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

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SECTION TWO: The Rocky Mountains (Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona)
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IDAHO

Idaho is a wild frontier of valley settlements, sleepy mountain hamlets, disorganized marauders and organized survivalist enclaves. The changing weather patterns over the past 150 years have made Idaho’s rivers and creeks swell, irrigating fields and making it an ideal place for growing many staple crops. The northern reaches of the Inland Sea stretch a ways into southern Idaho, and a number of people live along the shores.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Boise, SS-N-8
Arco National Reactor Test Site, SS-17
Mountain Home AFB, SS-17

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS

Regional Command Base: Home of Combined Group Idaho, this underground facility is located beneath the foundation of a fire watchtower in the Craters of the Moon National Monument west of Idaho Falls. Unfortunately, on the night of the war, one of the nukes aimed at the power reactor near Arco missed and impacted astride Highway 20, just a few miles from the base. The 200 kT atomic fireball shattered the tops of many nearby mountains and set the forest ablaze. It also obliterated the watchtower and shook the base hard enough to cause the fusion reactor to go offline. As the power faded, the cyrotubes automatically woke up the staff of the RCB. In terror, the men and women of this base discovered that both their primary and secondary exits were blocked by tons of smoldering and radioactive debris. Their death was long, sometimes painful, and terribly tragic. The base is now a crypt of desiccated corpses and a huge cache of vehicles and weaponry for someone to one day find. The teams final journals are brutal to read.
Unnamed MP bolthole: Somewhere in the Lower Goose Lake area near the town of Oakley.
Unnamed MP bolthole: Somewhere in south-central Idaho under the Snake River lava flows between Twin Falls and Idaho Falls.

3) THE SNAKE RIVER VALLEY

Boise: Though nuked long ago, Boise remains a vital trading hub and manufacturing center. A large militia is here, making the city secure and keeping the marauders out, working closely with the Cavalrymen in Twin Falls to help patrol the Snake River valley. Just this fall, a refugee band from Oregon moved into Nampa, bringing much appreciated news of the west coast.

Nampa/Caldwell: To the west of Boise, the Caldwell and Nampa areas were severely damaged by wildfires and an especially persistent plague epidemic. Bits and pieces of useful salvage can still be found in the remains of these cities. Bandits prowl the area, as well as scattered diehards who refuse to settle down as farmers. As the area has become a haven for thugs and Bikers, the government in Boise decided to send a combined force to Nampa to guard the I-84 route against any hostile incursions. A large roadblock and fort was constructed astride the interstate, begun some twenty years ago. It is usually garrisoned by 30 men, who have several dug-in mortar pits and homemade landmines to provide a potent deterrence for mean people. They have tried to impose a dawn-to-dusk curfew on Nampa, but have found it nearly impossible to enforce this without taking casualties. Because of the isolated nature of the fort and the dangers involved, morale in the garrison is currently at an all-time low, and desertions are increasingly common.

Twin Falls: An active trading and farming town, protected by a large and efficient militia. Descended from the Idaho National Guard 116th Armored Calvary Regiment, headquartered before the war in Twin Falls, the militia has retained some of their weaponry and schools of tactics over the long years. Now just called "The Cavalry Regiment", they have a strength of some 100 men and horses for 70 of them. They are working with the Boise government to keep the Snake River valley clear of bandits and marauders.

Idaho Falls: Idaho Falls is now home of a peaceful farming settlement who also monitor and service the fairly regular trade and travel along the "Montana Road", the remains of I-15 used by traders from the north. The main enclave is centered west of the Snake River, around the Fanning Airport, with the majority of the city across the river in neglected ruins. This enclave is heavily fortified, surrounded by a concrete block and timber wall, with a couple of towers mounting modern cannons salvaged from personnel carriers and tanks. There is a large "gate" made of a bus with armor plates welded on each side, which rolls aside to reveal a "corral" inside, and another bus-gate that provides an entrance into the city proper. Explosives, shotguns and automatic weapons are prohibited. They used to be in conflict with the various local clans, but none of them have been able to crack the defenses of the city for over 50 years and few try anymore.

Rexburg: Rexburg is held by a bandit clan called the "Imperial Stormtroopers", most of whom are the descendants of a prewar militant survivalist retreat that was in the area. The meaning of the name itself has been lost to history, but it is rumored that this group are the descendants of some white-armored super-soldiers with magical weapons who fought a rebellion eons ago. At least this is what the Stormtroopers tell the locals to scare them. They now patrol everything for a 15-mile circle and strictly control the food-producing fields in their area.

Saint Anthony: Under control of a small Razer clan called the "Pumkinheads". The Pumpkinheads are mutants with big, pumpkin heads (hence their name) and the Stormtroopers in Rexburg consider them to be subhuman.

4) NORTHERN IDAHO
In the rugged mountains of central and northern Idaho, the land is owned by a variety of survivalist and ethnic clans, mixed with hold-out ranchers and isolated Native American groups. There are also a few smaller out-of-state outlaw gangs wintering in and around the northern towns of Coeur d'Alene and Lewiston. These gangs spend their summers in Alberta and British Columbia, terrorizing local towns there. Their annual journey south to Idaho is a welcome respite for these areas and allows them to rebuild their defenses, to start the cycle over again next spring.

Moscow: Home to a Soviet enclave. Descendents of a troop transport plane that was headed for the Puget Sound in 1989 and was blown off course to eastern Washington. Hopelessly lost, the Soviets wandered over to northern Idaho after several months fighting rebels and refugees. They decided to find a base of operations and a city called Moscow looked attractive.

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NEVADA

Nevada, never very populous before the war, is now even emptier. Extensive irrigation projects once made arid areas fertile, but without water the land rapidly returned to desert. The few cities that were not nuked have largely been abandoned due to lack of food and clean water. The mountain ranges were home to ranches and farms, and those that remain are secluded and fortified.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Carson City, SS-19
Hoover Hydroelectric Dam, SS-17

Discretionary Nuclear Targets:
Indian Springs Air Force Base, SS-N-17
Nellis Air Force Base, SS-19
Groom Lake Test Site, SS-18M2

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS

Prime Base: Located 50 miles from the western edge and 25 miles south of the state lines in the northwest corner of Nevada, built in a geographic feature known as the White Rock Canyon in the Black Rock Mountain Range. Built over a long time, from the late 1960s to 1980 with absolute secrecy. Manned by 407 Morrow personnel and dependents at the time of the war.
Phoenix Team: Currently frozen at Prime Base. The Phoenix Team is the ultimate problem-solver team, kept in reserve in case of catastrophic disaster. There are 47 members sleeping away in Prime Base.

MP Power Stations: Every high tech industry needs power: electricity, the lifeblood of civilization. The chances of any major power source surviving the war were slim. For this reason, The Morrow Project designed its own, protected power sources: the MP power station. Each was carefully sited, placed away from all likely targets, but usually within one hour’s journey by car from a major population center. This distance was necessary to keep the stations safe from rioters, blast and radiation effects and from the damage expected from the near misses of MIRV warheads. These stations, powerful enough to easily power a city, were to become the nuclei of small, newly built communities. The hydroelectric plants were rarely finished systems, rather they were a collection of parts and materials designed and situated so that a plant could be thrown together quickly after the war. Fusion plants were less common and more remote. They were necessarily completed prior to the war, as they were too complex to assemble afterwards. They were also more flexible in where they could be located. These power stations were considered vital to the Morrow Project plan.
Morrow Project Facility TN-6: A water pumping station, located 1.2 miles northwest of Rachel.
Morrow Project Facility TN-7: A fusion power station, a very late model designed in 1985, revamped during construction in 1987 and completed in early 1989. Its cover was an automated Desert Water Monitoring Facility, designed, owned, and operated by Deltronics Ltd., a dummy company run by Morrow Industries. Located 5 miles due west of TN-6 near the town of Eden and 8 miles northwest of Rachel. Disguised as an old, uninhabited, ramshackle, ghost town.

Commo Base Kilo Echo: Built in 1973, a manned communications station located near Recon V-3’s bolthole in the slopes of the Schell Creek Range in White Pine County. The six-man Operations Team awoke in 2094, for no apparent reason, to find the world gone. Over time, the base shut down as the fusion reactor ran out of fuel. 47 years later, only one man survives, now just a 75-year old grandfather living amongst the Goshute Indians near the base.

Combined Group N: Combined Group N was created to serve as a force capable of protecting and assisting in the operation of Morrow Project Power Station TN-7. It was subdivided into four smaller teams, detailed to support the base. Although the teams themselves have no knowledge of the actual layout or workings of the station itself (it hadn’t even been built at the time the teams were frozen), they are aware of its (planned) existence and have been briefed on their mission to protect it.
N-1 MARS: The command team, has 6 men and a V-150 with a 20mm cannon.
N-2 Recon: Has a V-150 with TOW and 2 FAVs
N-3 Science, Service and Support: Has 8 men and 2 Ranger MPVs
N-4 MARS: Has 8 men with 4 FAVs

Recon Team V-1: Bolthole location unknown. Presumably in Western Nevada
Recon Team V-2: Bolthole location unknown. Presumably in Central Nevada
Recon Team V-3: Emplaced and frozen on May 11, 1987 in a bolthole in the slopes of the Schell Creek Range south of Lages Station, in White Pine County. It has six members and a Ranger MPV. Its six caches are spread along Interstate 93.

3)PRIME BASE

The Site: The area chosen for the site of Prime Base was a ridge surrounded by wild, barren steep-walled canyons. When Prime Base was built, White Rock Canyon was a typical, unappealing desert canyon with a permanent (if unappetizing) creek running through it. The promontory Prime Base was built into was at the tip of a north-south ridgeline which separated White Rock Canyon from nearby Soldier Creek and overlooked the open area of Soldier Meadow to the southwest. The Black Rock Range to the east and the Calico mountains to the west were enough higher than the valley that they sheltered the entire area. The White Rock Canyon-Soldier Meadow area was a bowl like valley with the unnamed ridge where Prime Base was located cutting through it. The engineers of Prime Base had to go quite deep into the surrounding rock to reach firm bedrock on which they could anchor Prime Base.

Prime destroyed: Prime base was knocked out of commission by a nuclear weapon and a bio-agent two years or so after the war by agents of Krell. The nuclear detonation and the bio-weapon which destroyed Prime Base radically changed the area. A series of earthquakes triggered by the nuclear explosion set off 10,000 years worth of landslides in the space of a few months. Hot springs, mud pots and sulfur pools burst into life throughout the region as the force and heat of the explosion stoked the cooling geothermal fires. A pair of volcanic cones 25 miles north of Soldier Meadow began a series of eruptions which blanketed the entire area with a black snow of ash. The bio agent released into the area caused a plague which effectively killed all mammals in the area. The biological agent eventually died off for lack of victims but its effect and the viral mutations which followed it changed the fauna of the area forever.

4) WESTERN NEVADA
To the northwest, towards the former capitol of Carson City and Reno, things are not much better. The large Slaver base at Tahoe across the California border makes living dangerous. The I-80 Coast Road stretches through this area, all the way to the Pacific.

NEW!!! A companion sourcebook for the area from Tahoe to Oasis on the Coast Road.

Fallon: Fallon, with some 500 people, is an oasis in the desert. Trade is done at a huge open air market, where you can buy virtually anything from a gross of pencils to a batch of Indian slave girls. The Slavers from Tahoe have a presence here, bartering in slaves and weapons, many of them from the Farkas farm.

The ruins of Carson City: A barren field of rubble and mutant grass. Do not go here.

5) CENTRAL NEVADA
A brutally harsh region of high deserts and soaring mountain ranges. Towns in central Nevada these days are quite isolated from one another. Traders and Mailmen are very rare, and most people know little about the area beyond the next hill, let alone about the next village, however far away that is. The Amerinds maintain contact between their villages, but even this is not much more then the occasional visit on special days of celebration. The Syen are active in this area, as are Slavers from the west.

The wayward nukes: The SS-18M2 aimed at the Groom Lake Test Facility deployed early, shedding its ten MIRVs out in a line through central Nevada. The 2 megaton blasts destroyed the town of Eureka, the junctions of Highways 50 and 278, and the entire area around Pinto Summit, leaving it an no-mans-land of residual radiation.

The Syen: Descendents of pre-war genetic scientists, these barbaric people call themselves “Syen” (a corruption of “Scientist”). They were originally from a secret, experimental laboratory called Area 27 in northern Colorado (see that state for an explanation), but were cast out after an internal fight over a hundred years ago. They ended up in Nevada, where they have long ago restarted their research. Their main base is now near Austin in the Toiyabe Range and they are similar to the Breeders from further east. They have lost almost all of the knowledge their ancestors had about genetics. Now they do “experiments” that are nothing more than rituals (or as a MP team would put it, atrocities) that symbolize their idea of a super-race emerging from Chaos. They are in no way scientists of any sort, more like religious fanatics, with some semi-scientific overtones. They roam the Central Nevada wastes looking for “pure genetic stock” for their experiments. They want to take people alive, but will kill if they think a captive would be too troublesome to handle. The Syen are variously equipped with pre-war weapons of every conceivable type, though most are civilian type rifles and shotguns. Handguns are not common but there are a few in the group. These weapons are old, misunderstood and poorly maintained. There are a few old M16A1s in the group and these are prized possessions. They do not have stockpiles or reserves of either ammunition or weapons.

Austin: The headquarters of the Syen. There are nearly 200 Syen altogether spread out in farms and small craft centers around the town where the stock is kept.

Slaves: The Syen have been trying to expand their holdings and they have found slave labor a valuable tool. Roughly 1,000 slaves now work on or near the Austin base. More slaves are needed to fuel their expansionist dreams, as well as those required for the “laboratories”. As such, they have entered into an uneasy alliance with the Slavers from Tahoe. It is a marriage of convenience; the Slavers know more about the outside world, but don’t have the resources needed to explore unknown regions. The Syen see the Slavers as trash, taking people at random, without any knowledge of the “right kind”. The Slavers in turn see the Syen as religious fanatics who waste perfectly good merchandise if they are deemed “genetically polluted”. They need each other and although they occasionally argue, under normal circumstances they will not fight.

6) EASTERN NEVADA
A region of hearty ranchers and mountain folk who survived the nuclear war and its aftermath better than most. There are today a series of settlements thriving along the old Alternate Interstate 93, living Old West lives surrounded by the ruins of modern America. Following the war, refugees and epidemics kill many people here, as did fallout over the long term. Those that survived were often the strongest and best equipped to rebuild civilization. Cut off and forgotten, the ranchers, cowboys and townspeople of this area hunkered down and survived the fight to hold on. Mutant animals are seen in this region, including mutant bats and black flies, and most impressively, herds of 10-foot tall mutant buffalos roam the high valleys. There are also mutant Gila monsters and dragon lizards, as well as immense scorpions in the ranges and flats.

The “93 Territory”: The area stretching from Ely in the north to Ely in the south is known as the “93 Territory”. Some 2,000 people live here, spread up and down what was once Interstate 93. Life here is hard, but not without its rewards. Technology levels are late wood-burning steam-engine technology. The Territory is fairly self-sufficient, they have enough water to survive, enough food to have an occasional surplus, and a manufacturing base large enough to provide not only for themselves, but also some outside trade as well. Most people are descendents of the pre-war population, with a number from a group of rodeo cowboys that arrived here after the war and settled down.

Ely: The “county seat” of the Territory, and the biggest town, home to 250 people. Farms around the town supply the people with food. The US Marshall is still based here, as is the Territorial mint. Ely also produces the famous “Ely rifle”, which is found throughout the area. An occasional Gypsy Trucker or a Mailman is always a welcome site here.

The train: An ancient steam locomotive runs between Ely and Oasis, providing passenger and freight service. The train was salvaged from the Northern Nevada Railway Museum in Ely and now has a tender car, three coaches and a flatbed car, all circa 1890 in construction and style.

”Oasis”: A thriving and dangerous Trade Town, built out of the rubble of the old pre-war town of Oasis, some 14 miles to the northwest. It is the eastern terminus of the I-80 Coast Road and as such is a mecca for traders and merchants. Home to Traders, Wanderers, Mailmen, Ranchers, Townies, Amerinds, Slavers, and Gypsy Truckers. Even the Krell have representatives here.

NEW!!! A companion sourcebook for the area from Oasis to Tahoe on the Coast Road.

The Goshute Indians: A large tribe located along the shores of the Inland Sea, having spread out from the Goshute Indian Reservation following the war. They now occupy the land east of the Antelope Valley. They are not hostile to the whites but are not willing to integrate with them either. They are very territorial and everyone knows not to enter “Indian Land” without permission. The Goshutes are traders, and even maintain a presence up in Oasis. They trade the huge mutant brine shrimp from the Inland Sea, as well as plants taken from the shoreline.

The Shoshone Indians: A large tribe living to the west of the 93 Territory, having expanded out from the South Fork Indian Reservation following the war. They occupy Butte Valley and Cherry Creek Range. The Shoshone are insular.

Lehman Caves: A place of mystery, the Lehman caves are a well-known geologic feature located in the Snake Range near Baker along the border with Utah. The vast cavern system was never fully explored and mapped before the war, and rumors of strange and deadly creatures abounded even then. Today, the caves are a fabled den of hideous mutants and fifty-foot long rattlesnakes. It is the place where mothers tell their children they will be sent if they don't behave and eat their carrots.

7) SOUTHERN NEVADA
The war was not kind to the point of Nevada. Everything in the area is mostly rubble now, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson, Boulder City, Nellis AFB. The impact zones are still contaminated by the long-life radioisotopes the fireballs impinged into the craters they made, and remain lifeless. To the east, all of Lake Mead is gone and the Colorado River runs rampant through the canyons that the Lake Mead Project once inundated. Deprived of the water and energy the dam provided, the region has returned to dry, inhospitable desert.

The People of the Land: The people of Southern Nevada are, for the most part, Amerinds from the old reservations. For the most part, they are concentrated around the old reservations, but have made some large expansions in “white man’s” land as well. Good people to have on your side, but some of the worst enemies you could find. A number of Anglos do live in and near the desert, but their numbers are (and always have been) small. Made up mostly of small communities rarely numbering more then 150-200 in size, they exist in and near old ruins, particularly those near water. Although Las Vegas is abandoned, several small towns along the Colorado River are still inhabited, though it is doubtful that anyone would actually recognize them from their pre-war days. Technology here has taken a great slip backwards and these people are surviving each year only by being tough and ruthless; if the desert doesn’t get you, the guys in the next town might. They occasionally make expeditions into Las Vegas, to explore and rummage through the ruins of this once great city, looking for anything that might be of value; scrap metal, books, wood, repair parts for the last few operational machines they have, weapons and ammunition.

The ruins of Las Vegas: One of the four MIRVs aimed at Nellis AFB to the north landed in the northeastern suburbs of the city, but thankfully was a dud. It is still lying there, broken open and radioactive. Las Vegas managed to get away with only relatively minor damaged from the flashes and shock waves. As such, Las Vegas physically survived the war but not the months that followed it. The destruction of nearby Nellis AFB and Hoover Dam killed the city. With hundreds killed outright, electrical power gone, the flood of water from Lake Mead, and lack of local governmental control, the area was shortly in chaos. Rioters soon damaged large portions of Las Vegas. They destroyed the airport and went on a rampage through the city that left it wrecked and burning. Survivors fled the doomed city; they left in panic, streaming out onto the roads and highways. Looking for “someplace else” to go. Now, a 150 years later, it is a crumbling ruin of rubble-clogged streets and decaying, unsafe high-rise buildings and towers that occasionally collapse under their own weight, falling with a roar like thunder. The great, ghost town, with its fallen towers, rubble heaps, and ever present dangers is definitely dead. No one lives here anymore, as there is no water. People still travel to “Vegas”; not for fun, for relics. A team trying to scout the city would find it a most depressing and somewhat dangerous place to stay.

Nellis Air Force Base: A missile scattered its MIRVs over this airbase in a line ending just six miles from downtown Las Vegas. Two of the other warheads landed on Nellis, the last one falling in the Sunrise Mountain Natural Area. Nuked and abandoned, Nellis has been reclaimed by the desert. The nuclear strike on Nellis AFB was far enough away from the city to not do much physical damage, though flash fires set alight a northern portion of Las Vegas.

Hoover Dam: The four MIRVs impacted just downriver of the dam, destroying it, and the attendant hydroelectric plant and Boulder City, as well.

Groom Lake Test Facility: The SS-18M2 targeted at this secret test area deployed early, scattering its MIRVS out to land over 150 miles north of the area. In the wake of the attacks, the base shut down. Sensitive materials were destroyed or else removed for safekeeping, and the military staff and civilian personnel left the base to try and find their families. Little of it remains today.

Nevada Nuclear Test Site: Long after the nuclear tests, this rugged area is safe to travel in, though high background radiation levels will be detected.

Rachel (Spencer): This small town is typical of similar communities in the region. Being located in such an unpopulated area, away from any targets, Rachel survived the war untouched. But a lack of a future caused people here to flee anyway, and Rachel became a ghost town within two months of the war. Rachel today is a decaying ruin, a ghost town. A number of relics remain: a lot of valuable scrap metal, and enough used bricks and stone to construct some fine houses. But nobody lives in (or anywhere near) Rachel.

Amerinds: The southern horn of Nevada was home to a number of Indian tribes, some of who still live in the area. These small independent tribes have managed to stay alive in this harsh land by keeping to themselves. These include the Moapa River Indians near Moapa on I-15 to the northeast of Las Vegas and the Shiwit Indians further to the northeast along the old interstate. There are also some Fort Mojave Indians down along the very tip of the state and some Chemehuevi Indians who live around the shores of Lake Havasu.

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MONTANA

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Helena, SS-16
Malmstrom AFB, 10 SS-18M2
Glasgow AFB, SS-16

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS
Morrow Industry's Cryosleep Development Center: Before the war, Montana State University in Bozeman was a center for Morrow Industry's genetics and cryonics programs. This is where test subjects were used to determine the best way to freeze people. The current condition of the facility is unknown.
Intelligence and Operations Squadron 1-A: Bolthole location unknown. 23 members. A very special “problem solving” team made up almost entirely of ex-CIA personnel.

3) NORTHCENTRAL MONTANA
This region of open prairies sloping up into the foothills of the Rocky Mountains was always known for its scenic beauty. It was also known for thickly-sown fields of ICBMs. It was this later trait that brought devastation from the skies.

The ruins of Great Falls: Smashed by spillover damage from the multiple nuclear hits on nearby Malmstrom Air Force Base. Nothing lives in these charred ruins.

The ruins of Helena: The single nuke laid waste to most of the city, fires burned for months afterward, and the local casualty rate ran close to 95%. Anyone who survived fled immediately, leaving the ruins to the rats and roaches. 150 years later, most of the city still contains small amounts of residual radiation. The ruins have been searched by dozens of marauder bands, soldiers and local defense groups over the decades. Few people live in the area now, though a handful of rugged individuals farm areas which once were parklands or landscaping by the entrance ramps for highway interchanges.

Lewistown: The largest functioning city in the state, Lewistown is now home to about 1,800 people. Existing as it does between two large Amerind regions, Lewistown sees a fair amount of trade and travel and has developed a reputation as The place to stop for traders looking for a place to rest and exchange information. The hotels are the cleanest, the bars have the best beer and the women have the fewest residual third limbs of all the caravan stops in the Upper Rockies. Gypsy Truckers are especially common here, and an entire industry has built up servicing their vehicles. All people are welcome here, though it is not uncommon for feuding Indian tribes to snipe at each other along the trails leading to the town.

4) EASTERN HALF OF MONTANA
The plains of the east have always been dry, and the constant droughts have made it even more so. Nevertheless, food supplies remain fairly secure for most of the year and the numerous wide rivers provide both water and transport for the settlements. Several towns in this huge expanse of rolling prairies and river valleys are home to white slaver enclaves, the most notable at Glendive in the far east. There are, however, long stretches where there is absolutely no human life and every town is deserted and looted.

Fort Peck Indians: The wide grassy plains of the upper Missouri River valley in the northeast part of the state are the home range of a large tribe of Native Americans. Mostly residents of the Fort Peck Reservation, these Indians guard the rich bounty of the river valley and are charter members of the Amerind Empire, with the Sioux to the east in South Dakota and the Flatheads to the west. While they have been a part of the greater Amerind confederacy for several generations, the Indians at Fort Peck have always been afraid of loosing their identity and their lands in being assimilated in with the Amerinds. There are roughly 2,000 Indians in this area, in various small settlements mostly along the wide Missouri River. The Tribe's "capitol" is in Wolf Point on the Missouri River. Their territory is ill-defined, but a number of outposts have been established at the edges to monitor traffic into the area. These outposts are at Circle in the south, at Lambert, Culbertson, and Antelope to the east, at Scobey in the north, and at the radioactive ruins of Glasgow in the west. The braves are well-armed but prefer bows when hunting. They have had little trouble with outside forces in the last century, except for the occasional Canadian hunting party from across the Saskatchewan border and slaver raids from the Glendive enclave. If they had enough firepower, they would surely wipe out the Glendive slavers.

Harlowton: Typical of the farming communities in the region, with about 300 citizens and a militia armed with hunting rifles and pistols.

Billings: Billings is eastern Montana's largest town, the fertile valley of the Yellowstone River supporting some 2,000 ranchers and farmers. They have a militia called the "Billings National Guard" to defend the surrounding ranch land from interlopers and refugees. Recently there has been conflict with a band of wandering Children of the Night who, while they say they want to peacefully settle down here, are really looking to feed on them.

Canucks: The long border with Canada is just a line on a map. For the last 150 years, that line has not stopped frequent cross-border travel for both merchant caravans and bandit raids. There is a large Canadian settlement in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, and their cavalry is occasionally seen in northern Montana, looking for raiders or loot. There are a number of Canadian settlements in Montana, mostly north of Highway 2, and there are also a few American settlements in southern Saskatchewan.

5) BITTEROOT MOUNTAINS
This rugged forest of towering peaks and lush valleys is now a veritable Garden of Eden populated by bears, gold prospectors and Native Americans.

The Flathead Empire: As the nuclear autumn descended on the nation, the Flathead Indians, with a large population and organized leadership, fought to become the dominant power in the area of their reservation. Since the 1960s, the Flatheads had a plan to do just this in the event of a catastrophe, and had caches of weapons and ammunition scattered about their reservation. Initially, the Flatheads limited their territorial gains to the immediate area, but over the years, as the area became more and more depopulated of whites, they expanded to the south and east. In the days after the war, the Indians were reasonably tolerant of wanderers and refugees who wanted to join their tribe. As long as the whites were willing to adopt the old ways and live according to the Indian way, they were accepted. After the war, many whites were willing to do this as a rejection of the “old way” that caused the war. This was important, since before the war, the Indian population had been pretty small. By accepting non-Indians into their ranks, the tribe’s numbers swelled and they soon had a self-sustaining population that was capable of holding the land claimed by the tribe.

Amerind Empire: Several generations ago, the Flatheads became aware of the larger Amerindian Empire growing to the east on the plains of the Dakotas. Contact was established, and despite age old differences in opinion, the two groups decided to merge to form a larger empire. The sheer distance between the two regions precludes any day to day cooperation, but the common cause has had a positive effect on the Flatheads, making them believe that they are part of a greater whole. 150 years later, the Flatheads occupy and maintain a virtual empire stretching north-south from roughly the Canadian border south to the Idaho border. This border is vastly undefined, however, and real control only exists around the various settlements.

Polson: Though they have abandoned most of the larger "white man's cities" within their territory, and they are mostly falling into disrepair, they have chosen Polson as their "capitol". Abandoned during the post-chaos days, and then reoccupied from the south by the Flatheads, the city is now home to some 2,300 Indians who hunt and farm the surrounding land and fish the large Flathead Lake to the north.

Kalispell: Another small Flathead town, known for a center of Shamanistic learning, where many a "dream walk" has been performed. With the spiritual power here, the town is heavily protected by a large force of cavalrymen.

Missoula: Another small Flathead Indian settlement, notable only for producing attractive women and healthy babies.

Glacier National Park: The Flathead Indians consider this area of vast mountain ridges and secluded valleys to be a paradise on earth. Settlements are few and far between, and tend to be more insular than settlements further south. The largest settlements are located at the old park headquarters off Highway 2, at several luxury ski lodges and hotels scattered throughout the park, and at the towns of Pinnacle, Lake McDonald, and a small one at Waterton Park across the Canadian border.

"Site-B": An underground secret base known as "Site-B" is located somewhere in the Bitterroot Mountains of Montana. This is the Snake-eater Regional Command Base for the Idaho/Montana area, holding a squad of Green Berets, detailed to watch MP assets in the region. It is fairly large, and for the most part intact, and all the men are still alive. The emergency exit was discovered by Indians about 75 years ago, but they lacked the ability to breach the inner door and have left it alone. They have marked it on their maps, however, and keep an occasional eye on it.

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WYOMING

Wyoming is a wild-west throwback of outlaws and ranchers, mixed with a even further throwback to Middle-Ages Spain. In a unique series of events, a rather militant form of the Catholic Church has gained power in the state. This has led to even more conflict.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Cheyenne, SS-19
Francis E. Warren AFB (MX missile complex), 10 SS-18M2

Discretionary nuclear targets:
Rock Springs, SS-N-8
Jackson Hole, SS-16

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS
Later…

3) WYOMING

Situation, pre-war: Wyoming was sparsely populated at the end of the world. The entire state had less than 500, 000 people in it. There were suburbs of nearby Denver, that held more people. As such people in Wyoming tended to be independent, friendly, and regarded neighbors as a gift. Most doors were never locked. It wasn’t uncommon to have neighbors check in if they hadn’t seen you for more than a few days. People were close, and the economy was generally good. Casper, as the hub of the natural gas, and fuel oil business in the state, was languishing in the throws of a huge depression. When the oil market went bust, the fortunes of everyone suffered. It was a typical November day, cool and dry, windy but then it always was. There was no indication, or warning of the hell soon to ride in.

Situation, the war: On war-day, it was a typical work day in the state. That wouldn’t last though. Numerous nuclear missiles rained down on the state, smashing thousands of lives and changing history in the blink of an eye.

Situation, post-war: Wyoming has recovered better than most areas, though much of the state’s population is controlled by a religious regime. This is a wide open land of ranches and farms, with very low population levels.

4) THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN WYOMING

Beginnings: The Catholic Cardinal for Denver was vacationing in the Bridger Wilderness Area when the bombs fell and was trapped deep in the backcountry. His descendants and followers have since founded "New Rome", a large Catholic enclave centered in Lander. The Catholic churches in Wyoming rallied around the Cardinal and were able to keep a sizable percentage of their membership intact through the long nuclear autumn. As a result, once the situation stabilized, the Catholics were the only group of survivors even semi-organized enough to fill the void. Over the first generation, the Church expanded out from Lander, converting and planting new churches with an attractive message of faith and stability. The long line of Cardinals believes they are holding the Christian faith in trust until communication can be re-established with Mother Rome and the Pope. There are several monasteries scattered throughout western and southern Wyoming, some newly built, others being existing pre-war churches which were taken over and "rechristened" as Catholic monasteries. Some of these monasteries act as a safe place for travelers to rest for the night, while other monasteries specialize in keeping old knowledge alive.

The Inquisition: Post-war Wyoming is a rough place for organized religion to survive and prosper, especially one supposedly trying to uphold Jesus' pacifist views. Desperate times often call for desperate measures, and in this case that means a second Holy Inquisition to root out the heretics and unbelievers and "return them to the flock". In the last 50 years, the Church has organized a panel of bishops who, while having to report to the Cardinal every week, have virtual carte blanche to run the Inquisition in their respective areas as they see fit. In some areas, the bishops use the Inquisition as a positive learning tool to help the populace grow and prosper in their faith. In other areas, not a majority but still a large number, the bishops use the Inquisition in the "old style". Torture, execution and random killing are common in these areas. The hidden rationale behind the Inquisition seems to be acquisition of land and property, with anyone who is condemned as a heretic must forfeit to the Catholic Church. This has breed a culture of fear and distrust in many areas, as people live in constant terror of being tapped as heretics by jealous neighbors or unjustly accused just because the Church wants their cows.

Slavery: Reacting to the growing need for labor in an agricultural economy that is barely able to keep up with needs, the Catholic hierarchy in Wyoming has condoned slavery. Using Old Testament passages as evidence, they have proclaimed that you can have slaves as long as they are unwashed heathens and you are working to convert them to Catholicism while you enslave them. In practice, this is pure slavery, but when a Church overseer comes to visit, the owners whip out a bible and read a few verses to the slaves to show he is working on "converting" them.

The Jesuits: The "military arm" of the Church are the Jesuits…

5) SOUTHEASTERN WYOMING (Thanks, Michael Chestnutt)
This corner of the state has been forever poisoned by the hundred nuke blasts on the ICBM fields at FE Warren Air Force Base. The majority of missiles targeted for the F.E. Warren AFB, complex were right on target. The three misses, were from the stand point of history, minor annoyances. One miss landed in the small town of Rock River, which was totally annihilated, as was the town of Encampment. One of the misses took off the top of Bridger Peak, and made the remainder glow for 50 years.

The ruins of Cheyenne: Cheyenne took a severe pasting from the nukes that were targeted on the State Capitol building. The entire city was essentially destroyed in the first few seconds. To make matters worse, F.E. Warren was close enough that the multiple warheads targeted on the headquarters building, spilled over into the city and beyond. The damage was absolute. Nothing lives here, even after 150 years. The craters have through erosion and time created a large radioactive lake. The secondary effect of this was to poison the water supply for the entire area. The handful of survivors in the outlying areas posted quarantine signs and quietly waited to die. The area from Chugwater, in the north to the Colorado border to the south is posted. From Laramie Peak in the west, to Pine Bluffs to the east is likewise posted. An area roughly 120 miles in area has been declared deadlands.

Laramie: Laramie, as home of the University of Wyoming was the main center of learning in the area. Between plague zones, blasted radioactive wastelands, ravagers and hostile groups of mutants of all types, the area around Laramie is a very dangerous place. Due to its nature and layout, it is not easily defended. Over the last fifty years there has been an initiative to transfer books, and other education material to the Casper State College. It has met with varying degrees of success. The slow exodus of people has made Laramie into a virtual ghost town. The old 1872 Wyoming Territorial Prison serves as a haven for weary and often hotly pursued travelers.

Rawlins: To the west of Laramie, Rawlins is a small farming town. The local church has nearly complete power here and the Holy Inquisition is in full swing. The "conversions" are preformed in the old 1903 prison in town, a place where the citizens avert their eyes when walking by.

Saratoga: A town on the edge of the North Platte oil fields. Though the wells are no longer producing and the local refineries have been gutted and stripped, over the years numerous groups of people have tried to reopen some of them, all to no avail. The local Bishop has pretty much made Saratoga his own personal playground. He is perhaps the most corrupt of the Bishops in the state and has fallen furthest from the flock. His Jesuit militia is mostly "unbelievers" with the approval of the Bishop, though they at least put on a show of piety. They frequently go on bloody foraging expeditions to get tithes from surrounding towns, further alienating the population. The citizens are slowly realizing that the Church here is really little better than the marauders they say they are keeping out. When the Bishop is out in the field, the militia commander feels like he owns the town and everyone in it. He is an atrocious womanizer and he forces the townspeople to work longer hours than is necessary. When the Bishop is in town, the militia puts on a sincere show of piety, with the threat that anyone who misbehaves during the Bishop's visit will pay dearly once he is gone. The townspeople are not sure if it will help, but they are looking for volunteers to hand-deliver a letter of compliant to the Cardinal in Jackson Hole, bypassing the Bishop altogether.

6) CENTRAL WYOMING
This region of sagebrush and winding streams is home to a variety of small settlements. Farming and ranching take up the majority of the days, and even the large herds of mutant buffalo are exploited.

Lander: The main capitol of the Catholic Church, and the home of the Cardinal. The city is run by the Church, but is a little more relaxed than most towns in Wyoming as the latest Cardinal is not so interested in gathering personal wealth as his predecessors. The area surrounding Lander is all farmland and ranches and is productive enough to feed the 2,000 people living in Lander, and provide for a healthy tithe for the Church. Lander's Jesuit militia is large and effective and operates several guard posts in the surrounding land. A century ago, the people of Lander built a stout wall around the entire city to protect itself in times of need. The farmers and ranchers in the area would gather their belongings and move into the city in times of great troubles. At the old Fremont County Museum there is a thriving country market that serves the region. This is a weapon free-zone except for the Jesuits, but you can find, buy, or trade anything at the Freemont market. The Ballooners from Riverton are always here, and this is where you can buy goods from them from all over the nation.

Riverton: Located in the center of the state, along the edges of the Rocky Mountains, Riverton is now the home base of the "Ballooners", a nation-wide organization of fliers who operate and live in homebuilt hot air balloons. The first Ballooner group was originally the remains of the staff of the National Balloon Museum in Indianola, Iowa, south of Des Moines. For about two years after war, the people there tried to stay low and stay alive. Once the situation stabilized, the survivors realized that they had a goldmine of technology around them, as well as a means to escape the ravages of the Midwest. They gathered together some supplies and some selected refugees, loading them on several large balloons, and set off to find their new homes. Riverton was not the first place they landed, but it was the best.

New Home: Over the generations, Riverton has become the Ballooner Shangri-La, a place where the scattered fleets can come and exchange news and technology. Some 3,500 permanent residents serve and protect the landing fields and the hangers in the area. Security is ultra-tight, and visitors are subjected to intense scrutiny before being allowed to enter. The local Riverton Regional Airport and the open fields near the town are now frequently home to balloon fleets, and a large industry of re-supply and recreation has blossomed in the area. Everything that can be needed, from fabric patches to loose women, is available to the fleets, the supply constantly being changed with the loot brought in. Riverton itself boasts a standing force of three large zeppelins and several dozen smaller balloons. These are armed to the teeth with everything from standard contact iron bombs, to specialized anti-personnel bombs and even napalm. They also have machineguns and homemade "scatter guns" for air-to-air defense.

Relations with the Church: The Catholic Church has a small mission here, though the Ballooners do not pay tithes. The Ballooners have made it perfectly clear to the Cardinal that if they are harassed in any way by the church, they will just pull up stakes and fly off to somewhere else, taking their commerce and trade markets with them. They do, however, offer rides on balloons to Catholic missionaries looking to travel to distant lands to create new flocks.

Thermopolis: This is the site of the largest natural hot springs area in the world. Its location in the Teton Mountains, guaranteed its survival during the months and years after the war. People that lived here were used to being on their own, and to making due with what they had. Today it is a bastion of civilization in the wilderness. With time, patience, and a spirit of innovation, the people of this area have constructed extensive hot water greenhouses. The heat and mineral content of the water, serves to allow extensive agricultural endeavors. This area has been termed as the “Winter Gardens” of the Catholic Church, and Bishops and Cardinals are frequent guests here. It also makes this town a tantalizing target for nomads, ravagers, and mutants of all kind.

Wind River Indian Reservation: The remaining Amerind population here is particularly xenophobic, and will take prisoner or kill strangers. This is due in part to continued predation on their group by the Breeders.

Site-H: A small Snake-eater base located inside an abandoned gold mine in an isolated mountain near Moneta. The four Green Berets here are still sleeping the centuries away.

7) EASTERN WYOMING
The eastern plains of Wyoming are home to several large communities. This is perhaps the one area in the state that the Holy Inquisition is actually doing what it was intended to. The Bishop here is the most benevolent of them all, and has only used his Inquisitors on confirmed, trouble-making heretics. This has garnered him the loyalty and support of his population, and has brought a lot of refugees from other parts of Wyoming to his area. This has several of the other Bishops angry (he is taking tithes away from them, after all), and there are rumors that they are plotting against him.

Douglas: Nearly a century ago, Douglas become a religious retreat and a fortress town based around a newly-constructed Catholic monastery. The town's small Jesuit militia will allow no one to pass through without the consent of the priest. The town seems to be doing well for itself, farming the nearby countryside and hunting the forests and trading extensively with Casper. The local Bishop has singled this town out as having no need for an Inquisition.

Bill: The area around Bill in the Thunder Basin National Grassland is also home of the "Buffalo Ranchers", a semi-independent community of giant buffalo ranchers and one of the main suppliers of beef for the Casper area. They are allowed a degree of self-rule as long as they continue to sell their beef at discount prices to the Church.

Casper: The missile targeted for Casper went far awry due to guidance system failure, and landed in Ocean Lake, west of Riverton. The nuclear war didn’t effect Casper directly, though it did cause a widespread panic. The first step for the city government and police force was to declare martial law. After explaining what had happened, they found that most folks handled it pretty well. The breakdown in social order with its accompanying looting and etc, just didn’t happen here. These people were tough. They quietly took stock of their situation and started over. A large number of older vehicles were mustered together for a trip to Camp Guernsey. As the largest ammo and equipment store house of military equipment in the area, it was the logical first move. After ferrying over as much as they could, they began “enlisting” their townsfolk in the local militia. Thankfully they didn’t have much refugee traffic come through during the first nuclear winter. The time this gave them allowed them the window of opportunity they needed to re-build the repeater network with spare parts and other pieces they scrounged. Contact was re-established with many locals settlements.

Conflicts: All was not happiness and bliss however. At an early junction folks realized that they were from very different worlds. The group known as Oilers, wanted to proceed to develop the high-tech lifestyle they were accustomed to. The Ranchers favored an approach that put emphasis on developing a simpler, more agrarian lifestyle. These two groups were bound to clash, and over the first few dozen years there were numerous armed fights and much death. Fifty years ago, a unique solution was proposed by the Casper Congress. A mandatory enlistment in the army for all able bodied personnel was imposed. This forced people of both major factions to live and work together for three years at a time.

The Church: Due to Casper’s wealthy and power, it has largely remained independent of the powerful Church in Wyoming. Relations are cordial, and several large churches operate in Casper. It is just that the Church stays out of the governmental functions of the city.

Casper today: The change to weather patterns had created a window, that shields the central part of the state from most western flowing wind. This served to block the worst of the airborne fallout from the west. As there was little fallout flowing from the north, Casper was blessed in this fashion as well. It is a little known and seldom visited paradise on the plains. With the exception of border skirmishes with the Amerind Empire, and the attacks of mutants, raiders, and others of that ilk, Casper is a friendly place. The Breeders from Yellowstone are a constant threat in this area, as they are always looking for new specimens. Surrounded by deathlands on all points of the compass, most trading is done within the state. Not a closed economy but not very open either. As such barter and costs of goods are very reasonable. Currency is either left-over coinage from the war or newly minted coin of Casper.

The Casper Army: The Casper military was formed from surviving police, natl guard, reserve, and similar units. They adopted simpler weaponry and equipment in order to better support, train and replace hardware. It was logical that the militia would change to horse cavalry as vehicles broke down over the years. The decision to revert to a simpler time, was the best option made available. The influences and history of the mounted cavalry, was still very much alive. The Casper state troopers, a local band served as the template for uniforms. Museum pieces and those in formerly private, collections served as the basis of the weapons used. After much debate the decision was made on the .44 caliber Peacemaker and 1894c lever-action rifle in the same caliber. Training, field maintenance, and simplicity of use were chosen over rate of fire and range. The army consists of 20% of the population at any given time. Both sexes serve a mandatory 3 year enlistment, with an option to proceed or serve in the local militia for an additional 6 years. Most people choose to serve in the militia for life. Militia duty is considered civic duty and weekly musters are a time for socializing, voting on referendums, mail call, and training. All militia members must attend in uniform and have weapons and equipment ready for inspection. Almost every town has a Gatling gun and at least half the population is in the militia. All patrols go out with portable radios issued for orders and status reports. Range is about 75 miles. A large array of repeater stations are spread throughout the local area. These are manned by specially trained RTO’s that enjoy special military status. The military grows its own crops/livestock for its use. Military units also assist civilian populace in harvesting.

Life in Casper: Government is by representation, with a Congress in Casper. Each township or combination of same with a population of 200+ has a representative. These representatives are elected every 6 years. There are still two major political factions in Casper, the Oilers and the Ranchers. Sexual and racial equality was established as the first act of the original Congress. The prevalent religion is Baptist. Horses are never abused, guns are always loaded, knives are always sharp. All townships have a radio and repeater station in place. This is used for official transmissions only. Classified traffic is sent by courier with escort. All communities are required to locate and transport metal and or vehicle parts from salvaged or ruined vehicles. Casper is home to Casper University, offering classes in many subjects, including Medical Doctor. All firearms are property of the city. As such they are issued, not sold. Weapons may be sold to visitors, but only by the government or an approved agent of same. Costs are exorbitant. All weapons must be kept clean and in good condition, or they will be forfeited. (Thanks, Michael Chestnutt)

8) NORTHERN WYOMING
The rolling plains of Northern Wyoming have given rise to several anti-Catholic groups. Church influence here is limited, as the area is geographically isolated from the rest of the state. It is not uncommon for missionaries to have "accidents" on the roads up here.

Sheridan: This frontier town was essentially untouched by the war. While the loss of electrical power and supplied goods was a great hardship for them, the existence of large mining assets, primarily coal, and cattle made this an inconvenience, not a hazard. Although approximately three-fourths of the population either died or left to seek relatives or other fortunes, this town survived. It is a good place to visit, and an even better place to settle down.

Gillette: Currently the home base of a very strong slaver group led by a man who calls himself "Prince George Washington". They number about 250 with an HQ at a fortified ranch house to the north of the town. There are always 10 to 20 of the most trained slavers acting as bodyguards for Washington. In Gillette, there are several hundred slaves, badly abused and overworked. Even the Church is offended by Washington’s treatment of his slaves, and several plans have been drawn up for a expedition. For his part, Washington is planning on moving north next spring to somewhere where he doesn't have to follow anybody's rules.

Buffalo: This town has almost completely reverted to an old west atmosphere and way of life. This change didn’t happen gradually, it was almost overnight. The many shops on Main Street including and old fashioned "soda fountain" where you can still get a homemade soda.

Cody:This historic small city is now the home base of a popular religious movement known as the "Army of Christ the King", led by a twelve-year old girl who was supposedly born Christ-like to a virgin bride. She showed up in August of last year and quickly galvanized the town's population by performing several astounding miracles. She has promised the immediate return of Jesus and is organizing the populace to rebuild the town before the Second Coming. Currently, she has at least 200 converts, mostly from the illiterate sheepherders and ranch hands who work the lands. In Wyoming, she is considered a gift from God for her incredibly strong influence with the local population, and her seemingly innocent nature. The Cardinal and the Bishop over this area have publicly dismissed the girl's claims, though privately they are very worried. This girl is a threat because she is a woman, she has a large following, and she claims to have a personal hotline to God. People who talk to God are VERY dangerous; especially if God talks back to them. There are a number of contingency plans in place already to "remove" the girl if she becomes a threat to the Church's power. The very real fear that killing her would make her even more dangerous as a martyr is causing much debate amongst the Cardinals and Bishops.

Bighorn National Forest: Home range of the "Great Beaver Clan", a group of Native American Indians originally descended from the residents of the Wind River Reservation. They ride horses and are armed with bows and arrow and percussion cap rifles. Their nomadic lifestyle, and the fact they actively resist any encroachment upon their land, has so far kept them out of the Church's grasp. These people are experts at capturing and killing the giant buffalo.

9) NORTHWESTERN WYOMING
Many small isolated mountain settlements of hearty ranchers and mountain folk have banded together to keep secure and have collectivized all the surrounding ranches for the common good. People that live here are used to being on their own, and to making due with what they have. With time, patience, and a spirit of innovation, the people of this area have built new lives in many ways more comfortable that before the war. The Catholic Church is strong here, with nearly every town having an active church body. Tithes are paid in crops and cattle, and there is little conflict.

Jackson Hole: A discretionary nuke fell on the “Hollywood of the Rockies”, Jackson Hole. This sufficed to effectively destroy the entire populace. Due to its nature and detonation characteristics, there was very little actual damage done. The effects of the radiation on the populace was horrific. Everyone not killed by the explosion immediately was transformed into Blue Undead. This makes Jackson Hole a very dangerous place to visit.

Dubois: A small town of about 500 persons, located 50 miles from Grand Teton National Park and 80 miles from the south entrance to Yellowstone National Park. Dubois is one of the few towns in the area with no Catholic presence. There are two large cattle ranches near the town, having been here since well before the war. As time went by they learned to work with and support Dubois, and also they either bought out or “acquired” the other smaller ranches in the area. At this time there are only two large ranches in the area. The Absaroka Ranch led by the Betts family, and the T Cross Ranch led by the O’Neal family. As these are the largest ranches and most wealthy, their voices can be heard, very far and quite well. Theirs’ are also the largest and best armed security forces in the area. They enjoy an almost complete monopoly on all domesticated animals, fish, wool and leather products in the area. There are a number of smaller subsistence-level farms in the area, but they don’t have any of the influence these do. The only things that keep these ranches from ruling completely is the Catholic Church to the south, the presence of the Breeders in nearby Yellowstone Park, and a new threat from mutant Wolves. (Thanks, Michael Chestnutt)

Yellowstone National Park: There are reports of an extremely hostile Breeders living deep in the park's wilds. Some say they have been here since before the nuclear war, others say they came here much later, from a secret government lab somewhere to the south. It is also rumored that they have cut a deal with the Catholic Church to provide fabulous medicines in exchange for “test experiments”, but no one knows for sure if these rumors are true.

10) SOUTHWESTERN WYOMING

The ruins of Rock Springs: One of the discretionary nukes fell on the city of Rock Springs, which while not a strategic target, effectively closed off Interstate 80 going east and west. The “Open Road” now detours wide around the ruins, veering off north near Superior and reconnecting with I-80 just east of Green River.

Green River: Home of a Catholic monastery, which took over the abandoned remains of a large Russian Orthodox Church. The impressive union domed structure is now about 300-years old and is populated by some 25 monks.

Fort Bridger: 150 years later the hulk of this site lays in shambles.

Evanston: A caravan trade stop at the I-80 section of the Open Road, Evanston has managed to hold on for all these decades by being a place that travelers can safely rest and repair. Recognizing the value of interstate commerce, the Catholic Church has a large presence here and tax the merchants as they come and go.

Kemmerer: The 500 or so townspeople here pay lip-service to the Church but are really on their own. The town has formed its own, non-Jesuit, militia, which is armed with several dozen WWII-vintage rifles and enough ammo to last a few firefights. Word has only just recently reached the nearest Catholic Bishop of the “hubris of the town” and some time will be needed to organize a force of Jesuits to "purify Kemmerer of their sins”.

Site-V: Site-V is a Snake-eater Regional Command Base for western Wyoming, located off Highway 30 nearly on the Idaho border. They were activated when the MP Idaho Regional Command Base was activated by the rogue nuke on the day of the war (see Idaho). Awakening to find the nation still being nuked and at war, about half of the Snake-eaters left for the dangerous journey to Colorado Springs. The few that stayed in Wyoming went back into their cyrotubes to sleep some more, certain that “the time wasn’t right”. Since many locals discovered what the base was during the time they were awake, the knowledge of its location has been passed down through the generations. Over time, however, the story has changed and by now most people believe that the huge steel doorway in the cave leads to the depths of hell.

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UTAH

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Salt Lake City, SS-17
Fort Douglas, SS-17
Toole Army Depot, SS-16
Utah Army Depot, Ogden, SS-18M1

Discretionary nuclear targets:
Hill Air Force Base, SS-18M2
Dugway Proving Grounds, SS-N-17
Camp Williams, SS-N-17

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS
Unnamed MP bolthole: Somewhere in the mountains near the town of Spanish Fork south of Provo. Re-supply caches were placed near the towns of Salem, Alpine and Payson, north and south of Spanish Fork. Unfortunately, the bolthole and the caches are now under several hundred feet of water.
Unnamed MP bolthole: Near the town of Draper in the southern suburbs of Salt Lake City. This bolthole is above water (barely), but all but two of its caches are sunk.
Unnamed MP bolthole: Somewhere around the Druid Arch area of Canyon Lands National Park.

3) THE INLAND SEA
The Inland Sea had been extinct for some 16,000 years when the nuclear war came. Because of the war’s effects and the cooler climate that followed, there were many heavy storms in the wasteland, resulting in massive run-offs into the basin in the spring and summer months. There is no outlet for this water and the lake expanded and spread. 150 years later, the once-extinct Lake Bonneville again covers about one-fourth of the state of Utah. It covers almost 20,000 square miles, about the same as Lake Michigan. It is 130 miles across at its widest east-west point, and some 300 miles long from north to south. The western shores are in Nevada, the northern reaches are in Idaho and the southern tip is just 90 miles from the Arizona border. Notable sites now under the water include the blasted cities of Salt Lake City, Ogden and most of Provo.

Life on the Inland Sea: The Inland Sea is full of huge mutant brine shrimp, which are caught and sold at local markets. The Sea is also a source of salt, a valuable commodity in this arid area. Numerous Saints operate ferry services, taking travelers and traders across the Sea for a fee.

Fishing outpost: Along the northeastern shore of the great Inland Sea is a small settlement of fishermen. These are from the Breeder complex in northern Colorado (see that state) and are here to provide additional food stocks for the complex’s staff. The fish are dried, packed tightly in bundles and then taken overland on mules and horses for the long trip back to Colorado.

NEW! For a companion mini-adventure set in this area of northwestern Utah, please check out The Inland Sea, just added July 14.

4) THE HOLY STATE OF DESERET
Utah was always seen as the spiritual center of the Mormon faith. As such, there was a general feeling amongst the most pious that the nuclear strikes were God's wake-up call to the Mormons, a visible show of His displeasure with the secular way the faith had been turning in the late 20th century. Despite the horrendous damage and loss of life, many will tell you that the nukes solidified the faithful into the dominant power that they are 150 years later. Utah has become a religious police state to survive and the true power in Utah is and always has been the Mormon church. They were amongst the best set up of all of pre-war America's social groups, that were determined to survive, and part of their doctrine called for each member to keep a year's supply of food and ample weapons on hand. Following the nuclear strikes, the Church organized the citizens, and began setting up local militias and food distribution centers throughout the state. All remaining federal offices, property, power-generating facilities, mines, and other industrial facilities were taken over by the state government. Food, clothing, electrical power and petroleum were strictly rationed, with the lion's share going to native Mormons. Most of the elected officials in Utah were already church members, and slowly the church elders rose to positions of power. Twenty years after the war, the President and Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints declared the former state of Utah to be the "Holy Mormon State of Deseret". In the last 130 years of Mormon rule, Utah has become a militant theocracy, with a strict set of rules based on the Book of Mormon similar to that of Brigham Young in the early days. Alcohol and tobacco are forbidden, but polygamy has made a fast comeback with the decline in population. Gentiles are welcome, but only if they adhere to the religious laws that govern the area. Utah has a strong military, but so far has shown no interest in expanding their territory.

Urban cities: Nearly all of Salt Lake City, Provo and Ogden are completely within the waters of the Inland Sea. Jagged skyscrapers jut out of the salty water and fishermen often tie their boats up to them. The intense radiation in these ruins has produced a variety of mutated sealife, some of it quite dangerous.

Leadership: As noted, the leaders of the church are in complete control over most of the state's population and resources. The "Deseret White House", the headquarters of the nation's leadership, is located in an ultra-secure bunker deep beneath the Wasatch Mountains, now on the shores of the Inland Sea. In light of the religion's continued emphasis on genealogy, the massive repository of Mormon genealogical records buried in a vault in Big Cottonwood Canyon remains just as important. The few golden treasures salvaged from the leveled Salt Palace before the lake overflowed have also been moved into undisclosed safe places in the mountains.

Natives: Utah’s numerous Indian tribes have managed to co-exist with the Mormons for hundreds of years, making an existence out of hunting, primitive farming and trading. Mormon townsfolk trade the Indians medicine, technological trinkets, ammo, and metals for produce and meats. Relations are generally good, both sides trust each other and there are even some intermarriages--much to the concern of the Mormon church. The Mormons believe the American Indians are the descendents of one of the tribes of Israel, and pity the Indians a little for their hard and primitive lifestyle. An occasional misunderstanding has resulted in a brush fire war with a tribe or two, but lately relations have been stable across the state.

Door-knockers: As has been tradition for centuries, the state is criss-crossed by two-man teams of Mormon evangelists. Usually encountered riding bicycles, they carry the Book of Mormon to travelers and merchants. Times being as they are, the teams often have a gun under their spotless white shirts.

5) SOUTHEASTERN UTAH
The valleys of the Otter and Sevier Rivers, the north-south trade route of I-15 and the bordering forests of pine and juniper are the hub of the Deseret Empire. The trade nexus for caravans from Arizona and Colorado, this area is rich with markets and vehicles. Perhaps 175,000 people live along these rivers now, spread out in a number of large settlements stretching from the ruins of Provo in the north down to Hurricane and Saint George in the south. This area is one of the most secure and intact regions in the nation now. Further to the east, the Mormon communities along the Colorado River have grown at a different pace than their western brothers.

Colorado River valley: Part of the greater Deseret Empire, yet with a different feel to it. Just after the war, the survivors in this area managed to secure a number of military vehicles and weapons, which they used to defend themselves from raiders and would-be warlords. The Empire was just forming to the west and this corner of the state was not organized until much later. The people along the Colorado River thus formed their own society along slightly different lines. Over the years they would help anyone who needed it, as long as they proved to be non-violent. This area now survives by trading livestock and vegetables which they grow, for just about anything. They are generally kind, decent people who are always willing to help out a person in need. They move around using cars, trucks, and a few remaining military vehicles, but mainly on horseback. They have some modern firearms, and a few military weapons. The distance has given rise to a thriving black-market that deals in all the things that the Mormon code prohibits, like alcohol and drugs.

"Site-O": Inside Capitol Reef National Park there is a secret, underground, Snake-eater base known as "Site-0". It is intact and operating in stand-by mode.

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COLORADO

Colorado was heavily damaged in the war, with numerous cities and military bases nuked. Industry ground to a halt and diseases scythed through the remaining population. Within a few years, most of the urban areas along the Front Range were deserted, the survivors mostly moving into the Rocky Mountains were there were still fish and game and the security of isolation.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Denver, SS-N-17
Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant, SS-N-17
Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, SS-19
Pueblo Army Depot, Avondale, SS-17
Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Denver, SS-N-8
Lowry AFB, Aurora, SS-17
USAF Academy, Colorado Springs, SS-N-8
Indian Mountain NORAD HQ, Colorado Springs, SS-18M1

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS
RM-4 Maintenance Facility : Located on the western side of the mountain range near the ruins of De Beque, built below a DOT maintenance yard located 300 yards off the Interstate to the north. This facility was intended to be used to repair, maintain, and re-supply MPVs. It is also fully manned with an 18-man maintenance team. Four V-150 Armored Recovery Vehicles are stored here, as well as a huge stock of spare parts and tools.
Mars Team CO-4 : Bolthole located beneath the foundation of the Grand Mesa Christian Academy in the town of Grand Mesa, east of Grand Junction. Team awoke four years ago, last surviving member now in Grand Junction.
Recon Team COR-1 : Bolthole located in a valley east of the Blue River, just off I-70 near the town of Dillon. Frozen on January 16, 1987, the only Recon team in the central portion of the state. They are aware of the RM-4 facility and are tasked to assist it if needed. Team has 12 members with two M548 Tracked Cargo Carriers and two Quad ATVs. The team has the standard six caches, all placed within 150 feet of I-70, spaced along the entire length of the Interstate as it passes through the mountains. Two of the six caches are all but impossible to locate, as they are buried under tons of rock and gravel. The other four are still easily found, as long as the team can reach them.
Unnamed MP bolthole : Beneath Sleeping Ute Mountain in the extreme southwest corner of Colorado in the Ute Mountain Indian Reservation.
Unnamed MP bolthole : Inside Blanca Peak, located in the San Luis Valley, between Alamosa and Walsenberg. At least one of the caches is located under a buffalo ranch in the San Luis Valley.
Unnamed MP bolthole : Somewhere in the Book Cliffs area near the town of Rifle.
Unnamed MP bolthole : Near the town of Delta southeast of Grand Junction.
Unnamed MP bolthole : Near the town of Telluride.
Unnamed MP bolthole : Beneath the foundation of the Grand Mesa Christian Academy in the town of Grand Mesa, east of Grand Junction.
Unnamed MP bolthole : North of the town of Paradox in Paradox Valley in Montrose County.

3) COLORADO (Thanks, Chris Van Deelen)

Situation, pre-war: With the Rocky Mountains running directly through the state from north to south, Colorado was both a rugged and a beautiful state. Winters were not that harsh, while the summers were pleasant, with temperature hovering in the mid to high seventies. Interstate 70 was the main artery running east to west from Kansas through Colorado into Utah. It travels straight through Denver. Because of this, it was heavily traveled all year round. The towns settled alongside the interstate relied on travelers and tourists. Forestry and mining also contributed to the area’s economy. Ski resorts attracted a huge number of tourist from all over the United States, Canada and Europe.

Situation, the war: When the war broke out, two cities in Colorado were hit heavily by Russian nukes, Denver and Colorado Springs, the population hubs sprinkled with high-value military targets. The mountains protected many of the small towns and resorts dotting I-70 from the nuclear blasts. Because of the weather pattern, the fallout was far worse on the eastern side of the mountains than in the west. These towns were soon overrun with refugees, suffering from radiation sickness, injuries and the like, and in a matter of a few days, all food contained in these towns were consumed. Fear of starvation lead to those with food to hoard what little they did have remaining. These people would do what ever was necessary to protect their supplies, including killing anyone who tried to take away their only means of survival. To make matters worse, the war took place at the beginning of the winter and long-term survival prospects looked grim indeed. Over the next few months, the population along I-70 dwindled, as many died from starvation, exposure, wounds, and the constant battle for food and shelter. Many more left the mountains, heading west, hoping that the climate in Utah would be a bit more hospitable. Those that remained continued to fight over the what was left of the towns, sending out hunting parties to scour the ruins for any food or useful equipment. These hardy survivors eventually set up small territories, which they strictly enforced. No trespassing allowed, no hunting, no fishing, nothing. Any outsiders caught were usually killed on sight.

Situation, post-war: By the time spring finally arrived, less than five percent of the pre-war population along this stretch of I-70 remained. It was at this time that a large band of survivalists began to make their presence known. They seemed to appear out of nowhere, hunting through the abandoned towns and taking what ever goods they fancied, be it vehicles, spare parts, clothing, tools, or live stock that somehow survived the fallout. Of course, as fate would have it, they eventually crossed into “private territory” and were attacked. The survivalists, being heavily-armed and prepared to fight, beat off the attackers with only a few casualties. Thus, the feud between the townsfolk and the survivalist clan began.

Mountain war: For several years the survivalist clan and the townspeople fought over the ruins that dotted the mountains, the townspeople suffered heavy losses during these turbulent times. The survivalists faired quite a bit better. After five long years the fighting finally came to an end. The ruins had been picked clean, territories had been established. Weary from years of nearly continuous hit and run battles, and the hideous loss of life suffered by the townsfolk, both sides finally declared a cease fire so they could come together and hammer out a peace agreement. Oddly enough, it was the survivalists who first approached the towns people with the offer. They had little to gain from this, as they had secured their own territory and had more than enough food and equipment to last for many years to come. Simply put, they were sick of the loss of life, considering the millions who perished in the initial nuclear exchange, and the millions more who died during the long winters after the war ended. Both sides agreed to meet in the township of Lawson and hammer out not only a cease fire, but also a long term peace treaty. For several months they met on and off, finally coming to an agreement that was mutually beneficial to both groups. This peace has lasted now for the past 145 years.

4) DENVER

The War: Nuked by numerous warheads, Denver was blasted out of existence. Three warheads from an SS-N-17 exploded in a triangle pattern over the central part of the city and four more warheads from an SS-17 ground impacted on Lowry AFB. Finally, the SS-N-8 single warhead exploded high above the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. The missile targeted on the Rocky Flats Facility failed on launch and splashed down in the Pacific, but the damage was already done. In a microsecond, hundreds of thousands of lives were snuffed out and the city was pretty well rubbled by the firestorms and seismic shocks. The strong winds served to spread the fallout around, blowing most of it in a wide rooster tail extending east-southeast away from the city. No one was alive in Denver in two weeks.

Today: Denver is now known for a large number of Maggots living in the sewers and water systems under the nuked city. This is a world unknown to most surface dwellers, and only a handful of people have ever entered the underworld and come out alive. A concentration of Blue Undead wander the floor of the Cheery Creek crater. The crater is a pockmark of vitrified slag a thousand-feet across and two hundred-feet deep. The ruins surrounding them are home to just a few dozen assorted Scraggers and salvagers, hunting through the blasted rubble for pre-war goods and taking pot shots at each other. Cholera, typhus, and plague seem to be annually epidemic here.

Denver International Airport: Home of Denver's largest enclave of normal people. The airport largely survived the war, though it was later abandoned for a time in the years of starvation and plague. For the last century or so, a small trading community of scavengers and traders has existed here, taking advantage of the open spaces between the former runways for small-plot farming. Bold adventurers go out from here into the radioactive wastes in search of treasures, and lead trade expeditions through the wild zones to other enclaves elsewhere.

University of Denver: Before the war, the University of Denver was doing contract work with the US Department of Defense to develop better cryo-sleep tubes for the Snake-eaters. The lab work was done on campus, but the exact location and current condition of the facility is unknown.

Lafayette: This northwestern suburb is now home to the second largest normal settlement. There are about 240 people here, working to fortify the perimeter against attacks from mutants and bandits. They are in weekly contact with the Airport enclave. There are roving bands of marauder scum in these parts and they have attacked the settlement six times already this year. These renegades are not well-armed and mostly unorganized, so they have been easily repulsed by the militia’s carefully laid ambushes.

5) NORTHERN COLORADO TOWNS AND CITIES
The scattered cities north of Denver, stretching up towards Cheyenne, were ravaged during the chaos and coated with radioactive fallout.

Boulder: Caught in the firestorms of the Denver area nuke strikes, and the following refugee waves, Boulder was mostly destroyed. 150 years later, this ghostly place, once a beautiful city of Starbucks and Audi sedans is a dirty, crumbling haven for mutants and scavengers. Some 200 assorted beings live here now, and violence is cutting into that number every year.

Fort Collins: Fort Collins received heavy fallout from the Cheyenne blasts and was severely depopulated. Today, the city is home to a group of 200 salvagers and hunters, many descendants of a large group of Vietnamese refugees who were willing to trade the increased health risks for the opportunity to stake a claim. They are mostly a grimy sore-covered lot that live a hand to mouth existence and are willing to root around in irradiated city ruins to the south and fight mutants for treasures from the past.

Greeley: Now home to a largish band of slavers and opportunists. They are about 60 strong and are well-armed.

Briggsdale: A small abandoned town out in the wastes of the piedmont. Any wanderers might be surprised at the condition of the nearby Cass Airport. The single runway appears to have been used recently, and has been repaired and resurfaced with gravel several dozen times. This is the meeting place for aircraft from the Free State trading with the Breeders from Area 27 (see below).

Loveland: 350 determined farmers and ranchers here have turned the town into a fortress against the slaver band from Greeley.

Fort Morgan: A predominantly Amerind community that is always looking for a way to grow. The South Platte River is watched at all times, and traders are funneled into the town to sell their wares.

The Halligan Mystery: Halligan, Colorado is not a pre-war town. It was started some 90 years ago on the south side of the Halligan Reservoir off Highway 287 near the Wyoming border. Over time, the waters of the reservoir attracted people and up until just recently, Halligan boasted 60 residents. Two months ago, a stranger wandered into town. He came from the northeast in the late afternoon, shambling along in tattered clothes and ragged shoes. His skin was ghastly, pale and gray and he lacked any hair on his body. He asked for water, speaking to several people near the reservoir in clear English. About a dozen people eventually saw and talked to the stranger, who seemed normal except for his skin. He said his name was John Raner and he was exploring for "his people". As it was late in the day, the sun began to set. The residents then noticed that John's skin glowed a faint blue! Terrified, the villagers drove him out of town with threats and rocks, and he was last seen walking back northeast. The encounter was big talk in Halligan for a few days, until people started to get sick and die. Within four days, all twelve people who had come into contact with the stranger were dead. A month later, a trader from Glendevey came through and heard the story. He passed it on to another trader from Fort Collins, who mentioned it in a bar. Also in the bar were a couple of Breeder scouts, from the large Area 27 Breeder enclave just to the west. Once the story got back to Area 27, it caused a considerable stir. From the description in the story, they determined that the stranger was a Blue Undead, though one whose intelligence and mental facilities were obviously not destroyed like the rest of them. Excited by this unheard of find, the Breeders quickly organized an expedition. This group is now just leaving their compound, headed east to Halligan to begin their hunt. John is indeed a Blue Undead, having been caught in the blast of a nuke that pasted Cheyenne back in 1989. Unlike other Blue Undead, however, John did not loose his mind. He was compelled to remain in the vicinity of the nuclear crater, however, as some innate internal desire would not let him leave the center of the radiation. This was a fate worse than dead to be sure. Self-aware and retaining his memories, John was condemned to spend the last 150 years wandering around an area about two miles square. Until recently, that is. About a year ago, something happened to John, and the internal thirst for more radiation slowly tapered off. Soon, John found that he could leave the crater area and still live. Elated, he started to venture out from the ruins of Cheyenne, unsure what he was looking for, but knowing that he must leave the crater. He is currently wandering around the grassy plains near the old town of Nunn, Colorado, enjoying the freedom of movement he never dreamed he would experience again. Obviously, John is a medical marvel, and studying him would surely advance the science of health and evolution by leaps and bounds. The Breeders will mostly likely accomplish this by killing him and dissecting his corpse, which is not good for John. I some other group, one more willing to help John as well as study him, were to find him first, that would be great. Perhaps some Science Team…

6) AREA 27 (Thanks, Chris Van Deelen)

Pre-war: In 1973 the US government began construction of a top secret genetic research laboratory designated Area 27 in the Medicine Bow mountains of northern Colorado. The facility consists of 38 primary structures spread out throughout a valley. The government dug deep into the earth to construct the multi-leveled research facility, which was finally completed in late fall 1981.

Mission: Area 27 delved into all aspects of genetic research. DNA mapping, gene splicing, genetic manipulation, elimination of genetic defects, cloning, regeneration, biological warfare agents, AIDS research, virus and bacterial research. A great deal of the research done at this laboratory made its way into the medical community, creating new types of drugs and medical treatments. However, some of the most lethal viruses and other biological weapons were created at the same time. The entire staff (researchers, soldiers, maintenance and support) lived in communal housing built on the grounds of the facility itself. Although the base was re-supplied monthly by cargo helicopter, it was realized that an accident at the site could release a viral agent into the immediate environment, which would then be spread by the next re-supply flight. For that reason the Government decided to stockpile a large amount of food and research material at the site, so that if there was a containment failure, the site could be totally isolated for a year or more while the team on-site worked round-the-clock to contain the virus. The entire base was built to be self-sufficient.

The war: When the war exploded, the facility was completely untouched. The entire staff survived unscathed. With the huge stockpiles of food and goods, the facility was ensured survival for at least several years. Due to the fact that there were military targets not that far away which were sure to have been hit, and the bleak, bitter cold of the nuclear autumn that came upon the facility, they decided to hole up and wait until the snow melted before venturing outside of their safe haven. In the meantime, since they had nothing better to do, they went back to work. Their work was the only thing they had left to sustain them now. A vote was taken, and in the end the Scientists decided that there was little hope in scattering to the four corners of the country trying to find loved ones most likely now dead. Scouting parties into the wilds convinced them of the wisdom of staying put.

Evil work: For the last 150 years, these people have been hunting throughout the country for pure, un-mutated, uncontaminated human stock, for the purpose of breeding what they consider to be a "Super-Race". They also capture any mutants they encounter (or just out and out kill them) to study what has caused the mutation in them.

Suppliers: With a lot of their high-tech equipment beginning to wear out, and their supply of replacement parts nearly exhausted, the base was forced to utilize the connections of Gypsy Truckers to obtain what they needed. They also came into agreement with several groups of Slavers, who they enlisted to hunt for pure humans and mutants for them. Through the Slavers, they became aware of the growing Kentucky Free State Empire to the east. A trade agreement was established between both groups. In exchange for medical drugs and vaccinations, the Free State agreed to provide spare parts or total replacements for the equipment used by the staff of Area 27. They also supplied the Rich Five with their “anagathic” anti-ageing drug. Many of the leaders of the Free State paid entire fortunes to obtain it. The compound grew rich, and more and more high-tech equipment was delivered as payment. An airdrop point has been established near Briggsdale out in eastern Colorado to exchange the goods.

7) COLORADO SPRINGS AREA

The war: To the south, the area around and including Colorado Springs was hit badly. A single SS-N-8 missile with a 2 megaton warhead destroyed the USAF academy to the north of the city, and six warheads from an SS-19 detonated over Fort Carson. The combined effect of these weapons utterly destroyed the city of Colorado Springs. Those few who managed to survive in the city soon succumbed to their injuries and radiation poisoning.

Today: The Colorado Springs area has been a radiated wasteland of craters and crushed rubble for 150 years. The area is known for large numbers of Stubs and Grunts living and breeding in the valleys and rubble fields. Unwary travelers have little chance of survival in this area and their bleached skeletons dot the roads leading around the Springs.

NORAD: Pounded by a massive ground-penetrating nuke, this former center of US national defense is a now just a glassed-over heap of stone. While no one has ever been able to confirm it, there are persistent rumors of a population of mutants living in the center of the mountain, deep in the surviving bunkers and caverns. Some even say that these are the remains of the original staff of the facility, horribly deformed from generations of inbreeding, who guard a rich treasure trove of pre-war technology and weaponry deep within the mountain.

The ruins of Fort Carson: Blasted during the war. In later years the radioactive craters filled with water, a water that glows and illuminates the surrounding area with a dim light at night to this day. So strong is the radiation, that there are Blue Undead wandering the ruins.

The ruins of Pueblo: Nuked and abandoned for years, Pueblo is generally avoided by travelers and traders alike.

Elizabeth: At a long-abandoned 1950’s-era civil evacuation center near Elizabeth, southeast of Denver, rumors of weird things are circulating. A trapper allegedly saw some tall men with powerful rifles coming and going from the old building.

8) SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO
Home of a loose association of ranchers and caravan operators based out of La Junta. The militia has been waging a two year-long battle with some nomadic marauders from New Mexico and has had to fight several running gun battles along the roads leading into La Junta.

La Junta: La Junta is a fortified enclave of 1,000 people, a trading center serving caravans moving from the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains. Struggling to stave off the raiders in the last few years, La Junta is slipping slowly towards martial law and many merchants have left town for good. The La Junta militia garrison, some 100 foot soldiers and horsemen, is armed to the teeth with rifles and homemade grenades. Many of the rifles are from the Springfield arms makers, excellent weapons whose range and power have kept the marauders at bay so far.

Trinidad: Home of an outpost of the La Junta militia, a place frequently hit by marauder raids.

Lamar: A town noted for a high price brothel, a favorite spot for traders to visit after a long trip across the dry plains.

Mother Lode: Recently a new rumor has been spreading across the region. Ten years ago, an old rancher went into the grasslands south of the ruins of Pueblo in search of his runaway horse. At some point, the man found his horse wandering the old grounds of the Pinon Canyon Military Reservation east of Walsenburg. There he supposedly found the "mother load", a huge cache of M-16 rifles and ammunition in an underground bunker. Unfortunately all he had was his horse, so he only carried out a few rifles to sell at the local market. Before he could return to get the rest of the rifles, he died of an illness. So to this day people are still trying to find his "mother lode". At least a dozen expeditions have gone into the area searching for it. Most of the adventurers have returned empty handed and mad. They know it is out there somewhere, but just don’t know where.

Springfield: In this small town in the southeastern corner of Colorado is a unique group of religious arms makers and merchants. At its core it is comprised of a group of ten self-styled Wizards and Zealots called the “Cabal”. They have named themselves after the ancient names of power, i.e. Master Browning, Mistress Colt, the twins Masters Heckler and Koch, etc. This religious cult is the main supplier of all firearms, and ammo for the western Oklahoma, Texas Panhandle, and southeastern Colorado area. They have maintained this monopoly for over a hundred years and jealously guard their technology. Their main exports at the current time are .44 caliber Peacemakers, .44 caliber 1894c lever-action rifles, twin-barrel shotguns, and some smaller Derringer type weapons.

They do possess the capability to manufacture better weapons, with longer range, and greater accuracy. That they do not export these tends to insure their stranglehold on this niche market. They have had a number of Jihads, or holy wars with what they have deemed infidels, usurping their True Gods. The main tenant of this religion is that weapons are what truly make man equal, and respected in the eyes of the gods. As evidence they point to the prevalence of holy symbols, (guns) in the ruins of the great cities.

The Cabal believes that it was the wrath of the gods, against the evil of Brady Bill, which caused the great apocalypse in the first place. All the true followers of the greater gods were spared, and began an exodus from the poisoned lands. Led by the great holy man himself, Charleton Heston, they were spared because of his strength and wisdom. There were many casualties along their path of sorrow, but the trials were a way of weeding out the weak and unworthy. They are currently hoping that the surviving government, the Ennarry, will be in contact soon. They feel that they have been carrying the torch for a bit too long, and have been sending emissaries out looking for the remains of a past proud and strong government. They feel that the old government was led astray, and has had enough time to re-form.

They have immense respect for and admiration for anyone who knows firearms well or is willing to learn. The apprenticeship program the group uses is somewhat draconian, but in their eyes necessary. All small children, in addition to learning the “secrets” such as ballistic tables, muzzle-velocities, and other data, spend a great deal of time in the re-loading rooms. This is in part to teach them the necessity of loading correctly, but also to take advantage of their small hands and dexterity. Economically, they are much better off than their neighbors. They will accept almost anything in trade, including services. Their most readily accepted trade material is brass, copper, tin, or good quality steel.

They have heard of the Mother Lode of M16s that was found just to the west recently and have pulled out all stops to find this cache. The town of Springfield is strangely quiet right now, with better than half the capable men off to the west scouring the canyons and valleys for signs of the old rancher’s fortune. (Thanks, Michael Chestnutt)

9) CENTRAL ROCKY MOUNTAINS (Thanks, Chris Van Deelen)
150 years of neglect, rain, snow and ice, and minor earth tremors have taken their toll on I-70 and the small towns and resorts located on this stretch of the Rockies. In many areas, the Interstate is buried below tons of rock and gravel from avalanches and rock slides. In other areas, the road is so badly cracked and broken it is all but impassable. The Eisenhower Tunnel has collapsed completely. Still, in other areas, the Interstate is in good condition and can be easily traveled for several miles. Most of the bridges along this stretch of the Interstate have vanished, leaving gaping holes in the roadway, or are structurally unsound. The majority of the towns and resorts are simply gone. Many were lost due to natural causes, such as mentioned above. Many more were destroyed during the first terrible years, as the survivors fought each other and stripped the towns of everything useful. For many of the towns, all that is left are burnt-out husks, and foundations. Still, a few communities did survive, and that is where small groups make their homes. Without the modern conveniences to help, winters are incredibly harsh, while the spring and fall seasons tend to be cool and experience frequent snowfalls. Summers are mild and pleasant, with rain falling sporadically. The mountain people use these months to prepare for the next winter.

The people of the land: Those who still call the Rocky Mountains home are a hard working, rugged breed. 150 years of hard winters have taught them that they have to be, as this land is incredibly unforgiving. These mountain folk work from sun up to sun down, from first thaw straight through to the first snow. During this time, they tend small crops, stock wood and fuels, hunt and fish, and care for their small herds of sheep and cattle. This is done in preparation for the upcoming winter. Those who fail to prepare, die. They have become very territorial, and do not look kindly on those who trespass on their land. Anyone caught hunting on their land will usually be attacked and killed. Even with the people being territorial, they know that without outside contact, and trade, they will die out. The various communities trade with one another for food, livestock and other goods. Some of the communities control mines that were in use before the war. They guard their mines constantly, even during the winter months, as the mines have made these communities rich by post holocaust standards. Many of these mines produce gold, and silver, so because of this, gold and silver is accepted as barter or for trade. Most of the communities also harvest the plentiful forests for wood to be used in construction.

Mailmen: Several Mailmen have made this stretch of mountains their home. They travel year round on horseback and are greeted with enthusiasm by all communities. For a fee of food, clothing, and occasionally other goods, they will deliver small packages or messages to the community of your choice. They are also modern day bards, as they convey any news they hear for a hot meal and a place to sleep. Because of the terrain, the mailmen travel in groups of two or three, as an accident, even a minor one, can take a life. It is also for mutual protection from the mountain lions, wolves and other unpleasant creatures that also call the mountains their home.

Lawson festivals: Twice a year, during late spring (around Easter) and early fall (around the beginning of October) the various communities send out trading parties which meet in the town of Lawson, which is neutral to all parties. Here the people meet to trade goods, gossip, and the young men and women meet, in hopes of finding a potential mate. These affairs are loud, fairly wild parties, as the people wish to blow off steam from their hard work, or just are glad to be able to get out and travel after months of being snowed in. During these festive periods, those traders who know the routes into the mountains come with wares from the lowlands. They trade manufactured tools and equipment for the region’s renowned ski sleds and snow boards. Raw and refined metals, and wood products, wool and natural hide clothing are also traded. The traders and the locals have made an unusual arrangement. During this period, the locals let the traders know of any special items they need, such as spare parts for snowmobiles, certain types of seed, and so on. The Traders do what ever they can to fill these special orders when they for the next trading festival.

The Survivalists: A community started around a pre-war survivalist compound started by a forward thinking man who was determined that his family was going to survive any nuclear war. This large ranch in the mountains of Colorado was fully-stocked, including several caches hidden in different locations on his land. When the war started, these people were ideal suited, and properly trained, to survive. As mentioned above, the fighting between locals and the survivalists over territory lasted for several years. The townsfolk suffered far worse than the survivalists, as the towns folk’s didn’t have access to the weapons and armor that the survivalists had. Soon, all the best territory had been claimed by the various townspeople, and the ruins had been picked clean. Peace between the survivalists and the townsfolk was inevitable.

Today: From a modest community of 67, the compound has grown to just over 250 men, women and children today. The survivalists territory now covers an area roughly rectangular starting from the ruins of Kremmling at the intersection of Highways 40 and 9, east to the ruins of Silver Creek which is at the intersection of Highways 40 and 125. Then southeast to I-70. West along I-70 to the ruins of Dillon and Silverthrone at the intersection of I-70 and Highway 9. Finally, all the way up Highway 9 to the ruins of Kremmling, completing the rectangle. They also control the Argo mills mining site, just to the southeast of the intersection of I-70 and Highway 125. Because the Eisenhower tunnel has long since collapsed, the survivalists have found an alternate route on the old highway to the south of the tunnel. They patrol this area on a regular basis, usually on horseback. The only time they use their supply of vehicles is if they have had intruders, and wish to show these interlopers that they are not to be trifled with.

Life in the compound: Survival skills are taught from day one, everything needed to live in this new world. Every member of the survivalist community is taught how to use many different types of firearms, everything from pistols, rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, and even in some cases, the few grenade launchers possessed by the clan. There is not a single person who cannot use a firearm. Over the years the survivalists have hired out their guns for a fee for hunting purposes, trader convoy escort, and as body guards. On top of this, many of the survivalists have become bounty hunters, traveling all over Colorado and the surrounding states, bringing criminals, murderers, thieves, rapists, and other scum to justice or death. The survivalists built quite a reputation for themselves as being not only tough, but highly dependable and trustworthy.

10) WESTERN COLORADO
The rugged mountains of the western half of the state are filled with isolated settlements, often with little or no contact outside of their immediate area. Along the river valleys there are larger communities.

Glenwood Springs: Home to 100 or so marauder nomads armed with bows and rifles. They have many slaves held here, mostly women.

Aspen: An island of safety, the former ski Mecca of Aspen is home to an isolationist community that have long posted the roads into town as dangerous for strangers and have the armed muscle to back up the threats.

Grand Junction: Grand Junction is the home of a thriving trading and farming community. The town is well-organized and defended, mostly due to the strong leadership of a man named Andrew Jackson. Jackson came to Grand Junction ten years ago, wandering in off the caravan route alone, and quickly rose to a position of power in the town. His area of expertise was combat and he reorganized and retrained what had been an ineffective militia who had difficulty keeping pickpockets out of the market. Under Jackson's leadership, however, the militia has become one of the most feared and deadly in the region. Troop strength of the militia is now around 100 effectives with a .50 cal HMG, some homemade mortars, and even a few flamethrowers firing alcohol fuel.

Secret past: Andrew Jackson has a secret. He was born in Oklahoma in 1965, and was once a Project MARS team leader. Four years ago, MARS team CO-4 awoke in eastcentral Colorado. His team headed for Grand Junction to recon, but was quickly ambushed by a band of marauders called the "Huns" and captured. Jackson escaped and after several failed attempts at rescuing his team, he found their heads impaled on stakes outside the marauder's camp. Enraged, Jackson nearly went mad, and only after several years of aimless wandering did he snap out of it. Having nothing save the clothes on his back and a K-Bar, he made his way to Grand Junction to continue his interrupted mission. Here he has continued to follow the Project's guidelines and has made a considerable difference in the lives of the people of Grand Junction. In the coming spring, he is planning on moving against the "Hun" camp at Delta to the southeast that has been a thorn in his conscious for the last four years.

Delta: Unbeknownst to Jackson, the Huns have grown considerably since he last faced them, and are now quite large and powerful. They will be a serious challenge for him to take on, even under the best of circumstances. While maintaining a winter camp at Delta, the Huns roam eastern Utah and western Colorado in the warmer months, taking women and burning towns at random. They now number near 350 and mostly travel on horseback or in covered wagons.

Umcompaghre Mountains: Somewhere in this western Colorado mountain range there is rumored to be a pre-war fishing cabin. The cabin allegedly conceals an underground tunnel which leads to another smaller cabin, and from the second cabin another tunnel descends deep into the Earth to a fabled "underground city".

Box Canyon Camp: In the thick Routt National Forest along the Wyoming border, there was a large ski lodge at Box Canyon campground. This was owned by a wealthy survivalist who had the place specially outfitted to act as a bunker from the 1970s on. Seeking to survive and be happy, rather than expand and conqueror, the man’s descendents have lived in the immediate area for generations. Today, the secure complex is known as the "Stronghold" and is occupied by twenty people, many of them direct relatives of the wealthy survivalist. They have cleared fields for food and the nearby Lester Creek Reservoir provides them with fish and water. They have a well-stocked armory that includes numerous military small arms and copious amounts of ammunition. Their main goal is to be left alone to grow and prosper.

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NEW MEXICO

The climate of New Mexico has always been brutally dry, and the droughts brought on by the nuclear war have only made it worse. There are a number of settlements in the grazing lands of the western part of the state, and semi-nomadic groups wander throughout the southern deserts, but the forested mountains are pretty much the only place large numbers of humans still live. The towns contain the usual mix of white, Hispanic and Indian groups found pre-war, with all the class differences and racial troubles as well. The Apaches rule in the northwest and the old Aztlan Empire still has some influence in the south.

1) NUCLEAR TARGETS

Albuquerque, SS-N-17
Santa Fe, SS-N-17
White Sands, Missile Range, SS-19
Fort Wingate Army Depot, Gallup, SS-N-8
Walker AFB, SS-18M2

Discretionary nuclear targets:
Kirtland AFB, SS-18M1
Cannon AFB, SS-N-8
Los Alamos Laboratory, Los Alamos, SS-N-17

2) MORROW PROJECT ASSETS
Unnamed MP bolthole: Somewhere inside Angel Peak in San Juan County southeast of Farmington.
Unnamed MP bolthole: Somewhere in the Carlsbad Cavern area.
Unnamed MP bolthole: In a cave near El Moro National Monument northeast of the town of Pie Town.
Unnamed MP bolthole: In a black rock cavern north of San Cristobal, north of Taos.
Unnamed MP bolthole: In a cave above the Lucero River, not far from Frijoles Canyon near Taos.
Unnamed MP bolthole