Name: Guardians of Gaia
Location: Cascade Mt. Range, Washington State
History/Origin: Calling themselves the Guardians of Gaia, they originally started out from an undisclosed Vault, hidden away deep in their territory that no outsider has ever laid eyes on. The only reason outsiders know they came from a Vault, is that the Guardians once left a couple vault jumpsuits hanging from some trees, but with the numbers torn off.
The Guardians of Gaia have reverted to adopting both a primitivist and scientific approach to their lives and society, along with seeing everyone in their organization as equals, and follow what’s known as the Gaia Protocols.
Under these protocols, the Guardians of Gaia are sworn to protect and uphold nature, defending it by any means necessary, even if that means creatures out there that might otherwise tear them limb from limb, they’ll protect it from poachers, hunters, and anyone else. They do this for several reasons, all of which originate from none other than the Gaia Protocols. Some are for reasons of scientific study, while others are simply to uphold what nature has become and not let it again be destroyed like when the Great War nearly wiped everything out.
Although they have a very scientific part of their society, the primitivist side is what most outsiders are shown. Their warriors fight with various types of primitive weapons, such as bows, spears, crossbows, swords, etc. and use guerrilla tactics against those who would trespass on their territory. They’ve been considered “ghosts”, by those lucky enough to survive a battle with them, only getting quick glances of them from one’s peripheral view, and when in combat they come and go as they please, moving just as quickly, and striking from anywhere they so choose; only to disappear and strike somewhere else again.
Their scientific side, is shrouded in mystery and rumor. Some say they do experiments on themselves, or those that they capture, turning ordinary men into freaks of nature. One of the more popular rumors that’s been turned into a child’s story as well, is that the Guardians of Gaia will snatch the bad children from their beds, and fuse various sorts of animal parts onto them, like antlers, hooves, and other things. The more advlt rumor, is that when they capture someone, that person isn’t just fused with animal parts, but turned into one of their warriors, since the warriors are often said by those who survive, to be wearing things like antlers on their armor, and other things.
They’re a very isolated and reclusive group, but not afraid to defend what they call theirs, even if it’s land that’s already been called by someone else, they will take it by force if necessary.
PC Interaction: When the PC hears about the Guardians of Gaia, and goes to investigate, they’ll be quickly ambushed by questioning Guardians, armed and ready to kill. If the player passes a speech check, as well as possibly a science check if speech isn’t high enough, the Guardians will let the PC into their territory and to one of their small camps. There, the PC will learn more about the Guardians, their history and more than just what rumor and myth says about them.
At the camp, after learning a bit about them, the leader of the camp will come out to greet you, warning you that any sort of trickery or deception on the PC’s part will get him branded as dead to any and all Guardians the PC comes across in the future. After either fighting it out then and there, or assuring him/her your silence and trust, the leader of the camp will tell you of some trouble they’ve been having.
Skip ahead a few quests, and if you’ve made if this far without betraying them, they’ll finally allow you to their Vault, which is where everything involving their scientific research and experiments happens. Most of what you’ll find at first, is scientists learning and documenting various things about various species and things, but as you get deeper and more trusted by the scientists of the Guardians, you’ll learn that the rumor of some of them having animal parts, is indeed true. But that this mutation isn’t of their own doing, it was something they’ve all grown up with since their ancestors entered the Vault. Although not completely 100% sure themselves, about exactly what happened, or how it caused them to mutate and have animal parts, they’re set on figuring it out in some corrupted data that an overseer years and years ago, tried to destroy before other Vaulters could stop him/her, leaving them with what they have now, a corrupted data stream that needs to be sorted and their lineage story finally put to rest for them, and you.