4.0 Setting
4.1 The Holocaust
(Excerpt from WASTELAND manual)
The following is an excerpt from:
The History of the Desert Rangers, The Early Years.
by Karl Allard
2087
Allard Press, Ranger Center
Hardbound pp. 293
$20 gold.
Tensions grew with the coming of 1998. The United States' Citadel Starstation was slated to be fully operational by March, Soviet charges that the space station was merely a military launching platform alarmed a number of nonaligned nations. The right wing governments in the South and Central Americas, many of them set up by the U.S. during the Drug Wars (1987-1993), pledged their support to the U.S. The NATO nations, including the new African members also declared their alliance with the U.S. That move forced most of the remaining neutral powers to join the Soviet protest. In six short weeks, only Switzerland, Sweden, and Ireland continued to declare themselves neutral nations.
Two weeks before Citadel was due for full operation, the station transmitted a distress signal. Immediately after the message was sent, most of the satellites orbiting the planet were swept clean from the sky, leaving the great powers blind. In military panic, each sent 90 percent of their nuclear arsenals skyward. Although the destruction was tremendous, it was not complete. Pockets of civilization remained, some even oblivious to the military exchange.
On the same day that the U.S. and Soviet Union were attempting to extinguish each other, a company of U.S. Army Engineers were in the southwestern deserts building transportation bridges over dry riverbeds. They worked deep in the inhospitable desert valleys, surrounded by a number of survivalist communities. Located directly south of their position on that day was a newly-constructed federal prison. In addition to housing the nation's criminals condemned to death, the prison contained light industrial manufacturing facilities.
Shortly after the nuclear attack began, the Engineers, seeking shelter, took over the federal prison and expelled the prisoners into the desolate desert to complete their sentences. As the weeks passed, they invited the nearby survivalist communities to join them and to help them build a new society. Because of each communities' suspicions towards one another, times were difficult at first. But as time nurtured trust, this settlement -- which came to be known as RangerCenter -- grew to be one of the strongest outposts. RangerCenter even proved powerful enough to repel the hands of rancorous criminals who repeatedly attached in attempts to reclaim what was once "rightfully theirs."
The citizens of Ranger Center, after first believing that they were the only ones who survived the nuclear maelstrom, soon realized that communities beyond the desert's grip had also survived, Because they had such success in constructing a new community, they felt compelled to help other survivors rebuild and live in peace.
Toward this end, the Desert Rangers, in the great tradition of the Texas and Arizona Rangers a century before, were born.
4.2 The California-Nevada border locations.
(Excerpt from WASTELAND Manual)
Little Old Quartz
Quartz is a small town that suffered extensive damage from the nuclear attacks, yet managed to survive. Although located far from the large military targets, this tiny community was affected by earthquakes and low-level nuclear fallout. But in its feisty, small town way, Quartz quickly resumed normal life. About the only trouble Quartz has these days is with bandits.
Xenophobic Needles
Needles is bigger than Quartz. Aside from the flood that resulted when Hoover Dam was hit, life has not changed much in Needles. Needles is big enough to defend itself from roving bandits. However, it has become home to a couple of odd cults. The folks in Needles don't really like strangers that much, but they've welcomed Desert Rangers in the past and are always willing to trade goods with them.
Lovely Vegas
Vegas is the city of Las Vegas. No one is quite sure how the Soviet missiles managed to miss the city, but most folks figure it was because the "house" was betting against a missile landing -- and no one wins against the house. There was an international rumor about some Russian general's markers being torn up after the attack, but that has yet to be confirmed. Undaunted by its brush with perdition, Vegas is still open for business and does very well for itself. The city is large enough to avoid conquest, and many elements of the desert rabble have even found gainful employment as enforcers or casino employees. Despite the relative success of the city, however, there are dark rumors about horrors descending from the north to taking up residence in the city sewers. All may not be extremely well in the jewel of the Desert.
Deadly Deserts
The desert is just as formidable as it was before the holocaust. In addition to the lack of water and the fierce heat, there are reports of radiation zones that have melted the flesh of unwary travelers. Along with the irradiated human element -- left-over biker gangs, rabid survivalists, crazed religious zealots -- all sorts of mutant animals make their home in the desert. Some say that travelling in the desert nowadays without an experienced guide is plain suicidal.