Welcome to Gaia! ::

The world has effectively ended in our lifetimes. Tactical nukes have taken out every major city in North America, Europe, and Asia. South America and Africa are in a state of constant civil war as dictators are overthrown and replaced by other dictators. Australia and New Zealand managed to get by mostly unscathed, but have shut down their boarders completely. The internet has been down for the last 10 years, so there is no telling how the rest of the world has fared. Weather patterns are erratic as the nukes sped up the global-warming process and triggered massive desalinization of the north Atlantic, which caused hurricane-force Arctic storms all over the northern hemisphere. With the weather so unpredictable, planting and harvesting food has become a timed guessing game. With the oil fields of California and Texas all heavily irradiated for the next 50 years, and the oil from the Middle East literally impossible to get, gasoline powered contraptions are outdated and impractical--the horse and ox have come back into play. Some solar panels and electrical devices have survived and are used in individual colonies, but no one has the time or resources to bring back the Golden Age of Technology.

A few enterprising Americans have managed to scrape together the remains of the American people and establish colonies, all with different needs and justice styles and systems of government. Finally, after years of struggling to put the pieces back together, a conference of the largest colonies has been called together to discuss what to do next. Stay isolated or work together to survive?

We meet in Yellowstone National Park, a small but unique colony that has the most to gain and the most to loose from the leaders of the coastal colonies as they convene for the first New Order Council. When you arrive, please state your name, rank, colony of origin, and a little back story about how you survived the Apocalypse. Don't forget to add what you need, want, and have to offer.

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Anyone can join, but I'd like to limit it to a few major players so we're not waiting on a lot of people to post. Also, I'd like to focus on moving the plot along, not just standing around, passing the spotlight back and forth.

Post who your character is and then how your character meets up with everyone else.

Name: Sari Reynolds.
Rank: Duchess of Old Florence and surrounding areas
Colony of Origin: Old Florance, Oregon
Backstory: Caught between California, which was hit by no less than 4 nuclear blasts (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento), and the Puget Sound Fallout, she helped shape the largest colony on the Oregon coast. She was a nation-leading veterinarian surgeon, but as more doctors fell to radiation poisoning from treating the sick out of California, she was the first to make the difficult call to close the doors of the Old Florance City to unhealthy refugees. Many criticized her as being bitter and callous and cold hearted, but those angry voices died. Literally. As maps of dangerously irradiated areas were refined and the dangerously radioactive people died out, their bodies burned well outside the city, she expanded the Old Florance colony and took in more refugees.

In the sea of chaos, she was always a steady beacon of reason and assurance. When the official government of Old Florance was established, many called for her to be Queen because of her noble bearing in times of trial. She politely declined the title, but accepted the leadership roll. She became known as the Duchess.

Now representing her colony at the NOC with a few others from the coast, she is looking for a variety of animals to help flesh-out her livestock's genetic pool, and in return she can offer lumber, wine, and a variety of minerals. As a token of her wealth and faith in her co-counselors, she has brought a variety of alcohols to share and some of the best horses her ranches had produced.

Andrew arrived in his horse drawn buggy with his second in command, Earl Beaufort. Sending the younger man on his way he stepped out of the buggy and walked towards the small building that would serve as the conference hall for the various colonial leaders. Pulling out his silver pocket watch he found that he had arrived earlier than expected and took it upon himself to survey the land a little. His crow headed cane made navigating the uncivilized terrain a bit easier, but he was still old and eventually settled to just look upon the lake. His white suit and white cowboy hat made him stand out quite a bit on the fairly unscathed terrain. Happening upon another Andrew dusted himself off and strode forward confidently, "Well howdy miss, the names Andrew. Governor Andrew Lee of the South Eastern Colonies. I would reckon that you are another colony leader." Andrew presented himself with a wide hearty smile and a firm handshake.

"A pleasure to meet you Ms. Reynolds. And thank you, I think I will." Andrew sat down on the log beside her setting his can offside. "It still takes my breath away, this place was barely scratched during the end. A saving grace I guess." Andrew chuckled to himself over some distant memory, "So, Ms. Reynolds, how is your colony fairing during these times?"

Andrew appeared completely unphased by this information, "That was an eventuality that I had calculated. Thankfully the southeast only lost southern Florida to direct conflict. The rest of us have had little work after we set up the walls. Our livestock still have their fertility, but as it is with your own livestock. Ours will hold out for a time but I already have that taken care of. We still have our troubles with inconsistent rains and regular attempts from criminal elements to breach our defenses, but so far we have been managing to carry on fairly well." Andrew sighed and stared out across the landscape, "No need to worry, these are trying times."

Name: Morgan Fritts

Rank: Administrator of Preservation, Strategic Defense Adviser, Head of Technological Recovery

Colony of Origin: New St. Louis

Back Story: Before the attacks, Morgan was always proactively looking for any way to be independent from her reliance on the rest of society. She had learned to make her own fuel, grow her own food, repair her own machines, and build her own buildings as well. She had even set up her own solar power grid, and her dream was to mass produce a car that ran on dirty water, and helped rather than hurt the atmosphere. She collected books and computers as a hobby, and her house was filled with her collections. She even went so far as to start building a large addition to her house just for it all.

When the devastation arrived, it arrived not through the skies, but by the roads leading to the heart of the United States. Kansas, Chicago, and St. Louis were the first to be struck. The clarion that announced North America's impending doom to the rest of the world. A tactical move that deprived power, gas, and food from the rest of the continent, and deprived the United States of an opportunity to regroup.

As the aftermath set in, Morgan's main interest lay in protecting what she worked so hard to build. She wasn't heartless though, and she could not turn those away who humbly appealed to her for help. The people who joined her worked with her to find abandoned treasures that the more desperate had spurned. Other groups similar to hers found them, and they in turn found other groups. Within 5 years New St. Louis had bloomed but 130 miles south of where it's namesake's ruins still crumbled.

Need: Lead, iron, steel, textiles, lumber,
Want: Livestock, Fruit, any old computer parts and communication devices
Have to Offer: Corn, Wheat, Rice, Soybeans, Venison, Books and Technological Information, rudimentary radio equipment, Granite,

Morgan huffed as she climbed the hill. "Chris, according to the map, we should be able to see the lake from up there. Then we just have to follow it around."

She was mildly annoyed at having to go this way, but the truck broke down days ago, and and they were forced to abandon it. Her protector, provider, and more recently, her husband had insisted that to cut through the forest would surely be the quickest way.

A glow of pride irradiated through her as she crested the hill to see that her map had not failed her. Not that she didn't trust Christopher, but she was programed to rely on hard evidence.

She was almost startled to find that the settlement was almost immediately in front of her... or at least she really HOPED it was the place they were looking for, but it wasn't nearly as big as she thought it would be. Not too far in the distance was a couple of people conversing at a log. Morgan took a quick moment to compose herself and catch her breath...

"HELLO THERE..." she called as she strode forward. She blushed a bit as she realized her voice had carried much farther than she thought it would. "I'm looking for the duchess of Old Florence! Would either of you know of her?"

"Oh!" Morgan's eyes widened, as once again she was pleasantly surprised...

...but in facing the person whose name was on her invitation, she felt herself at loss for words...

"Well... umm... Oh yeah," she chuckled to herself... "My name is Morgan Fritts of New Saint Louis. I have come on behalf of our colony in hopes of..... well... just in hope." She once again blushed. This time at her stammered words.

"OH, and this is Christopher, my husband." She quickly added as an afterthought.