Local Factions

The Archivists, helmed by the King family, approached what they considered to be like-minded factions to form a single group dedicated to seeking and keeping knowledge, recovering relics of the fallen world, and spreading information to better the Wastelands as a whole - the Crossroads Academy.

The Archivists oversee the maintenance and acquisition of the written word in Fort Seymour. Their libraries, built from the remains of the Lilly and King Libraries after the Lilly War, are one of the best resources for research in the region. The King family maintains the stacks at their estate, though they are known for being open and welcoming for anybody who wishes to use their facilities. The Lakewater Jones Guild makes up a bulk of the acquisitions team, always ready to explore for artifacts and scarce resources.

The Lakewater Jones Guild was born with one goal in mind - exploration! They have joined resources with the Archivists to fund the exploration and mapping of the region around Fort Seymour. They work closely with Field Scholars to identify areas of interest and put together excursions into dangerous ruins, tunnels, abandoned buildings, and other sites where resources and treasures abound.

The Animation Studios approached Fort Seymour during the brief period of relocation at The Landing. The relationship has been both positive and negative - both sanctioned and rogue agents have terrorized townsfolk in the spirit of challenge and uplifting common to some branches of the Telling Visionaries. After too many problems and an attack from the Campfire Survivors Legion, the Animation Studios have regrouped and joined with the Archivists and Lakewater Jones Guild to spread knowledge and stories throughout the wastes.

A few groups have been dedicated to the security and prosperity of Fort Seymour for many years. Under the guidance of Poppy, the staunch project manager of the Seymour Engineers Corps, they have joined together under a single banner for the benefit of the settlement. The Highwaymen, Savannah’s Grace, and the Seymour Engineers Corps make up the Fort Seymour Civil Corps.

The Highwaymen were founded by families local to Fort Seymour - the Daltons and the Cartwrights. They have been involved in the safety and security of the region since before the joining of these two families. The Highwaymen consider Fort Seymour to be their home and the citizens of Fort Seymour their brethren. The Highwaymen also includes the Iron Rockets, a Diesel Jock clan that frequented the area for many years before joining with the Highwaymen to provide vehicles for scouting and patrolling. Red Dog Freight recently put their resources behind the Highwaymen as well - they have fleets of land, sea, and air vehicles and years of experience in cargo transportation and navigating trade routes.

Savannah’s Grace has researchers and medics who combine the ideologies of the Sainthood of Ashes and the Church of Darwin. This hospital is run entirely by volunteers from in and around the Fort Seymour area, so it’s not unlikely to see one of their medics running patrols with the Highwaymen or repairing bridges with the Engineer’s Corps. From skilled medics to field researchers, Savannah’s Grace boasts a robust knowledge of the diseases common to the area as well as their cures. They are also interested in developing anti-venoms, maintaining a stock of medical supplies for the area, and pioneering medical technology to make life just a little bit easier in the Wasteland.

The Seymour Engineers Corps has grown along with the town of Fort Seymour since its inception as a colony of the Iron Works. Dedicated scientists and engineers have worked to provide power to the town, agricultural support, foundational structures, and new construction. They are dedicated to maintaining and improving the infrastructure of Fort Seymour; the creation of tools to improve the quality of life of all survivors; uncovering infrastructure from previous iterations of the settlement in the area; and excavating and repairing or utilizing any previously existing infrastructure.

The Clarity Collective consists of several small organizations dedicated to the safe use of Anomalous abilities and the health of the Mortis Amaranthine.

The Clarity Collective recognizes the connection between Aberrant activity and the increased Undead response. However, they also recognize the benefits to responsible use of Aberrant abilities. A healthy Mortis Amaranthine means a healthy settlement. The Clarity Collective does not condone unnecessary death feeding infection to the Mortis. They are usually responsible for investigating threats to the Mortis Amaranthine and the causes for any anomalous behavior. Whenever possible, they aim to resolve any underlying issues causing such anomalies. The Collective is guided by a council of leaders of its various factions, a few of which are listed below.

The Hellfire Battalion is a local coalition of Fallow Hope residing just outside of Seymour. Their main priority is community outreach, namely within Fort Seymour. In recent times, they have taken up an alliance with the Clarity Collective for information and resources given the non-insignificant aberrant population within the Hellfire Battalion. While they focus mainly on security, they’re also largely self-sufficient and will occasionally drop extra supplies over to Fort Seymour in hopes of fostering the good relationship between the two groups. The Cult of the Fallow Hopes has a terrible reputation in the Fort Seymour area, and the Hellfire Battalion seeks to remedy that through helping others whenever possible.

Pax Aeterna’s Aberrants seek to uncover the mysteries of the Mortis Amaranthine and Aberrant individuals and threats. They are a peaceful and inquisitive group of scholars and Aberrants who study Lineages, Undead, and Raiders with Anomalous abilities, locations with Anomalous properties, and other anomalies that catch their attention.

The Void Guard, originally a secret organization made up entirely of Nightwing Lascarians, has recently opened its membership to citizens of Fort Seymour. They guard a Mortis-sensitive area deep in the tunnels below the settlement. It is a series of caverns that contain natural crystals with a faint purple glow. Though they have no way of proving it, the Void Guard contends that these Crystal Caverns approach the physical Mortis body more closely than even a Morgue. Part of the difficulty in making this determination is the powerful hallucinations experienced by most people who enter and explore the Crystal Caverns.

After a brief and bloody conflict between mercenary groups vying for work, a ceasefire was drawn and a union proposed. The Circle of Orpheus and Ogre Company joined local mercenaries in a loose alliance with the goal of spreading paying work among several parties. The Back Alley Breakers, a more recent addition, are hoping to use their membership to rise in prestige. Mercenary groups are welcome to apply as members, and must be approved unanimously by existing member groups.

The Back Alley Breakers, a primarily-Yorker gang, had set up shop in the area when the settlement returned from The Landing. Their business model was simple - Thugs for Hire. You need somebody thugged? Hire the Back Alley Breakers, they’ll take care of it. Their volume and incompetence made them a joke to the townsfolk, so they backed off and restructured.

The Circle of Orpheus began making contact with Fort Seymour shortly after the Battle of Iron Harbor. They were mercenaries who braved the hellscapes of Iron Harbor and the surrounding areas for the innocent - family members and travelers with unfortunate timing. They rescued many, but they also experienced great loss. They draw their name from the ancient story of Orpheus, a musician and florist who descended into Hell and faced the horrors within to rescue his beloved wife, taken too soon from the mortal world.

Ogre Company consists of Strains with strong physical mutations. For some, these mutations have been a source of mockery and discomfort. They have come together as a group to celebrate these differences and become a cohesive, well-oiled mercenary company. Retrogrades, Remnants, Semper Mort, and some Accensorites make up their ranks, though they are not above accepting outsiders of any Strain. As a whole, Ogre Company tends to be more laid back than many groups in their line of work. They are more likely to take jobs that do not require subtlety - frontal assaults, bounty hunting, and wanton destruction are right up their alley. Ogre Company has been active in providing combat training in Fort Seymour for a few years now and has no intention of stopping.

The Frequency tries its best to draw as little attention to itself as possible. It has existed in some form as long as the Iron Works has existed. As long as there has been any authority over which goods and services are labeled “illicit.”

There are few records publicly available to those outside the network, so there is little in the way of written history on which to report. Rumors attest a few things, and the network itself has not seemed to work terribly hard to put a stop to such rumors.

The Frequency, allegedly, is an egalitarian body of like-minded individuals who see value in making some goods and services available to the right people, and withholding them from those they see as undeserving. Any “leadership” there might be for this group relies heavily on the opinions of its regional members - one group that is a threat to the safety of the Wastes out East may not be such a threat, or even useful, out West. So targets are usually decided by the folks who actually live in and around member settlements.

The group identifies themselves using a communications convention that survived the Fall - they call it the Nato. When on assignment, members use words that make up the Nato. Those in-the-know will usually ask Frequency members, “What’s your Nato?” in place of “name.” Using this method allows for restructuring on the fly. No one name is assigned out of any import or rank, and one Echo you meet may be a completely different Echo in just a few hours. The Nato are most important for dividing up jobs into manageable tasks. It is even possible that those in the same crew only know one another’s Nato and not their real name. According to the Frequency, this is ideal.