The First Frontier (OOC / Signup)

[Flatwoodlands]

The First Frontier



An original FilmWood Studios Production roleplay

The First Frontier is a post-apocalyptic faction-based solarpunk roleplay set in 2400 AD. It is the debut of a new roleplay series, five years in the making. Now, FilmWood Studios Production presents its first original roleplay, where you and your fellow survivors will adapt and build out of the vine-tangled and forest infested ruins of the world.

Somewhere in the 21st century, major volcanic eruptions burned, choked, and decimated humanity. Most destructively of all, perhaps even ironically, the Earth's temperatures dipped, not soared, for the worst. Whether it be Fahrenheit or Celsius, the entire planet experienced a new ice age that lasted for several centuries. Once the ice thawed, humanity's achievements, technologies, conveniences, weapons, and governments were in ruins. Despite this, humanity can finally reemerge and rebuild.

Our story begins in the ruins of a small unnamed coastal city. Perhaps you are a meandering nomads-turned-settlers; maybe you are a band of thieves or raiders blessed with a stroke of luck; you are the creator and master of a new civilisation at your hands. It is the first true spring throughout the world, but a brutal and unforgiving winter will return. Build and defend yourself, because there will be much work to be done, both peacefully and violently. This is the First Frontier - the beginning of our new story.

• I). Thou shalt have no other god but me (OP - Flatwoodlands).
• II). Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images. (No NSFW content)
• III). Thou shalt not take the name of the lord’s name in vain. (OP’s word is absolute lest said otherwise).
• IV). Thou shalt take and uphold responsibility and integrity. (You are responsible for your own actions - Nobody will pay for your mistakes)
• V). Honor thy brothers and thy sisters at arms.
• VI). Thou shalt not kill.
• VII). Thou shalt not commit adultery. (No cheating or godmodding - third offenses equals perma-ban and blacklisting)
• VIII). Thou shalt not steal. (Do not use canon characters from other universes - make your own original characters)
• IX). Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy comrades. (No griefing, discrimination, or slandering - Big Brother and Little Brother are watching you)
• X). Thou shalt have fun. ( )

Code: Select all

[spoiler][b][i]Settlement Name:[/i][/b] (Keep all names in English, please. Save any conlang or foreign language magic for later.)

[b][i]Settlement Government:[/i][/b] (No more than a paragraph - This is not a political lecture.)

[b][i]Settlement Population:[/i][/b] (No more than 1,000. Keep in mind, however, the lower your population, the less mouths to feed and protect.)

[b][i]Settlement Coordinates:[/i][/b] (Refer to the map - name only the alphabetical letter and number. For example, A1, B2, C3, or D4. Most importantly, pick only one coordinates - more than one is an instant disqualification).

[b][i]Settlement Society:[/i][/b] (Describe the daily routines of your settlement. Include class structure, beliefs/concepts, and traditions. Exclude in-depth details - we’ll develop everything else in RP.)

[b][i]Settlement History:[/i][/b] (No more than three paragraphs, please. However, two paragraphs is the minimum requirement. Each paragraph should be no less than three sentences, but no more than six, apiece.)

[b][i]Settlement Goal(s):[/i][/b] (No more than three sentences)

[b][i]Settlement Description:[/i][/b]
- Manufacturing:
- Agriculture:
- Technology:
- Trade:
- Education:
- Rulership:

[b][i]Points:[/i][/b] MATTER (No more than 30 points allocated - Effects are not mutually affected.)
M: 0 | 10
A: 0 | 10
T: 0 | 10
T: 0 | 10
E: 0 | 10
R: 0 | 10[/spoiler]

[b][i]Confirmation[/i][/b]: (What SHALT you do?)

Manufacturing
0-1: (You have no meaningful infrastructure or expertise! Lest you entirely rely on trade or outside supplier for your industrial/manufacturing needs, you are at a critical disadvantage.)
2-4: (You have some infrastructure or expertise on manufacturing and building your own stuff. Craftsmanship is primitive, subpar, or hazardous, but it is better than nothing. Quality control and mass production is near to completely impossible.)
5-7: (You have reasonable infrastructure AND expertise in the industrial sector. Mass production is becoming a reality, thanks to better equipment, management, and logistics. Craftsmanship is good, but nothing special or extraordinary.)
8-9: (You have excellent infrastructure and expertise, thanks in large part to mechanisation and standardisation. The quality of your products is almost as good as handcrafted ones; whereas, you produce almost as much as your more advanced counterparts. You can be a major industrial power here, but the quality of your products would be questionable or subpar.)
10: (You have fully developed industrial-manufacturing infrastructure and expertise - You are a major industrial power. People will be vying for your assistance or services; whoever controls the means of production can control the masses. Caution: Jealous outsiders will definitely be spying or sabotaging you.)

Agriculture
0-4: (Danger; famines abound lest you rely entirely or heavily on foreign trade.)
5-8: (Average; some surplus but not quite.)
9-10: (Self-sufficient; Garden of Eden reincarnated.)

Technology
0-4: (Primitive; prehistoric or jury rigged. Herbal medicines, simple weapons, and patchwork bodging fall around here. You are probably a superstitious tribe or a band of ragtag survivors within this rating.)
5-8: (Average; industrial or pre-modern. For example, primitive electronics, such as, telegraphs and lamps, fall around here. Muskets or other repeating weapons are also included.)
9-10: (Advanced; modern. Computers, self-repeating weapons, and antibiotics, such as, penicillin, are possible; however, no WMDs, such as, nuclear, biological, or chemical.)

Trade
0-2: (Autarky; either you are xenophobic, self-reliant, or both. Caution: You are isolated if you are within this rating. Hermit kingdoms or bunkers fall around here.)
3-8: (Average; you rely on a healthy or balanced combination of commerce and self-sufficiency.)
9-10: (Powerhouse; you have massive surplus and power over trade and commerce. Caution: You have a reputation to maintain if you are here.)

Education
0-3: (Illiterate, ignorant, and/or idiotic. Illnesses, lunacy, and incompetence is abound.)
4-6: (Average; not smart but not stupid. Creativity and safety is basic; however, it could be better.)
7-9: (Good; well-trained but ignorant. People are knowledgeable, but they have yet to experience the real or actual thing.)
10: (Excellent; experienced and educated. Your denizens are prepared for every possibility and had extensive experience beforehand.)

Rulership
0-3: (Anarchy; betrayal and chaos reigns supreme. Pirates and gangs fall within this rating.)
4-7: (Average; stable but not perfect. Democracies and most governments fall within this rating.)
8-10: (Authoritarian; very stable but at a price. Lest it’s a highly successful democracy, police states fall within this rating.)

- A1: (Broadcasting tower - the highest habitable structure in the entire city)
- A2: (Commercial district on flat stable ground; however, it edges along the fringes of the wild woodlands - settle at your own risk)
- A3: (End of the highway - last stop till you reach the woodlands)
- A4: (Unstable uptown ruins covered in moderate foliage and dense rubble - isolated but manageable from within)
- B1: (Low-lying urban wastelands susceptible to flooding - settle at your own risk)
- B2: (Capital and banking core; however, the plentiful and desirable real estate within is a major source of conflict)
- B3: (Highrise urban wastelands with easy access to the highway)
- B4: (Moderate rubble on smooth, upward hilly terrain - tricky to build and scale but relatively easy to defend)
- C1: (Low-lying lowlands at the whims of the tide - settle at your own risk)
- C2: (Highrise urban wastelands with a prime view of the coast)
- C3: (Highrise urban wastelands with the highway underneath)
- C4: (Shopping mall and dense forestlands)
- D1: (Empty coastal waters - Unclaimable)
- D2: (Swampy and overgrown commercial district vulnerable to flooding - settle at your own risk lest you build upward)
- D3: (A modest urban area with no serious dangers or advantages; however, the nearby highway is their only easy access to trade or quick transportation)
- D4: (Short and stout residential area; small apartment complexes and businesses)
- E1: (Empty coastal waters with tall coastal walls - safe but cramp and small)
- E2: (The dockyards and rail terminal - no serious dangers except for the prime real estate)
- E3: (Stadium and onramps)
- E4: (Apartment complexes shrouded with near to completely impenetrable forestland)
- F1: (Isolated island with a drydock and ports - small but uniquely strategic)
- F2: (Railyards and drydock)
- F3: (Urban overgrowth with flat and open streets)
- F4: (Urban outskirts divided by dense forestland and highway, bordered by the nearby woodlands)

[Flatwoodlands]

Accepted Applications

• Flatwoodlands (VM)
• Griezeland (Harmony)
• Reverend Norv (Guardian Order)
• Ovstylap (The Bridge)
• Kazarogkai (The Twelve Tribes of Banakimi)
• Bornai (Sondaro)

Q&A

- The MATTER rating is very hard - What’s the best thing to do? Do not try to create the most efficient settlement. Instead, think about your surroundings and circumstances. Each settlement has their strengths and weaknesses, defined by their geography, inhabitants, and resources available. For example, F1 is the best protected area via geography, but its remote location is isolated and hard to reach. Either way, it be hard to survive or get resources to or from the island if you don’t have a boat.
- What technologies are permissible? This is a PT to MT roleplay. Everything is generally pre-2010 at most, but make sure you have a high technology rating if you want to remotely have that kind of equipment. As a solarpunk RP, however, renewability and sustainability is king - No fossil fuels or cutting down trees willy nilly. Ergo, resources will largely be plant or animal based. See Worldbuilding for more info.
- What map claims have been taken? Special thanks to Kazarogkai.

- What foliage are we to expect? It is generally unchanged; however, there are a number of new plants that have entered our ecosystem:

• Grapevine
  (A greenish-brownish vine ideal for rope or clothes. Warning: It’s extremely invasive, able to grow a meter per day, especially in hot, damp, and wet places, such as, swamps or dense wooded areas. Almost every location has grapevine, but D2 and E4 are the perfect places to find and grow it.)
  
• Lazy Moss
  (A greyish-greenish mold found in cool and damp places, known for its modestly sedative properties when swallowed or smoked. When soak or drowned in water, it is safe and harmless; however, it remains inedible lest boiled.)
  
• Belgium Rose
  (A tall black, red, or yellow cone-shaped flower similar to gladioli. Its pedals are excellent source of antitoxins and vitamin C, albeit when dehydrated and crushed into a powder or boiled in water as tea. You will find them in large quantities in dense forestlands, where it is shaded and not too wet - they will die if overwatered or grown in direct unfiltered sunlight.)
  
• Cricket Wings
  (A tall and flat green leaf similar to gladiolus leaves. When repeatedly steamed and dried, they are a good source of protein and vitamins; however, when uncooked, their watery sap is toxic, with one leaf strong enough to kill ten adults. They are found in large quantities near ponds, lakes, or creeks, specifically anywhere along the highway or woodlands along the city outskirts.)
  
• Inazuma
  (An inedible brownish leathery mushroom found in large clusters within damp/humid and/or flood-susceptible places. Caution: Inazuma can generate electric current when moist and mixed with iron oxide or carbon dioxide. You will find them most prominently within B-F and 1-2, especially in abandoned skyscrapers - settle at your own risk.)
  
• Indian Hay
  (A black-yellowish mold found in damp/humid and dark places. When touched or swallowed, it causes rashes, itches, and dry skin; however, it kills by converting oxygen into excess carbon dioxide. Essentially, it stealthily asphyxiates unfortunate and unprotected victims that venture deep inside dark, damp, and unventilated places, such as, skyscrapers, tunnels, or buried structures.
  
• Stella Bianca
  (A white rose-like flower found in bright and hot areas along tree trunks or grapevines. Its smooth and glossy pedals are fiercely sought after for their medicinal properties, able to cure the worst infections or pathogens; however, it can only be consumed when dehydrated and smoked like tobacco or steamed and consumed as a vegetable. Do not underwater or plant in humid places - It will become vulnerable to Inazuma infestations.)

- What fauna are we to expected? Not much different, actually. Animals are relatively unchanged; however, certain creatures, such as, cows, sheep, and pigs, are extinct. Don’t worry, there is nothing exotic or alien here.
- What fauna are in:

• D2? Here
• E4? Here

[Flatwoodlands]

RESERVED

[White Bluff]

Tag

[White Bluff]

So question, what kind of animal life would be in D2?

[Flatwoodlands]

So question, what kind of animal life would be in D2?

Crabs, salmon, tuna, sturgeons, herring, sardines, seagulls, pelicans, non-electric eels, striders, mosquitos, dragonflies, otters, rabbits, panthers and snakes.

[White Bluff]

So question, what kind of animal life would be in D2?

Crabs, salmon, tuna, sturgeons, herring, sardines, seagulls, pelicans, non-electric eels, striders, mosquitos, dragonflies, otters, rabbits, panthers and snakes.

Okay, any crocodiles/alligators? Just making sure.

[Flatwoodlands]

Crabs, salmon, tuna, sturgeons, herring, sardines, seagulls, pelicans, non-electric eels, striders, mosquitos, dragonflies, otters, rabbits, panthers and snakes.

Okay, any crocodiles? Just making sure.

Thankfully, no.

[Flatwoodlands]

Settlement Name: VM (Vima)

Settlement Government: E-Democracy; telegraph-based bureaucracy and governance

Settlement Population: 900 (example appearance)

Settlement Coordinates: A1

Settlement Society: Everything is a 24 hour operation - life revolves around constant communication and information. Everyone is assigned a role with singular task and responsibility. Therefore, VM society is divided into ten social classes:

• Actors (Workers)
• Collectors (Informants)
• Creditors (Bankers)
• Healers (Medics)
• Minimisers (Disposal)
• Orderers (Governors)
• Queuers (Bureaucracy)
• Quoters (News/Reporters)
• Rounders (Engineers)
• Securers (Police)

Their English is deliberately limited to no more than 200 morphemes, purposely oligosynthetic to limit jargon and unnecessary thinking. More importantly, morse code is paramount before oral language; it is both the lingua sancta and lingua franca. In fact, VM also has Shinto-like shrines and objects - ofunda and omamori (more akin to punched tape or punch cards) - to appease their spirits.

Settlement History: VM’s history began somewhere in the Soviet Union, where it started from two sisters, Sanya and Vesna Elisaveta. As young adult radio operators by the Soviet Union’s collapse, the duo desperately searched for work, impoverished and struggling for a five years before creating their own radio station in Vladivostok. For decades, they brought entertainment to their followers until the first volcanic eruptions. According to oral lore, Russia managed to ride out the ash and subsequent bitter cold; however, the snow and ice severed the country into pieces. Cut off from Moscow and western Russia, Siberia and eastern Russia descended into anarchy or separate states - a fate that insulated them from the slow death of Russian civilisation.

The sisters’ descendants, who continued to operate the station, experienced their own problems. Although endeavouring and overcoming food shortages and unrest, it wasn’t long after the final volcanic eruptions that electricity could no longer be regularly and consistently supplied. Eventually, they were driven out of their home and business, forced to venture to parts unknown for many decades. Over time, the technical knowledge and experience of the technology deteriorated, although the bare/essential hardware was kept and preserved. One day, after being trudging across thousands of kilometers of snow, ice, woodlands, and predator-infested wastelands, the Elisavetans found their way in an unknown city.

Settling into the ruins of the 140 storey broadcasting tower, the highest place possible, it was originally meant to be a holy site - a place where the Elisavetans can be closer to their ancestors. Instead, while it did become a religious structure, it became the rebirth place of the once forgotten family telecommunication business. Within the next century, the family survived and struggled, initially small and self-reliant via bird hunting, fishing, and fungus farming; however, the receding ice age drew their food sources away, either through migration, new species, or rising temperatures and humidity. Luckily, new technological and educational developments and experiences prepared them for diplomacy and exploration. Before long, after establishing new offices or outposts, people are flocking to them, requesting their services in a brave new world…

Settlement Goal(s): To seek and secure suppliers, protectors, and, perhaps, mass communication.

Settlement Description:
- Manufacturing: The people of VM are descendants of Soviet survival and hardship. Half of everything they own had been handed down from generation to generation, constantly fixed or patched up, and/or preserved for many decades. Correlating with technology, everything is made simple or austerely, whether deliberately or evolutionarily, especially clothes and electronics. Standardisation is almost possible, but things are either made in one size, or they are missing one to two components - clothes are the greatest victim of this problem (i.e. missing buttons, tiny rips, faded colors, etc).
- Agriculture: The people of VM started out as mere survivors, relying on scavenging or hunting. This kept them lightweight and mobile; however, this was detrimental when they settled down, where animals migrated elsewhere or killed off by nature. Now, their food reserves are desperately low, thereby forcing them to seek outside trade and assistance…
- Technology: Their biggest and most powerful asset is cable telegraph. In fact, technology is given the greatest priority, which has recently lead to the development and creation of switchboards, batteries, and fans. Unfortunately, while electromagnetic engineering and communication hardware skyrockets, military and industrial technology is subpar - bladed weapons/tools (i.e. knives, clippers, cables/wires, etc) are their most powerful military/industrial assets. Since wireless technology is nonexistent, their telegraphs can only go where there is a cable and battery.
- Trade: Their extreme organisation and particular info tech attracted the attention of merchants, entertainers, and artisans all over. Everyone wants to buy or sell their goods or services with VM, knowing that their merchandise will not only be advertised, but prices and markets are managed and updated around the clock. As long as people have a VM office in their vicinity, they have direct access to the network.
- Education: Beyond communication, the people of VM are highly trained and educated at their jobs. Due to their social hierarchy and oligosynthetic minimisation, they have extreme specialisation. On one hand, everyone assigned their role is a specialist, essentially experts in one field/job; however, this makes them inflexible, especially when there is a shortage of labor elsewhere. Curiously, nobody owns or possesses weapons, thereby forcing VM to rely on mercenaries or militias to provide protection.
- Rulership: While the leadership is stable and competent, their telegraph-based E-democracy brings constant input and updates. Real authority and power lies within the bureaucracy itself, where they receive, process, and deliver hundreds if not thousands of decisions daily from the confines of the tower. Often, decisions can instantly alter, leaving no room for discussion or dispute lest the information is consistently and constantly updated; however, when an emergency situation occurs (i.e. accident), all communications are ceased/frozen and diverted for the emergency until it is fully resolved.

Points:
M: 3 | 10
A: 0 | 10
T: 5 | 10
T: 10 | 10
E: 7 | 10
R: 5 | 10

Confirmation: “Thou shalt have fun”

[Griezelland]

Hello, I'm interested in your rp idea, but I have some questions.

My first questions are for E4, what flora, that isn't in "Worldbuilding", can we find in it ? Tbh, I hoped for some flax, or at least the right to farm some. It isn't mandatory, of course ! Improvise, adapt, overcome !
And any dangerous fauna ?
Is there anything I should know about the location, for example, dangers but also if there are any ponds or waterways ?

Now a bit more general
So no sheep (and so wool), neither cow, I imagine that horses and chicken are gone, too ?
What is the temperature idea of this first real spring ? To have an idea about how cold it still is.

Here is my attempt of application, hoping it will be ok.

Settlement Name: Harmony
Settlement Government: Officialy, it is an Absolute Princedom

Settlement Population: 1000

Settlement Coordinates: E4
Settlement Society: The main activities are during the day, people work from the rise of the sun to sunset. During the night only guards are patrolling outside. There are three main classes in their society:
• Commoners
• Clergy and officials
• Nobles and officers

Life in Harmony is mainly about work and faith. They count only on themselves. Few speak English, their main language being French.
They believe in a religion called Energism, based on the actions of men, as wildlife energies are judged always neutral. There is a kind of reincarnation belief, depending on the good and bad actions in the life of the believer. The entity regulating the whole is believed to be a mass of energy, surrounding and being everything, called the Greater Will. It is not a god, and it isn’t venerated. People of Harmony think that doing good things for others will bring them good events and/or good goods for them in the long term, thus they tend to help each other, but also strangers to a limit. There are many gift-giving holidays and public feasts because of this mentality.

Settlement History: Long before Harmony, in the 21st century, it all began with a small group of Belgian survivors. When their government could no longer manage the crisis (and it didn't need an apocalypse to do so), this group took refuge in an old disused underground railway station near a river, each of its members having taken everything they could with them. Thinking it would last, one couple had even brought small portable greenhouses and a small generator which they kept for a holiday in the Ardennes.

Two generations passed and the unarmed survivors were driven from their homes and thus began their migration into what was the beginning of an ice age. They tried to settle several times, only to be driven out again and again. In their search for a welcoming land, during their journey, as they stored up knowledge of the old world and tried to survive, they began to question the old world and sought as much to perfect themselves as to have something to keep hope in these painful times, faith, it was this moment that gave birth to the energist movement. It was also at this point that they began to reject the old world, such as fuel-using machinery and money, and wanted to change certain aspects of their lifestyle, to become more agrarian and simpler, because they thought that the actions of men at the time had caused the cataclysm. In their attempts to settle, they still armed themselves as best they could, but they did not want to end up like the raiders they had encountered. They concentrated mainly on food, drink, flora, and fauna and had kept the first two small portable greenhouses which they moved like holy relics on pieces of wood, these two greenhouses were named Love and Hope.

After nearly two centuries of wandering and several attempts to settle, they arrived in an unknown land, but one that not only offered them some protection, but also seemed quiet to them, sheltered in the woods that grew up in the city. They settled in this forest, calling their new settlement Harmony due to their environment, and their community began to build greenhouses in the image of the smaller ones they had, both large and small. The spreading faith promoted a mostly agrarian and simple society, but at the same time they rebuilt some roads in order to find their way around and small enterprises sprang up. The leader of the militia had been appointed Prince by the influential Energist cult, so that he and his family would serve the community in a dedicated manner, under their advice. The self-reliant community grew, and their knowledge of survival, food, and nature helped them to survive the harsh winters, but their success made them somewhat arrogant and sometimes too confident. However, they are not the only ones to have survived and other communities will surely settle here too as it happened elsewhere when they have tried in the past, but this time, whether friendly or hostile, Harmony will stay and resist.

Settlement Goal(s): Keep (and maybe promote) their way of life and their independence, keep peace and order in itself and its surroundings, and restore civilisation in accordance with their beliefs.

Settlement Description:
- Manufacturing: The people of Harmony had often to let things behind, they had to create anew. While during the migration it was pretty limited, now, especially with the guilds, their industries and knowledge in logistics and infrastructure, gained during the migrations, can help their community to stay self-reliant but religion limited their great potential long ago by banning many machines and the knowledge about it.

- Agriculture: The entire society of Harmony is based on food production and agriculture. Before, it was heavily on hunting and gathering with only a few farming through portable greenhouses, and now it is the reverse. With so much food, they managed to grow their population. They tried many recipes whatever it is to feed or to drink.

- Technology: Many technologies are forgotten by the people of Harmony; some technologies are even judged as dangerous or decadent. For example, mechanical automation is forbidden, and electronics are limited mainly by choice. But it isn’t always that bad, on the contrary, the religion also helped to remember, rediscover and to develop some others and try to avoid any unemployment. The religious members kept in check any inventions or foreign things in the community.

- Trade: The settlement is self-reliant and fears the intention of others as they had many problems in the past with foreigners. For the community, stranger is usually danger. Furthermore, with their way of life and their politics of self-reliance, the people of Harmony don’t want to buy from foreigners and traders haven’t a great place in their society, especially since they live in a natural economy.

- Education: Schools were reintroduced but led by priests and officials, controlling the knowledge. Of course, the educational program depends on the classes in which the children's parents are. After school, the teenagers must help on the farms for at least one year. Then, they can choose their guild to work with, where they will learn a job and will stay usually all the rest of their life. There is also a militia that forms those willing to protect the community.

- Rulership: While Harmony is under a stable absolute monarchy helped by the cult, there is also some power struggle in the background. The nobles and the officers often look for their own interests, while the clergy and the officials, while well-minded, are too much after moral virtue and control of the politic. This led to some disputes between the different classes.

Points: MATTER (No more than 30 points allocated - Effects are not mutually affected.)
M: 5 | 10
A: 9 | 10
T: 1 | 10
T: 5 | 10
E: 5 | 10
R: 5 | 10

Confirmation: Thou shalt have fun ?

[Reverend Norv]

Inspired by a curious detail in the OP app, I might go with a quasi-Spartan society that works by providing protection to more peaceful (and in some cases entirely unarmed) settlements, in exchange for food, technology, etc. Perhaps it's an outgrowth of the city's original police force, and based in the old downtown; it avoids pure banditry because it still thinks of itself as protecting and serving.

[Flatwoodlands]

Hello, I'm interested in your rp idea, but I have some questions.

My first questions are for E4, what flora, that isn't in "Worldbuilding", can we find in it ? Tbh, I hoped for some flax, or at least the right to farm some. It isn't mandatory, of course ! Improvise, adapt, overcome !
And any dangerous fauna ?
Is there anything I should know about the location, for example, dangers but also if there are any ponds or waterways ?

Now a bit more general
So no sheep (and so wool), neither cow, I imagine that horses and chicken are gone, too ?
What is the temperature idea of this first real spring ? To have an idea about how cold it still is.

Here is my attempt of application, hoping it will be ok.

Settlement Name: Harmony
Settlement Government: Officialy, it is an Absolute Princedom

Settlement Population: 1000

Settlement Coordinates: E4
Settlement Society: The main activities are during the day, people work from the rise of the sun to sunset. During the night only guards are patrolling outside. There are three main classes in their society:
• Commoners
• Clergy and officials
• Nobles and officers

Life in Harmony is mainly about work and faith. They count only on themselves. Few speak English, their main language being French.
They believe in a religion called Energism, based on the actions of men, as wildlife energies are judged always neutral. There is a kind of reincarnation belief, depending on the good and bad actions in the life of the believer. The entity regulating the whole is believed to be a mass of energy, surrounding and being everything, called the Greater Will. It is not a god, and it isn’t venerated. People of Harmony think that doing good things for others will bring them good events and/or good goods for them in the long term, thus they tend to help each other, but also strangers to a limit. There are many gift-giving holidays and public feasts because of this mentality.

Settlement History: Long before Harmony, in the 21st century, it all began with a small group of Belgian survivors. When their government could no longer manage the crisis (and it didn't need an apocalypse to do so), this group took refuge in an old disused underground railway station near a river, each of its members having taken everything they could with them. Thinking it would last, one couple had even brought small portable greenhouses and a small generator which they kept for a holiday in the Ardennes.

Two generations passed and the unarmed survivors were driven from their homes and thus began their migration into what was the beginning of an ice age. They tried to settle several times, only to be driven out again and again. In their search for a welcoming land, during their journey, as they stored up knowledge of the old world and tried to survive, they began to question the old world and sought as much to perfect themselves as to have something to keep hope in these painful times, faith, it was this moment that gave birth to the energist movement. It was also at this point that they began to reject the old world, such as fuel-using machinery and money, and wanted to change certain aspects of their lifestyle, to become more agrarian and simpler, because they thought that the actions of men at the time had caused the cataclysm. In their attempts to settle, they still armed themselves as best they could, but they did not want to end up like the raiders they had encountered. They concentrated mainly on food, drink, flora, and fauna and had kept the first two small portable greenhouses which they moved like holy relics on pieces of wood, these two greenhouses were named Love and Hope.

After nearly two centuries of wandering and several attempts to settle, they arrived in an unknown land, but one that not only offered them some protection, but also seemed quiet to them, sheltered in the woods that grew up in the city. They settled in this forest, calling their new settlement Harmony due to their environment, and their community began to build greenhouses in the image of the smaller ones they had, both large and small. The spreading faith promoted a mostly agrarian and simple society, but at the same time they rebuilt some roads in order to find their way around and small enterprises sprang up. The leader of the militia had been appointed Prince by the influential Energist cult, so that he and his family would serve the community in a dedicated manner, under their advice. The self-reliant community grew, and their knowledge of survival, food, and nature helped them to survive the harsh winters, but their success made them somewhat arrogant and sometimes too confident. However, they are not the only ones to have survived and other communities will surely settle here too as it happened elsewhere when they have tried in the past, but this time, whether friendly or hostile, Harmony will stay and resist.

Settlement Goal(s): Keep (and maybe promote) their way of life and their independence, keep peace and order in itself and its surroundings, and restore civilisation in accordance with their beliefs.

Settlement Description:
- Manufacturing: The people of Harmony had often to let things behind, they had to create anew. While during the migration it was pretty limited, now, especially with the guilds, their industries and knowledge in logistics and infrastructure, gained during the migrations, can help their community to stay self-reliant but religion limited their great potential long ago by banning many machines and the knowledge about it.

- Agriculture: The entire society of Harmony is based on food production and agriculture. Before, it was heavily on hunting and gathering with only a few farming through portable greenhouses, and now it is the reverse. With so much food, they managed to grow their population. They tried many recipes whatever it is to feed or to drink.

- Technology: Many technologies are forgotten by the people of Harmony; some technologies are even judged as dangerous or decadent. For example, mechanical automation is forbidden, and electronics are limited mainly by choice. But it isn’t always that bad, on the contrary, the religion also helped to remember, rediscover and to develop some others and try to avoid any unemployment. The religious members kept in check any inventions or foreign things in the community.

- Trade: The settlement is self-reliant and fears the intention of others as they had many problems in the past with foreigners. For the community, stranger is usually danger. Furthermore, with their way of life and their politics of self-reliance, the people of Harmony don’t want to buy from foreigners and traders haven’t a great place in their society, especially since they live in a natural economy.

- Education: Schools were reintroduced but led by priests and officials, controlling the knowledge. Of course, the educational program depends on the classes in which the children's parents are. After school, the teenagers must help on the farms for at least one year. Then, they can choose their guild to work with, where they will learn a job and will stay usually all the rest of their life. There is also a militia that forms those willing to protect the community.

- Rulership: While Harmony is under a stable absolute monarchy helped by the cult, there is also some power struggle in the background. The nobles and the officers often look for their own interests, while the clergy and the officials, while well-minded, are too much after moral virtue and control of the politic. This led to some disputes between the different classes.

Points: MATTER (No more than 30 points allocated - Effects are not mutually affected.)
M: 5 | 10
A: 9 | 10
T: 1 | 10
T: 5 | 10
E: 5 | 10
R: 5 | 10

Confirmation: Thou shalt have fun ?

E4 is overwhelmed with grapevine and Indian hay. The dense thicket and vast indoor interiors of the large apartment buildings are both your greatest strength and weakness. On one hand, you can disorientate or outmanoeuvre invaders; however, trudge with caution, certain interior spaces, especially unventilated and dark rooms, are death traps (courtesy of Indian hay).

Indian hay wouldn't be bad if you had Inazuma in your area - Those mushrooms can filter and convert the excess CO2 and moisture into electricity. Without it, you got 'taboo' or 'cursed' areas, which will fit nicely for your settlement's religious/pious nature. I will leave it up to your imagination on this detail.

Beyond that, E4 is an easily defendable location with stable terrain. It's not as wet or vulnerable to flooding like in C1 or D2, but the foliage is thick and vast, very jungle-esque overgrowth. Given your MATTER rating, I imagine your tribe is advanced enough to build an irrigation system, since there are little streams and creeks within the thicket, courtesy of the floodwater runoff from the coastal areas.

Infrastructure beyond your settlement will be one of your greatest challenges. Transportation will need to be dexterous and lightweight enough to scale or navigate the woodlands. Your best option is to put everything in backpacks/rucksacks and lug them over your shoulders; however, pack animals, such as, goats and horses/donkeys, can do the job as long as you can protect them from bobcats/panthers, wolves, black bears, snakes, and insects (especially flies and hornets).

E4 is a nice place to grow fruits and vegetables, but don't expect to grow and produce thirsty plants, like rice or soybeans. You can definitely grow flaxseed, grain, potatoes, and other non water-intensive crops. Due to E4's overgrowth, it's excellent for defense, but for logistics and transportation, you got a big problem (magnified by tenfold if you have trade and commerce - customers and merchants will start complaining).

The average temperature of this spring is 10°C (50°F), the highest ever being 25°C (77°F).

---

We, the council, find your application ... ACCEPTED.

[Flatwoodlands]

Inspired by a curious detail in the OP app, I might go with a quasi-Spartan society that works by providing protection to more peaceful (and in some cases entirely unarmed) settlements, in exchange for food, technology, etc. Perhaps it's an outgrowth of the city's original police force, and based in the old downtown; it avoids pure banditry because it still thinks of itself as protecting and serving.

That is a very interesting proposition, mate.

Let's hope you don't have any rivals

[New Luciannova]

Settlement Name: Islandia

Settlement Government: (No more than a paragraph - This is not a political lecture.)
The government considers itself "a republic." Although in many ways its a technocratic judicial oligarchy and has theocratic elements as well.

Settlement Population: 400

Settlement Coordinates: F1

Settlement Society: (Describe the daily routines of your settlement. Include class structure, beliefs/concepts, and traditions. Exclude in-depth details - we’ll develop everything else in RP.) The highest ranking people are the judges and clergy, followed by the bureaucrts and soldiers/police, then workers who form their own hierarchies. The chief justice rotates as does the high priest(ess). Most workers are involved in the production of food or other needed goods, scavenging the main city is often an important task.

Settlement History: (No more than three paragraphs, please. However, two paragraphs is the minimum requirement. Each paragraph should be no less than three sentences, but no more than six, apiece.)
A grouping of people had banded together under a law student and seminarian. Having legal and religious training they felt a society based on wisdom, rule of law, and faith could be the best hope to secure the future. Their movement has enabled them to attract a number of people, trusting the nature of their vision for a stable future. A common code of laws and a common faith has helped ensure cohesion and unity. Now they are Chief Justice Lucius Galilee and Pontiff Josephus Machia. Both have been chosen by their peers for an two year term. While the two were natural choices the joint founders, they are term-limited to one contiguous term, and have been rotated in and out for the last eight years since they wrote the laws.
The legal system is based on United States law and the religion resembles Christianity with some slight changes.

Settlement Goal(s): (No more than three sentences)
-Expand our reach and control the harbor, forcing trade.
-Improve our food sources and infrastructure.
-Form key alliances and trade partners

Settlement Description:
- Manufacturing: Manufacturing is currently limited, however we are hoping the island we have settled upon and the dockyard will have some operational industrial equiptment we can use to expand our capacity. We have several boats to form a rudimentary navy. We're lookng to build artillery to secure the waterways and ideally mount them on our ships. Our ships have some fuel, but we conserve that for more emergency situations, in general we rely on sails and oars.
- Agriculture: We can grow some crops, but it's not as reliable as we'd like, we mostly send out expeditions to the main land to serach for additional food, however the waterways provide us ample fish to eat. The dockyard had some serviceable vessels.
- Technology: Our technology is limited to what we brought, it's mostly pre-industrial, although we do have decent firearms and adequate ways to keep warm. We have access to several artillery pieces, most of which guard the harbor, but one of our larger vessels has artillery aboard it, although it's only used in emergencies.
- Trade: We're seeking to become a major trading hub, if we could control the entire harbor it would be possible.
- Education: The Judges and clergy are extremely well-educated and instruct scavengers to bring back books regularly. Bureaucrats and military officers have decent educational opportunities. Most of the citizens however are trained well enough to read and do basic mathematics and do their jobs, but little else. We're too busy fishing, farming, and scavenging to require more.
- Rulership: The country is a republic to a degree, but the judges and priests truly control everyone beneath them and determine all laws and policies.

Points: MATTER (No more than 30 points allocated - Effects are not mutually affected.)
M: 4 | 10
A: 4 | 10
T: 4 | 10
T: 7 | 10
E: 5 | 10
R: 6 | 10

Confirmation: (What SHALT you do?) We are going to focus on controlling the waterways around us and scavenge for items of worth, fish in the waterway will be greatly beneficial. While only the judges and priests and bureaucrats have anything in ways of true formal education, they will be making moves to establish a true authoritarian oligarchy.

[Flatwoodlands]

Settlement Name: Islandia

Settlement Government: (No more than a paragraph - This is not a political lecture.)
The government considers itself "a republic." Although in many ways its a technocratic judicial oligarchy and has theocratic elements as well.

Settlement Population: 400

Settlement Coordinates: F1

Settlement Society: (Describe the daily routines of your settlement. Include class structure, beliefs/concepts, and traditions. Exclude in-depth details - we’ll develop everything else in RP.) The highest ranking people are the judges and clergy, followed by the bureaucrts and soldiers/police, then workers who form their own hierarchies. The chief justice rotates as does the high priest(ess). Most workers are involved in the production of food or other needed goods, scavenging the main city is often an important task.

Settlement History: (No more than three paragraphs, please. However, two paragraphs is the minimum requirement. Each paragraph should be no less than three sentences, but no more than six, apiece.)
A grouping of people had banded together under a law student and seminarian. Having legal and religious training they felt a society based on wisdom, rule of law, and faith could be the best hope to secure the future. Their movement has enabled them to attract a number of people, trusting the nature of their vision for a stable future. A common code of laws and a common faith has helped ensure cohesion and unity. Now they are Chief Justice Lucius Galilee and Pontiff Josephus Machia. Both have been chosen by their peers for an two year term. While the two were natural choices the joint founders, they are term-limited to one contiguous term, and have been rotated in and out for the last eight years since they wrote the laws.
The legal system is based on United States law and the religion resembles Christianity with some slight changes.

Settlement Goal(s): (No more than three sentences)
-Expand our reach and control the harbor, forcing trade.
-Improve our food sources and infrastructure.
-Form key alliances and trade partners

Settlement Description:
- Manufacturing: Manufacturing is currently limited, however we are hoping the island we have settled upon and the dockyard will have some operational industrial equiptment we can use to expand our capacity. We have several boats to form a rudimentary navy. We're lookng to build artillery to secure the waterways and ideally mount them on our ships. Our ships have some fuel, but we conserve that for more emergency situations, in general we rely on sails and oars.
- Agriculture: We can grow some crops, but it's not as reliable as we'd like, we mostly send out expeditions to the main land to serach for additional food, however the waterways provide us ample fish to eat. The dockyard had some serviceable vessels.
- Technology: Our technology is limited to what we brought, it's mostly pre-industrial, although we do have decent firearms and adequate ways to keep warm. We have access to several artillery pieces, most of which guard the harbor, but one of our larger vessels has artillery aboard it, although it's only used in emergencies.
- Trade: We're seeking to become a major trading hub, if we could control the entire harbor it would be possible.
- Education: The Judges and clergy are extremely well-educated and instruct scavengers to bring back books regularly. Bureaucrats and military officers have decent educational opportunities. Most of the citizens however are trained well enough to read and do basic mathematics and do their jobs, but little else. We're too busy fishing, farming, and scavenging to require more.
- Rulership: The country is a republic to a degree, but the judges and priests truly control everyone beneath them and determine all laws and policies.

Points: MATTER (No more than 30 points allocated - Effects are not mutually affected.)
M: 4 | 10
A: 4 | 10
T: 4 | 10
T: 7 | 10
E: 5 | 10
R: 6 | 10

Confirmation: (What SHALT you do?) We are going to focus on controlling the waterways around us and scavenge for items of worth, fish in the waterway will be greatly beneficial. While only the judges and priests and bureaucrats have anything in ways of true formal education, they will be making moves to establish a true authoritarian oligarchy.

We are sorry to inform, you’re application is DECLINED.

It is one thing for your application to be messy. For it to be that AND inattentive, however, it is unacceptable. How someone writes and organises their writing and details is a reflection of their personality and an indicator of how much effort their dedicate to their work.

Your first, and biggest, offense was your failure to read the rules. Do not edit your post, we have the original copy for future reference - you were clearly not paying attention nor do you care. Those who do not read the criteria and rules regarding behavior and conduct within the roleplay and among other participants are the greatest concern to the community.

Your second offense was providing insufficient details under ‘Settlement Society’ and ‘Settlement History’. We specifically instructed in the former to provide beliefs/concepts and traditions, which you did not. More importantly, you provided less than the minimum requirement paragraphs within the latter; your history is insufficient.

Your last offense was your MATTER. If you needed to know or confirm certain details, you are encouraged and welcomed to ask openly or privately. Artillery is advanced technology, even primitive ones, such as, ballistas and catapults, are complicated machines - How is it possible you can procure that kind of equipment with a low tech rating and limited resources?

There is nothing wrong with gunpowder. What is a problem is developing and manufacturing it and the weapons that use it. You need technical and scientific knowledge, experience, and infrastructure to create and maintain the technology. This applies for any piece of equipment, such as, fuel, electricity, construction, and much more.

For example, VM has electricity because it can procure batteries. The simplest explanation is that it bartered/purchased lead-acid or other kinds of batteries from other settlements. Another explanation is Inazuma-Rust batteries: It’s nothing more than a enclosed plastic or concrete container with water, iron oxide (rust), and Inazuma mushrooms. A negative and positive terminal are submerged on either ends, where Inazuma feeds on the rust (or excess CO2) and produces excess electricity and nitrogen. The system eventually ceases when there is no more rust/CO2 or water, or the mushrooms become too overgrown or old.

Please do not post here again. Second offense will receive a warning from a mod. Third offense is a blacklisting and ban.

Thank you.

Have a nice day.

[New Luciannova]

Threaten me all you like, it was intended as a quick rough draft. I had a lot on my plate yesterday and was willing to expand it. The editing of the post was due to noticing a glaring error. I find your reaction with no knowledge of who I am or what I have done quite extreme and unduly hostile.
I''m a law student at an accredited institution and my school is not even that oppugnant toward first drafts, and trust me, my professors are quite opinionated on quality.

[Reverend Norv]

Threaten me all you like, it was intended as a quick rough draft. I had a lot on my plate yesterday and was willing to expand it. The editing of the post was due to noticing a glaring error. I find your reaction with no knowledge of who I am or what I have done quite extreme and unduly hostile.
I''m a law student at an accredited institution and my school is not even that oppugnant toward first drafts, and trust me, my professors are quite opinionated on quality.

Then I suggest you request a refund from your Legal Writing prof. If you think this is harsh criticism, your legal education has woefully failed to prepare you for the realities of practice.

[Reverend Norv]

Settlement Name: The two-square-block area around the old police headquarters, which the Guardians have fortified and turned into their power center, is known as Stronghold. But the Guardians are an institution more than a settlement; their collective identity matters more than their geographic location. So the people of the city don't usually talk about Stronghold; instead, they talk about the Guardian Order.

Settlement Government: Stratocratic republic. Stronghold is governed by the Guardian Order, a military caste that makes up slightly more than half of the population; an adult, able-bodied, fully-trained Guardian is a full "citizen." A team of twelve Guardians is a squad; eight squads make up a precinct; five precincts make up the Guardian Order as a whole. The members of a squad elect a sergeant from their number; the sergeants of a precinct elect a deputy; the five deputies select the Chief of the Order. There is no written constitution, but there are strong norms and traditions of subsidiarity; ordinary administrative matters should be handled at the squad or precinct level, and the Chief should confine his attention to diplomacy and broad policymaking. "The sergeant on the ground is always right" is an important maxim of government, and problems are preferentially addressed at the lowest possible level. Finally, Stronghold includes more than two hundred non-Guardians: mostly children, the old, or the disabled, but also including dozens of traders, farmers, and technicians who help to keep the settlement running. These "civilians" have basic rights, but they have no voice in the government of the society.

Settlement Population: About 700: 480 Guardians, about 50 veterans (former Guardians who are disabled or too old for combat), about 80 non-Guardian civilians, and about 90 cadets (children and youths who have not yet taken the Tower Oath).

Settlement Coordinates: B2; specifically a two-square-block area surrounding and including the old police headquarters. The old high-rises have been linked by bridges for easier movement, and the two roads passing through the settlement have been sealed by walls that connect the skyscrapers at ground level. There is only one way in or out of this continuous perimeter of walls and buildings: a gate reinforced by armor plating scavenged from police tactical vehicles. Uniquely, police headquarters - now known as the Tower - was never truly abandoned; the Guardians have inhabited it continuously since the Old Autumn. It is likely the best-maintained major building in the city.

Settlement Society:

The Guardian Order is a purpose-driven society. It does not strive for balance, self-sufficiency, prosperity, or happiness. Its objective is not to expand, flourish, or increase in power. Guardians are trained and indoctrinated from birth to believe that happiness is subordinate to duty, and that each Guardian's life - like his or her society - is pledged to a higher purpose. Above all, the Order is sworn to protect and serve.

In short, the Guardian Order is a warrior caste unto itself. All non-Guardians are presumptively "civilians;" when they become violent, they are instead considered "raiders." Therefore, non-Guardians who live in Stronghold are also civilians, not Guardians. This stark distinction bends only a little to accommodate the children of Guardians (future Guardians, or "cadets") and veterans of the Order who are no longer fit to fight; both of these are considered auxiliaries to the Order rather than civilians. But this clean divide between Guardians and civilians belies the reality that there are very few distinctions of class or caste within the Guardian Order. All Guardians endure the same grueling training from early childhood - an endless rota of urban survival, marksmanship, tactics, and combatives - and all Guardians are entitled to an equal share of the Order's revenue from protection contracts. Rank does not equate to wealth, only to responsibility. Despite its disciplined, regimented nature, the Order is a fundamentally egalitarian society.

Instead, divisions within the Order are by specialization. Two-thirds of Guardians belong to the Far Patrol: the Order's main fighting force, which defends other settlements in exchange for payments of food and goods and technology. The remaining third are divided between Q-Division (which maintains and modifies the Order's firearms, gas masks, and other equipment); T-Division (which trains the children of Guardian couples to become Guardians themselves one day); and the Tower Watch (which protects and maintains Stronghold itself, and serves a general administrative role). Guardians may move from one division to another over the course of their working lives, and every precinct includes squads from each division.

The traditions and rituals of the Guardian Order are mostly evolutions of pre-Winter police practices, adapted over four centuries to serve completely different social purposes. Blue remains the Order's color: each precinct treasures a blue banner representing its history, and individual Guardians are recognizable by their blue brassards or armbands. They are also recognizable by their equipment: the Order has carefully husbanded, repaired, modified, and maintained the Tower's pre-Winter police armory, and so each Guardian has body armor, a combat rifle, and a gas mask. These are considered sacred relics, often handed down from father to son or mother to daughter, and Q-Division exists mostly to keep them functional. Every Guardian also takes the Tower Oath: a garbled version of the ancient police oath. It is a promise to defend and serve the settlements under the Order's protection, even at the cost of one's own life. In its social significance, the Tower Oath is less an oath of office and more a knight's sacred vow. At that ceremony, each Guardian also receives a pre-Winter police badge, without which no Guardian can be a member of the Order. There are only about five hundred badges in existence, and they have religious significance: Guardians believe that the badge contains the wisdom and courage and memories of all the dozens of generations of Guardians who have worn it. When a Guardian falls in battle, his comrades will go to enormous lengths to recover his badge so that it can be bestowed on a new Guardian - for to lose a badge is to lose an entire legacy of Guardians past and future. Finally, the Tower Oath requires Guardians to give their enemies a chance to surrender before the Order attacks. Originally a rule of police practice, this has become a form of psychological warfare, and many raiders will surrender simply at the words: "Guardian Order, yield or die."

Settlement History:

Unlike most other groups, the Guardian Order did not migrate to this city from elsewhere as the ice began to retreat. Rather, it is the last vestige of Old Autumn: the direct lineal descendant (in ideological, technological, and frequently genealogical terms) of the city's pre-Winter police force. When the cold came and industrial society collapsed, the police officers and their families took refuge in the high-rise headquarters of the police department - the building now known as the Tower. They husbanded their resources, adapted the chain of command into an independent government, carefully repaired their weapons, and did their best to keep order in a city that had fallen into anarchy.

For the next four centuries, they held on. They changed in the process: evolving into a warrior order of protectors, professional killers trained from early childhood and armed with the relic-weapons of the Tower. As tribes came and went, the great-great-grandchildren of police officers defended the people of the city from raiders in exchange for enough food and trade goods to survive. They became known as Guardians; they produced nothing but fighters, and they traded their skill at arms for everything they needed. In time, the memory of the old city faded, and all that remained was the mission. Protect and serve.

And then, one day, the snow began to melt; the ice in the harbor cracked; and new groups of settlers arrived, summoned by the coming of the first spring in centuries. The men and women of the Guardian Order still stand ready to defend these new tribes, as their ancestors have defended the changing peoples of this city since the days of Old Autumn. And if any of these newcomers seek to prey upon communities under the Guardians' protection, then the Order is ready to demonstrate just how it survived the last four centuries of frozen horror.

Settlement Goal(s): Defending other settlements is both the Guardian Order's raison d'etre, and its only means of survival: it relies on the food and goods that settlements pay in return for Guardian protection. The Order seeks to forge protection arrangements with as many of the newly-arrived tribes as possible, and then to ensure that its protection always proves worth the fee.

Settlement Description:

• Manufacturing: The Guardian Order produces practically nothing, save for ammunition. The Tower Watch forages and exports substantial quantities of inazuma from the damp basements and subway tunnels of the core city, but the Order does not really manufacture anything using these raw materials. In fact, the Order does not even produce its own ammunition from scratch; Guardians are notorious for scooping up spent shell casings after firefights, since the Order can make gunpowder but struggles to produce new brass casings of exactly 5.56mm caliber. In general, the Order focuses on maintaining the ancient stockpile of arms and equipment that it has controlled since Old Autumn; this is why its technology rating is so high, but its manufacturing rating is so low. It does not manufacture new products; it preserves and repairs old ones.
  
  
• Agriculture: Beyond a kitchen garden or two, the Guardian Order produces no food at all. It cannot remotely feed itself. Instead, it has always relied on protecting others in exchange for a share of their food supplies: first hunters and fishermen, and then - with the waning of the Winter - farming communities as well. In truly lean times, the Chief of the Order will identify the most violent society in the city, and declare them raiders; then the Guardians will attack, steal as much food as they can, and live on that for a while. Today, as always, the Guardians rely on the labor of others to eat - just as others rely on the protection of the Guardians to survive.
  
  
• Technology: The Guardian Order is a nearly unique phenomenon: the direct descendent of a 20th-century institution, which has remained continuously in situ and in possession of the headquarters, armory, and full inventory of its predecessor. This remarkable continuity has allowed the Guardians to maintain a substantial quantity of 20th-century technology in working order for the last four centuries - albeit with a variety of jury-rigged fixes and updates. In particular, the Guardians have become the city's preeminent gunsmiths; while they struggle to produce new weapons, they have preserved and even sometimes improved the service rifles of the Tower's armory, turning each one into a hand-crafted heirloom. Likewise, the Order still has enough sets of police-issue body armor to equip every Guardian, and the technical skill to cannibalize spare body armor to repair damaged sets. Finally, the Tower's inventory - like all police storerooms - included hundreds of gas masks; these allow the Guardians to venture deep into areas overrun with Indian Hay. Q-Division has discovered that it is possible to use Stella Bianca (which some settlements have historically offered as payment for Guardian protection) to produce replacement filters for these gas masks. As a result, the gas mask has become one of the elements of the Guardian Order's mythos: a mysterious and intimidating device, rendering each warrior indistinguishable from her comrades. It is an evocative relic of the ancient world.
  
  
• Trade: The Guardian Order relies completely on trade for its survival - albeit trade of a fairly unusual sort. It sells only one product: protection. A squad from the Guardians' Far Patrol is easily capable of fending off raiders two or three times its numbers; in rare but legendary cases over the last four centuries, Guardian squads have fought off forces eight or even ten times their numbers. Crucially, the Guardians regard their protection contracts as an expression of their sacred duty to "serve and protect." They cannot be bought off by a higher bidder, and they will die at their posts before they abandon people who have paid for their protection. In return, the Guardians expect a substantial share of whatever a protected community produces: food is most valuable, but manufactured goods and technology are also always welcome. The typical protection fee ranges from ten to twenty-five percent of total production, but the Order's traditions prohibit charging a fee so high that anyone in the protected community goes hungry as a direct result. From such contributions, the Order derives almost all of its food, household goods, raw materials, and the other necessities of survival. A cynic would say that the Guardians are the city's most successful mercenary army; an idealist would say that they have done well by doing good. The truth, as usual, is somewhere in between.
  
  
• Education: Guardian education is best described as fit for purpose: it teaches every skill necessary for military excellence. Children are raised communally, by T-Division, with little contact with their parents - most of whom are deployed all over the city anyway, protecting other communities for the Far Patrol. In some ways, T-Division has developed a surprisingly liberal model. Every Guardian is literate in English, so that he or she can understand and apply written orders in the field; every Guardian is also expected to develop a capacity for independent critical thinking, so that he or she can make rational tactical decisions based on limited information. In other ways, T-Division is scarcely distinguishable from the Spartan agoge. It relies on brutal physical training and corporal punishment: imposed from a young age, and designed to instill mental toughness at much as physical fitness. Cadets must learn to survive off what they can forage, scavenge, or steal in the wreckage of the city. Marksmanship, weapons maintenance, small-unit tactics, hand-to-hand combatives - these skills are as fundamental as reading. Independent thinking and rational analysis are prized; but so are aggression, ruthlessness, and decisiveness. The resulting system, honed over four centuries, produces exemplary soldiers. It also produces men and women who are minimally equipped for anything but battle. One in twelve children does not survive to take the Tower Oath.
  
  
• Rulership: The Guardian Order's governing structure - an awkward evolution of the pre-Winter police department's chain of command, which was subsequently fossilized into sacred tradition - works well enough, but it is far from ideal. Still, it has virtues. The core principle of subsidiarity means that Guardian units in the field, protecting other settlements, are given unconditional support and broad latitude to make their own decisions: as the ancient maxim goes, "the sergeant on the ground is always right." The fact that every precinct includes Guardians from all four divisions also means that the politics of the Order are not polarized along divisional lines: a T-Division trainer and a Far Patrol ranger are loyal to the same deputy, rather than to their respective divisions. The result is a very stable system - but that very stability can easily become a problem. The Chief of the Order is a structurally weak leader; unlike the precinct deputies, he has no actual power base of his own. In practice, therefore, he relies upon the consent of the five deputies before taking any major decisions. This means that the Order does not act unless it has a reliable consensus, but it also means that the Order is slow to respond in moments of crisis, and rarely acts quickly to seize moments of opportunity. The Order's leadership is steady, but not dynamic or efficient.

Points: MATTER
M: 1 | 10
A: 0 | 10
T: 9 | 10
T: 9 | 10
E: 7 | 10
R: 4 | 10

Confirmation: Thou shalt have fun!

[Kazarogkai]

Seems pretty interesting might be worth a try. I do have a few questions though if that is not too much of an issue.

Lets say my tribe As a traditional weapon used something like this produced by gunsmiths(by hand), what manufacturing level/technology would you personally expect in that circumstance. You mention a 5 for both Muskets and Repeating weapons which considering the differences in complexity of both kind of confuses me. Not criticizing, just trying to get clarification on that.

Going from there wanted to know the state agricultural goods and livestock in this world. Buffalo(American Bison) and Chickens possibly? The latter I was hoping I could use as a good source of nitrates(necessary for black powder). The former I'm hoping they could have survived and possibly thrived in the ice age. I'm thinking of the origins of my group somewhere in the American plains(Nebraska) living as semi-nomads herding and hunting buffalo on horseback occasionally settling and planting(ala guerilla gardening) in less snowed in regions periodically returning to collect whatever grew. As time went on they would while following the buffalo herds have migrated and ultimately found there way into the outskirts of the city. Just thinking of cool ideas. The plants in question they would have focused on would be mind you things like winter wheat, radishes, turnips, potatoes. Things that would be relatively quick to grow and/or capable of handling long cold temperatures in the case of the former most. I was hoping things like this would be chill for them to have bought along to the city. As mentioned the group I'm thinking of would not have been pure Nomads but would have for short periods occasionally settled down and done some modest planting ala semi-nomadism

Personally I was thinking the best places for my group to have settled would be on the outskirts of the city specifically in the 4 range. Possibly either A4 or C4. Not trying to overwork you but wondering if you could give a good general description of the wildlife in that area and maybe some dangers I might need to mention and look out for in that area. Similar to the last guy.

Thank you for your patience. Hope to get something done either later tonight or maybe tomorrow. I'm admittedly a bit of a slow poster just giving you fair warning FYI.

[New Luciannova]

Threaten me all you like, it was intended as a quick rough draft. I had a lot on my plate yesterday and was willing to expand it. The editing of the post was due to noticing a glaring error. I find your reaction with no knowledge of who I am or what I have done quite extreme and unduly hostile.
I''m a law student at an accredited institution and my school is not even that oppugnant toward first drafts, and trust me, my professors are quite opinionated on quality.

Then I suggest you request a refund from your Legal Writing prof. If you think this is harsh criticism, your legal education has woefully failed to prepare you for the realities of practice.

Harsh criticism is one thing. Intimidating criticism is another. I found the criticism to be partiuclarly stern, but not intimidating. My concern rests on theextreme reaction to a minor edit and a poor product with no willingness of an offer to amend it without Tconsidering that it may have been a rough draft or something done abruptly with an intent to improve upon in the near future.
I didn't realize first rough drafts have final grades attached. Most US courts allow amendments to complaints per Rule 15. However, I get cast out with prejudice without even a chance to amend? US courts matter a lot more than any text based RP, and usually if they think what you submitted is poorly formed, you are able to amend it. I'm agreeing what I submitted was poor, but does not resemble what is typical for my work. I feel I've demonstrated I can speak English. It was a quick rough draft to establish interest and was by no means intended to be a final product.
I'm taking issue with the prejudicial rejection of what was obviously a rought draft. Not showing a willingness to improve the product nor any fear of criticism and critique. I have clearly agreed that my application was rubbish, but why can't I be given a mulligan?

[Reverend Norv]

Then I suggest you request a refund from your Legal Writing prof. If you think this is harsh criticism, your legal education has woefully failed to prepare you for the realities of practice.

Harsh criticism is one thing. Intimidating criticism is another. I found the criticism to be partiuclarly stern, but not intimidating. My concern rests on theextreme reaction to a minor edit and a poor product with no willingness of an offer to amend it without Tconsidering that it may have been a rough draft or something done abruptly with an intent to improve upon in the near future.
I didn't realize first rough drafts have final grades attached. Most US courts allow amendments to complaints per Rule 15. However, I get cast out with prejudice without even a chance to amend? US courts matter a lot more than any text based RP, and usually if they think what you submitted is poorly formed, you are able to amend it. I'm agreeing what I submitted was poor, but does not resemble what is typical for my work. I feel I've demonstrated I can speak English. It was a quick rough draft to establish interest and was by no means intended to be a final product.
I'm taking issue with the prejudicial rejection of what was obviously a rought draft. Not showing a willingness to improve the product nor any fear of criticism and critique. I have clearly agreed that my application was rubbish, but why can't I be given a mulligan?

Well, if the man is willing to admit his application was rubbish, I don't see the harm in giving him a second chance - subject to just as attentive an eye for quality. But that's just my opinion, and the decision rests - as always - with the OP.

[Vavlar]

Settlement Name: Sutshire (Keep all names in English, please. Save any conlang or foreign language magic for later.)

Settlement Government: Like an absolute monarchy, but has some different features such as you choose your heir, a voting system to get rid of people seen as backwards, sabotagers, traitors and/or causing stagnation or reversal of tribal society. There are people elected to positions by the people, however these are generals and people who are well trained in hunting. (No more than a paragraph - This is not a political lecture.)

Settlement Population: 785 (No more than 1,000. Keep in mind, however, the lower your population, the less mouths to feed and protect.)

Settlement Coordinates: F1 (Refer to the map - name only the alphabetical letter and number. For example, A1, B2, C3, or D4. Most importantly, pick only one coordinates - more than one is an instant disqualification).

Settlement Society: Everyone wakes up at the rising of the sun or earlier when it is dark, but also somewhat visible. Work begins with checking on everything and making sure supplies are ok. The people work their jobs looking for resources in the nearby area, and make sure that they create enough for themselves to use and share with other tribe members who may need, such tools (eg. a hoe for farming or shovel for sowing the fields). Then, hunting for animals begins, however not many live on the island, so fishing and boat building is the main job for many living near the sea and marinas.

As for class structure, there is the workers and citizens as one, and worth more is the rulers, but they are all considered important for eachother, inorder to survive the current harshness of the city and area. Some beliefs are that the foreigners are there to subjugate, kill, ruin, stagnate, and destroy everything the Amorata stand for, sharing between the community (not socialism) for common benefit, and for the survival of the tribe being top priority. Some traditions are burning incense and bones of fish that are crushed up for religious rituals and the calling upon ancient ancestors for them to help bring resources to the island, such as fish, vines, plants, and needed medical plants. It is heavily discouraged to kill, and especially violently overthrow others unless necessary. (eg. Livestock and (Describe the daily routines of your settlement. Include class structure, beliefs/concepts, and traditions. Exclude in-depth details - we’ll develop everything else in RP.)

Settlement History: The Amorata, a skilled people whose ideals are a mix of individualism but community shared survival use mobile but sedentary like homes for moving around. However, they also keep many agricultural animals, and feed surpluses not feed to the population to the animals, inorder to maintain a balance between starving the people, and starving the animals. They moved into the area several decades ago, and were constantly raided by raiding parties from other nearby settlements, and slowly moved away from the Coast to a strategic island in the bay, which was easily defended, even against great numbers of invaders if you had the right equipment.

Settlement Goal(s): The goal of the settlement is to expand, and survive but not inside the interior as it is harsh and there are other tribes that may attack. Isolation from any possible attackers is best, and an society who teaches it's citizens and workers to have multiple more specialized skills than only one, is best and helps to prevent the collapse of society from lack of knowledge and to be easily destroyed by foreign invaders or oppressors, which there is a large amount of paranoia for. The goal is also to expand to stop the other areas and to escape the area, which is considered a prison by the foreigners to weaken them in their mythology.

Settlement Description: An easy to defend area, that has enough living space and is good for movement to other areas.
- Manufacturing: The people here have been thought to think of how to use their skills
- Agriculture: The Amoratoan way of farming is heavily sophisticated, with multiple crops being grown together as companion crops, in different sections inorder for them to protect and benefit eachother. Heavy tools made from stronger stones such as granite that especially last great lengths of time, are used. They
- Technology: Technology is heavily based on agriculture, time keeping, and tool making. So far, furnaces require human use, and are not meant to be automated.
- Trade: Trade is not conducted, nor bartering with the outside. The Amorata have great suspicion of the outside world and outsiders, and would even have suspicion of eachother, despite ironically having the same culture, this makes them more anti-foreigners or heavily suspicious of them, meaning they
- Education: People are trained from a young age by elders in non-physical or low energy physical tasks such as critical thinking, identifying plant differences, and how to co-operate and check on items. As for the parents of these young learners, they are taught on how to use thinking for creating things with their knowledge and how to stockpile food, grains, weapons, tools, and resources. They are taught the Amoratan language and alphabet, which is hard for outsiders to learn, making it easier to identify them. By the age of 10 after several years of training, they are taught on how to hunt and tell the age of animals and if they are good to eat or not. This causes them to grow into the needed survivalists for a bit, but this is only for 3 years. At Age 13, they are taught on how to improve eye-coordination skills for electronics, basket making, mining, identifying ores, how to smelt ores, the temperature/timing and how to work together to make electronics. In whatever skill they excel at best, they are expected to create enough for themselves and the community, and gather enough of their own resources.
- Rulership: The tribe is ruled by a "Khan", but it is chosen to be replaced if they do not cause self-improvement of the tribe's conditions. However, the Khanship is rather stable than most would believe to be, with Khans able to choose their heirs that does not have to be family, and can choose to have a friend or well trusted government official to rule after their resignation, abdication, or death. Violent overthrow is generally disfrowned upon, unless it is against a tyrant or person who makes the tribe backwards.

Points: MATTER (No more than 30 points allocated - Effects are not mutually affected.)
M: 5 | 10
A: 5 | 10
T: 9| 10
T: 0 | 10
E: 7 | 10
R: 4| 10

Confirmation: Follow the rules and not ruin the experience for people. (What SHALT you do?) [/spoiler]

[Ovstylap]

Hello! Having had a look and a think about this RP, I am definitely highly interested in this, and will work on an application very soon! As I don't want to personally misinterpret the MATTER ratings, I'll have this as an amendable point of reference where I can put down my key concepts, and then refine as necessary to conform to the expectations of the OP. Until I have come up with a name, I shall just write 'the group' or 'the tribe.'

OP: A few questions for you regarding the worldbuilding and MATTER ratings if you'd be happy to check please:
I am thinking about D3 for my application, could you confirm the sort of flora and fauna that would be available naturally here please?

I will write a brief description of my rough desired ideas, and my proposed rating, for you to confirm or suggest an amendment please.
M: Manufacturing capabilities are almost entirely dependent on the expertise of crafters and artisans, and those they choose to train, with what limited expertise there is being more focused on the recycling, repurposing, and maintaining of existing tools. The hardware store's stocks from long ago have mostly been depleted, and over the centuries cannibalised, reforged, stolen or traded, and there is a limited workshop capacity. 5 (to represent a few less primitive tools, all based on muscle however).

A: A combination of hunting, trapping, and foraging is used to supplement a somewhat meagre diet grown from rooftop gardens and rough areas of cultivation. Although they do not have specific control over the area, members of the group have planted saplings of grapevine in D2, and frequently head there to harvest it, whilst cricketwings are highly cultivated along the highway and the limited forest blocks. However, food is frequently in a somewhat short supply due to the different clans maintaining their own stockpiles, and the fact that the highly mobile activity of many members of the group require a high nutritional intake. In their limited area, and with their lifestyle, the group is unlikely to be self-sufficient. Would 6 be apt for this?

T: By no means completely backwards, this group is also far from advanced, certainly not having anywhere near the technical knowhow in specific areas that Harmony, VM, and the Guardian Order have retained. Technology is mixed, with stone tools and vine-based clothing seen alongside bone knives, bows, primitive sling shots made from animal skin, and yet also metal hatchets and even a small handful of custom, non-standardized firearms that have rough equivalents to weapons from the late 19th century, yet parts are very limited, and ammunition a very rare commodity. 5

T: Trade is very important to the tribe, yet they have little to offer to traders, barterers, strangers, and wanderers. Metal tools, any form of high-quality weaponry, clothing/blankets, as well as medical equipment, drugs, or plants, are often wanted, as well as food and drink which are not otherwise available in significant quantities to the group. Quantities of grapevine and associated products, as well as some amounts of crop surpluses, various unwanted salvage and scrap, and protection are also offered. According to some rumours in the city, the odd problem bandit or wanderer has also been taken care of by members of the group. Overall then, the group has more demand than it can equitably exchange without including services, but it does also typically extoll a protection or toll fee over the area of highway through D3. 6?

E: In terms of education, there is a fossilized yet mostly informal educational system, with most skills and knowledge being taught orally, and from peers, and more experienced members of the several clans. Often, skilled artisans or crafters will take on apprentices, indeed, many of the best in their professional take on mentees, passing skills on. Although this process can potentially lead to knowledge loss, or skills being lost if the people are, it also contributes to strong social relations between many workers, and a culture of respect for workmanship, experience, and knowledge. Though English is taught, there is a limited amount of reading and writing, though all members fully included within the group are taught about an array of glyphs, runes, and symbols which are used to mark various information on territory around D3. Communication through primitive instruments, as well as a variety of whistles and calls, are also taught in a more formal manner. 4?

R: The organisation of the group is somewhat decentralised, with various clans, class groups, and central tribal elements holding one another to account, and balancing off against each other. As such, there can be frictions and disagreements, but these are settled by a central court, or within clans. Overall, internal violence is kept to a non-severe level, and a strong sense of a community in-group prevents fracture, but there are still those who choose to leave the group. Ultimately, they are but three paces from splintering or anarchy, and if the world were safer, that may well have already happened. 4?

Reverend I very much enjoyed having a look at your application, and I wonder out of curiosity what your thoughts might be on the possible trade of gas masks- I acknowledge these would be extremely valuable, and even the possible offer of some of my tribes children to be trained up- this would provide some genetic diversity to your settlement, though I imagine overtime they have managed to adopt some incomers. Perhaps there would be a limited level of communication between us, such that if you had children who might fail the training, we might instead adopt them?

[spoiler=Application][b]
Settlement Name: The Talon Clans inhabit a settlement known simply as The Bridge, on account of the most strategic location under their control. The Talons do not live in one single condensed settlement however, with each clan instead maintaining its own small subsettlement, all ultimately connected to a central area centered on an old major hardware store. Some connections are made along raised wooden walkways, or via rooftop bridges, but in some limited areas connections must be made through building interiors or even outdoors.

Settlement Government: Tribal Confederation. The Bridge is governed by a collective of clans organised under The Talons, which is the name of the overall community. Only members of the clans, or the Stewards, are considered to be fully integrated members of the community, with other dwellers within the area considered as 'Newcomers,' 'Welcomed' and 'Trusted' and 'before eventually being 'Adopted' into one of the Clans, or by the Stewards, who distinctly serve the Community rather than any one Clan. There are a total of eight official clans- four major, and four minor, which predominantly govern their internal affairs, but where issues effecting the entire community arise, or there are disputes between the Clans, then a Community Council may be summoned, with representatives from the Stewards and the Eight Clans. There is a further Council element, drawn upon from representatives of the five classes- the Crafters, Journey-Makers, Nurturers, Rangers, and Warriors.

Settlement Population: Around 760-780. c.570 are members of the Clans, c.80 are Stewards or are under their care (invalid, severely ill, need assistance), 28 are Trusted, 57 are Welcomed, and 32 are Newcomers.

Settlement Coordinates: D3- This modest urban area does not offer any majorly distinct advantages or disadvantages, but does occupy a moderately central area which will enable interactions with multiple nearby settlements and factions, which could be a pro or a con. The Bridge is more of an area of settlement than a specific settlement itself, though the core area is around the five buildings closest to the western end of the bridge.

Settlement Society: For most members of the Talon Community, the day begins at dawn, and continues for at least several hours. It can vary somewhat amongst the clans, and according to the time of year, as well as the tasks of the community at large. Each Clan typically receives a formal visit from the Stewards every three days at least, and unless an Emergency meeting it held, the Council holds a meeting every 10 days. At 10 day intervals, there is an official time of marketing, where members of the Clans may come together to make trades and barters, or make contributions, or requests for withdrawals, from the Community Stockpile, which is managed by the Stewards.

Those raised as Talons are born into one of the Clans, which is the primary group to which they have loyalty throughout their life, unless adopted by the Stewards. Within the Clans themselves are where much of the mentorship and informal education of children occur, and where most social life exists. Above this group however is the Community, that gathering of clans which owes its existence and way of life to their combined strength, and pooling of resources and skill, guided by those who are chosen by the Stewards, the central figures in making the Talons a close family of clans, rather than a fractious band of cousins. By nature, the Talons are willing to take in newcomers, as long as the order and safety of the community is not compromised, and this welcoming of strangers, and gradual integration of them until they might be adopted by the Stewards or the Clans keeps new genetic diversity, talent, and knowledge slowly seeping into the Community.

The Talons then, or the Clans of the Bridge, are a community composed of eight Clans, for now, which are kept in balance and working towards a common goal by the Council, made up of their own representatives, and by the Stewards. The Stewards are almost a class unto themselves, and appoint their own, and are often made up of older men who are less capable outside of the settlement, or women who by choice or nature's way no longer wish to have children. The Stewards also tend to select the best crafters, or most numerically literate Clan members to join them. The Stewards take under their wing those who the Clans are unable, or unwilling to care for themselves, and carry out many administrative functions- taking account of what the Clans or prominent individuals own; urging for contributions to be given to, or considering requests to take from the Community Stockpile; caring for those most in need, or providing some limited education to the children of the Clans.

Throughout the Community, there are five overall classes. These is no formal hierarchy between the classes, and are seen more as roles and communities of their own, though are differing hierarchies within themselves. Each Clan has members from each class. These roles are not for life, and may change overtime- by the time one reaches 18, if they haven't already been accepted into a given class, they will be assigned one by Clan elders or Stewards.
-Crafters: The most technically proficient, or sometimes simply less resilient, Talons often become Crafters, after a period of apprenticeship beginning in childhood. Crafters are responsible for the manufacture of goods which require any specialist skill or machinery, as well as the maintenance of items, equipment, and often building, providing skilled labour. Seniority is based on expertise. There are around 60-80 Crafters and their apprentices at any time, though by the limitations of machinery and tools, they often fulfill roles as regular workers.
-Journey-Makers: The less typically violent travelling type, the Journey-Makers are often physically fit, travelling in groups to interact with other communities and settlements to trade, barter, and exchange communication. Due to the importance of trade, as well as the fact that they typically face less danger by travelling in groups than Rangers do, they often will be equipped with some of the better weapons, particularly firearms. Fortunately, the sight of some Journey-Makers from the Talons is often a sign of good news, as they are certainly more diplomatic than many of the others- though this can vary by Clan! Around 40-50 people within the Community identify themselves as Journey-Makers, when not trading, they typically scavenge or head to areas of informal cultivation!
-Nurturers: Foragers, farmers, gardeners, animal husbands, carers for the wounded and afflicted, communal raisers of children. If it is a task which requires grace, compassion, communication, patience, and sensibility, the Nurturers fulfill these. Without them, the children would be a nuisance, and the Talons would starve. Although there are experts in their fields, the Nurturers often include those who are of the right demographic to join the Stewards but who have not been selected. There are more than twice as many Nurturers within the Clans compared to all of the other classes combined.
-Rangers: The most independently minded, strong-willed, resilient, and willing to inflict violence. If a bounty needs fulfilling, or scouting and exploring needs to be done, it is the Rangers who do it. The most limited in number of the classes, it has been the unfortunate circumstance that the Rangers have sometimes been quite paranoid, or willing to assume that other scavengers are hostile, and the odd couple have been considered raiders. Due to their extended time away from the Bridge, and their mental predisposition, if anybody is going to leave the settlement, it does tend to be the Rangers who go rogue. There are normally around 30-40 Rangers.
-Warriors: Finally then, the Warriors. Rarely, but sometimes mobilized, to launch an attack, the Warriors typically fulfill sentry duties, but also provide physical unskilled labour in construction. Of all the classes, it is the Warriors who tend to fulfill this role only part-time, as often they have skills in Craft, or in roles as nurturers. Some 30-40 fulfill this role most of the time, though lend their hands to other parts of the Settlement when not in their primary capacity.

Finally then, in terms of beliefs and traditions; Births, marriages, and funerals are at the very least major clan events, but sometimes may involve a great amount of the Community. Every 30 days a Gathering is held, where news is shared, bartering occurs, and festivities and entertainment abound! It is a time to share, to reminisce, and to show off to potential partners.
Courting, flirting, and engagements are socially regulated by informal standards, with minor variations between the Clans- often in bigger community activities groups of single people will take part in contests, dances, and rituals to attract partners, whilst on an individual level, flirting often consists of gift-giving, sharing, and pushing the rules of the Clans- such as risky trips beyond the Settlement, or sneaking into other parts of the Bridge to meet, even for a conversation or to share a few sips of Belgium Rose Tea, when the courtees are from different clans. There is a strict culture of monogamy however, which has its origins in the prevention of STIs, unknown or wanted pregnancies, and to prevent social upheaval and tensions between the clans.
Faith is held in some regard, primarily as a source of social order, and as an explanation of essential morals and collective norms, and has some loose correlations with the Christianity of the Old World, yet some customs might appear quite strange. Voluntary blood-letting to show grief, repentance, or as part of rituals and initiations, though with the risk of infection- these are certainly dangerous. There is finally an extensive culture of getting tattoos and/or using face and bodypaints, especially for celebrations, contests, and when blood is expected to be spilled.

Settlement History: Back when the collapse began, and society began to break down, things happened with such a pace. Many fled, others turned to looting and indiscriminate violence. Quite frankly, many people simply died of natural causes- starvation, dehydration, the cold, lack of access to medicine. Many communities turned inwards, and preppers kept to themselves. Overtime, in the city, after months, and then years had passed, the first of the smallest communities would appear. Most however, failed to adapt over the long term, only a few made it decades. Over the centuries many peoples and communities moved, some prospered, some died, some splintered, some combined.

The predecessors of the Talons came from predominantly from a nomadic background. The core demographic trace their lineage to a now almost mythic tale, though it was in fact only a century ago. Andros the Bear, leader of a major nomadic group, was incensed with rage when his daughter eloped with the son of a prominent clan leader, as he had desired her to marry a son of a friend. This ultimately led to a fratricidal conflict which led to the destruction of two clans, and both Andros and the rival leader's death, leaving the three remaining clans to scatter. One of these would come to the city around 120 years ago, eventually making its way into D3 from the South. There they found small, scattered communities, shells of their former selves following generational failure, food shortages, and raids. Overtime, these were integrated into the great clan, the direct descendants of which are the major clan the Hawks. Within the last 80 years, one of the other clans came, and after a brief leadership contest, which resulted in the loss of around 15% of the total population, was integrated. It was 75 years ago that the concept of the Stewards was created, to balance out the interests of the Clans. Gradually, wanderers were adopted, new clans splintered, and the population grew, with the creation of new clans occurring roughly every 15-25 years.

In the past three decades, the Talons have come to establish themselves as a prominent faction in the city, but their place as the newest comers is gradually diminishing as new, even very small groups, begin to arrive. However, impressions are highly mixed, and are sometimes more of the individual clans, or even individual friendship groups of Journey-Makers, than of the Talons on the whole. The Talons have been known to have made slight deals with the Guardian Order, giving some of their finer children, and receiving some of the healthy but not suitable Guardian cadets, a quite mentally troubling ordeal for the children involved, but one of pragmatism for both the Guardians and Talons- the Guardians get capable children who are partially raised, adding some genetic diversity, whilst the Talons can curry favour with the Order, which is somewhat important given that a few of their individuals have historically acted very similarly to the raiders.

Settlement Goal(s): The Talon Community is driven to assert itself over its hinterland, to secure a safe and prosperous heartland in which to raise a new Spring Generation. It seeks its greater security, prosperity, and development, all to advance the future position of the Spring-born.

Settlement Description:
- Manufacturing: Almost all manufacturing within the Bridge is based upon the expertise of individual Crafters, and those they choose to train. The limited expertise tends to be focused on the recycling, repurposing, and maintenance of existing tools, rather than the creation of new ones. In terms of manufacturing capabilities, much of the focus is based upon metal work, though a lack of machinery, and the reliance on muscle, means that industrial capacity is somewhat meagre. Indeed, many people work day to day with tools of bone, stone, or scrap metal, rather than properly recast heads.

Agriculture: A combination of hunting, trapping, and foraging is used to supplement a somewhat meagre diet grown from rooftop gardens and rough areas of cultivation. Although they do not have specific control over the area, members of the group have planted saplings of grapevine in D2, and frequently head there to harvest it, whilst cricketwings are highly cultivated along the highway and the limited forest blocks. However, food is frequently in a somewhat short supply due to the different clans maintaining their own stockpiles, and the fact that the highly mobile activity of many members of the group require a high nutritional intake. In their limited area, and with their lifestyle, the group is unlikely to be self-sufficient, certainly not in a nutritionally healthy way, and situational scarcity can occur.

Technology: By no means completely backwards, this group is also far from advanced, certainly not having anywhere near the technical knowhow in specific areas that Harmony, VM, and the Guardian Order have retained. Technology is mixed, with stone tools and vine-based clothing seen alongside bone knives, bows, primitive sling shots made from animal skin, and yet also metal hatchets and even a small handful of custom, non-standardized firearms that have rough equivalents to weapons from the late 19th century, yet parts are very limited, and ammunition a very rare commodity. Although a dozen old flintlock blackpowder weapons are still in use, these are for settlement defence, and are notoriously unreliable. Instead, firearms technology focuses on the sort of blackpowder weaponry which was used almost half a millennium ago, with basic revolvers, and lever actions in use, though ammunition and spare parts are very valuable, and not always easy to make. Communications technology is completely lacking, with communication instead being based on word-of-mouth, or through instruments, primitive flags, or even the creation of loud noise and cries of 'Raid' or 'fire' in the event of emergency.

T: Trade is very important to the tribe, yet they have little to offer to traders, barterers, strangers, and wanderers. Metal tools, any form of high-quality weaponry, clothing/blankets, as well as medical equipment, drugs, or plants, are often wanted, as well as food and drink which are not otherwise available in significant quantities to the group. Quantities of grapevine and associated products, as well as some amounts of crop surpluses, various unwanted salvage and scrap, and protection are also offered. According to some rumours in the city, the odd problem bandit or wanderer has also been taken care of by members of the group. Overall then, the group has more demand than it can equitably exchange without including services, but it does also typically extoll a protection or toll fee over the area of highway through D3, though this is somewhat limited if there is familiarity with the travellers, or pre-arranged deals.

E: In terms of education, there is a fossilized yet mostly informal educational system, with most skills and knowledge being taught orally, and from peers, and more experienced members of the several clans. Often, skilled artisans or crafters will take on apprentices, indeed, many of the best in their professional take on mentees, passing skills on. Although this process can potentially lead to knowledge loss, or skills being lost if the people are, it also contributes to strong social relations between many workers, and a culture of respect for workmanship, experience, and knowledge. Though English is taught, there is a limited amount of reading and writing, though all members fully included within the group are taught about an array of glyphs, runes, and symbols which are used to mark various information on territory around D3. Communication through primitive instruments, as well as a variety of whistles and calls, are also taught in a more formal manner. 4?

R: The organisation of the group is somewhat decentralised, with the Clans, Classes, and Stewards holding one another to account, and balancing off against each other. As such, there can be frictions and disagreements, but these are settled by a central court, or within clans. Overall, internal violence is kept to a non-severe level, and a strong sense of a community in-group prevents fracture, but there are still those who choose to leave the group. Ultimately, they are but three paces from splintering or anarchy, and if the world were safer, that may well have already happened.

Points: MATTER (No more than 30 points allocated - Effects are not mutually affected.)
M: 5 | 10
A: 5| 10
T: 5 | 10
T:6 | 10
E: 5 | 10
R: 4 | 10

Confirmation: “Thou shalt have fun”

[Reverend Norv]

Reverend I very much enjoyed having a look at your application, and I wonder out of curiosity what your thoughts might be on the possible trade of gas masks- I acknowledge these would be extremely valuable, and even the possible offer of some of my tribes children to be trained up- this would provide some genetic diversity to your settlement, though I imagine overtime they have managed to adopt some incomers. Perhaps there would be a limited level of communication between us, such that if you had children who might fail the training, we might instead adopt them?

Glad you enjoyed the read - this app was a blast for me to write too. I'm happy to brainstorm, with the proviso of course that I am not admitted yet either.

Trade of gas masks is very unlikely, since the Guardians cannot actually manufacture new ones; like most of the Order's inventory, the masks are relics that the Guardians can maintain but not reproduce. You don't generally trade away an irreplaceable treasure, at least not if you have any other possible choice.

Taking recruits from your society is considerably more plausible - as you note, the Guardians have to accept some newcomers from somewhere to avoid catastrophic inbreeding. Children for gas masks would still not be a fair trade (frankly, there are way more kids than gas masks in the city), but the Order would likely provide protection in exchange for a few strong, intelligent "volunteers" per year. That's a vile trade for everyone involved, but it does make sense, in a brutally pragmatic way.

Likewise, kids who fail T-Division's trainings don't usually survive the experience; the agoge-like system means that the most common way to "fail" is to get killed by the dangers of the city while trying to forage food. But there probably are a few kids in every generation who are just plainly unfit for service: if their eyesight is too terrible to fire a rifle effectively, or they get asthma attacks when they run more than a kilometer. Things like that. In those cases, I think it would be interesting to have a tradition whereby those kids are quietly sent to live with your people. That way, there are deep ties between the two communities: each has adopted children born to the other, albeit for very different reasons. That's a strange, somewhat mournful, but fascinating dynamic.

[Flatwoodlands]

Settlement Name: The two-square-block area around the old police headquarters, which the Guardians have fortified and turned into their power center, is known as Stronghold. But the Guardians are an institution more than a settlement; their collective identity matters more than their geographic location. So the people of the city don't usually talk about Stronghold; instead, they talk about the Guardian Order.

Settlement Government: Stratocratic republic. Stronghold is governed by the Guardian Order, a military caste that makes up slightly more than half of the population; an adult, able-bodied, fully-trained Guardian is a full "citizen." A team of twelve Guardians is a squad; eight squads make up a precinct; five precincts make up the Guardian Order as a whole. The members of a squad elect a sergeant from their number; the sergeants of a precinct elect a deputy; the five deputies select the Chief of the Order. There is no written constitution, but there are strong norms and traditions of subsidiarity; ordinary administrative matters should be handled at the squad or precinct level, and the Chief should confine his attention to diplomacy and broad policymaking. "The sergeant on the ground is always right" is an important maxim of government, and problems are preferentially addressed at the lowest possible level. Finally, Stronghold includes more than two hundred non-Guardians: mostly children, the old, or the disabled, but also including dozens of traders, farmers, and technicians who help to keep the settlement running. These "civilians" have basic rights, but they have no voice in the government of the society.

Settlement Population: About 700: 480 Guardians, about 50 veterans (former Guardians who are disabled or too old for combat), about 80 non-Guardian civilians, and about 90 children and youths who have not yet taken the Tower Oath.

Settlement Coordinates: B2; specifically a four-block area surrounding and including the old police headquarters. The old high-rises have been linked by bridges for easier movement, and the four roads passing through the settlement have been sealed by walls that connect the skyscrapers at ground level. There is only one way in or out of this continuous perimeter of walls and buildings: a gate reinforced by armor plating scavenged from police tactical vehicles. Uniquely, police headquarters - now known as the Tower - was never truly abandoned; the Guardians have inhabited it continuously since the Old Autumn. It is likely the best-maintained major building in the city.

Settlement Society:

The Guardian Order is a purpose-driven society. It does not strive for balance, self-sufficiency, prosperity, or happiness. Its objective is not to expand, flourish, or increase in power. Guardians are trained and indoctrinated from birth to believe that happiness is subordinate to duty, and that each Guardian's life - like his or her society - is pledged to a higher purpose. Above all, the Order is sworn to protect and serve.

In short, the Guardian Order is a warrior caste unto itself. All non-Guardians are presumptively "civilians;" when they become violent, they are instead considered "raiders." Therefore, non-Guardians who live in Stronghold are also civilians, not Guardians. This stark distinction bends only a little to accommodate the children of Guardians (future Guardians, or "cadets") and veterans of the Order who are no longer fit to fight; both of these are considered auxiliaries to the Order rather than civilians. But this clean divide between Guardians and civilians belies the reality that there are very few distinctions of class or caste within the Guardian Order. All Guardians endure the same grueling training from early childhood - an endless rota of urban survival, marksmanship, tactics, and combatives - and all Guardians are entitled to an equal share of the Order's revenue from protection contracts. Rank does not equate to wealth, only to responsibility. Despite its disciplined, regimented nature, the Order is a fundamentally egalitarian society.

Instead, divisions within the Order are by specialization. Two-thirds of Guardians belong to the Far Patrol: the Order's main fighting force, which defends other settlements in exchange for payments of food and goods and technology. The remaining third are divided between Q-Division (which maintains and modifies the Order's firearms, gas masks, and other equipment); T-Division (which trains the children of Guardian couples to become Guardians themselves one day); and the Tower Watch (which protects and maintains Stronghold itself, and serves a general administrative role). Guardians may move from one division to another over the course of their working lives, and every precinct includes squads from each division.

The traditions and rituals of the Guardian Order are mostly evolutions of pre-Winter police practices, adapted over four centuries to serve completely different social purposes. Blue remains the Order's color: each precinct treasures a blue banner representing its history, and individual Guardians are recognizable by their blue brassards or armbands. They are also recognizable by their equipment: the Order has carefully husbanded, repaired, modified, and maintained the Tower's pre-Winter police armory, and so each Guardian has body armor, a combat rifle, and a gas mask. These are considered sacred relics, often handed down from father to son or mother to daughter, and Q-Division exists mostly to keep them functional. Every Guardian also takes the Tower Oath: a garbled version of the ancient police oath. It is a promise to defend and serve the settlements under the Order's protection, even at the cost of one's own life. In its social significance, the Tower Oath is less an oath of office and more a knight's sacred vow. At that ceremony, each Guardian also receives a pre-Winter police badge, without which no Guardian can be a member of the Order. There are only about five hundred badges in existence, and they have religious significance: Guardians believe that the badge contains the wisdom and courage and memories of all the dozens of generations of Guardians who have worn it. When a Guardian falls in battle, his comrades will go to enormous lengths to recover his badge so that it can be bestowed on a new Guardian - for to lose a badge is to lose an entire legacy of Guardians past and future. Finally, the Tower Oath requires Guardians to give their enemies a chance to surrender before the Order attacks. Originally a rule of police practice, this has become a form of psychological warfare, and many raiders will surrender simply at the words: "Guardian Order, yield or die."

Settlement History:

Unlike most other groups, the Guardian Order did not migrate to this city from elsewhere as the ice began to retreat. Rather, it is the last vestige of Old Autumn: the direct lineal descendant (in ideological, technological, and frequently genealogical terms) of the city's pre-Winter police force. When the cold came and industrial society collapsed, the police officers and their families took refuge in the high-rise headquarters of the police department - the building now known as the Tower. They husbanded their resources, adapted the chain of command into an independent government, carefully repaired their weapons, and did their best to keep order in a city that had fallen into anarchy.

For the next four centuries, they held on. They changed in the process: evolving into a warrior order of protectors, professional killers trained from early childhood and armed with the relic-weapons of the Tower. As tribes came and went, the great-great-grandchildren of police officers defended the people of the city from raiders in exchange for enough food and trade goods to survive. They became known as Guardians; they produced nothing but fighters, and they traded their skill at arms for everything they needed. In time, the memory of the old city faded, and all that remained was the mission. Protect and serve.

And then, one day, the snow began to melt; the ice in the harbor cracked; and new groups of settlers arrived, summoned by the coming of the first spring in centuries. The men and women of the Guardian Order still stand ready to defend these new tribes, as their ancestors have defended the people of this city since the days of Old Autumn. And if any of these newcomers seek to prey upon communities under the Guardians' protection, then the Order is ready to demonstrate just how it survived the last four centuries of frozen horror.

Settlement Goal(s): Defending other settlements is both the Guardian Order's raison d'etre, and its only means of survival: it relies on the food and goods that settlements pay in return for Guardian protection. The Order seeks to forge protection arrangements with as many of the newly-arrived tribes as possible, and then to ensure that its protection always proves worth the fee.

Settlement Description:

• Manufacturing: The Guardian Order produces practically nothing, save for ammunition. The Tower Watch forages and exports substantial quantities of inazuma from the damp basements and subway tunnels of the core city, but the Order does not really manufacture anything using these raw materials. In fact, the Order does not even produce its own ammunition from scratch; Guardians are notorious for scooping up spent shell casings after firefights, since the Order can make gunpowder but struggles to produce new brass casings of exactly 5.56mm caliber. In general, the Order focuses on maintaining the ancient stockpile of arms and equipment that it has controlled since Old Autumn; this is why its technology rating is so high, but its manufacturing rating is so low. It does not manufacture new products; it preserves and repairs old ones.
  
  
• Agriculture: Beyond a kitchen garden or two, the Guardian Order produces no food at all. It cannot remotely feed itself. Instead, it has always relied on protecting others in exchange for a share of their food supplies: first hunters and fishermen, and then - with the waning of the Winter - farming communities as well. In truly lean times, the Chief of the Order will identify the most violent society in the city, and declare them raiders; then the Guardians will attack, steal as much food as they can, and live on that for a while. Today, as always, the Guardians rely on the labor of others to eat - just as others rely on the protection of the Guardians to survive.
  
  
• Technology: The Guardian Order is a nearly unique phenomenon: the direct descendent of a 20th-century institution, which has remained continuously in situ and in possession of the headquarters, armory, and full inventory of its predecessor. This remarkable continuity has allowed the Guardians to maintain a substantial quantity of 20th-century technology in working order for the last four centuries - albeit with a variety of jury-rigged fixes and updates. In particular, the Guardians have become the city's preeminent gunsmiths; while they struggle to produce new weapons, they have preserved and even sometimes improved the service rifles of the Tower's armory, turning each one into a hand-crafted heirloom. Likewise, the Order still has enough sets of police-issue body armor to equip every Guardian, and the technical skill to cannibalize spare body armor to repair damaged sets. Finally, the Tower's inventory - like all police storerooms - included hundreds of gas masks; these allow the Guardians to venture deep into areas overrun with Indian Hay. Q-Division has discovered that it is possible to use Stella Bianca (which some settlements have historically offered as payment for Guardian protection) to produce replacement filters for these gas masks. As a result, the gas mask has become one of the elements of the Guardian Order's mythos: a mysterious and intimidating device, rendering each warrior indistinguishable from her comrades. It is an evocative relic of the ancient world.
  
  
• Trade: The Guardian Order relies completely on trade for its survival - albeit trade of a fairly unusual sort. It sells only one product: protection. A squad from the Guardians' Far Patrol is easily capable of fending off raiders two or three times its numbers; in rare but legendary cases over the last four centuries, Guardian squads have fought off forces eight or even ten times their numbers. Crucially, the Guardians regard their protection contracts as an expression of their sacred duty to "serve and protect." They cannot be bought off by a higher bidder, and they will die at their posts before they abandon people who have paid for their protection. In return, the Guardians expect a substantial share of whatever a protected community produces: food is most valuable, but manufactured goods and technology are also always welcome. The typical protection fee ranges from ten to twenty-five percent of total production, but the Order's traditions prohibit charging a fee so high that anyone in the protected community goes hungry as a direct result. From such contributions, the Order derives almost all of its food, household goods, raw materials, and the other necessities of survival. A cynic would say that the Guardians are the city's most successful mercenary army; an idealist would say that they have done well by doing good. The truth, as usual, is somewhere in between.
  
  
• Education: Guardian education is best described as fit for purpose: it teaches every skill necessary for military excellence. Children are raised communally, by T-Division, with little contact with their parents - most of whom are deployed all over the city anyway, protecting other communities for the Far Patrol. In some ways, T-Division has developed a surprisingly liberal model. Every Guardian is literate in English, so that he or she can understand and apply written orders in the field; every Guardian is also expected to develop a capacity for independent critical thinking, so that he or she can make rational tactical decisions based on limited information. In other ways, T-Division is scarcely distinguishable from the Spartan agoge. It relies on brutal physical training and corporal punishment: imposed from a young age, and designed to instill mental toughness at much as physical fitness. Cadets must learn to survive off what they can forage, scavenge, or steal in the wreckage of the city. Marksmanship, weapons maintenance, small-unit tactics, hand-to-hand combatives - these skills are as fundamental as reading. Independent thinking and rational analysis are prized; but so are aggression, ruthlessness, and decisiveness. The resulting system, honed over four centuries, produces exemplary soldiers. It also produces men and women who are minimally equipped for anything but battle. One in twelve children does not survive to take the Tower Oath.
  
  
• Rulership: The Guardian Order's governing structure - an awkward evolution of the pre-Winter police department's chain of command, which was subsequently fossilized into sacred tradition - works well enough, but it is far from ideal. Still, it has virtues. The core principle of subsidiarity means that Guardian units in the field, protecting other settlements, are given unconditional support and broad latitude to make their own decisions: as the ancient maxim goes, "the sergeant on the ground is always right." The fact that every precinct includes Guardians from all four divisions also means that the politics of the Order are not polarized along divisional lines: a T-Division trainer and a Far Patrol ranger are loyal to the same deputy, rather than to their respective divisions. The result is a very stable system - but that very stability can easily become a problem. The Chief of the Order is a structurally weak leader; unlike the precinct deputies, he has no actual power base of his own. In practice, therefore, he relies upon the consent of the five deputies before taking any major decisions. This means that the Order does not act unless it has a reliable consensus, but it also means that the Order is slow to respond in moments of crisis, and rarely acts quickly to seize moments of opportunity. The Order's leadership is steady, but not dynamic or efficient.

Points: MATTER
M: 1 | 10
A: 0 | 10
T: 9 | 10
T: 9 | 10
E: 7 | 10
R: 4 | 10

Confirmation: Thou shalt have fun!

We, the council, find your application … ACCEPTED.

---

Hang in there, everyone. I’ll answer all your questions and review your applications shortly.