I've been brainstorming ideas for a while with Chriso about co-hosting a new RP. We are looking to start a smart RP based on faction politics and the like, possibly similar to the Manhattan RP in the way it's played, ie, a 'free' RP. Chriso himself has been quite sensible and has been revising - as it is exam season here in the UK - so the following is an idea I came up with and just want a general consensus on; it isn't an idea which has been confirmed or definately selected and this is just an interest check, any RP probably won't begin until July.

North Dakota Wasteland

http://the--enclave.deviantart.com/gallery/30110657#/d3ftcv6

Set in the year 2250, the RP will follow the spiralling events in the former state of North Dakota where established factions and new up-comers from the ruins are deciding the fate of all those in the region.

Fargo
Fargo is a largely ruined city inhabited by several smaller settlements. Despite being the most populous city in North Dakota before the war, there was a mass migration of survivors immediately after the war to the Detroit Lakes – most of which had dried up – in the West due to the lack of any water supply; these people have devolved into tribals some are peaceful and some are hostile, occasionally posing a threat to city inhabitants. The settlements in Fargo are wary and often eagerly await the water shipments and traders from Devil’s Lake, Jamestown and Midas Valley. Unlike the other large and uninhabited pre-war ruins, the disjointed and scattered settlements in Fargo are both larger and cooperate more frequently and easily due to the growing threat of tribal insurrection from the Detroit Lakes to the east.

Bismarck-Mandan Metropolitan Area
Bismarck was the State Capital of North Dakota before the war and with the smaller town of Mandan directly across the river forms the Bismarck-Mandan Metropolitan Area. The river that runs between Bismarck and Mandan flows from the Audubon Lake to the north near the ruins of Minot; it is radioactive but still drinkable, despite being on the number one causes of health related deaths in the area. Some of the more organised settlements that have been established in the ruins have become dependant on the clean water shipments from Devil’s Lake, due to Bismarck being off the major trading route however, the shipments generally cost more; this has had the consequence of driving some of the settlements to unite in the face of such fees.

Grand Forks
Grand Forks in another city mostly devoid of any genuine order and merely struggling settlements, to the West of the city was Grand Forks AFB; a nuclear strike to the north and then heavy nuclear fallout blown there way by southerly winds has however has rendered most of what was once here unusable and, later contributed to by the mass migration to the Detroit Lakes, resulted in a massive depopulation of what was once North Dakota’s third most populace city. It serves as the final stop on the main Devils’ Lake water route and tensions between the settlements among the ruins and Devil’s Lake have deteriorated due to the steady drip of people from Grand Forks seeking refuge in Devil’s Lake, which has little to no desire to serve as the region’s charity.

New Asgard
Minot was a town of roughly 32’000 people located near a Strategic Air Command AFB, Minot AFB. Now Minot is a radioactive ruin with a predominant Ghoul population and has been renamed by the residents as ‘New Asgard’; nothing of Minot AFB remains but a large crater avoided by all but the glowing ones. The city is largely radioactive and rightly avoided by the majority of the population, the Ghoul population of New Asgard occasionally meets with the usually ignorant traders who have come in from other areas (hence them getting close to New Asgard), mostly to spread their own mystique; they have also raided and pillaged nearby towns, leaving little behind but ruins, bodies and heads impaled on spikes.

Information on goings on inside the city is scarce, though the previously mentioned traders have simultaneously used the words ‘tribal’, ‘well armed’ and ‘crazy’. After a rare conference by Devil’s Lake, Jamestown and Midas Valley officials – based upon detailed testimonies from the traders and Midas Valley’s Vault Archives – they came to the conclusion that New Asgard was a large, tribal yet well-armed society of Ghouls whom seemed to have become enamored with a basic knowledge of the mythology of Scandinavia; possibly based around the Scandinavian Heritage Site location in Minot.

Jamestown
Jamestown was a similar sized settlement to Devil’s Lake before the war and even after the war bares similarities; it, like Devil’s Lake, is a largely united settlement unlike the ruins of the other towns. Due to its placement, caravaners who trace the pre-war roads often pass through Jamestown and have earned it its position as the regions trading hub. The mile long First Avenue is a constant bazaar of trinkets, weapons, armour, food and crime. It once existed in a similar manner to the larger ruins, due to it’s prime position however it rapidly united to become the trading community.

It maintains good ties with the other trading capital Midas Valley and its governing body the Cabal, with Cabal Dollars being a primary currency in the town. Midas Valley also physically exists in the town, with the town’s pre-war college being a hub of education under the control of Vault-Tec Industries and the North Dakota State Hospital being fully under the ownership of Med-Tek. The Hospital itself specialised in treating the mentally ill and confining the criminally insane; now it serves the role of a regional medical centre, a military base for the Cabal and as the primary prison – with Jamestown typically frowning on Midas Valley’s harsh punishment of criminals, rumours of the place also serving as a torture palace for extracting information has been met with stony silence from indifferent Cabal officials. Neither the college nor the hospital is cheap, something which has been the cause of some frustration on the part of the locals and indeed residents of the region.

Devil’s Lake
Devil’s Lake was a relatively small town in comparison to the larger settlements such as Fargo, Grand Fork and Minot; now it is one of the larger post-war settlements, having being largely untouched by the war. Devil’s Lake is now the largest source of fresh water in North Dakota, with Audubon Lake being contaminated by Minot’s destruction during the war, many of the smaller water sources having simply dryied up. It is a well defended town and profits massively by trading water with some of the less fortunate settlements that have formed in some of the ruins of Bismarck and Fargo; much to the chagrin of the residents of the ruins as the prices seem to continually. The city is seen as ruthless and opportunistic, with the rising prices feared by some to be a prelude to annexation or occupation; however it maintains slightly warmer relations with Midas Valley whom have come to respect Devil’s Lake business acumen yet frown upon its imperialist attitude and desire for an empire.

Midas Valley
Formed from the people of Vault 86 – a Vault designed to test the ideals of free-market capitalism and individualism. It is a town built around and in the ruins of Valley City, being comprised of a Walled and guarded section around the Vault Exterior and several similar ‘Reclaimed’ sections of the city all contain many, ordered sandcrete structures; non-residents whom are employed within the city proper live in renovated ruins which lack some of the luxury and cleanliness of the city but are by no means unpleasant. Around the town are many security outposts and minefields, forcing anyone entering the city to travel by the monitored roads under the supervision of several sniper rifles.

The relations of Midas Valley’s limited laissez-faire plutocratic oligarchy government, the Cabal, are mixed; whilst Midas Valley’s draconian punishment of criminals has heightened tensions – with all crimes punished by beatings of varying brutality and fines or a simple execution and fines – it’s business ability and desire to do nothing more than trade and live merry has cooled tensions all around, with Midas Valley clearly possessing no imperialist tendencies. Perhaps its greatest strength is the Cabal Dollar, which – backed by the city’s plentiful and much sold food and medical supplies – has become one of the most accepted in the region.

The Tribals
To the east of Fargo are the Detroit Lakes, innumerable – though now mostly dried up and in all cases polluted – lakes to which great swathes of people from Fargo and Grand Forks fled to after the war for water; since then they have devolved into tribes.



Now my intention was to leave almost all of these factions relatively blank slates – with circumstances and odd things set-up – for RPers to dabble with, the governments and motivations of all factions has largely un-stated. I really want people to wow me with their creativity and imagination when it comes to them; nothing is off-limit for any of them provided it follows the setting and pre-existing tensions I have established. Devils’ Lake, Jamestown and New Asgard (Midas Valley is my faction) are the biggest factions and will typically be controlled by a single user with maybe others as some of the people within it – something which I don’t mind, if you just want to bop around the world then it’s all gravy with me B). Smaller factions like the unorganised ruins are basically just D.C. ruin-esque places populated by semi-organised, Rivet-City like settlements, there can be multiple, player controlled of settlements in the same town.

What I will ask of RPers is that when fleshing out the established factions – or there own which I am not opposed to – they don’t uber them too much. For example my faction is pretty powerful, it has arguably the strongest economy in the state and provides the best level of education, luxury food and pharmaceuticals. However, it’s entire economy is primarily based upon it being situated around the Vault which allows it to purify it’s own water – hence keeping it off Devil’s Lake dependence – but also allows it to manufacture medicals, and provide pre-war education. In response to this Vault-Tec Industries – I have the Midas Valley faction already established and I may explain later as it will be featuring in the final RP – has purposefully destroyed two of the other Vault’s in North Dakota in what has been – correctly – seen by Devil’s Lake and Jamestown as economic engineering and monopolisation; on a local level, the residents of Bismarck and Grand Forks were pissed because whatever chance that they could have at purifying their own water is gone. Also, Midas Valley has little in the way of a professional army, which Devil’s Lake should definitely have.

These aren’t all of the factions which I have devised, I am working on another now called ‘The Village’ – not a carbon copy of the Prisoner (remake svcks ). Make your own if you like – Tribals hint – or just do something wonderful with those I have created. This is an interest thread to test the water for some of my current ideas so please, any and all criticism is demanded so that I can improve. Character sheets and such don’t matter due to the un-finalised and uncertain nature of this, just tell me what you think of the set-up. This is intended to be a serious RP for veteran RPers, this will not be a war sim or one focused on battle in anyway - unless things go that way during the RP; also Fallout lore will be followed to the letter.

Also, any residents of North Dakota please do PM me on wildlife and climate and such.

Wow Great Idea!
I think i have an idea for a tribal let me just work it out some more.

Very solid, well thought out idea. I would expect nothing less from you guys. :thumbsup:

Resembles Name's Ex-Rp as well...

I'm more then willing to join.

Where I got the idea to finally make my own from, pure faction based imagination; only it'll actually be done and hopefully be damn good.

Looks good. I'm interested in joining. :happy:

Definitely awesome, but unfortunately I am tied up at the moment. I know you said ti would start in June (hopefully late June as my exams go from the 14-27, and we do summatives up until then) but if all goes well with my other RPs they will still be alive. SO I might join this when and if it come out (you seem dead serious on it coming out though), it looks really great, adn best of luck.

One question though, you say Fallout Lore will be followed to the letter. Now seeing as their is no established history in ND, what exactly do you mean by this?

Early July more than likely.



Ah yes. What I meant is if one of your most pressing character details is whether he wields a M249 SAW or a FAMAS then don't bother; I want the RP to just be in Fallout, something which could very easily be in the Fallout Universe.

Ah yes I should be able to join at that time, if RPs end or die, which they seem to be doing alot these days.



I thought we were running a faction, so more than likely would our character be a President or leader, I doubt any one of that nature would carry a gun. Anywhoo I see what you mean.

In general though, I've seen people posting massive lists of what their factions with Abrahams Tanks and all that jazz; let's just stick to Fallout shall we is what I'm saying. And yes I assume that most people would be playing faction leaders, people under their command is what I meant.

This sounds very interesting and fleshed out. I'd love to join.

Cheer's for the interest Elvis, if this is what we end up going for then I'd love to have you on-board.

Working on some of the side-locations now folks, 'The Village' is a lost, small, high-tech settlement from before the war. Kind of like an eco-village now it was an experiment to get away from the pervassive use of nuclear power before the war and to create a completely self-sustaining community; nobody knows where it is though and many of the smaller settlements cling to it's existance as a way to get water outside of Devil's Lake.

Cheers mate.

In Manhattan, I couldn't wait to make my own faction and interact with others. But I joined too late, and had missed so much events that I just.. wasn't really into it. And there wasn't as much faction relationships and politics as I would have liked. So this seems perfect.

I'm already attracted to Devil's Lake, but I realise it's far too early to begin reserving factions. :tongue:

It's far to early to say that this will be what is eventually settled on, this was just something I came up with several weeks ago over the course of a couple of nights and thought I'd see what people thought. Devil's Lake is one of the major factions in the RP along with my own Midas Valley - the faction sheet I will post now as to give an impression of what I am looking for - and Jamestown, an almost entirely blank but major player for somebody to do with as they please.

Extremely well thought out and well executed, I would love to join but I'm already pre occupied.

A word of warning, be careful of commitment. In the past two weeks, five new RPs have been started, and so far two of those are six feet under, and the others are following suit. I'd hate to see this RP end the same way due to people suddenly deciding they don't want to put effort towards finishing and jumping straight into another RP that they had in their mind.

I can speak for myself and Chriso that our enthusiasm for RPs is exhaustive, along with several other good members of this forum; I've put a lot of hardwork into this and will only let those whom I feel are commited join. If you change your mind around early July then feel free to sign-up.

On another note, my faction sheet; just as an example:

The Cabal of Vault 86

The Cabal is a plutocratic oligarchy of currently five wealthy and powerful individuals which reside in Vault 86 controlling their business empires and coming together to serve as the laissez-faire government of the citizens of Vault 86.

History
The Cabal’s earliest form was created shortly after the bombs fell in the depths of Vault 86 – which was designed to test the abilities of free-market capitalism and individualism – it was headed by Vault-Tec Industries, decided to survive as a legitimate corporation in this Vault. The first incarnation of the Cabal simply consisted of Vault-Tec and some of the more powerful individuals in the Vault, it was known as the ‘Board’ and it’s grounds for authority is that the Vault was property of Vault-Tec, therefore making it responsible for its consumers.

The Board eventually become less about Vault-Tec and its advisors after it finally relinquished and outright sold-off some of its capital wealth to some of the more prominent corporations such as Med-Tek – pre-war pharmaceutical giant and officially contracted to administrate Vault 86’s healthcare – and General Atomics International – pre-war engineering corporations specialising in energy and robotics – Vault 86’s general contractor. It eventually became the Cabal, its new justification being that the individuals and organisations possessing the most wealth are responsible for citizens whom utilise and live on their property and capital.

The People
The residents of Midas Valley are known for their determination and desire to succeeded… even if it means trampling on somebody else in the process; their concept of morality often seems skewed to most, with selfishness being considered a virtue and charity being taboo.

Crime and Punishment
Perhaps what has earned the Cabal it’s most negative of views is the literal draconian law enforcement system, crime is neither tolerated nor unpunished and the words mercy is not applicable to any criminal. Criminals are often beaten silly to approving crowds before being hanged and sometimes even left outside the city as bloody reminders to those entering that ‘The will of justice will always prevail’. These laws have sparked much controversy, all starting with a teenage boy from Devil’s Lake who slipped away from his parents before being shot and killing by a furious homeowner for graffitiing his house several decades ago; the Cabal has never apologised for this ‘justified defence of private property’ nor that for any other deaths related to the towns persuit of ‘pure justice’.

Economy
Midas Valley is known for it’s trade and luxury goods, it is indeed often acknowledged that the people of Midas Valley will never pose any kind of military threat, so rooted in capitalism are they. Vault-Tec provides pre-war levels of education from it’s Vault’s archives – and has refused to sell any of the information available to Devil’s Lake and Jamestown – the Mulligan Estate grows luxury food from soil which has received the attention of a GECK and Med-Tek produces clean and plentiful amounts of pharmaceuticals. The Midas Valley dollar is an accepted currency anywhere in North Dakota, backed strongly by the members of the Cabal’s fortunes.

However, it’s entire economy is based on monopoly; the Vault around which the city is built is what provides for Midas Valley all of these wonderful manufacturing capabilities and reservoirs of knowledge. Vault-Tec Industries has gone out of it’s way in recent decades to the capture and then scavenging and self-destruction of two of North Dakota’s Vaults in Bismarck and Grand Forks. Justified by its legal ownership, Vault-Tec’s actions have been rightly called as monopolisation to ensure that the technology which could potentially sink their entire economy never falls into anyone else’s hands.

Vault 86
Vault 86 was a Vault built close to the small and unlikely target of Valley City in North Dakota, although it was not designed for the safety of the people of Valley City. Vault 86 was a Vault designed to test the abilities of unfettered free-market capitalism and excessive individualism. It was built to emulate the old skyscraqers of Manhattan, with the Vault being much taller and deeper than it is sprawling; in the centre of the Vault is the ‘courtyard’ a huge open area resembling a public park and lined with café’s and boutiques. From the Courtyard branch two main ‘avenues’ with smaller ‘streets’ branching from those, here are the Vault’s main accommodation, with the apartments being organised as multi-storey complexes as opposed to sprawling corridors. Within the deeper recesses of the Vault lie the manufacturing and agricultural powerhouses, from where pre-war giants such as Med-Tek and General Atomics produce a lot of the goods for the rest of the Vault’s inhabitants.

http://the--enclave.deviantart.com/gallery/30110657#/d3ftcpu
Midas Valley is a small but slowly spreading city which occupies Vault 86’s immediate exterior and - after a trip across a dry river – the ruins of Valley City. The area directly outside of the Vault has become the high-class district often refered to as the ‘Old Town’. It is a place of sleek sandcrete structures and corporate headquarters, often the place of transaction between Midas Valley and foreign traders; the Old Town also serves as a fall-back point in case of an enemy offensive and is the most secure place in town.

Across the riverbed are the ‘reclaimed districts’ where areas of the pre-war town have been completely eradicated and Midas Valley sandcrete buildings and walls have replaced them, these areas serve as a suburb to Midas Valley and the Vault proper but also contain a booming entertainment district of clubs and casinos.

Outside of these areas are the Non-Resident Housing, renovated sections of pre-war ruins; whilst lacking the luxury of Midas Valley proper, these areas are by no means poverty-stricken and enjoy the protection and pay of one of North Dakota’s most prosperous settlements.

i am interested.

it seems you have put a lot of work into this, can you also post a character creation template

For an RP that won't start or another month and may not even be the finished product? Maybe tomorrow if interest picks up.

cool, this will be my first major RP, i didnt really feel like jumping into something that had already started months before.