The Drowned War #12: Refuse, Survivor's Haven

"Why do you call it Refuse?"
"Because we refuse to die."

Refuse is the largest and most well-known Junk flotilla on Earth, while it provides some level of protection against Pirates and Bone Fishers the “Greatest Garbage Heap known to Man” has it's drawbacks primarily the rise of the Diver Lords and the dangerous commodities sold in the 24/7 market.

Originally set up by Oceanographer Jack Caldwell, and his engineer wife Bani to defend against pirate attacks, Jack and Bani worked tirelessly to fortify their home grabbing every bit of scrap that floated to the surface.
Desperate for any material they could find, and realizing the two of them were not enough to defend against a large attack Jack began contacting and negotiating with other refugees. Initially, Bani opposed his plan to combine their home with other lifeboats, but she acquiesced stating that they would need as much scrap as possible to build their fortifications.
Jack was able to develop a friendship with another survivor, Samuel Carey, via short wave radio. They combined their lifeboats and began forging alliances with pod cities.
One such settlement, grateful for help lent to them, disclosed the location of a functioning Naval Yard. Jack and Sam were aided by a few wayward adventurers in securing more than a few Naval vessels. Though decommissioned and badly in need of repairs, Bani was able to fix and combine these vessels into a floating city.

While it was a good start the settlement would need food and purified water.
Jack and Bani began laying the groundwork for a governing council, five industrious businessmen formed a crew with the intention of gaining control via salvage and commerce.

The Diver Lords, as they came to be called, took on dangerous missions to find old weapons and tech. They braved the dangers of Arboretum to bring back grafts for fruit trees.
Each mission, more dangerous than the next, brought the Diver Lords wealth and fame.
They naturally dominated elections and absorbed the counsel positions.

Jack protested the elections, partially because he suspected fraud, but when his body was found in a stairwell in one of the lower decks protests ceased.

Bani was heartbroken, she believed the Diver Lords were responsible and in her grief returned to the faith of her childhood.

Bani founded the Temple of the Floating Truth, derived from what she remembered of her family's Sikh faith. While publicly they seek to educate the settlement in teachings related to medicine and engineering; unofficially they seek to overthrow the Diver Lords.


The Temple of Floating Truth views the Diver Lords as the embodiment of the five thieves that oppose Sikhism. These “Five Thieves” (or five major weaknesses in character) steal a person's essence and pollute their will to benefit others. Spiritually they represent lust, rage, greed, attachment, and conceit.

The Drowned War #11: Pod Cities, and Junk Flotillas

So let's get into the more desperate population, the scavengers, and refugees of the Drowned War.

Pod Cities
Pod Cities are communities that revolve Personal Oceanic Dive Ships or P.O.D.S.
Shaped like a flying saucer the pods are designed as mobile homes for sea fairing residents. Navigation, bunk area, a cooking station, a waste disposal station, and a small power plant comprise the internal bubble of the vessel. Pods are solar powered, submersible, and capable of linking with other pods in open water. The nomads that live in these communities are the descendants of individuals that purchased them. Many of these communities link up and share resources or search for parts to repair their vessels. Pods aren't well defended, but at least they're a better environment than a junk flotilla.

Junk Flotillas
It's unfortunate, but a fact of life. Some people could not afford passage to a sanctioned Flotilla city-state or to buy a Pod. Having few options the destitute citizens of the world did what they do best, they improvised. Pulling together boats, rafts, or any number of bit of floating scrap they could find these people formed their own floating cities. Unable to rely on traditional agriculture the citizens of these junk flotillas raise bugs and rats for food, they grow crops in planters and waste bins. They do what they can to survive.
Junk flotillas are not protected from the environment the same way city states are, because of this the people who live there are more vulnerable to the elements, and to attacks from human and mutant alike.
The largest junk flotilla, Refuse, has a thriving market in which anything can be bought or sold (including people). Salvage operations are common and the Diver Lords invest in those will to search the ruins for anything of value.
Black Market operations trade goods and services, and there are even snakehead operators that claim they can sneak refugees onto established city-state flotilla (whether this is true or not hasn't been verified).
Piracy is common as Warlords use barges and speed boats to raid other floating structures.
The people who live in pod cities and junk flotillas are desperate and will to do whatever it takes to avoid danger and stay afloat. 

The Drowned War #7: Flotilla City Oceania

If your game is going to take place on a Flotilla City it's important to know the ins and outs.
First off there are four known and the proper Flotilla City States: Oceania, Pacifica, Daedalus, and Arboretum.

The Gamemaster is free (and encouraged) to devise their own flotilla city states.

General rules
1. The Flotilla City States have a central section that the governing body inhabits
2. The City States all have a unique culture and are often influenced by preexisting corporations or their involvement with the Science and Research divisions of the World Navy (7 Helix)
3. Each City state will be made up of segments (miniature city blocks or townships) and all segments will contain a mess hall, engineering room, Security station, and Med station.
4. Some Segments will contain special properties like recycling or heavy guns and defense.

Oceania

Player knowledge: For the average citizen Oceania is plain, sterile white walls are washed frequently and anyone caught in the act of graffiti is arrested on sight. Citizens are required to wear white jumpers and have their ID badges present at all times. Anyone caught on the street without their badge or after curfew is arrested on sight. Aside from those strict rules, Oceania is fairly open, it has several bars and even a robust public library. The Oceania data net allows for inter-segment communication, social media, and message boards. Unfortunately since the war with Pacifica began Oceania citizens have seen their freedoms erode. The City council enacted a state wide curfew and began monitoring the data net more heavily. Rumors of Warrant Officer investigations are whispered among the population and citizens are encouraged to turn in any suspected terrorist.

Unique Features:

1. Social events and gatherings
2. Well stocked prewar Library
3. Library staff in the hundreds
4. Active Data-Net that allows inter-segment communication
5. Proactive police force dedicated to preventing terrorism, and protecting its people from Pacifica spies.


The City council are as follows:
1. Admiral George MacArthur - Commander
2. Janice Meyers - City Manager
3. Edwin Brummel – City Commissioner
4. Helen Dealer -City Attorney

GM Notes: (Players Beware)

While Oceania appears monotonous with its bleached decorum bland summer that's all just part of the program. No other Flotilla city excels in propaganda the way Oceania does.

1. Admiral MacArthur has been dead for some time, but rather than admit this Meyers has had him replaced with a duplicate and crafted a larger than life public figure, only the other members of the council know this and work diligently to keep the general population from finding out.

2. The City council employs an army of public relations and media specialist to monitor and control the flow of information found on the data-net. Hackers and data miners are commissioned with removing, editing, and alerting warrant offers to information deemed coercive to the state. While many follow an order to the letter a small group known only as the “Depository” has set up a makeshift dark web and flooded it with seized information. Finding the dark web is nearly impossible, and if you do you must be vigilant that warrant officers don't find out; if they do you can be sure you'll be labeled a terrorist and arrested on sight.

3. The Public Library is mostly unoccupied. The city council hasn't gone to the trouble of removing the information from the actual books; allowing members of the library staff to aid the Depository by feeding them unedited information. 

The Drowned War #5: History of the Anthropocene, World Navy, and Flotillas

Before the Disaster

The world of the Drowned War takes place in a wet, oil covered future.
Desperate men and women scavenge for parts, search for dry land, and avoid genetic mutations while attempting to survive a planet regressed into primordial savagery.

History of the Anthropocene

Post 20th century the Corporate powers (mega corporations with incredible power) were able to utilize their economic influence and overthrow several governments.
A period know as the "Corporate Wars" saw the Corporate Powers gradually sweep independent states under the rug and make way for a Unified Nation.

The Corporate Powers erased borders, established global trade, diluted organized religions, and instituted a one world government.

Society progressed as new technology became available, but an increase in population and environmental changes were taking their toll on the world. A slow, methodical flooding of the Earth dubbed 'The Anthropocene' was occurring. The Unified Nation initially denied the existence of the Anthropocene, but as more and land was claimed by the seas the Corporate Powers were forced to acknowledge the inevitable loss of all dry land.
Massive Earthquakes shifted coastlines, sank mountains and washed away islands in Tsunamis. The Unified Nation began work to ensure humanity -or at least it's masters- would survive The Anthropocene.

The World Navy

As land became scarce The Unified Nation consolidated Earth's military forces and re-purposed them for aquatic research and Naval operations. 

It took decades, but the World Navy was born.

While an intimidating military force, the World Naval was also dedicated to research and exploration as much as conflict. 

Scientist with the World Navy's Project 7 Helix were responsible for creating the genetic modification serums or genetic soup as it had been come known. This substance is capable of altering the genetic codes of those exposed to it. Slightly radioactive the soup was responsible for mutations and "adaptive" projects that would allow humans to survive in varied ecological conditions. 

While Project 7 Helix unlocked the human genetic code and devised organic experiments another organization tackled the daunting task of sheltering the human population.

Flotillas

As land became more scarce the Corporate Powers reorganized several different contractors and development companies. The newly formed Atlas Applications was given an unlimited expense account by the Unified Nation. Tasked with developing sustainable synthetic islands Atlas developed modular flotillas. 

Coming in a wide varieties of sizes from personal pods to floating city blocks the advanced flotillas were designed to be self sustaining ecosystems. 

Unfortunately, while gigantic in size, flotilla cities were not large enough to accommodate the worlds population. 

Wealthy and middle classed citizens were welcomed, but the poor and unskilled were banned from most flotilla cities. 

Forced to make due outside of these floating jewels survivors began constructing their own environments from whatever they could scrap together, these junk flotillas litter the seascape like bobbing junkyards.

As water levels rose and resources became harder to locate disputes between flotilla cities became aggressive, the Corporate Powers split and dissolved into respective city councils.

The two largest cites, Oceania and Pacifica, were able to maintain relative peace during this time, until a terror attack by a doomsday cult damaged Pacifica's genetic soup reserves.

The mutagen leaked into the surrounding area and caused flora and fauna to wrap into horrific creatures. Pacifica's leaders refused to believe the attack was the result of religious zealot's and used the attack as a justification for war with Oceania. 

With the many dangers now present on the Earth, the remnants of the human race are drowning in war.