Mitheral
"Growf!"
The universe has done its damndest to wipe out humanity. Multiple pandemics from 2020-2035 killing half a billion people.
A major astrophysical event where a neutron star fragment passed on a near collision course with Earth, dragging planet killer asteroids in its wake killed 95% of the remaining population. A CME did a little more damage. All of this was passed off as World War III. (Mar 1-6, 2039)
Finally a dozen new viruses ravaged the remaining population again from 2039-2079.
The year is 2084. The current population of the planet is about 187.5 million. This means there are about just over 8 million people left in the USA, plus the million who were preserved in the Enclaves. Most of the population lives above a 2000 foot elevation. It took about 4 years for the first vegetation to take root in the lower elevations or in areas where the volcanic ash was over a foot deep (300 mm). It will take well over a century for the process of recovery to return life.
In the past 45 years it has become apparent that life on Earth has begun to evolve and mutate. Life is adapting to the new conditions. Sometimes this means horrific lifeforms with an alien design to them. Oh the life is Terran, just mutated to something new and deadly. Some humans have also shown signs of mutation, having survived infection and giving birth to children.
Survival
For the 8.2 million survivors NOT from the Enclaves most live in primitive conditions, using whatever remains of their bunkers. The CME destroyed the generators in most such bunkers. Only those with luxury bunkers, people with government and military connections they provided them with state of the art systems or true nuclear bunkers able to withstand the CME, may have come out of the apocalypse with something resembling technology. But they have to safeguard what they have from everyone else.
New towns have arisen that resembled MASH units, tent cities, with filtration from the outside air. They have been clearing the land to make it capable of supporting crops. Of course, without seed there is only so much they can do. Meat is very hard to come by.
So what do people eat? Well, the Enclaves try to airdrop rations at recognized towns. Those towns, of course, swear fealty to the Enclaves. Food had become a weapon of war, and the Enclaves tool for enforcing peace.
The lucky few, the very brave, have acquired NBC gear of their own. They brave the wilderness in search of goods to trade with. After 45 years, bridges and most pre-apocalypse structures have collapsed. Radiation is pretty much no longer a danger unless you get close to some crater.
Life in town is pretty dull. But survival isn’t easy. Survivalists sometimes transport small shipments or mail or even escort people between towns. Transportation is very limited as fuel is non-existent. And most farm life was wiped out - but not all. There were a few farmers who thought ahead and did the Ark thing. The Enclaves did.
Characters
You may be a survivalist, or a townsman. But I am going to encourage survivalists as primary characters. We will be starting in the USA. The group will need to pick out a starting location. I am going to suggest somewhere in the vicinity of Las Vegas. The area was far enough from the supervolcanoes and at a higher enough elevation. The ash that was spread will actually HELP the agriculture. Water will be the biggest shortfall.
There will be a small Ville known as Mt Ida that caters to working survivalists, hiring them for jobs of the sort described. Pay may even come in the form of advanced survival suits designed for long term survival under the harshest conditions, stuff on par with anything the Enclaves might have.
It is also possible to be a Freezie. Cryogenic suspension was finally developed in 2035. Not the most reliable technology, but most of the bugs had been worked out. Probably set for 50 years, it would have been triggered 5 years early - which means the tech in your bunker will have begun to fail. But it would have tot be a well designed bunker, just likely a small one.
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