CE 2112 / THE AMERICAN WASTELAND
ROACHES
THE SURVIVORS
“Roaches” is the name given to survivalists who do not belong to a major faction. It began as an RSOA insult; outside the walls, it covers people with very different lives and loyalties.
OUTSIDE THE WALLS
Roaches live as lone wanderers, small family groups, nomadic packs, bunker dwellers, and scattered towns. Many stay on the road or shelter underground. There is no shared government, uniform, or single way of life.
Quality of life varies between communities. Most long-term survivors can defend themselves, repair what they need, and make use of whatever the ruins still provide.
“ROACH” – A RECLAIMED SLUR
RSOA propaganda portrays independent survivalists as thieves, murderers, and cowards. Roaches are true to their name, however; hardy and able to survive in even the worst conditions.
SOCIETY & THE MAJOR POWERS
Most Roaches distrust or hate the RSOA after encounters with its soldiers, or with MEDUSA operators acting on the state’s behalf. RSOA patrols operate under kill-on-sight orders for non-citizens, and capture remains a constant threat.
Some larger communities negotiate deals for resources, protection, or permission to be left alone. Such arrangements can involve exploitation and trafficking, as with the Lost Souls’ trade in captured fertile women.
MEDUSA is also a source of contracts, trade, and recruits. Relationships depend on the people involved: one settlement may employ mercenaries while another remembers them as the force that raided its neighbours.
KNOWN SURVIVALIST GROUPS
Independent communities do not form a single alliance. These groups have different loyalties, methods, and relationships with the larger powers.
THE LOST SOULS
Ten’s raiders · firearms & armoured buggies
Led by Ten, a former EXSO warrior who was barred from the cult’s inner circle. Disillusioned by Seven’s madness and the ban on guns, Ten led a bloody mutiny to form a massive raider gang.
They maintain a trade pact with the RSOA—capturing fertile wasteland women and selling them to the RSOA in exchange for clean water, ammo, and immunity from RSOA airstrikes/sweeps.
FREEBRANCH
Neutral market · weapons holstered
A sprawling, neutral trading hub town built in a pre-war highway interchange/railyard where smaller communities, lone Roaches, and M.E.D.U.S.A. mercs trade under a strict “weapons holstered in the market” truce. Relatively close to First Light.
Tolerated by the RSOA because corrupt RSOA officers and DRAM brokers secretly use Freebranch’s black market to fence surplus goods and buy wasteland intelligence.
THE OLD WORLDERS
Underground resistance · pre-war ideals
Subterranean rebels living in abandoned metro tunnels and pre-war civil defense bunkers.
The Old Worlders cling to pre-apocalypse democratic values and family structures. They wage active guerilla warfare against the RSOA – sabotaging pipelines, hacking propaganda towers, and ambushing prisoner transports to free captured women.
LIFE IN THE WASTELAND
Beyond RSOA perimeter walls and MEDUSA guard towers, clean water is scarce and shelter is rarely secure. Weather, wildlife, armed groups, and the ruins themselves can all be lethal.
- Feral animals, particularly large packs of dogs.
- Mutated wildlife affected by nuclear and biochemical fallout.
- Corrosive acid rain and extreme weather anomalies.
- Raider gangs, hostile hunting parties, and bounty hunters.
- RSOA Armed Forces patrols.
- Scarce clean water and supplies.
- Decaying, structurally unsound pre-war ruins.
PEOPLE, NOT MONSTERS
Humans born with radiation- or virus-related deformities are not uncommon. These can manifest as extra limbs or unique abilities. They are often shunned across the wasteland.
KNOWN SURVIVORS
ASH / MIKHAIL / TEN / JESSE HAYES / DEVON RITTS / RAGNAR EINARSSON / STEINN EINARSSON / SINDRI / KAYRA