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New York (Hunger City): New York, often disparaged as Hunger City, in reference to the starvation that is commonplace among the poor in the city, is the most powerful of all city-states in the aftermath of the apocalypse. It is currently engaged in a proxy war with Detroit, the industrial powerhouse of northern America, over control of Canada, with New York’s puppet, Ottawa, engaged in conflict with Detroit’s satellite of Toronto. New York’s influence does not simply extend into Canada, and the Duke exacts tribute from all of New England and has even made advances on the League of Virginia.

New York, in political terms, could perhaps best be described as a anarcho-fascist state, with the Duke and his limited sphere of lackeys and allies holding absolute power over the city’s inhabitants in terms of keeping them in line, but otherwise practicing an almost complete policy of laissez-faire. With the downfall of mass communication, they control the people’s access to information and influence them through an effective propaganda campaign. Some form of indoctrination is also expected to be the cause of the majority of New York’s seemingly unwavering loyalty to their state and their leader. Despite this, there are few public services provided to the people of New York, and the role of the police seems to be almost entirely to keep the citizenry in line. Theft, assault and even murder, as long as these are not committed against those few lucky enough to be aligned with the Duke, are hardly challenged, and due process and innocence until proven guilty are fictitious concepts in the city.

New Yorkish society is highly-stratified, with a small, exclusive core of the rich and famous and those other people lucky enough to be under the Duke’s patronage commanding the majority of the power. Below them are the general masses, most of whom are blind followers (or, at least, appear as such) of the regime. Though some of these people can hope to make a living in this harsh new world, the vast majority of them live and will live in poverty, lucky to stave off hunger from a few days, let alone be content. They are kept in line by fear and propaganda, by war-mongering and nationalism, by misinformation and a lack of education. An opiate for these masses exists in the form of talent shows, where people compete, often with violence involved, to catch the eye of the Duke or of one of his associates. Even further down the societal rung are the underclasses. Some of them are criminals, but most are simply different, segregated from the rest of the masses, found on the outskirts of Hunger City, or even seeking refuge in the sewers.

Detroit: The industrial powerhouse of the north, with influence extending outside its native Michigan into Canada and Ohio, Detroit is a notable rival of New York. While not much is known about Detroit’s inner workings, it is believed to be organised into workers’ syndicates, who elect members of to a council to represent the community’s interests. This council is presided over by an elected chairman, who acts as an arbiter in disputes between the syndicates and works to execute the decisions of the council. Detroit is currently making diplomatic overtures to Seattle and the League of Virginia, in the hope of forming an alliance against New York. The city has been involved heavily in Canada and throughout the Midwest, attempting to spread Communism throughout North America and to prevent New York’s further expansion.

Seattle (Suffragette City): Nicknamed Suffragette City due to its social democratic nature, Seattle still holds dear the democratic principles of the former United States. While Seattle’s constitution has been heavily-influenced by the current situation, investing more power in the executive, the legislative branch is more prominent than those of Detroit and New York. Seattle’s influence is firmly felt on the west coast, where many merchant, military and civilian enclaves can be found, the most important of which is the naval base at San Francisco. There have even been attempts by Seattle to expand their influence into the Pacific. They have recently opened talks with Detroit regarding a possible coalition against New York.

League of Virginia: The League of Virginia is a collection of city-states situated mostly, but not exclusively, in Virginia, which includes Richmond, Norfolk and Virginia Beach, as well as Washington DC and Baltimore. In recent years, the League of Virginia has lost ground to New York, the leader of which, the Duke, seeks to impose his will over the League. In particular, he has his eyes set on Washington DC, a valuable prize which would allow him to legitimise himself as the president of the USA. Fearful for their independence, the League of Virginia is increasingly drawn towards jingoist and revanchist attitudes, contributing to a militaristic society, though trappings of democracy remain. The League has reached out to Detroit and Seattle for assistance against New York. Other factions within the League, however, feel that security can best be found through alliance with the Duke.

Greater Louisiana: Ruled by a mad hatter, King Louis XIX, who claims to also be the true ruler of France and to be descended from the Bourbons, Greater Louisiana is a surprisingly powerful state in the southern parts of the former USA, exerting influence as far north as Missouri and as far east as Florida. Greater Louisiana, despite its faults, mainly the fact that its monarch is so touched in the head that his brain may as well be a hand, controls the vital trade links between Texas and eastern America, acting almost as a wall for communications between the two areas. Due to its distance from the other major powers of the US, other than Texas, Greater Louisiana is largely withdrawn from international diplomacy.

Locations

Manhattan: Manhattan is the “thriving” heart of Hunger City. While the rest of New York is slums, gangland, and outright wasteland, Manhattan maintains some semblance of a functioning city. Small-scale public transportation works, there is plumbing, fresh water, and just enough food for the majority of citizens. The major landmarks of Manhattan are still standing, but most are in diminished states. There are areas in Manhattan entirely populated by the elite of New York. Time’s Square, administered and directed by Anthony Time Maxwell, has especially retained its status as the very centre of Hunger City, a bastion of glowing civilisation in the middle of ruins. Towards the south of Manhattan lies Poacher’s Hill, the political capital of New York, dominated by pristine and towering high-rise buildings.

Temperance Building: Formerly called 1 World Trade Center or North Tower, Temperance Building is the Duke’s seat of power in New York. As the largest building in New York, and also the one in the least state of disrepair, Temperance Building is as imposing as it is proud, a fitting base for the Duke.

Poacher’s Hill: The seat of power in New York, Poacher’s Hill is where everyone who is anyone desires to live. To call even a small room on the bottom floor of the smallest skyscraper home is to have power and influence over the city. While the rest of New Yorkish society lacks upwards mobility, Poacher’s Hill takes this concept to the literal extreme, with a level of dynamism unparalleled anywhere in the world. People scheme and plot against each other, in the hope of moving up a single floor, representing, in some strange form of bravado, the physical manifestation of their influence and power on Earth. Those who occupy the penthouse suites have the ears of everyone important, and their eyes gazing down over the rest of the city. The largest building, the so-called Temperance Building, is the private residence of the Duke himself. Poacher’s Hill recently welcomed its first minority resident. He was promptly executed for being too brown.

Statue of Conservatism: One of the Duke’s first acts upon becoming the leader of New York was to order the use of slave labour to convert the Statue of Liberty into one in honour of himself. Construction work is still on-going, and many workers have already perished in the harsh conditions.

Manhattan Chase: Formerly the Chase Manhattan Bank Building, Manhattan Chase is a towering ruin located in the less densely populated region of Hunger City known as the Queens. It is home to the Royal Market, a permanently decedent bazaar servicing the less economically fortunate of the city with all manner of items. It is also notable beyond this for being the birthplace of Jack Valentine, the revolutionary leader of the struggle against the Duke. Due to this association with sedition, Manhattan Chase is forevermore under the watchful gaze of the Duke’s forces.

Underground: Once the famed New York Underground, the underground system of rail now serves as little more than a ghost of the past, and a warren for the rejects and outcasts of society. While few people, save the criminals and the pariahs, are foolish enough to delve into its depth, and even fewer have returned from the depths alive, it is said that it is not simply criminals that haunt the twisting tunnels and the vaulted chambers of the Underground, but monsters and goblins, things of fairytales. It is rumoured that the upper sections of the Underground also serve the resistance well, acting as hidden passages for supplies and messages between the disparate and isolated sects of rebellion.

The Dome: Otherwise known as the Glass Asylum, the Dome is a mysterious bastion of the old world in the new. Formed out of the New York Academy of Sciences, it is said that the scientists inside have completely debased themselves of their humanity in an effort to fundamentally understand the universe. No one ever enters the Dome, and no one ever leaves, but everyone is sure that people live in there. The Dome is the one area of New York that not even the Duke’s men would ever dare to venture, though it is said that a working arrangement exists between the Duke and the Academy of Sciences.

People

The Duke: As enigmatic as he is powerful, the origins of the cane-wielding, sharp-tongued Duke are known to only a few of his most trusted advisers, though rumours circulate among the underclasses of a dark and tragic past. For most people, their knowledge of the Duke begins only in 1984, when he played a key role in Hunger City’s civil war.

In the course of the civil war, the Duke and his allies succeeded in toppling the allegedly unstable government of President Presley, and the Duke was at first installed as the head of an interim government. This could never sate the Duke’s thirst for power, and by the end of the year, many of his former allies lay dead or imprisoned, and the Duke reigned supreme over New York.

Since taking power, the Duke has ruled New York with an iron fist, wrapped in a velvet glove. To the masses, the Duke presents himself as a kind and reasonable messiah-like figure, saving New York from the horrors of instability and the unknown. When angered, however, this mask can often slip, and the Duke has been known to order his police to conduct raids against the inhabitants of Hunger City’s slums simply to cheer himself up.

Jack Valentine: The charismatic young leader of a coalition of rebel factions against the Duke, Jack’s name is an object of both admiration and fear. To the down-trodden of New York’s outer boroughs, Valentine is a hero, and a fighter against the tyranny of the Duke, however the masses of the inner boroughs and Manhattan view Valentine as a rogue terrorist, leading an army of bandits who despise Manhattaners and everything they hold dear.
Valentine was born in the new-age Babel that is Manhattan Chase to influential parents. His father was one of the few men in Queens who specialised in surgery, and his mother was a well-known sculpturer. Their deaths at the hands of the Duke’s riot police turned a slight disagreement with the aforementioned aristocrat’s policies into a burning hatred. As he matured, Valentine turned a natural skill for organisation and ability in the arcane into a career as a commander in the growing rebellion against the Duke.

William Augustus Stone:Although he has no official position in the government, William Augustus Stone has always been seen by the public as the 1B to the the Duke’s 1A. It is unknown when or how he met the Duke, but the young Stone was the only member of the Pre-Duke Presley ruling class to actually improve his standing following the takeover. He and his paramilitaries are the enforcers of the Duke’s rule where even the Duke could not risk taking action. The most heinous crimes of the regime are then William’s, as he does not have to worry about public backlash.
Aside from this, Stone is a member of the influential Stone family, all of whom are powerful businessmen and landlords in Hunger City. His cousin, Ramona Stone, is the executive producer of several of the most popular television series in New York, used to keep the population in line with pro-government messages.

Anthony Time Maxwell: Shrewd, charismatic and descended from old corporate royalty, no-one is quite sure how Anthony Time Maxwell was able to retain his power and wealth in the face of apocalypse, societal collapse and civil war. In any case, Anthony Time Maxwell is one of the most powerful people in New York, perhaps rivalling even the Duke himself. As the Duke’s propaganda minister, with almost complete control over the media, Maxwell directly-controls the spread and circulation of information throughout New York.

His power, however, is not simply limited to information and media. Aside from the small retinue of bodyguards that always shadow the propaganda minister, Maxwell commands several other paramilitary elements, which he uses to crack down on illegal information-circulation and to spread his own influence. He is often seen flanked by his lieutenant, Ramona A. Stone, cousin to William Augustus Stone. Because of this, many consider him to be aligned with the Stone family, though it would perhaps be more accurate to describe the Stone family as being aligned with him.

Christophe Andre and António de Oliveira Salazar II: Queer by name, queer by nature, the precise relationship between the eccentric Christophe Andre and the slightly-mad Portuguese man António de Oliveira Salazar II is unknown. Some have claimed that they are gay lovers, while others say that they are simply good friends, albeit probably homosexual friends.To most the proof of this is in the fact that they, two old men, have lived together without any female companionship for as long as most can remember.

The dynamic duo have become something of an oddity in New York, as they have managed to retain power and influence throughout the Duke’s coup and purges. This is in some part due to their diplomatic and surreptitious nature, and they have been very careful not to be seen to be against the Duke, though they certainly would not allow themselves to be seen as towing his line to the letter. Due to their power, it is unlikely that the Duke would be able to remove them easily, even if he wanted to, and so they are allowed to continue to exist, despite not being wholly loyal to him.

Theatre of Financiers: Boasting about fifty members, of which only fifteen are privy to the details of the most important meetings, the Theatre of Financiers form the backbone of New York’s political society, rivalling, though not openly, the power and influence of the Duke. A shady cabal, filled with New York’s richest and powerful businessmen and media-moghuls, of the same vein as Anthony Maxwell, the Theatre funds the Duke’s exploits, provides troops for his armies to continue the war against Detroit, and assists in the keeping of order in Hunger City. Because of their pivotal nature in the Duke’s plans, the Theatre has assumed increasing importance, with the Duke being almost-completely reliant on their resources to prop up his empire.

The exact workings of the Theatre of Financiers are unknown to all but its members and the Duke. It is likely, however, that the Theatre relies on influence and political coyness to curry favour between members and the Duke, as more direct means would imply a declaration of superiority over the Duke. In some way, the Theatre of Financiers acts as a legislative branch of government, suggesting policies for the Duke to follow, but also helping him to enact his own policies.

General Setting

The exact year when the apocalypse happened is known only to a few people, and even the elderly, those who lived through the apocalypse, can't really be sure. Occasionally, however, in their odd moments of clarity, they might make mention the year 1977, but whether or not this is accurate is only known to the Duke and his inner circle. While this may seem strange, stranger still is the fact that, due to the Duke's iron grip on the spread of information, not even the current year is known to the people. The brave among them often quip that "the Duke has celebrated his 40th birthday at least fifteen times", and probably more.

News with the outside world has been all but severed. Some people, evading capture by the authorities, may be in cahoots with agents of Detroit or Seattle, but knowledge of the world across the oceans has been lost. Rumours abound of a dark wizard who has come to power in the British Isles, spreading his dominion across Western Europe, and of the mysterious Scandinavian wizard called Abba, who rules over a vast northern empire.

The nature of our planet has been fundamentally altered. The order of things has been flipped on its head, as the impossible became possible. New Yorkish society has become governed by three commandments, which every citizen worth a damn will abide by: Do obey the Duke, Do not investigate the unusual, and, under no circumstances leave your community at night.

There are, however, some elements of our society who refuse to follow these rules. They have taken up arms against the Duke, in an effort to overthrow him. They are said to be led by the charismatic Jack Valentine, and use a variety of means in their war against the Duke. Propaganda from the Duke has even alleged that the rebels are fraternising with Communist agents of Detroit, trying to undermine the war effort and replace New York’s government with a Communist dictatorship. While the rebellion has only recently come to the fore of the Duke’s attention, its roots are said to originate from civil war of 1984, among those who opposed the Duke during his rise to dominance. Little remains of its original leadership, however, some of whom are to be found in prisons, as a warning against future rebellion, or have died in the struggle, and it is, for all intents and purposes, a new organisation.

According to what little pre-event media is available, there was once a time where powers, as we know them, did not exist in our world. Sing-song and music, it has been said, were simply that, used for entertainment rather than for control, and people were not always so susceptible to its effects. It did not exhibit the snake-charm-like properties it does today, or so they say. The Duke’s people have downplayed this as entirely preposterous. Some people have always just been born with the ability to change our world, and that is that - it has been reported, however, that it was only with the event that word and sound took on this form. In the old world, it has been said, bankers and media-men ruled the world, instead of a magical aristocracy. Regardless of what is true, the fact remains that, in this world, some people follow, and others oppress. Whether their power comes from wealth or some innate mystical talent is irrelevant.

Every New Yorker knows, naturally, that the underground is off limits. We understand that your elders may have told you about riding them, but they are simply not safe, what with the hell-gates That is not to say that demonic activity is exclusively restricted to the underground. Creatures of varying forms sometimes forray above ground, although our scientific community has thus far been unable to find a specimen intact enough to classify them. Previous sightings of a supposed creature were, on further investigation, found to be sightings of a deranged and dementia-stricken Chinese man, known only as Ho Chi Bin.

Daily life in New York is a hard and meagre existence. People toil arduously for long hours, often for insufficient return to sustain them and their families. They scavenge for debris within the ruined skyscapers of the city, sifting through the destruction for scraps of technology or tins of baked beans, or otherwise work like serfs in many of the cramped farms outside the city. A number of these farms are owned by people like Anthony Maxwell, who live within Manhattan, away from the troubles and arduour of peasant life. As for economic matters, trade in New York is almost completely based around a barter system, with food and clothing being highly traded items. Money, not in the form of bank notes or coins, but in the form of precious metal, circulates throughout the black market, where people can acquire things that would otherwise be unobtainable for a price. Such black market activities have, however, been linked to the rebellion, and are thus suppressed by the Duke’s agents. This suppression has been rather unsuccessful, as many of these agents profit greatly from involvement in the black market trade.

The international section is equally-stressed, with the cities of New York and Detroit on the brink of direct, armed confrontation. Already, their respective armies are deployed in southern Canada, fighting over control of the cities of Ontario and Toronto. New York’s swift and brutal expansion throughout New England, into Canada and even into the Midwest and League of Virginia has not gone unnoticed by the other powers of North America. Detroit has been using its diplomatic influence to shore up support for a coalition against New York, leaving the city isolated and alone, save for limited contact with the crazed, mentally-inept monarch of Lousiana. It has been suggested that even the Duke is beginning to fear Detroit’s growing diplomatic system. Therefore, a pre-emptive strike against Detroit might be the most sound decision, allowing the Duke to crush his enemy before the coalition is given time to fully coalesce. Recently, New York’s plans in Canada have been frustrated by the rise to prominence of a skilled Communist general, Vittorio Cesare Galletti, who is said to charge into battle personally, with a huge 8ft Communist barbarian as a bodyguard.

Mechanics

This game uses the CASPIE system developed by Knight Captain Kerr in his roleplays. We would prefer it if the player made realistic allocations of points, and did not min-max. There is one point allocated as a base and 29 for the player to spend. The minimum cap is 1 and the maximum is 10. CASPIE is derived from Fallout’s SPECIAL system.

C= Charisma
A= Agility
S= Strength
P= Perception
I= Intelligence
E= Endurance

CHARISMA: Based off of appearance, charm, and skills as a personal and public speaker and negotiator.

AGILITY: Coordination, finesse, and the ability to move quickly.

STRENGTH: Raw physical strength.

PERCEPTION: The ability to notice things that others would not. Affects your accuracy and ability to scavenge resources.

INTELLIGENCE: Knowledge, wisdom, and the ability to think quickly. Especially important for navigating the ruins of Hunger City.

ENDURANCE: Physical toughness and conditioning, and how well you tolerate pain/injury.

1 Very Bad
2 Bad
3 Poor
4 Fair
5 Average
6 Good
7 Very Good
8 Great
9 Excellent
10 Heroic


The average person would be between three and eight in all skills. If you have a particularly high or low figure in a skill, you must justify it.


You may pick three tag skills. These are skills that your character excels in compared to everything else. All other skills will be considered in relation to the CASPIE attribute governing them.

CHARISMA

Speech: Your skill at persuading, deceiving, and beguiling others. Speech covers everything from getting that scavenger to sell you a bullet at a discount, to massive Cicero-like displays of oration, where you end a violent encounter without bloodshed.


AGILITY

Stealth: The ability to remain unseen and unheard.
Melee: Your skill at hand to hand and hand-held combat. Fists, swords, baseball bats. You know the right moves to make at the right time.


STRENGTH

Brute Force: Your ability to lift, carry, throw, and pull people and things. More Brute Force makes your blows more impactful.

PERCEPTION
Marksmanship: Skill at firearms and things that shoot.
Explosives: Your skill at things such as mines, grenades, claymores, and so on.

Lockpick: Your skill at picking locks.

INTELLIGENCE

Repair: The knowledge of how to repair your equipment, vehicles, and construct fortifications

Navigation: The ability to transverse New York quickly and easily, both aboveground and below it.
First Aid: Your ability to patch wounds, remove bullets, and other small scale medicine.

ENDURANCE

Survival: Your ability to live off the land (or what’s been left behind) and survive in the badlands of Hunger City. You never know where your travels will take you.

Sheet

Name:
Gender:
Age:
Equipment:
Appearance:
Personality:
Biography:
C
A
S
P
I
E
Tag Skills:
Other Notes: