Go back to the Morrow Project Travel Guide index to get to the other regional entries.

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SECTION NINE: New England (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island)
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MAINE

Maine was isolated before the war, and afterwards was nearly lost to the icy wilderness. Most of the urban areas were nuked, driving refugees into the deep woods in wintertime, where nearly all of them eventually perished. Up in the small towns, people held on longer, often banding together for mutual protection. The rapidly changing weather killed them off in short order as well, forcing the survivors back towards the coasts. Within twenty years, Maine had been reduced to a collection of tiny coastal communities with a total population of about 5,000. Over time, this number rose and fell as the people worked to recover and guard against predators, both animal and two-legged. The coastal towns were slowly organized, fishing was taken up again, and foreigners began to visit.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Portland, SS-N-17
Augusta, SS-17
Loring AFB, SS-17

Discretionary nuclear targets:
Bangor, SS-N-17
Lewiston, SS-N-8
Maine Augusta nuclear reactor, Bath, SS-N-17

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS
Later…

3) ICE AGE
In the last 150 years the average temperature in the northeastern part of North America has dropped as much as 20 degrees below pre-war levels. The freak combination of a shifted jet stream and a growing Arctic ice cap caused by dust in the atmosphere from the nuclear war have brought the beginnings of a new Ice Age to this region. Most of the major changes have occurred in far northern Canada and along the eastern provinces as far south as New Brunswick. The further north you go, the worse the change. In America, just on the edges of the extreme northeastern states have the changes been as severe, in the northern parts of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and even parts of upstate New York. Further south, all the way down into Massachusetts even, the weather is colder and wetter in the winter, causing massive changes in the way people live.

4) THE ICELANDERS
If there was ever a people group that could excel in these new colder times, it would be the Icelanders. The northern coastline of Maine is home to several colonies of Icelanders, people who have come to America in the last century to look for natural resources. They are mostly interested in timbers for their ship building industry, as high-quality wood is rare in Iceland, but the colonies have expanded into other areas of trade and production. These people are generally friendly and open to visitors, providing they play nice. They have few aspirations for conquest, though they probably could dominate the region if they wanted to, and are content to log the coastal areas in the summer months and toss out their fishing nets. They are heavily colonizing the coastlines of the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, but have only come to northern Maine so far. In a few decades, at their present rate, the Icelanders may be as far south as Boston. They currently have one large Maine colony in the Cobscook Bay area and numerous small seasonal logging camps spread out about the northeastern quarter of the state.

Iceland in the war: Several small tactical nukes hit various targets around the island, mostly radar sites and airfields. The expected big nuke on Reykjavik, however, never came. In the end, the war petered out and the Icelanders came out of their shelters and their basements to find their island relatively intact. Isolation was the byword for about a generation, as real fears of disease and radiation forced them to keep foreigners away. This allowed them time to rebuilt their infrastructure and industry. By the late 2020s, the Icelanders were ready to move off the island. At first, they were looking for survivors and military threats. Not finding any threats, the islanders began building trade and travel networks throughout Europe.

Westward: It was only natural that they would cast eyes to the southwest. Though aware that America and Canada had ceased to exist as nations, the Icelanders were curious about what conditions were. Occasional traders were coming in from eastern Canada bringing stories of natural resources just waiting to be exploited in the absence of any government. Expeditions were organized, at first small recon missions, then larger survey and exploration missions.

Beginnings: At first there was some conflict. Villagers struggling to survive were unprepared for an influx of technologically advanced seafaring people. Diseases were exchanged, shots were fired and it was years before the Icelanders were able to get a foothold in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. From these colonies, they expanded west into the interior and southwest along the coast. The rapidly cooling weather worked in their favor, as it pushed the populations of these areas towards the coasts where the Icelanders could trade with them better.

Middles: Over the years to follow, the Icelanders became the power in the region, easily supplanting the warlords and petty tin pot dictators who had sprung up like weeds. Common people began to recognize the value of powerful friends and Icelandic colonies slowly became cosmopolitan.

Endings: By today, 150 years after the war, the Icelanders are rarely thought of as foreigners or strangers. Generations of colonists have been born and raised in America and Canada, many of them never traveling back to their ancestral home island. Trade has become established, and the economy of the region has long ago stabilized. In addition to timbers, they specialize in such things as grapes, wheat, salvage, fish, etc.

Icelander society in America: Icelander communities are semi-autonomous, only meeting every few years for an “Allthing”. Language in these areas is exclusively Icelandic, making things tough on any MP team that wakes up here. The percentage of literacy is still be very high (80-90%) and there are print shops that churn out books in Icelandic. The Icelanders have traditionally been big on chess and coffee, and the coffeehouse is a standard feature which can be found in every community. Coffee and tobacco are traded for from the New Confederacy merchant ships that make it this far north. General tech is at Tech Level E (Early Steam Age, 1840ish). Their high literacy rate and relative isolation during the war have enabled them to retain this reasonably high tech level.

Relations with neighbors: The Icelanders trade and travel in Europe extensively, especially in the Iberian Peninsula and Scandinavia. They also have mutually beneficial trade agreements with the New Confederacy in America, and NC ships often visit Reykjavik. The Quebec Alliance was at first hostile to the Icelanders, but in the last few decades has seen the wisdom of having a powerful seafaring ally in the Atlantic.

Cobscook Bay: An Icelander colony for many generations now. Some 350 people live here, nearly all involved in logging and fishing. The bay remains mostly ice-free, even in the harshest winters. It is here that ships from the homeland come to pick up timber, leaving behind goods and food. To help patrol the area from pirates, they have a small navy of four motorized patrol boats and seven sailboats, most armed with deck guns and lighter arms. They have a log and earthen fort set up on Campobello Island to monitor the approaches to the bay.

5) MAINE ATLANTIC COAST
Bitterly cold winters and insane snowfall amounts in the interior mean that nearly everyone lives along the coasts except for the southern quarter, where settlements are more spread out. The towns not part of the Icelander territory include the following.

Cherryfield: At the mouth of the Narraguagus River, this small seaside community of ethnic Americans is flourishing because of the semi-prosperous gold mine located nearby. The people currently trade the gold with the Icelanders further up the coast for weapons and ammunition.

Mount Desert Island: The people remaining on this island live in small, loosely organized familial groups that are governed by a few civic leaders. Only about 245 people reside on Mount Desert Island, most of them concentrated in the sheltered bays and coves of the southern coast of the island. They live on fishing primarily, along with a few small community garden plots.

The Whale Worshippers: The coast of central Maine from Camden south to Rockland is occupied by several villages of Whale Worshippers. Since coming here from Newfoundland ahead of the ice 115 years ago, they have been a relatively peaceful people, living on this secluded strip of coastline. The only thing that the Whalers have ever really feared is the occasional raids from pirates. The pirates have been known to take Whaler women as slaves, a fact which can send the community into mourning for months. They tend to shy away from contact with the Icelanders, as they are offended with the way that the islanders treat their sacred whales as simple food and oil products.

Matinicus Island: Because of its geographic location, this small island is sometimes used as a temporary base for pirates and other raiders of the sea. Occasionally, weapons, equipment and machinery, even small boats, which were considered too broken to fix can be found scattered about the island. Whalers from Rockland and Camden sometimes sail to the island to scavenge spare parts and what little salvageable equipment that is left behind by the pirates.

Bath: With the facilities of the Bath Naval Shipyard and environs fairly intact, it has been home to local fishing boats for a long time. The townspeople are occasionally menaced by members of a local Cannibal clan, though the danger is infrequent. The Cannibals are such by choice, and it is more part of their unique religion than anything else. There are still two US Navy warships and merchantmen afloat in the harbor, everything else is resting on the bottom. These are the hollowed-out Knox class FF-1075 Trippe, and a stubby, rust-covered Landing Craft Utility. Neither of them have left the harbor in 140 years, and having been towed out to the center of the harbor generations ago, they now have inglorious uses. The LCU serves as a floating quarantine for people suspected of having a communicable disease and the frigate as a secure prison for criminals. The near-freezing water temperatures most of the year have helped to keep their hulls intact for the most part. At least once a winter, there is a real danger that either one of them will suddenly crack in half and sink.

The ruins of Portland: Nuked hard in the opening rounds of the nuclear exchange, the ruins were repeatedly sacked and devastated after the war. Few people live in the area, preferring the more secure coastal areas to the north and south.

6) INTERIOR MAINE
Much of the interior of Maine, north of roughly the Brunswick-Lewiston-Auburn area, is a harsh realm of nine-month winters and short, still-too-cold summers. Few settlements exist in this area, and vast areas have not seen a human being in decades. Reports of large packs of wolves and even mammoth bears filter in from trappers and loggers, adding to the legendary quality of this frozen wasteland.

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VERMONT

Vermont lost a few cities and a few million people in the war, suffering badly from refugee migrations and epidemics in the first few years of chaos. It took several decades, but eventually nearly all the out-of-staters were dead and the remaining locals were able to start rebuilding. Then the weather started to change for the worse, the temperature dropping steadily year by year and the snows coming harder and longer. People began to leave the northern third of the state as it just became too hard to find food six months of the year. 150 years later, southern Vermont is home to several dozen thriving settlements. The Champlainer Empire controls much of the western coast of the Lake, with influence lines snaking through most of the valleys in the state.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Montpelier, SS-17

Discretionary nuclear targets:
Burlington, SS-N-8
Ethan Allen Military Reservation, Burlington, SS-17
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Reactor, Brattleboro, SS-17

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS
Later…

3) THE CHAMPLAIN NATION
See the entry for New York for a complete description of this large nation. In Vermont, away from the shores of Lake Champlain, the Nation's influence extends along the trade routes and tributaries to the isolated communities in central and southern Vermont. Most towns in these areas have fairly frequent contact with the Nation and most are on very good terms.

3) THE REST OF THE STATE
The rest of Vermont is mostly mountains and streams, sloping down into lush dairy land. Most people live in small family-size groupings, spread around the southern half of the state, mostly along the riverways. For some reason, most Vermonters have chosen not to form towns or villages, perhaps a cultural hold-over from the days when Vermont was swamped by refugees from eastern cities.

The ruins of Burlington: This hulking ruin on the shore of Lake Champlain is avoided, as the radiation and the Blue Undead make travel suicide. Half the year it is covered in snow, which some say glows a strange blue with the residual radiation beneath.

Ludlow: Home to the state's largest bandit band, "John Campbell's Wildcats". There are perhaps fifty fighters and dependents living here for the last several years. They make frequent raids throughout the region, often being gone for a month at a time and returning with loaded horsepacks of loot. This group was originally from southern Maine. They were pushed west into Vermont several years ago after an aborted attempt on an Icelander mining camp. They are still being hunted by Icelander recon teams but don't realize the danger they are in.

Site-W: A secret Snakeeater base located in the Green Mountains south of the Somerset Reservoir known as "Site-W". Activated by a glitch some thirty years after the war, the ten Green Berets assigned here found themselves embroiled in a local war between two rival bandit armies. Six were killed trying to break it up, and the remaining four retreated to the base. For a while they made the base a center of small-scale trade in the area, but over the years the plan broke down and the traders left. The remaining villagers held fast to the soldiers who had protected them for so long. The area around the now-inactive base currently houses thirty descendents (and their families) of the four Green Berets and the villagers. Over the generations they have fought to retain their identity and heritage, though it has been a loosing battle.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE

New Hampshire saw a lot of destruction in the war. Most of the cities of the state were blasted by nukes and desperate refugees from southern states destroyed anything that survived. The increased snowfalls drove most people out of the mountains and down into the southern lowlands or along the bordering rivers, where they either settled down or were driven further south by the locals. Over time, the situation stabilized as people settled down into isolated areas and began concentrating more on eating than fighting. Today, there are about 10,000 people in the state, mostly in small settlements along the Connecticut and Merrimack Rivers and the coast.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Concord, SS-17
Manchester, SS-18M1
Portsmouth, SS-17
Pease AFB, SS-17

Discretionary nuclear targets:
Nashua, SS-19
Seabrook Nuclear Reactor, Portsmouth, SS-N-8

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS
Later…

3) THE STATE AT LARGE

The ruins of Manchester: The 25 megaton nuke was the death of the city. Being a ground burst, it caused massive localized damaged but not as widespread if it had been an airburst. Nevertheless, only mutants and cockroaches live in the ruins now.

Moore Reservoir: This area is the territory of the “Habs”, the descendants of a group of Canadians from across the border who moved south in search of better lands and warmer winters. After the war, a group of French Canadian Riflemen grouped together south of Montreal. They survived by raiding other surviving communities in Quebec and across the border into America, helped by their organization and military weapons. As the weather got increasingly cold and hazardous, they began migrating south along the rivers. Eventually, the Habs finally made it to the Moore Reservoir, a large lake held back by the Moore Hydroelectric Dam on the upper Connecticut River. This Dam has survived the test of time and has allowed the reservoir to maintain a stock of fish. The fields along the southern shore have been cleared and planted and the Habs have done quite well. They have sent expeditions into the ruins of Montpelier and Manchester, and even down the river into Massachusetts to search for goods and equipment. Much of what they cannot use locally, they repair and trade for something they can use. Retaining some of their past military heritage, the Habs are still quite aggressive and love to fight when ever they get a chance to. Bandits are almost welcome in the area as it gives them a chance to flex their muscles. The Habs have also become expert weaponsmiths and are able to repair or rebuild any weapon they get their hands on. They also have set up a ammunition manufacturing facility and will gladly trade goods for ammo. (Thanks, Chris Van Deelen)

The Seabrook nuke: 150 years ago, the Soviet SS-N-8 SLBM aimed at the nuclear reactor here malfunctioned and did not detonate. Instead it landed along the Hampton State Beach virtually intact. It was lost for well over a century, but was rediscovered some 24 years ago by a fishing boat looking for a place to ride out a storm. On low tide days the battered rusting warhead is still visible buried in the sand. The locals avoid it like the plague, although lately they are beginning to realize that it might be a goldmine if they can salvage it. They have made a roundabout offer to both an Icelander trading mission and a New Confederacy merchant vessel. Both sides doubt such a weapon really exists, but both would be willing to pay greatly for it. The Icelanders would most probably destroy it, but the NCs would love to have it for as deterrence against the KFS.

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MASSACHUSETTS

Once a major center of commerce and culture in New England, Massachusetts suffered greatly in the war. The colder temperatures have affected the farmland in the central and western parts of the state, forcing many people further south. Today, there are pockets of civilization, an wide stretches of absolutely nothing.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Boston, SS-N-17
Cambridge, SS-18M1
New Bedford, SS-N-17
Springfield, SS-17
Worcester, SS-17
Holyoke, SS-18M1
Fitchburg, SS-N-8
Fall River, SS-17
Watertown Arsenal, SS-N-8
Westover AFB, SS-18M1
Otis AFB, SS-17

Discretionary nuclear targets:
Pilgrim Nuclear Reactor, Plymouth, SS-N-17
South Weymouth NAS, SS-N-17
Lowell, SS-N-8

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS
Later…

3) BOSTON
Boston was once the hub of trade and society in New England. This thriving port city was world renown for its cultural achievements and history. Millions of people lived in the greater Boston area. The nuclear war was not kind to Boston. A massive 25 megaton airburst slaughtered a million people and flattened miles of buildings. Nuclear strikes targeted at a Naval Air Station and an arsenal caused considerable damage to the southern and western suburbs. EMP from the Cambridge strike did manage to deflect a warhead aimed at Boston's harbor, causing it to fall out to sea. The tidal waves punishing the coastal areas and flooding the subway and train tunnels. In the aftermath, the city burned and died. Any survivors fled as best they could, often killing each other in a senseless war over food and gasoline. By the end of the first winter, there were maybe 300 people left in the greater Boston area. Most of these were Blacks and Latinos, people less able and less likely to abandon their neighborhoods if they were not too badly damaged. Over the next decade, these groups settled down into their areas, expanded a little, fought a little, and tried to survive the best they could.

Boston today: 150 years after the war, Boston is still a mess. Fully two thirds of the city is in total ruins, and the only part of the city still inhabited is the southwestern suburbs, mostly outside of the I-95 loop. The groups here are roughly divided along ethnic and territorial lines. The five largest groups are listed below.

The "Bostonians": The largest and most powerful group in the Boston area, boasting some 400 citizens. They are centered on the prime farming lands in the Rocky Woods Reservation and the ponds and creeks of the Westwood area. The fields are worked by everyone, though the "rulers" and their families are exempt from physical labor.

Latino clan: Centered in the Dedham area on the southwest side of the city. They have some 75 members now. A peaceful clan, the Latinos are not in conflict with anyone in the area. At one time, however; they were on the verge of being wiped out by a small but motivated group of barbarian raiders from the Weymouth area. One day about five years ago, the raiders were marshalling for another raid when a pair of Blue Undeads wandered into their camp. Both were killed after a short but sharp fight, but fifteen of the raiders eventually died of radiation poisoning. After that, the raiders fragmented and were never a threat to the Latinos again.

Harvard Men: Centered in Wellesley, the "Harvard Men" are the descendants of a dozen surviving university students who took shelter in a house in Wellesley. These men emerged after the war's end to find the city in shambles. They gathered as many surviving students as they could find and settled down to start a community. Although they suffered terribly from bandit raids in the early years, they successfully fought them off and eventually established themselves as a force in the Boston ruins. At this time, they are on bad terms with the Muslims on the Neponset River. They are known for operating a large trade market in their area, open to all comers and offering all manner of salvaged goods. Security is by hired guns but the market is so valuable to everyone that no one dares to cause trouble there, even the Muslims.

The "Breakers": Around the old Rosemary Brook Town Forest Preserve north of Wellesley are the Breakers, a clan of former bandits turned farmers and hunters. They hunt and live in the formerly affluent neighborhood area between the Forest and the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Islamic clan: On both sides of the Neponset River in Norwood is the "New American Nation of Islam", a large clan of religious folk of some 350 men, women, and children. They have cultivated and planted the river valley as well as scavenging the ruins. They were not especially religious until some ten years ago, when their leader discovered partially intact copies of the Koran and other Islamic writings in the ruins of a storefront. Interpreting this as a revelation of the Divine Will of Allah, their leader, who renamed himself Mohammed in honor of the Prophet, built a mosque in clan territory and convinced his entire clan to submit to the Will of Allah. They have begun seeking converts and many people are listening to their message. Their clan’s population has swelled to twice its original number in only ten years. They have had some problems with the “Harvard Men”, who have forbidden them from proselytizing at the Market and trouble may soon breakout between the Muslims and the Harvard Men.

The New American Nation of Islam and the Plague: Although the Plague (see Plymouth below) has begun to be seen in the Boston area, the Muslims with their dietary habits and other customs have been strangely unaffected. Some interpret this as being blessed by Allah’s favor; others interpret this as a sign that the Muslims are the cause of the Plague. Some have even argued that the Muslims may be poisoning the water supplies and should be dealt with. The truth is much more benign. The Muslims are the only group in the Boston area that don’t use rats as a food source this, and very good sanitation and personal hygiene, means there are very few rats (and the Plague carrying fleas that go with them) in their camp. The Muslims in Boston are somewhat clannish and suspicious of non-believers. Any contact with non-Muslims is usually carried on outside of their walled compound. A few Plague infected converts, however, have managed to carry the disease into the camp. The generally good sanitation in the camp has kept it from spreading beyond a few people (the infected and the infected’s immediate family). The Muslims have set up a hospital station on the edge of the clan's territory where, with the help of a few wandering Emdees, they have begun ministering to the sick of all groups. While this aid tends towards nothing more then keeping the victim comfortable until he dies, some have survived and many of the survivors have converted to this “new” religion.

4) EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
The eastern coastal area of the state was heavily urbanized, with cities butting up against each other surrounding Boston.

Gloucester: Gloucester, located north of Boston, is now one of the strongest and most active port cities in New England. Much of the original central city remains intact and has been strengthened by various forms of fortification. Walls have also been constructed around the downtown area to help protect it from the dangers of hurricanes and tidal waves. The city has a current total population of 2,600 people and the surrounding areas have a population of around 700. Greenhouses, being relatively simple technology are popular and a large amount of winter vegetables and fruit are grown in them. The biggest food supply comes from fishing of various types. The extra from fish harvests is much of what helps to purchase materials from other places. Icelandic trading vessels are common sights in the harbor, as are occasional ships from other nations. Most of the industrial areas of Gloucester have been abandoned long ago and what is left is some light industry mainly in textile areas. The militia force numbers some 350 effectives, and patrols far and wide. Militia outposts have been set up in Newburyport and on Plum Island. There are increasing reports of a large marauder force to the west that might cause trouble soon.

Marblehead: This former historic port is home to some 300 farmers and fishermen. The area that is actually inhabited is small, limited to the narrow peninsula that the town sits on, extending south along the coast to Galloupes Point, where the line of control blurs with the burnt northeastern suburbs of Boston. This is a relatively small area, but it's well-organized and protected.

Plymouth: Once a growing fishing and trading community, a bad outbreak of the Black Plague a month ago has rather speedily massacred the population. There are now only small pockets of people all over the county, with just a few dozen left alive in Plymouth proper. There is little food for the coming winter, and starving people are reduced to eating rats, which is compounding the problem as many of the rodents are carriers of the Black Death. The land north of the city is worthless for farming and their once-efficient fishing fleet now sits rusting and rotting dockside, most of the sailors dead of the disease. The danger is more than local as this outbreak of the Plague has the potential to affect the entire state. Indeed, other communities throughout the former state are beginning to see their first cases of the Plague. A massive die off might open the door for some other group to occupy Massachusetts in the near future.

New Bedford: Though nuked and burnt by a series of fierce fires that left much of the northern half in ruins, this city has recovered nicely in the last century. Home now to some 2,700 people. The large militia/police force is relatively well-armed and trained, boasting about 500 foot soldiers, 30 horse cavalry, and three armored wagons. There is also a "fishery protection force" with four inshore patrol sailboats to patrol Block Island Sound. The University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth has become a Mailman center, with carriers coming from all over New England here to study and prepare for their difficult jobs.

5) NORTHEASTERN CITIES
Once a major industrial region, the strip of gritty manufacturing cities stretching from Chelmsford to Haverhill was devastated in the aftermath of the nuclear war and has remained largely abandoned.

Andover: Currently, the area is dominated by the "Iraqis", a large marauder band who traveled here from upstate New York several years ago. The name is a corruption of the "Iroquois", a local Native American tribe. They have set up sort of a feudal barony, with the Iraqis in their fortified compound, and the peasants toiling to feed them. The surviving locals live in a reign of terror, many have fled the area, but many more have been enslaved. They are now forced to grow food for the Iraqis, but they are allowed to keep a little for themselves. The Iraqis have some 325 effectives in the Andover area, including many hangers-on and wanna-be's they picked up along the way. Their current plan is to secure the local area and then move east to take on Gloucester by next summer. To this end, the Iraqis are actively recruiting men to join them for a promise of a share of the loot.

The LLA: The anti-Iraqi "Lowell Liberation Army" has arisen out of this dire situation, but numbers only some 20 hardcore members and an indeterminate number of supports amongst the oppressed locals. Since Iraqi reprisals are brutal, the LLA commit few acts of open resistance, and they spend most of their time collecting food and keeping alive. They are currently based out of a small farmhouse along the Shawsheen River. They are armed with a miscellany of home-made weapons, including a few crossbows and one rifle.

6) CAPE COD

East Falmouth: Currently, this large town is under a Plague attack, brought here by refugees from Plymouth to the north. The spread-out nature of the scattered settlements on Cape Cod is helping to keep the outbreak controlled, but people are dying by the dozens by the day still. An old pit along Highway 28 has been designated as a dumping ground and mass cremation site for infected bodies to try and localize the germs. An exodus has begun to develop.

Hyannis: Hyannis itself is now a small fishing community struggling to survive by remaining hidden. There are currently no militia troops in the town except a couple dozen young boys, the 25 men of the regular militia all having disappeared while chasing a pair of bandits north of the town. A search later turned up no sign of the men, but did find evidence of a boat landing on the shore. Of special note, the former Kennedy family compound at nearby Hyannis Port is now something of a memorial. The ruins are frequently visited by people from Hyannis, who often leave flowers though they have forgotten why they still do this.

Martha's Vinyard: Still isolated, having long ago learned to make due without supplies from the mainland. The ferries have all been replaced by sailboats, but the islanders generally keep to themselves. The Mailmen from Block Island have a outpost here, and several residents are employed sewing mailbags. The Plague outbreak on the mainland has the people here very worried and they have begun stopping boats from Cape Cod from landing.

7) WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
The western half of the state was once a fairly productive agricultural area, but the changing weather patterns over the last century have changed that. The rugged timber regions have not been affected as much, but a lot of local farmland has been damaged by repeated frosts and heavy snowfalls.

The ruins of Springfield: Nuked extremely hard during the war, the Springfield and Holyoke area is now just a series of eroded rubble mounds along the Connecticut River. South of Springfield is a farming settlement along the river, roughly where the old town of Longmeadow stood. Traders from as far south as Lyme occasionally stop here.

Adams: This largish farming town is now the capitol of "Adams State", a smallish local empire that claims most of the Berkshire Mountains. Adams State is a collection of small villages, individual farms, and one larger town. They have banded together for mutual protection and created a working representative government and voluntary military for the protection of all its citizens. They have little in the way of industry and their main products are crops and game. In the winter months, trapping and hunting in the deep woods keep the residents busy. Large numbers of mutant wolves have been seen the last few winters, occasionally killing the unlucky and the unprepared.

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CONNECTICUT

For some reason known only to Soviet strategic planners, nearly all the cities of Connecticut were smashed by nukes. This, combined with the swarms of refugees in the area and the general lack of viable agriculture in such irradiated country, meant that the population of the state dipped to just a few thousand within ten years. Today, Connecticut still has the smallest current population of any state versus what it had 150 years ago, less than a half a percent of 1989's population.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Bridgeport, SS-N-17
Hartford, SS-18M1b
New Haven, SS-17
Waterbury, SS-19
New Britain, SS-18M2
East Granby, SS-17
Groton nuclear sub shipyard, SS-N-17
New London nuclear sub base, SS-N-8
Millstone 2 nuclear reactor, Waterford County, SS-19
Plum Island disease labs, SS-17

Discretionary nuclear targets:
Stamford, SS-17
Norwich, SS-N-8
Torrington, SS-N-17

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS
Unnamed Recon Team: A six-man Recon Team is frozen in the Haystack Mountain State Park in the northwest part of the state. The bolthole is located under a maintenance shed built by a Morrow subcontractor in 1976.

3) CONNECTICUT URBAN CORRIDOR
Before the war, the New York-Boston corridor was lined with small, semi-suburban communities, all of them demolished to differing degrees by nukes and 150 years of neglect and refugee migrations. From Greenwich on the old New York border, through Stamford, Bridgeport, Milford, Waterbury and New Haven, nukes fell like rain all throughout that terrible night in 1989. What the bombs didn't destroy, the riots and refugees and hurricane-like uncontrolled fires finished off by the end of the millennium.

150 years later, conditions in these neglected ruined cities are uniformly miserable. Urban cores are checkerboards of crumbling fire-blackened ruins. Scavengers and gleaners from Lyme and ports further asea have poked around the ruins for decades, but there remains untold caches of valuable salvage to be found for the brave. Often, the far outlying suburbs and manufacturing plants are visited by traveling salvagers from inland towns, though they rarely penetrate far into the ravaged cores.

Today: The Connecticut coastline now offers a number of smaller fishing communities with a tradition of fleeing instead of fighting. Across the entire coast from Stamford to New Haven there are perhaps 350 people to be found. Most of these people are in smallish groups, most along the shorelines but some scavengers still make a difficult living in isolated pockets throughout the urban corridor. Life is very hard, with sickness and malnutrition a way of life. Former humans also inhabit the area, Maggots are common around New Haven and a curiously large grouping of Blue Undead can be found in the shattered streets of Waterbury.

The ruins of Norwalk: Fairly indicative of what you will find in the area. Hit by a nuke in the war, Norwalk was subsequently looted and sacked so many times it's only a burned-out hulk now. Pirates used it as a base for a time, but abandoned it and moved on when the radiation and disease proved to dangerous even for them. A few dozen scavengers still occupy parts of the city, and they are often hunted by Cannibals and Maggots.

4) HARTFORD

Situation, pre-war: The state capitol of Hartford was a bustling city in 1989, with around 100,000 citizens making a living in industry and politics. The wide and fast Connecticut River cut the city in half, and suburbs were beginning to encroach upon numerous smaller farming towns to the west and east.

Situation, the war: The SS-18M1b actually hit Hartford, smacking into the corner of the eighth floor of a high-rise building on Broad Street downtown. While the biowar warhead was a dud, the concussion of the impact brought the tower down, and the ensuing dust cloud helped to spread the thick particles of the plague toxin from the shattered warhead across the city. Thousands died and the city nearly melted down in the chaos. Despite the disaster, the city never fully collapsed, and was able to remain a viable community throughout the dark, cold years of nuclear autumn.

Situation, today: Hartford is now doing better than most cities in the area, having a stable population fed by a thriving river trade and crops and gardens planted everywhere there is dirt. Total population of the city is nearly 2,800, with seasonal migrations of Traders and farmers causing that number to swell or reduce at times. As the population has increased steadily over the years, more and more land has been cleared for planting in the city center. There are several doctors in the city, one trained by a man trained by the Kentucky Free State. Considering all that has happened over the last 150 years, the citizens are doing well.

Government: The state government is still here, operating at vastly reduced levels, having very little influence on affairs in Connecticut outside of Hartford County. A remarkable windmill was constructed atop the State Capitol building years ago, which runs a flywheel generator, which provides steady, if limited electrical power and lights for the city government.

Security forces: By a few months after the war, all the remaining Connecticut National Guard personnel were consolidated and reformed in Hartford by the struggling state government. This formed the core of a militia force that still protects the city today. Total manpower is around 370 men at this time, well-equipped with the stores and weapons from six area NG armories.

Commerce: Trade is conducted up and down the Connecticut River, with much trade and travel going south to the open sea and the major port of Lyme. Trade upriver with Springfield, Massachusetts has been severely curtailed in the last few months as a Plague outbreak has forced most river traffic to halt. A large trade bazaar has been open for years on the grounds of the old Hartford Airport, located along the banks of the river. The five standing hangers are used for booths and storage, along with drying fish and sorting salvage during the winter months. Of the five large bridges across the Connecticut River, two are still standing and offer passage for a fee. These are the Charter Oak (US-5) and the Bissel (I-291) bridges, but only the Bissel is suitable for vehicles over 20 tons.

History Remembered: At the Hartford Airport is also one of the strangest sights you will see in this area. The citizens of the area (and the owners and operators of the exhibit) are proud to have an Airplane Museum. Sitting in a corner of a hanger building are a Connecticut Air National Guard F-4 Phantom jet and a American Airlines McDonald-Douglas MD-11 airliner, both well cared for over the decades by people who have recognized the value in remembering the achievements of the past. Both planes were originally stripped of electronics and other parts, but the damage has been well concealed. Operated by the collective owners of the trade bazaar, the plane museum attracts more visitors than you might expect. Kids and adults pay a small fee to sit in the Phantom's cockpit, the glass canopy long ago removed to allow better access. The airliner often hosts important delegates from other towns, the Hartfordites using their prize to impress and often intimidate the foreigners. One of these emissaries, from the Kentucky Free State, was just here two months ago. Upon seeing the airplanes, he offered to buy the jets for "a mountain of trade goods". The owners told him no, and he then went away, promising to return soon with "an offer they can't refuse". As even rumors of the KFS' power and wealth have reached this far northeast, the citizen's of Hartford are not sure what the man meant for sure.

5) UPSTATE CONNECTICUT

Torrington: This upland city is rapidly falling into decay and ruin. The business districts and industrial areas have been looted and sacked over the years, and the few people living here mostly farm small garden plots. Dogs and cats have become food staples.

Danbury: While missed in the nuclear strikes, Danbury was smashed by refugee migrations just as effectively. This city is still just a gutted and looted shell, home to barely 40 scavengers.

New Milford: The semi-permanent base of a strong bandit clan. Mounted on a large number of horses, they have raided extensively about the countryside, stealing food and women. Their current harem even includes young girls from both the Adams State in the Berkshires and the Champlain Nation to the west. It is rumored that the brother and father of the girl abducted from their farm in eastern Massachusetts have been stalking the bandits to retrieve her. They are said to be armed with fantastical weapons of amazing power, given to them by reptilian aliens from the Earth's core.

Canaan: Typical of numerous tiny farming towns. The citizens have tried hard not to let their town turn into a mess. In every space available, someone is growing a garden or raising chickens.

6) EASTERN CONNECTICUT

Norwich: A mix of productive farmers and townspeople occupy this city now, all trying to improve their life daily. The town's defenses are provided by a 50-man militia unit armed with mostly edged weapons and crossbows.

The ruins of New London/Groton: Atomized by nuclear weapons, these twin port cities are now just ruined shells. Long ago stripped of anything of value, fires still smolder in the mounds of coal in the heavy manufacturing areas in the outskirts.

7) LYME

Situation, pre-war: The mouth of the Connecticut River was once just a collection of small sleepy New England towns. Tourists came and went, lobsters were boiled and kids played soccer in the lawns. A fairly perfect life for most people.

Situation, the war: The sudden rain of nuclear missiles changed that idyllic life forever. Within hours, streams of refugees, many armed, many more dying from injuries and radiation, swamped the area. Fortunately, most refugees didn't stay long and once they moved on, the surviving locals came out of hiding and began to rebuilt. The majority of the locals banded together and began to look for a new location to settle down. The intact I-95 highway bridge across the river just north of Lyme was a natural gathering point and over time a large settlement grew up on both sides of the bridge.

Situation, today: Today, Lyme is burgeoning trading and fishing hub. This is the most prosperous town in the entire state, living off the river trade and plying the waters of the ocean with a large fishing fleet. There are a large number of commercial agents from Hartford here; assuring that their city receives the best prices for goods and fish. They have some contact with the New Confederacy to the south, with a few trading ships visiting per month.

Commerce: A brisk trade is conducted both along the shores and up the Connecticut River. Communities to the north like Hartford and Springfield benefit greatly from the flow of goods from the port of Lyme. Fish and salvaged goods go north, and grains, timber and manufactured items come back down the wide river. Ships also arrive on regular schedules from ports in the south and further north, including Icelandic and New Confederacy traders. A large and elaborate system of trade equivalencies has long been in service and many local trading clans have grown quite rich. A Mailman office is operating in Lyme as well.

The Bridge: The Interstate 95 bridge is the center of Lyme identity. You are either from the west side of the bridge or the east, and the differences are monumental. In 2011, the bridge was badly damaged by a drifting train of barges, cut loose in a summer storm. While long ago repaired, and constantly maintained, the span is structurally unsound for vehicles weighing over 20 tons to cross. Large fortifications have been built on the east side of the bridge and passage across is heavily regulated. To prevent another disaster like what happened in 2011, huge breakwaters have been placed in the river channel upriver of the bridge to assure that no more collisions take place.

The Four Families: Lyme is run by four powerful families, all sharing the trade profits and occasionally eating their young in bursts of infighting to establish which is the more influential. Three of the families are "Old Bloods", from the Lyme area from before the war. These are the Robertsons, the Romeros and the Larsens, the last named actually originally from the suburbs of New London. The fourth family, the Eisenbergs, has its roots in a refugee ship from Virginia that landed here about fifty years ago. These exiles from the reformed United States of America brought with them a fortune in guns and scientific tools and have slowly been gaining influence in Lyme. The older families often look upon these "Virginians", as they call them, with scorn and distain, though they begrudgingly admit their prowess in trade deals. It is rumored that the Virginians are secretly planning a take-over, perhaps with the assistance of outsiders. The Old Bloods frequently keep fishermen on the payroll to keep an eye out for any suspicious boats entering the area.

East Lyme: The community on the western shore has long been the center of power in the area. The vast majority of wealth and industry is concentrated on this side and the standard of living is remarkably high. There are perhaps 1,100 people living on this side of the river, around 400 of them clustered in the built-up area around the bridge. Farms spread out to the east as far as Four Mile Creek, combined with imported food and ample fish stocks, make the population healthy and productive. Infant mortality is down to near 10% and many people are living into their sixties and seventies again, causing a population boom unheard of in this region.

West Lyme: Since anyone can remember, the western bank of the river town has been the seedy side, where all the unwanteds and criminals end up, mixing with refuges from inland and poor local fishermen. Poverty is rampant here, and violent death is a common end to residents of the shantytowns. The police rarely patrol this area (and never after dark) and few self-respecting residents of East Lyme ever cross the river. Many of the fishing fleet sailors live on this side, and where there are sailors, there are brothels, saloons, churches and graveyards. The population changes daily, but is usually around 1,200 or so.

Oyster Bay: Named for the shallow Oyster Creek that flows through the area, this "far western suburb" of West Lyme is the most dangerous and unhealthy place to live. Oyster Bay is a community of the shunned, ex-convicts and the infectious, maybe 375 in total. Life spans are measured in months and even the dirt-poor people of West Lyme are loathe to go here. It is from the huddled ranks in Oyster Bay that men are recruited for the most deadly salvage missions to the nuked cities in the region. The general rule is that if a man can survive ten trips to the radiation-poisoned and mutant-filled ruins of New York City and coastal Connecticut, then they can become full citizens of Lyme. As can be expected, very few make it that far.

Shipyards: Along the sifting shores on both sides of the river mouth south of Lyme are a number of shipbuilders. Wooden hulled boats are built in the warm summer months, put together with hammers and sweat on the sandy beaches and then slid into the water on rails for final fitting out. Lyme is known for excellent coastal fishing skiffs. Some years ago they tried their hands at larger ocean-going vessels, but nearly every one of them has sunk when even mild storms were encountered. The fault lies in engineering mistakes in the ballast distribution, problems that have been fixed. Their reputation has been stained, however, and visiting traders from ports far away turn down any offers to buy large ships from Lyme. As they can't sell their ships, the shipbuilders are trying to interest the Lyme leaders in trying their hand at whaling again.

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RHODE ISLAND

The tiny state of Rhode Island was hit by numerous nuclear missiles, destroying all the cities and leaving its surviving people to then fend for themselves in the aftermath of that horrific day. 150 years later, the state is down to less than 5,000 people, but, given the local technology level, that is just about the right amount for the food resources.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Providence, SS-N-17
Newport Naval Base, SS-19

Discretionary nuclear targets
Warrick, SS-19

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS
Later…

3) THE STATE AT LARGE

The ruins of Providence: Seven nuclear warheads popped over the Providence area, killing at least a million people in one instant and nearly completely leveling the entire city. Today, Providence is virtually a ghost town with small isolated scavengers sharing the last open areas with literally millions of rats and exponentially multiplied cockroaches.

Woonsocket: While severely damaged by refugees and fires, this city has hosted several settlements of people over the years. The largest of these are now centered on the open fields of the WWII Memorial State Park. The greenways of the park have been cleared and tilled and the edges bounded by a low rubble wall. The old marble tower on top of the park's hill serves as the citadel.

Chepachet: An inland town surviving by farming and trading for fish with coastal communities. A Mailman post office was built here 125 years ago, the first one away from the coast. It has served the local area for all this time.

Coventry Center: Home to a small settlement of people fishing the still-too-polluted Coventry Reservoir and farming the banks.

North Kingstown: About 100 people under a man named Duke have taken over the old nineteenth-century Smith's Castle near this town. They are heavily armed with bows and arrows and are extremely hostile to outsiders, which are few in this area.

Prudence Island: Prudence Island was badly damaged by the blasts across the way in Warrick, the entire northern third of the island was reduced to charred ruins by wildfires started by the heat and flashes. There is no organized government on the island now, and the population consists of just a few fishermen and their families.

Wakefield: A large settlement at the mouth of the Sauguatucket River, Wakefield is now thriving on fishing and trade. The 265 citizens are protected by an active militia. Their leader is named "Barney the Norseman", a self-proclaimed Viking who calls himself "Bjarni" and carries a Viking sword and battle axe, looted from the personal effects of the captain of a shipwrecked Icelandic boat.

The ruins of Newport: The naval base at the southern end of the island and the large city of Newport was pounded by six 200 kiloton warheads, devastating the entire city. Little of value is here. In the cold waters of the anchorage off the Newport Naval Base there was great carnage. The nuclear blasts sank nearly everything afloat, and the bay is clogged with half-sunken flash-melted hulks.

Rhode Island: The southern half of the island was ravaged by fires and refugees, leaving it abandoned for the better part of a century. There is now a population of some 200 people on the island, most all around the town of Island Park on the extreme northern tip where they have farmed the limited soil on the island. An 40-man militia patrols and drills daily, and small sailboats patrol the approaches to the settlement. The village was built on this spot, after the war, because of an interesting find just offshore. 150 years ago, a large South Korean container ship was traveling up the Sakonnet River channel to Fall River, Massachusetts. Damaged by the nukes over that port, the ship drifted south, eventually nudging ashore near Island Park. The tides have slowly pushed the wreck up on the beach, helped by uncounted bad storms over the years, and now the ship is about half out of the water. Sitting upright, she has become a fortress of sorts, a place where the townspeople can go to in times of crisis. Secure behind the thick steel walls of the ship, they have survived at least two marauder attacks in the last 50 years.

Conanicut Island: West of Newport, Conanicut Island was consumed by firestorms as far north as Highway 138. Now home to just some 30 fishermen.

Block Island: This medium-sized island about twenty miles south of Newport has become known as the genesis of the "Mailmen". Block Island's most famous citizen of the last 150 years is surely a man named Peter. Peter was not a native Islander; however, he was from Long Island. Peter was a ten-year veteran of the US Postal Service, working as a branch office supervisor and doing quite well for himself. In 1989, as the Soviets were busy grinding New York City into powder, Peter joined the refugee exodus east along Long Island to escape the firestorms over Brooklyn and Queens. This was pointless; of course, as there was only so far east people could run. Everything that could float was fought over by desperate people, killing each other over space in commandeered ferries and hijacked private yachts. In this orgy of violence, Peter managed to buy passage on a large sailboat owned by a kindly old man from Water Mill. The boat headed out to sea, but didn't make it far before engine failure forced it to look for a place to land. Block Island was the closest landfall and the captain put ashore there. Not sure what to do next, Peter went to what he knew best…the post office. It just so happened that the post office was right next door to the police station. Both buildings were protected by heavily armed cops and civilians. Peter managed to talk his way inside and met the Postmaster. As the years went on, Block Island withdrew into isolation. This was necessary to keep the islanders alive and to avoid contact with the diseases and plagues ravaging the mainland. Peter quickly rose to power in the town, thanks to his organizational skills and charisma. One of his first plans was to keep the US Postal Service active. At first, this was just on the island, as Mailmen delivered letters and packages between the islanders. Often this was just across the street, but the sense of normalcy this brought was welcome. Eight years after the war, it was decided to make contact with the mainland. Supplies of manufactured goods were gone and much vital machinery was breaking down. Contact was made with survivors in the Rhode Island area and a simple trade network was soon established. From the very beginning, with the Traders went the Mailmen. Within twenty years, a basic postal service had been reestablished along the coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island, with some inland routes going as far as Massachusetts. From this beginning, more Mailmen were trained, more routes were opened and a tradition was born. Peter himself continued to oversee the Postal Service until his death in 2008 of fallout-induced lung cancer. For many decades, Mailmen in the region wore patches that bore Peter's name in memory of his deeds. Over the coming decades, his Mailmen ventured further and further out, establishing new offices and routes and employing brave men and women to carry the letters. By today, Mailmen can be found in virtually every state, often acting alone or in teams.

The Spaniards: Block Island is currently hosting a trade mission from Europe. The Spanish Nation grew out of the horrible destruction of Europe during the war. Only on the Iberian Peninsula did survivors retain a semblance of order and government. While no where as advanced as the prosperous Icelandics, they are working their way back up. This is the first organized expedition by them to America since the end of the war. The Spanish mission comprises a newly-built steam torpedo boat and three armed coal-fired merchantmen. There is even talk of the Spaniards buying an island or a chunk of the coastline for a permanent base.