Hey, everyone!
This post is about where I plan on focusing as a staffer for Volume 2, given my limited time and resources, and how people can get involved in the plots I'll be running in 2019.
Most of you probably remember Providence, the post-war settlement located out in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. For those who don't, we have a whole page on it here: http://string-theory.wikidot.com/location:providence
Over the summer, Eileen has moved some of the Sedro-Woolley folks who wanted to leave the Dead Zone into the area, integrating these people with those who have been living in Providence since the end of the war. Those who wanted to start a new life have, joining up with existing farms and homesteads, or by building their own. Neither she nor any of the other more militant members of the Sedro-Woolley colony have thrown their weight around; instead, they've opted to remain on the fringes of the settlement like elusive, well-meaning wolves protecting the people of Providence from the threat of larger predators out in the Pine Barrens. Predators like other militias, remnants of Humanis First turned Pure Earth, human traffickers, cultists, etc.
I'll be developing this relationship in V2, which will be about "leveling up" the settlement with the limited resources that are available. We'll have scavenging runs to ghost towns or destroyed cities like Philadelphia for supplies like medicine; we'll quietly target supply shipments by large companies like Yamagato who can absorb the loss; we'll come into conflict with other factions at some point, like Shedda Dinu and others, all in the name of providing a better life for those who don't trust the government enough to live inside the Safe Zone - or who believe their quality of life is better where they are.
Think Robin Hood meets Walking Dead, and you have a pretty good idea of what I plan on doing this volume. This is a great place for people to play if they're missing the Ferryman lifestyle of Book One, while still giving them the freedom to go into the Safe Zone whenever they want and interact with people there.
I'm looking for people who either want to join up with Providence's aloof protectors (Eileen, Finn, Lang, Kara, Tara, etc.) or who want to create characters who have their own farms or homesteads somewhere in the region and maintain autonomy that the protectors can interact on a daly basis/trade with/help out as necessary. Providence is a community without defined leadership — and everyone who lives there likes it that way. There is leadership among the settlement's new protectors, however, but it's run very much the same way the Vanguard remnant was. That is to say: like a pack of wolves where there are definitely one or two dominant people pushing an agenda, but decisions are largely made as a group for the benefit of the group.
We've got a Kara in-app at the moment, but I welcome both mercenary-types and pacifists. It's going to be an interesting bend of people, and I'll tailor plots specifically to who we get.
This thread will serve as a place to bounce ideas off one another and brainstorm. Have at it!