North London Vs South London

A Culture Divided...

Geographically, London has not changed too much since the Reshaping. However, the boundaries and territory which was once known as London, has been split in two. The segregating point being the Divide River, cutting the North and South portions of the Wastes apart. It is probably for the best, when looking at the vastly different cultures they behold...

The North – Civilised London

The Northern Wastes are supposed to be and generally are made up of more civilised folk. They build working settlements and generally aim to work together toward a brighter future. They try uphold ideals of law, order, valuing trade and honesty.

Of course there are still and will always be those ''undesirables'' whom will not follow this agenda, but they are dealt with swiftly and justly. They will generally work toward the betterment of a new world where humanity can once again prosper and that makes way for all those whom are willing to pull their own weight.

  

The North is populated with many settlements, usually whom work together and even if they do not they are aware of their neighbours jurisdiction. Trade Town, The Tower, Buckingham City and the Piccadilly Market are just a few of the places where the North dwellers have shown of how their co-operation is bringing together humanity once more and as they call it, acting on the first steps to regain Civilisation...

The South – The Great Feral Expanse

Then we have the Southern Wastes. To the Northerners it is simply known as the Great Feral Expanse. A title given out of just as much fear as it has out of hated and awe. You see, across the Divide the culture is a little more simplistic...

The Great Feral Expanse is populated by countless raider gangs as well an array of mutants, corrupted wildlife and other more unpleasant desirable types. It is the law of the sword and gun out there, where nobody owns anything and everything is fair game.

 

Not a lot is known about their specific culture (as few survive to bring back information) other than that each gang, or clan are highly individualised. Not all of them do kill for pleasure as many horror stories lead you to believe, some are even cunning, some are skilled in unexpected fields such as computers and mechanics, some just go with what they need to do to survive.

Is is known that the Raider gangs live to fight one another, they exist to conquer the territory of their neighbours, building their estate and renown and they can not often be reasoned with.

Either way only the roughest and the toughest make it out here. If the Raiders could ever be pulled together for whatever reason, little could stop them from destroying the North and their civilised way of living...

Chapel Trail Outpost, Or unofficially the Fortune Gate

Your First Step into New London

To the far west of the Central London Wastes, at the furtherest edge of the White-Road lies a small trading settlement known as the Chapel Trail Outpost.

More recently travellers have taken to referring to the small series of building as the Fortune Gate. The name has thoroughly disappointed many, whom assume it to refer to a mighty stronghold, or some kind of bastion of security. The reality of the town is, two small trading posts and a fairly large; re-purposed Hotel.

The shabby Hotel is also famed for its converted lounge, turned tavern and is the first place an aspiring Merc should head for work. The beauty of the Fortune Gate is its work ethic. Generally it will pay shelter and warm food for work, no matter who you are, or what you do.

 

The settlement itself is usually too small to be seen as a target, but big enough to defend itself from attack. It also tends to make its own protection, being the first stop for all new travellers in the area, form merchant to ruthless bounty hunter, has its perks.

The name, Fortune Gate, is relevant however when looked at in the right way, it refers to the fact that this town, however small, is the first point to where trade Caravans enter the Central London Wastes (well at least from the West). It is also the last open settlement in the CLW before you hit the Tower, in many cases making it a must stop to re-supply.

More recently the town has been recruiting a countless supply of new Caravan guards, as their old ones just so happen to go missing on the White-Road. Trade between the Tower and the Fortune Gate must continue, if the Caravans stopped the results would be catastrophic not only for those said settlements, but potentially all of the settlements this side of the Divide River.....

The White-Road ( White-Trail )

The White-Road - Hope and Loss

Once it was a simple road just as any other. A means to an end, for people to use and not appreciate. We all know the purpose of a road and of how they aren't a particularly special thing, but in the times after the Reshaping, roads became innately valuable and strategic locations.

In this new wasteland it is said that a settlement can only survive based upon the roads that encircle it. Roads mean survival in the new world, they a means for trade, supplies and infrastructure. They are also a means for the less desirables of society to prey on, mostly for the same reasons.

All over the Central London Wastes it is said that there is no road more important than The White-Trail (also known as the White-road). You see, it was a valuable and popular Caravan trade route, even despite its recent troubles. It is the most accessible Road into the Central London Wastes and cannot afford to be abandoned.

 

The name comes from early settlers to the Central London Wastes (it also coincidentally it runs though Whitechapel). They say that this road was the first and biggest source of travellers as well as income though trade. The name was honorary, a harken back to an old legend, a time of progress and rebuilding, however as of late the White-Road has been plagued with woe.

It used to be a symbol of hope and prosperity but now most travellers assume it to be cursed or worse. Caravans have been going missed on a more frequent basis and those survivors that are found are maddened by the horrors they have endured, unable to give concise accounts of what happened.

Many have taken the contracts to figure out the mystery and most account it to increased raider activity in the Whitechapel area. Time will tell if anyone will be crack the case but either way, life must go on, Caravans are the life blood of the Wastes and must continue their dangerous journeys.

The most recent news to come out of the White-Road situation is of a man. None know who he truly is or what motivates him, but one thing is for certain, he is willing pay well for the truth of the cursed road......

The Dividing River

The State of the Thames

The Divide River or more simply known as, Divide River was formally the Thames. With the reshaping and shortly the re-emergence of the human race it has been a vital source of both power and obviously, water.

The Divide is a double edged sword however and it does not simply just provide. Those first few to emerge soon realised that to drink from the water of the River could result in illness or insanity. Some would even change completely, turning rabid and going on to attack their comrades. It was clear that there was a problem with the water, but it would not many years till the problem would be solved.

 

By 2305 it has been well established that the waters are thoroughly contaminated with Charged Radiation, hence why it alters the flesh and minds of those whom ingest it. Funnily enough, this radiation is the only pollutant present, with much of the old world pollution being vaporised or otherwise removed during the Reshaping. Getting rid of the harmful compounds in the water now has a trivial fix, it can simply be boiled and re-cooled. Certain traders have taken up to solely purifying and further monetising the water, a fairly lucrative business these days....

With the rebuilding of settlements and new civilisation, the Divide river is also used to power many of the buildings and defences that occupy its banks. It is a common place to see and hear impossible looking turbines furiously working day and night to supply settlements with the precious power. These sites tend to have heightened security, some even forming miniature trade posts of their own to try and ward of raiders and other undesirables.

In the Aftershock world water is a necessity just as it is in our world, but it also comes with Danger, you do not want to be drinking water that you do not know is purified!

The third and final role of the River is obvious, it divides the North and the South parts of the Central London Wastes. It is the only thing that stops attacks en mass from the raider clans of the South, to the built up settlements in the North.

Mutation, Radiation and the New field of Bio-Magnetics in Aftershock

The Miscalculation and the Realisation

In Aftershock, the Reshaping (or the Great Storm) did much more than just send humans to live underground. It changed the Earth's atmosphere entirely. We have discussed the where, when and why, now we discuss the consequence. 

When Hive activated the Ark's Charge Core, spiralling arcs of lightning shot toward the earth with incredible speed. Upon entering the atmosphere this lighting discharged and caused a chain reaction on the surface, creating a blanket of continual storms. Aftershock has two different types of storms, the charge (or core) storms, which compromise the unnatural power of the Ark's charge core and the natural storms, which of course, are natural but now appear much more frequently.

So why did the Atmosphere destabilise? When the charged lightning hit the Earth's magnetic field it briefly created a clean hole in the ozone layer. Even though it was mere moments, it was enough time to let huge dose of harmful cosmic radiation though into the atmosphere. When the magnetic field slammed shut it essentially meshed the energy of the core and the cosmic energy together. The three elements then acted with exceptional unpredictability and sparked the Storms. Think of it like a bag filled with volatile gas, you know what happens when a flame is introduced. 

 

Later the Ark staff would realise that this was their ''miscalculation''. They had not accounted for said elements to combine. More recently they also have been able to observe the cause and effect of the Radiation now caught up in the Earth's atmosphere. The Ark has opened a speciality branch of research and development on this very topic, known now as Bio-magnetics.

When the storms first raged it was deadly above the surface but over time this has dyed down. However it is not that simple and over time it has been discovered that the radiation can and has greatly affected biological matter on the surface. You see, it seemingly mutates or alters cells in almost every animal and changes them dramatically. The anomalies that appear as a result are as equally fascinating as they are terrifying. Not all animals are changed, it is usually those most exposed to the Storms. 

And so, all over the world can be found all manner of weird and wonderful mutants, however we will have more on those later......

The Time After the Storm

The Reshaping and the Year 2305

With the onset of the great storm, the idea of recording history became a pointless. Life became about fighting to survive, in a world that would not tolerate living presence. Accounts of the storm are pretty much non existent, but a few things have developed into legend.

The people of Aftershock collectively name the period between the beginning and end of the storms as the ''Time of Reshaping'' or simply The Reshaping''. During this period, that would last twenty years, the entire globe was covered in rolling, unnatural lightning storms. Early on it is said that the strikes could and did take whole chunks out of buildings and in some of the more densely populated areas of the world, the storm split great fissures in the Earth. These fissures are important and in the wider world are known as Ground Zero points, but we will talk about them later.

However it is known that the ruined world we see today is a product of missing the maintenance of man. Buildings are decaying due to lack of use, rather than being destroyed by the storms, but keep in mind, the early storms did have the power to damage buildings. Not only did the man made world suffer, but of course many millions died early on.

The ones whom were instantly vaporised were lucky, as many more would die after them as a result of lacking medical treatment, or lack of medicines. Even illnesses as mundane as the common cold could be deadly, there was no physical way for people to receive the medicine they needed.

It is common belief that those whom did survive managed to get underground. Even in the world today, it forgotten subway stations, wanderers can see the last remnants of small makeshift settlements.

After the Reshaping, humanity resurfaced to find a scorched wasteland. They would go on to do the only thing that they could do in the situation...

Start again.

Many of the makeshift communities moved above ground and re-settled in places with easier access and better fortifications. Over the next eighty-odd years, settlements grew, populations expanded and a wasteland culture, similar to that of the romanised old west was formed. Groups came together, mercenary bands, Raider gangs, even remnants of government and military initiatives have been recently trying to pull together the tattered remains of their lost empires.

This is the world that leads up to 2305, this is the world that you now inhabit. Live well and aim to die old...

The Storm Arrives

Zero Hour

The key, the cleansing flame would be the Ark's charge reactor. If correctly aligned, it was hypothesized to destabilise the natural atmosphere of the earth for moments. In those moments, everything and everyone would be vaporised, leaving the world clean, rather than just a wasteland.

There would be a catch however, the energy would have to slowly recharge after the event and many core systems would be offline for some time. So all personal were put into suspended animation, to preserve their lives, ready to wake when it was safe for the station to sustain them.

And so preparation was made, Hive staff calmly readied for genocide. 90% went into stasis, and those remaining waited for the order.

The reactor discharged flawlessly. From the middle point of the station, huge green arcs of lightning rode the width of the craft until reaching the bottom tip, facing the earth. Then came the lights.

Silent, but beautiful, dancing across the surface faster than your eye can blink. It lasted two minutes, then another five, then another 10. Those minutes went on to become hours, hours days and days years.

It was unbelievable, a miscalculation. 

   

For just over twenty years the storms would rage until 2219 in which many of the clouds slowly parted....

Regardless of the fact, only the most important members of the colony were awoken and over the next several decades the colonists would simply continue the scientific pursuits already started on earth. They forgot the name Hive, and simply became ''One''. They would also vow to repair the civilisation they lost...

One day, when the time was right, they will descend and mend their broken world...

Before the Storm, Part III

The Ark's Purpose

The Militaricus were a group of supposed ex-Hive staff whom had ''aided'' the unknown whistle-blower and had defected. In the years after, their influence as advisor's would grant them a reasonable degree of power in the UN. They would then go on to take the place of Hive and would actively started developing all manner of military grade hardware for countries all over the world. They would even go as far as to revive Nuclear research, reactivating many nuclear initiatives.

They have never forgotten Hive and at every moment sought to declare war on their old brothers. But no trace could ever be found...

The truth of the matter was, Hive could not be found because they were not on earth.

 

The Ark had proven a monumental success and had already been launched and with it almost all the remnants of Hive with it. Using exceptional stealth technology, no one would ever know it was right above them....

It was partially the truth, the Ark was built as a colony and research ship. But what was that for? After many long years, Hive had finally discovered create raw electrical energy literally from scratch. It was how the station could fly, how it could sustain itself. They called it Charge Technology. In honest truth, Hive saw the Ark as humanities second chance, the chance to start fresh. There was one problem however.

The Surface.

 

It was with a heavy heart that in 2199, the Hive council would convene to decide the fate of humanity. They could not leave hysteria to develop further into nuclear war, their initiative was based on one day, re-settling the earth, no.

The only option, It must be cleansed...

Before the Storms, Part II

The Beginning of the End

For a century the Hive Collective worked for the betterment of mankind, countless inventions and objects were produced to give people better life quality. They fixed food shortages, removed the need for armed police officers on streets and in 2169 station 41K, or as many already knew it, the Ark was nearing the end of its completion.

Ever since its conception the organisation became a bright star of hope for the future of humanity. However they had also always been cautious. The collective did have a single base of operations, but instead worked from specially designed mobile submarine laboratories. They were always to remain anonymous and unbiased in political affairs, to build a better world, a better future. What they had achieved over the few centuries they had been around, was to establish an empire, a legacy.

And of course with many great empires it would all come crashing down upon a whisper...

In the years that followed the Hive collective became shrouded in rumour and as this suspicion grew, so did the Collective regress from the spotlight of the worlds media. People were told they had been working for the betterment of humankind and had supposedly long ago abandoned the notion of military pursuits. However in 2186 due to a confusion with a so-called whistle-blower, it emerged that experimental Military grade tech had been unearthed within secret laboratories.

It caused outrage. It caused panic. It caused mass-hysteria on a global scale.

The idea of a military force was alien to much of the population, these people had lived in a world almost entirely free of weapons and of violence. Even governments panicked and overnight many countries took extreme measures in an attempt to protect themselves from whatever horrors they may face. Almost overnight conscription became mandatory, and military bases were haphazardly cobbled together in areas of low population.

Emergency summits were taken into the UN and as the situation escalated, the collective seemingly vanished without all trace. In the darkest hour of human history, a hooded man would stand. He would proclaim the Hive to be turncoats and traitors, that they were going to turn their back on humanity, that they would destroy what they were supposed to preserve.

In this moment, came the birth of the Militaricus....

Before the Storms Part I

Peace in our Time

So lets start with some history eh?

From the offset of the 20^th century, the scientific developments of human kind began to sky-rocket. Science was evolving more rapidly that it ever had before, shaken by various terrible world events. By the time of the first World War, humanity was arrogant and misguided leaders would send boys to fight and die for sparse yards of farmland, in far-off fields. Then came the atrocities of the Second World War, the holocaust and the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima. The world was then soon griped by the fear of the cold war, titanic forces that could end the world with a simple flick of the wrist.

During the opening days of the reformation of the League of Nations into the United Nations, a group of unaffiliated scientists would propose a plan. They would see the end of armed conflicts and in place form an initiative that would take the very best minds throughout the world, to work on projects to better the lives of their fellow men. This new organisation would come to be known as the Hive Collective.

And just like that, in 1951 the cold war was abruptly ended. Both the States and The USSR decided to stand down and demilitarise. All science and intelligence became one almost overnight and for the next 100 years or so humanity entered a golden age of peace and prosperity. Science once again sky- rocketed, greater advancements in medicine, cultivation and the prototypes of primitive domesticated robots were just some of the marvels coming out of the big corporate businesses.

In 2060 ambassadors of the Hive Collective propose the Ark initiative. A huge, self sustainable, colony and research station. It would be mankind's first full step into the stars and would lead us into a new age.

Life was blissful and the petty wars of the past were almost forgotten...

Thats, almost...

Welcome to Aftershock...

The Calm After the Storm.....

It is the year 2305. Planet Earth lies desolate, broken and warped by savage, unnatural lightning storms. In the absence of the greater human race, much of civilization lies in ruins. Cities that were once marvelled, now inspire naught but the tragic hopes of a bygone age. Whatever people there were left after the Great Storm, now fight a continuous battle for survival.

Yet that hope is not fully lost...

From the ashes of Old London, new communities have formed, survivors with common interest are trying to once again call the city their home. Some are territorial raiders, bought together as part of vicious criminal gangs, whom take their names from bloody history. Others are farmers, trying their utmost to lead simple and happy lives. More are soldiers, trying to salvage and repair ''the old ways'', to reinstall government and order, both in very limited supply.

Some are not human at all and rumours of metal men are spread in settlements. Then there are the ''gifted'', or the mutants; of course it all depends on your point of view.

And then there are those that come from above, suvivours embarked upon great Ark stations, they have lived though the Great Storm untouched. With their own agenda, they will likely play a big part in the new history of the world....

Thank you and Welcome to Aftershock 2305. The blog is based on a tabletop RPG that I am writing and uses the Savage Worlds system. It is set in a future, post- apocalyptic London and it breeds some of my favourite elements of Science fiction games and books. Rather than nuclear fallout or a Z-epidemic, Aftershock focuses on a world that has been ravaged by the elements.

I have an intense fascination with the post - apocalypse and have only recently got into role-playing! Its fantastic! In video games and books you can enjoy the worlds but you can never really be truly in control. You can get invested on that next level. When you get to the table you soon realise that your imagination is the limit, you can do anything you want!

I have high hopes for Aftershock, it gives me an excuse to write and share stories with my friends again. However and wherever it goes, this blog will be the place where I will explore places, concepts, characters and more!

So Keep Calm and stay tuned...