player. If a defender attempts to move or act in a way that would expose them to Suppressive Fire, they must make a Resolve (DC 12) roll. On success, they may take their action as normal. On failure, they are startled in place. A target under Suppressive Fire may take any other action or reaction that would not expose them to suppressive fire.

Suppressive Fire ends at the beginning of the attacker’s next turn. At the end of Suppressive Fire, the attacking player must reload to continue using their currently equipped weapon.
= Armor =
Armor is applied as Light, Medium, or Heavy armor. Each type of armor has its own Armor Stacks and Drawbacks.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Armor Rules
|-
| Type || Stacks || Drawbacks
|-
| Light || 1 || -
|-
| Medium || 2 || -1 Initiative, -1 Movement
|-
| Heavy || 3 || -2 Initiative, -2 Movement
|}
If an attack is taken while wearing armor, a stack is consumed to reduce the damage of that attack to 1. Critical attacks deal 2 stacks of damage to armor and deal full damage if only one Armor Stack is remaining.
= Ranged Combat =
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
| Ranged Defense || -
|-
| Ranged Attack || Aiming/2
|}
Several aspects of the mechanical environment affect ranged rolls, including the lighting of an area, whether or not a weapon is scoped, and more. Please note that Sniping a character from a distance, while an option, is still subject to appropriate combat rules, CK rules, and ticketing. The range of a ranged weapon is dictated by in-game line-of-sight (LoS). Consider the following before making an attack roll:
* Whether the target is ‘visible’
* Whether there is a clear line of fire from attacker to defender
* Whether any allies are engaged in any actions that may put them at risk of being hit (i.e. grappling)
The above factors determine whether a target can be hit. In the special case of the flamethrower, its range is 15 in-game tiles.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Ranged Weapons
! Weapon Type !! Damage !! Crit Requirement !! Crit Dmg
|-
| Assault Weapons || 4 || Double 5/Double 6 || 6
|-
| M60/LMG's|| 5 || Double 6 || 6
|-
| Rifles & Shotguns || 4 || Double 6 || 6
|-
| Pistols || 3 || Double 6 || 4
|-
| Flamethrowers <ref>Flamethrower Crit Rule: If a character holding a Flamethrower is hit by a Critical Hit, there's a 50% chance (1-2-3 on a d6 roll) that the fuel canister explodes. Dealing 2 Damage to the wielder.</ref> <ref>Flamethrower Cover Rules: Engaged Condition and a 50% body coverage behind a tile don't offer Cover from a Flamethrower attack. If a Flamethrower attack targets a character engaged with other characters, all of them will be hit by the attack and roll Ranged Defence. Only a coverage of at least 80% behind a Tile grants the Cover modifier from a Flamethrower Attack. (ex: Only a limb/head visible)</ref> || 3 || Double 5/Double 6 || 4
|-
| Crossbows || 4 || Double 6 || 5
|}

= Melee Combat =
Melee combat occurs with contested rolls. The success of a melee attack roll is dependent on the following values:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Melee Examples
! Melee Attack !! ½ Weapon Skill (or ½ Nimble if Unarmed) + STR Bonus (+1 at lvl 8, +2 at lvl 10)
|-
| Melee Defense|| ½ Weapon Skill (or ½ Nimble if Unarmed) + STR Bonus (+1 at lvl 8, +2 at lvl 10)
|}
Each Melee weapon has its own damage and crit requirements.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Melee Examples
! Weapon Type || Damage || Crit Requirement || Crit Damage
|-
| Two-Handed|| 3 || Double 5/Double 6 || 4
|-
| One-Handed <ref>One-Handed Flurry: Characters utilizing one-handed '''melee''' weapons can forgo their movement to make a second attack at disadvantage. This attack cannot crit.</ref>|| 2 || Double 6 || 4
|-
| Spears <ref>Spear Range Rule: A character holding a spear engages hostile characters within 2 Tiles instead of 1.</ref>|| 2 || Double 6 || 3
|-
| One-Handed Machete/Handaxe/Kukri|| 3 || Double 6 || 4
|-
| Bare Hands, Improvised, Weapon Stocks|| 1 || - || -
|}

Template:Combat Rolls

2025-11-26T16:26:25Z

Ppeacherine: /* Melee Combat */

= Combat =
Here at NWO, we pride ourselves on the sense of danger and risk ever-present around our characters and plots. Every combat encounter can be a heroic victory or a crushing defeat, and very often brings with it lethal consequences. Every fight should be entered with the understanding that this...could be it.

While all players are expected to adhere to these rules when engaging in combat between characters on their own, we try to be more open and rewarding towards creativity when interacting with our Staff team in events and encounters. While the rules listed below are the usual standard used by our Storytellers and players during these Staff-hosted scenes, our NPC creations and environmental hazards sometimes require us to make adjustments to the mechanics of a scene to properly simulate the threats or conditions our players are facing.

Not to worry, though, as this same flexibility extends to you as a player! If you want to perform actions not easily expressed through these rules, talk to the Staff running the scene you are within in the OoC chat tab, and they will very often work with you to try and actualize your imagined plan. This is no guarantee that it will work, but player creativity is something we always attempt to reward.
=== Actions & Movement ===
A combat round is typically comprised of an '''Action''' and '''Movement'''. '''Reactions''' can sometimes be taken in special circumstances, such as '''Attacks of Opportunity''' or while '''Grappling''' someone. Exceptions will be noted in the relevant sections.

'''Movement''' is self-explanatory—It is the way a character “moves” around a space. Characters must toggle their movement range on their Dice Panel and may only move in one path to a point within their movement range. Movement imposes a -2 shooting penalty, regardless of the order of one’s Action or Movement.

'''Actions''' include a variety of things such as '''Attacking''', '''Grappling''', '''Shoving''', '''Throwing''', '''Helping''', or virtually anything that is not movement.

Your combat roll in a scenario is determined by the weapon a character has equipped, but will generally be '''Melee''', '''Ranged''', or '''Unarmed'''.

Those who '''apply statuses (AoE, DoT, Suppressive Fire, etc.) or wish to utilize special rulings and mechanics are responsible for enforcing them'''. If you forget to apply your statuses or recall your rulings when using them on others, you lose that turn of said status. This rule applies to NPCs and PCs.
=== Engagement ===
Engagement occurs when one character enters another’s melee range. '''Engagement does not occur if the weapon being held is a ranged weapon'''. By default, this is one tile for all melee weapons except for spears, which have a two-tile range.

While Engaged, characters cannot shoot with two-handed ranged weapons and cannot make any movement without triggering an AOO, including movement around an attacker.
=== Dashing ===
As an action, a character can double their movement speed from 6 to 12 tiles. Dashing is not the same as Disengaging, and can still provoke Engagement or Attacks of Opportunity.
=== Disarming ===
As an action, a character may choose to Disarm their target so long as they have at least one hand free. An attacker with only one hand free attempts their Disarm at disadvantage. An attacker with two hands free attempts their Disarm with no penalty.

Disarms are made with a normal one-handed or unarmed attack roll. On success, the target is disarmed, dropping their weapon on the ground or in the hands of their attacker if the attacker has enough hands free (Attacker’s choice). The disarming character also deals damage equal to the weapon in their hand (1 damage if unarmed).
=== Swapping Weapons ===
Swapping weapons in combat is risky, but often necessary. Swapping weapons takes an action in most scenarios. However, if the weapon you are attempting to swap to is a one-handed weapon that is readily available, such as a holstered sidearm or a sheathed knife, you can choose to drop your currently equipped weapon on the ground to Quick Draw your one-handed weapon within the same turn. Your dropped weapon will require an action to pick up and equip once more. Please note that attachments, equipment, or other factors such as backstory or experience do not affect this rule.
=== Disengaging ===
As an action, a character may choose to Disengage from combat. This allows them to make any movement, barring any conditions which may prevent said movement, without proccing AOOs.

If you are Engaged by two or more people, Disengage actions require a Resolve (DC 12) roll to be attempted.
=== Helping ===
As an action, any character can Help another character by rolling a Resolve (DC 10) roll. On success, the target gains advantage on their next roll, depending on the nature of the help. Helping must be done with a specific intention that is laid out clearly and concisely by the helping player on their turn. In other words, you cannot blanket Help on every possible roll that another character might do. It is recommended to have a brief OOC discussion about what your Helping action will look like with the target.

Some examples of Help rolls might include:
* Attempting to restrain someone who is already grappled to give the attacking player an easier strike (Melee or Ranged Attack—While Grappling)
* Assisting a player in moving a heavy object (Strength)
* Providing an extra pair of hands during a medical emergency (First Aid)
* Providing an extra pair of hands while making dinner (Cooking)

This list is, of course, non-exhaustive. Be creative!
=== Stealth & Ambushing ===
Ambushing a combatant gives several advantages.

To attempt an Ambush, the attacker must succeed on a Hiding roll against the defender’s Perception roll. If the defender’s Perception roll beats the attacker’s Hiding roll, combat initiates as per usual, and no bonuses are obtained.

Combatants who are ambushed are Surprised and cannot act for the first round of combat. Conversely, attackers who have Ambushed a combatant or combatants have advantage on attack rolls made during this Surprise round.
=== Overwatch ===
While using a weapon, players can use their turn to go on Overwatch. Overwatch allows a player to “delay” their attack until certain events happen. Players must define these events clearly and concisely on their turn.

Examples of these events might include:
* When a specific character moves
* When any non-ally character enters a certain area
* Before or after another character acts
* If another character takes or deals damage

When Overwatch is triggered, typical range and rolling rules still apply. If Overwatch is not used, Overwatch ends on the player’s following turn unless used again.
=== Throwables, Areas of Effect (AoE), and Conditions ===
Various weapons, such as throwables, may leave an Area of Affect (AOE). AOEs can apply various Conditions to a target. Some examples of these Conditions include:
* Burning (Fire)
* Burning (Acid)
* Electrocution
* Smoke
* Poison

All of these Conditions apply the same mechanical effect. Regardless of the type, Conditions apply disadvantage to the afflicted character.

As a rule of thumb, AOEs affect a 3x3 tile area and linger on the ground for 3 turns unless specified by the item or Storyteller. A character moving into an existing AOE requires passing a DC 10 Robustness check or else risk taking on the Condition imposed by it.

An action can be spent by an afflicted character to remove a Condition unless attempted while within an AOE that applies it. Conditions can be stacked up to two times.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Throwable Examples
! Name !! Damage On-Hit !! Area of Effect
|-
| Molotov || 2 || 3x3
|-
| Smoke Bomb || - || 5x5
|-
| Acid Attack || 3 || Single Target
|}

Throwables can be tossed onto a tile, affecting the adjacent 3x3 area, by making a Ranged Attack (DC 12) roll. On failure, the throwable is placed in a random location within 2 tiles of the intended location.

The random location is determined using two separate 1d8 rolls. Each roll offsets the AoE one tile in the direction indicated by the chart below:

{|class="wikitable" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: 0px;"
|-
| 1 || 2 || 3
|-
| 4 || X || 5
|-
| 6 || 7 || 8
|}

There’s still a chance the two rolls could end up canceling each other out. If a roll would move the center of the AoE into a solid wall, the shift just doesn’t happen; low barriers do not count.

=== Attacks of Opportunity ===
Attacks of Opportunity (AOO) or Opportunity Attacks can occur when a target chooses to leave an attacker’s Engagement range. Please note that moving while staying within range of an attacker does not trigger an AOO. By default, all Human characters can use one AOO per round of combat, resetting on that character’s turn. Zombies, infected, and other creatures may have more attacks of opportunity, dependent on their individual skill sets and Storyteller preferences.

'''Ranged weapons cannot utilize Attacks of Opportunity to deal a Ranged Attack'''. A person with a ranged weapon may make an '''Improvised Weapon''' roll to hit someone with a stock or “pistol whip,” but they cannot fire at a retreating opponent.
=== Going Prone ===
Prone refers to the act of lying on one’s back or stomach on the ground. In NWO, one can take a prone stance or be made to take a prone stance willingly or unwillingly. The Prone condition comes with several advantages and disadvantages:
* Prone characters can crawl to an adjacent tile while prone. If a character is prone and behind cover, they cannot make an attack unless their target is adjacent and not on the opposite side of said cover.
* Ranged attacks against prone characters are at a disadvantage.
** Ranged attacks have advantage against prone targets within CQC/point-blank range (1 tile). If Engaged, typical Engagement rules apply.
* Melee attacks against prone characters are at advantage.
* Prone characters may use their movement or action to stand from being prone.
* Prone characters cannot Engage characters within melee range.
=== Shoving ===
Players may also choose to shove another player to displace or knock them down.

One player can shove another by engaging in a contested STR vs. STR or FIT (Defender’s choice) roll. Defenders can choose to automatically fail this roll if desired.

Shoving players can knock the target Prone or knock them away—Attacker’s choice.
* If knocked Prone, Prone rules apply.
* If knocked away, the target gets shoved back [Attacker’s ½ STR] tiles in the direction of the Attacker’s choice.
=== Grappling ===
Characters may choose to Grapple a target to prevent escape or otherwise impose various disadvantages.

One character may grapple another by engaging in a STR vs STR contest, so long as one of the Attacker’s hands is free. Attackers can drop a two-handed weapon same turn to attempt to Grapple a target, leaving their weapon on the ground. This weapon would need an action to be retrieved once more.

A Grappled character has the following disadvantages imposed upon them until the Grapple is broken:
* Movement is reduced to 0.
** Grappled characters can rotate around the grappler, but cannot disengage or exit the tile adjacent.
* All attacks from the target are made at disadvantage
* Grappled characters do not provoke AOOs

On the Grappled character’s turn, they may use their action to attempt to break free with another STR vs STR contest. On fail, the Grappled character remains Grappled.

Characters grappling with a target can force that target to a prone state as an action with no additional contest. Both characters are considered Prone.

'''Grappled targets are not restrained or disarmed'''. Grappled characters may still attack any target that would normally be capable of with the weapon they may (or may not) have equipped, including the grappler, at disadvantage. A successful attack on the grappler from the target forces a reroll of the contest.

Grapplers may attack any character with a one-handed weapon at disadvantage. Disadvantage does not apply if their target is '''Cooperative'''.

Targets under duress, such as hostages, are considered '''Uncooperative''', even if they are not attempting to actively fight their Grappler. Targets who are unconscious or otherwise incapacitated are considered '''Cooperative'''.
=== Human Shield ===
As an action or reaction, a Grappler may choose to use their target or themselves as a '''Human Shield'''.

When using a Human Shield, the Grappler gains a Full Cover bonus. When the Grappler is acting as a Human Shield, the target gains a Full Cover bonus.

Any Attacks made against the '''Shielded''' character will require a roll from the Human Shield as well. Regardless of the Shielded character’s success or failure, if the Human Shield fails their Defense roll, they take the attack’s damage as well.
=== Focusing ===
Focusing for a turn or starting combat while Focused gives Advantage to a Ranged Attack made on the next turn. If you do not fire after aiming, this bonus is lost unless Aiming is maintained.

Focusing can be done from cover. Becoming engaged or taking melee damage while Focused “breaks” your focus. If a ranged attack is made against a Focused character, that character must make a DC 12 Resolve roll to remain focused.

Focus is maintained so long as the character does not move or otherwise have their Focus broken. Once broken, Focus needs to be done once more.
=== Reloading ===
Once your available ammunition (clip, magazine, etc.) is spent, players using a ranged weapon must make a roll to Reload (DC 10). On success, their Reload is instant, allowing them to take a normal action. On failure, a turn must be dedicated to Reloading their weapon.
=== Suppressive Fire ===
With a fully automatic weapon aimed at a player behind cover, attacking players can lay down Suppressive Fire. More than half of the weapon’s magazine must remain.

Suppressive Fire requires a typical Ranged ATK vs. Ranged DEF roll. On the attacker’s success, typical damage applies.

Regardless of success or failure, the attacking player burns their magazine of their automatic weapon to attempt to negate movement or action from the defending player. If a defender attempts to move or act in a way that would expose them to Suppressive Fire, they must make a Resolve (DC 12) roll. On success, they may take their action as normal. On failure, they are startled in place. A target under Suppressive Fire may take any other action or reaction that would not expose them to suppressive fire.

Suppressive Fire ends at the beginning of the attacker’s next turn. At the end of Suppressive Fire, the attacking player must reload to continue using their currently equipped weapon.
= Armor =
Armor is applied as Light, Medium, or Heavy armor. Each type of armor has its own Armor Stacks and Drawbacks.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Armor Rules
|-
| Type || Stacks || Drawbacks
|-
| Light || 1 || -
|-
| Medium || 2 || -1 Initiative, -1 Movement
|-
| Heavy || 3 || -2 Initiative, -2 Movement
|}
If an attack is taken while wearing armor, a stack is consumed to reduce the damage of that attack to 1. Critical attacks deal 2 stacks of damage to armor and deal full damage if only one Armor Stack is remaining.
= Ranged Combat =
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+
| Ranged Defense || -
|-
| Ranged Attack || Aiming/2
|}
Several aspects of the mechanical environment affect ranged rolls, including the lighting of an area, whether or not a weapon is scoped, and more. Please note that Sniping a character from a distance, while an option, is still subject to appropriate combat rules, CK rules, and ticketing. The range of a ranged weapon is dictated by in-game line-of-sight (LoS). Consider the following before making an attack roll:
* Whether the target is ‘visible’
* Whether there is a clear line of fire from attacker to defender
* Whether any allies are engaged in any actions that may put them at risk of being hit (i.e. grappling)
The above factors determine whether a target can be hit. In the special case of the flamethrower, its range is 15 in-game tiles.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Ranged Weapons
! Weapon Type !! Damage !! Crit Requirement !! Crit Dmg
|-
| Assault Weapons || 4 || Double 5/Double 6 || 6
|-
| M60/LMG's|| 5 || Double 6 || 6
|-
| Rifles & Shotguns || 4 || Double 6 || 6
|-
| Pistols || 3 || Double 6 || 4
|-
| Flamethrowers <ref>Flamethrower Crit Rule: If a character holding a Flamethrower is hit by a Critical Hit, there's a 50% chance (1-2-3 on a d6 roll) that the fuel canister explodes. Dealing 2 Damage to the wielder.</ref> <ref>Flamethrower Cover Rules: Engaged Condition and a 50% body coverage behind a tile don't offer Cover from a Flamethrower attack. If a Flamethrower attack targets a character engaged with other characters, all of them will be hit by the attack and roll Ranged Defence. Only a coverage of at least 80% behind a Tile grants the Cover modifier from a Flamethrower Attack. (ex: Only a limb/head visible)</ref> || 3 || Double 5/Double 6 || 4
|-
| Crossbows || 4 || Double 6 || 5
|}

= Melee Combat =
Melee combat occurs with contested rolls. The success of a melee attack roll is dependent on the following values:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Melee Examples
! Melee Attack !! ½ Weapon Skill (or ½ Nimble if Unarmed) + STR Bonus (+1 at lvl 8, +2 at lvl 10)
|-
| Melee Defense|| ½ Weapon Skill (or ½ Nimble if Unarmed) + STR Bonus (+1 at lvl 8, +2 at lvl 10)
|}
Each Melee weapon has its own damage and crit requirements.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Melee Examples
! Weapon Type || Damage || Crit Requirement || Crit Damage
|-
| Two-Handed|| 3 || Double 5/Double 6 || 4
|-
| One-Handed <ref>One-Handed Double-Tap: Characters utilizing one-handed '''melee''' weapons can forgo their movement to make a second attack at disadvantage. This attack cannot crit.</ref>|| 2 || Double 6 || 4
|-
| Spears <ref>Spear Range Rule: A character holding a spear engages hostile characters within 2 Tiles instead of 1.</ref>|| 2 || Double 6 || 3
|-
| One-Handed Machete/Handaxe/Kukri|| 3 || Double 6 || 4
|-
| Bare Hands, Improvised, Weapon Stocks|| 1 || - || -
|}

Template:The World

2025-11-16T05:12:14Z

Ppeacherine: /* Greater Utah */

== '''Greater Utah''' ==
[[File:Rivera Utah.jpg|200px|frameless|right]]
A desert state where survivors stand against the harsh sun and the flesh both to eke out some kind of living. Persevering stubbornly onward like the brush and sand that dot the landscape.

[[Greater_Utah|Greater Utah]] contains several major locations, including the [[Greater Utah#The Burnt Miles|Burnt Miles]] and [[Greater Utah#The Utah Bunker|the Bunker]].

== '''The Great Scare''' ==
One of many colloquial terms used to describe the chaos of the meteors' first impact.

Three months before impact, the sensors of a deep space complex in Alaska reported to Washington signs of multiple meteoroids on an impact course with Earth. Misaligned from their previous path by an intersolar impact. Their landing wouldn't be the end of the world - but it was enough to warrant secret funding for threat assessment and management.

A month before the impact, weeks-old government emails turned up on an online conspiracy forum. Their mentions of an approaching swarm of celestial bodies reached the media within days. An official statement was wrestled out of the government. The impact wouldn't cause serious damages; anyone living in highly populated areas should seek shelter underground; low casualties were expected.

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced alongside a lengthy list of reopened Cold War bunkers. But the government's actions were clouded by a lack of transparency. Independent researchers contested the figures provided by the government. Religious groups and conspiracy forums flooded minds with cataclysmic thoughts.
[[File:The Great Scare.jpg|300px|right]]
Days before the impact, the United States army stood on its own streets. Looting and rioting had grown to such levels that martial law was instituted. For the most part it worked, as the focus of the masses turned quickly from profit to survival. In the hours before the impact, streets and cities appeared abandoned. Air raid shelters overflowed.

In the impact's aftermath, the government was proven right. Casualties were few. Most countries' infrastructure remained online. Governments around the world urged the populace to return to their lives - with little effect. The global supply chain had been brought to a halt for over a week. Its startup was jerky, halting, doomed to fail.

The high demand, low offer economy killed millions of jobs and thousands of companies. Within five weeks of the impact the number of multi-billion dollar companies had been slashed down to a third. It would be nearly three months before the turmoil settled.

Within six months the news cycle had moved on. Renewed government instability in poorer countries combined with the hottest summer in two decades brought life back to the present.

For years after, American life was normal. Schools ran. Office workers stepped into their cubicles. The government changed political hands. Everything was just... a bit hotter.

== '''The Flesh''' ==

The meteoroids of the Great Scare were so numerous that it was impossible to retrieve them all. Most were collected by governmental and private organizations - but from those that landed in the depths of rural communities and far into the heart of nature, an awful amalgamation was left to take root.
[[File:The Flesh.jpg|200px|frameless|right]]
It started to eat. Consume. Unchecked, uncontrolled, uncontested. The Flesh grew.

The first disappearances were blamed on animal attacks, or the simple misfortune of an inexperienced hiker facing bad weather and unknown trails. By 2002, when reports first began to filter into the media, it had grown too much to be stopped. Entire '''ecosystems''' existed where unknown creatures moved in a state of constant growth and change.

It was impossible to find each and every crash site. Impossible to burn out every colony of flesh. The focus of those in power eventually turned from destruction to survival.

The Flesh is an amorphous mass in a constant state of change that consumes biomass to spread. From its depths spew forth a constant deluge of wicked creatures; mockeries of life human and animal.

Fire and high heat can hold it back - but even the soaring temperatures of the world haven't been enough to '''kill''' it. Maybe nothing can. And only time can tell what other horrors will sprout from the Flesh.

== '''Ossitium''' ==

[[File:Ossitium.png|250px|thumb|right|A sample of raw Ossitium]]
Ossitium is a rare, meteor-born metal that only appears in the scorched cores of fallen meteors. In raw form, it looks like a chalky, bone-colored ore threaded with fine metallic veins that shimmer faintly under light.

Once smelted, Ossitium produces a lightweight silver alloy harder than steel yet flexible enough to resist shattering.

Its value comes from its unique properties: it holds an edge far longer than conventional metals, resists corrosion even in the harshest desert climates, and handles heat unlike any other metal. Blacksmiths covet it for weapons and tools, while mechanics prize it for machinery that can withstand extremes of temperature.

For those bold enough to seize it first, Ossitium can mean wealth, status, or survival. But most deposits are collected by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation.

== '''Whyte-Shioda Corp''' ==

Founded in 1989, the Whyte-Shioda Corporation wasn't a household name. But their crack team of engineers made them well known in the tech business. Seeing Whyte-Shioda on a part of your machine was a guarantee of high quality. Their name, some savvy business decisions, and the first government contract to study Ossitium put Whyte-Shioda Corporation among the few multi-billion dollar companies to survive the financial crisis that followed the Great Scare.

Where governments faltered, Whyte-Shioda Corporation stood tall. Property, power, and patents were quickly consolidated beneath their banner. The military's quasi collapse by mass desertion in 2001 prompted Whyte-Shioda to raise their own army. Firearms, armor, and vehicles enhanced with Ossitium drew in deserters with the promise of hope.

As of 2005, they are the sole known superpower of humanity. All the resources and manpower at their disposal are constantly put to work on the dual tasks they've taken up - fighting back the Flesh, and keeping alive what of humanity they can. Many of those still surviving the Utah heats have their charity to thank for that.

[[File:Whyte-Shioda Corp.png|center]] ''Credits for the logo: @level4slime''

Greater Utah

2025-11-16T04:13:31Z

Ppeacherine: /* Life Inside the Bunker */

== Greater Utah ==
[[File:Greater Utah.png|250px|thumb|right|The Historic State Flag of Utah (1913-2024)]]

The red stones and salt white deserts of Utah. Once known for its canyons, arches and wide-open salt flats, Utah is among the few active front-lines standing against the spread of the Flesh. Cancerous growths sprout from sand and stone where meteors fall, streaks of fire that stain the natural splendor with an unrelenting infestation.. but a lack of organic matter stymies the spread. The heat bears down on the invading meat just as viciously as any human’s.

Before the world fell silent, the local CDI correctly identified the mountainous terrain as a likely holdout against the ongoing spread of the Flesh and carved its mark. What began as land deals with the county government became a proving ground for several experimental bunkers- an attempt to secure humanity’s future under the ‘protection’ of the burning sun. Sealed beneath rock and steel, kept alive by what self-sufficient systems could be procured on such short notice, the bunkers held.. for a time.

The skies above Utah never found their rest. Day by day, night by night, meteors burn up as they fly overhead. Helicopters manned by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation are commonplace, ferrying soldiers and technicians to carve out the precious cores of the fallen rocks- and deliver aid to the struggling survivors sheltered in the canyons below.

Whether the high canyon walls and scorching heat will shelter the remnants of humanity forever remains to be seen.

== The Civil Defense Initiative and Bunkers ==

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced in the aftermath of the Great Scare. A desperate attempt to reignite Cold War era defense programs in event of a nuclear strike - now finding purpose from a different kind of threat. Should a series of strikes truly catastrophic occur, the population would need safety.

Federal funds were earmarked for the program, but it was hampered by governmental instability. The responsibility to carve bunkers out of rock or retrofit existing structures into civil defense shelters was pushed down to state governments, county boards, and even private contractors.

Shoddy craftsmanship dogged them. Important subsystems had gone years unmaintained. Not all of them were even capable of sealing. But for a select few (and a couple lottery winners), the Civil Defense Initiative's bunkers are the only reason they're alive.

=== The Utah Bunker ===
[[File:The Bunker.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
Built late into the Collapse under the Civil Defense Initiative, the bunker is one of several attempts to sustain a human population underground, sealing away a hundred or so chosen souls away from the chaos above.

Originally a cold-war era nuclear shelter for the local townships, the bunker was carved directly into the canyon wall. Construction was rushed, regulations bent or ignored, and the rusted foundation of long-forgotten nuclear defense programs meant the bunker inherited many of its aging problems. Water recyclers clogged, and filters degraded. Generators burned out, and fume vents backed up. Oxygen scrubbers relied on finite supplies of filters, impossible to replace as time marched on. America no longer had the industry, materials, or will to build a vault that could last centuries, leaving it a patchwork project of desperation.

The bunkers weren’t intended to be humanity’s new home- they were designed as lifeboats. A pause on extinction.

When the Flesh swept across the globe, surviving on the surface wasn’t impossible, but it was far from preferable. Most of the occupants of the bunkers were chosen for their skills, their status, or their value to society- priority was given to officials, government workers, and technicians tied to vital infrastructure. To the CDI, survival wasn’t intended to be democratic, but strategic. In the face of slow-rolling unrest threatening to unseat its control over the rapidly deteriorating surface, the Initiative was eventually forced to open additional slots. To distribute them, a lottery. For a lucky few in 2002, survival came not in the form of merit or status but sheer chance.

Over the years, the state of the outside world was reduced to myth. No radio signals, no knocks at the door, nothing but the groan of machinery and life support systems. The survival of the CDI, the spread of the Flesh, even the fate of humanity itself became increasingly unclear as the years ticked on.

==== Life Inside the Bunker ====
The closing of the doors in early `02 marked not salvation for those inside, but a new form of living.

Brochures passed out as the doors closed spoke of safety, food, and shelter. At least until the surface cooled and the skies cleared up. Those chosen by the Civil Defense Initiative - doctors, engineers, technicians and the like, or even those simply lucky enough to be chosen by the lottery - were stepping into a world where they may never see the sun again.

Artificial lights and the hum of recirculated oxygen. The walls were clean, and the food at times was bland. A consistent need to disinfect the small world they now lived in left a reoccurring smell throughout the communal areas of the bunker. Every day followed some form of structure, broken up by the difference in foods or people you saw.

Weeks turned into months. A Warden put in place by the CDI alongside a small contingency of security - drafted from local National Guard and Sheriff applicants - kept the bunker at peace with itself. But the consistent reassurance that it was only a temporary relocation underground did not inspire confidence in many.

Rumors would eventually begin to spread that outside radio communications had shut down entirely. In a form of protest, some of the inhabitants staged a sit-in protest in the communal area. An event that went on for days and saw the bunker brought to the brink of revolt. When the riot was eventually subdued, the protest's leaders were exiled to the outside world. At the time, this was a new event, and it struck fear into many. For the outside world was now unknown, and it may as well have been alien - surely this was a death sentence.

By year two maintenance crews were stretched thin, both in manpower and supplies. Duct tape and spit was less of a phrase and more of a way of life in repairs. Arguments erupted over anything - rationing, oxygen, water, recreation. The Warden became increasingly authoritarian - which led to even more exiles. In time, many renewed their love of faith, be it God Almighty or the Sun they hadn't seen in years. everyone needed something to believe in during a time of crisis.

By the final year, year three, entire corridors of the bunker were be cut off due to maintenance failures. Only a quarter of the bunker remains operational to this day. A need to conserve air would only worsen over time. In a desperate bid to avoid accountability, Warden Byers would ultimately take his own life.

Failing hydroponics, flickering lights, and the breakdown of authority saw the ill situation of the bunker spiral further out of control.

Will the inhabitants retake control of the situation? Or let it degrade further into the ground?

'''Whatever happens, is up to them.'''

== The Burnt Miles ==
[[File:The Burnt Miles.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
The ozone, torn apart by years of constant meteor strikes, is no barrier to the sun here. Its unending heat beats down on the parched ground. Temperatures can soar to 120F and higher - further than most thermometers can measure.

That heat wears down the Flesh just as much as any other living being. Its unending push forward is slowed to a crawl. But the monstrous mass won't be stopped. Untold numbers of its spawn trudge forth to stake its claim in the dunes.

Meteor strikes are just as common a sighting as corporate helicopters. Often the former precedes the latter, but many who wander the wastes have been privy to a fly-by from a bird carrying potentially life-saving aid.

The few communities eking out an existence in this inhospitable area cluster around oases and rivers whose banks slowly dwindle year after year. Most every other town is inhabited only by sand and ghosts.

Rare as it may be, life still finds a way to thrive in the Utah desert.

=== Life In the Burnt Miles ===
The bunkers' closure in early 2002 forced a choice on those not skilled enough to be selected or lucky enough to win the lottery - stay in Utah and brave the heat, or flee to cooler temperatures. Most chose the latter.

Those who ran found little respite. News of a military coup only a month after the bunkers closed preceded the near-total collapse of governmental power. Urban areas were marked by constant pandemonium. Gangs rose to power as quickly as they fell out, leaving the average civilian uncertain over who controlled their block each day. Rural areas were safer for a time - but sooner or later the Flesh would consume them. Cities too fell beneath its unending expansion. Refugees returned to the ever-hotter deserts.

Natural desert oases were the saving grace for many groups that gathered together in the years that followed. With traditional supply lines cut, they were one of the only sources of drinkable water. Nomadic groups and ramshackle towns alike stuck nearby them whenever possible. Other areas offered shelter - caves, canyons, motorway tunnels - but water, which took on a critical importance as the temperatures rose.

Nomads, bandits, townsfolk - all were bound by an eternal struggle against the sun. The ozone barrier was irreparably breached by the meteor streaks, ensuring that temperatures kept rising and sunburns afflicted any who braved the outside while the sun was at its peak. Water was in high demand and short supply. Lives were taken for only a few bottles.

Life isn't easy in the scorching Utah wastes. But it always finds a way.

==== Penance ====
[[File:Penance.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
The original town had no name - less than a hundred souls called it home. The name given to the shanty town that sprung from the podunk town came from the church's signboard. Time had plucked away all the words but one, and it fit well enough.

Penance is a scrap-built frontier town at the base of the canyon. The town is built around a sealed off shelter harboring a handful of souls who sought shelter years before. The natural canyon faces that surround Penance shelter it from storms and raiders alike, and an oasis blesses the town with only an hour's walk to fresh water.

Its population has waxed and waned over the years.

Greater Utah

2025-11-16T04:09:04Z

Ppeacherine: /* Penance */

== Greater Utah ==
[[File:Greater Utah.png|250px|thumb|right|The Historic State Flag of Utah (1913-2024)]]

The red stones and salt white deserts of Utah. Once known for its canyons, arches and wide-open salt flats, Utah is among the few active front-lines standing against the spread of the Flesh. Cancerous growths sprout from sand and stone where meteors fall, streaks of fire that stain the natural splendor with an unrelenting infestation.. but a lack of organic matter stymies the spread. The heat bears down on the invading meat just as viciously as any human’s.

Before the world fell silent, the local CDI correctly identified the mountainous terrain as a likely holdout against the ongoing spread of the Flesh and carved its mark. What began as land deals with the county government became a proving ground for several experimental bunkers- an attempt to secure humanity’s future under the ‘protection’ of the burning sun. Sealed beneath rock and steel, kept alive by what self-sufficient systems could be procured on such short notice, the bunkers held.. for a time.

The skies above Utah never found their rest. Day by day, night by night, meteors burn up as they fly overhead. Helicopters manned by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation are commonplace, ferrying soldiers and technicians to carve out the precious cores of the fallen rocks- and deliver aid to the struggling survivors sheltered in the canyons below.

Whether the high canyon walls and scorching heat will shelter the remnants of humanity forever remains to be seen.

== The Civil Defense Initiative and Bunkers ==

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced in the aftermath of the Great Scare. A desperate attempt to reignite Cold War era defense programs in event of a nuclear strike - now finding purpose from a different kind of threat. Should a series of strikes truly catastrophic occur, the population would need safety.

Federal funds were earmarked for the program, but it was hampered by governmental instability. The responsibility to carve bunkers out of rock or retrofit existing structures into civil defense shelters was pushed down to state governments, county boards, and even private contractors.

Shoddy craftsmanship dogged them. Important subsystems had gone years unmaintained. Not all of them were even capable of sealing. But for a select few (and a couple lottery winners), the Civil Defense Initiative's bunkers are the only reason they're alive.

=== The Utah Bunker ===
[[File:The Bunker.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
Built late into the Collapse under the Civil Defense Initiative, the bunker is one of several attempts to sustain a human population underground, sealing away a hundred or so chosen souls away from the chaos above.

Originally a cold-war era nuclear shelter for the local townships, the bunker was carved directly into the canyon wall. Construction was rushed, regulations bent or ignored, and the rusted foundation of long-forgotten nuclear defense programs meant the bunker inherited many of its aging problems. Water recyclers clogged, and filters degraded. Generators burned out, and fume vents backed up. Oxygen scrubbers relied on finite supplies of filters, impossible to replace as time marched on. America no longer had the industry, materials, or will to build a vault that could last centuries, leaving it a patchwork project of desperation.

The bunkers weren’t intended to be humanity’s new home- they were designed as lifeboats. A pause on extinction.

When the Flesh swept across the globe, surviving on the surface wasn’t impossible, but it was far from preferable. Most of the occupants of the bunkers were chosen for their skills, their status, or their value to society- priority was given to officials, government workers, and technicians tied to vital infrastructure. To the CDI, survival wasn’t intended to be democratic, but strategic. In the face of slow-rolling unrest threatening to unseat its control over the rapidly deteriorating surface, the Initiative was eventually forced to open additional slots. To distribute them, a lottery. For a lucky few in 2002, survival came not in the form of merit or status but sheer chance.

Over the years, the state of the outside world was reduced to myth. No radio signals, no knocks at the door, nothing but the groan of machinery and life support systems. The survival of the CDI, the spread of the Flesh, even the fate of humanity itself became increasingly unclear as the years ticked on.

==== Life Inside the Bunker ====
The closing of the doors in early `02 marked not salvation for those inside, but a new form of living.

Brochures passed out as the doors closed spoke of safety, food, and shelter. At least until the surface cooled and the skies cleared up. Those chosen by the Civil Defense Initiative - doctors, engineers, technicians and the like, or even those simply lucky enough to be chosen by the lottery - were stepping into a world where they may never see the sun again.

Artificial lights and the hum of recirculated oxygen. The walls were clean, and the food at times was bland. A consistent need to disinfect the small world they now lived in left a reoccurring smell throughout the communal areas of the bunker. Every day followed some form of structure, broken up by the difference in foods or people you saw.

Weeks turned into months. A Warden put in place by the CDI alongside a small contingency of security - drafted from local National Guard and Sheriff applicants - kept the bunker at peace with itself. But the consistent reassurance that it was only a temporary relocation underground did not inspire confidence in many.

Rumors would eventually begin to spread that outside radio communications had shut down entirely. In a form of protest, some of the inhabitants staged a sit-in protest in the communal area. An event that went on for days and saw the bunker brought to the brink of revolt. When the riot was eventually subdued, the protest's leaders were exiled to the outside world. At the time, this was a new event, and it struck fear into many. For the outside world was now unknown, and it may as well have been alien - surely this was a death sentence.

By year two maintenance crews were stretched thin, both in manpower and supplies. Duct tape and spit was less of a phrase and more of a way of life in repairs. Arguments erupted over anything - rationing, oxygen, water, recreation. The Warden became increasingly authoritarian - which led to even more exiles. In time, many renewed their love of faith, be it God Almighty or the Sun they hadn't seen in years. everyone needed something to believe in during a time of crisis.

By the final year, year three, entire corridors of the bunker were be cut off due to maintenance failures. Only a quarter of the bunker remains operational to this day. A need to conserve air would only worsen over time. In a desperate bid to avoid accountability, Warden Byers would ultimately take his own life.

Failing hydroponics, flickering lights, and the breakdown of authority saw the ill situation of the bunker spiral further out of control.

Will the inhabitants retake control of the situation? Or let it degrade further into the ground. Whatever happens, is up to them.

== The Burnt Miles ==
[[File:The Burnt Miles.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
The ozone, torn apart by years of constant meteor strikes, is no barrier to the sun here. Its unending heat beats down on the parched ground. Temperatures can soar to 120F and higher - further than most thermometers can measure.

That heat wears down the Flesh just as much as any other living being. Its unending push forward is slowed to a crawl. But the monstrous mass won't be stopped. Untold numbers of its spawn trudge forth to stake its claim in the dunes.

Meteor strikes are just as common a sighting as corporate helicopters. Often the former precedes the latter, but many who wander the wastes have been privy to a fly-by from a bird carrying potentially life-saving aid.

The few communities eking out an existence in this inhospitable area cluster around oases and rivers whose banks slowly dwindle year after year. Most every other town is inhabited only by sand and ghosts.

Rare as it may be, life still finds a way to thrive in the Utah desert.

=== Life In the Burnt Miles ===
The bunkers' closure in early 2002 forced a choice on those not skilled enough to be selected or lucky enough to win the lottery - stay in Utah and brave the heat, or flee to cooler temperatures. Most chose the latter.

Those who ran found little respite. News of a military coup only a month after the bunkers closed preceded the near-total collapse of governmental power. Urban areas were marked by constant pandemonium. Gangs rose to power as quickly as they fell out, leaving the average civilian uncertain over who controlled their block each day. Rural areas were safer for a time - but sooner or later the Flesh would consume them. Cities too fell beneath its unending expansion. Refugees returned to the ever-hotter deserts.

Natural desert oases were the saving grace for many groups that gathered together in the years that followed. With traditional supply lines cut, they were one of the only sources of drinkable water. Nomadic groups and ramshackle towns alike stuck nearby them whenever possible. Other areas offered shelter - caves, canyons, motorway tunnels - but water, which took on a critical importance as the temperatures rose.

Nomads, bandits, townsfolk - all were bound by an eternal struggle against the sun. The ozone barrier was irreparably breached by the meteor streaks, ensuring that temperatures kept rising and sunburns afflicted any who braved the outside while the sun was at its peak. Water was in high demand and short supply. Lives were taken for only a few bottles.

Life isn't easy in the scorching Utah wastes. But it always finds a way.

==== Penance ====
[[File:Penance.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
The original town had no name - less than a hundred souls called it home. The name given to the shanty town that sprung from the podunk town came from the church's signboard. Time had plucked away all the words but one, and it fit well enough.

Penance is a scrap-built frontier town at the base of the canyon. The town is built around a sealed off shelter harboring a handful of souls who sought shelter years before. The natural canyon faces that surround Penance shelter it from storms and raiders alike, and an oasis blesses the town with only an hour's walk to fresh water.

Its population has waxed and waned over the years.

Greater Utah

2025-11-16T04:08:46Z

Ppeacherine: /* The Burnt Miles */

== Greater Utah ==
[[File:Greater Utah.png|250px|thumb|right|The Historic State Flag of Utah (1913-2024)]]

The red stones and salt white deserts of Utah. Once known for its canyons, arches and wide-open salt flats, Utah is among the few active front-lines standing against the spread of the Flesh. Cancerous growths sprout from sand and stone where meteors fall, streaks of fire that stain the natural splendor with an unrelenting infestation.. but a lack of organic matter stymies the spread. The heat bears down on the invading meat just as viciously as any human’s.

Before the world fell silent, the local CDI correctly identified the mountainous terrain as a likely holdout against the ongoing spread of the Flesh and carved its mark. What began as land deals with the county government became a proving ground for several experimental bunkers- an attempt to secure humanity’s future under the ‘protection’ of the burning sun. Sealed beneath rock and steel, kept alive by what self-sufficient systems could be procured on such short notice, the bunkers held.. for a time.

The skies above Utah never found their rest. Day by day, night by night, meteors burn up as they fly overhead. Helicopters manned by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation are commonplace, ferrying soldiers and technicians to carve out the precious cores of the fallen rocks- and deliver aid to the struggling survivors sheltered in the canyons below.

Whether the high canyon walls and scorching heat will shelter the remnants of humanity forever remains to be seen.

== The Civil Defense Initiative and Bunkers ==

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced in the aftermath of the Great Scare. A desperate attempt to reignite Cold War era defense programs in event of a nuclear strike - now finding purpose from a different kind of threat. Should a series of strikes truly catastrophic occur, the population would need safety.

Federal funds were earmarked for the program, but it was hampered by governmental instability. The responsibility to carve bunkers out of rock or retrofit existing structures into civil defense shelters was pushed down to state governments, county boards, and even private contractors.

Shoddy craftsmanship dogged them. Important subsystems had gone years unmaintained. Not all of them were even capable of sealing. But for a select few (and a couple lottery winners), the Civil Defense Initiative's bunkers are the only reason they're alive.

=== The Utah Bunker ===
[[File:The Bunker.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
Built late into the Collapse under the Civil Defense Initiative, the bunker is one of several attempts to sustain a human population underground, sealing away a hundred or so chosen souls away from the chaos above.

Originally a cold-war era nuclear shelter for the local townships, the bunker was carved directly into the canyon wall. Construction was rushed, regulations bent or ignored, and the rusted foundation of long-forgotten nuclear defense programs meant the bunker inherited many of its aging problems. Water recyclers clogged, and filters degraded. Generators burned out, and fume vents backed up. Oxygen scrubbers relied on finite supplies of filters, impossible to replace as time marched on. America no longer had the industry, materials, or will to build a vault that could last centuries, leaving it a patchwork project of desperation.

The bunkers weren’t intended to be humanity’s new home- they were designed as lifeboats. A pause on extinction.

When the Flesh swept across the globe, surviving on the surface wasn’t impossible, but it was far from preferable. Most of the occupants of the bunkers were chosen for their skills, their status, or their value to society- priority was given to officials, government workers, and technicians tied to vital infrastructure. To the CDI, survival wasn’t intended to be democratic, but strategic. In the face of slow-rolling unrest threatening to unseat its control over the rapidly deteriorating surface, the Initiative was eventually forced to open additional slots. To distribute them, a lottery. For a lucky few in 2002, survival came not in the form of merit or status but sheer chance.

Over the years, the state of the outside world was reduced to myth. No radio signals, no knocks at the door, nothing but the groan of machinery and life support systems. The survival of the CDI, the spread of the Flesh, even the fate of humanity itself became increasingly unclear as the years ticked on.

==== Life Inside the Bunker ====
The closing of the doors in early `02 marked not salvation for those inside, but a new form of living.

Brochures passed out as the doors closed spoke of safety, food, and shelter. At least until the surface cooled and the skies cleared up. Those chosen by the Civil Defense Initiative - doctors, engineers, technicians and the like, or even those simply lucky enough to be chosen by the lottery - were stepping into a world where they may never see the sun again.

Artificial lights and the hum of recirculated oxygen. The walls were clean, and the food at times was bland. A consistent need to disinfect the small world they now lived in left a reoccurring smell throughout the communal areas of the bunker. Every day followed some form of structure, broken up by the difference in foods or people you saw.

Weeks turned into months. A Warden put in place by the CDI alongside a small contingency of security - drafted from local National Guard and Sheriff applicants - kept the bunker at peace with itself. But the consistent reassurance that it was only a temporary relocation underground did not inspire confidence in many.

Rumors would eventually begin to spread that outside radio communications had shut down entirely. In a form of protest, some of the inhabitants staged a sit-in protest in the communal area. An event that went on for days and saw the bunker brought to the brink of revolt. When the riot was eventually subdued, the protest's leaders were exiled to the outside world. At the time, this was a new event, and it struck fear into many. For the outside world was now unknown, and it may as well have been alien - surely this was a death sentence.

By year two maintenance crews were stretched thin, both in manpower and supplies. Duct tape and spit was less of a phrase and more of a way of life in repairs. Arguments erupted over anything - rationing, oxygen, water, recreation. The Warden became increasingly authoritarian - which led to even more exiles. In time, many renewed their love of faith, be it God Almighty or the Sun they hadn't seen in years. everyone needed something to believe in during a time of crisis.

By the final year, year three, entire corridors of the bunker were be cut off due to maintenance failures. Only a quarter of the bunker remains operational to this day. A need to conserve air would only worsen over time. In a desperate bid to avoid accountability, Warden Byers would ultimately take his own life.

Failing hydroponics, flickering lights, and the breakdown of authority saw the ill situation of the bunker spiral further out of control.

Will the inhabitants retake control of the situation? Or let it degrade further into the ground. Whatever happens, is up to them.

== The Burnt Miles ==
[[File:The Burnt Miles.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
The ozone, torn apart by years of constant meteor strikes, is no barrier to the sun here. Its unending heat beats down on the parched ground. Temperatures can soar to 120F and higher - further than most thermometers can measure.

That heat wears down the Flesh just as much as any other living being. Its unending push forward is slowed to a crawl. But the monstrous mass won't be stopped. Untold numbers of its spawn trudge forth to stake its claim in the dunes.

Meteor strikes are just as common a sighting as corporate helicopters. Often the former precedes the latter, but many who wander the wastes have been privy to a fly-by from a bird carrying potentially life-saving aid.

The few communities eking out an existence in this inhospitable area cluster around oases and rivers whose banks slowly dwindle year after year. Most every other town is inhabited only by sand and ghosts.

Rare as it may be, life still finds a way to thrive in the Utah desert.

=== Life In the Burnt Miles ===
The bunkers' closure in early 2002 forced a choice on those not skilled enough to be selected or lucky enough to win the lottery - stay in Utah and brave the heat, or flee to cooler temperatures. Most chose the latter.

Those who ran found little respite. News of a military coup only a month after the bunkers closed preceded the near-total collapse of governmental power. Urban areas were marked by constant pandemonium. Gangs rose to power as quickly as they fell out, leaving the average civilian uncertain over who controlled their block each day. Rural areas were safer for a time - but sooner or later the Flesh would consume them. Cities too fell beneath its unending expansion. Refugees returned to the ever-hotter deserts.

Natural desert oases were the saving grace for many groups that gathered together in the years that followed. With traditional supply lines cut, they were one of the only sources of drinkable water. Nomadic groups and ramshackle towns alike stuck nearby them whenever possible. Other areas offered shelter - caves, canyons, motorway tunnels - but water, which took on a critical importance as the temperatures rose.

Nomads, bandits, townsfolk - all were bound by an eternal struggle against the sun. The ozone barrier was irreparably breached by the meteor streaks, ensuring that temperatures kept rising and sunburns afflicted any who braved the outside while the sun was at its peak. Water was in high demand and short supply. Lives were taken for only a few bottles.

Life isn't easy in the scorching Utah wastes. But it always finds a way.

==== Penance ====
[[File:Penance.jpg|250px|thumb|right]]
The original town had no name - less than a hundred souls called it home. The name given to the shanty town that sprung from the podunk town came from the church's signboard. Time had plucked away all the words but one, and it fit well enough.

Penance is a scrap-built frontier town at the base of the canyon. The town is built around a sealed off shelter harboring a handful of souls who sought shelter years before. The natural canyon faces that surround Penance shelter it from storms and raiders alike, and an oasis blesses the town with only an hour's walk to fresh water.

Its population has waxed and waned over the years.

Greater Utah

2025-11-16T04:08:11Z

Ppeacherine: /* The Utah Bunker */

== Greater Utah ==
[[File:Greater Utah.png|250px|thumb|right|The Historic State Flag of Utah (1913-2024)]]

The red stones and salt white deserts of Utah. Once known for its canyons, arches and wide-open salt flats, Utah is among the few active front-lines standing against the spread of the Flesh. Cancerous growths sprout from sand and stone where meteors fall, streaks of fire that stain the natural splendor with an unrelenting infestation.. but a lack of organic matter stymies the spread. The heat bears down on the invading meat just as viciously as any human’s.

Before the world fell silent, the local CDI correctly identified the mountainous terrain as a likely holdout against the ongoing spread of the Flesh and carved its mark. What began as land deals with the county government became a proving ground for several experimental bunkers- an attempt to secure humanity’s future under the ‘protection’ of the burning sun. Sealed beneath rock and steel, kept alive by what self-sufficient systems could be procured on such short notice, the bunkers held.. for a time.

The skies above Utah never found their rest. Day by day, night by night, meteors burn up as they fly overhead. Helicopters manned by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation are commonplace, ferrying soldiers and technicians to carve out the precious cores of the fallen rocks- and deliver aid to the struggling survivors sheltered in the canyons below.

Whether the high canyon walls and scorching heat will shelter the remnants of humanity forever remains to be seen.

== The Civil Defense Initiative and Bunkers ==

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced in the aftermath of the Great Scare. A desperate attempt to reignite Cold War era defense programs in event of a nuclear strike - now finding purpose from a different kind of threat. Should a series of strikes truly catastrophic occur, the population would need safety.

Federal funds were earmarked for the program, but it was hampered by governmental instability. The responsibility to carve bunkers out of rock or retrofit existing structures into civil defense shelters was pushed down to state governments, county boards, and even private contractors.

Shoddy craftsmanship dogged them. Important subsystems had gone years unmaintained. Not all of them were even capable of sealing. But for a select few (and a couple lottery winners), the Civil Defense Initiative's bunkers are the only reason they're alive.

=== The Utah Bunker ===
[[File:The Bunker.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
Built late into the Collapse under the Civil Defense Initiative, the bunker is one of several attempts to sustain a human population underground, sealing away a hundred or so chosen souls away from the chaos above.

Originally a cold-war era nuclear shelter for the local townships, the bunker was carved directly into the canyon wall. Construction was rushed, regulations bent or ignored, and the rusted foundation of long-forgotten nuclear defense programs meant the bunker inherited many of its aging problems. Water recyclers clogged, and filters degraded. Generators burned out, and fume vents backed up. Oxygen scrubbers relied on finite supplies of filters, impossible to replace as time marched on. America no longer had the industry, materials, or will to build a vault that could last centuries, leaving it a patchwork project of desperation.

The bunkers weren’t intended to be humanity’s new home- they were designed as lifeboats. A pause on extinction.

When the Flesh swept across the globe, surviving on the surface wasn’t impossible, but it was far from preferable. Most of the occupants of the bunkers were chosen for their skills, their status, or their value to society- priority was given to officials, government workers, and technicians tied to vital infrastructure. To the CDI, survival wasn’t intended to be democratic, but strategic. In the face of slow-rolling unrest threatening to unseat its control over the rapidly deteriorating surface, the Initiative was eventually forced to open additional slots. To distribute them, a lottery. For a lucky few in 2002, survival came not in the form of merit or status but sheer chance.

Over the years, the state of the outside world was reduced to myth. No radio signals, no knocks at the door, nothing but the groan of machinery and life support systems. The survival of the CDI, the spread of the Flesh, even the fate of humanity itself became increasingly unclear as the years ticked on.

==== Life Inside the Bunker ====
The closing of the doors in early `02 marked not salvation for those inside, but a new form of living.

Brochures passed out as the doors closed spoke of safety, food, and shelter. At least until the surface cooled and the skies cleared up. Those chosen by the Civil Defense Initiative - doctors, engineers, technicians and the like, or even those simply lucky enough to be chosen by the lottery - were stepping into a world where they may never see the sun again.

Artificial lights and the hum of recirculated oxygen. The walls were clean, and the food at times was bland. A consistent need to disinfect the small world they now lived in left a reoccurring smell throughout the communal areas of the bunker. Every day followed some form of structure, broken up by the difference in foods or people you saw.

Weeks turned into months. A Warden put in place by the CDI alongside a small contingency of security - drafted from local National Guard and Sheriff applicants - kept the bunker at peace with itself. But the consistent reassurance that it was only a temporary relocation underground did not inspire confidence in many.

Rumors would eventually begin to spread that outside radio communications had shut down entirely. In a form of protest, some of the inhabitants staged a sit-in protest in the communal area. An event that went on for days and saw the bunker brought to the brink of revolt. When the riot was eventually subdued, the protest's leaders were exiled to the outside world. At the time, this was a new event, and it struck fear into many. For the outside world was now unknown, and it may as well have been alien - surely this was a death sentence.

By year two maintenance crews were stretched thin, both in manpower and supplies. Duct tape and spit was less of a phrase and more of a way of life in repairs. Arguments erupted over anything - rationing, oxygen, water, recreation. The Warden became increasingly authoritarian - which led to even more exiles. In time, many renewed their love of faith, be it God Almighty or the Sun they hadn't seen in years. everyone needed something to believe in during a time of crisis.

By the final year, year three, entire corridors of the bunker were be cut off due to maintenance failures. Only a quarter of the bunker remains operational to this day. A need to conserve air would only worsen over time. In a desperate bid to avoid accountability, Warden Byers would ultimately take his own life.

Failing hydroponics, flickering lights, and the breakdown of authority saw the ill situation of the bunker spiral further out of control.

Will the inhabitants retake control of the situation? Or let it degrade further into the ground. Whatever happens, is up to them.

== The Burnt Miles ==
[[File:The Burnt Miles.jpg|300px|thumb|right]]
The ozone, torn apart by years of constant meteor strikes, is no barrier to the sun here. Its unending heat beats down on the parched ground. Temperatures can soar to 120F and higher - further than most thermometers can measure.

That heat wears down the Flesh just as much as any other living being. Its unending push forward is slowed to a crawl. But the monstrous mass won't be stopped. Untold numbers of its spawn trudge forth to stake its claim in the dunes.

Meteor strikes are just as common a sighting as corporate helicopters. Often the former precedes the latter, but many who wander the wastes have been privy to a fly-by from a bird carrying potentially life-saving aid.

The few communities eking out an existence in this inhospitable area cluster around oases and rivers whose banks slowly dwindle year after year. Most every other town is inhabited only by sand and ghosts.

Rare as it may be, life still finds a way to thrive in the Utah desert.

=== Life In the Burnt Miles ===
The bunkers' closure in early 2002 forced a choice on those not skilled enough to be selected or lucky enough to win the lottery - stay in Utah and brave the heat, or flee to cooler temperatures. Most chose the latter.

Those who ran found little respite. News of a military coup only a month after the bunkers closed preceded the near-total collapse of governmental power. Urban areas were marked by constant pandemonium. Gangs rose to power as quickly as they fell out, leaving the average civilian uncertain over who controlled their block each day. Rural areas were safer for a time - but sooner or later the Flesh would consume them. Cities too fell beneath its unending expansion. Refugees returned to the ever-hotter deserts.

Natural desert oases were the saving grace for many groups that gathered together in the years that followed. With traditional supply lines cut, they were one of the only sources of drinkable water. Nomadic groups and ramshackle towns alike stuck nearby them whenever possible. Other areas offered shelter - caves, canyons, motorway tunnels - but water, which took on a critical importance as the temperatures rose.

Nomads, bandits, townsfolk - all were bound by an eternal struggle against the sun. The ozone barrier was irreparably breached by the meteor streaks, ensuring that temperatures kept rising and sunburns afflicted any who braved the outside while the sun was at its peak. Water was in high demand and short supply. Lives were taken for only a few bottles.

Life isn't easy in the scorching Utah wastes. But it always finds a way.

==== Penance ====
[[File:Penance.jpg|250px|thumb|right]]
The original town had no name - less than a hundred souls called it home. The name given to the shanty town that sprung from the podunk town came from the church's signboard. Time had plucked away all the words but one, and it fit well enough.

Penance is a scrap-built frontier town at the base of the canyon. The town is built around a sealed off shelter harboring a handful of souls who sought shelter years before. The natural canyon faces that surround Penance shelter it from storms and raiders alike, and an oasis blesses the town with only an hour's walk to fresh water.

Its population has waxed and waned over the years.

Greater Utah

2025-11-16T04:06:28Z

Ppeacherine: /* The Civil Defense Initiative */

== Greater Utah ==
[[File:Greater Utah.png|250px|thumb|right|The Historic State Flag of Utah (1913-2024)]]

The red stones and salt white deserts of Utah. Once known for its canyons, arches and wide-open salt flats, Utah is among the few active front-lines standing against the spread of the Flesh. Cancerous growths sprout from sand and stone where meteors fall, streaks of fire that stain the natural splendor with an unrelenting infestation.. but a lack of organic matter stymies the spread. The heat bears down on the invading meat just as viciously as any human’s.

Before the world fell silent, the local CDI correctly identified the mountainous terrain as a likely holdout against the ongoing spread of the Flesh and carved its mark. What began as land deals with the county government became a proving ground for several experimental bunkers- an attempt to secure humanity’s future under the ‘protection’ of the burning sun. Sealed beneath rock and steel, kept alive by what self-sufficient systems could be procured on such short notice, the bunkers held.. for a time.

The skies above Utah never found their rest. Day by day, night by night, meteors burn up as they fly overhead. Helicopters manned by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation are commonplace, ferrying soldiers and technicians to carve out the precious cores of the fallen rocks- and deliver aid to the struggling survivors sheltered in the canyons below.

Whether the high canyon walls and scorching heat will shelter the remnants of humanity forever remains to be seen.

== The Civil Defense Initiative and Bunkers ==

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced in the aftermath of the Great Scare. A desperate attempt to reignite Cold War era defense programs in event of a nuclear strike - now finding purpose from a different kind of threat. Should a series of strikes truly catastrophic occur, the population would need safety.

Federal funds were earmarked for the program, but it was hampered by governmental instability. The responsibility to carve bunkers out of rock or retrofit existing structures into civil defense shelters was pushed down to state governments, county boards, and even private contractors.

Shoddy craftsmanship dogged them. Important subsystems had gone years unmaintained. Not all of them were even capable of sealing. But for a select few (and a couple lottery winners), the Civil Defense Initiative's bunkers are the only reason they're alive.

=== The Utah Bunker ===
[[File:The Bunker.jpg|300px|thumb|right]]
Built late into the Collapse under the Civil Defense Initiative, the bunker is one of several attempts to sustain a human population underground, sealing away a hundred or so chosen souls away from the chaos above.

Originally a cold-war era nuclear shelter for the local townships, the bunker was carved directly into the canyon wall. Construction was rushed, regulations bent or ignored, and the rusted foundation of long-forgotten nuclear defense programs meant the bunker inherited many of its aging problems. Water recyclers clogged, and filters degraded. Generators burned out, and fume vents backed up. Oxygen scrubbers relied on finite supplies of filters, impossible to replace as time marched on. America no longer had the industry, materials, or will to build a vault that could last centuries, leaving it a patchwork project of desperation.

The bunkers weren’t intended to be humanity’s new home- they were designed as lifeboats. A pause on extinction.

When the Flesh swept across the globe, surviving on the surface wasn’t impossible, but it was far from preferable. Most of the occupants of the bunkers were chosen for their skills, their status, or their value to society- priority was given to officials, government workers, and technicians tied to vital infrastructure. To the CDI, survival wasn’t intended to be democratic, but strategic. In the face of slow-rolling unrest threatening to unseat its control over the rapidly deteriorating surface, the Initiative was eventually forced to open additional slots. To distribute them, a lottery. For a lucky few in 2002, survival came not in the form of merit or status but sheer chance.

Over the years, the state of the outside world was reduced to myth. No radio signals, no knocks at the door, nothing but the groan of machinery and life support systems. The survival of the CDI, the spread of the Flesh, even the fate of humanity itself became increasingly unclear as the years ticked on.

==== Life Inside the Bunker ====
The closing of the doors in early `02 marked not salvation for those inside, but a new form of living.

Brochures passed out as the doors closed spoke of safety, food, and shelter. At least until the surface cooled and the skies cleared up. Those chosen by the Civil Defense Initiative - doctors, engineers, technicians and the like, or even those simply lucky enough to be chosen by the lottery - were stepping into a world where they may never see the sun again.

Artificial lights and the hum of recirculated oxygen. The walls were clean, and the food at times was bland. A consistent need to disinfect the small world they now lived in left a reoccurring smell throughout the communal areas of the bunker. Every day followed some form of structure, broken up by the difference in foods or people you saw.

Weeks turned into months. A Warden put in place by the CDI alongside a small contingency of security - drafted from local National Guard and Sheriff applicants - kept the bunker at peace with itself. But the consistent reassurance that it was only a temporary relocation underground did not inspire confidence in many.

Rumors would eventually begin to spread that outside radio communications had shut down entirely. In a form of protest, some of the inhabitants staged a sit-in protest in the communal area. An event that went on for days and saw the bunker brought to the brink of revolt. When the riot was eventually subdued, the protest's leaders were exiled to the outside world. At the time, this was a new event, and it struck fear into many. For the outside world was now unknown, and it may as well have been alien - surely this was a death sentence.

By year two maintenance crews were stretched thin, both in manpower and supplies. Duct tape and spit was less of a phrase and more of a way of life in repairs. Arguments erupted over anything - rationing, oxygen, water, recreation. The Warden became increasingly authoritarian - which led to even more exiles. In time, many renewed their love of faith, be it God Almighty or the Sun they hadn't seen in years. everyone needed something to believe in during a time of crisis.

By the final year, year three, entire corridors of the bunker were be cut off due to maintenance failures. Only a quarter of the bunker remains operational to this day. A need to conserve air would only worsen over time. In a desperate bid to avoid accountability, Warden Byers would ultimately take his own life.

Failing hydroponics, flickering lights, and the breakdown of authority saw the ill situation of the bunker spiral further out of control.

Will the inhabitants retake control of the situation? Or let it degrade further into the ground. Whatever happens, is up to them.

== The Burnt Miles ==
[[File:The Burnt Miles.jpg|300px|thumb|right]]
The ozone, torn apart by years of constant meteor strikes, is no barrier to the sun here. Its unending heat beats down on the parched ground. Temperatures can soar to 120F and higher - further than most thermometers can measure.

That heat wears down the Flesh just as much as any other living being. Its unending push forward is slowed to a crawl. But the monstrous mass won't be stopped. Untold numbers of its spawn trudge forth to stake its claim in the dunes.

Meteor strikes are just as common a sighting as corporate helicopters. Often the former precedes the latter, but many who wander the wastes have been privy to a fly-by from a bird carrying potentially life-saving aid.

The few communities eking out an existence in this inhospitable area cluster around oases and rivers whose banks slowly dwindle year after year. Most every other town is inhabited only by sand and ghosts.

Rare as it may be, life still finds a way to thrive in the Utah desert.

=== Life In the Burnt Miles ===
The bunkers' closure in early 2002 forced a choice on those not skilled enough to be selected or lucky enough to win the lottery - stay in Utah and brave the heat, or flee to cooler temperatures. Most chose the latter.

Those who ran found little respite. News of a military coup only a month after the bunkers closed preceded the near-total collapse of governmental power. Urban areas were marked by constant pandemonium. Gangs rose to power as quickly as they fell out, leaving the average civilian uncertain over who controlled their block each day. Rural areas were safer for a time - but sooner or later the Flesh would consume them. Cities too fell beneath its unending expansion. Refugees returned to the ever-hotter deserts.

Natural desert oases were the saving grace for many groups that gathered together in the years that followed. With traditional supply lines cut, they were one of the only sources of drinkable water. Nomadic groups and ramshackle towns alike stuck nearby them whenever possible. Other areas offered shelter - caves, canyons, motorway tunnels - but water, which took on a critical importance as the temperatures rose.

Nomads, bandits, townsfolk - all were bound by an eternal struggle against the sun. The ozone barrier was irreparably breached by the meteor streaks, ensuring that temperatures kept rising and sunburns afflicted any who braved the outside while the sun was at its peak. Water was in high demand and short supply. Lives were taken for only a few bottles.

Life isn't easy in the scorching Utah wastes. But it always finds a way.

==== Penance ====
[[File:Penance.jpg|250px|thumb|right]]
The original town had no name - less than a hundred souls called it home. The name given to the shanty town that sprung from the podunk town came from the church's signboard. Time had plucked away all the words but one, and it fit well enough.

Penance is a scrap-built frontier town at the base of the canyon. The town is built around a sealed off shelter harboring a handful of souls who sought shelter years before. The natural canyon faces that surround Penance shelter it from storms and raiders alike, and an oasis blesses the town with only an hour's walk to fresh water.

Its population has waxed and waned over the years.

Template:The World

2025-11-16T04:01:21Z

Ppeacherine: /* Greater Utah */

== '''Greater Utah''' ==
[[File:Rivera Utah.jpg|200px|frameless|right]]
A desert state where survivors stand against the harsh sun and the flesh both to eke out some kind of living. Persevering stubbornly onward like the brush and sand that dot the landscape.

[[Greater_Utah|Greater Utah]] contains several major locations, including the [[Greater Utah#The Burnt Miles|Burnt Miles]] and [[Greater Utah#The Bunker|the Bunker]].

== '''The Great Scare''' ==
One of many colloquial terms used to describe the chaos of the meteors' first impact.

Three months before impact, the sensors of a deep space complex in Alaska reported to Washington signs of multiple meteoroids on an impact course with Earth. Misaligned from their previous path by an intersolar impact. Their landing wouldn't be the end of the world - but it was enough to warrant secret funding for threat assessment and management.

A month before the impact, weeks-old government emails turned up on an online conspiracy forum. Their mentions of an approaching swarm of celestial bodies reached the media within days. An official statement was wrestled out of the government. The impact wouldn't cause serious damages; anyone living in highly populated areas should seek shelter underground; low casualties were expected.

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced alongside a lengthy list of reopened Cold War bunkers. But the government's actions were clouded by a lack of transparency. Independent researchers contested the figures provided by the government. Religious groups and conspiracy forums flooded minds with cataclysmic thoughts.
[[File:The Great Scare.jpg|300px|right]]
Days before the impact, the United States army stood on its own streets. Looting and rioting had grown to such levels that martial law was instituted. For the most part it worked, as the focus of the masses turned quickly from profit to survival. In the hours before the impact, streets and cities appeared abandoned. Air raid shelters overflowed.

In the impact's aftermath, the government was proven right. Casualties were few. Most countries' infrastructure remained online. Governments around the world urged the populace to return to their lives - with little effect. The global supply chain had been brought to a halt for over a week. Its startup was jerky, halting, doomed to fail.

The high demand, low offer economy killed millions of jobs and thousands of companies. Within five weeks of the impact the number of multi-billion dollar companies had been slashed down to a third. It would be nearly three months before the turmoil settled.

Within six months the news cycle had moved on. Renewed government instability in poorer countries combined with the hottest summer in two decades brought life back to the present.

For years after, American life was normal. Schools ran. Office workers stepped into their cubicles. The government changed political hands. Everything was just... a bit hotter.

== '''The Flesh''' ==

The meteoroids of the Great Scare were so numerous that it was impossible to retrieve them all. Most were collected by governmental and private organizations - but from those that landed in the depths of rural communities and far into the heart of nature, an awful amalgamation was left to take root.
[[File:The Flesh.jpg|200px|frameless|right]]
It started to eat. Consume. Unchecked, uncontrolled, uncontested. The Flesh grew.

The first disappearances were blamed on animal attacks, or the simple misfortune of an inexperienced hiker facing bad weather and unknown trails. By 2002, when reports first began to filter into the media, it had grown too much to be stopped. Entire '''ecosystems''' existed where unknown creatures moved in a state of constant growth and change.

It was impossible to find each and every crash site. Impossible to burn out every colony of flesh. The focus of those in power eventually turned from destruction to survival.

The Flesh is an amorphous mass in a constant state of change that consumes biomass to spread. From its depths spew forth a constant deluge of wicked creatures; mockeries of life human and animal.

Fire and high heat can hold it back - but even the soaring temperatures of the world haven't been enough to '''kill''' it. Maybe nothing can. And only time can tell what other horrors will sprout from the Flesh.

== '''Ossitium''' ==

[[File:Ossitium.png|250px|thumb|right|A sample of raw Ossitium]]
Ossitium is a rare, meteor-born metal that only appears in the scorched cores of fallen meteors. In raw form, it looks like a chalky, bone-colored ore threaded with fine metallic veins that shimmer faintly under light.

Once smelted, Ossitium produces a lightweight silver alloy harder than steel yet flexible enough to resist shattering.

Its value comes from its unique properties: it holds an edge far longer than conventional metals, resists corrosion even in the harshest desert climates, and handles heat unlike any other metal. Blacksmiths covet it for weapons and tools, while mechanics prize it for machinery that can withstand extremes of temperature.

For those bold enough to seize it first, Ossitium can mean wealth, status, or survival. But most deposits are collected by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation.

== '''Whyte-Shioda Corp''' ==

Founded in 1989, the Whyte-Shioda Corporation wasn't a household name. But their crack team of engineers made them well known in the tech business. Seeing Whyte-Shioda on a part of your machine was a guarantee of high quality. Their name, some savvy business decisions, and the first government contract to study Ossitium put Whyte-Shioda Corporation among the few multi-billion dollar companies to survive the financial crisis that followed the Great Scare.

Where governments faltered, Whyte-Shioda Corporation stood tall. Property, power, and patents were quickly consolidated beneath their banner. The military's quasi collapse by mass desertion in 2001 prompted Whyte-Shioda to raise their own army. Firearms, armor, and vehicles enhanced with Ossitium drew in deserters with the promise of hope.

As of 2005, they are the sole known superpower of humanity. All the resources and manpower at their disposal are constantly put to work on the dual tasks they've taken up - fighting back the Flesh, and keeping alive what of humanity they can. Many of those still surviving the Utah heats have their charity to thank for that.

[[File:Whyte-Shioda Corp.png|center]] ''Credits for the logo: @level4slime''

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:59:29Z

Ppeacherine: /* The Great Scare */

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:58:51Z

Ppeacherine: /* The Great Scare */

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:57:24Z

Ppeacherine: /* The Flesh */

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:57:09Z

Ppeacherine: /* The Flesh */

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:56:30Z

Ppeacherine: /* Ossitium */

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:55:21Z

Ppeacherine:

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:55:11Z

Ppeacherine: /* The Flesh */

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:53:05Z

Ppeacherine: /* The Flesh */

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:52:40Z

Ppeacherine:

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:52:33Z

Ppeacherine:

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:52:25Z

Ppeacherine:

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:52:11Z

Ppeacherine:

== '''Greater Utah''' ==
[[File:Rivera Utah.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
A desert state where survivors stand against the harsh sun and the flesh both to eke out some kind of living. Persevering stubbornly onward like the brush and sand that dot the landscape.

[[Greater_Utah|Greater Utah]] contains several major locations, including the [[Greater Utah#The Burnt Miles|Burnt Miles]] and [[Greater Utah#The Bunker|the Bunker]].

== '''The Great Scare''' ==
One of many colloquial terms used to describe the chaos of the meteors' first impact.

Three months before impact, the sensors of a deep space complex in Alaska reported to Washington signs of multiple meteoroids on an impact course with Earth. Misaligned from their previous path by an intersolar impact. Their landing wouldn't be the end of the world - but it was enough to warrant secret funding for threat assessment and management.

A month before the impact, weeks-old government emails turned up on an online conspiracy forum. Their mentions of an approaching swarm of celestial bodies reached the media within days. An official statement was wrestled out of the government. The impact wouldn't cause serious damages; anyone living in highly populated areas should seek shelter underground; low casualties were expected.

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced alongside a lengthy list of reopened Cold War bunkers. But the government's actions were clouded by a lack of transparency. Independent researchers contested the figures provided by the government. Religious groups and conspiracy forums flooded minds with cataclysmic thoughts.

Days before the impact, the United States army stood on its own streets. Looting and rioting had grown to such levels that martial law was instituted. For the most part it worked, as the focus of the masses turned quickly from profit to survival. In the hours before the impact, streets and cities appeared abandoned. Air raid shelters overflowed.

In the impact's aftermath, the government was proven right. Casualties were few. Most countries' infrastructure remained online. Governments around the world urged the populace to return to their lives - with little effect. The global supply chain had been brought to a halt for over a week. Its startup was jerky, halting, doomed to fail.

The high demand, low offer economy killed millions of jobs and thousands of companies. Within five weeks of the impact the number of multi-billion dollar companies had been slashed down to a third. It would be nearly three months before the turmoil settled.

Within six months the news cycle had moved on. Renewed government instability in poorer countries combined with the hottest summer in two decades brought life back to the present.

For years after, American life was normal. Schools ran. Office workers stepped into their cubicles. The government changed political hands. Everything was just... a bit hotter.

[[File:The Great Scare.jpg|600px|center]]

== '''Civil Defense Initiative''' ==

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced in the aftermath of the Great Scare. A desperate attempt to reignite Cold War era defense programs in event of a nuclear strike - now finding purpose from a different kind of threat. Should a series of strikes truly catastrophic occur, the population would need safety.

Federal funds were earmarked for the program, but it was hampered by governmental instability. The responsibility to carve bunkers out of rock or retrofit existing structures into civil defense shelters was pushed down to state governments, county boards, and even private contractors.

Shoddy craftsmanship dogged them. Important subsystems had gone years unmaintained. Not all of them were even capable of sealing. But for a select few (and a couple lottery winners), the Civil Defense Initiative's bunkers are the only reason they're alive.

[[File:Civil Defense Initiative.png|500px|center|]]

== '''The Bunker''' ==

Built late into the Collapse under the Civil Defense Initiative, the bunker is one of several attempts to sustain a human population underground, sealing away a hundred or so chosen souls away from the chaos above.

Originally a cold-war era nuclear shelter for the local townships, the bunker was carved directly into the canyon wall. Construction was rushed, regulations bent or ignored, and the rusted foundation of long-forgotten nuclear defense programs meant the bunker inherited many of its aging problems. Water recyclers clogged, and filters degraded. Generators burned out, and fume vents backed up. Oxygen scrubbers relied on finite supplies of filters, impossible to replace as time marched on. America no longer had the industry, materials, or will to build a vault that could last centuries, leaving it a patchwork project of desperation.

The bunkers weren’t intended to be humanity’s new home- they were designed as lifeboats. A pause on extinction.

When the Flesh swept across the globe, surviving on the surface wasn’t impossible, but it was far from preferable. Most of the occupants of the bunkers were chosen for their skills, their status, or their value to society- priority was given to officials, government workers, and technicians tied to vital infrastructure. To the CDI, survival wasn’t intended to be democratic, but strategic. In the face of slow-rolling unrest threatening to unseat its control over the rapidly deteriorating surface, the Initiative was eventually forced to open additional slots. To distribute them, a lottery. For a lucky few in 2002, survival came not in the form of merit or status but sheer chance.

Over the years, the state of the outside world was reduced to myth. No radio signals, no knocks at the door, nothing but the groan of machinery and life support systems. The survival of the CDI, the spread of the Flesh, even the fate of humanity itself became increasingly unclear as the years ticked on.

[[File:The Bunker.jpg|center]]

== '''Life Outside the Bunker''' ==

The bunkers' closure in early 2002 forced a choice on those not skilled enough to be selected or lucky enough to win the lottery - stay in Utah and brave the heat, or flee to cooler temperatures. Most chose the latter.

Those who ran found little respite. News of a military coup only a month after the bunkers closed preceded the near-total collapse of governmental power. Urban areas were marked by constant pandemonium. Gangs rose to power as quickly as they fell out, leaving the average civilian uncertain over who controlled their block each day. Rural areas were safer for a time - but sooner or later the Flesh would consume them. Cities too fell beneath its unending expansion. Refugees returned to the ever-hotter deserts.

Natural desert oases were the saving grace for many groups that gathered together in the years that followed. With traditional supply lines cut, they were one of the only sources of drinkable water. Nomadic groups and ramshackle towns alike stuck nearby them whenever possible. Other areas offered shelter - caves, canyons, motorway tunnels - but water, which took on a critical importance as the temperatures rose.

Nomads, bandits, townsfolk - all were bound by an eternal struggle against the sun. The ozone barrier was irreparably breached by the meteor streaks, ensuring that temperatures kept rising and sunburns afflicted any who braved the outside while the sun was at its peak. Water was in high demand and short supply. Lives were taken for only a few bottles.

Life isn't easy in the scorching Utah wastes. But it always finds a way.

[[File:Life Outside the Bunker.jpg|center]]

== '''The Flesh''' ==

The meteoroids of the Great Scare were so numerous that it was impossible to retrieve them all. Most were collected by governmental and private organizations - but from those that landed in the depths of rural communities and far into the heart of nature, an awful amalgamation was left to take root.

It started to eat. Consume. Unchecked, uncontrolled, uncontested. The Flesh grew.

The first disappearances were blamed on animal attacks, or the simple misfortune of an inexperienced hiker facing bad weather and unknown trails. By 2002, when reports first began to filter into the media, it had grown too much to be stopped. Entire *ecosystems* existed where unknown creatures moved in a state of constant growth and change.

It was impossible to find each and every crash site. Impossible to burn out every colony of flesh. The focus of those in power eventually turned from destruction to survival.

---

The Flesh is an amorphous mass in a constant state of change that consumes biomass to spread. From its depths spew forth a constant deluge of wicked creatures; mockeries of life human and animal.

Fire and high heat can hold it back - but even the soaring temperatures of the world haven't been enough to *kill* it. Maybe nothing can. And only time can tell what other horrors will sprout from the Flesh.

[[File:The Flesh.jpg|center]]

== '''Ossitium''' ==

Ossitium is a rare, meteor-born metal that only appears in the scorched cores of fallen meteors. In raw form, it looks like a chalky, bone-colored ore threaded with fine metallic veins that shimmer faintly under light.

Once smelted, Ossitium produces a lightweight silver alloy harder than steel yet flexible enough to resist shattering.

Its value comes from its unique properties: it holds an edge far longer than conventional metals, resists corrosion even in the harshest desert climates, and handles heat unlike any other metal. Blacksmiths covet it for weapons and tools, while mechanics prize it for machinery that can withstand extremes of temperature.

For those bold enough to seize it first, Ossitium can mean wealth, status, or survival. But most deposits are collected by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation.

[[File:Ossitium.png|center]]

== '''Whyte-Shioda Corp''' ==

Founded in 1989, the Whyte-Shioda Corporation wasn't a household name. But their crack team of engineers made them well known in the tech business. Seeing Whyte-Shioda on a part of your machine was a guarantee of high quality. Their name, some savvy business decisions, and the first government contract to study Ossitium put Whyte-Shioda Corporation among the few multi-billion dollar companies to survive the financial crisis that followed the Great Scare.

Where governments faltered, Whyte-Shioda Corporation stood tall. Property, power, and patents were quickly consolidated beneath their banner. The military's quasi collapse by mass desertion in 2001 prompted Whyte-Shioda to raise their own army. Firearms, armor, and vehicles enhanced with Ossitium drew in deserters with the promise of hope.

As of 2005, they are the sole known superpower of humanity. All the resources and manpower at their disposal are constantly put to work on the dual tasks they've taken up - fighting back the Flesh, and keeping alive what of humanity they can. Many of those still surviving the Utah heats have their charity to thank for that.

[[File:Whyte-Shioda Corp.png|center]] ''Credits for the logo: @level4slime''


== '''Penance''' ==

'Penance'. The original town had no name - less than a hundred souls called it home. The name given to the shanty town that sprung from the podunk town came from the church's signboard. Time had plucked away all the words but one, and it fit well enough.

Penance is a scrap-built frontier town at the base of the canyon. The town is built around a sealed off shelter harboring a handful of souls who sought shelter years before. The natural canyon faces that surround Penance shelter it from storms and raiders alike, and an oasis blesses the town with only an hour's walk to fresh water.

Its population has waxed and waned over the years.

[[File:Penance.jpg|800px|center]]

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:52:06Z

Ppeacherine:

== '''Greater Utah''' ==
[[File:Rivera Utah.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
A desert state where survivors stand against the harsh sun and the flesh both to eke out some kind of living. Persevering stubbornly onward like the brush and sand that dot the landscape.

[[Greater_Utah|Greater Utah]] contains several major locations, including the [[Greater Utah#The Burnt Miles|Burnt Miles]] and [[Greater Utah#The Bunker|the Bunker]].

== '''Greater Utah''' ==

The red stones and salt white deserts of Utah. Once known for its canyons, arches and wide-open salt flats, Utah is among the few active front-lines standing against the spread of the Flesh. Cancerous growths sprout from sand and stone where meteors fall, streaks of fire that stain the natural splendor with an unrelenting infestation.. but a lack of organic matter stymies the spread. The heat bears down on the invading meat just as viciously as any human’s.

Before the world fell silent, the local CDI correctly identified the mountainous terrain as a likely holdout against the ongoing spread of the Flesh and carved its mark. What began as land deals with the county government became a proving ground for several experimental bunkers- an attempt to secure humanity’s future under the ‘protection’ of the burning sun. Sealed beneath rock and steel, kept alive by what self-sufficient systems could be procured on such short notice, the bunkers held.. for a time.

The skies above Utah never found their rest. Day by day, night by night, meteors burn up as they fly overhead. Helicopters manned by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation are commonplace, ferrying soldiers and technicians to carve out the precious cores of the fallen rocks- and deliver aid to the struggling survivors sheltered in the canyons below.

Whether the high canyon walls and scorching heat will shelter the remnants of humanity forever remains to be seen.

[[File:Greater Utah.png|center]]

== '''The Great Scare''' ==
One of many colloquial terms used to describe the chaos of the meteors' first impact.

Three months before impact, the sensors of a deep space complex in Alaska reported to Washington signs of multiple meteoroids on an impact course with Earth. Misaligned from their previous path by an intersolar impact. Their landing wouldn't be the end of the world - but it was enough to warrant secret funding for threat assessment and management.

A month before the impact, weeks-old government emails turned up on an online conspiracy forum. Their mentions of an approaching swarm of celestial bodies reached the media within days. An official statement was wrestled out of the government. The impact wouldn't cause serious damages; anyone living in highly populated areas should seek shelter underground; low casualties were expected.

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced alongside a lengthy list of reopened Cold War bunkers. But the government's actions were clouded by a lack of transparency. Independent researchers contested the figures provided by the government. Religious groups and conspiracy forums flooded minds with cataclysmic thoughts.

Days before the impact, the United States army stood on its own streets. Looting and rioting had grown to such levels that martial law was instituted. For the most part it worked, as the focus of the masses turned quickly from profit to survival. In the hours before the impact, streets and cities appeared abandoned. Air raid shelters overflowed.

In the impact's aftermath, the government was proven right. Casualties were few. Most countries' infrastructure remained online. Governments around the world urged the populace to return to their lives - with little effect. The global supply chain had been brought to a halt for over a week. Its startup was jerky, halting, doomed to fail.

The high demand, low offer economy killed millions of jobs and thousands of companies. Within five weeks of the impact the number of multi-billion dollar companies had been slashed down to a third. It would be nearly three months before the turmoil settled.

Within six months the news cycle had moved on. Renewed government instability in poorer countries combined with the hottest summer in two decades brought life back to the present.

For years after, American life was normal. Schools ran. Office workers stepped into their cubicles. The government changed political hands. Everything was just... a bit hotter.

[[File:The Great Scare.jpg|600px|center]]

== '''Civil Defense Initiative''' ==

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced in the aftermath of the Great Scare. A desperate attempt to reignite Cold War era defense programs in event of a nuclear strike - now finding purpose from a different kind of threat. Should a series of strikes truly catastrophic occur, the population would need safety.

Federal funds were earmarked for the program, but it was hampered by governmental instability. The responsibility to carve bunkers out of rock or retrofit existing structures into civil defense shelters was pushed down to state governments, county boards, and even private contractors.

Shoddy craftsmanship dogged them. Important subsystems had gone years unmaintained. Not all of them were even capable of sealing. But for a select few (and a couple lottery winners), the Civil Defense Initiative's bunkers are the only reason they're alive.

[[File:Civil Defense Initiative.png|500px|center|]]

== '''The Bunker''' ==

Built late into the Collapse under the Civil Defense Initiative, the bunker is one of several attempts to sustain a human population underground, sealing away a hundred or so chosen souls away from the chaos above.

Originally a cold-war era nuclear shelter for the local townships, the bunker was carved directly into the canyon wall. Construction was rushed, regulations bent or ignored, and the rusted foundation of long-forgotten nuclear defense programs meant the bunker inherited many of its aging problems. Water recyclers clogged, and filters degraded. Generators burned out, and fume vents backed up. Oxygen scrubbers relied on finite supplies of filters, impossible to replace as time marched on. America no longer had the industry, materials, or will to build a vault that could last centuries, leaving it a patchwork project of desperation.

The bunkers weren’t intended to be humanity’s new home- they were designed as lifeboats. A pause on extinction.

When the Flesh swept across the globe, surviving on the surface wasn’t impossible, but it was far from preferable. Most of the occupants of the bunkers were chosen for their skills, their status, or their value to society- priority was given to officials, government workers, and technicians tied to vital infrastructure. To the CDI, survival wasn’t intended to be democratic, but strategic. In the face of slow-rolling unrest threatening to unseat its control over the rapidly deteriorating surface, the Initiative was eventually forced to open additional slots. To distribute them, a lottery. For a lucky few in 2002, survival came not in the form of merit or status but sheer chance.

Over the years, the state of the outside world was reduced to myth. No radio signals, no knocks at the door, nothing but the groan of machinery and life support systems. The survival of the CDI, the spread of the Flesh, even the fate of humanity itself became increasingly unclear as the years ticked on.

[[File:The Bunker.jpg|center]]

== '''Life Outside the Bunker''' ==

The bunkers' closure in early 2002 forced a choice on those not skilled enough to be selected or lucky enough to win the lottery - stay in Utah and brave the heat, or flee to cooler temperatures. Most chose the latter.

Those who ran found little respite. News of a military coup only a month after the bunkers closed preceded the near-total collapse of governmental power. Urban areas were marked by constant pandemonium. Gangs rose to power as quickly as they fell out, leaving the average civilian uncertain over who controlled their block each day. Rural areas were safer for a time - but sooner or later the Flesh would consume them. Cities too fell beneath its unending expansion. Refugees returned to the ever-hotter deserts.

Natural desert oases were the saving grace for many groups that gathered together in the years that followed. With traditional supply lines cut, they were one of the only sources of drinkable water. Nomadic groups and ramshackle towns alike stuck nearby them whenever possible. Other areas offered shelter - caves, canyons, motorway tunnels - but water, which took on a critical importance as the temperatures rose.

Nomads, bandits, townsfolk - all were bound by an eternal struggle against the sun. The ozone barrier was irreparably breached by the meteor streaks, ensuring that temperatures kept rising and sunburns afflicted any who braved the outside while the sun was at its peak. Water was in high demand and short supply. Lives were taken for only a few bottles.

Life isn't easy in the scorching Utah wastes. But it always finds a way.

[[File:Life Outside the Bunker.jpg|center]]

== '''The Flesh''' ==

The meteoroids of the Great Scare were so numerous that it was impossible to retrieve them all. Most were collected by governmental and private organizations - but from those that landed in the depths of rural communities and far into the heart of nature, an awful amalgamation was left to take root.

It started to eat. Consume. Unchecked, uncontrolled, uncontested. The Flesh grew.

The first disappearances were blamed on animal attacks, or the simple misfortune of an inexperienced hiker facing bad weather and unknown trails. By 2002, when reports first began to filter into the media, it had grown too much to be stopped. Entire *ecosystems* existed where unknown creatures moved in a state of constant growth and change.

It was impossible to find each and every crash site. Impossible to burn out every colony of flesh. The focus of those in power eventually turned from destruction to survival.

---

The Flesh is an amorphous mass in a constant state of change that consumes biomass to spread. From its depths spew forth a constant deluge of wicked creatures; mockeries of life human and animal.

Fire and high heat can hold it back - but even the soaring temperatures of the world haven't been enough to *kill* it. Maybe nothing can. And only time can tell what other horrors will sprout from the Flesh.

[[File:The Flesh.jpg|center]]

== '''Ossitium''' ==

Ossitium is a rare, meteor-born metal that only appears in the scorched cores of fallen meteors. In raw form, it looks like a chalky, bone-colored ore threaded with fine metallic veins that shimmer faintly under light.

Once smelted, Ossitium produces a lightweight silver alloy harder than steel yet flexible enough to resist shattering.

Its value comes from its unique properties: it holds an edge far longer than conventional metals, resists corrosion even in the harshest desert climates, and handles heat unlike any other metal. Blacksmiths covet it for weapons and tools, while mechanics prize it for machinery that can withstand extremes of temperature.

For those bold enough to seize it first, Ossitium can mean wealth, status, or survival. But most deposits are collected by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation.

[[File:Ossitium.png|center]]

== '''Whyte-Shioda Corp''' ==

Founded in 1989, the Whyte-Shioda Corporation wasn't a household name. But their crack team of engineers made them well known in the tech business. Seeing Whyte-Shioda on a part of your machine was a guarantee of high quality. Their name, some savvy business decisions, and the first government contract to study Ossitium put Whyte-Shioda Corporation among the few multi-billion dollar companies to survive the financial crisis that followed the Great Scare.

Where governments faltered, Whyte-Shioda Corporation stood tall. Property, power, and patents were quickly consolidated beneath their banner. The military's quasi collapse by mass desertion in 2001 prompted Whyte-Shioda to raise their own army. Firearms, armor, and vehicles enhanced with Ossitium drew in deserters with the promise of hope.

As of 2005, they are the sole known superpower of humanity. All the resources and manpower at their disposal are constantly put to work on the dual tasks they've taken up - fighting back the Flesh, and keeping alive what of humanity they can. Many of those still surviving the Utah heats have their charity to thank for that.

[[File:Whyte-Shioda Corp.png|center]] ''Credits for the logo: @level4slime''


== '''Penance''' ==

'Penance'. The original town had no name - less than a hundred souls called it home. The name given to the shanty town that sprung from the podunk town came from the church's signboard. Time had plucked away all the words but one, and it fit well enough.

Penance is a scrap-built frontier town at the base of the canyon. The town is built around a sealed off shelter harboring a handful of souls who sought shelter years before. The natural canyon faces that surround Penance shelter it from storms and raiders alike, and an oasis blesses the town with only an hour's walk to fresh water.

Its population has waxed and waned over the years.

[[File:Penance.jpg|800px|center]]

Template:The World

2025-11-16T03:50:36Z

Ppeacherine: /* The Burnt Miles */

== '''Greater Utah''' ==
[[File:Rivera Utah.jpg|300px|frameless|right]]
A desert state where survivors stand against the harsh sun and the flesh both to eke out some kind of living. Persevering stubbornly onward like the brush and sand that dot the landscape.

[[Greater_Utah|Greater Utah]] contains several major locations, including the [[Greater Utah#The Burnt Miles|Burnt Miles]] and [[Greater Utah#The Bunker|the Bunker]].

== '''Life inside the Bunker''' ==

The closing of the doors in early `02 marked not salvation for those inside, but a new form of living.

Brochures passed out as the doors closed spoke of safety, food, and shelter. At least until the surface cooled and the skies cleared up. Those chosen by the Civil Defense Initiative - doctors, engineers, technicians and the like, or even those simply lucky enough to be chosen by the lottery - were stepping into a world where they may never see the sun again.

Artificial lights and the hum of recirculated oxygen. The walls were clean, and the food at times was bland. A consistent need to disinfect the small world they now lived in left a reoccurring smell throughout the communal areas of the bunker. Every day followed some form of structure, broken up by the difference in foods or people you saw.

Weeks turned into months. A Warden put in place by the CDI alongside a small contingency of security - drafted from local National Guard and Sheriff applicants - kept the bunker at peace with itself. But the consistent reassurance that it was only a temporary relocation underground did not inspire confidence in many.

Rumors would eventually begin to spread that outside radio communications had shut down entirely. In a form of protest, some of the inhabitants staged a sit-in protest in the communal area. An event that went on for days and saw the bunker brought to the brink of revolt. When the riot was eventually subdued, the protest's leaders were exiled to the outside world. At the time, this was a new event, and it struck fear into many. For the outside world was now unknown, and it may as well have been alien - surely this was a death sentence.

By year two maintenance crews were stretched thin, both in manpower and supplies. Duct tape and spit was less of a phrase and more of a way of life in repairs. Arguments erupted over anything - rationing, oxygen, water, recreation. The Warden became increasingly authoritarian - which led to even more exiles. In time, many renewed their love of faith, be it God Almighty or the Sun they hadn't seen in years. everyone needed something to believe in during a time of crisis.

By the final year, year three, entire corridors of the bunker were be cut off due to maintenance failures. Only a quarter of the bunker remains operational to this day. A need to conserve air would only worsen over time. In a desperate bid to avoid accountability, Warden Byers would ultimately take his own life.

Failing hydroponics, flickering lights, and the breakdown of authority saw the ill situation of the bunker spiral further out of control.

Will the inhabitants retake control of the situation? Or let it degrade further into the ground. Whatever happens, is up to them.

[[File:Life inside the Bunker.jpg|center]]

== '''Greater Utah''' ==

The red stones and salt white deserts of Utah. Once known for its canyons, arches and wide-open salt flats, Utah is among the few active front-lines standing against the spread of the Flesh. Cancerous growths sprout from sand and stone where meteors fall, streaks of fire that stain the natural splendor with an unrelenting infestation.. but a lack of organic matter stymies the spread. The heat bears down on the invading meat just as viciously as any human’s.

Before the world fell silent, the local CDI correctly identified the mountainous terrain as a likely holdout against the ongoing spread of the Flesh and carved its mark. What began as land deals with the county government became a proving ground for several experimental bunkers- an attempt to secure humanity’s future under the ‘protection’ of the burning sun. Sealed beneath rock and steel, kept alive by what self-sufficient systems could be procured on such short notice, the bunkers held.. for a time.

The skies above Utah never found their rest. Day by day, night by night, meteors burn up as they fly overhead. Helicopters manned by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation are commonplace, ferrying soldiers and technicians to carve out the precious cores of the fallen rocks- and deliver aid to the struggling survivors sheltered in the canyons below.

Whether the high canyon walls and scorching heat will shelter the remnants of humanity forever remains to be seen.

[[File:Greater Utah.png|center]]

== '''The Great Scare''' ==
One of many colloquial terms used to describe the chaos of the meteors' first impact.

Three months before impact, the sensors of a deep space complex in Alaska reported to Washington signs of multiple meteoroids on an impact course with Earth. Misaligned from their previous path by an intersolar impact. Their landing wouldn't be the end of the world - but it was enough to warrant secret funding for threat assessment and management.

A month before the impact, weeks-old government emails turned up on an online conspiracy forum. Their mentions of an approaching swarm of celestial bodies reached the media within days. An official statement was wrestled out of the government. The impact wouldn't cause serious damages; anyone living in highly populated areas should seek shelter underground; low casualties were expected.

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced alongside a lengthy list of reopened Cold War bunkers. But the government's actions were clouded by a lack of transparency. Independent researchers contested the figures provided by the government. Religious groups and conspiracy forums flooded minds with cataclysmic thoughts.

Days before the impact, the United States army stood on its own streets. Looting and rioting had grown to such levels that martial law was instituted. For the most part it worked, as the focus of the masses turned quickly from profit to survival. In the hours before the impact, streets and cities appeared abandoned. Air raid shelters overflowed.

In the impact's aftermath, the government was proven right. Casualties were few. Most countries' infrastructure remained online. Governments around the world urged the populace to return to their lives - with little effect. The global supply chain had been brought to a halt for over a week. Its startup was jerky, halting, doomed to fail.

The high demand, low offer economy killed millions of jobs and thousands of companies. Within five weeks of the impact the number of multi-billion dollar companies had been slashed down to a third. It would be nearly three months before the turmoil settled.

Within six months the news cycle had moved on. Renewed government instability in poorer countries combined with the hottest summer in two decades brought life back to the present.

For years after, American life was normal. Schools ran. Office workers stepped into their cubicles. The government changed political hands. Everything was just... a bit hotter.

[[File:The Great Scare.jpg|600px|center]]

== '''Civil Defense Initiative''' ==

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced in the aftermath of the Great Scare. A desperate attempt to reignite Cold War era defense programs in event of a nuclear strike - now finding purpose from a different kind of threat. Should a series of strikes truly catastrophic occur, the population would need safety.

Federal funds were earmarked for the program, but it was hampered by governmental instability. The responsibility to carve bunkers out of rock or retrofit existing structures into civil defense shelters was pushed down to state governments, county boards, and even private contractors.

Shoddy craftsmanship dogged them. Important subsystems had gone years unmaintained. Not all of them were even capable of sealing. But for a select few (and a couple lottery winners), the Civil Defense Initiative's bunkers are the only reason they're alive.

[[File:Civil Defense Initiative.png|500px|center|]]

== '''The Bunker''' ==

Built late into the Collapse under the Civil Defense Initiative, the bunker is one of several attempts to sustain a human population underground, sealing away a hundred or so chosen souls away from the chaos above.

Originally a cold-war era nuclear shelter for the local townships, the bunker was carved directly into the canyon wall. Construction was rushed, regulations bent or ignored, and the rusted foundation of long-forgotten nuclear defense programs meant the bunker inherited many of its aging problems. Water recyclers clogged, and filters degraded. Generators burned out, and fume vents backed up. Oxygen scrubbers relied on finite supplies of filters, impossible to replace as time marched on. America no longer had the industry, materials, or will to build a vault that could last centuries, leaving it a patchwork project of desperation.

The bunkers weren’t intended to be humanity’s new home- they were designed as lifeboats. A pause on extinction.

When the Flesh swept across the globe, surviving on the surface wasn’t impossible, but it was far from preferable. Most of the occupants of the bunkers were chosen for their skills, their status, or their value to society- priority was given to officials, government workers, and technicians tied to vital infrastructure. To the CDI, survival wasn’t intended to be democratic, but strategic. In the face of slow-rolling unrest threatening to unseat its control over the rapidly deteriorating surface, the Initiative was eventually forced to open additional slots. To distribute them, a lottery. For a lucky few in 2002, survival came not in the form of merit or status but sheer chance.

Over the years, the state of the outside world was reduced to myth. No radio signals, no knocks at the door, nothing but the groan of machinery and life support systems. The survival of the CDI, the spread of the Flesh, even the fate of humanity itself became increasingly unclear as the years ticked on.

[[File:The Bunker.jpg|center]]

== '''Life Outside the Bunker''' ==

The bunkers' closure in early 2002 forced a choice on those not skilled enough to be selected or lucky enough to win the lottery - stay in Utah and brave the heat, or flee to cooler temperatures. Most chose the latter.

Those who ran found little respite. News of a military coup only a month after the bunkers closed preceded the near-total collapse of governmental power. Urban areas were marked by constant pandemonium. Gangs rose to power as quickly as they fell out, leaving the average civilian uncertain over who controlled their block each day. Rural areas were safer for a time - but sooner or later the Flesh would consume them. Cities too fell beneath its unending expansion. Refugees returned to the ever-hotter deserts.

Natural desert oases were the saving grace for many groups that gathered together in the years that followed. With traditional supply lines cut, they were one of the only sources of drinkable water. Nomadic groups and ramshackle towns alike stuck nearby them whenever possible. Other areas offered shelter - caves, canyons, motorway tunnels - but water, which took on a critical importance as the temperatures rose.

Nomads, bandits, townsfolk - all were bound by an eternal struggle against the sun. The ozone barrier was irreparably breached by the meteor streaks, ensuring that temperatures kept rising and sunburns afflicted any who braved the outside while the sun was at its peak. Water was in high demand and short supply. Lives were taken for only a few bottles.

Life isn't easy in the scorching Utah wastes. But it always finds a way.

[[File:Life Outside the Bunker.jpg|center]]

== '''The Flesh''' ==

The meteoroids of the Great Scare were so numerous that it was impossible to retrieve them all. Most were collected by governmental and private organizations - but from those that landed in the depths of rural communities and far into the heart of nature, an awful amalgamation was left to take root.

It started to eat. Consume. Unchecked, uncontrolled, uncontested. The Flesh grew.

The first disappearances were blamed on animal attacks, or the simple misfortune of an inexperienced hiker facing bad weather and unknown trails. By 2002, when reports first began to filter into the media, it had grown too much to be stopped. Entire *ecosystems* existed where unknown creatures moved in a state of constant growth and change.

It was impossible to find each and every crash site. Impossible to burn out every colony of flesh. The focus of those in power eventually turned from destruction to survival.

---

The Flesh is an amorphous mass in a constant state of change that consumes biomass to spread. From its depths spew forth a constant deluge of wicked creatures; mockeries of life human and animal.

Fire and high heat can hold it back - but even the soaring temperatures of the world haven't been enough to *kill* it. Maybe nothing can. And only time can tell what other horrors will sprout from the Flesh.

[[File:The Flesh.jpg|center]]

== '''Ossitium''' ==

Ossitium is a rare, meteor-born metal that only appears in the scorched cores of fallen meteors. In raw form, it looks like a chalky, bone-colored ore threaded with fine metallic veins that shimmer faintly under light.

Once smelted, Ossitium produces a lightweight silver alloy harder than steel yet flexible enough to resist shattering.

Its value comes from its unique properties: it holds an edge far longer than conventional metals, resists corrosion even in the harshest desert climates, and handles heat unlike any other metal. Blacksmiths covet it for weapons and tools, while mechanics prize it for machinery that can withstand extremes of temperature.

For those bold enough to seize it first, Ossitium can mean wealth, status, or survival. But most deposits are collected by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation.

[[File:Ossitium.png|center]]

== '''Whyte-Shioda Corp''' ==

Founded in 1989, the Whyte-Shioda Corporation wasn't a household name. But their crack team of engineers made them well known in the tech business. Seeing Whyte-Shioda on a part of your machine was a guarantee of high quality. Their name, some savvy business decisions, and the first government contract to study Ossitium put Whyte-Shioda Corporation among the few multi-billion dollar companies to survive the financial crisis that followed the Great Scare.

Where governments faltered, Whyte-Shioda Corporation stood tall. Property, power, and patents were quickly consolidated beneath their banner. The military's quasi collapse by mass desertion in 2001 prompted Whyte-Shioda to raise their own army. Firearms, armor, and vehicles enhanced with Ossitium drew in deserters with the promise of hope.

As of 2005, they are the sole known superpower of humanity. All the resources and manpower at their disposal are constantly put to work on the dual tasks they've taken up - fighting back the Flesh, and keeping alive what of humanity they can. Many of those still surviving the Utah heats have their charity to thank for that.

[[File:Whyte-Shioda Corp.png|center]] ''Credits for the logo: @level4slime''


== '''Penance''' ==

'Penance'. The original town had no name - less than a hundred souls called it home. The name given to the shanty town that sprung from the podunk town came from the church's signboard. Time had plucked away all the words but one, and it fit well enough.

Penance is a scrap-built frontier town at the base of the canyon. The town is built around a sealed off shelter harboring a handful of souls who sought shelter years before. The natural canyon faces that surround Penance shelter it from storms and raiders alike, and an oasis blesses the town with only an hour's walk to fresh water.

Its population has waxed and waned over the years.

[[File:Penance.jpg|800px|center]]

File:Rivera Utah.jpg

2025-11-16T03:47:03Z

Ppeacherine:

Arturo Rivera Unsplash photo of Utah Sign

Greater Utah

2025-11-16T03:21:04Z

Ppeacherine:

== Greater Utah ==
[[File:Greater Utah.png|250px|thumb|right|The Historic State Flag of Utah (1913-2024)]]

The red stones and salt white deserts of Utah. Once known for its canyons, arches and wide-open salt flats, Utah is among the few active front-lines standing against the spread of the Flesh. Cancerous growths sprout from sand and stone where meteors fall, streaks of fire that stain the natural splendor with an unrelenting infestation.. but a lack of organic matter stymies the spread. The heat bears down on the invading meat just as viciously as any human’s.

Before the world fell silent, the local CDI correctly identified the mountainous terrain as a likely holdout against the ongoing spread of the Flesh and carved its mark. What began as land deals with the county government became a proving ground for several experimental bunkers- an attempt to secure humanity’s future under the ‘protection’ of the burning sun. Sealed beneath rock and steel, kept alive by what self-sufficient systems could be procured on such short notice, the bunkers held.. for a time.

The skies above Utah never found their rest. Day by day, night by night, meteors burn up as they fly overhead. Helicopters manned by the Whyte-Shioda Corporation are commonplace, ferrying soldiers and technicians to carve out the precious cores of the fallen rocks- and deliver aid to the struggling survivors sheltered in the canyons below.

Whether the high canyon walls and scorching heat will shelter the remnants of humanity forever remains to be seen.

== The Civil Defense Initiative ==

The Civil Defense Initiative was announced in the aftermath of the Great Scare. A desperate attempt to reignite Cold War era defense programs in event of a nuclear strike - now finding purpose from a different kind of threat. Should a series of strikes truly catastrophic occur, the population would need safety.

Federal funds were earmarked for the program, but it was hampered by governmental instability. The responsibility to carve bunkers out of rock or retrofit existing structures into civil defense shelters was pushed down to state governments, county boards, and even private contractors.

Shoddy craftsmanship dogged them. Important subsystems had gone years unmaintained. Not all of them were even capable of sealing. But for a select few (and a couple lottery winners), the Civil Defense Initiative's bunkers are the only reason they're alive.

=== The Utah Bunker ===
[[File:The Bunker.jpg|300px|thumb|right]]
Built late into the Collapse under the Civil Defense Initiative, the bunker is one of several attempts to sustain a human population underground, sealing away a hundred or so chosen souls away from the chaos above.

Originally a cold-war era nuclear shelter for the local townships, the bunker was carved directly into the canyon wall. Construction was rushed, regulations bent or ignored, and the rusted foundation of long-forgotten nuclear defense programs meant the bunker inherited many of its aging problems. Water recyclers clogged, and filters degraded. Generators burned out, and fume vents backed up. Oxygen scrubbers relied on finite supplies of filters, impossible to replace as time marched on. America no longer had the industry, materials, or will to build a vault that could last centuries, leaving it a patchwork project of desperation.

The bunkers weren’t intended to be humanity’s new home- they were designed as lifeboats. A pause on extinction.

When the Flesh swept across the globe, surviving on the surface wasn’t impossible, but it was far from preferable. Most of the occupants of the bunkers were chosen for their skills, their status, or their value to society- priority was given to officials, government workers, and technicians tied to vital infrastructure. To the CDI, survival wasn’t intended to be democratic, but strategic. In the face of slow-rolling unrest threatening to unseat its control over the rapidly deteriorating surface, the Initiative was eventually forced to open additional slots. To distribute them, a lottery. For a lucky few in 2002, survival came not in the form of merit or status but sheer chance.

Over the years, the state of the outside world was reduced to myth. No radio signals, no knocks at the door, nothing but the groan of machinery and life support systems. The survival of the CDI, the spread of the Flesh, even the fate of humanity itself became increasingly unclear as the years ticked on.

==== Life Inside the Bunker ====
The closing of the doors in early `02 marked not salvation for those inside, but a new form of living.

Brochures passed out as the doors closed spoke of safety, food, and shelter. At least until the surface cooled and the skies cleared up. Those chosen by the Civil Defense Initiative - doctors, engineers, technicians and the like, or even those simply lucky enough to be chosen by the lottery - were stepping into a world where they may never see the sun again.

Artificial lights and the hum of recirculated oxygen. The walls were clean, and the food at times was bland. A consistent need to disinfect the small world they now lived in left a reoccurring smell throughout the communal areas of the bunker. Every day followed some form of structure, broken up by the difference in foods or people you saw.

Weeks turned into months. A Warden put in place by the CDI alongside a small contingency of security - drafted from local National Guard and Sheriff applicants - kept the bunker at peace with itself. But the consistent reassurance that it was only a temporary relocation underground did not inspire confidence in many.

Rumors would eventually begin to spread that outside radio communications had shut down entirely. In a form of protest, some of the inhabitants staged a sit-in protest in the communal area. An event that went on for days and saw the bunker brought to the brink of revolt. When the riot was eventually subdued, the protest's leaders were exiled to the outside world. At the time, this was a new event, and it struck fear into many. For the outside world was now unknown, and it may as well have been alien - surely this was a death sentence.

By year two maintenance crews were stretched thin, both in manpower and supplies. Duct tape and spit was less of a phrase and more of a way of life in repairs. Arguments erupted over anything - rationing, oxygen, water, recreation. The Warden became increasingly authoritarian - which led to even more exiles. In time, many renewed their love of faith, be it God Almighty or the Sun they hadn't seen in years. everyone needed something to believe in during a time of crisis.

By the final year, year three, entire corridors of the bunker were be cut off due to maintenance failures. Only a quarter of the bunker remains operational to this day. A need to conserve air would only worsen over time. In a desperate bid to avoid accountability, Warden Byers would ultimately take his own life.

Failing hydroponics, flickering lights, and the breakdown of authority saw the ill situation of the bunker spiral further out of control.

Will the inhabitants retake control of the situation? Or let it degrade further into the ground. Whatever happens, is up to them.

== The Burnt Miles ==
[[File:The Burnt Miles.jpg|300px|thumb|right]]
The ozone, torn apart by years of constant meteor strikes, is no barrier to the sun here. Its unending heat beats down on the parched ground. Temperatures can soar to 120F and higher - further than most thermometers can measure.

That heat wears down the Flesh just as much as any other living being. Its unending push forward is slowed to a crawl. But the monstrous mass won't be stopped. Untold numbers of its spawn trudge forth to stake its claim in the dunes.

Meteor strikes are just as common a sighting as corporate helicopters. Often the former precedes the latter, but many who wander the wastes have been privy to a fly-by from a bird carrying potentially life-saving aid.

The few communities eking out an existence in this inhospitable area cluster around oases and rivers whose banks slowly dwindle year after year. Most every other town is inhabited only by sand and ghosts.

Rare as it may be, life still finds a way to thrive in the Utah desert.

=== Life In the Burnt Miles ===
The bunkers' closure in early 2002 forced a choice on those not skilled enough to be selected or lucky enough to win the lottery - stay in Utah and brave the heat, or flee to cooler temperatures. Most chose the latter.

Those who ran found little respite. News of a military coup only a month after the bunkers closed preceded the near-total collapse of governmental power. Urban areas were marked by constant pandemonium. Gangs rose to power as quickly as they fell out, leaving the average civilian uncertain over who controlled their block each day. Rural areas were safer for a time - but sooner or later the Flesh would consume them. Cities too fell beneath its unending expansion. Refugees returned to the ever-hotter deserts.

Natural desert oases were the saving grace for many groups that gathered together in the years that followed. With traditional supply lines cut, they were one of the only sources of drinkable water. Nomadic groups and ramshackle towns alike stuck nearby them whenever possible. Other areas offered shelter - caves, canyons, motorway tunnels - but water, which took on a critical importance as the temperatures rose.

Nomads, bandits, townsfolk - all were bound by an eternal struggle against the sun. The ozone barrier was irreparably breached by the meteor streaks, ensuring that temperatures kept rising and sunburns afflicted any who braved the outside while the sun was at its peak. Water was in high demand and short supply. Lives were taken for only a few bottles.

Life isn't easy in the scorching Utah wastes. But it always finds a way.

==== Penance ====
[[File:Penance.jpg|250px|thumb|right]]
The original town had no name - less than a hundred souls called it home. The name given to the shanty town that sprung from the podunk town came from the church's signboard. Time had plucked away all the words but one, and it fit well enough.

Penance is a scrap-built frontier town at the base of the canyon. The town is built around a sealed off shelter harboring a handful of souls who sought shelter years before. The natural canyon faces that surround Penance shelter it from storms and raiders alike, and an oasis blesses the town with only an hour's walk to fresh water.

Its population has waxed and waned over the years.

Greater Utah

2025-11-16T03:15:30Z

Ppeacherine: Created page with "== Greater Utah == The Historic State Flag of Utah (1913-2024) The red stones and salt white deserts of Utah. Once known for its canyons, arches and wide-open salt flats, Utah is among the few active front-lines standing against the spread of the Flesh. Cancerous growths sprout from sand and stone where meteors fall, streaks of fire that stain the natural splendor with an unrelenting infestation.. but a lack of organic matter..."