Big/important factions:
- Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel
- Enclave (small but influential/powerful)
- Detroit faction
- Toledo raider faction
- Toronto faction
- Mutant Liberation Army (remnant faction, not much left but can be reborn)


Chicago
This is a Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel territory.
Either the whole city has been taken over sometime during these 100 years they've existed, or just partially for whatever reason, or they still are just around in the suburbs. Maybe Chicago's in such a bad shape that there really ain't much worth in controlling it, it's easier to rebuild society in the outskirts of the city, but still close enough to scavenge resources and building materials.
The Enclave outpost(s) gotta be somewhere in the city as well, or beneath it. They have some kind of alliance with the Brotherhood, either they have “joined” the Brotherhood or they have a non-aggressive pact. Either way, the higher ups have nestled into the leadership of the Brotherhood. How else would they be able to exist in the city that the Brotherhood has their HQ around? (I bet the Brotherhood still have Bunker Alpha as their HQ)
Keep in mind that it's about 120 years after the Brotherhood crashed with their zeppelins and were established outside Chicago. Considering Styles want the Barnaky ending, how does the Fallout world look like in, say, 2292 (or whatever time this game would take place in.) What events have happened simultaneously in other locations like D.C. and New Vegas?
If the Brotherhood somewhat merged with the Enclave, when the Enclave was fleeing from Navarro, and later when they fled back from D.C., how did that look like?
And how does it look like in 2292, 15 years later, concerning political situation, territory control, influence over settlements within their regions, factions outside their borders and all that.
Fallout 3 mention the Midwestern Brotherhood has run into some kind of hard time. Legion apparently have captured some Brotherhood members that might be from the Midwestern chapter. Within this map I drew, we'd only hear mention of Vault 0 and Caesar's Legion.
Also keep in mind that Tactics ended 2198, before Lyons or Caesar even were born. Whatever ending that is canon, it could be way different now. Sure, whatever was told to happen in the ending maybe did happen. But it was so long ago that it doesn't matter now. Caesar's Legion, for example, were officially formed in 2255, that is 57 years after the end of Tactics (and also the same year that Lyons Brotherhood reaches Pittsburgh on their way to D.C.)

Key words for inspiration:
- “The Windy City” (could be a very stormy place, like in the intro sequence of Tactics. Potential for great weather effects.)

- The poem “Chicago”:

"Hog butcher for the world,
Tool maker, stacker of wheat,
Player with railroads and the nation's freight handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the big shoulders."


Toronto
Since my original idea about this faction svcked, I scrapped it. Trying to come up with something better. Anyways, it was something about proud Canadians, wearing the Maple Leaf with proud
(I think it's a really nice looking flag), but it was rather silly, that they'd have such nationalism after 200+ years and a hatred for American war crimes committed during the Resource Wars and riots.
The idea with them is, that they would teach us a lot of history that took place in Canada, like how Toronto handled the Great War, how it was like pre-war with the American soldiers keeping Canada “safe”, the starvation, the riots, the Canadian resistance, the New Plague, et cetera... They would have some kind of motivation to “invade” USA (or more like, gain territory to the east, in the direction of the Brotherhood and the remnants of the old, American government responsible, the Enclave.

But, since I scrapped how the faction act like, let's go on to how they look like instead.

I am thinking, since I want horses in Fallout, and also an army that does mount soldiers on horses (post-apocalypic cavalry ftw!) I need to explain how horses exist in the universe. We haven't seen any in the Fallout games yet, except for the ones the NCR troopers are riding in All Roads (which I think is excellent, the NCR troopers already remind me of British soldiers during World War 1, when they are mounted on horses it just feels so complete. I love WW1, what I mean with that is the “old word - new world” transition era.)
So, horses in Fallout – all horses that survived the fire storm of 2077 migrated north (and I really do think horses survived if cows did. Horses are flight animals, and cows are cattle that you breed to eat. All horses on the countryside could've been scared, fled, avoided humans and packs of carnivorous animals (post-war, giant mutated animals!) and migrated north because the climate there is much more friendly. Much less wishes for nuclear winter while patrolling.)
By setting the game in a new location, up north like this, we do get the opportunity to see new creatures, and horses could and should be one of them. We got Bighorners and Cazadors in New Vegas and people didn't complain, even though they've never been seen or mentioned before.
So, horses damnit! My kingdom for a horse!

Key words for inspiration:
- Multi-cultural?
- Hockey (some punks in those parts could have hockey sticks as a melee weapon. Ha ha ha!)
- Eh? Moose?
- Canucks?
- I don't know, I don't want to do any American stereotypes of Canadians.


Detroit
The home of the Motor faction (WIP name) who are the descendants of factory workers of several car factories of Detroit. Somehow, many of the factory workers survived, along with many civilians that they helped during the air raid sirens (don't know how they did yet. Maybe a sturdy construction of a factory, and/or they all hid in a huge basemant?)
Anyways, this faction has control of the inhabitable parts of Detroit, most likely close to the Detroit River and/or St. Clair. (It's fictional so it doesn't have to be located where the real car factories are.) It is one huge car factory that was almost untouched by the bombs in some weird twist of luck or fate, and has since been repaired and maintained by these handy people who were saved by this building.
This is their HQ, but they do control other parts of the town that aren't too damaged either, where people can live and commit to trade. But they don't let too many outsiders close to the car factory which is kind of the heart of their faction. It's where they build, repair and enhance vehicles. Their factory and their knowledge is very attractive to other factions, but they would like to remain neutral to everyone.
Their karma is kind of neutral with a lean to the good side. They survive on villages outside of Detroit, through promises of protection they want food and materials to make fuel (corn to make ethanol) They kind of annex these villages though. They even act as raiders, though merciful, sometimes. They are also out scavenging for materials for their cars, spare parts and even batteries. Some cars that they manufacture themselves run on ethanol, but the old cars that they restore use either energy batteries (like Fallout 2) or nuclear reactors (like Fallout 3/New Vegas)
Think of their attitude like the crew of Firefly, more specifically Capt. Malcolm Reynolds
(Great series! Watch it if you haven't.)

Key words for inspiration:
- "Motor City" (car factories)
- Can't be arsed to find more Detroit-references and things for inspiration


Milwaukee
I am thinking a good place to trade on the western part of the map, a city that is in the control of the Brotherhood but has a group of insurgents that are causing trouble to them. These insurgents are either supportive of the Canadian faction, or of the MLA, or both (a weak reference to socialis, see keywords.)
If you've got a motorcycle you want to modify, there's a special place for that in Milwaukee.
Or there's a unique motorcycle you can buy here. There would also be a lot of beer to be found/bought in this city, and probably some beer related quest. Hehe, yum yum.

Key words for inspiration:
- Motorcycles (in reference of Harley Davidson)
- Beer (in reference to their beer culture.)
- Sewer socialism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewer_Socialism)
- Someone advocating them having very good sewers (see above)
- ? "German roots"-reference
- ? Historic Third Ward (landmark)
- ? Statue of Solomon (landmark)


Fort Wayne
I thought something about some place where the MLA could be located, or whatever is left of them since it's been decades since they first emerged (Tactics end in 2198, sometime after the MLA is formed, many conflicts take place, decades of fighting, and 80-90 years later...?)
They'd hide away and try not to show themselves too much The pretty much immortal mutants and ghouls hide and live here, along with a few elder humans, while many humans tried to integrate into smaller settlements, not speaking of their past. Some humans helped their old mutant friends by buying supplies that they returned to Fort Wayne with. They've pretty much given up the fight against a superior enemy, though, too many lives have been lost during the years. Many still believe in the cause but are tired of the fighting. Many of their younger generation, who never got to be a part of the conflict and haven't experienced the great injustice of the Brotherhood, wants to pick up the fight but the elders talk them off – it's suicide.

Version 1 - A gang of clumsy youth did try to fight the Brotherhood on their own.
They attacked a convoy up the roadways, killed a handful of Brotherhood soldiers (there were no paladins with PA), wounded a dozen, damaged a couple of trucks... but other than that, they got themselves slaughtered. Some captured, tortured to reveal their location, then nailed to crosses next to their friends killed in combat up by the I-90 where the ambush took place.
The following day, the Brotherhood attacked Fort Wayne with a rather big force, killing many of the old MLA veterans. They raised a few Brotherhood flags, and nailed a bunch of them on crosses around their former home, as well as hung people in lamp posts, as a warning to others.
Then they left the place in a hurry, and the town started to flood not long after that, making the bodies that they hadn't hung or nailed up float down the river, down to Toledo.

Version 2 – To play on the nick name of “Summit City” (if “summit” here means “top meeting”), the MLA wanted an official and formal peace declaration. They didn't want to hide away like rats in a sewer anymore, they never left the bowels of Fort Wayne, they always have to make it look like a inhospitable and unpleasant ghost town to lure people away from settling it. They relied on help of human sympathizers to visit towns to trade supplies for them, to help keep the Brotherhood and the attention away. They've done this for decades and could do it no longer.
They sought the attention of the Brotherhood and they were promised they wouldn't be hunted down anymore. They were promised to be left alone, after a meeting in Fort Wayne between the superiors of both sides (in this version, maybe Fort Wayne wasn't their stronghold, instead it loosely belonged to the Brotherhood and they called the MLA there for a peace meeting, which of course was a trap.)
Everyone who came there got killed, some were spared and tortured to reveal location of the rest of the MLA veterans (many of MLA never thought the Brotherhood would agree to peace, that it would be a trap which it did prove to be, and they left for a secret location rather than go to the meeting). Their location was never revealed, but their existence is still very much threatened, now more than ever with the resurrected violence after all these years.

Version 3 – The Brotherhood has yet to know the whereabouts of the remains of the MLA. They are still residing, and keeping their presence unknown to the outside world, in Fort Wayne. When you get there, it'll take some exploring to find any trace of life (except pests like radroaches.) Also, to get there by boat you have to pass through Toledo, which might not be the easiest unless you get on the good side of its inhabitants (see “Toledo” below)

Key words for inspiration:
- Floods
- ? "Summit City"
- "City of Churches" (landmarks – churches and such)
- Embassy Theatre (cool landmark)
- ? Allen County Courthouse (landmark)


Toledo
Ok, so this place I had a fun idea for. With every city, I look up what it is known for, what their nick names are and such. I also wanted a place to put a minor bad faction that would cause trouble to the Motor faction. Turns out that this place is known as Frog Town among other names! Ain't that a great way for a new giant creature? I have this concept art for it, haha!
The faction that lives in Toldedo, raiders or whatever, causes trouble for the Motor faction somehow. I don't know if they disrupt their scavenge parties when they are out looking for materials for their vehicles, and/or if they raid the villages that “belong” to them (from where they get food and maize production for fuel). These raiders want their vehicles. They use a few motorcycles and couple of jeeps (they are crude mechanics and the car factories didn't have the same luck as the ones in Detroit during the war, they maybe didn't have the same sturdy construction, that's why they only have a pair of working Jeeps and a bunch of motorcycles scavenged from elsewhere.)
Light vehicles, but enough to intercept smaller Motor groups, and to attack villages with their stationed protection from Motor City. They do fast hit-and-runs with their light vehicles, they relocate fast and their attacks always seem random so you can't plan ahead to be able to attack them, and Motor City has problems with manpower as is. They don't recruit as aggressively as the Brotherhood does, they want people that already have good mechanical skills, and mostly they don't want to many new people. They don't want to let too many people in on their mechanical secrets, kind of like the Coca Cola recipe.
The Toledo raiders also has a tactic where they don't want to destroy the Motor faction's vehicles, or render them immobile. They just damage as many as they can so that they have to stay home for some time getting repaired. Mostly they do this to the Motor faction's fastest vehicles, the ones that can catch up with their bikes and Jeeps. This leaves the Motor faction with more and more people who have to stay at home and repair their vehicles, and less that can go out protecting, gathering supplies. It leaves them with heavy vehicles that can't catch up with their lighter ones. They do leave some of these vehicles stationed at some of their more important villages, but they can't protect all of them (and they are too few).
They also don't know where their hideout is, but they know it's somewhere just south of them.
And then there's the giant frogs which are in their way, hehe.

Key words for inspiration:
- "Frog Town" (Giant Frogs?)
- ? Jeep industry
- ? "Glass Capital of the World"


Windsor
I have kind of a cool idea about this town. You can of course see it from the Detroit side, where the Motor faction resides, and you can walk to it over the Ambassador Bridge. I took the Weather Network's nick name for it rather seriously and drew a concept art of its skyline as seen from Detroit, where you can see the rooftops of the shells and steel skeletons of skyscraqers sticking up from this weird fog/smog. You can also see the bridge disappearing somewhere in the smog. I am thinking that this fog is brought by winds from the Pitt, and gets stuck in Windsor. I mean, the smog's gotta have some explanation, I thought the idea was cool and I saw that the Pitt is south-east of Windsor. There could also be some other, underlying reason as to why the smog gets caught in just Windsor and doesn't disperse or move on. Or the reason of the smog could be something else than the Pitt. The Weather Network's nick name for Windsor comes from how the winds catches a lot of air pollution from industrial cities nearby and brings it over to Windsor.
It's a dead city, and it's kind of a natural border between old-world USA and Canada.
I am also thinking about “The City of Roses”, even if it's a dead city with no human inhabitants or settlements (maybe just scavengers with gas masks and some weird trog variations, mutant cannibals or other mutations) and a scary, thick fog laying over it, the many parks which gave it that nickname could still have roses in bloom, maybe a mutated species of roses. It'd be kind of ironic, the dead city is pretty much the only place in the Great Lakes Wasteland where flowers bloom but it's unhealthy for humans to be there. It would be all green, like outside that vault in New Vegas, the smog would give it an eerie feeling, and the roses wouldn't be too colorful either. Dark red.
Since no people live, or can live, in Windsor, it hasn't been fully looted or scavenged as other places have been after 200+ years. Scavengers do go into the city, with gas masks, to find valuables. Some run into horrible and deadly mutants, but some are successful. You the player will probably get some quest from a veteran scavenger, to venture into this city and search for something, and you will see things in the fog, and hear distant howling and such, as you walk through a park in bloom.

Key words for inspiration:
- "The City of Roses"
- also "the smog capital of Canada" (The Weather Network)


Grand Rapids
I thought of this as another trading hub, located in the middle of the map. But I guess it could be something different or not exist at all. Instead there could be a town established post-war (like Junktown) or a much smaller town than Grand Rapids.
Of course the world map will have many fictional or minor locations as well, but I am in no position to place them at the moment since this is just a rough draft of the major locations. I just wanted a medium-sized settlement somewhere around those parts, and I want three trading hubs – one to the west, one to the east and one in the middle. The map is, after all, much bigger than F3 and F:NV.

Key words for inspration:
- "Furniture City" (the place to go buy stuff for your home? Hehe...)
- ? Amway Grand Plaza Hotel (landmark)
- ? Heritage Hill (landmark)


London
Well. Don't know anything about London, just placed it there as a frontier outpost and settlement for the Toronto faction to control, which could act as a trading hub on the eastern part, or Toronto will be the trading hub as well as the Canadian faction's home.

Key words for inspiration:
- Apparently high education?
- Reference to London in UK given the same name and the Thames River in Ontario? Maybe too silly.
- “home to many festivals”. Maybe the inhabitants have an annual festival of some sort which we get to see when we visit?


Other inspiration:

Post cards to use as a collectible item, with some weird message on each of them. With each message, you have to figure out what they mean. Maybe when you have a few cards, it's easier to figure out. They'll lead to some place where there's a mystery, and you can use the clues on the psot cards to progress, get through “door” or whatever. In the end, you have some unique item or perk, and a big bunch of post cards to put up in your house, like bobbleheads (minus stupid bonuses)

Michigan postcard:
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/postcards-pictures-of/mi-1013-GreetingsFromMichigan.jpg

Fort Wayne postcard:
http://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/files/2010/08/fort-wayne-postcard.jpg

Wilwaukee postcard:
http://images1.cpcache.com/product/69025831v5_480x480_Front.jpg

Detroit postcard:
http://www.treehugger.com/detroit-postcard.jpg

Chicago postcard:
http://www.chicagopostcardmuseum.org/images/greetings_from_chicago/Greetings_from_Chicago_07_Postcard_F.png

Toledo postcard:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3080/2794319904_4a6af74b1d.jpg