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LodgedFromMessages
The virginian trade union

Grand Ambitions
Part 1

After the annexation of Folkstone and its surrounding communities Harrison concocted a plan that would solidify the Trade Union's power in the region, the complete control of the pre-war city of Norfolk and its port. If they were able to take the city then the Trade Union would gain access to said port, once the necessary repairs were made of course, and gain the ability to trade up and down the east coast once ships were constructed. The use of ships to traverse the east coast rather than relying on common brahmin caravans would dramatically decrease the travel times while also increasing the profits to be made. However before they made their move against the pre war city they would have to stack the odds in their favor first, that means annexing the areas surrounding Norfolk to ensure a successful campaign.

Harrison's first objective was to secure the small town of Etestar, the name apparently originating from a road sign that had some of the letters scratched off over the years, the community being settled slightly on the outskirts of the ruined Prince George. There were also a couple of other smaller settlements that were established in the area but they would eventually fall in line if the Trade Union was able to get Etestar under their banner, so Harrison didn't waste any time and immediately got to work writing a letter that would be delivered directly to General Shepherd. The letter outlined Shepherd's orders, detailing that he will take 500 able bodied men to Etestar and hopefully that simple show of strength will convince them to join, if that plan doesn't work then Shepherd is ordered to eliminate any major threat that calls the area home to show that the Trade Union isn't playing around. If all else fails then Harrison has given Shepherd permission to use force to take the town, however Harrison hopes to avoid that if at all possible.

The letter is sent with a soldier to head northeast, to the now raider free settlement of Marshall, to give the President's letter to the General. It took the young messenger almost a day to reach the small settlement but once he did he was able to find the General leaning against one of the recently erected walls with a bottle of whiskey in his hand, the General's taste in alcohol didn't seem to surprise anyone who worked with him anymore considering how often he can be found with a glass of whiskey in his hand. Shepherd took the letter from the young man and waved him off back to Ashton, youngins like him shouldn't be on the front lines after all, before taking a look at the letter. He skimmed through the letter as he looked for key words to avoid reading the President's long winded paragraphs of meaningless sh*t, "450 additional men… Etestar… Elimination of major threats…" Shepherd muttered quietly to himself as his eyes studied the piece of parchment, after a moment he folded the letter and placed it in his jacket pocket.

Shepherd nodded to himself before bringing the almost empty bottle of whiskey to his lips and drinking what little of the alcohol remained, throwing the now completely empty bottle to the cracked pavement where it shattered as soon as it hit the ground. Shepherd merely shrugged, he would have someone else clean that up later, before walking back inside the settlement proper to collect a portion of his men and await the additional manpower Harrison promised. It took the reinforcements about a day and a half to arrive but Harrison kept to his word and sent the exact amount that was stated in his letter, after Sheperd made sure all of his men were accounted for he started their march east. The large force of Trade Union soldiers being heard before being seen as they marched loudly on top of the ruined roadways and shouted chants to keep their morale up as they pushed their bodies to keep moving forward despite the strain some of them felt, General Shepherd marching slightly to the side of his men as he makes sure none of them fall behind.

The Brotherhood of Steel of New Decandsor

New Decandsor wrote:

Red Lucy Part I: The Hunter

It has been another gruesome, bloody, and deadly day at the Thorn. Ever since moving from the underground facility to the above-ground colosseum, Red Lucy has witnessed an explosion of interest from the local residents and tourists from across the Wasteland, all to see the competition in the Thorn. Brave men and women step up to the challenge and face the worst beasts in the Wastes. Nothing could be more satisfactory to Lucy. Today is no different, the makeshift stadium packed with residents from all of New Vegas, even some prominent faces from the Strip are amongst the crowd. Following the conclusion of another fight, Red Lucy steps up to her podium, “Esteemed guests of the Thorn! What you have witnessed thus far has only been a fraction of what we have planned today!” The crowds roar with excitement as Lucy continues, “Next you will witness our famed champion, Pollix, take on a vicious, bloodthirsty Yao Guai in an epic battle of life and death!” The crowds screamed and cheered louder. As Pollix parades out in front of the crowd, a messenger approaches Lucy, “Master,” He says, “The Hunter has arrived.”

Arriving at the underground facility that once hosted The Thorn, Red Lucy is greeted by a familiar face, a man only known as “The Hunter”. He was dressed in a repurposed NCR Ranger uniform, one he says he scavenged off of a dead soldier, but Lucy doubted his story, especially since he was missing the Ranger’s helmet. Instead he wore a typical cowboy hat that kept much of his face in the shadow. The Hunter had a history elsewhere in the Wasteland, but he had come to the Mojave to see the infamous Thorn for himself. And in doing so, he set up an arrangement with Lucy, one which she was most excited about. Eggs of a rare nature, that could prove critical in boosting the popularity and infamy of The Thorn. “So,” Lucy says, “I assume you accomplished your task.” The Hunter’s smirk was almost completely hidden by his thick beard. He slings his bag onto the ground, “See for yourself.” Red Lucy takes the bag and inside are two eggs; Deathclaw eggs, “I’m almost surprised you were able to pull this off,” Lucy says. The Hunter grunts, “Almost?” Red Lucy reaches into her pocket and brings out a bag of caps, “As promised, your reward.” The Hunter shakes his head, “The pleasure of hunting is more than any cap could ever buy for me.” Red Lucy smiles, “Now I’m very surprised. Few people in the world understand the beauty of these creatures and the death they bring.” The Hunter nods, “That’s why we should stick together.” Red Lucy looks up, curious, “So you plan on staying in the Mojave? No adventuring off elsewhere in the Wastes?” “No,” The Hunter says, “I think I have found a home here.” Red Lucy smiles, “Good. Come with me then, there is much work to be done.”

Red Lucy Part II: Mistress

The roar of the crowd was heard across the New Sector as the audience watches the famed champion Pollix come face-to-face with a pack of Radscorpions. Armed with makeshift scrap armor and a spear, Pollix fearlessly fought as the crowd cheers with excitement. But Red Lucy was nowhere to be found. Her personal apprentice, Jacey, hosted this fight while Red Lucy took the mysterious Hunter to her bed. She has never met someone that could understand her views of the world, her views of life and death, except for the Hunter. They had met only recently, but she felt like she had known him for years. Meanwhile, Pollix faced death. . .and won. Once again beating the odds, Pollix now stands as undefeated. The crowd chants his name, throwing caps down onto the field as Pollix raises his spear in victory. Through this, Red Lucy studies her new Deathclaw eggs while the Hunter lays asleep in her bed. The only other person who had been able to get her these type of eggs was the Courier. ‘If only he had been like my Hunter,’ Red Lucy says in her thoughts. Soon she will new Deathclaws for the Thorn, and then people from across the Wastes will flock to her. The crowd outside already adore her current champions. As long as she gives them what they want, as long as they are happy, Lucy wields immense power in the New Sector. No Securitrons dare cross her. . .no gangs dare threaten her. . .she has free reign. And with an army of monsters and champions, what couldn’t she accomplish? Freeside, the Strip. . .the entire Mojave could finally see the truth of life and death.

As she ponders this thought, the sound of knocking comes from her door. When she opens it, she sees Jacey with a wide smile on her face. In Jacey’s hands was a massive sack, “Todays earnings,” Jacey says, handing it to Lucy. A quick look through and Lucy is surprised, “I’m impressed, this must be well over five-thousand.” Jacey nods, “Seven-thousand, nine-hundred and two.” Lucy smirks, “The biggest draw since Pollix and that pack of Super Mutants. Good work Jacey, you proved yourself today. I know it was a lot, asking you to host the fight.” Jacey looks past Lucy and notices the Hunter laying in her bed. Jacey’s smile quickly fades and she responds, “Of course Mistress, anything for you.” Lucy notices a hint of jealousy in Jacey’s tone but doesn’t take offense, “Go on then, head back up and get some rest, you’ve earned it.” Jacey takes one last glance at the Hunter before turning to leave. Lucy heads back into her room and sets the sack of caps next to her eggs before returning to bed with the Hunter.

Ivan Industries, Ardentus, and The virginian trade union

The Brotherhood of Steel of New Decandsor

New Decandsor wrote:

Tommy Part II: Sins & Lies

. . .So be sure it’s true
When you say I love you
It’s a sin to tell a lie

And what a song that was folks, it’s now six o’clock, and the buzz here in Vegas is something else. . .

Tommy turns off the radio in his room and goes back to smoking a cigar in his bed. Next to him was the lovely brunette, Alissa. She is still asleep, allowing Tommy to put on his suit and quietly slip out. Tommy heads to the lowest levels of Gomorrah, where the dirtiest secrets of the Serenity Family are conducted in privacy. On the lowest levels, Tommy makes his way to the “storage” room of the Family. Unlocking the trio of locks, he walks in and is greeted by various victims all tied up and gagged. The worst enemies of the Serenity Family, all kept in one place under one roof, where Tommy could take his time extracting any information from them. They all have the look of sheer terror in their eyes, but they all gave up trying to escape long ago. At the far end of the room was their newest guest, Swank, the leader of the Chairmen. The leader of Tommy’s biggest threat, captive under his roof! It was the greatest thing that has happened to him yet.

Tommy walks over and pulls out a switchblade, “Hey Swank. . .it’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” A muffled sound comes from Swank’s mouth. Tommy sighs and reluctantly takes Swank’s gag off. For a moment, Swank gasps before responding, “Tommy. . .listen. . .we can talk about this. . .” Tommy smirks, “No we can’t.” He puts Swank’s gag back in, “Swank, this may seem scary, but we’ve been through this before,” Tommy takes his switchblade and hovers it an inch away over Swank’s right eye, “Do you remember how I lost my eye?” Swank doesn’t seem to notice Tommy’s question, instead he is focused solely on Tommy’s switchblade, “Back when we helped Benny take down Marsh and his crew in the canyon? Except you and me got caught. And then you lied and put all the blame on me? Marsh carved my eye out and I felt every last second of it. So this. . .this has been a long time coming.” Tommy drives his switchblade into Swank’s eye.

Once the deed was done, Swank had already passed out. The brutality, the blood. . .Tommy never knew how much he truly enjoyed it. The other victims in the room were terrified, struggling against their bonds. Their time would come to. But important manners needed to be handled first. Tommy pulls an eye-patch put his pocket and puts it around Swank’s now empty right eye socket, “There you go, good as new!” Tommy turns to the other victims and holds his switchblade up to them, “Let this be a lesson for all of you, this is what happens to liars!” Tommy puts his switchblade away and takes one last look at his work. The taste of vengeance couldn’t be sweeter. “Have a good night everyone, I’ll see you in the morning.” They all cry out as Tommy leaves them, heading back to the upper levels, entering his room, removing his suit, and returning to bed with his beloved Alissa.

Tommy Part III: Home

The screams from the “storage” room could be heard all throughout the lower levels of Gomorrah as Tommy went about his daily routine visiting Swank and the others. Exiting the room, Tommy adjusts his tie before heading back up to the upper levels of Gomorrah, where dozens of tourists and residents enjoy the various attractions. On the casino floor, guests were more than happy, losing their caps to games rigged by the house. And boy, did the money flow in. Tommy has heard rumors of the Tops losing hundreds of caps and customers, and the possibility the Chairmen going bankrupt. The rumors are enough to humor Tommy anytime he feels down. The very clowns he used to work for, now going under because of him. Nothing could be better. That is, until one of the Serenity Family approaches him saying, “Boss, we got an issue. We caught two Chairmen at the entrance. Took them to the courtyard, but they said they wanted to speak with you.” Tommy is tempted to order their immediate execution, but the thought of playing with the Chairmen could host untold possibilities, “Alright. I’ll go speak with them. You, Bing, and Joey can come along. . .and bring the big guns with you.”

Out in the courtyard, Tommy could see the two Chairmen, tied to a pole. It’s clear they were scuffed up, they both had black eyes and bruises covered their faces. Tommy walks over to greet them, with Bing, Joey, and Moore in tow, all armed with sub-machine guns, fully loaded. “Well, well, what do we have here? You boys are a long ways from home.” The Chairmen look up, a bit confused, “The Tops-“ “Oh shut up,” Tommy says, “Anyplace outside of the Tops is a long way from home for you boys now. I hear you’re going under. You’ll have to excuse me, I can’t help but smile thinking about that.” The Chairmen, who look utterly defeated sigh, “Listen,” One of them remark, “We got big issues on our own, and with Swank gone we-“ “Swank’s gone?” Tommy asks, feigning confusion. One of the Chairmen glares at Tommy, “Yeah, disappeared over a week ago. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?” “Of course not,” Tommy says, “I disagreed with Swank on a lot of things, but I would never hurt him. I rolled with him all the time when we were the Boot-Riders. Some great times, he was my friend, no matter the competition between our groups now.” The Chairmen don’t seem too convinced. Regardless, they continue, “We just need some time to regroup and reorganize. . .what we’re trying to ask is for a truce.” Tommy smirks, “A truce? Well of course. I’ll do one even better, I’ll give the Chairmen a 10,000 cap loan. And I’ll even make sure our acts go over to the Tops, help bring customers back.” The Chairmen seem confused by Tommy’s offer, “Um, are you sure? What do you-“ “Shhhh, shhh. I’m a gracious person,” Tommy says, “I’ll help the Chairmen rebuild. But from this point on, you two work for me. You take every order directly from me. Any order I give you, you will carry out without delay and without question. Refuse my offer, my boys here will plug you full of holes. And then we’ll do the same to your friends down at the Tops. Does it sound like we have a deal?” The two Chairmen hesitate at first, but seeing Joey, Bing, and Moore armed with machine gun quickly make them compliant, “Yes sir, of course sir.” Tommy smiles and turns over to his men, “Untie them, get them a nice room with some nice hookers to get their beds warm.”

Tommy heads back inside of Gomorrah, and decides to take a visit down to the lower levels. Arriving at his “storage” room, he walks in to greet Swank, his missing eye covered with a bloodied cloth patch. Swank seems barely awake, unable to make out his surroundings. Tommy walks over to the table nearby, where a radio sits, “Well Swank, some of your boys came begging for a truce. And now they work for me. It’s going to be a joy, watching the Chairmen get ripped apart one-by-one, from the inside out. Watching it all go down in flames, I want it to last as long as possible. I’ll break them down, build them back up, and then break them down again. Over and over ‘till the final act. It’s going to be amazing. So until then, I’ll leave you with some music to keep you hyped for the big show.” Swank doesn’t respond as Tommy turns on the radio, and music fills the room.

. . . The roads are the dustiest
The winds are the gustiest
The gates are the rustiest
The pies are the crustiest
The songs the lustiest
The friends the trustiest
Way back home. . .

Ivan Industries, Ardentus, and The virginian trade union

Yangzhao

The Begining of the Enclave Minutemen Division

It had been 3 years since Preston Garvey and his settlers were saved by Nate and his group at Concord. Nate then served as the Minutemen General for a year but stepped down due to the stress of loosing his wife Nora. In his group were the two sisters Saki and Meiko Toyama who where his neighbors before the war, Both Women were relatively unknown in the Neighborhood and lived independantly from the rest of the community. They lived togheter in their own house payed for by their father who had stayed in their native country of Japan. The two seemingly quiet and polite sisters however hid a dark past. Their father was in fact a Yakuza boss and Saki herself had a love affair with a Yakuza back when she lived in Japan. Meiko on the other hand was unhappy as her father made her marry an influent Businessman his crime family had ties with. There was however another secret, she was lesbian and the conservative Japanese society would never accept it. She married her former husband to keep appearances but never loved him. Meiko was a morally upstanding person and hated the criminal activities of her father. Eventually, Saki found out and started bullying and physically and verbally attacking her sister calling her mentaly deranged and all sorts of offensive insults. But Saki also had a secret, she was jealous of her sister and had many frustration as a woman in the conservative Japanese Society which she got out on her sister, she was herself beaten by their father who sheltered and favored Meiko. Saki didnt understand Meiko's Homosexuality and was scared of the unknown and although she was older felt rejected and hated by their father.

The two eventually moved to Boston in Sanctuary hills after Meiko divorced, They were just beside Nate and Nora's house. Late at night, Nate could hear arguing in a lnguage he did not understand sometimes and would hear the sound of Meiko being beaten. the neighborhood never confronted Saki but were sympatetic to her sister. When the bombs fell, they were all rushed to vault 111 but were in different wings. both wings were not built by the same contractor and as such life support did not fail in Meiko's wing. however, both sister's pods malfunctioned releasing them a few hours after Nate. They eventually met up at concord and joined the Minutemen. Whenn Nate stepped down as General, he appointed Meiko as his sucessor well aware of Saki's behavior towards her sister which made Saki furious. When the enclave approached the castle, Meiko integrated the Minutemen into them. The enclave recently announced that they would make them their own division and appointed Meiko General in the enclave keeping only 3000 of the most fit soldiers, thus forming the Enclave Commonwealth Minutemen Division.

Great lurg

Siege of Lewisburg, Part I

“INCOMING!” The words cut through the gunfire and warcrimes of the ramparts, men and women crouching behind scrap walls or down into hastily dug trenches. The whistling warning of incoming projectiles was only a split second afterwards before three thundering impacts cause large clouds of dirt to rain down on the defenders. Returning to their positions the soldiers of the Circle saw that three boulders had cleaved their way through the walls and ramparts, limbs, blood, and broken armor all that remains of those unlucky to be in their path. “Damn behemoths got the Sergeant!”, “Stand firm brothers and sisters, the Mutants will not win this day!”

Across from the town the army of Lurg stood, the Behemoths roaring as they pick up another set of boulders to throw, with a wordless order the legions of mutants roared as one and charged, brandishing massive clubs, axes, and swords and wielding shields made from car doors and sheet metal welded together. The sheer number and mass of the charge causing the ground to shake as the boulders impacted again crushing more of the wall and CoS knights. Bullets and lasers fly into the mass, pinging off metal, those in front who take the most damage fall under the hail but behind them the mutants shake off the wounds as the crash into the defenders. As the melee is joined the behemoths begin moving forward as well, their clubs in hand, moving to the town center.

The battle was bloody, those not in power armor stood no chance, limbs cleaved in single swings or bodies crushed with one strike as the mutants waded into the defenders. Even those in power armor had little chance, with no melee of their own they were cut down and their armor broken as they were set upon.

Along the wall the gates crashed open as the lead Behemoth charges straight into it, the scrap metal unable to withstand the weight of the monster. As the defenders at the gate begin to fire on the beast, the Ghouls at its feet open fire in return, the knights taken by surprise are quickly taken care of as they are split between the ghouls and behemoths, the giants slamming their concrete and steel clubs into the men, soldiers flying into the air as others are shot or stepped on.

Ivan Industries, Ardentus, Revolutionary middleland, and The virginian trade union

The virginian trade union

Grand Ambitions
Part 2

Shepherd's force of nearly 500 soldiers stopped their march as the settlement of Etestar came into view, a handful of his men collapsing to their knees as they attempted to catch their breath after the long and arduous trek to where they are now. Shepherd allowed his men to set up camp, sending a handful to Etestar to announce the Trade Union's arrival, Shepherd hoped to finish this up quickly so he can get back to lounging around until the President inevitably calls upon him once again. Shepherd's company barely had enough time to set up their tents and build a couple campfires when the soldiers he sent into Etestar came back with a couple well dressed individuals that Shepherd assumed must have been sent to represent the settlement, Shepherd stood while rubbing the dust off of his pants before walking over to meet the folks his soldiers escorted.

As Shepherd approached he extended his hand out to one of the men, the man in question looking fairly young with short blond hair and a freshly shaved face, however the man merely looked at his hand with a disgusted look in his eyes before waving it away, "As much as I would 'love' to get to know you savages-" The man said in an odd accent before he paused to check the ornate watch on his wrist, "But it seems that I will be late to a very important meeting, so if you all could please leave I would greatly appreciate it-" The man continued before Shepherd interrupt him with a laugh that sounded more like a bark, "Well i'll be… I ain't met someone like you in a good long time, listen here city boy-" Shepherd said as he jammed a finger into the man's chest, causing him to recoil back slightly, "We ain't goin' nowhere. Ya see, President Harrison has told me to make your town there fall in line and I ain't never failed him yet, so how 'bout we make ourselves a deal?" Shepherd asked as he shrugged and stepped back slightly, awaiting the man's answer.

The man stood there for a moment before looking past Shepherd and at the large camp his men had set up, then back to his associate who merely shook their head, then back to Shepherd as sweat began to build up on his brow. The man seemed to consider Shepherd's offer before shaking his head and looking towards Shepherd with narrowed eyes, "Very well then savage, what kind of deal are you talking about?" The corner of Shepherd's mouth twitched upward after hearing the man's question, "How's about we go ahead and get to know one anotha' first, names Shepherd-" He said, introducing himself and sticking his hand out again for the man to shake. The man looked at Shepherd's outstretched hand for a moment with apprehension before sighing and shaking the General's hand, "I am Benedict Lloyd, humble advisor to the Etestar mayor himself." The now named Benedict bragged before pulling his hand away and wiping it on his trousers, "Now what are the specifics of this deal?" Benedict asked as Shepherd rested a hand on his chin in thought, "President Harrison has been so kind as to allow us to take care of whatever threat y'all want as long as y'all agree to join the Trade Union, how's that sound to ya?" Benedict was about to open his mouth and object but he quieted down as he took another glance at the large camp behind Shepherd, "Very well, I suppose I can convince the mayor that joining this Trade Union will benefit us in the long term-" Benedict said as he bit back a sigh, "As for the threat to be neutralized…"

------------------------------------------------------------

Shepherd led a detachment of his men, about 200 soldiers in total, towards the area Benedict marked. Benedict told them about a decently large group of raiders that have taken to calling themselves the 'Free Thinkers' since they're usually stoned out of their mind and believe that the use of chems will expand their minds or some sh*t like that, Shepherd didn't really care all that much about the raider's beliefs and focused more on putting them down. The raider gang was holed up in a ruined textile factory near Prince George, allowing them to attack Etestar's caravans in an attempt to steal more chems for them to use. As Shepherd's force drew closer towards the raider's hideout Shepherd began to devise a plan, deciding to use a similar tactic to the one he used when taking Marshall. He sent a small portion of his force ahead with a brahmin to act as a decoy and draw out a portion of the raider forces from their hideout, however the plan didn't go as smoothly as it did before.

The faux caravan was hit with a surprise missile from the textile factory's rooftop before a group of maybe thirty or more raiders came rushing down to make short work of the Trade Union soldiers, as the raiders came rushing out Shepherd grit his teeth as he watched the rooftop closely. After a moment of consideration he ordered his men to charge, the resulting battle was bloody and chaotic like most battles usually are and lasted nearly thirty minutes. As the dust settled Shepherd had lost nearly forty men, the raiders were better armed then what Benedict told them they were, as his men picked themselves up he ordered them to siege the factory and end this. As the soldiers rushed inside they were met with gunfire almost instantly, however the raiders were unable to repeal Shepherd's men and after a couple hours they had done it. Only a handful of raiders managed to escape and flee from their old hideout, leaving the Trade Union victorious despite the casualties.

Benedict seemed surprised when Shepherd returned but honored his side of the deal and convinced Etestar's mayor to join the Trade Union, the smaller settlements not being too far behind. Shepherd sent a small detachment of his men back to Ashton to deliver a letter detailing his success to the President, allowing him and his men a couple days to rest. However he knew that Harrison would call him and his soldiers back into action soon, when Harrison put his mind onto something he rarely backed down.

Trade Union Casualties -72

Etestar and Surrounding Settlements Population 2,194

Population Gain +2,122

Ivan Industries, Ardentus, and Revolutionary middleland

The Sovereign Corporation of Ivan Industries

Sugar Crash, pt. 1
With US-12 almost fully secured, the Sovereign Corporation temporarily turned its attention to a problem much closer to home. A raider warlord by the name of Star-Spangler had seized control of the Khan's forces in Bryan, Ohio, folding the local tribes into his banner and had begun raiding the surrounding territory. Based out of the old Spangler Candy Factory, the raiders had become known as the Candy Crushers.

The raiders threatened the Corporation's somewhat fragile control of Hillsdale and Adrian, numbering nearly 3,000 strong. The problem with having annexed so much territory so fast was that the Corporation's forces were spread fairly thin. Adrian and Hillsdale had a single battalion between them, though the Horde was fully capable of defending itself. If the Candy Crushers decided to invade in force, it would be difficult to keep them from taking the region. Hence why Ivan authorized a preemptive strike.

Bryan was important for other reasons, of course. The factory that the raiders were squatting in had once been the largest candy manufacturing plant in the United States, the country's premier manufacturer of candy canes and a candy known as Dum-Dums. Ivan himself had never been fond of that particularly candy, but many others had, and, candy was a luxury in the wasteland - one he could capitalize on once some of his other projects matured. There were a couple other factories with potential, including a tire factory and a Med-Tek facility.

Star-Spangler had enslaved most of the local tribes, so the first order of business was freeing them and getting them on the Corporation's side. Problem was, these tribes were a bit suspicious of the Corporation for having taken the Horde's side against the Durlings. A couple of the tribes were actively collaborating with the Candy Crushers in exchange for the opportunity to strike back against the SovCorp. These two tribes were providing the raiders with the majority of their food and scrap, so they had to go first. Once they were gone, and the other enslaved tribes freed, the raiders would have lost their economic base. If luck favored the corporation, they'd just surrender - or pack up and move on.

The two supporting tribes were at Montpelier and West Unity. According to the Horde, who'd dealt with them before, they were known as the Monties and the Dry Rivers. Neither tribe was particularly powerful, numbering only about 600 each. Neither tribe was particularly vicious, either, being mostly farmers that also happened to be warriors, rather than the other way around. Formerly, they'd held a nominal allegiance to the Glass Khan, sending yearly tributes of wheat and scrap to the Glass City. The Khan's defeat would have freed them from that obligation had Star-Spangler not happened upon the scene to claim their tribute as "the Khan's rightful successor."

Wheelwright new that they couldn't afford a pitched battle here. The Security Corps would need to get in and out quickly, doing as much damage as possible before the Sugar Lord could manage an effective response. Thankfully, scouts reported that they didn't seem to have any sort of wireless communication system, meaning that it would take hours at minimum for news of an attack to reach the warlord, much less for reinforcements to arrive.

1st Battalion was sent to deal with the Monties. The battalion sent a single rifle company carrying gallons of corn oil to sneak around the fields, which were outside the fortifications, at night. The soldiers quietly doused the fields in the corn oil and then, using an old laser pistol one of them had found, lit the fields flame. It took a little while to get going (corn oil's not super easy to light) but eventually the fields were all aflame, smoke billowing and obscuring all vision.

Slowly, the village woke up, and warriors began to run outside to try and fight the flames. That's when the company opened up, firing their rifles at anything that moved in the smoke. The warriors dropped like flies before they realized that they were under attack and returned to the safety of their scrap stockade. Hidden by the smoke, the company advanced to the stockade and began to toss their remaining corn oil into the settlement in makeshift Molotovs. Some of the molotovs fell on top of huts, setting them ablaze and causing the residents to flee. The tribals attempted to fight back, but it was difficult to see their attackers in the smoke and the haze. Eventually, after a couple of hours trading shots, the Security Company withdrew, confident they had done enough damage to take the tribe out of the fight.

Second battalion went in to deal with the Dry Rivers. Their approach was more direct, marching up and surrounding the settlement before they really had a chance to react. The battalion commander demanded the village's surrender, threatening to raze the village to the ground otherwise. The tribal chieftain, a younger man, was inclined to defy him, but his wife beat him over the head and ordered him to surrender for the sake of their newborn child.

That was the two tribes dealt with. Now it was time for the main event: The Sugar Lord himself...

Ardentus, Revolutionary middleland, and The virginian trade union



The Knights of Polaris of Ardentus

Sunrise Part 4: The final steps

Unlike the rest of Massachusetts, the land that had once been north-central Massachusetts and northwestern Massachusetts was more sparsely populated, meaning that not Raider group had ever really coalesced to strike at one settlement or another. Instead, a complex network of small trade outposts had emerged, eventually coalescing into the larger "Northern Massachusetts Confederation." Their caravan and settlement guards were well trained for any raiders that did show up, and while not rich, the region was stable and prosperous. The sight of a Vertibird flying over the de facto capitol of the Confederation, Greenfield, was a shock to many, who had never seen a working one, although several wrecks were scattered throughout the region. When it landed, settlers and town guards stepped out of the walls to look at it. Concerned, the President looked out, only to see the soldiers onboard shaking hands with adults and lifting children up so they could see the inside of the machine. He saw a woman speaking to some of the guards, and the guards led her to the building where the town mayor was. He followed her trail, but was interrupted by a knock at the door to his office. A guard entered,
"President Wells, there's a woman here to see you. She says she's from the Enclave." The man turned and told the guard to send her in. The woman entered, and the two shook hands.
"Mr. President. I am Sergeant Sarah Knight. I'm here to discuss the integration of your confederation into the Enclave."
"President Patrick Wells. Head of the Northern Massachusetts Confederation." They sat down and the president continued.
"We've heard good things about the Enclave as of late. You saved our southern neighbor from starvation, destroyed the Silverhawk gang, and brought peace to Boston. But while I'm convinced, the congress are the ones you need to convince. I'm honestly just a figurehead, and there are some assurances the congress would appreciate before I bring the matter to them directly."
"Of course," Sarah said, "What kind of assurances?"
"First, they want to know that the settlements of the confederation will have some form of representation within the government."
"Every settlement within the Enclave is guaranteed a representative within the senate. Our hope is that once western Massachusetts and a few major settlements within upstate New York are secured, we can launch a push south towards DC and begin housing the Senate there."
"Which brings me to the second point. Would our settlements remain secure?"
"Yes. The settlement garrisons would be reduced to add to the total military to be used for launching offensives and incorporating new territories, and the settlements will be under the protection of the Enclave military." He nodded and said;
"Thank you. If you'll follow me to the Confederation Congress, I believe we can convince them to accept your offer." He stood and walked over to the door, letting her through first before following. They walked through a winding series of hallways until they reached a set of double doors with a makeshift sign next to it marking the room as the Congress. Two guards in metal armor opened the doors, and President Wells and Sarah entered the room. Inside, around fifty men and women argued. Seeing his cue, the president ran up to a central platform, grabbed a gavel, and banged it repeatedly, calling for order. Once the room had quieted down, he set the gavel down and spoke.
"My apologies for leaving you earlier, but as you know, I was informed that the arrival of an emissary from the Enclave was imminent, and protocol dictated I meet with them before bringing them before you. I relayed your concerns to her and she told me that you need not worry. Now, I present to you, congressmen and women, Sergeant Sarah Knight of the Enclave." With that, Sarah stepped up to the dais and President Wells stepped down.
"Thank you. I would first like to state that it is not the Enclave's intention to incorporate you against your will. If you so choose to remain independent, then we will leave you be."
"Good! You'd slaughter us all anyway!" One voice from the assembly cried, with a man standing up.
"My grandparents fled your purges on the west coast. They still had the scars from plasma weapons on them when they died. Scars your people gave them!" Sarah turned to face him and responded,
"That was a different time. The Enclave had fully removed itself from the founding ideas of America and only claimed to be its successor to fool both the people and itself. We are different now. Ghouls and humans have a right to exist within our territory without fear of persecution and we are actively trying to make up for our past actions." The congressman sat down, still glaring, but no longer actively objecting. Seeing no further objections or questions, President Wells retook the podium and called for a vote to integrate the Confederation into the Enclave. The vote was no where near close, and the confederation overwhelmingly agreed to accept integration. A few hours later, Sarah boarded the Vertibird that had brought her there, carrying with her a signed treaty that, in the eyes of the Enclave, formally accepted the new settlements.

3,000 pop gain total

Ivan Industries and The virginian trade union

Post self-deleted by Smartiepantses.

The Sovereign Corporation of Ivan Industries

Fires of Industry II
One of the SovCorp's problems lies in its reliance on a base of artisans to produce necessary finished goods like steel, weapons, and ammunition. While this was fine while they were just a small city-state, the inefficiencies of the system has become glaringly obvious in the wake of the Corporation's expansion. With the support of the Board, Ivan has started taking steps to remedy this situation.

Ironically, the first step was assigning these very artisans to produce high-quality steel beams for use in repairing a small-time foundry out in Jackson. The blacksmiths of the Caliphate and Lil'Motown were set hard to work digging into the scrap stockpile to produce the steel. Ivan had to grimace later at the efficiency reports.

Once they were done, the steel had to be brought by wagon (a lot of wagons) over to the outskirts of Jackson where corporate engineers were looking over the remains of Diversified Precision Products Inc., a small-time auto parts manufacturer that Ivan vaguely remembered buying our just before the bombs fell. In fact, the paperwork for the transfer of ownership was still inside the main office. The building wasn't in great shape, but Ivan only needed it fixed enough to run it as a foundry; full-on renovations could come later. Even these repairs would still take about three months, give or take, but at least it was better than a whole year.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12 scrap cottage processed to 3 steel.
Small Foundry being repaired in Jackson, MI. Completion on RL March 27.
-1 concrete, -3 steel.

Ardentus, Smartiepantses, and The virginian trade union

Revolutionary middleland

Middle Covers Ground

With the first class of technicians released into society, Middle was once more able to fully staff its factories and use its industrial potential for military growth. An amalgamation of resources had been collected and were prepared for usage by the state. However, despite the need for better guns, vehicles, and cannons- Middle needed to create space for the conventional growth of its economic production. Therefore, its resources were turned inwards.

Cheyenne, WY brought to Level 3 scrap output

Omaha, NE brought to Level 3 scrap output

Both Sioux Falls, SD scrap assets brought to Level 3

Ansley, NE brought to Level 2 scrap output

Alliance, NE brought to Level 2 scrap output

21 ad-hoc Killdozer-type IFV's were put into production.

14 technicals armed with .50 caliber machineguns were put into production

42 RPG's were produced

Ardentus and The virginian trade union



The virginian trade union

Tribal Disputes
Part 1

After Harrison heard of Shepherd's success in Etestar he immediately went to work redistributing a portion of men to meet with Shepherd and continue surrounding Norfolk, with each settlement that fell to the Trade Union Harrison's ambitions only continued to grow. A total of 100 abled bodied men were to meet up with Shepherd's current unit and head due south to annex the territory directly east of Norfolk, Harrison's intel didn't detail any major settlements in the area but a handful of tribes called the land home. After a couple days Harrison sent the detachment of soldiers, along with another letter containing Shepherd's new orders, to the small military camp Shepherd established just outside of Etestar. The Trade Union soldiers took the better part of three days to arrive at the military camp, once they did they gave the President's letter to their General before standing by for further instructions.

Shepherd once again skimmed through Harrison's letter, letting out a quiet sigh after reading that he would be working towards the Trade Union's expansion for some time to come. Shepherd decided to let his men get one more day of rest in before moving them south, they deserved that much at least. However, bright and early in the morning, his men awoke and packed what essentials they would need for their trek south since they wouldn't be able to resupply considering the lack of any major settlements in the area. Luckily the march south was relatively boring, the only thing to note being the stray mole rat or giant ant that were gunned down pretty quick, soon they arrived at a stretch of land that seemed to be affected pretty severely by radiation. The few trees that littered the landscape were devoid of any life and it was a surprise that any of them remained standing at all, the few bits of grass that remained were brown instead of more vibrant colors, and the wind whipped up dirt as it flowed through the humid landscape of death and despair.

Shepherd took a few moments to check his map before he turned to his men and ordered them to set up camp for the time being, while his men got to work setting up the tents and building fires Shepherd decided to look over Harrison's letter once more. The only information he gave him about the tribes was that there were four of them that almost constantly vied for control of the territory, nothing in the letter detailed the sizes of the tribes so Shepherd had little useful information to come up with a plan on how to move forward. As Shepherd tucked the letter back into his jacket pocket he heard yowls and war cries before seeing nearly fifty or so tribals clad in clothing that seemed to be made from animal skins and wielding rudimentary melee weapons, their skin was also adorned with tattoos of varying sizes and colors.

Shepherd and his men were obviously caught off guard for a moment but they quickly jumped into action, picking up their arms and shooting into the oncoming onslaught of tribals. Even though the Trade Union's forces were able to cut through the tribal frontline that did little to halt their charge as they trampled over the dead bodies of their fellow tribesmen, in what seemed to be an instant the tribal force collided with their own. The tribals bludgeoned a handful of Trade Union soldiers to death but luckily Shepherd's men had the advantage of both numbers and weapon superiority, however as they were attempting to repel the tribals they heard another rally of war cries. Both the tribals and Trade Union soldiers ceased their fighting for a moment to investigate the sound, a second group of tribals had congregated and began to charge towards the battle. However, before the Trade Union soldiers could begin to fire upon the new group of tribals that appeared, the new group began to attack the handful of tribals that remained of the first group and ran them off.

Shepherd examined the new group as his men caught their breath and cared for those that were injured in the skirmish, the other group of tribals looked somewhat similar to the other group but they lacked the tattoos the others had and rather had bones decorating them, it was hard to identify if some of the bones were from animals or humans. After Shepherd ordered his men to stand down he walked forward and cleared his throat to get the new group's attention, "Well… Suppose I should be thankin' y'all for your help, but who in the sam hell are ya folks?" Shepherd asked as his men carried away the wounded and dead behind him. The tribals looked at each other before one stepped forward, this particular tribal wore what seemed to be a deathclaw skull on his head that covered his face, "We… Bone-Stealers-" He pauses as he jammed his thumb into his chest, "Me… Marrow-" He pauses yet again, seemingly to select his next words carefully, "We… Need help…"

Trade Union Casualties -12

Tribal Casualties -41

Ardentus and Smartiepantses



Smartiepantses

To The Gas Chamber

On an average day in Woodstock, bluecoats surveying the streets and citizens working hard on the farms and working the caravan trade that flows in and out between companies and traders. The neighboring city, Evanston, has been driving citizens into Woodstock and a few patrolmen have caught onto this fact via witness statement received from a distressed woman, the statement was then transported back to the station in Woodstock.

"NAME: Mary Ruse.
DATE/LOCATION: A week and a half ago in Evanston, Illinois.
NAMES/LOCATIONS: My husband in Evanston, there were other men involved too but I don't know them.
SUSPECT(S) DETAILS: These three men had slick medium-length black hair, and tall and broad. They also were dressed formally in dress-clothing and coats.
CRIME DETAILS: The men ambushed and shot my husband with automatic guns as we left Windie's Inn in Evanston city, they tried gunning me down but I escaped. I searched for help and I heard rumors of the Bureau in Woodstock so I sought refuge here and contacted the Bureau."

Mary's case caught the spotlight and was looked into by the command chain of Woodstock's Bureau station. This case was deemed Level Five as the associated suspects were reported to be armed and dangerous. A few Agents were sent to patrol Evanston city, the witness statement was enough to warrant an investigation but the bulldogs decided to gather information by deploying bluecoats to patrol the streets and settlements of Evanston city on any signs of organized crime syndicates or crime rackets. The Agents were experienced Senior Officers and were armed with PTU equipment, and led by Inspector Captain Hunter Maliki. The group followed Southern Eastwood Drive and found their way on Northwest Highway. They followed the highway until they reached Cuba, while in Cuba the patrol group took refuge. The Officers also bought extra rations and jugs of water for the group out of their own personal Bottlecaps, which aided the Officers in the distance left on the journey. Cuba is a peaceful independent city and with little criminal history according to the local statements, but the Officers still recorded the location for further solidification in Illinois. They kept traveling Route 14 through Palatine and past Mount Prospect straight to Des Plaines, a hotspot for luxurious wastelanders. The Officers were treated with disrespect, leading the Inspector Captain to find the governor and discreetly threaten him and his population with mass detainment and brutality if they didn't fall in line. Of course, the Inspector Captain didn't leave the governor's office without a few bruises to produce on the governor's body. Hunter acknowledged the corruption in the high-ranking Bureau members and has been influenced by it, and has instructed his iron-fist in multiple operations behind closed doors to the public. The patrol group continued their travel after spending a few nights in Des Plaines, living in luxury after the Inspector twisted the governor's arm into letting them stay and treated fairly like the rest of the residents. After gathering purified water and fresh rations from the luxurious Des Plaines, they continued their travels through the highways until they reached Evanston city.

The Officers immediately established their presence in the city which caused attention t draw from local citizens, along with the local mafia organization The Officers began asking locals about the mafia and their presence in Evanston, after the Inspector developed a patrol all across the streets and roads in the city, breaking into teams of four patrolmen. One of the teams encountered Windie's Inn, where the murder took place. The Officers entered Windie's Inn, the inn had multiple wastelanders but a few of the men fit the profile of the crime description in Mary Ruse's statement; medium-length black slick hair, broad and tall in height, and wearing dress-shirts and suspenders but not coats. Two Officers held the Inn down and asked the regulars about the murder that happened a few weeks ago as the other two of the Agents approached the men to question them on the same topic. The Officers found out that the formal-looking men knew the information on the crime but their body language depicted that they were lying, so they ordered the men to be detained and questioned in private by the Senior Agent in the team. Once dusk fell, the detained men were handed off to Inspector Captain Hunter where he requested the Officers to continue their investigations and patrols in the city while he personally interrogated them. The men faced the wraith of the Inspector Captain, being subjugated through waterboarding and other torture methods to gain vital information on the organized crime family in Evanston. By the time the Inspector Captain was finished interrogating them, he had all the knowledge needed to warrant an investigation, as the men both admitted to being boys in the Evanston crime family. The men were transported back to Woodstock and a request of reinforcements to Evanston city was sent as the Bureau still maintained the streets of Evanston. The mafia was planning it's attack against the Officers as the days they spent hunkered down in the city, the war is inevitable.

Ardentus and The virginian trade union

The Sovereign Corporation of Ivan Industries

Sugar Crash pt. 2
Jonathan pulled out all the stops and sent five battalions, practically two brigades worth, to deal with the Sugar Lord. This would end up leaving both Hillsdale and Toledo dangerously unprotected, but Wheelwright considered the Sugar Lord a major threat and decided to go the route of overwhelming force to deal with him quickly rather than risk losing a major confrontation. The numerical advantage was only 1.5 to 1 but Ivan didn't want to throw the whole Corps at him and risk losing control of newly acquired territories.

The Candy Crushers had heavily fortified the eastern and northern approaches to the town, going so far as to dig trenches and set up barbed wire in front of embankments fronted by sharpened metal spikes. They'd even managed to get their hands on a couple of medium machine guns, making any sort of attack from those directions suicide. However, they had neglected to do the same for the south and west, and their scout coverage was poor. All Wheelwright had to do was make an end-run around the western edge and attack their unprotected flank.

1st and 6th battalions were given the job of mounting a diversionary attack against the protected fronts to keep the Candy Crushers occupied and to make them think the attack was coming from that direction. The other four battalions would do a forced march south from Hillsdale past Edgerton and attack from the southwest. With any luck, the raiders would be caught flatfooted and destroyed with minimal casualties.

The attack began bright and early on a fall day, with the 1st and 6th battalions making their move. The two battalions plopped themselves in front of the fortifications to draw their fire. Throughout the day, they feinted towards the defensive lines, pretending to make direct assaults, but always withdrawing back to their original positions before they could take too many casualties. The raiders never tried to sally from their own lines, knowing that they'd be vulnerable out in the open and worrying that the repeated feints were a trap to try and draw them out into the open. The two sides sat there trading fire for at least a couple of days.

Meanwhile, the other four battalions were marching as fast as they could southwards from Hillsdale on their end run. They did run into a small raider outpost in Edgerton that threatened to give away the operation, but the raiders there were dealt with swiftly before they could raise the alarm. By the morn' of the second day, they were in position, with the Second and Third on the west side and the Fourth and Fifth on the South side of the town. Right about 1000 hours, the command was given, and they began their advance into town.

Fortune favored them today, and the raiders were caught completely flatfooted. The raiders managed to redeploy their western flank in time to hold the Second and Third in Rachel Heights for a time, but that didn't stop the Fourth and Fifth from rolling up Main Street. The Fourth split off momentarily to fall on the west flank's rear and let the Second and Third through the Heights to link up with them in the town. Progress was rapid, and by midafternoon they had rolled right up to the final line of defenses around the Spangler Candy Factory. The fighting went straight from easy to brutal as the raiders defended the position with all they had. Repeated assaults failed, racking up the casualties the maneuver was supposed to prevent.

Thankfully, the raiders ran out of bullets before the Corporation ran out of men. By evening of the third day the machine guns had fallen silent. Wheelwright ordered a final push - he jokingly called it the Twilight Assault - on the factory. Corporation forces surged forward on all sides, and this time the raiders couldn't stop them. Under the combined weight of a company from each battalion, the factory fell. Soldiers from the Fifth Battalion had only just breached the front entrance when the Sugar Lord ran a white flag up on the roof, signaling the end of the battle. The Sugar Lord was taken away in chains and the remainder of his men were imprisoned - Wheelwright had wanted to kill them but the Hidalgo had requested they be available for the Dons to recruit from.

The tribes were freed on the condition that they accept charters from the Sovereign Corporation. Many of the chiefs grumbled that they were simply replacing one overlord with another, but in their enslaved condition they didn't have much of a choice. At least the tribute burden was lower... maybe.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bryan, OH annexed to the SovCorp.
Population added: 1,600
Casualties Taken: 681
Net Gain: 919
Tech Documents found: 15

Ardentus, Liberated New Arizona, and The virginian trade union

The Constellation Society of Retralik

Anchor Thee
While Puerto Vallarta may have been a luxurious coastal resort, Manzanillo further south is the working port. It is the largest naval facility on Mexico’s Pacific seaboard, handling cargo for the Mexico City Metro and Co. The Mexican Navy’s Pacific Force also Base their headquarters in the city. All in all, Manzi’ is a target of strategic importance. Who knows? Maybe the first contact with another organized faction-State will be through a Republican ship, not an infantry company.

But anyways, traders from Manzi’ have already started small scale bartering with savvy civilians, selling land goods for filthy lucre. They know the Union has been going South for some time, and as business minded folk, absolutely, do not want a war. War’s bad for money-making, unless you’re in the arms industry. The Trader’s Association, the overseer and regulator organization of the Manzanillo markets, and to which every merchant based there is required to join, officially sends a courier to Mazatlan to discuss a conditional surrender.

Their terms are simple: Retaining the market economy and autonomous status. In exchange, they would gladly fly the Republican colors, and open the port to us. No bullets fly, no bombs dropped, just diplomacy could bring them into the fold. This... is an interesting proposition. The private market directly contradicts the Republic’s Socialist agenda. Accepting this might be a hint of weakness to the rabid canines out there, but denying and marching troops in would be disastrous. The Traderites (As the Association is known among the ranks) could sabotage the port, rendering Manzi’s most prized possession... worthless.

Messengers ride back and fourth between the two cities, delivering typical political responses of unsureness. Negotiations drag on, and due to the distance, unreliable. Rumors spread, like a bad odor. “The Union is preparing for war, they’ve got two regiments just a few miles away”. “The Traderites are going to blow Manzi to pieces before scrambling southwards”.

The republic, not one to kowtow and being in, quite reversely, the position of power, demanded the Association to send an envoy for direct, face-to-face talks. It stretched on for weeks, mostly regarding the autonomy of the, now-dubbed “Special Economic Zone”, where market economy can run wild. The T.A essentially wants Colima State, including Manzanillo, to be free of Republic decisions, besides military and foreign matters. Mazatlan wants them to merely have more local power in comparison to the federal government. The words get increasingly tense. Threats were made.

Hoping to create a “smoking gun” that will tip the balance, Alfred the Defense Minister had two battalions surround the city and making themselves very visible. The Associates responded by threatening to blow up half the port. When they were ignored and the battalions move a few hundred meters closer, the T.A did the act, and ash now floats above the land. Santo and the rest of the Federal Soviet “went crazy” when they heard what Red did. Unable to court martial the famous and reputable commander, they had him placed under house arrest until a judgement was made on his punishment. The event gathered much attention from the commune Tabloids and even official state-owned newspapers.

It is clear that the Traderites won’t give up so easily. They could just move operations to another coastal town. Blowing up this place is no big deal. The Federal, in a majority-favor decision, decided to cave in. Manzanillo becomes an autonomous zone of the MSFSR, where market capitalism can exist without persecution, and the Associates Chairman is equal in rank to Santo Marti. The only reason someone would realize this place is technically under Soviet control is the soldiers, along with buildings and ships which fly the colors of the Republic higher than their own.

The Constellation Society of Retralik

Scrap and Steel
In an unprecedented report, the scrap collection of the Union has grown enough to balance out the Steel production eating it up. The next move is clear: Expansion. Enlarge and professionalize the salvage teams, picking apart the world even more cleanly. The machines demand it. The nation requires it, for the greater good, of course. Weapons of war... Are good. Soviet Republican Mexico is undergoing an Industrial Revolution, and it cannot let resource constraints get in the way. Every man, woman and child is to perform above themselves every time, self-improve.

Scrap 1 to Scrap 2 in Leon City tile
6 Scrap, 1 Steel
7 RL Days

The Sovereign Corporation of Ivan Industries

Motown Missionary, pt. 1
The man cut a strange figure in his long black buttoned-up coat topped by a stiff white collar. A pack on his back, with a staff in one hand and a book in another completed the look. He didn't seem to sweat, despite a day fairly warm for a fall day, though he did stop frequently to drink water. He had no Brahmin, nor did he seem to carry a weapon of any kind, other than his staff. Truly, he was an odd sight to see walking along the ruins of the I-94 freeway.

Eventually, he reached the airport ruins, where he turned off the freeway and onto Merriman Road. Here, the ruins were dense, unlike the freeway which, apart from the radmaples, had been fairly open. Cars disabled by the bomb's EMP blast still littered the streets, though at some point someone had moved a few of the cars to one side in order to allow brahmin and buggies to pass by. The buildings on either side were by now covered with overgrown weeds and grass; at one point, the man heard the growl of a deathclaw. Unperturbed, the man continued to walk forward at his steady pace, ignoring the signs of terrible creatures waiting in the shadows to eat him.

His feet eventually took him to Lil' Motown, in the heart of the city. It was late in the day when he arrived, so the ruined skyscrapers cast a foreboding shadow over the streets. Armed lamplighters were already out, lighting street-lamps filled with brahmin oil. Meanwhile, in the distance, the lights of Ford Field shone, lighting up the surrounding area. The sight gladdened his heart; the road from the west had been long and perilous. For the first time since we've met him, he quickened his pace, hoping to get inside before security shut the gates.

He was just in time, falling in behind the last caravan of the day. So close was he, in fact, that the greeter let out an audible sigh of frustration when the man was noticed. "You got great timing, sir," she said.

"The Lord's timing is always impeccable," the figure replied.

"Lord's timing, eh?" the guard remarked, looking the man over. "You a preacher of some kind?"

"I am a man of God, yes," the man replied. "Patrick Jameson, St. Gregory's Abbey, at your service."

"That's not a Detroit place, right?"

"No, no, definitely," Patrick replied. "I'm from way out west. Close to Kalamazoo."

"Nice," the guard replied, though she had no idea where Kalamazoo was. She wrote his name and information down on a clipboard. "What brings you to Lil' Motown, Patrick?"

"I was hoping to set up a mission in your city," Patrick replied. "I believe God has called me to minister here, to help the poor and the suffering and share the Gospel with those drowning in despair."

The guard chuckled. "Well, you've got your work cut out for you," she said. "Welcome to Lil' Motown, then. You'll want to go to the Mayor's office and get clearance from them."

"How difficult would that be?" Patrick asked, bemusedly.

"Not too difficult," the guard replied. "We've already got a Mosque - I think that's what they call it? - set up inside, I'm sure the Mayor won't mind giving it some competition."

"Ah, I see," Patrick commented. "Thank you for your help. I don't believe I caught your name?"

"Corporal Ellen, Detroit Lions," the guard replied. "Happy to serve."

Patrick chuckled. "Well God bless you, Ellen. Maybe I'll see you in church someday?"

"Eh, don't count on it," Ellen replied. "Hard to believe in a God that would let a catastrophe like this happen."

"Of course," Patrick replied.

Ellen watched the would-be missionary walk away and shook her head. "I hope your God is real," she murmured, "Because you're gonna need His help to minister in this city." And she didn't mean just Lil' Motown.

Ardentus, Liberated New Arizona, and The virginian trade union

The virginian trade union

Tribal Disputes
Part 2

Shepherd and a portion of his men followed Marrow and the other Bone-Stealers to what could only be their home, the various huts and tents being decorated with the bones of the tribe's enemies. A few of the tribe's women and children left their huts to watch the 'civilized people' as Shepherd heard a few of them whisper as they passed, after a couple of minutes Marrow stopped in front of a large opening that led into a cave. Marrow told Shepherd that his men would have to wait outside, apparently the cave held some spiritual importance to their tribe and they didn't want too many people not affiliated with their tribe to enter the cave. After Shepherd handed his specially engraved Smith & Wessen pistol off to Marrow, making sure to inform him to make sure nothing happened to it, he followed the tribal warrior into the dim cave that was only illuminated by a handful of torches that were fixed to the cave's walls.

Shepherd continued to follow Marrow further into the cave, Shepherd looking around himself and noting the various animal and human bones that hung from the walls, before they made it to a large chamber that was considerably better lit than the rest of the cave. Before Shepherd could take a moment to get a good look around the chamber someone began to speak, "Ahh… You must be… Civilized people, me heard of coming-" Shepherd looked to the source of the voice and saw a small old lady sitting in a chair that seemed to be made from brahmin bones, a cup of what appeared to be tea in her hands as she carefully nursed it. The woman was obviously in the later stages of her life, probably even older than himself, and her grey hair had small rodent bones braided into it. Before he could continue his analysis of the woman she continued speaking, not looking up from her cup of tea, "We… Need help, you help us and we… Help you-" She said, pausing often due to not using english for sometime as their tribe preferred to use their own language.

Shepherd paused for a moment, he could probably use this to his advantage but he wasn't sure why Harrison wanted this territory considering there weren't even any major settlements except for the tribal villages. However Shepherd merely pushed those thoughts out of his head with a silent sigh, no use in questioning Harrison since it won't do any good. Shepherd turned his attention back to the elderly woman, "Alright, you want our help-" Shepherd paused as he placed a hand on his chin, "How's about you tell me your name, mines Shepherd." He said as he introduced himself, waiting for the woman to do the same. The woman was silent for a moment before speaking, "Me… Bone-Saw… Me tribe's elder-" She finally answered. Shepherd nodded his head, he expected her to have a name like that considering Marrow's, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you ma'am-" Shepherd said pleasantly while slightly bowing his head, hopefully flattery will avoid any unnecessary bloodshed, "So, what's it that your tribe needs help with?" Shepherd finally asked.

Bone-Saw didn't answer immediately, instead taking a slow sip from her cup of tea before attempting to answer Shepherd's question, "Not just us… But all three tribes need help…" Before Bone-Saw continued she held up another cup of tea towards Shepherd for him to take, Shepherd merely shook his head and denied the offer, he rather had something a bit stronger than just tea. Bone-Saw nodded as she set the cup back onto the table before continuing, "The tribe that attack you… They are 'The Inked'... Biggest tribe, attack any… They cut our tribe's down and demand we give them our food, our animals, our lives… We need help, take them down… You help, we do anything…" After she finished Shepherd took a moment to think, if he were to eliminate 'The Inked' then he could probably convince these tribals to join the Trade Union since they would owe them for getting rid of their oppressors, then it would be Harrison's job to establish a settlement in the territory and not his. After a minute Shepherd nodded, "Alright, we'll help your tribes on one condition-" Bone-Saw was quiet for a moment before nodding, she wasn't in much of a position to make demands after all, "Me and my men will get rid of these 'Inked' fellas and then this land will belong to the Trade Union-" Marrow walked forward and was about to say something before Bone-Saw held up her hand to silence him so Shepherd could continue, "Your tribes will largely remain independent but we will be establishing a couple of towns along the road towards Norfolk, how does that sound to y'all?" Shepherd asked.

Bone-Saw looked at Marrow before nodding, "Very well… This 'Trade Union' will take control of this land… Only if they allow us to continue living our lives… Unbothered." Bone-Saw said as Shepherd nodded, after a moment he extended a hand towards Bone-Saw to make the deal official. The tribe elder took a moment but eventually she took his hand and sealed the deal as the civilized people say, "We give you… Best warriors, you destroy 'The Inked'... Immediately." Shepherd nodded before being led out of the cave by Marrow.

------------------------------------------------------------

The trek east was luckily pretty boring, Shepherd's men marching alongside the fifty or so Bone-Stealer warriors. His men had to get used to the bone wearing tribals but Shepherd didn't mind as long as they were willing to fight alongside them, Shepherd did respect the Bone-Stealer tribe somewhat despite them being club wielding savages. It took the force nearly a day to make it to the Inked village, there were no walls but the tattooed tribals constantly walked the perimeter of their home. Before Shepherd could come up with an appropriate plan the Bone-Stealer warriors shouted their signature war cry before charging down the hill and towards the Inked. Shepherd let out a sigh as he fired his revolver down the hill, shouting for his men to charge and back up their tribal allies. His men yelled as they raised their rifles and pistols, running down the hill and shooting down at the Inked warriors that were gathering to intercept the Trade Union and Bone-Stealer forces.

The resulting battle was quick and bloody, a handful of Shepherd's soldiers being trampled or bludgeoned to death by the Inked warriors. However the Inked didn't stand much of a chance against the Trade Union's better armed soldiers, so it was only a matter of time until the aggressive tribals fell against the Trade Union's might. Once the battle was done the battlefield was decorated with the bodies of men from each side, the Bone-Stealer warriors that remained let out chant to celebrate their great victory. The women and children from the Inked tribe were left alone, however the Bone-Stealers took ownership of the village and the people residing within it to stomp out any remaining Inked that might remain. Once Shepherd arrived back to the Bone-Stealer village he was met with the cheering of its residents, something he wasn't very familiar with, and went back into the cave to speak to Bone-Saw. She seemed appreciative of his work and honored her part of the deal, allowing the Trade Union to annex the territory and build settlements as long as they respect all of the tribe's independence. Shepherd sent another letter back west to Ashton through Folkstone, the letter detailing their success and the deal they struck with the tribals.

Trade Union Casualties -46

Tribal Casualties -91

Population Gain +612

The virginian trade union

Raiders, Ghouls, and Super Mutants, Oh My!
Part 1: Suburban Living

Shepherd leaned back into the brahmin leather chair with a content sigh, all this marching and fighting had taken its toll on his aging body and Shepherd planned to take it easy for the next few days to come along with his men. The sounds of Trade Union workers building up walls and fortifications surrounded him, as soon as Harrison received his report the President sent a team of contracted laborers to start working on the still unnamed frontier town that would be acting as a trading outpost leading into Norfolk. His men had established camp right outside the borders of the soon to be settlement since there weren't barracks yet built, however Shepherd had a feeling that he and his men wouldn't have enough down time to actually enjoy a roof over their heads. Harrison was finally close to the prize that dangled in front of his face ever since he 'won' the presidency and Shepherd knew that he would move forward even if his men were ill equipped and ill trained for urban combat of this scale, but it seems that he and his men are gonna adapt quick if they were going forward towards Norfolk.

Shepherd noticed the overwhelming sound of the laborers working away had noticeably quieted down, curious the General looked back at the construction site and noticed many of the workers were looking towards the approaching force of Trade Union soldiers. There were maybe a hundred or so marching steadily towards Shepherd's encampment, completely ignoring the settlement construction site, they soon stopped as they came close to the camp. Shepherd let out a sigh as he forced himself to stand from the surprisingly comfortable brahmin leather chair, walking towards what he assumed to be his reinforcements. One of the soldiers stepped forward and presented a letter as if it were a magical sword that would make Shepherd the king of this damn hellhole, the thought caused the old General to snort to himself before snatching the letter from the young soldier's hands.

The letter had the Trade Union presidential seal stamped onto it but Shepherd didn't need that to confirm it was from Harrison, the large force of Trade Union soldiers was enough to convince him of that. Shepherd opened the envelope and pulled out the piece of parchment out, taking a moment to scan the President's unmistakable messy handwriting. He scanned the letter and it contained what he expected, he and his men, including the reinforcements Harrison sent with the letter, were to head east and capture Norfolk by any means necessary. The President's letter informed him that the most important part is capturing Norfolk's port, as long as the port was secured then the rest of the city will come after. Shepherd tucked the letter in his jacket pocket as he explored his thoughts for a moment, he now had about six hundred soldiers under his command but if the stories about Norfolk were even remotely true then he would have his work cut out for him.

Shepherd let out a sigh as he pulled a flask out of his jacket and took a quick swig, a little extra courage wouldn't hurt after all, before looking at the force Harrison sent him. Most of them were quite young and he doubted many of them seen any real combat, maybe taking pot shots at some mole rats or something but that didn't really constitute as experience. Shepherd ordered them to take a few hours off within the encampment, they would surely need it, the men shouted out confirmations before making their way into the camp proper. Shepherd also made his way back into the camp, not for some much needed rest and relaxation, but to rather look over the few pre-war maps they have of the area and come up with a plan of attack. After a couple hours Shepherd devised the start of a plan to put into action, on the outskirts of Norfolk sits the once idyllic neighborhood of Pleasant Point, the pinacle of Virginian living if the old brochures were anything to go by. Shepherd doubted that the neighborhood will be as advertised anymore, so he expected less than friendly residents residing there nowadays.

Shepherd rounded up his men, his soldiers getting into somewhat sloppy formation as they await their commander's orders. Shepherd looked over his men, he saw that some of the youngins had fear coating their eyes as they looked around at their fellow soldiers, "Alright boys!" Shepherd shouted, immediately his men stood at attention, "The President has seen fit to give us some more work to do, we are goin' to east towards Norfolk-" Shepherd continued as he began to walk side to side, getting a good look at his men as he does so, "To a place called 'Pleasant Point' however don't get too excited boys, this ain't no vacation! We will clear out any trash that calls the place their home and use it to enter the city proper, do y'all understand?!" Shepherd asked his men, who all swiftly answered with 'Sir, yes sir!'. Shepherd nodded as he turned and pointed down the road leading east, "Very well then, forward march!" He ordered, his men obediently following the General's command, marching on east towards Harrison's great white whale.

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The men, after an hour or so of constant marching, came up to a ruined billboard that had fallen and collapsed onto the road leading to Norfolk, the sign reads 'Pleasant Point!, the best in Virginian living!' In lettering that has been chipped off here and there, leaving it near unreadable. Shepherd stepped up and examined his map before tucking it back into his jacket, they were getting close to the neighborhood now. If he was reading his map correctly then they nedded to turn left rather than forward towards Norfolk, after weighing the options in his head once more Shepherd ordered his men to go left towards Pleasant Point. After another ten or so minutes of marching Shepherd decided to send out a recon team to scout out the road up ahead and maybe the suburb if they were close enough, he called five soldiers at random and ordered them to move up the road a bit and report back to him if they saw anything.

Shepherd and the rest of his men continued down the road for another five minutes, the men taking pot shots at the occasional radroach or giant rat to try and alleviate the boredom and tedium. The recon team Shepherd sent out comes running back down the road, however they seem to be missing a man, the soldiers begin shouting over each other as they try to rely their info to Shepherd. Shepherd orders them to calm the hell down and asks one of them to give the report, the recon team looked at each other for a moment before one steps forward and tells Shepherd what had happened. They made it to Pleasant Point, but it was surrounded by walls made from junk and old cars, and when they tried to get a closer look someone shot and took down one of them. After that they hightailed it out of there to intercept Shepherd. After hearing the story Shepherd nodded and praised the recon team before ordering them back into formation, the men nodding before getting back into their previous position. Seems like the neighborhood really has gone to hell after the Great War, he informed his men of the danger and trudged on.

As his men approach the fortified suburb they immediately came under fire from the raiders that resided within Pleasant Point, Shepherd's men scrambling for cover or to return fire. Luckily only a handful of soldiers fell to the gunfire, Shepherd waited until the sound of gunfire stopped for a second before resuming. Seems that those f*cks hiding behind the junk walls of Pleasant Point need to reload pretty often, Shepherd waits another moment for the gunfire to cease before ordering his men to charge towards the makeshift gate that led into the suburb. The charge was largely successful, only a couple soldiers being fired upon due to not reaching the gate in time. Shepherd's men charged into the gate a few times in an attempt to gain access into the raider infested suburb, the gate groaning and creaking with each charge until it ultimately collapsed due to the extreme strain. The resulting battle as the Trade Union forces attacked the aggressors was long and drawn out rather than short and bloody as they usually are, the raiders hiding within the few the few intact houses and firing from the windows. However the raiders were soon defeated by the better trained force of the Trade Union, taking Pleasant Point as there own. Now all that's left is all of Norfolk, seems Shepherd and his men have an uphill battle ahead of them.

Trade Union Casualties -31



The Thestral Union of FreeAmericanStates

FreeAmericanStates wrote:Climb Aboard the Republican Wagon Part 4: Liberty Fourth
After Dixie was founded as a Commonwealth their was a push to immediately secure the border of Georgia the first place on this list was Augusta the city itself while it was bombed heavily during the war it still had a thriving agricultural community in the areas surrounding it and produced major amounts of a fruit called Pellons; which was a fruit that seemed to be similar to both peaches and melons, for the area and trade beyond its weight. The main source of this was the enslavement of Ghouls to farm this fruit as it grew it radioactive areas within the old city however it had the benefit of when eaten of helping purge rads from the person's body while being both filling and hydrating making it a very valuable fruit. The one major problem of this is that do to the enslavement of ghouls by the community even staunch Ghoul Segregationists in the New American Republic were in favor of overthrowing this government not only to enforce a separation of humans and Ghouls as it seems to be the direction their Commonwealth is going but more improvidently will boost the Dixion and subsequently New American Economy. Thus, the New American Army which was supported by some of the Savannahn Militia had began a march towards Augusta then the New American Republic had issued a demand for the annexation of Augusta and the emancipation of the Ghouls from slavery. Which was rejected as expected however many ghouls had began a fight for their freedom that came with annexation from inside their settlements and the New American Army advanced and after a few days the battle ended however, many casualties occurred on the Ghoul side and unfortunately some civilians got caught in the crossfire by both Augstian forced and New American Forces. Regardless though the civilians were informed they will become a part of the Commonwealth of Dixie inside the New American Republic and that the new American Republic will be sending resources to help stabilize the situation and that the enslavement of Ghouls will be outlawed but the segregation of Ghouls by the Commonwealth will begin. With the battle over the New American Republic had realized it needs to reinforce as much of the Commonwealth of Alabama's claim now that the Commonwealth of Dixie's most northern point had been secured in order to secure its promise to Mobile can be kept.
Following this invasion the New American Republic gained 1600 people.

Keeping a Promise: Part One Justice
Following the invasion of Augusta in Georgia the New American Republic realized it had been neglecting the Commonwealth of Alabama's claims and had began preparing for an invasions that it can appear as liberators in order to fulfill their promises.This has been started by the invasion of Dothan as the region has been overrun by raiders leading to it being a region that the people would appreciate any form of intervention to throw off the chains of raiders. The raiders however had made camp in the cit itself while the outlining farm land where mostly kept running but were subjugated by the raiders to funneling resources to the raider base. This has forced the Republic's New American Army into slowly taking out the food supply by sniping guards keeping the civilians working under the raiders. However, this was a long process repeated many times through the general region from both north, south, east and west.slowly surrounding the raider infested city while cutting off access to food. for the raiders. The Republic content to starve the raiders out has kept sniper teams on all exits and prepared some rudimentary mines at the exits as well to make sure that raiders infesting the city proper was going to get exactly what they deserved if they didn't surrender and began the waiting game for the raiders to either starve to death or surrender. During this time negations began with the locals to get them to one by one agree to join the Commonwealth of Alabama in the New American Republic in exchange for making sure sniper teams will protect them from future raider attacks and that they would be given rights to scrap in the raider controlled city rather the Republic which the Republic agreed to in the attempt to make itself seem like more of a benevolent altruistic force that while they will annex those in their way will try to help them out as much as they can rather then a simple imperialistic goverment. Which in a way both aspects are true as the Republic has begun a somewhat imperialistic attitude towards regions but only in the sense of fulfilling promises to its subservient governments and immediately ceding territory from Federal justification to Commonwealth jurisdiction. However, after nearly a weak after the agreements were made the raiders agreed to surrendered unconditionally which had them taken into custody while being watched and brought to different areas of the region for various court cases but the whole time having guns on them as it became apparent they would die no matter what some considered escape but were reminded they would at least get a last meal before they died and them being so starved they complied and this to led to their executions however they were each given a last meal and executed cleanly through a bullet in the back of each of their heads.
Following this annexation the New American Republic gained 1800 people.

The Sovereign Corporation of Ivan Industries

Fruits of Colonization
Harkinsville was rich in game, and it was the game that mostly sustained the colony there for the initial colonization period. But, a man does not live on meat and water alone, and eventually the colony had its first harvest. It was at this point that they decided to revive the ancient tradition of Thanksgiving, for thankful they were. They put together a feast and invited the local tribals, hosting a friendly game of flag football, drinking copious amounts of homemade liquor. Too much liquor, in fact; both settlers and tribals had hangovers the rest of the week. All in all, though, they agreed the feast had been a success and decided they would celebrate this holiday every year.

The success of Harkinsville prompted more settlers to enter the region and establish homesteads in the local area. Most notably, a group of Amish showed up in their buggies and wagons, driving a herd of sheep. How the Amish had managed to keep a herd of sheep through the apocalypse, no one could say, and they wouldn't. Regardless, the sheep seemed to take well to the area around Coldwater.

The tribals were more interested in the Amish's horses, having never encountered them before. The Amish were more than happy to teach them all about how to use a horse and how to care for it. The tribals soaked up the lessons eagerly and proved to be quick learners, managing to achieve a passable level of ridership quickly. With such interest, one of the Amish families made the decision to get into the horse-breeding business, and began constructing a large ranch for that purpose.
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Harkinsville (Coldwater) being upgraded to Level II Rations. Completion on RL Mar. 28.
-4 scrap

Ardentus, Liberated New Arizona, and The virginian trade union

The Knights of Polaris of Ardentus

Sunrise Part 5: Playing for Keeps

Keep held the northern route to New York city, and was a vital trade hub. Like other settlements, it had broken free from the rule of the Silverhawks after the defense of Hart and fall of Stamford, and had been a vital hub of the Silverhawk's military forces, serving as a stockpile for major weapons. When the Silverhawks began to disintegrate, the Raider gang there who had submitted to the Silverhawks, known as the Executioners for the black hoods they wore and use of axes in melee combat, had been driven out and destroyed by a revolt of the city's population. Given it's status, Keep was one of the strongest factions in Eastern New York. Now, it was visited by commander Lebannault in hopes of bringing the city into the fold. The Vertibird touched down outside of the city's walls, and Lebannault noted how apt the city's name was. Unlike most settlements, which had only one or two defensive walls, Keep had three, the ones closer to the city center being stronger than the outer ones. Upon approaching the settlement, he saw the guards decked out in combat armor and carrying combat rifles and laser weapons. They escorted the Enclave squad towards the center of the town, where a woman stood, surrounded by guards.
"General Alice Beckett. It's an honor to have you here commander." The two shook hands and began walking towards the center of the third defensive wall where a great concrete tower stood, like a great castle.
"The pleasure is mine General Beckett. I was surprised to hear of your invitation and more so to learn you are more than willing to accept integration."
"Not so surprising when you know our history. When the war happened, the military forces stationed in the area coalesced to the city and surrounding areas, which is why we have so many advanced weapons around here, even a handful of old Power Armor suits. Long story short, they created a monarchy that ruled until the Silverhawks came. It's why the city has three defensive walls and why that great tower stands there. The gang that used to rule here during the Silverhawk era, they were the royal guards and secret police until they got a better offer. When we heard about how the Silverhawks were getting their asses handed to them by you guys, both the Executioners and the people realized they were weak."
"Which is why the Executioners broke off from the Silverhawk empire and then how you managed to overthrow them entirely." Alice nodded.
"The people near the outermost wall of the town had it worst, still do for the most part, but they got the ball rolling. They managed to take out the Executioners stationed there and start an uprising. It spread upwards from there, literally. Nowadays, we're something of a military junta mainly out of necessity. There are still raiders and hostile tribes on our western borders, which is also part of the reason we chose to preemptively offer integration. We may have better firepower, but they have more men." They stopped as they reached the door of the great tower.
"We can't hold out forever. I fear it's only a matter of time before we lose everything." Lebannault nodded.
"I understand," he said, "it might be hard to believe, but there was a long time there where I wasn't sure if the Enclave would survive. It was only through the kindness and aid of others that we managed to survive, so I can promise you that your people will be safe." The two shook hands and entered the great spire. At this point, it was more ceremony than actual negotiation. General Beckett knelt and handed over her sword, a relic from a West Point instructor or some other long forgotten military officer, symbolically relinquishing control of the city to the Enclave. Lebannault accepted it, tying it to his belt in a symbolic acceptance of command. It was done, Keep was brought into the Enclave, and with it, it's arsenal and control over the trade routes to western and Northern New York.

1,500 pop gain

10 suits of T-51b Power Armor gained

The virginian trade union



The Knights of Polaris of Ardentus

A New Bureau

The experiment within Diamond city had been an astounding success, doubling the production of scrap from the teams that were now organized. Seeing this success, President Winters took action, sending a bill to the newly formed Senate, which was currently housed in the Old State House alongside the President and EIB, to form a new Bureau of Land Management in order to better regulate and allocate resources for the expansion and management of industry. The bill passed without any opposition, and marked the start of a return to democracy for the Enclave. The newly formed Bureau moved to expand resource production for more scrap in preparation for the soon to be constructed medium foundry, producing enough to fuel the fires of industry. Two regions were selected, central long island and north-central Massachusetts. Bureaucrats were dispatched, beginning the process of organizing teams in those regions, constructing or repairing existing buildings to serve as administrative headquarters in the regions. Independent salvage operations were directed to report to these administrative offices, in order to better determine how much scrap in total was being collected, and some were even merged to provide more manpower in sectors where there was more scrap. The reforms and new systems would take some time to get used to, but if they worked like in Diamond city, then the rewards would be great.

Scrap production in Western Massachusetts level 2 upgrade begun

Scrap production in Central Long Island level 2 upgrade begun

12 scrap and 2 steel expended

The virginian trade union



The Sovereign Corporation of Ivan Industries

On Orcs
Excerpt from the paper "On Orcs: Anatomy of Super Mutant Society" presented to the Faculty of UM by Dr. Rin Shaw, Dept. of Anthropology, on Oct. 27, 2290

...The society of the Horde is very rigidly hierarchic, exhibiting several characteristics of a caste system, one that is, in fact, biologically determined. Leadership is invariably given to Type I mutants (Dr. Kale, Department of Biology, 2274), otherwise known as First-Generation of the Mariposa FEV strain. Their superior intelligence combined with the natural strength and endurance of an Orc automatically puts them at the top of the Orcish societal pyramid, as it were. There are, however, rare occasions when the Type II Orc, otherwise known as the Second-Generation Mariposa Orc, will be brought into leadership. Generally, it has been observed that these Type IIs serve as small-group leaders, leading small units in combat, or acting as taskmasters for work parties.

Type III Orcs, whose specific origins are yet unknown, are the bottom of the pyramid and also make up the majority of Orcish society. Lesser in intelligence to both Type Is and IIs, they are useless for more than the most menial of tasks and heavy labor. Highly aggressive, they are often not allowed to go near humans unless in the company of at least a Type II..."

Ardentus and The virginian trade union



The virginian trade union

Raiders, Ghouls, and Super Mutants, Oh My!
Part 2: To Heck in a Handbasket

Shepherd's forces spent the better half of a day cleaning out Pleasant Point to use it as an effective jumping off point to head directly into Norfolk, the soldiers beginning to carry out the raider's bodies and the various piles of garbage they left behind. A couple of the houses are chosen to act as barracks to allow the men some form of downtime before Shepherd orders them to move into Norfolk proper, Shepherd himself taking control of one of the houses to properly plan their next move. Shepherd first considered sending out a couple recon teams to scout out the city but soon decided against it for now, it would take too long for the teams to report back and there was a good chance that they wouldn't report back at all. So Shepherd sat at his desk for hours, fighting off the need for sleep, as he pours over the old torn map that sat in front of him, but eventually he does come up with a plan to move forward. He and his men would go through a few alleyways, staying out of the city's center, and attempt to make it to the port and capture it. If they were able to hold the port then Harrison would undoubtedly send reinforcements to secure the rest of the city, after a minute of thought Shepherd nodded to himself before forcing himself upright and leaving the decently sized house to collect his men.

His men congregated outside in the suburbs center, near the old and nonfunctioning fountain that used to shoot out purified water with abandon, the pre war society can definitely be described as wasteful. As his men begin to form into their lines Shepherd takes a moment to look over his soldiers, he sees apprehension and fear in many of their eyes as they know that the only thing that laid before them was death and uncertainty. Shepherd bit back a sigh before addressing his men, "Alright!-" He started, causing his men to snap to attention, "I will be leaving fifty or so men here to hold Pleasant Point, any volunteers?-" Shepherd asked as he looked back at his soldiers, many of the younger men raising their hands in an attempt to get out of the apparent suicide mission of taking Norfolk. Shepherd doesn't blame his men for not wanting to enter the long dead city, there were plenty of stories about mutants stealing kids in the night or sea monsters rising from the irradiated waters, Shepherd heard plenty of those tales back when he was Sheriff of Ashton.

After a moment Shepherd picked out the men that would be garrisoning Pleasant Point before ordering his men to march back up the road they came down to reach the suburb, the force making it back to the main road in only about fifteen minutes. Shepherd then ordered his men to follow the road east towards Norfolk, it was time to attack the beast head on.

------------------------------------------------------------

The force of nearly five hundred men marched slowly through the alleyways that led between the ruined buildings that towered over them, a handful of the ruins tilting to the side as if they would collapse at any moment. Shepherd had to change his men's formation to ensure they could effectively and swiftly make their way through the sometimes narrow alleyways that cut through the city but they seemed to be making some pretty good time, they haven't even encountered that many hostiles yet which was quite odd. However it seemed that Shepherd jinxed him and his men as they began to hear the growls and grunts that unmistakably belonged to one of the most terrifying creatures of the postwar world, feral ghouls. Nearly twenty or even more came crawling out of the busted out windows of buildings and another ten or so came crawling up out of an open manhole that led to the sewers, as if coming up out of hell itself.

A few of his men were shaken by the ghoul's sudden appearance but luckily only a few hesitated before firing upon the zombie-like creatures, their bullets cutting through the walking rotten corpses. The remaining ghouls, seemingly unperturbed by the cascade of bullets the Trade Union soldiers were sending their way, charged forward as they let out feral growls that shook many of the men to their cores. The men tried to move back to avoid the onslaught of ghouls, their formation not allowing them to cut them down fast enough, however as they tried to back up through the alley they heard even more growls and grunts. Another bunch of ghouls had come up behind them, Shepherd assumed they must have been attracted to the gunfire or the sounds of the other ghouls. The men prepared themselves for the fight ahead of them, the ghouls not wasting any time as they lurch forward with the only emotion being hunger in their seemingly dead eyes.

The men on the frontline and backline began to fire everything they had at the fast approaching ghouls, the men in the middle of the formation trying to offer aid however possible as they couldn't open fire due to their current formation. A few of the ghouls fell dead on the cracked concrete below, however that did little to stop the other ghouls as they simply ran on top of their dead brothers. A few of the ghouls jumped with an inhuman cry and latched on to a handful of soldiers, biting into their necks as the men cried out for help from their comrades. Blood and flesh flew in the air as the ghouls tore into their prey, the other soldiers too shocked to properly move as they watched the ghouls tear into their squadmates. Shepherd let out a grunt as he raised his engraved Smith & Wessen, unloading a bullet into a ghoul's skull and splattering its brains over the ground. The soldier that the ghoul made a meal out of was already long dead, the poor man had his throat ripped out by the gluttonous ghoul.

The other men, knocked out of their shocked state, began to fire back at the ghouls and cut them down. However it seemed that more and more ghouls continued to pour out of every possible crevice, Shepherd tried to take a moment to look to see if there was a suitable area to retreat to. Before he could properly form a plan one of his men caught his attention when they called out to him, once Shepherd looked he saw a large figure knocking the ghouls out of their way. As Shepherd tried to focus on the figure he began to notice their green skin and large physique, the figure finally making itself clear as it crushed a ghoul's head beneath its feet. After a moment Shepherd knew exactly what he was looking at, the figure was a super mutant clad in armor made from various scrap metals and a large sledgehammer clutched in its massive hands that seemed more than capable to crush a man's skull.

The super mutant looked at Shepherd's forces and then back to the large number of ghouls that began to congregate, it seemed like the mutant was debating something within its head. After a moment the mutant turned its head to face at Shepherd, "You… Follow me-" It said in a deep and gravelly voice before turning and leaving the alleyway with haste. Shepherd stood there a moment, lost for words, before deciding to follow the mutant since he didn't have that much time to think up a plan that would avoid further casualties. He ordered his men forward to follow the retreating mutant, the soldiers sounding off before making their way through the alleyway as fast as humanly possible, a few falling to the hungry ghouls that began to surround them. The mutant looked behind itself briefly before ducking into another alleyway, Shepherd following due to the pack of ghouls that continued to follow despite his men's constant gunfire.

Hidden under the shadows of the towering buildings was the entrance to what appeared to be a settlement of some kind, a gate fortified by various bits of scrap collected around the ruins stood in their way as his men turned, fanning out and beginning to shoot at the approaching ghouls. The entrance to the alleyway acted as a sort of choke point since the ghouls had no other way into the alley, Shepherd's men being able to gun down the abominations as the ghouls attempted to crawl over their dead kin in an attempt to satiate their never ending hunger. Soon the pack of ghouls lay dead at the alleyway's entrance, the Trade Union soldiers taking a moment to their breath as the unnamed super mutant opened the gate. Shepherd watched the mutant curiously before heading inside the gate, market stalls and makeshift shakes stacked upon one another met his eyes as he looked at the tucked away settlement. The mutant notices Shepherd's gaze, giving him a moment before speaking, "Welcome… To the Retreat…" The mutant says slowly, Shepherd's men walking into the settlement with relief written on their faces.

Trade Union Casualties -24

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