So who is watching our players as they try to survive in this oil-soaked utopia? Obviously, local groups will take notice of local disturbances. For example, Uncle Bayou's Appeasement Patrol wants to preserve peace, order, and proximate petroleum interests, and are more than eager to bash a few skulls for some tranquility.
image from the Bureau of
Engraving and printing
But are there other groups out there? Could large cabals be hiding in the shadows manipulating events? Or are there public organizations with ostensible interests that hold shrouded plans? Below is a short write-up of the factions listed in the Core Rulebook on page 91, with some editorial content from yours truly.
The Archivists Society is devoted to Ancient Technology, literally. This group collects items from before the Balefire but does not use them. All artifacts are preserved and worshiped, regardless of functionality. Technology that still works is treated with the greatest reverence. They will attempt to trade for ancient objects they encounter, but they are not above using force to "save" those items. After all, they're on a Mission from God.
image from the National Forest Service
The Bonapartists are a paramilitary cadre under the leadership of a mutant bear calling himself Emperor Napoleon IV. His base is hidden deep in the wilderness, where he plots constantly according to the most prevalent gossip. Nobody knows the true cause of Napoleon's anger and hatred of humans, but the organization apparently allows only those with obvious animal heritage into their crusade to wrest control of this world from the vestiges of humanity. Badders and road hogs in particular find a welcoming and supporting home in this organization and supposedly compose most of the fighting ranks.
Nobody has ever met a member of the Brotherhood of Thought, but that hasn't stopped the rumors from growing more incredible over the years. The stated goal of this clandestine group is supposedly the establishment of rational order and cooperation in this fractured world, of course under their guidance. Many people talk of acquaintances or relations that supposedly met an agent of the Brotherhood but then vanished without warning. Speculation is that the missing individuals are still alive but work fervently for the goals of the Brotherhood, completely detached from their former lives.
photo from FEMA
The Knights of Genetic Purity seek to eliminate all mutants from the planet. Given the sheer number of mutants alive as well as their awesome powers, it is obvious why such an organization would operate in secret. There are no professed members of this order, but only "pure" strains of humanity can partake in their alleged undertaking.
photo from FEMA
Another dangerous cult are the Radioactivists, although if they exists, they are mostly a danger to themselves. Adherents to their philosophy consider fallout and radiation to be the "Radiant Divine Glory" and seek to worship it at every opportunity. This veneration involves gathering around sites of radioactivity and letting the radiation "energize" their bodies. Mothers warn children to behave because naughty and disobedient youngsters will be stolen away by Radioactivists in the middle of the night and forced to worship near some glowing deathtrap. Some adults who still believe in this group worry that with many radioactive sites slowly becoming hospitable due to time and the natural decay of isotopes, the Radioactivists might acquire dormant nuclear weapons and detonate them to create new shrines for their hazardous pilgrimages.
The Restorationists are a strange case. Supposedly this group seeks to rebuild the world anew with a mix of old technology and new mutations. While members of this group proudly (sometimes even smugly) identify themselves, there is no formal membership requirements, no initiation rites, and no codified hierarchy known. Members simply spontaneously declare their allegiance and assemble with like-minded individuals to promote revitalizing society and improving the world.
At the beginning of this campaign, the characters are assumed to know everything on this page, and possibly a little more once the Secret Societies page goes live. (EDIT: The page still isn't ready.) Anyone with specific questions will be allowed to make a Conspiracy skill check to see what information they've heard over the years, but I cannot guarantee the accuracy or veracity of those answers. No player character will start the game as a member of any secret society, nor do they know for certain that anyone they meet belongs to a clandestine organization.
Note that this article does not present an exhaustive list of post-Balefire power-brokers. In addition to the basic Gamma World rulebook, I have access to the Cryptic Alliances & Unknown Enemies sourcebook from White Wolf's d20 Gamma World. There is a section from pages 18-38 detailing many of the groups listed above as well as new groups like the Zoopremicists and the Viragos. Furthermore, I have access to my years of research on the Illumanati. (I was Illuminated long before Beyoncé made it cool.) So have the Gnomes of Zurich become mutated horrors from sitting on radioactive gold for centuries? With all three vertices now underwater, have the denizens of the Bermuda Triangle begun roaming the Gulf of Mexico? And where did I put that copy of the Principia Discordia?
Last night, the family went to The Tin Cow in Pensacola for a small celebration. We've gone there for years for their great burgers. But last night they had something different on the menu: Smoked lionfish seafood dip! The dish comes garnished with two tomato slices and a bed of arugula. Tortilla chips are the dip delivery system of choice. The presentation was fairly unremarkable, but this concoction is an appetizer, not some avant garde foodie bait. Curious, I ordered some for the family. Now I liked it. Not something I would seek out, but it was not bad. The rest of the family was similarly underwhelmed and stopped eating the dip fairly quickly. Nonetheless, I found the experience an interesting intellectual exercise in apocalyptic thinking. I suppose that it sounds weird that an appetizer would be relevant to a barren wasteland, but follow me for a bit. As I was ordering this novel seafood offering, I asked generically,"What's this lionfish dip all about?...
Okay, I'm really not curious about what happened to bring about a post-apocalyptic, partially submerged, oil-soaked Gulf Coast. I've already placed many details in order to my satisfaction. But I am curious about what to call that terrible event. photo from FEMA Humans always want to name catastrophes. Hurricanes have names that are repeated until a named storm turns deadly, at which point the name is retired. Historians refer to the Great Depression like that level of economic collapse could never happen again. World War I was originally called the Great War, under the misconception that such massive destruction could never happen again. And if you refer to 9-11, every American above a certain age remembers so much about that terrifying day. photo from FEMA So what would the survivors call the almost End of the World? Judgement Day would be great if it hadn't already been used by Terminator II. Other terms like Armageddon or Ragnarok refer to specific battles,...
photo from Bureau of Labor Statistics During my haphazard research into this new campaign setting, I found a generator for fake corporate mission statements . It already knows an impressive array of business jargon, but the program allows you to add anything you think is missing. To add new words to the list...er, I mean to synergize legacy vocabulistic infrastructure with neologistic business expressions , click on the appropriate tab (nouns, verbs, adverbs or adjectives) and enter a comma at the end of the extant list to include words like: photo from the Bureau of Labor Statistics incentivize crowdsource smartsize rightsize six-sigma black belt refocus reorient recenter positive externalities prioritize bifurcation breakthroughs The vision statements and enterprise goals produced are needlessly obtuse, the perfect artifacts of our age to let Gamma World characters find scrawled on the walls of office complexes or embossed on stationary. Imagine the fun a...
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