The Story

   Throughout history, human society has proven one thing time and time again -- it exists in a state of almost constant amnesia. Self-destruction always triumphs over reason and entropy will always win.
 
   It is the year 2080.  Diplomatic tensions run high as the bickering nations of the world compete for technology and resources.  Multilateral deals and mutual assistance pacts are inked every day.  Allies and enemies swap positions on a weekly basis.
 
   No one knows who shot first, but no one wanted to be last.  Cascades of ICBMs streaked into the sky to rain fire and death.  Ten thousand years of progress ground to a halt in ten minutes as civilization self-immolated.
 
   One hundred years later, most of the Burnt World is now uninhabitable, blanketed by background radiation. Small pockets of law and order persist, fighting to survive against the madmen who press ahead with their insane dreams.

   Not all of humanity has gone extinct.  Numerous small villages and towns dot the post nuclear landscape, struggling to exist in the crossfire of the various feuding factions.
 
   All the countries, provinces, and governments of the world are gone. Many were irrevocably crippled during the nuclear holocaust and people were forced to start anew. Society has been knocked back into a more primitive, violent era.
 
   To cope with the unforgiving environment, the survivors formed new societies.  After 100 years of bloody fighting, six factions have withstood the test of time.
 
   The first to come were the Reclaimers, the megalomaniacal Diaspora of the Western governments.  They scavenged and rebuilt the blackened, scored dwellings of the past.  They also crushed anyone who dared question their absolute authority.
 
   Then came the Resistance, formed to combat the totalitarianism of the Reclaimers.  They were the dregs and rejects of society, united by a single goal.  In 2105, the two forces met at what would be called the Battle of Liberation, where the great Resistance fighter General Roland "Hammerhead" Douglas personally led his elite troops in a dramatic flanking charge.  The move collapsed the enemy lines, making the Reclaimer military completely incapable of sustaining a concentrated offensive further into Resistance territory.
 
   But not everyone was above ground when the warheads hit.  In Japan, a brilliant scientist was safely locked away in the subterranean laboratory of NewTek Industries.  He set out to create a new race of cyborgs, gaining countless followers as he brought electronic upgrades and implants to all who would live by his rules.
 
   Deep in the wastes, a self-proclaimed religious savior and messiah begins wandering the world, performing allegedly supernatural feats.  Flocks of desperate individuals submit themselves to his will and truths of existence.  Later, the Nihilists make their presence known at the First Great Cleansing.  As the Nihilist cults began concentrating, they systematically waged war with the surrounding communities.  The Nihilist high priests sacrificed ten thousand prisoners of war over the course of ten days to the Angel of Pain.
 
   There are also those who beliefs are for sale, the Mercenaries.  They find their talents and easily securable loyalties eternally in demand.  The Mercenaries have the widest and most varied trading network in the Burnt World.  They are notorious for settling small outposts near conflict hotspots and capitalizing on interfactional hatred.  The rule of thumb is, "Good connections get good guns.  Good guns get good Biz.  Good Biz gets good cash."
 
   Finally, there are those who swear fealty to know one; those who cannot be bought.  The Independents stand out like rocks amidst crashing waves, continuing to exist on their terms.

The Factions

The Reclaimers : "Either you or your corpse will be dragged back into civilization. Your choice."
Notable Cities & Strongholds: Megayork, New Washington,

Los Alamos, Fort Vigilance, Frontier City, Kings Keep, Dublin.

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When the United States and most of Western Europe was wiped off the map by hostile warheads, certain high-ranking officials with the foresight (they say "foresight", most others say "paranoia") to set up shielded fallout shelters for themselves became aware of each other's existence via emergency communication channels. These men and women dedicated themselves to rebuilding the shattered pieces of the world. Thru cunning, bribery, strongarm tactics, and genocide of undesirables, a sizable portion of land was consolidated. They called themselves the Reclaimers and made it their mission to restore law and order to humanity so no holocaust would happen again.

The Reclaimers have achieved remarkable progress in the past century. In some ways, their society and cities the same qualities that were enjoyed before the missiles. They have a standing military and functioning political system. The system is democratic in nature, but actually ruled by a shadow council of bureaucrats, scientists, and soldiers. Their capital is New Washington. They were the first to fill the power vacuum, being the only organized state for the first two decades after the holocaust. Their corruption and ruthlessness had the effect of polarizing many other survivors which eventually would give rise to the other ideologies of the Burnt World.

General themes ...
Think the modern U.S. and Western European countries, except that they just gave up all pretense of giving a damn about individual citizens and rights. Most Reclaimers honestly believe they're making the world a better place by forcibly imposing order on it. They have much the same mindset as did the Dominicans when they converted natives to Christianity at the point of a sword.

They became extremely popular with refugees as they unquestioningly granted asylum to all those who took an oath of loyalty to the Reclaimer government. There are several modestly sized Reclaimer towns and a few cities. The towns range from small farming communities to twenty-first century cities. New Washington's splendour is eclipsed only by New Tek HQ.

Troops...
Soldier : The typical Reclaimer soldier carries automatic weapons, body armour, a sidearm, and is reminiscent of the modern Western soldier of today.

Elite : Elite troops can range from exceptionally talented individuals to vat-grown, genetically enhanced humans. They are uncommonly intelligent, fast, and strong.

Zealot : Reclaimer zealots are those whose ferver and skills put them above even the Elite. Their DNA is recoded at a cellular level and basic cybernetic implants installed in order to make them superhuman fighting juggernauts.

Ranged : Ranged ground units of the Reclaimer military are armed with long-range, high-powered rifles capable of hitting targets from a mile away. The best Reclaimer snipers use energy weapons.

Pyro : Reclaimer demolition and heavy weapons experts have advanced explosives ranging from small grenades to hand-held rocket launchers, bazookas, and RPGs.

Stealth : Reclaimer special ops units are masteres of solo and guerilla warfare and behind-enemy-lines tactics. They frequently engage in skirmishes with larger and more powerful New Tek and Nihilist forces.

The Reclaimers have a very active R&D industry and are technologically inferior only to New Tek. They have military forces of the standard and specialist variety, are highly organized, and believe that taming the chaos of the Burnt World justfies any means. Elite Reclaimer troops are typically enhanced with genetic recoding and crude cybernetic implants in addition to relatively reliable and sturdy equipment. Reclaimers are famous for their "peacekeeping" missions, which usually end with a smaller region being annexed at the point of a gun barrel.

Views on others...

Resistance : Seen as a thorn in the side of the Reclaimer state. The Resistance is viewed with special disdain. They are seen as anarchists who don't understand how the world works. They are in almost constant battle with the Reclaimers. While technologically superior, the unorthdox yet brilliant tactics of the Resistance have had major success against Reclaimer forces. The Reclaimers suspect some third party of aiding the Resistance.

New Tek : They are seen as packrats, hoarding technology and slowing progress. It is their technological achievements and cold-blooded, calculating strategies that make them difficult opponents.

Nihilists : Diseased beings who have devolved to such an almost primitive, animal level. They will can never be brought into an ordered society. They are destructive and need to be exterminated.

Mercenary : Mercenaries are those who live outside the order that the world needs. However, they are sometimes useful, and are tolerated. That being said, Reclaimer units do not hesitate to hunt down or place bounties on the heads of troublesome soldiers of fortune.

Resistance : "We will continue to oppose the will of bloodthirsty tyrants."
Notable Cities & Strongholds: Vegas, Bordertown, Peeq,

New Havana, Terminus, Sao Paolo.

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With roots almost as old as the Reclaimers, the Resistance is the second oldest faction in the Burnt World. Initially founded in a cellar by six former factory workers and a bottle of whiskey, the group pledged itself to halting what it called the "rampant nationalism and manifest destiny imperialism" being perpetrated by the Reclaimers. They claimed the holocaust would never have happened had it not been for the narrow short-sightedness of Reclaimers and their ilk.

Finding kindred spirits in the new society, militiamen, militants, guerillas, and political fringists crawled out from under the ashes and joined against the Reclaimers under the banner of the Resistance. They vowed that unthinking tyranny would not go unchallenged in this wasteland. All those who questioned the unchecked development of technology made their stand against the Reclaimers at the battle of Liberation, twenty-five years to the day after the missiles hit. Having been dealt its first major military loss in its short history, the Reclaimers seemingly ceaseless advance across North America was brought to a sudden, grinding stoppage.

General themes...
The Resistance is made up of political extremists that have all agreed power lies with the people. It cannot be controlled by a select few. The Resistance has dozens of deep cover operatives in the Reclaimer faction. There are any number of militant political factions ranging from communism to fascism and everywhere in between that coexist with each other only because they see other factions as equating to aristocracies and oligarchies. The strongest single entity in the Resistance is the anti-technology movement. Its members abhor the use of advanced, nuclear-age technology and they specialize in defeating arrogant, technologically superior opponents.

The Resistance has the widest spectrum of life in it. Its member are bound together only because the rest of the Burnt World is even more disagreeable than their present company. Members of the Resistance see people in two categories : people they might not like and people they don't like who will come to conquer them one day. There are pockets of the Resistance that refuse to use technology past the Industrial Revolution. There are others who have converted old train locamotives and run a rudimentary railway system. A typical Resistance cell is typically only as healthy as its scavenging and scouting forces. Some use whatever technology they can get their hands on, turning it against those who would dominate the Burnt World.

Troops...

Soldiers : The average Resistance soldier varies wildly, depending upon political beliefs and available gear. While they are fully capable of employing most modern non-energy weapons, it is rare they stumble across one.

Elite : Elite Resistance fighters are a semi-organized group of professional soldiers who also usually serve as some vaguely recognizable form of war council. Their equipment is noticeably better than that of the soldier, and may even be captured Reclaimer armaments.

Zealot : Resistance zealots are a reclusive, anti-social bunch, even by revolutionary standards. They are the true outcasts of the world whose odd interpretations of reality and frothing-at-the-mouth hatred of authority make them fearsome opponents. Without a doubt, the most feared Resistance zealots are the Neospartans. Their proudest moment came at the Battle of Grey Skies, during which a single squadron of Neospartans drove off a Nihilist unit twenty times its size.

Ranged : The Resistance Elite have attempted to train a corp of rifleman to varying degrees of success. The most successful Resistance ranged fighters work in small teams deep in enemy territory alongside specialist units to harass and cripple the enemy.

Pyro : Resistance pyros range from amateur survivalist chemists to alchemists to descendants of disgruntled scientists. Resistance pyros are a psychologically frightening sight to both friend and foe.

Stealth : Resistance stealth fighters tend towards the ascetic hermit type. They carry minimal weaponry, but their physical conditioning, wits, and will are unparalleled. Many of the best Resistance special forces members have reputations much like the ninja of ancient Japan.

The Resistance military is fueled almost entirely on captured enemy resources. The diversity of the faction ensures that no matter what technology is recovered, it can be turned against an opponent. Science has not come to a standstill, however. Resistance researchers are constantly looking for new ways to use old technology and are renown for their creativity and innovation.

Views on others...

Reclaimers : They are fascist dictators who seek to put everyone's throat beneath their bootheel. They are the antithesis of everything the Resistance stands for. There has been a decades long ongoing war with the Reclaimers. While holding its own, the Resistance has not made the military strides it needs to, due to lack of organization. That being said, the Resistance has made a career out of pulling off upset victories and winning when it counts, particularly against the Reclaimers.

New Tek : Tyrants who put technology and science above humanity. They are tolerated, but viewed with suspicion and xenophobia, mainly because they serve as a powerful check against the Reclaimer state.

Nihilists : Strange religious zealots that cannot be reasoned with. They are looked upon almost as a disease. Deep reconnaisance from Resistance operatives in Nihilist territory have sent back reports that the Nihilists are controlled by a theocracy based around a death-worshipping cult.

Mercenaries : While occasionally employed by the Resistance, such invitations are usually only given as a last resort. Normally, when Resistance members and mercenaries meet, it's on the field of battle. The Resistance fighters have adopted their tactics against the Reclaimers to exploit the same holier-than-thou attitude shared by most Mercenaries.

Mercenaries : "Creed of greed, science of violence."
Notable Cities & Strongholds: Sicilian Compound,

Fort of The Brethren, Johannesburg.

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Mercenaries are just that, people whose allegiance is determined by cold, hard cash or personal gain. There is no one entity that oversees the entire Merc population. There are, however, highly organized and efficient mercenary cartels, families, clans, and groups. There are also freelance soldiers of fortune who run small crews of guns for hire, hiring themselves out to any who will meet their price.

Mercenaries use whatever it takes to get the job done. Any tech, any equipment, any job, any target for the right payment. They'll do Biz (as the slang term goes) with most anyone, kill anyone, steal anything, trade with anyone, guard anything. They find themselves fighting other Mercs as much as other factions.

General themes...
Mercenaries come from all walks of life. They may have been born into it. They could be deserters, refugees, or malcontents from another battle, army, or faction. They may just be criminals capitalizing on the current state of the world. Anyone can be a Merc.

There are some organized crime syndicates. The Sicilians are said to survive, as have the Yakuza, the Triads, and countless other collections of thugs. In addition, there are the wandering independent crews of Mercs that hang out in the fringes of the rest of the factions, looking for clients and the next big score.

Troops...
Soldier : Mercenary soldiers are a mixed bag. They are generally equipped for professional, competent violence, though.

Elite : When other Mercs gather to talk about the best in the Biz, they talk about the Elite. These are Mercenary captains and leaders who have earned huge amounts of cred and respect. These are truly warriors and leaders of men.

Zealot : When Merc Elites gather to talk about the scariest bad-asses in the Biz, they talk about the zealots. Fanaticism means something different to a Mercenary. It means the willingness to see the job to the end, regardless of consequences. Even in the face of certain death, Merc zealots never stop until the job's done.

Ranged : Anyone that can picked up a projectile weapon can be a Merc ranged unit. Generally, the pay is dependent upon the number of targets dropped.

Pyro : Demolitions nuts are unnerving enough. The ones that sell their services to the highest bidder are usually among the most cold-blooded bastards in the Burnt World, though.

Stealth : Mercs boast the most fantastic successes in the area of stealth troops. They can adapt to and blend into factions and societies that traditional enemies cannot.

 

NewTek : "We are here to improve you."
Notable Cities & Strongholds: The Hive, Southpoint,

Citadel Of Steel, HQ, Proof.

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Before the world was Burnt, it was ruled by capitalism and free enterprise. Massive corporate conglomerates grew to sizes so bloated and immense that world governments gave up trying to police them. One such entity, NewTek Industries, was headquartered in Japan and led by a genius robotics scientist. The company's research facilities were located underground and received comparatively little damage from the holocaust. Believing that mankind had destroyed itself, the chief of NewTek's R&D section achieved his greatest accomplishment -- the seamless integration of human and digital information communication and manipulation. And so the first cyborg was born.

He ventured forth from his lair, gaining converts from the masses that eked out an existence. Thousands of human-machine hybrids were churned out at staggering rates. Developing at an extreme rate, the NewTek Empire quickly spread across vast distances. There is almost a pseudo-hive mentality since machine communication is cheap and efficient. Digital integration is a requirement. There is no NewTek citizen without at least one cybernetic implant, be it cosmetic or practical. NewTek society is run with amazing efficiency in some areas, some of the most impressive organizations look more like beehives and ant colonies than humanoids.

General themes...
NewTek citizens embrace technology as part of the definition of existence. One does not truly exist until one foot is in the electronic, digital world and one in the organic, human world. Those who are not are called Incompletes.

NewTek openly welcomes any and all who seek asylum in its territory, usually regardless of past history and provided they're willing to receive a cybernetic implant. The theory is that everyone can be put to use somewhere. It's just a matter of being honest, objective, and assigning that individual to his proper task. NewTek researchers have broken down existence into any number of mathematical models that can be used to predict future events with a limited degree of certainty. The integration of human and electronic spheres have allowed knowledge to be generalized, uploaded, downloaded, and accessed at the blink of an eye. You can download skills, you can communicate with thousands of people at once anytime you need. Body parts can be exchanged for artificial replacements. Eyesight, touch, hearing, can all be artificially enhanced and improved, for a price.

There is considerably less privacy in NewTek than anywhere else. Mainly because it can be mandated thru machine instructions. Secrecy comes at a premium and is valued almost as much as new technology.

All citizens of NewTek are cyborgs. The NewTek definition of a cyborg is "one who has a cybernetic implant of sophistication adhering to the Protocol Zero standard." It quite literally defines who is and is not an Incomplete, which greatly determines one's standing with NewTek society. New Tekies are notorious for their patronizing attitude towards those who do not meet Protocol Zero. While children are born biologically human, they receive their first implant within five minutes of birth. Live births are very rare, so most children are vat-grown or cloned from an existing collection of DNA.

Troops...
Soldier : NewTek soldiers come in varying flavors of strengths, sizes, and abilities, offering a limited degree of specialization not seen in other faction soldiers. For those times when you can't decide, NewTek also produces and trains the G.I. (Generic Infantry) Tek cyborgs, now up to version 9.2.7.12. They come standard with a NewTek Mark 9 Fully Automatic Hybrid Energy-Bullet Rifle and NewTek Body Armor v9.0. Frequently, enemies refer to these troops as Niners.

Elite : Again, there are numerous varying types of elite NewTek troops to cover virtually any specific situation a commander may encounter. And again, they have seen fit to produce a generic model that performs the best under most combat conditions. The current standard in Elite troops is the Dominus cyborg. These beasts undergo significant structual modifications. Their most conspicuous feature is their Multi-Purpose Cannon, which encompasses most of one arm. It can fire standard bullet rounds, plasma projectiles, and fully repeating energy blasts, all to the tune of six hundred rounds per minute.

Zealot : A NewTek zealot is a strange sight to behold. They are beings who truly blur the line between machine and man. They are the only unregulated offensive branch. Fanatics volunteer for their units and receive regular modifications and upgrades. There is no case of a NewTek fanatic surrendering. Ever. The infamous Bladed Fist Mercenary cartel sent a one hundred man posse to retrieve a single Tekie zealot. Rumor has it that the two surviving mercs returned to their masters with the cyborg's head, only to have it explode and wipe out the entire base.

Ranged : The ranged units of the NewTek Empire are the most precise shots in the whole of the Burnt World, bar none. Their eyes are commonly enhanced to see great distance in multiple spectrums of light, their motor servos are accurate to within millionths of seconds and meters. They are armed with the finest long-distance energy weapons in the world. Given proper terrain, most NewTek snipers can take out their target from up to three miles away.

Pyro : NewTek pyros typically come with flamethrower, explosive round, or grenade-launching attachments. They have the most computational power of any troop cyborg as they are constantly reevaluating the quickest way to blow up everything with the least effort possible.

Stealth : NewTek takes two views on stealth troops. One version can pass for human with almost 100% success. They are used to relay information back to NewTek HQ and report on new technological developments throughout the world. Their intelligence network is low key and extremely successful. The other type of stealth troop is used for surgical strikes in small groups or solo ops. NewTek researchers spent years coming up with the best design, utilizing the history's most effective and prolific strategies for killing.

The NewTek R&D department has recently made a huge breakthrough, claiming to have given birth to the first true AI, sentient, self-aware, and capable of independent, creative thought.

Views on others...
Reclaimers : The Reclaimers are a group of misguided citizens controlled by a small group of power-hungry, war-mongering rulers. NewTek has had several armed conflicts with the Reclaimers, most of which end with enormous casualty rates, so large-scale military action is generally avoided by both sides unless necessary. Plenty of smaller firefights erupt, though. NewTek is interested in liberating any new technology and science from the hands of petty Incompletes.

Nihilists : The Nihilists are a faction with members that don't mind throwing away their lives time and time again. NewTek has no problem with mechanically slaughtering aggressive enemies. It is thought that being part machine mitigates the psychological impact the Nihilists have on their usual organic foes. There have been scattered reports of dead Nihilist cyborg troops found with NewTek implants.

Resistance : Part of being a hybrid machine is no assumptions are made about others. NewTek is entirely honest in its dealings with the Resistance, sometimes even trading and occasionally entering into brief alliances against the Reclaimers with them. While there is a certain degree of mutual, grudging respect, NewTek does not make the mistake of underestimating the Resistance, and generally takes the upper hand in most combat situations.

Mercenaries : Mercenaries are valuable customers to NewTek as the Mercs are always looking for better ways to ply their trade. Mercs often are hired by NewTek as added muscle or for cases where cyborgs simply aren't an option. On the other hand, Mercs often target NewTek to steal their weapons or new technology.

Nihilists : "You will be made to embrace oblivion."
Notable Cities & Strongholds: Mhejlor, Drukux, Vronck,

Retu'nar, Jylzan.

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The Nihilists are the most feared and chilling creatures the Burnt World has to offer. Their names are spoken in hushed whispers, if at all.

It is said that the Purifier was once a man who saw into the very heart of Oblivion in the explosions in the sky. He then traveled the world for years, guided by visions and voices, migrating from place to place, waiting for just the right time, and moving on again. During his wanderings, he unearthed a number of ancient religious artifacts and scriptures, thought to be lost to antiquity. He was then led to the a land he called the Wastes, from whence the dark cold of Oblivion would envelope the Burnt World.

He preached that society was too sick to survive. It was a cosmic experiment that had failed. Like any failed experiment, it should be erased and a new one began. He preached the gospel of decay and death. The masses were hypnotized by his rhetoric and bravado. They promptly submitted themselves to the will of Oblivion.

General themes...
The Nihilists are an extraordinarily creepy religious death cult. Their purpose is to abolish existence itself. They only sustain themselves so that they may purge the world before tearing their own society to shreds, fulfilling the will of Oblivion, the state of perfection achieved only thru the extinction of existence. It is the duty of man to make the reality better, even if that means removing man from the equation.

The culture is ruled by the Purifier, a seemingly immortal emperor that guides his minions on a never ending crusade of obliteration. He personally bestows power upon his most trusted lieutenants, who in turn empower their own servants.

Nihilist troops strike fear into the most stalwart of hearts. There are all kinds of vague innuendo flying about the Nihilists are undead, made of black magic, daemons from hell, or supernatural killers. The truth is that no one knows. Everyone agrees that they are most certainly not fully human. Most factions are aware that the Nihilists can probably reanimate the dead, as freshly killed troops are frequently seen in their ranks.

Troops...
Soldier : The typical Nihilist solider is a misshapen, humanoid thing that will use any weapon available to murder his opponent.

Elite : These troops rank slightly higher on the food chain. They are often massive, hulking brutes virtually impervious to physical pain.

Zealot : For raw killing potential, nothing beats a Nihilist zealot. They are often deployed alone, away even from other Nihilist troops, lest unintended casualties be suffered by their comrades.

Ranged : Nihilist ranged troops tend to be the most sane, patient, and stable of a psychotic bunch. They are often used to draw the attention of enemy troops while regular soldiers and elites perform flanking assaults.

Pyro : A demolitions expert that isn't afraid of blowing himself up. There is no more dangerous foe.

Stealth : Most Nihilists aren't predisposed towards stealth. But the ones that have learned to kill covertly and unnoticed do so with the highest skill. Nihilist stealth troops are often the least human fighters on a battlefield.

Views on others...
Reclaimers : The Reclaimers view the Nihilists as primitive. The Nihilists have view that, due to their tremendous proclivity for death and destruction, the Reclaimers are worthy opponents that should be respected. Battles between the Reclaimers and Nihilists often result in Nihilist human wave assaults being pitted against Reclaimer firepower.

Resistance : Another favorite prey item. The Resistance is usually stretched thin with its war against the Reclaimers and its tenuous relationship with NewTek. In most Resistance cells, Nihilists are equated to daemons, monsters, and mythical evils.

NewTek : NewTek supply depots have been raided by roving bands of Nihilists, leading some NewTek leaders to believe that the Nihilists have members capable of advanced scientific reasoning and thought. NewTek has had the most success again Nihilist forces.

Mercenaries : Frequently prey of the Nihilists due to the independent nature and relatively small, easily picked off groups, Mercs are viewed as valuable sources of weaponry and manpower.

Independents : "Get off my lawn."
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The Independents are made up of those singular individuals that refuse to bow to the rest of reality. They will not adapt to it. It will adapt to them.

Troops...
Soldier : These individuals frequently travel in groups, moving swiftly in and out of faction territories.

Elite : These beings can be one-man armies. They can survive independently and remain self-sustaining for years, all the while waging a deadly guerilla war.

Zealot : Almost elemental, these people are typically those that remove themselves from all society and live in caves as hermits. No one disturbs them unless absolutely necessary.

Ranged : These beings are as ethereal and ephemeral as ghosts, their targets often dying before they knew they were even targeted.

Pyro : Independent pyros are the most destructive entities known to exist in the Burnt World. They can decimate any fortification and bring down any target, regardless of size.

Stealth : Little is known of the Independent stealth troops, except that they are almost without exception solitary and mysterious. And no one ever sees them coming.

The Burnt World

   Desolation and Radiation...
The world has changed. Mankind exists, but life has changed forever.

Radiation pockets dominate the land. Entire oceans became contaminated and radioactive, destroying all life within them.

The largest area of continuous radiation stretches from North America, across the Atlantic ocean, and across Europe. Nicknamed "The Void," this expanse of death is largely avoided by travelers and warriors alike.