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Maybe, You'll Think of Me... a Journal of the Post-Apocalypse

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Atarlost
Militia Productions
TerraBull
Shamunu
Deathwings
Kelenas
Karogas
Yog
ggt102
GundamChief
Passerby
Psyckosama
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Post by Karogas Fri May 17, 2013 10:51 am

And rushing could have well gotten yourself and all the people that rely on you killed instead, leaving these raiders free to butcher and loot the people you were protecting.

Your living in a hell hole now I'm afraid, things like this will become increasingly common but you have to push through to survive to save as many as you can. As long as you continue to do that you'll be alright and you'll be doing a damned lot more than the rest of civilization is doing.

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Post by Passerby Sun May 19, 2013 11:27 pm

It is the nature of the commander to care for his men, and ensure they will survive what is to come. Those you can not save, versus those you owe responsibility for. Sacrifice and toil. You must do what they did before, carry on in face of horror.

You chase them down, and slay the beasts. Given the psychology of Fallout-Americans, you can use this to inflame their passions against all comers. The barbarians outside the gates. Though this will increase xenophobia.

You best have a discussion about your own lawyer Ghoul, I forget his name. This will probably cause some to lash out at him.

If they move on, you follow. You watch. You find a freaking bush airport and figure out how to fly a plane. You build a hot air balloon. You find them.

Or you let them go. You fortify and sent out messages, send out your own missionaries and scouts. You build a powerblock and call for resistance against the barbarians.

Because right now, this is going to make you, or break you. You either crumble or you build yourself a actual nation.

However again, I must tell you, write the slaves off for now. Incite rebellion among them. Tell them, even if you do what they say, they will eat you. There is no copulation, no obedience that will save you. You have proof, you might even have to photograph it if you can. You need to show whoever you can, that your enemy strains the fabric of what is allowed.

Resistance to the end.

Or you let them continue to slave, and find out why having massive slave cannon fodder never works out. Usually they rise up in rebellion sooner or later.

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Post by Psyckosama Mon May 20, 2013 1:09 am

October 22, 2080

As you read them, I’m on the road heading home. I haven’t seen my wife and daughter in months and I can’t wait to see them. It’s been over four, almost five months since I’ve seen them and I miss them terribly.

Thanks for your kind words. I’m still shaken up by all that, and I can honestly say there’s not a man or woman in here who community who hasn’t sworn vengeance. Masterson’s keeping his composure well enough, though he does seem a bit shaken. I’m glad I have him to lean on. I’m glad I have all of you. Between your words and his renforcement, I was able to keep my composure well enough to give a speech. I don’t think its very good, but Masterson insisted that I record it. Said something about posterity. I wasn’t in the mood to fight.

Bear seems frighteningly unaffected, but that said, he’s probably seen just as bad if not worse. Towards the end, the Chinese soldiers in Alaska were driven to some rather dire straits that probably were far worse than most people know.

Fletcher on the other hand is a howling rage right now. The old bastard’s ready to go on a warpath. I’m going to have to reign him in before he does something stupid.

Here’s a transcript of my speech.

Today we stand today united in our cause, in victory and in sadness. Victory because we’ve driven the our enemies before us and sent them to the wind. The Pale Riders, at least for now, aren’t a threat to our friends and families All of you fought bravely against a foe who was completely devoid of mercy and basic human decency. It is thanks to your efforts, all of you, that we are safer today than we have been in a long time. In my eyes at least, every single one of you is a hero.

If this were a fair and just world, then today would be a day of celebration. But it is not. If it was, we’d be in our homes with our families and the world would have never burned. It is human nature to blame ourselves for things out of our control. The things we have seen today will forever live in our nightmares, but can’t afford to blame ourselves. We did what we could to protect our loved ones and nothing more could have been asked of any one of us.

This abomination wasn’t our fault. It was the fault of the leaders who started the war and damned the world. It was the fault of the monsters who murdered these people. But its not our cross to bare. We will however take responsibility for what happens next, and give these people the dignity in death that they were denied in life.

But we can’t forget that this isn’t over. Our enemy’s still alive. We must grow strong and we must maintain our vigilance, for the prince of freedom is eternal vigilance! And one day we’ll find that phosphorescent son of a bitch and we’ll see justice done.

But that’s not today. Instead, today we learned a lesson that we can afford to forget, for those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. We must remember what happened today, the things we’ve seen, the heroes who’ve fought, and the innocents who paid the ultimate price in the name of a madman’s twisted quest for power. We’ll remember it. We will remember it all, and in the memory of the fallen, in the memory of a billion innocent dead. we will steel our hearts with the utmost fortitude and swear that this will never happen again. There’s a right and a wrong in this world. The distinction isn’t hard to make.

Our mission has only begun, and I expect that every man will do his duty.


After that I dismissed them and told Masterson to arrange a burial detail. Keep the men busy so they can’t really think about it. Might not have been the best idea but idle hands are the devil’s playground.

They put all the bodies in a mass grave, put a marker on top, and engrave it with the message saying what happened here. I didn’t have any real part in it, but they managed to make it pretty tasteful. One of the pastor’s students even gave funerary rites. While it wasn’t for me, I appreciated the effort. I simply wasn’t in a mind to organize something like that at the time.

The rest I set to work stripping the area of anything of value. There really wasn’t much. The Pale Riders had been pretty thorough. Anything of value was taken with or destroyed.

I talked with Bear and confirmed my own feelings. Hunting down the Riders would be folly. Lethally so. Managed to convince Old Man Fletcher of the same, though the cranky old bastard isn’t happy about it. He’s not crazy anymore but that doesn’t mean he’s pleasant to be around.

He did however insist we look for any surviving slaves who escaped. I agreed with that and said it would be a volunteer gig. We got ten volunteers with the skills needed, including both Roberta and Bear. They remained behind for about a week and managed to find over a dozen survivors before the weather started getting rough. I don’t expect the others to survive the winter, though I’ve been surprised before.

To call those survivors traumatized would be a grave understatement. With some of them I almost feel that killing them would be the greater kindness. If there is anyone with psychological training out there, I could use a couple ideas. They have however given us some important information. Not all of them came from the same settlements we know about. When spring comes I’m going to send out scouting missions to see if those communities have survived, and if so, try and make peaceful contact.

The folks from Missoula are, for the most part, heading south. There are a couple stubborn hardliners who refuse to move out, and we’ve decided to keep the High School up and running as an outpost and possible future colony if we decide to resettle the town when the seasons up. A small volunteer contingent is remaining there, including Cyrus.

He’s said that he and his ‘boys’, the small group of lunatics and suckers who’ve flocked to his banner, will be heading west once the snows melt. Personally, I’ll be happy to be rid of him. I swore I wouldn’t shoot him, but I sure as hell don’t want him to stick around. The man’s toxic and if he ever sets foot in Yellowstone, he’ll probably get lynched and you know what, I’m actually fine with that.

Exile is the best option, though I’m going to be reorganizing the defenses of Missoula once he’s gone. Just because he’s earned a little respect and a stay of execution, doesn’t mean I trust him an inch.

Seriously though, considering the number of refugees, and I feel like a complete and utter scum for even thinking this, but its probably for the best that we’re not going to have to feed and house a small army of ex-slave refugee . We simply don’t have the supplies for it. Even with heavy rationing it would have been a hard winter. With just the folks from Missoula, well, we might have to tighten our belts a bit during the lean months but nobodies going to be going to bed with an empty belly.

They’re being split up between Yellowstone for once isn’t going to be the town accepting all the refugees, mainly because we don’t have room to house another 200 odd people. Fletcher’s a bit edgy about taking too many, considering his town is the smallest with only 40, but they do need the extra hands come spring. Masterson is also a bit reluctant, mainly because his community is extremely tight knit and he has concerns about outsiders being welcomed. Pitt thankfully has come to our rescue.

Pitts Place, being the other local target, was the most sympathetic and the most convenient location to house them. After all, even with about 80 people, there’s still plenty of room to be found in a three level, four hundred space underground parking garage...

I’ll let you know what happened back home when I was gone next entry. If you have any other questions, please, ask.

Thank you again for your support. Without it I’d be in a bad way.


Last edited by Psyckosama on Mon May 20, 2013 3:14 pm; edited 1 time in total

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Post by Passerby Mon May 20, 2013 3:03 am

Well, I have some psychology training. I'll be frank. It will be fucking long, hard, and it will destroy the overly empathetic.

You need someone who can clearly divide their lives between helping the ex-slaves and their own personal lives. Someone that can preserve their own life on their off time, but be there totally while on.

These persons will be one-on-one counselors. Someone that can listen, being able to listen, and having a mind for names and histories is a must.

After that you need someone that can run group sessions, where the slaves can bond over their shared experiences. Let them work through it. Provide safe places for them to vent and express themselves.

Also a place for you to keep a eye on things. Watch out for self destructive or other negative behaviors. You don't want some ex-slave slitting their wrists and taking a dive in the local water supply for example.

Though, really I will need more info form you to set up something anyway more useful then modified Group and Counselor treatment.

If anything, this will only be good for keeping the slaves busy, monitoring their behaviors, and maybe dealing with a little of the issues.

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Post by Psyckosama Mon May 20, 2013 9:51 am

Maybe, You'll Think of Me... a Journal of the Post-Apocalypse - Page 2 Z5mgfLv

World Map

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Post by ggt102 Tue May 21, 2013 1:04 am

I'm really enjoying this, but dude ya gotta proofread your work before you post it. Anyways keep'em comin'!

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Post by TerraBull Tue May 21, 2013 2:14 am

I must bring up a point that may.. most likely WILL needed to be addressed.

Idaho Falls.

Helena.

Great Falls/ Malstrom AFB

If the places are 'Safe/ Heavily Nuked'.

What you can Salvage.

I now think it is more vital than ever to see if more weapons can be gathered, before the Pale Riders can do so.
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Post by B.B. Rain Thu May 23, 2013 2:18 pm

Even if you can't get into any of the bases, on account of radiation, or are unwilling to send in Lucas (your only friendly ghoul, yes?), they're something other then salvage opportunities.

They are resources. And the Pale Riders have a mix of ghouls and maniacs, who can be sent in to get out something for the rest of the group, even if the ones going in die or are too irradiated to be useful afterwards.

So, if you can't or won't salvage them, consider making more conventional explosives, and either destroying or burying the nearby (as in accessible) military resources, so at least the Pale Riders (or other enemy groups) can't get to them.

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Post by Psyckosama Sat Jul 06, 2013 7:49 pm

October 24, 2080

And here I thought combat put you through the ringer.

Over the past couple days I’ve been up and down, in and out, over and under, and whatever even marginally appropriate X and Y comments you can think of. Frankly I’m just at a loss at how much has happened since I’ve been gone.

First I’ll say the single most important and relevant thing to my life. Kelly is pregnant with our second child. Now, if you do the math and look at the dates that should tell you I’ve been out in the dirt keeping an eye on these pricks for since the beginning July. My wife is six months along and I didn’t know until I got a good look at her once I got back.

I’m upset. I’ll admit it. I’m ecstatic but I’m just so frustrated about her not letting me know. I understand why she kept it from me. She’d found out right after I’d left and she was so worried about me being distracted that she didn’t tell me. I’m very upset but at the same reason I understand why she didn’t say anything. I would have been distracted. After all, this is my goddamned wife we’re talking about. The prenatal care here is a step up from what she received with Hope, that being what I could get from my small medical archive combined with the best I could remember from my long ago days as an EMT, but yeah.

Right now I’m hurt and angry, ecstatically happy, and worried out of my mind, all at the same time! God I need a drink and some advice on how to deal with this because I can’t think of anything sane to say at the moment.

Hope’s grown up a whole lot too. She’s much more talkative and mobile now. She’s such a beautiful and intelligent child. I’d tell you more, but at this stage the most I can say is she’s beautiful, active, rambunctious, is mastering language, and is the most wonderful little girl in the world. I’m blessed, though not quite sure if I’m ready for another one. She’s a lot to handle. But I guess sometimes fate decides for you, to hell with your own personal fears and reservations.

Maybe they’ll let me retire so I can attend to my family.

Though I guess I should simply take it all as a blessing. I have a place to belong, a beautiful wife, and a wonderful daughter. I have a life that I’m pretty damned happy with. Though I’d be much happier if I would get them out of this accursed world somehow. My wife deserves to live in a place where we can raise our children in peace. My daughter deserves to grow up somewhere other than a twisted, post-nuclear hellhole. But I’ll make due with what I’ve got. It’s all I can do, and other the past three years, I’ve become very adept at ‘making due’.

Now for my other great passion, my uber-feline breeding experiments.

The Doc has been covering things while I was away and I’ve got to say that he’s done outstandingly. Another generation has been born, and are proving to the the most fit yet. We’re almost entire out of buffout, though we have possibly salvaged enough for an additional generation, and we still have enough Mentats to do a couple more without heavy rationing.

At this point I’d almost say they’re evolving into a new species. They’re significantly larger for one. The current generation of parents are young, but they’ve already reached about forty pounds and from the looks of them they’re not quite done maturing. Their heads also have a noticeably larger brain case.

Honestly, knowing Fallout super science I wouldn’t be shocked if they end up smarter than some people.

I’ve asked Kelly to explain the goings on back on the ranch, as she was directly involved in it. Woman’s industrious as hell and I swear that if she couldn’t tinker or build something she’d go insane.

Hello everyone. How are you doing?

So, I’ve been asked to fill you in on things back here on the ranch. Well, I have to admit things haven’t really changed much to be honest. It’s mostly been instituting the plans we came up with over the past few months, most of which you already know about, so I’ll get into all that later and mention the goings on back home.

First I’d like to let you know about how the Mexicanos have adapted. The word here is well. I’ve been teaching them English. They’re learning reasonably well, though a couple of them don’t really have a gift for languages. Thankfully though at least everyone can get ideas across. In turn they’ve been helping me encourage the gringos to learn some Spanish.

At first there was some resistance to the idea, the standard ‘This is America, learn English!” crap. Well, I hate to be the one to burst some bubbles but this is Yellowstone. America got blown up by the Chinese. Don’t say that outright though, though I did hint at it. Shut some people up, though others just are being stubborn. I’ve made some good arguments for it though, I’d like to think. Most people in these parts don’t speak it, and most who did are probably dead.

Being bilingual in a world of English speakers does have its advantages. We can communicate without other people knowing. Fighting, scavenging, over the radio... if somebody wants to hurt you its a pretty good idea to have a way to communicate that they don’t understand. That won some people over, though I have to say the best teacher I have is a girl named Guadeloupe.

She’s very pretty and most the boys are madly in love her... She actually one of my best students in English, but she likes to pretend that she doesn’t understand a word that’s being said when the boys try and flirt with her, prompting them to learn Spanish so they can talk to her.

At this rate half the boys in town will be fluent by next spring.

My husband already told you my idea to rig up the truck reactor as a power source for the town. Well, I’ve done it. We built a bunker out of salvaged bricks and the cargo bed a couple hundred yards outside of town. Then we managed to rig up a transformer that I managed to bang together from some damaged ones, along with the necessary breakers because the last thing you want is an electrical overload in an atomic power core. Then we installed some power cables to the town.

I’ll need a couple more of those transformers, and hopefully we can get some intact ones from somewhere because going through a dozen wrecks to get enough parts that haven’t been fried by EMP to build a working one is a big pain in the ass, especially when you have to be careful.

Well, it was hard work but it’ll pay off. We’ve sent a couple parties into town to look for any functional electronics we can salvage. Our hope is to get enough electric lights and heaters for everyone before winter, but we’ve run into a bit hurdle on that front.

It seems a band of looters has moved into Cody. They’re nothing as big, or as organized as the men my husband was off fighting but they’re pretty anti-social. They actually shot at a couple of our scaving teams and killed a man named Manuel. Everyone’s really angry about it too.

We’d like nothing more than to fight back, but Luscan didn’t want to send anyone in to run them off while most of our people were fighting the Pale Riders. Instead he suggested sending a messenger to talk to them, but nobody’s for it. After they killed one of ours nobody wants to talk.

Manuel was a good man. He wasn’t very educated but he was a hard worker with a big heart, and it’s a disgrace that he was shot in the back over an electric heater they can’t even use after surviving two years of wandering the wastes!

A lot of people gave Lucas a lot of trouble over it too. He gets enough crap just for being a Ghoul while we’re fighting a band lead by crazy Ghouls. Now they’re calling him a coward. It’s not fair, and I’ve made that much clear. He was chosen because Sama trusts him, because he thinks he’s a good level headed man and doesn’t care what he looks like. Helen and Jacobs both agreed with me, and said they should be ashamed. It shut most of them up, but there still are dirty looks, especially from the folks from the north.

Thankfully I don’t think that’s much of a problem anymore. With the fighting men back though, I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to bring them to heel, or drive them off in good order.

We haven’t told Sama about this part yet, though. After finding about the baby he’s a bit out of sorts. Lucas and the others agreed that it would probably be for the best to let him sleep on it before giving him the full update. Instead they pointed in in the direction of the cats. He really does love those cats.

If you have any other questions, let us know.

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Post by Passerby Tue Jul 09, 2013 5:51 am

Send out expeditions to Military bases, send Lucas if you think things are getting too hot for him. Some time away might be needed, but that might cause paranoia. Some gifts in the form of military grade equipment or some other things might be useful.

Second, if you are going to be taking out the bandits, first. Commit. Don't half ass it. You need to be known, far and wide, that you won't tolerate that shit. Make it known that you are a post nuke government and that shit like that won't fly in your area.

Third, once you have power, improve sanitation and plumbing whenever you can...and build some watchtowers and walls if you find some heavy construction equipment or supplies. There are bound to be a few construction sites where there are still cement mix around...

Fourth...plan for the contingencies, this is just the sort of time for something to go wrong.


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Post by Psyckosama Thu Aug 15, 2013 10:09 am

October 26, 2080

When it rains it pours. Last night they finally told me about the band camped out in Cody. Part of me is thankful. I just got back from the closest thing you’ll have to a war Post-Apocalypse, and it was nice to have a day or two to decompress, and deal with my home issues, before having the fact that... oh look, and now you get to do it all over again dumped on my plate! The other part of me honestly isn’t that happy that they waited. They knew I was pissed about being kept in the dark about my wife’s pregnancy and in all honesty, it’s a bit of a bitch when you start to cool down and then suddenly get thrown back into the driver’s seat.

That said, I’m pretty pissed off, though its a different kind of angry than I was at the fucking Pale Riders. Against them it was a kind of humanistic, Good versus Evil type Rage of the Righteous. What they did was unforgivable. I’ve always run by the standard that there are some things you don’t. That no matter your culture, personal, or religious beliefs, there are some things that simply cannot be legitimized no matter how many excuses you make. The Pale Riders pretty much hit every goddamned one of them on the head. I hate them and I will continued to hate them until my hand is wrapped around Necros Atomo’s radioactive throat.

These assholes though, I have to admit, I’m more pissed off with myself than with them. Oh, I’m pissed at them, don’t get me wrong. I like Manuel goddamn it. He was a nice guy, and while my Spanish still sucks, despite Kelly’s best efforts, I’d found him to be a generally likeable and hard working man. And those sons of bitches shot him in the back.

Yeah, I’m pissed. But what really pisses me off is I didn’t think to at least put lookouts on station to keep an eye on Cody. They snuck in without us even knowing they were there and set themselves up in our own backyard with us being left blissfully unaware because we frankly weren’t doing our due diligence. I’d really like to blame it on manpower shortages but the fact remains that I don’t even have eyes on West Yellowstone, and if Cody’s is in our backyard, that’s under our fucking porch!

I got lazy, I didn’t think to order men to keep eyes on the nearby towns and someone died. One of my people died because I dropped the ball, simple as that, and now I have to figure out a way to clean up the mess before this problem becomes any more bothersome.

I’m going to send scouts into West Yellowstone to figure out what’s going on, and to see if we can find anything intact worth dragging home. We need those electric heaters now more than ever, and if the town is still intact it might be worth settling if only to give us a forward outpost to the west.

How to secure Cody though is the question. Now I know what I’d like to do, that being roll in everything we’ve got and kill everything that as much as looks at us funny. Problem is this view is also a popular one, and I have a feeling that might not be the wisest course of action.

So, suggestions are welcome and if you need me, I’ll be drinking some shine. Some of Fletcher’s boys who stayed behind spent the time getting a proper still set up, and their shine makes my attempts at corn beer look like weak tea. I intend to make good use of its product.

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Post by Atarlost Fri Aug 16, 2013 2:27 am

Ultimately it's a question of sovereignty.

Is Yellowstone a sovereign nation? If the answer is yes you have to act like a sovereign nation.

You need to decide where your writ runs and go out and if that includes Cody you need to go out in force and make your laws stick. You probably won't get to hang the bastard who killed Manuel for lack of proof of identity, but you can run the looters out of town and demand reparations.

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Post by TerraBull Fri Aug 23, 2013 6:50 am

I think if you are looking towards the Future, look to the South and a Possibly Vital Resource.

Jackson Hole, with a listed "Snake River Brewery". Several Breweries actually. Also a local brand of Soda.

If you gather resources from there, dismantle them and bring them north you gain several options.

Industry of a sort.

Possibly Glass making.

The Main point is, brewing requires "Water Purification"

A useful thing for a Growing Population.

On the subject of Cody?

Find out if they are refuges or a outpost for a larger faction, the beginning. Did they run away from someone else?

The roads East, are they being reinforced?

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Post by Psyckosama Mon Oct 14, 2013 1:10 pm

October 30, 2080

I’ve had a couple of days to rest and consider the Cody situation. In retrospect, the complete abandonment of the town was a bad idea. Getting people out was necessary. I couldn’t have evacuated the bulk of them and then left a few behind to keep watch. It would have bred dangerous resentment. The people had to be forced to accept reality. The mistake was not keeping an eye on the town.

I’d like to take a moment to explain the geography of the area a bit. There are five roads that lead into of Yellowstone proper.

First, there’s the North Entrance. This was the entrance that the Pale Riders entered through during their attack and its now our link with Pittsplace and Missoula. Likewise the southern entrance is our link to Fletcherville and New Plymouth. Both of these routes are, as you can expect, relatively well traveled and well guarded.

The North East Entrance is, in all honestly, not much of a long term concern. Right outside the entrance the road is, well, your stereotypical twisty and treacherous mountain road. It hasn’t been doing well without regular maintenance and our guess is that within a couple more years its not going to be good for much for anything besides a foot path. Because of this its not really a realistic vector for long distance travel in and out of the region.

The western entrance runs directly into the town of West Yellowstone. We’ve had it under light watch, if only due to the sheer proximity, but besides some light through-travel and some salvaging runs, we really don’t know much about how its faired. I’ve already ordered a team to scout out the town.

To the East you have about fifty miles of naked highway with no side roads worth mentioning and nothing appreciable in the way of human habitation until you hit Cody. Cody is where yellowstone gets access to the highway network in the east. It is literally the eastern gate of the park. We were keeping an eye on the road of course, but because of the distance and the fact that most of our people were tired up fighting the Pale Riders.

With Cody under hostile control we literally cannot go east from the park. We’ve lost the ability to go an entire direction and simple will not do.

While most of the townsfolk understand why it had to be abandoned, there’s still a standing resentment among about being forced from their homes. This situation has fanned it pretty severely and when combined with the impotent rage caused by the Pale Riders when they cut and run, disgusting pun not intended, I’m afraid that it might be difficult keeping them under control.

Unfortunately though, those very same angry locals are also our best bet in this case. Most of them have lived there all their lives and they are the ones best suited to operate in the area. Even if the outsiders have had the chance to settle in and scout it out, they still lack the almost instinctual knowing of the area that the locals have.

We’re moving out tonight and I don’t think there’s a man or woman here who’s in the mood to be especially polite. We’re not looking to kill them all. We don’t know who they are, but what we do know is that we are not going to leave our eastern flank in the possession of a potentially hostile group. That shit just ain’t happening.

So if you have anything at all to add speak now or forever rest your peace.

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Post by Atarlost Mon Oct 14, 2013 7:59 pm

You have more people than you did when you had to abandon the place. Do you have enough to recolonize it and make it defensible?

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Post by TerraBull Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:28 pm

Would it be worth lugging a Trebuchet along? If needed? The Town itself most likely has a 'Killing Field' set up, defenses and all that, attacking with a Large group without a way to Siege/ Artillery will lose a Lot of Guys. That is if they will not Negotiate.

Are they other Refugees or True Invaders? Did they run from something worse?
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Post by Atarlost Fri Oct 25, 2013 10:36 pm

Trebuchet make lousy field artillery. There really isn't any non-gunpowder artillery that's worth using when you have rifles unless you're going to need to knock down walls.

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Post by ggt102 Fri Nov 15, 2013 8:27 pm

Are you going to continue this?

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Post by Webserfer Sun Oct 26, 2014 1:16 pm

A friend just linked me this and holy hell it's amazing, I've spent most of the day reading it and I write this at 3am. I'll be honest, I've never played fallout and I still couldn't stop reading first chapter in. It has been a very long time since I've read anything that actually kept me interested and this had me hook line and sinker. It felt close to the main character as he was dictating instead of it being a voice over, well type over. Characters were fleshed out for the most part, its was well written and layed out (barring the spelling and grammatical errors) "Grammatical's a word?, cool" and it was scifi which usally wins me over. I'm not a writer so I don't know what to say other than "wow". I know it's been over a year since the last update but I will hope that one day it may be finished/added to. Great job man, keep it up, please Very Happy

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Post by Militia Productions Sat Dec 12, 2015 6:53 pm

But seem to have abandoned adding them here. Where hast thou gone?
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Post by Psyckosama Sat Dec 12, 2015 7:09 pm

October 30, 2080

I’ve had a couple of days to rest and consider the Cody situation. In retrospect, the complete abandonment of the town was a bad idea. Getting people out was necessary. I couldn’t have evacuated the bulk of them and then left a few behind to keep watch. It would have bred dangerous resentment. The people had to be forced to accept reality. The mistake was not keeping an eye on the town.

I’d like to take a moment to explain the geography of the area a bit. There are five roads that lead into of Yellowstone proper.

First, there’s the North Entrance. This was the entrance that the Pale Riders entered through during their attack and its now our link with Pittsplace and Missoula. Likewise the southern entrance is our link to Fletcherville and New Plymouth. Both of these routes are, as you can expect, relatively well traveled and well guarded.

The North East Entrance is, in all honestly, not much of a long term concern. Right outside the entrance the road is, well, your stereotypical twisty and treacherous mountain road. It hasn’t been doing well without regular maintenance and our guess is that within a couple more years its not going to be good for much for anything besides a foot path. Because of this its not really a realistic vector for long distance travel in and out of the region.

The western entrance runs directly into the town of West Yellowstone. We’ve had it under light watch, if only due to the sheer proximity, but besides some light through-travel and some salvaging runs, we really don’t know much about how its faired. I’ve already ordered a team to scout out the town.

To the East you have about fifty miles of naked highway with no side roads worth mentioning and nothing appreciable in the way of human habitation until you hit Cody. Cody is where yellowstone gets access to the highway network in the east. It is literally the eastern gate of the park. We were keeping an eye on the road of course, but because of the distance and the fact that most of our people were tired up fighting the Pale Riders.

With Cody under hostile control we literally cannot go east from the park. We’ve lost the ability to go an entire direction and simple will not do.

While most of the townsfolk understand why it had to be abandoned, there’s still a standing resentment among about being forced from their homes. This situation has fanned it pretty severely and when combined with the impotent rage caused by the Pale Riders when they cut and run, disgusting pun not intended, I’m afraid that it might be difficult keeping them under control.

Unfortunately though, those very same angry locals are also our best bet in this case. Most of them have lived there all their lives and they are the ones best suited to operate in the area. Even if the outsiders have had the chance to settle in and scout it out, they still lack the almost instinctual knowing of the area that the locals have.

We’re moving out tonight and I don’t think there’s a man or woman here who’s in the mood to be especially polite. We’re not looking to kill them all. We don’t know who they are, but what we do know is that we are not going to leave our eastern flank in the possession of a potentially hostile group. That shit just ain’t happening.

So if you have anything at all to add speak now or forever rest your peace.

November 4, 2080

As far as first meetings could have gone, thinks could have gone a lot better. They also could have gone a lot worse. To explain in full, let me tell you what we were up against.

We spent the first day scouting them out, trying to figure out how many there were, what kind of gear did they have, and where they were set up.

Believe me, I was not pleased when Bear told me that they'd set up in the old sheriff's station. The reasons were pretty obvious in retrospect. Whitaker had set the place up pretty nicely, with improved fortifications, quarters for his men, and even some kitbash wood stoves made from bricks and oil drumps to make it extra livable without being dependent on electrical power. Quite the little setup and they'd only had to move in.

On my rush to clear everyone out I'd pretty much left it intact. It was the perfect position and I only have myself to blame. It might as well have put it up on fucking Craigslist.

As for their numbers, around thirty to forty, mostly adults but with some children and civilian grade small arms. Basically, they looked like just another band refugees though maybe slightly better armed than most.

In other words had they come out talking instead of shooting, we'd probably have opened our doors to them. But they were the ones who shot first. I understand why, but examples had to be made.

I decided that I needed to prove a point with this one. My plan was simple, a display of overwhelming force to cow them. Make it clear that the only way they're coming out alive is with their hand held high.

So I called for reinforcements from Yellowstone and I put out a general call for everyone to send as many men as they were willing in order to help send a message. I didn't want to kill anyone, but I needed enough guns to put the fear of god into these assholes and make them realize that they'd bit off a hell of a lot more than they could chew and the only way out was to come to terms.

Yellowstone of course provided a good number of men. Most of the Mexicans signed on, as did a lot of the old Cody residents. As did Jake and his gang.

As expected Masterson and Fletcher both showed up. Didn't expect Pitt to come personally as he wasn't a fighter, but he did. He claimed he wanted to see how we'd set up in Yellowstone and this was his excuse to come down.

The real shocker though was the number of Missoula refugees who volunteered in all quarters. I'd expected them to hold back and work on settling in, but no. They felt they owed us something, so we got a lot of volunteers.

Honestly, I'd wanted an impressive force. You know, a bit of shock and awe. What I got was an army. I actually had to turn people away. It was somewhat humbling to be honest.

Anyways, we moved them in on the night of the first and spent most of the second hunkered down moved everyone into position once the sun was down. Then at 8pm sharp we turned a couple spotlights we'd managed to salvage on the place and I picked up a bullhorn and read them the riot act.

Made it pretty clear. They were outnumbered. They were outgunned. We had rocket launchers and Molotov cocktails. They were not safe behind their walls. And they'd already killed one of ours. Murdered him like a dog, shot him in the back like cowards, which as far as we were concerned, meant they didn't have a goddamned ounce of moral standing.

To make our point we fired one of our rockets into a parked car. Made sure not to aim for the rear as not to risk a reactor critical, but it still blew up really nicely and made a pretty clear point.

We're trying to be reasonable. We're trying to be polite. But if they fucked with us, we'd kill them all.

Then, I gave them five minutes to send someone out to negotiate or we'd open fire on the building.

Four and a half minutes later, a sour-faced asian man walked out with his hands up.

I tried to be polite, but he wasn't. He was a very angry and honestly, he probably had his reasons. Though frankly, I really didn't care much at the time and he didn't seem very willing to explain. Hell, it was hard enough just getting him to introduce himself.

Henry Wu.

Well, I stated things pretty clearly. They'd functionally moved in on our territory. Now, that would have normally been acceptable. Our doors our open to people in need if they're willing to contribute. If they'd been willing to talk, everything would have been dine. But the fact is that instead they murdered one of our people.

So I told him outright that they had one of three options. First, they could turn over the killer and leave. We'd permit them to take their belongings and escort them to the other side of the park.

He replied that with winter setting in that it would be a death sentence.

I simply responded that it was their problem.

The second option was to turn over killer for trial, and we'd permit them to stay. Their group would at least be temporarily broken up among the various settlements to make sure that they didn't get any bright ideas, but if they were willing to work for their keep, once spring came, they'd be permitted to move on in peace.

The third was if they'd proven they'd be trusted and we were able to work past our justifiable dislike for one another, they could resettle somewhere with our blessings.

And of course the forth option was... well... unpleasantness.

They surrendered peacefully though reluctantly. Though when they handed the killer over we all kind of froze.She's just a kid. Probably no older than 15. She looked terrified too. Almost on the brink of tears to be honest.

We can't just let a murder pass, but lets be honest, she probably just saw Manuel and freaked.

God, all this bullshit because of one frightened little girl who was probably 90 pounds soaking wet.

I could use some advice here because I need to suggest a punishment. Had it been a even just a boy I'd have suggested the same punishment we gave the less abolish deputies. Basically a walk of shame and a good hard flogging, but considering everything... I'm not exactly sure walking a teenage girl naked through the streets and whipping her bloody is really the best idea.



November 10, 2080

My ultimate concern was aftershock from walking a girl who pretty much could be the picture book image of a cute and innocent Asian school girl through the snow naked to whip the hell out of her in a culture where a lot of 50s cultural mores persist.

On the bright side, it doesn't look like I'm going to have to worry about that. I'd like to say it's for enlightened reasons, but it's not. A lot of them want to kill her, not because she killed one of ours, but because she's Chinese.

All of them are. They're survivors of an internment camp that was located to the southeast. When the bombs fell everything went completely insane. The guards turned on the prisoners and the prisoners fought back. From what I could get out of them it was a bloodbath.

Because they were not near any direct impacts, they didn't get the worst of it. They had time to load up as many people and supplies on the surviving army trucks and get the hell out of there. They've basically been wandering the region scavenging, living in caves and sewers, and dodging angry locals who blame them for the war.

I'd like to say my people were much better, but like I said, there's a lot of hate here. The PRC blew up the fucking world and these folks are serving as a cats-paw for that outrage.

Still, I had to speak up in the name of basic humanity. These people were victims before the war and very little has changed. They didn't push the button and frankly we're all in the same boat.

Ironically, as a group it's the Mexicans who seem to be their loudest defenders at the moment. don't really hold it against them now that they know their story. They're still angry about the death of a good man, but to be honest, they understand what it means to be an unwelcome outsider. They'll even admit at their darker moments they'd taken shots at people maybe they shouldn't have. It's just a sad part of the world we live in.

I've told them I gave my word and named the agreement. I gave my word and right now I'm pretty much representing Yellowstone so if my word's no good, what the hell does that say about the rest of us.

I will however have to assign guards if only for their own protection and Fletcher's outright refused to take any in and voiced his feelings that they should all be shot. I'm hoping his second will calm him down but I'm not holding my breath.

Pitt refused as well, but not because of racial issues. He took in the bulk of the Missoula refugees and they're still emotionally charged and to be honest, damaged, by the whole Pale Rider conflict. It wouldn't be a good idea to have them share space with a convent scapegoat.

Masterson has my back somewhat. He says the American dream isn't about where you come from, but he'll shoot any son of a bitch who starts spewing red commie Maoist bullshit. But with the way he put that though, and considering his politics in general... I'm not entirely comfortable with it.

So it seems that Yellowstone is going to have to find a place to fit another fifty off fucking people. Ode to motherfucking Joy.

We're REALLY going to need those goddamned heaters. Good thing we have extra tents. Though this doesn't mean I'm going to let them isolate themselves as a group within a group. I might not be able to divide them among the settlements like I'd planned but I'll be damned if I'll just let them live off our charity for the winter while huddled up in their own little world.

As for Mei Ling. I decided that a vote might be a little dangerous. So did Lucas for that matter. I decided to go with his judgement, and that judgment was the walk of shame and 30 lashes for voluntary manslaughter partially mitigated by the perception that she was in danger as he was an armed stranger. Unacceptable, but understandable, and not to be repeated again by anyone.

I felt like a fucking pervert when he brought her down to the post. She's a pretty thing, in the monopoly way, and if I find any naughty pictures circulating the person who took them will be the next to take a stroll in their birthday suit.

Brave kid though. Terrified out of her mind but she walked down and took her lashes. Passed out half way through, but a quick bucket of water woke her up quick. I know it sounds cruel but it's freezing out here and the faster we got it done with the better.

After she was pretty much limp from shock and pain. I had her taken directly into the clinic and gave permission to Jim to give her some Med-X a couple Stimpacks from my personal stash to expedite the healing process and minimize scaring.

Mister Wu accompanied us the entire time and when he left ordered another of the boys from his group to keep watch. He doesn't trust us and was probably afraid that someone might try and pull something stupid like trying to sneak in and rape her.

I'd like to think such a thing wasn't possible here, but frankly, I'm not stupid. There's a lot of angry people and angry people get stupid.

Good god this is a clusterfuck. And here I was hoping that I could get some peace over the winter...

November 12, 2080

Wait. Before I say anything else, I need to clear up something missed because I was too busy dealing with the chaos of the last couple days to really pick up on it.

First, what do you mean it's been a while.

Second, what do you mean by "finishing FO4 a couple weeks back".

Now I understand that I'm not in a full temporal sink with the rest of you for some odd ass reason so some time might have passed, but are you seriously telling me that FALLOUT 4 was released and you didn't tell me? We're talking stuff here that could mean life and death over here!

Bah! What are you going to tell me next, that they made another Mad Max movie?

Okay. Not going to get pissed. For you guys it might be old hat. Seriously, how longs it been? But anyways. Onto more immediate concerns.

First, scouting.

Between the vehicles we got from our alliance with Pitt and our growing population I think we can afford larger and more dedicated scouting missions. And I think it might be necessary too for two reasons.

First, the core of the Pale Riders are still out there. I don't want to take any risks that they might come back and there are hundreds of innocent people who need to be avenged. We need to be vigilant.

Second, and really the more scary of the two... There might be former military units out there that have gone rogue. My worst nightmare is that some group shows up with a working APC or intact Power Armor. We're going to want some heavier firepower sitting in the wings because there's fuck all we could do to stop something like that.

Either way, it'll probably be this time next year that we'll be recovered from dealing with the Pale Raiders and with all these new mouths to feed we're going to need to find more food and start farming and if we can find a source of uncontaminated top soil so much the better.

Now, remind me, but that picture was of Zefram Cochrane, right? The guy who created warp drive in Star Trek? I know, it's been a while. Which reminds me. Send Star Trek. All of it. Except that crappy Abrams movie.

Anyways, normally I'd want to smack you for that but... well... its getting harder and harder to miss the ridiculousness of this reality since it's become my reality, but honestly... that's exactly the kind of Random Encounter/Wink and Nod shit you'd find hidden in the game.

I'll try and check it out when I get the chance.

On the same note, yes I know Henry has the same name as a Jurassic Park character. Looks like him too, just older.

Bah. And I'm sure this is where you tell me they made Jurassic Park 4...

On the issue of Coal. You just reminded me of something. Send me all info you can find on Bio-fuels and a process called Hydrothermal Depolymerization.

Our theatre already doubles as a Cinama. Managed to find a projector a while back. Runs off Holotpes. Didn't think it was worth mentioning though there is the issue of finding movies worth a damn. Might have to hit up a TV station one of these days. I'm sure Kelly would lose her mind if I managed to find a set of Captain Cosmos discs.

***ADDENDUM***

You're damn right I would, honey.

And if time really has past on your end, send more Doctor Who!

***ADDENDUM***

I like the idea of manning the Sheriff's station. I'll have it set up a a scavenging base for Cody and early warning station. It has the communications equipment.

We are going to work out laws. Might try and discuss it over the winter.

Now to get back on topic of what's going on over here, we're taking in volunteers for groups households for our Chinese 'guests' to say with to avoid hostilities. I've made it clear that any assaults, murders, thefts, rapes, or other shenanigans will be handled with just as a heavy hand as if they were our own.

Helen's going to be giving birth just about any time now. She looks like she's about ready to pop and I've honestly never seen Bear... well... happy before. Believe me, there are some things you should never see and that man smiling is one of them. It's actually mildly disturbing. It didn't think he even had those muscles anymore.

As you could expect, she's one of the loudest voices in favor of the Chinese along with the Reverend. But believe it or not, one of the other voices and probably the one with the most Gravitas is Bear.

Yes, Bear, who spent most of the war trapped in Alaska.

He gave a pretty good speech. I'll let it speak for yourself.

"Shut up and listen. I've seen more of what Red China was really like than anyone here, and I'll tell you this. The average Chinese soldier was poorly motivated, poor trained, and poorly equipped, fighting only because if he didn't his own officers would kill him as sure as I would."

"Now, I hated my fair share of chinks. The shit I saw them do gave better men than any you nightmares. Their officers were scum, but the average soldier? They were just a bunch of poor dumb bastards who wanted to live. Wanted to live so hard that they'd do anything they were told out of fear. They were the enemy, but I pitied them. I killed them, but I pitched them because they weren't the real enemy. They weren't in it to destroy America, they just didn't have a choice. None of us did."

"All of us, both sides, were sent to fight and kill and die, not for some high minded ideology, but because some politicians three thousand miles from the front didn't like the lines on some goddamn map. Beijing, Washington, doesn't matter. There was no difference. I spent time in serving in Canada and believe me, in some ways were no better than they were. We raped. We stole. We killed. Just like the goddamned Chinese."

"So, if you want to hate the Chinese? Fine. They pushed the button first. You could call that a reason. But at least have the goddamned competence to hate the right ones, because right now I don't see any fucking Commies here. All I see are a bunch of poor dumb bastards trying to survive like the rest of us."

I honestly have to say, that's probably the most words I've ever heard him say at one time. And I'm impressed. Helen looked downright proud of him. So was I. I think most of us were.

So, right now I'm trying to figure out who to send where. I'm not breaking up families, though I do have some concern about where to send the girls. There's a number of young Chinese woman and an awful lot of idiots. I want to make sure they're staying with people who can be trusted.

Jack told me that he heard rumors that there was some talk of some bastards wanting to, and I quote "break into the forbidden palace", and Mei Ling might be especially in danger because there's grumbling in some corners she got off too easily.

If anything happens to that girl it'll completely destroy any chance at establishing trust. Roberta and Jim could take her in.

Being part of a large family might help her and she might even be able to find a sister in Elizabeth. Though that would bring her into regular contact with Jake's gang which could end in tears. Or black leather. Or leather and tears.

Plus Jim and Roberta are sharing space with her sister and four kids. They might not have room.

Bear and Helen are another option. Considering she's due any moment now I'm sure Helen could use another set of hands, and once she's been placed under his protection, Bear would probably feed anyone who looked at her sideways his still beating heart. But I'm worried that it might seem like I'm sending her to be a servant plus Bear is mildly terrifying on a good day and sending a teenage girl to live with a man who collects the ears.

And no, that was not a joke.

Another option is the Pastor. He's opened his doors to all, but while he's certainly trustworthy he has others under his roof and might not be able to completely insure her security.

Having her stay with Kelly and me is another option. Kelly's not against it and having some help with the children would allow her to work on more projects. Though that does bring up the servant concern. Plus she might not like staying with a man who ordered her marched out in the snow naked, hard her whipped into unconsciousness, then told them to throw a bucket of water at her so we could whip her some more.

November 25, 2080

The last couple weeks has been interesting but things are settling down, in between bouts of complete and absolute chaos.

I’ll start at home first. I think I might have caused my wife a mild psychotic break down. Now before you judge, it’s not anything I did as much as what I showed her. That being the notes on alternative fuels, especially the one on Thermal Depolymerization.

To add background to those who have no idea what I’m talking about it’s a processes that uses extreme heat and water pressure to render basically anything organic down into light crude oil. Information was posted around here somewhere including some youtube stuff.

It’s a highly efficient process. We’re talking on the order of 80% here. It’s not really not practical on our world due to our existing petroleum reserves meaning expanding infrastructure is just cheaper. However on, say, a world where peak oil has come and gone... like this one... it’s literally a world changing breakthrough.

Kelly after she saw the videos. After she saw the notes... she had a nervous breakdown. She’s doing better now but... I think it really triggered a lot of her pent up emotional trauma from all this... apocalypse. The reason is simple. In her own words, what I just showed her could have saved the world.

I also really think it made her realize that I’m really truly alien to this world, even more than the media I share with her. To put it in perspective, I took me over three years to remember it. To me it was just one of a number of alternative energy sources that have been developed over the years. To a local, well... to put it in perspective we’re talking a process that lets you transform trash, sewage, and the like into oil as if by fucking magic. A local would have run to the patent office so fast that their shoes would have melted from the friction.

They really didn’t have any alternate fuel options. Even bio-diesel was a bit of a blink inducer, though it kind of lacked the sheer impact of what Kelly is sarcastically calling “Magical Bullshit Voodoo Gas”. I’m thinking it’s honestly the same kind of setting induced blindness which had them miss out on the transistor also prevented them from really coming up reliable alternative sources of petroleum.

Oh, we both agree that by the time I arrived it was too late, but, had I been here just a decade ago it would have been enough to change the course of history. It would have given the entire world another option, something to hold them over while they converted over from a dieselpunk economy to a nuclear based atompunk economy.

Even with the three months I had, if I’d patented the process before the bombs dropped I probably would have been able to BUY my own personal Vault. Though I would have never met Kelly. She probably would have been killed by the bombs and I’d never have had my children.

I have no regrets.

Since her episode, she’s thrown herself body and soul into building a “Gas-Still”. According to her there’s literally tens of millions of Internal Combustion based vehicles across the United States and compared to Atomic vehicles, “Jangles the Moon Monkey could keep them running”.

Kelly seems to be seeing this as a way to decompress. It’s something big. Something that matters universally and she needs to build it. Considering her pregnancy, I’m going to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t over do it but I understand how she must feel and I support her.

Though after watching Fury Road I have a slight fear that by doing this we might be changing one wasteland into another. I have zero interest in enabling any wanna be Immortan Joes and frankly, the son of a bitch reminded me of Necros way too much for comfort. Basically, it was a good movie but struck way too close to home.

We’ll be watching the rest of the media files after Kelly gets over her fixation on building a fuel still. Though I’d like to know if there was any Mad Max media made because considering how much this universe drew from that series and how the pop culture reference seems to be a law of nature, I need to know as many details as possible. If only so I don’t get broadsided by a lunatic screaming about Valhalla and such.

That all said, the exploding spears (what are they called?) are a good idea. I’ll have to run them by Bear to see what he thinks.

Speaking of Bear and his family, three days ago, Helen gave birth to a healthy baby boy. We also finally discovered Bear’s real name. The boy’s been named Kevin, after his father. He also threatened to shank the first person who calls him by his real name.

It was also the first time I’ve ever seen him smile. I was probably the third most horrifying thing I’ve ever seen. Some things simply cannot be unseen.

In his honor, we’ve taken to calling the boy “Cub”. He’s amused, Helen on the other hand is a little exasperated by the nickname but seems to view it with good humor.

Having a family seems to have grounded the man a bit. He’s still the kind of very very scary man who could never function in a civilized society, we aren’t living in a civilized society. We’re living in the kind of environment where being a relentless killer can actually be a boon to your long term. survival.

Before he seems to just be fighting because it was what he knew how to do. He was a soldier looking for an army. Now though, he’s a man protecting his family and friends. He found a degree of joy in this blasted nightmare of a world. And to be honest, I think it’s made him even more dangerous. Which in my mind is a very good thing.

Disney Star Wars? There should be a law against one company owning basically all of popular media? So who the hell do they have making it and is it based on the EU?

Fallout 4 sounds utterly idiotic but knowing my luck is part of reality. I’ll need more information to look into it. I need you to send me as many lets plays as possible using every possible play style. I need to see as much of it as possible before I make any long term judgments. In fact, if you ever see any even semi-pertinent items send me lets plays.

As for the Power Armor in FO4, I asked Kelly and Bear about it. Seems that Power Armor is indeed modular in nature. The reason is to allow for infield modification and repair. There are also civilian grade power suits it seems. They’re mostly used for hazardous work like mining, construction, and deep sea salvage. I’m lucky Necros didn’t have any suits to use against us. Though considering we vaporized the vanguard of his assault force, we might not have noticed for the mushroom cloud.

But the Fusion Cores thing sounds like the suits they were either using the power system out of either a civilian power suit, an early suit of T-45 armor, or it had a disabled Micro-Fusion reactor. Fusion cores are normally used to prime a fusion reaction by providing the initial kick to keep it running and serving as a backup power source in case of damage, shutdown, or interruption.

We’re not working on a name quite yet. Probably going to be based on Yellowstone as the park is going to end up being the center of our civilization. It’s protected by mountains and easily fortified against large scale attack.

You mentioned codifying our military relationship, how would you do that?

Right now it seems to be a basically we take the will of the people into account but the various settlement leaders discuss the punishment. We will probably be working on a proper legal code soon as we grow into self-sufficiency. Right now we don’t have the resources to dedicate to it. Though I probably will be insisting that we adopt a bill of rights based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights... though I will be structuring it in a way to be broad enough that should they come to pass, they’ll cover non-human sapience and self-aware AI.

On the case of law enforcement, at the moment Roberta’s basically our law enforcement official but there were a couple Missoula cops who survived. Since she wants to step down and have another kid, I’m thinking of putting her to work training a cadre of law enforcement rangers.

Between her and Bear, my hope is to raise a force of Rangers similar to the NCR and Desert Rangers who are able to serve as a force of protectors.

At the moment distribution of resources is being handled very much under the standard of making sure everyone can survive. In general my hope is we’ll be able to transit over to an open market soon. But not a completely free market and I hope to keep a number of social protections in place.

Right now our foreign policy is simple. If you want to join us and can provide a positive contribution, welcome on board. If you don’t and to join us, would you like to trade? If you want to threaten us, we’ll kick your ass until you decide on a wiser course of action. If you do something truly unforgivable, we make sure you can never hurt anyone ever again.

It’s a simple but rather reliable standard. It might change in time but I hope it provides a foundation for the future.

Turning livingston into the northern border of Yellowstone proper, the way Cody is our eastern border point is a good idea. I’ll have a team look into seeing about setting up an outpost and looking for survivors come spring.

As for Cody, we’re sending a mixed group of about 15 fighters to secure the station and they’re bringing enough food for the winter, mostly corn, canned goods, and smoked meat along with a radio and enough guns and ammunition to survive a raid or two. Including a couple rocket launchers. Come spring we’ll rotate them out and start looking into turning it into a better organized base.

I spent some time talking to Mei Ling and Mister Wu about where to place her and finally decided to go with Bear and Helen. Wu told me she was from a large family before the war and is the only survivor. I’m hoping being with a new family with a new child will help her. She’s tough and smart though, so I’m sure she’ll be okay.

December 23, 2080


I almost forgot what it was like to be with my family during that fucking war. Most people wouldn’t call it one, but it was a war. Though even just six months away was an eternity. I missed my wife. I missed my daughter. I missed the comfort of simple togetherness. It did however make me realize how badly many of the others must have suffered. My wife, my daughter, my home. I was able to go back to them. But for so many others it’s just all ashes and regrets.

Had an interesting run in with Mei Ling.

She thanked me. She said knows that a lot of people wanted her dead but I refused. She realizes she killed an innocent man but I gave her as much mercy as I could. And I made sure she was given painkillers and good treatment after.

She seems pretty happy with Bear and Helen too. Bear doesn’t talk much, but he’s a pretty decent guy and is extremely protective. Helen’s just a friendly, warm, good natured person who’s impossible to like.

She also seems to utterly adore Cub. Seems she was from a large family and having a chance to become part of a family again is actually helping her recover from some of her loss.

Almost makes me wish I put her with Jim and Roberta. Then she’d have more family than she could stand. But I jest. I’m just happy to see the kid smile.

I think at the end of the season I’ll talk to them and see how everything is going. If they’re open to the idea I’m thinking of suggesting that they offer to adopt her.

Wish I could say everything was going well, but there was a rape. One of the Chinese girls got cornered by a on her way to the outhouse. Idiot got liquored up and made a very stupid decision.

Would have been a pretty clear case with a pretty clear punishment if it has gotten to that, but it didn’t. It was Fred Black, one of Bear’s Dirty Dozen, that found him. Didn’t take too kindly and ended up gutting the bastard like a fish before he could finish.

I told Fred that if he ever sees anything like that again, he should take him alive. That way we get a proper hanging out of it. Sends a clearer message. And it would spare the girl the additional trauma of having to wash off the son of a bitch's blood. But otherwise, he’s not getting punished. Clear case of defense of another.

Gave a pretty strongly worded speech to the effect myself. This shit is not going to be tolerated here. Some people took it as a chance to bring up me sparing Mei Ling, but I made it clear. One was a frightened girl shooting at a perceived threat. She fucked up and she was punished for it. Another was a man choosing to dominate and violate a woman for his own sense of gratification.

They’re not the same thing.

I’ve done what I can to offer restitution to the girl. I’ve relieved her of any mandatory duties for the season so she can spend the time resting and recovering mentally. I’ve also asked some of the other girls who’ve lived through such experiences to talk with her. In fact I might talk to Helen and the Pastor about arranging a regular group. In fact I think we could all use a chance to sit and talk our our Trauma.

I am however considering punishing the couple she was staying with. Or at least interrogating them to see if there was any negligence or wrongdoing. They promised they’d look out for her but from the looks of things were actually pretty blase about it.

In general though, the tension is slowly diminishing. I’m hoping we’ll be able to get information about the regions to the east out of them but we’re still dealing with something of a language barrier. Most of them were from San Francisco’s Chinatown and don’t have the best English.

That’s probably why they were in the camp to be honest. The government was pretty paranoid about Chinese people in general, but as long as they were pretty assimilated they were for the most part left alone. It was the people who had a language barrier or kept up a strong traditional identity that were targeted. Ironic too because the PRC had done much to stomp out much of that identity in favor of blind obedience to the party.

I also found out why Mr. Wu was in a camp. He’s waa Buddhist monk who was arrested in a government crackdown. His experiences seem to have embittered him, but he cares very much about his people. I’m thinking of sitting him down with the Reverend and suggesting that they work together to help tend the flock. They might follow different traditions, but in the end, the message is often the same.

Recoilless rifles and plastic explosives are outside our capability. The only reason we have rocket is because they can be built with scrap and they’re at just the level of technology achievable by a pyromaniac high school student with access to a basic machine shop and a simple chemistry set.

Our biggest problem is our ammo supply. With the war against the Pale Riders, we had to shoot off a lot of rounds and many of the people who’d otherwise be scavenging had to fight instead. I think it was Eisenhower who said that every shell fired in anger is a meal taken out of a child’s mouth. He was right.

Between the reduction in production, exploration, and sheer resource expenditure, all this shit probably put Yellowstone back by a good six months of constructive effort. And compared to Pittsplace or god forbid, Missoula, we got off easy.

Oh, and while I didn’t mention it the stockade was reinforced during the year. Another one of those “military expenditures” that took up time better spent trying to find food and supplies.

Come spring we’re going to have to double up on our exploration and scavenging efforts to make up for lost time. Plus we need to know where Necros went if only so we can keep an eye on that sick fuck. Though personally I still want to see him dead.

They did have coal liquefaction technology. In fact, without it China would have been pretty much unable to fight. The issue is that it’s normally a complicated process. It’s not cheap enough to compete with natural petroleum sources. Plus, it requires a very specific feedstock which needs to be mine and shipped using petroleum fueled machines.

The reason Kelly freaked out about Thermal Depolymerization is it’s almost comical simplicity. I mean, even I can understand the process. That should tell you something. It will convert pretty much anything organic into oil. That includes pretty much everything in nature. And once you figure it out it can theoretically be run on municipal waste and raw sewage.

You grind the feedstock. You feed it into a pressure vessel and super saturate it with water. You cook it for about 15 minutes at high temperatures and pressure, then you let the steam flash evaporate and separate off any sediment. Then you cook the hydrocarbon mix again under pressure to complete the process. Bang. Done. The end result is oil. No catalysts, no solvents, nothing at all except whatever you decide to toss into the grinder and regular old water.

With some help from some engineers from Pittsplace, she was able to rig up a small converter using salvaged parts. They were pretty shocked about it too. The big thing is that the most complicated part involved in the process is the pressure vessels which are actually pretty easy to find if you know where to look. Beyond that, as long as you know what you’re doing it’s not that hard.

If you don’t know if you’re doing it’ll probably explode. There’s a reason they set it up well outside the stockade.

I’ll also take this chance to restate something. The US was beyond a petroleum based economy. China was not, mainly because this China wasn’t the Communist in Name Only China you’re used to. It was pretty much hard core Maoist Dieselpunk China. A nation where the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution never stopped. Basically Maoist North Korea writ large.

The rest of the world really wasn’t capable of switching over to an atomic energy economy like the US was. Europe and the Middle East were too busy blowing themselves to hell with Russia stuck in the middle, while China simply did not have the educated population needed to support the needed technological framework.

I’ll give you a clear example. By the end of the war, the average American soldier was clad in head to toe in lightweight but highly effective composite combat armor, had a helmet with a built in military Pip-boy, and were often armed with some form of basic energy weapon.

The average Chinese soldier had a set of PJs, an AK-47 clone, and lots of reserves.

JJ Abrams? Really? Fucking seriously. So he gets to rape two of my favorite childhood franchises. What are you going to tell me next, they let fucking Michael Bay do Ninja Turtles?

I’m still wanting more news on media (with links) and I need Lets Plays. Though Fallout 4 is sounding more and more idiotic as time passes but I’m not about to assume none of those events happen.

Not building underground. This is reality, it isn’t Minecraft. That takes LOTS of effort.

I also think you’re overestimating the size of the quarry trucks. Think less 30ft tall mining monsters and more the size of a really big semi.

January 14, 2081


Things have settled down a bit the last month. Poor Mary’s rape actually caused a big of an upswing in sympathy among most of the people in town. Though the real kicker is when we asked Henry to help with religious services.

At first he was reluctant. He was forced to hide his faith during his time in the camps and do many unconscionable things during his quest to survive. He tended to his own, but there was something of a reluctance. The last few years had seemingly shaken his beliefs and he seemed to be holding to them more for the good of his fellows than true faith.

So I asked Pastor Jacobs to talk to him. I know it might sound strange asking a Christian priest to help a Buddhist monk rediscover his faith, but it’s really not. The Pastor is a good man who believes strongly in the value of faith as a force that uplifts us. Believe me, we’ve had many discussions on the matter and he is a very good man.

Anyways, their conversation was their own but when they were done, Henry seemed to have a new energy about him. My guess, knowing the Pastor, is that he probably just listened to him. Believe me, in a time like this not having to keep it in and simply being able to vent will save your mind and soul.

Anyways, they agreed that he’d stop holding his prayer and meditation sessions in private and instead would use the church and have them open to any who showed interest. It’s this that really changed things.

The Chinese Communists were strict atheists, so seeing the ‘Godless Chinese’, worshiping in their own way did a lot to change things. Even more profound an impact was had when people started accepting the standing invitation.

He lead people in meditations, he taught them the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path, and at no point did he ever challenge their existing beliefs. The discourse on the nature of suffering really hit home in these trying times.

Helen’s little band of Bohemians were the first to join, lead by Helen herself. I also was there the first week, though I’ll admit much of the reason was to show my approval and frankly, I could use some meditation time.

Though what really caused people to notice was when Pastor Jacobs joined him in his meditations. It was a beautiful thing seeing the two of them united in prayer.

Some were against it, but most? Most were open to listen. There isn’t a single person here who hasn’t seen hell and hasn’t had their beliefs pulled through the mud. Buddha and Christ were both teachers and their messages were hardly mutually exclusive. In fact in many ways they can be seen as complementary.

I think we might be looking at the beginning of something different, something new. And personally, I’m all for it.

Mei Ling is now effectively Bear and Helen’s adopted daughter. I suggested the idea to them and while Bear was ambivalent and taciturn as he is about just about everything, I think he likes the girl. As for Helen, well, I don’t think there was a moment of doubt in my mind that she wouldn’t be entirely for it.

The girl actually ambushed me with a hug and then thanked me. I was sweet. She’s really a good kid.

In slightly less pleasant news, I’m going to have to deal with Mary’s hosts rather roughly. She was staying with one of the surviving married couples from Cody and seems that the husband was friends with her rapist. It turns out the main reason they invited her into their home was because they frankly wanted a servant to do their chores.

Now, being demanding and unpleasant while making you a piece of shit, is hardly the crime. But the fact is they were trying to shuck their duties off on her. I’ll be the first to admit, we don’t do very much during the winter that involves going outside. It’s too cold and too nasty to really expect too get very much done. But I do try and make sure everyone does their fair share.

You know, basic stuff like shoveling snow, chopping wood, standing watch, making sure public areas and buildings are kept clean. Everyone is supposed to do their part. Except they were dumping them off on many in addition to households chores.

Seems he was using the time to drink and the prick who raped her was one of his drinking buddies. While we don’t think he arranged for what happened, or was in any way paid for it, but he abused my intentions, neglected his duties, in this and from the sound of things was the one who let him know her schedule.

The wife isn’t quite as culpable, but she’s always been a really nasty piece of work. Lazy, demanding, arrogant, and it seems trying to bring her in as her own personal “coolie maid” even though I outright said that that was not the intent.

I really need to figure out an appropriate punishment for their bullshit and have decided to let you weigh in before I make my final call.

That said, I want to make one thing clear. Lucas was working with me in the background the entire time and in general our opinions tend to be in line. Believe it or not, I do have some legal training myself. Only a Paralegal, but I know enough that together we’re able to bang out something logical. Believe me, I’m asking for your opinions as your POV is useful as an outside perspective.

They gave Ninja Turtles to Michael Bay. Well fuck. Between that and the abomination it seems Fallout 4 was made into if those Lets Plays are any indication, well, there goes the beloved franchises of my youth, circling the drain. Fallout 4 is especially wince inducing not just because of the Settlement crap but because it is extremely gamey, the writing is bad, and divorced from reality.

Though knowing my luck, it’s all happening.

The reason I asked for those FO4 Lets Plays is a matter of information and perspective. The more I know about possible situations the more I will be prepared. Frankly I’m sitting here with my butt puckered wondering what the hell is going to rise out of the woods once the mutations settle. I mean if Yao Guai are what BLACK bears turn into, the the HELL are BROWN bears, their bigger, meaner, and more aggressive cousins going to become?

Though I don’t think our mosquitoes are becoming Bloodbugs. They’re just virulent and large. I hope.

I have to seriously ask. What the hell does Deng Xiaoping have to do with anything? I just told you what the People’s Republic of China in this world was like.

Yes, we have listening posts though the mountains tend to wreak holy hell with radio transmissions.

Thank you for the Vault Wikia index and I already suspected Necros has some form of ESP.

I know what a Biofilter is, we’ve been using them for years, and I make it a rule to never drink anything that glows.

Now, recoilless rifles are more complicated than rockets which while not the most accurate things in the world are much more forgiving. And as for digging underground... the ground is frozen solid and it’s below freezing outside on a warm day. So no. Not happening. The only shoveling being done around here is the goddamned snow.

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Maybe, You'll Think of Me... a Journal of the Post-Apocalypse - Page 2 Empty Re: Maybe, You'll Think of Me... a Journal of the Post-Apocalypse

Post by Psyckosama Mon Dec 14, 2015 12:05 pm

February 3, 2081

Last night Kelly gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. It’s moments like this that make all of this shit tolerable.

I love my wife. I love children. They’re what keeps me sane, my one shining light in the chaos of post-apocalypse. All I wanted to do was get that damned war over with so I could come home. And when I did shut just got even more ‘interesting’. I swear to god, if it wasn’t for them I’d probably just vanish into the woods and live like a hermit.

Sorry about that.

I’d thought beating the Pale Riders would make things better but instead it’s only really served as a catalyst for a nest of other problems great and small. And as Fearless Leader, guess who is falls onto to make everything better?

I must sound like a complete asshole here. My wife just had another baby, a daughter, a wonderful little girl and all I can do is sit here and kick myself. God, I must sound like a total self-obsessed douche.

*ADDENDUM*

Hi, this is Kelly.

I’d like to apologize for my husband. This winter’s been hard, everyones turning to him to fix it, and everyone’s looking to him to fix it. The stress is starting to get to him. Even with Hope I was able to help him before, but with my pregnancy and the way I react to the information on Thermal Depolymerization, I think we was trying to keep me from getting stressed out so he tried to bottle it all in.

I will admit I did get maybe a little fixated on my guzzoline still which didn’t help. And yes, I’m calling it guzzoline because I think the name’s ridiculous and if I have to live in a wasteland I at least want something I can laugh at.

Anyways, I’d like to thank you for bearing with us through all of this. I know we asked for your advice when we named Hope and I’d like to ask again. We owe you all that much.

Thank you. And if you have any advice on how to get him to relax I’m all ears.

PS: Wall-E is the most adorable movie I’ve ever seen. I want to build one! Thank you for sending it

*ADDENDUM*

Alright. Anyways, I’ll get down to the meat of the problem.

Overcrowding.

Actually, we have a multitude of problems, but overcrowding is the alpha and omega that is exacerbating all of them.

Between the Mexicans, the Chinese, and the handful of Missoula refugees we were able to take in, we’re running with a population of 400 in a settlement in a location that was chosen for its ability to comfortably support half that. The fact that last year were were able to get by with 300 is a testament to both the work ethic of our people and the fact that last year were were almost spoiled. Yes, things were smug, but Helen and her people showed up in early June giving us the better part of two seasons of planning and labor to adapt and find accommodations for them.

This time we had to absorb twice as many, and in addition, we didn’t have the same prep time. Instead we had to spent the time and resources fight that fucking dayglow Zombie and his goddamned Warboys. Now I think we could have skirted by if we’d only had to take in the Mexicans. Would have been tight, but god knows they put their backs into trying to make a place for themselves while many of us were off fighting the Pale Riders. However, having to absorb the the Missoula refugees and Chinese is really making things tight.

To make matters worse, while things were snug last winter, but they were offset by the low level of stress. There were no major threats, everything was at peace, and we were eating like people for the first time since the bombs dropped. This year we’re dealing with ethnic issues, a higher degree of overcrowding, the cost of the war both material and emotional.

To outline what that is you have to understand that fighting the pale riders cost lives, resources, and time, all of which are in short supply and all of which are needed to survive. In addition, the fact that he got away and murdered a huge number of people while doing it was a major psychological blow that really stripped us of any sense of victory.

Then we had to come home and deal with the Cody situation. Moral is low, and that alone would be bad enough but tight conditions and the presence of cultural outsiders is exacerbating it.

Drinking is up, fights are common, there were even a couple brawls. One of which even had a stabbing. No one died and I let Lucas handle it, but on the whole we’re a lot of frustrated people crammed in here like sardines in a tin.

Thankfully we have enough food for the winter, even if we’re going to really have to double up on our scavenging come spring, and quarters are tight but nobody is sitting out in the cold. Though even that was a close call. Thank god we were able to get enough heaters and equipment once we had Cody under control.

Speaking of Cody, I was able to reduce the problem a little bit by sending people over, but it was still a drop in the bucket.

Come spring we’re going to have to really buckle down and search the park. It’s about time we expand and form another settlement or two. We’re going to have to scout out potential locations.

Honestly in retrospect I think I made something of a mistake choosing this area to begin with. Though there was something of a logic behind it. See, I rejected the various lodges and visitors centers in favor of this shitty little set of cabins for several reasons.

First, it was defensible. It was off the main roads and had a pretty good view of the countryside. I didn’t know what was out there and I didn’t want to be holed up in the first places that people would look.

Second, it was convenient. A whole bunch of little houses on little roads with wood burning stoves designed specifically to operate at a reduced technological level. Just a snug little nest of log cabins ready to be moved into.

And it was all complete with wood stoves, manual water pumps, and a small but fully equipped ranger station to tie it all together. All we had to do was tow in some trailers from the other camp grounds and throw up a few more cabins and we had a nice little village.

It’s not like I was expecting to deal with wave after wave of refugees.

And finally. I’ll be honest, I’m still a little afraid of what we might find. Clearing the more densely populated areas of the park might be a problem. Feral Ghouls? Savage Monsters? Was there a secret FEV lab under Old Faithful and are we dealing with a surprise Supermutant problem? We just haven’t been ready to attack that problem.

I mean at first, we had to settle everyone in and didn’t have the manpower to spare and once we had the manpower we had to use it to fight those goddamned raiders!

Starting a settlement isn’t some bullshit like in Fallout 4 where you just drop in snap together shacks out of prefabricated pieces. And by the way, those hovels in Fallout 4 are idiotic. Holes in the roof, holes in the walls. Anyone living like that in New England weather would have frozen to death decades ago.

Our little town looks more like Skyrim than it does anything in ‘The Commonwealth’ and for good damned reason: It gets really, really fucking cold in the winter.

Now just to let you know how I dealt with Mary’s hosts? While being an asshole isn’t a crime, schucking your duties is. Everyone works, everyone eats. If everyone doesn’t work then we don’t have enough necessities for everyone. We have to work together or we’ll all die alone.

I reduced their rations, forbade the husband from drinking, and increased their duties. And since they conveniently were now so comfortable and in their own little private cabin, I took advantage of the fact they’d already volunteered space to move in a couple more people.

General impression I got from the crowed seemed to be neutrally supportive. I didn’t do anything groundbreaking but I didn’t piss anyone off.

The brawling, I’m making it clear if you can’t hold your liquor you shouldn’t be drinking it. Unlike douchebag I didn’t outright ban them, but they know they’re being watched. I also gave they extra chores. After all, if they have time to get drunk and start fighters then they have time to do something productive and we could always use more wood.

There was some grumbling as some folks thought what they do on their time is their own damned business. The counter was that if we have to use time and medical supplies to patch their dumbasses up afterwards, it’s our business.

The stabbing was a bit more complicated but it was a general brawl so he’s not entirely at fault. But he did pull a knife, so he got lashes on top of, a punitive reduction in rations, and a general ban from drinking.

One interesting thing has risen out of all this. Chores have become something of currency. People are gambling them, trading them, and exchanging them for goods and services. I’m allowing it, as I don’t care who does the work as long as it gets done. Though I have made it clear I am not allowing ration trading.

Everyone eats.

Just so you know, the logic behind the reduced rations is that I’m not going to ever cut it enough so people go hungry. The idea is that maybe going to bed a little bit of a tummy rumble will make them lie back and ruminate on their mistakes.

It was actually Lucas who came up with ration reduction as a punishment.

Cornish room heaters aren’t founded in sound science and will do nothing to cut the cold of a Wyoming winter. Fire Logs are neat, but we’re in the middle of a forest and there are tons of dead trees. Just easier to chop wood. The Solar heaters are an idea but we don’t have the materials on hand.

Setting everyone up with a wooden emergency whistle on the other hand is a really good idea across the board. We’re making one for everyone.

Setting up Sentry Turrets, well, just be glad I didn’t let my wife type this up. But let me just say this. No. They are complicated pieces of robotics engineering. They are not something you can piece together with scraps.

As for housing, this really isn’t what I’d call an adobe/cob environment. Too wet. It’s more a log cabin environment.

Crossbows are a bit complicated. We’re actually making do with simple pipe rifles in a secondary role and some people are playing with archery.

Co Opting religion isn’t going to happen. I’ll be honest with you all. My main fear when it comes to religion is people seeing me regenerate and then deciding I’m some kind of prophet or god. I might make suggestions in private as a layman, but I am not getting tied up in that shit. Separation of church and state for the motherfucking win.

Lucas is staying the judge because he’s actually a lawyer.

We don’t have a Sheriff we have a “Ranger”, though she’s probably going to be on maternity leave sooner than later.

Like I said, we’re going to be working on rules once the season changes. We’re going to have a busy spring.

*Notes:
If you can, please provide actual links to things you can legally provide links to. Like old books and the like. Believe it or not, I actually do like reading suggested stuff.

Also, bonus points to anyone who wants to try and stat out the characters, go right ahead! FO1/2 or NV system preferred. I might just pull them together and make a little character archive somewhere*

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Maybe, You'll Think of Me... a Journal of the Post-Apocalypse - Page 2 Empty porches and air power

Post by hmelton Wed Dec 16, 2015 1:45 am

Sorry I have no suggestions for your Food problem, the only suggestion for the over crowding is only a band aid at best, but it might help.

Perhaps set up tarp enclosed expansions think "Tent porches" snugged against the walls on the walls of your building that have the doors, they should act as wind breaks/extra insulation and possibly trap enough lost heat in the extra space that they are a step above having to be outside when you can't stand to be around each other.  

For the fire power and ammo worries maybe you should try making gas/air powered weapons.

I'd recommend salvaging for plumbing supplies and plumbing shops for the tools and parts to make air cannons and air rifles.

DIY air rifles should be simple to scale to levels that over match black powder ballistics and man portable air cannons should be able to fire "pop cans" to ranges measured in city blocks with no problem.  

You don't have to limit yourself to compressed air since you have ready sources of electricity and salted water you have the option of  compressed hydrogen gas as a explosive propellant.

Here are some links all, but the final one are instructional and geared toward DIY.

The last one is for fun, but just imagine that bb mini-gun scaled up to 22 caliber and run off an atomic powered air compressor.

http://www.airgundevelopment.com/

http://www.myaircannons.com/

http://airgununiverse.net/homeindex.html

http://airgununiverse.net/semiauto.html

http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2013/12/building-the-100-precharged-pneumatic-air-rifle-part-1/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Airgun-with-eXplosive-air-Release-Valve/

http://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/airsoft-mini-gun

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Post by Atarlost Wed Dec 16, 2015 6:42 am

Is there any reason you can't build more cabins where you are?
Even a crude stopgap while you season wood for proper cabins would help. I believe logging operations can be conducted in winter with cross country skis and sleds and having something productive to do to prepare to build more housing after the ground thaws should be good for morale. Or at least for occupying idle hands.

Most of the complication of crossbow manufacture is finding a good bow wood unless you need something that will go through armor.

Something like this may not go through mail or twenty-ply linen but it should drop a deer or an unarmored man. There's a little ironmongery on it, but someone's going to need to work out how to do stuff more complicated than that to keep you in agricultural tools anyways. If you reserve some seasoned wood for the project you can probably use it to keep hands less idle next winter.

Crossing this list of bow woods with the NPS info on Yellowstone it looks like your best bet for bow staves is Rocky Mountain Juniper. As far as I know the only difference between marajuana and industrial hemp is THC content so you should be set for cordage.

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Post by TerraBull Wed Dec 16, 2015 4:22 pm

Pardon any redundancy.

I am curious which has the most influence.

Either he has a "Plan" or is only getting intermittent 'contact'.

I believe suggestions were made to locate 'Water Purifiers' from Jackson Hole, infamous here for several breweries and bottle beverages.

Also climate for Fur bearing creatures and fishing.

Suggested Border areas should be North, Livingston. Livingston, Montana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

( So Valley with river connecting South to Yellowstone can be a possible farming breadbasket for the community )

West, West Yellowstone. West Yellowstone, Montana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

East, Cody. Cody, Wyoming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

( See possible deposits of Gypsum, National Guard depot & small airport, A Firearms museum )

Gypsum - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

South, Jackson Hole. Jackson Hole - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There should be a Indian Reservation to the south east..

Industry[edit]
The primary industry in Cody is tourism. Hotels, restaurants and shops cater to travelers coming to visit the West and Yellowstone Park. Cody has several art galleries, with some notable local painters and artists living in the area.

Another industry is western style furniture, with several small furniture makers producing custom pieces.

The oil industry seems to wax and wane over the years in the Cody area.

Just to the south of Cody are large deposits of gypsum.

Park County School District #6 is another large employer in the area.

I have to ask?

How far away are you willing to go for Military Grade Gear?

I can think of one place, WWWwwaaaayyyy out in the middle of Nowhere.

/hawthorne-army-depot-army-base-in-hawthorne-nv/

A Army Base that should have examples of military gear, and since it IS out in the middle of nothing, in NEVADA it should still be there & not a target.

It is listed as being LOADED to support a force in the field, with gear to MAKE & Refurbish pretty much all branches. Enough to have been making gear for Anchorage, Canada & China.

If you want something closer, Utah may have something in the Dugway proving ground.

Also Hill AFB by Salt Lake & Tooele Army Depot south of Salt Lake as well as several National Guard armories.

There is a MAJOR National Guard base in Spanish Fork.

Admittedly Salt Lake would have been Nuked, Bunkers may have survived.

Though Cody itself is listed as having a National Guard presence by the Airfield, Cody is there, is the Airfield & Facility?

Billings itself has a Montana National Guard training facility & presence, would there be something there?

Cheyenne may have a base along with Gas Refining gear.

Unless you are willing to go to Colorado.. Denver will be Burning still..
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Post by Psyckosama Thu Dec 17, 2015 10:16 pm

March 15, 2081

We decided to name our daughter Isabella. Well, let me rephrase that. Kelly conned me into letting her name her that after she shot down Cleopatra, Bodicea, Hippolyta, and Zenobia. I like names with Gravatas, and she kind of maneuvered me into this one. I mean, I said I wanted to name her after a queen but couldn’t we have chosen a cool one? Though I’m never calling her ‘Bella’. The day my daughter has the same name as the protagonist of Twilight is the day I dangle from a rope.

*ADDENDUM*

Cry me a river.

And someone send me this ‘Twilight’. He’s making it sound like the most horrid thing in the world and I’m intrigued.

*ADDENDUM*

Kelly staged a little intervention last month and I really really am thankful for it. Sometimes I don’t delegate as often as I should and Roberta, Jim, Lucas and the others really made that clear to me. For a couple weeks there, they staged something of a silent coup to make sure I got enough rest. Several of the younger girls have even volunteered to help watch Belle so we can get some sleep.

In retrospect I was a mess there towards the end.

Helen’s doing well and her little culture initiatives continue to give us something to do in the winter. I thought she’d calm down a bit now that she has a child to take care of, but if anything she’s doubled up her efforts. She claims she has a son now and she needs to make sure that the world he grows up in his one that is worth living in.

Bear continues to terrify small children by smiling. He’s also become at the same time more relaxed and more dangerous. I think he’s passed through a gauntlet. He left a lot of himself behind in Alaska but now he’s managed to fill that void with friends and family. And honestly, I believe to the bottom of my soul that if even God himself tried to get between Bear and his loved ones, he’d figure out a way to commit deicide.

I haven’t talked about Jim, Roberta, and their family in a while. Jim and his daughters are all doing well. Dawny’s growing up and starting to discover boys. From the sound of things, she’s got something of an entirely unsisterly crush on Tim.

Liz is in an official unofficial relationship with Jake these days, which drives her father nuts. From the sound of things they seem to have this polyamorous thing going and from what I’ve heard, they both have a shine for Mei Ling. Seems the  only reason they haven’t pulled her into their kinky little love triangle is Bear would snap off his arms like dead tree limbs.

Speaking of Jake, he’s proven time and time again to be reliable. He’s still a rogue, but he’s our Rogue. His gang’s grown too, though they’re actually pretty law abiding on the whole. It seems my early worries about them becoming a menace were unfounded. Many of them also proved to be pretty solid up in Missoula. Though I still wonder where they found all those damned leather jackets.

Tim’s growing up strong, and frankly while I don’t talk about him much it’s because he’s doing well. He’s moved on a lot from the loss of his family and refers to Jim and Roberta as mom and dad. He’s already one of the best shooters and trackers in his age group. He’s already bugging Bear for lessons in some of his more... esoteric tallents. Given another few years and I bet he’ll mature into one hell of a Ranger. He’s also still obsessed with Superheros though.

Little Gina’s in school now, and pretty much is always underfoot. She’s a cute kid, though I’m kind of dreading the day Hope gets to her age.

Roberta’s still doing her duties as our Head Ranger, but has moved to a more managerial role. She’s trying to have another child and wants to settle down a bit and get away from the action. She’s from a law enforcement background, not military, so I will admit it does make some sense.

Roberta's sister, Rose is doing well and I’m thinking there’s a good chance she might be moving to her own place soon. I don’t like to get in other people's business, and I can’t stand a gossip, but she has a boyfriend and I think they’re getting serious.

Jim’s doing well. He’s no longer our only doctor. There were a couple MDs up at Pitts, but his practical experience and several years of self-taught medicine mean he’s still extremely respected and his time with us means he’s still a pillar of the community. Though he does appreciate having some experts to talk with.

Mr. Wu and Pastor Jacobs are still preaching together and while they have not really become a new religion yet, there’s a lot of open eyes. I’ve talked to them quite a bit as they actually seem to value my perspective as a classical Deist and professed agnostic. I might have also let slip that I’m an ordained minister of the Church of the Sub-Genius as well which after explaining it to them, amused both greatly.

That said, please send me everything you can on the concept of “Reverence for Life”. I’m having some ideas. And the Book of the Sub-Genius would be nice too.

The first stage of Project Uberkittah is officially at an end. We’ve pretty much run out of Mentats and I don’t think people would appreciate me trying to hunt them down just so I could feed them to my cats. The end result though, it speaks for itself

I used a Maine Coon as the primary, and they’re pretty much maintained size even across several generations of breeding with smaller breeds. If anything, they’re a bit larger than their progenitor breed and thanks to all the Buffout, have a notably denser musculature. They average at about the size of a bobcat and I have absolutely no doubt as to their ability to take care of post-apocalyptic vermin.

High intelligence also seems to be a consistent. According to Jim their brains are larger than some primates. Sure, they’re still selfish and lazy, but what do you expect, they're cats. They’re also loyal and extremely friendly in that special ‘lavish me with treats and attention’ kind of way. Like I said, cats. They seemed to have developed an ability to read people that borders on empathy and they’re smart. Very smart. Scary smart even.

I’m talking problem solving intelligence here. As one example, a couple weeks ago we caught a rather annoyed looking kitten fumbling with a can opener and a stolen can of tuna. She clearly knew how it worked, but couldn’t manage it due to the fact she didn’t have opposable thumbs. Didn’t mean she wasn’t trying though, and I’ll admit she was getting pretty damned invented there towards the end.

I’m probably going to ask Jim to look into cognitive testing. I want to make damned sure that we didn’t accidently create something with human level intellect because if we did, we need to take responsibility and treat them with due respect.

To explain why I’ve been discussing relocation the simple fact is we’re limited by our defenses and geography here. I chose this area because it’s isolated and defensible. It’s not the easiest to access for both good and ill. We also have a palisade already in place as well, and removing it to expand would be very resource intensive.

My feelings so far are it might behoove us to start reclaiming other areas of the park that might be able to support current or future growth. Spread out a bit. It’s a large park and we have room.

Plus others have suggested several areas that would make for good borders and we might want to secure them as not to get a repeat of the Cody situation. I’ve been talking with the others and they agree that the Park needs to be fortified. As long as we hold the park, we’re holding into millions of acres of prime, defensible territory. The borders we’re deciding on for the park and our general region of control are Livingston in the North, Cody to the east, West Yellowstone to the west, and Jackson to the south.

The reason for these choices is because all of these towns are located at or near mountain passes. We’re focusing on choke points. The entire objective is to limit outside access to the park as much as possible. The direct southwest is an issue due to it being relatively flat area. Relatively being the key word considering we’re straddling the Rockies, but we’re going to be setting up at least look out given time.

This brings most of our existing communities into the designated fortified area. Pitts is technically a outside this region, but considering they’re in a bunker on the side of a mountain they’re pretty safe as is. Mr Pitts admits his original ski lodge wasn’t designed for defense, but I’ve seen the drawings for the structure he wants to put in its place. It’s a fortress. If you guys want to talk to someone about Dwarfing it out, talk to Frederick William Pitts. Not exactly sure how the crazy son of a bitch intends to be able to build it with his available resources but if he can manage I’ll pretty much just wash my hands of all urban development plans and let him at it.

On the subject that keeps being mentioned about plaster and adobe, two things. First, plaster is actually resource intensive to create from scratch. Sure, we can salvage it from various hardware and building supply stores but as you can probably understand it’s considered a luxury item and is low on the priority list. As for Adobe itself, well, there’s a reason the locals call spring and fall the “Mud Seasons”. Probably also be something of an issue for rammed earth as well.

Though we did actually use rammed earth in the construction of our palisades. They’re basically two log palisades with about a yard or so of rammed earth in between them. There’s a lot of aggregate material added for strength as well.

Partially underground so houses are a good idea but again I’m a little concerned with the whole mud issue. Might build one or two to test, see how it weathers. It’s not that I’m against digging, it’s just that it’s not a winter activity, the whole Minecraft/Dwarf Fortress Diggy Diggy Hole concept isn’t exactly practical, and we’re technically living on top of a giant supervolcano.

I know about rocket stoves. We use them heavily. Most of the cabins actually have mass heater rocket stoves which we made using mostly rammed earth and adobe brick as they’re not going to be getting wet any time soon. We’ve also all but mass produced some smaller paint-can stoves for cooking and the like. Why, we’ve even come up with a setup that uses them to heat up 55 gallon drums for hot water.

District heating is an idea and I’ve actually been thinking about trying to make an artificial hot spring so we can have a public bathhouse. This winter we’ve discovered several interesting new smells and I’d like to have them become lost knowledge if at all possible. If we could get that, we could consider some wider spread solutions.

Let me explain our tech level a little. Do remember, this is not the post-apocalyptic amusement park ride that was the Capital Wasteland or the Commonwealth where you find robots that have been wandering the elements or pristine consoles sitting powered and function in crumbling buildings for 200 years. This is the real world and things simply don’t work that way.

Even after 3 years, we’re finding items that might have been intact just after the bombs hit but have been spoiled due to time and weather. And that’s not bringing up the havoc wreaked by the Electromagnetic Pulse of the detonating bombs.

EMP is a bitch. Workings radios are at a premium. Finding a functional power drill is considered a big score. Most of our working vehicles were jury rigged into functionality after cannibalizing the wrecks of a half dozen others for parts.

Hell, half the reason we’ve had as much success as we have on the technology front is due to the mountains acting as natural shielding against EMP.

The robots and toasters and all, that’s pretty much all Kelly. She was training to become a RobCo Certified Robotics Technician. That meant not only did she need to be able to fix any mechanical or electrical issues, but she also needed to be able to debug their software, which I’ll remind you are pretty much full on Virtual Intelligences, and repair their power systems, which in some cases are full out nuclear reactors.

I say this with the utmost clarity and bluntness when I say that my wife is very, very smart.

*ADDENDUM*

Love you too.

*ADDENDUM*

She knows her shit and everyone knows she does. If they find something advanced, they bring it to her. Sometimes she can restore it, most of the time she’ll strip it down for parts. You people like to joke about Talky and the Fruit Fucker, well, it probably took bits taken from the hulks of a dozen Protections to get them back online. Though, I swear, one of these days all it’ll take is me and a 15lb sledge to take them back offline

*ADDENDUM*

Don’t you dare, mister!

*ADDENDUM*

So while yes, we actually do have and use some power tools and even a degree of light industry thanks to the bits and bobs we’ve been about to loot and scavenge over the past couple years, the simple fact remains that they’re a finite resource. We’re functioning on a scavenger economy. Our ability to produce new items and replacements is ultimate preindustrial. We can repurpose, we can reuse, we can repair, but ultimately we cannot manufacture.

It’s one of the reasons the idea of Guzzoline produced by Nitro Stills is such an important issue. The switchover to Atomic Cars is still relatively recent and there are over a hundred and fifty years worth of old internal combustion vehicles sitting in scrap and salvage yards across the country just waiting for some enterprising madman to get creative. While things like hoses, seals, wires and some such need replacement, compared to the complexities of nuclear reactors a brain damaged chimp could restore and maintain them.

And yes, Kelly’s now calling it a Nitro Still. I think she’s taking idea of wacky post-apocalyptic lingo maybe a bit seriously. Though I’ll admit, that one was my fault. It was supposed to be a joke. I didn’t expect her to actually use it!

*ADDENDUM*

Oh, what a name! What a lovely name!

*ADDENDUM*

We’re working on building a few larger units, though right now it looks like we’re using the product of her prototype to stockpile molotovs cocktails. Originally my idea was to simply wrap rags soaked with petroleum jelly around the neck, but Bear would have none of it. We’re making these Finn-style. They’re safer, easier to store, and more reliable.

You just cork up the bottle, tape some storm  matches to the body, and when you throw it you use the neck as a handle. They’re more stable, less risk of getting fuel on yourself, and you get more distance in the throw. On that note, I’d like to thank everyone who sent me instructions on how to make explosive compounds and the like. The instructions on DIY Napalm have come in handy. On the same note, I’d like any notes you have on how to make matches and any ideas of how to make molotovs nastier.

Now, still speaking of concepts that fell right out of Mad Max, we’ve started to design and produce Thundersticks. My justification was as a siege defense weapon. It’s easier to accurately throw a spear off the ramparts than it is a grenade. Masterson thinks they're a bit silly, but I have the feeling his tune will change a bit once the first mutants show to up. We have decided to design ours with pins for safety though.

Going back onto the subject of advanced tech, Let’s talk Holodicks.

Holodisks are pretty much the bastard child of a Minidisc and a 3 1/2 inch floppy. They’re a recordable, rewritable, cheap, cheerful, media format that’s generally indestructible as long as you don’t, say, leave them sitting out in the open for 80 years. They’re also resistant to EMP due to be a purely optical format.

I’m transferring damned near every book I find to holodisk as I’ve literally got a crate of the damned things. Finding them is also a priority and once we’re up and running again I intend to venture deeper into the cities to hit up every school, library, record store, radio, and television station I can. Music, Television, computer programs, all of them were commonly stored on holodisk.

Though I will admit it’s a sad irony that eBooks never really took off here. The closest thing you’ll find to an eReader around these parts is a Pipboy and Pipboys are not cheap. Even the basic no-frills 2000 model that I got for Kelly costs the modern day equivalent of a couple grand new. Hell, only way I was able to afford to get it for her was I bought it off a fence and paid in prescription pain medication.

Suffice it to say, eBooks were a niche market.

Honestly, the hard part isn’t finding holodisks. It’s getting things that can read them. Most were burned out in the exchange. This is probably why so much knowledge was lost after the war. Books are easy to ruin, and without a reader all those wonderful holodisk might as well be colorful kitchen tiles.

We’re actively looking to salvage every intact terminal we can find. If it can read a holodisk we want it. I’m actually thinking of putting up a small bounty once we have the economy stable. Thanks to you guys, we have a constantly growing archive. You send it to me, it goes on holodisk.

Once spring comes around I’m going to have to go on a run myself and ‘find’ a large library of the damned things to explain where I got them all.

Now, I’ll be blunt. I already have an idea what to look for and how to plan things once the thaw is to the point we can get to work, but I’d like every suggestion and idea you can give me. Once the roads are cleared we’re double timing it. This is going to be a big year and I’m thinking it could make or break us. I need your input on this.

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Post by TerraBull Fri Dec 18, 2015 6:24 pm

I do have one concern to note?

Where is Jackson in relation to Fletchersville & New Plymouth?

Jackson is a good border & could possibly be set up as a future outpost.

There is a split in the road, a community called Moran?

One goes south to Jackson, the other ( 26 ) goes South East towards a small lake & what looks like Wind River Reservation/ Farming community. Several towns worth.

You will want to investigate. Indians who survived would make good allies or bad enemies who know Nature possibly better than you.

On the subject of Schools? Jackson should have the Central Wyoming College. It is not big but it would have Intact College Education items. Being protected by Mountains on all sides. It also has 2 places called the Jackson Hole Bible College separated by a river.

Livingston is a Good chokepoint, to the south along the road & river there is several small farming communities listed, Pray, Miner, Gardiner & 1 Working Ranch, the Bar B near Miner. Has Cattle & Horses.

Between Gardiner & Yellowstone is a Road ( 212 ) that connects to the North-East, another entrypoint to the Park, a small community called Cook City Silver Gate, a path to Billings.

If you can make your fuel substitute, you may want to consider Ultra-Light Gliders & Radios.

For some reason, in the Future I think Jackson may grow fastest if you can bring Salvage from Utah & Idaho, as it has a possibly intact school system set up.

Livingston & the south of it with your Breadbasket, protected by Mountains.

Cody for possible Guzzoline production, there is supposed to be a Lake nearby. Gypsum is supposed to be in the area.

Edit: You should look into Concrete, there should be deposits & machinery & supplies of such all over outside the park.

Hardened Defenses are a Must. Road Barriers, Pill-boxes, patching holes in roads. Homes.
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Post by Psyckosama Mon Dec 21, 2015 10:51 pm

April 9, 2081

Hi. This is Kelly. I just wanted to say this out in the open. Twilight sucks. Bella’s has no personality. Edward is a real creep. And that Jacob guy was kind of a doormat. And they magically turned him into a freak. I mean, if I had some guy show up saying he was going to marry Isabelle when she grew up and all that crap, I’d probably shoot him in the face.

Ugh. And that ‘fanfiction’ stuff? Why? Why would you send me something where the guys have gay sex and then give birth to ass babies? How? Why? It doesn’t work that way! I have two children, I should know!

You send me that kind of lowbrow, low quality smut again and I’ll invent a way to cross the boundaries between time and space so I can slap the jerk out of you

Also, [REDACTED] has asked for Harry Potter series and for the ‘Dramatic Readings of 30Hs and the Doom Comic’, whatever those are. He says I’ll get a chuckle out of it.

Now to my husband...

The thaw is well underway at this point. Soon we’ll be sending out teams to investigate the various lodges and campground in Yellowstone in all seriousness. We’ve done some light scavenging before, but we haven’t really penetrated that deeply before this point. Most of our efforts were focused on easy targets along the highways. This year we’re going balls out. This is going to be the year we completely secure the park and truly make it our own.

You might think I was nuts for not doing this earlier, but the fact is these major campgrounds and lodges probably held thousand of visitors. The possibility of ferals is very high and before I wasn’t willing to take the risk. Most of my people weren’t used to working together and there was a high chance there’d be a lot of them. But after our blooding last year and with our space issues, it’s about time we tackle this issue once and for all.

Along those lines I’m making sure we equip our men as best as possible. Most are getting either shotguns or some of our handful of SMGs. For armor we’re looking at Motorcycle Football pads (basically leather armor as portrayed in the first two games) or armor made from tires. Not the best for ballistic protection, I know, but easy to move in and resistant against most biting attacks and blunt force trauma. And of course, every team gets a geiger counter.

I’ve given orders that non-feral ghouls are to be offered a chance to join us. After all, we already have one Ghoul citizen. They’re also to look out for signs of current human habitation. My thoughts are simple. We don’t want to kill anyone unless we have to, and these people might have been here since the bombs dropped. They deserve a chance to join us, or if they’d rather not, at least come to arrangements that will allow us to cohabitate in peace. Plus I don’t want them accidently looting someone's food supply. We’re better than that. So care is to be taken.

Honestly, we don’t know what we’re going to run into, but if we’re lucky we could have the park ready for a serious once over by the end of May. Most of that time being due to snowy roads limiting access. After that we’re going to start focusing on reclaiming at least parts of the area towns to build outposts.

We’re going to be aggressively going after any pre-atomic salvage yards. Our Guzzoline technology will give us an advantage that could make us the most mobile force in the wasteland once the remaining atomic vehicles kick the bucket.

I will also be scouting military bases, but we need to be careful. Last thing we need is for hostiles with milspec technology to come after us. Though in all honesty, I’m expecting most of them to be glowing. I really am hoping we do get some Ghouls interested in joining us. Would be very useful to have people able to enter high radiation areas without having to pop Rad-X like tic-tacs.

I introduced Wu and Jacobs to the church of the Sub-Genius and I will admit they were a bit befuddled. I did admit, rather bluntly before we even began that it was something of a joke religion. Or rather it’s a religion masquerading as a joke masquerading as a religion. Or is it the other way around? Honestly, I’m not quite sure half the time. But honestly, it doesn’t matter either way because one of our primary tenants is ‘Fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke’.

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about the Church outright claims to be a UFO mind-control cult and at first glance seems to be a disjointed collection of incoherent ramblings and crazed conspiracy theories. We know how insane it sounds. It’s fully intentional. The point is to mock other religions, because let’s be honest, all religions make outlandish claims in their theology.

When you get down to it the faith has several core points. First, is the word Sub-Genius itself. It doesn’t mean below genius, because frankly most things are. What it means is having the presence of mind, the genius, to look under the sacred cows and standards of accepted reality and try and find greater truths. It’s why everything is intentionally made to look so loony. It’s a method of filtering out the people who, in all frankness, wouldn’t get it anyways.

You see, a major theme is the rejection of the concept of absolute truth. The entire point is to maintain a wide open mind. To think out of the box and look at things as an individual and have the courage to be abnormal. Which is also where the ideal of the Short Duration Personal Savior comes in. I don’t worship “Bob”, though I pay attention to his teachings. Just like I do those of Buddha and Jesus, and countless other worthies. The reason is because there isn’t just one great font of all knowledge. There is more than one book. You have to examine the situation and figure out what teachings, what lessons best apply to the situation at hand.

The issue of Normals and the Conspiracy was a big one. Now, setting aside that the Conspiracy was real in this world, the concept of the Conspiracy is simple. It’s basically the powers that be and the engines of authority trying to suppress the individuality of the masses for its own well being. Organized religion, governments, corporations, anything that tries to force people into molds and milk them for its own benefit is the Conspiracy.

Normals, also sarcastically referred to as Pinkboys, are the dupes of the Conspiracy. Pinks are individuals who have surrendered agency to the Conspiracy and function under a veneer of ‘normalcy’. Normalcy is simply a hollow, false, and self perpetuating dichotomy created to lubricate the engines of the Conspiracy and allow it to enslave others and strip them of their Slack.

Slack is a bit of a loaded term, but it doesn’t actually mean laziness. In fact it’s not really definable. It can be ‘sinful’, or it can be chaste, or it can be both at the same time depending on how you look at it. My best way to describe slack is the fulfillment brought about by engaging in an activity that helps grant an individual self-actualization.

This is the problem. The Conspiracy doesn’t want you to have Slack, the powers that be don’t want self-actualized individuals. They want a bunch of unthinking pinks who blindly perpetuate the mechanisms of authority and will defend their ‘normality’ to their dying breath. Which of course is where you come into False Slack. Meaningless and empty amusements designed to provide short term pleasure without any deep level of personal fulfillment or accomplishment. Amusement parks rides, canned vacations, blind materialism, gambling, prostitution, all of it... it’s all just a tool to keep people from discovering their true Slack.

Basically, at least how I see it, it’s a general system of humanistic self-actualization and general distrust for authority cloaked in a joke. Like I said, it’s a religion masquerading as a joke masquerading as a religion. Or at least that’s how I see it and it’s designed to be viewed individually. There might be someone out there who really does think that if they die and end up in hell, “Bob” will show up with their three times your money back refund and offer to sell them a copy of How to Enjoy Hell for a Nickel an Eternity for $59.95. I think they’re a loon, but you know what, as long as they don’t try and hurt someone that's just fine. Because otherwise it’ll just turn into another Conspiracy trying to force people into a fucking mold.

I also did admit it’s why I’m ultimately uncomfortable with my job. I’m a private man who wants to live a simple, private life. To me, my joy, my slack is my wife, children, my friends, my solitude... and I don’t have enough time for any of them. I don’t want to turn into another gear of the Conspiracy... even if it's a big gear with streamers.

I hope this didn’t sound like proselytization. I just wanted to explain the conversation. I’ll be honest, I think they were ready to lock me in a rubber room at first but... well... by the end they were willing to read the book with an open mind. I’m not looking to convert anyone, I just think... I just think that whatever religion that arises from this place needs to have a strong love of the individual. To avoid stuff like the rejection of the self or totalitarian mortality.

Reverence for Life was much simpler to explain. Jacobs had already heard of Schweitzer though had never had the opportunity to read them. It’s my hope that those views will help shape our morality.

I am life which wills to live, surrounded by life which wills to live. Reverence for Life is a Mindset, an awareness, and not really an ideology. It also gives the best explanation for good and evil I’ve ever seen. Good is that which promotes life. Evil is that which destroys it. Honestly, just look up the Young Indiana Jones clips on Youtube. They explain it far better and give it far more justice than I ever could.

I don’t know what’s going to evolve from this. It’s not my place to tell others what to believe, I just hope in my heart of hearts I’ve planted a seed which will grow into something greater that will be a force for good. God knows enough insane cults spring up from the wasteland, I’m just hoping that maybe something worthwhile might too.

I hope to god I’m not sounding like a total fucking loon right now.

Building an APC isn’t easy, though after last year it’s on the agenda. We’re looking out for a salvageable cargo truck we could use. Basically take a step van, strip it down to the frame, then cover it in mild steel plating. Won’t stand up to military grade weapons, but against most of what we’re dealing with it would be damned near invulnerable. Maybe throw a turret on top for extra fun times.

Aircraft are not in the picture at the moment. Though I am thinking back to the Autogyro from Mad Max. It might just work and according to Kelly there were Helicopter versions of the damned thing back in the day.

For fucks sake, ‘you could do it in New Vegas’ isn’t an excuse for anything. This isn’t a goddamned videogame!

Yes, we know how to build crossbows and the like. We’re thinking of settling up some powered ballista as thunder stick launchers. Though for those we already have the perfect bows already premade and ready to deploy. Automotive leaf springs. Tee hee hee.

The reason we’re using packed dirt is because its cheap, easy to work with, and does the job. We’re saving our concrete for things that actually need concrete. They don’t make it like they used to. Literally.

Not going near Necropolis. It’s still going to be a red zone which means Vault 12 is out of reach. Zero idea as to the location of Vault 77. The only thing I’d want to do with that asshole, House is club him and steal his shit. The only thing I’d want to do with the Enclave is nuke them. And the inhabitants of Vault 8 are assholes.

Fletcherville and New Plymouth are both a little north of Jackson.

I think I will send a team to check on the Indians. Good call.

Those colleges if they exist would be a good call too.

The Northeast entrance, the road hasn’t weathered well. Was hit by a couple bad landslides.

And I know about Mudbrick. I mentioned it last entry.

I’m not doing an Uberpup program. Dogs survived just fine. It’s cats that got the short end of the stick so I decided to cheat fate a bit. We also don’t have dogs that are well suited to be slead dogs. Huskies and the like are actually specially bred for it. Plus, I’m generally a cat person anyways.

Speaking of the cats, why would I keep them away from the kids? They children adore the cats and vice versa. Mainly because the kids love to cuddle and the cats are always willing to reciprocate. My own daughter refuses to go to bed without “Kitty-Kitty” to keep her warm at night. Hope says she keeps the monsters away. And honestly, I’m banking on it.

And don’t even joke about my cats being exposed to FEV. I kind of see them all as my kids and that’s a nightmare I don’t want to think about.

And thunderstick crossbows aren’t realistic. Not a big enough bomb, but like I said, leaf spring ballistas are a thing.

How would I reduce the chance of volcanic eruption? It’s beyond my control. Force of nature there, me laddo.

Yes, Kelly does have a couple apprentices and I’d like to know how a transistor radio is made if you’re going to send us instructions on how to make discrete transistors. In fact, Kelly wants more videos and sites on how we make electronics. Including more DIY transistor info and instructions. Hell, is there any way to make a DIY integrated circuit? Not taking microchips here, just the circuit itself. Might be useful some day.

Yes, I know what an atlatl is. We are using spear throwers with the sticks. They’re not very accurate but they get better range and are accurate enough to do the job.

I know what a Faraday cage is and I know there are intact tools. The issue is actually finding them. The issue with toolboxes being a faraday cage or not is irrelevant because most people don’t keep their power tools in their metal tool box.

We already have towers on the walls and near the major entrances to the part. We’re going to be expanding them to the major overlooks approaching our “territory”. I’ll be honest. We’ve laid claim to a massive region, but the fact is we’re going to grow into it and by sitting our asses on it now we can keep raiders from moving in later.

Billings is a no go. Before the North-Eastern entrance became too treacherous to drive, we did send a scouting force as far as the city. Billings took a direct hit. I’m not sending men into a city that took a direct impact. Between the ferals and the radiation, it’s going to be a deathtrap.

Now, sending people into farming areas is a good idea but it is also a risk. Those regions also were spared the worst of the bombs so they likely have a large number of survivors who will probably shoot first and ask questions later.

And I’ll say now, just to put things to bed, there’s no way in hell we’re going farther north than I-90. Helena got nuked and there were a lot of nuclear launch sites in the middle of the state which would have been a priority target for a first strike. To put it another way, the people at Pitts tell me that if you go to the top of the mountain at night and look north, there’s a faint green glow on the horizon.

Seriously. Fuck that.

For fucks sake man, yes I know adobe is useful but for fucks sake, we’re in the middle of a forest. We have tools for log cabins and lots and lots of wood. We aren’t desperate enough for wattle and daub. The housing issue was because we spent most of the year at war and were hit in the face with 100 extra people right at the beginning of winter when it was too late to do anything but say ‘well shit’ and make due.

Don’t worry, I’d only need two swings of the hammer... hehehehehe...

But thanks for the Gyroplane plans. Kelly has some ideas on how to adapt them.

The DIY lathe looks useful. Thanks. In fact all those DIY tools plans look like they’re going to be worth their weight in gold. Thanks to everyone who sent that kind of stuff.

Working farming robots are going to be a bit difficult to locate to be honest. The EMP really did a number on them. We’ve found dozens of hulks.

Though about food preparation, yeah, it actually does last that long. Let me put it this way. We have cases of Salisbury Steaks of about the quality you’d find in a TV dinner that are not dehydrated and not refrigerated but are still just as inedible now as they were when they were made, and will probably be just the same until the heat death of the universe. This was one of the first things I asked about when I got the supermarket job. Got some funny looks for asking too, but it goes something like this.

It’s a mixture of vacuum preservation and irradiation combined with a couple exotic preservatives to add stability. As long as the plastic baggy stays intact they’re pretty much as stable as canned goods, though maybe a bit more expensive.

Way you serve them is simple. There’s the meat packet, which is basically an irradiated vacuum packed patty, then the sauce packet which looks almost like a giant ketchup packet. You heat them up, maybe prepare some Instamash, and pour on the gravy and you almost have a meal.

Almost I say because it still tastes like a dollar store TV dinner. It’ll feed you but it’s not exactly what I’d call quality cuisine. That and I’ve eaten that I can barely stand the sight of them. It’s almost as bad as fucking Cram.

I. Hate. Cram.

As for EMP, not, it did pretty much burn out or at least damage a lot of the major equipment. Like I said, the idea of shit like robots wandering around for 200 years is laughable at best.

Now I want to mention one problem I have. As always I’d like input on all of the above but this is a major issue. The only person who knows about my origins beyond the original group is Helen and I only told her because frankly, she’s like the cool big sister I never had.

I need to think of whom else to tell, why, and how to break it to them without looking insane or getting shot because they think I was actually a communist agent.


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Maybe, You'll Think of Me... a Journal of the Post-Apocalypse - Page 2 Empty Re: Maybe, You'll Think of Me... a Journal of the Post-Apocalypse

Post by Godogma Tue Dec 22, 2015 12:51 pm

Well, on the whole who else to tell thing; not sure. I think your core group already understands and that includes Bear and most of your other problematic folks... I believe you said you got nods and such and went with Enclave experiments or something as your explanation?

In any case; this link will give you back the ability to mill, lathe, weld, and otherwise craft stuff instead of scavenge.

http://www.vintageprojects.com/

It includes many different power tools and how to build them with parts recovered from junk vehicles; it also includes three string instruments, repeating crossbow and other archery plans, plans for all sorts of farm equipment, telescopes, radios etc. Also games and toys, sleds, and other entertainment items for the little folk who will soon be coming along; hell it even includes playground equipment plans and various vehicle plans.

Your one stop shop for plans to build cool stuff with easily scroungable parts from the Fallout Universe. Enjoy.

EDIT: Oh, and build yourself some Garden Towers; though you'll have to source your own worms for vermiculture unless the guys who came up with the ducks and tilapia have some... But 50 plants in under 4 square feet should help you out a lot; you can build the towers themselves out of whatever you've got, but the design you can steal from these folks. http://gardentowerproject.com/index.php

If you set up a greenhouse you can have fresh vegetables year round. If you want greenhouse plans for DIY cheap I'll pull those up for you as well.  It's really too bad you didn't buy rabbits back when the world was still intact; you can raise tons of them in a cage with minimal food and water required and produce lots of meat per year as well - you could still do that if you catch some.

EDIT 2: Oh, and since you're raising Duckweed for food for animals and such already; it can also clean out lead and other heavy metals and way well be good for cleaning up radiation so you could have Lucas carry a backpack full of seed and dump it in the glowing water to clean it up. Here are some more resources for duckweed.

http://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/duckweed-does-double-duty-cleans-up-waste-water-makes-great-biofuel.html
http://www.folkecenter.net/gb/rd/biogas/technologies/water-for-life/duckweed/
http://www.mobot.org/jwcross/duckweed/practical_duckweed.htm

EDIT 3: Here's a greenhouse once you build yourself a tractor with a front end loader attachment which also makes feasible some underground dwellings.
http://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/build-underground-greenhouse-garden-year-round.html


Last edited by Godogma on Tue Dec 22, 2015 5:11 pm; edited 3 times in total (Reason for editing : More info.)
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Maybe, You'll Think of Me... a Journal of the Post-Apocalypse - Page 2 Empty Re: Maybe, You'll Think of Me... a Journal of the Post-Apocalypse

Post by TerraBull Fri Dec 25, 2015 3:05 am

A few thoughts?

If Helena & Billings are out, the only places I can think of as a Major note is in Utah. A lot of places even if it was a Hot Target.

Checking under "National Guard" in Wyoming, places with a moderate chance of gear is Cody, Powel, Lovel, Worland. All near Cody. Cody itself shows up on the 'Big Map' of National Guard places

Further East over the Big Horn mountains, between Big Horn & Sheridan is a National Guard outpost/ Recruiter listed.

Further East from there is a town listed as Gillette with a moderate US Army National Guard Armory.

Further East from there over the border of South Dakota is Rapid City with several National Guard places, A Training Camp & Ellsworth AFB, so most likely hit & hard.

Going back to Wyoming, towards the Indians is a town called Dubois, a possible small armory. Though in the middle of the Wind River Reservation is a town called Riverton with a National Guard place. They may be armed.

Past them, heading towards Cheyenne through varied forks is Casper, a National Guard outpost.

Douglas, with a National Guard Armory.

In the South East corner, Cheyanne itself with the Wyoming Army National Guard JFHQ, Wyoming Air National Guard & the Francis E. Warren AFB. Odds are it is Glowing.

At the South West corner of Wyoming is a town called Evanston, it lists a small National Guard outpost, The Sgt Shawn Todd Wyoming National Guard & the 1041st Maintence Company/ Facility. It would have been shielded from the Nukes hitting Utah & there is not much else around for a target.

You are in possible luck, West of Jackson is a route through the mountains ( 22 ) connecting to ( 33 ) & ( 31 ), North ( 33 ) in the town of Driggs & protected on 3 sides ( north is open) is a small Idaho National Guard Armory near a small airport. Even if nearby places were Nuked, the Mountains would have shielded this place & nothing would have reached from places North. Unless this minor place was directly targeted, it is Intact. Which is good or bad. If it is intact, Strip it to the bones & re-locate it.

Past Driggs is Idaho Falls, Pocatello & Preston which have National Guard places listed. Further West closer to Mountain Home AFB is more National Guard places listed. Mountain Home is most likely glowing.


Last edited by TerraBull on Fri Dec 25, 2015 3:07 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : wrong)
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