A Primer on Denizens of the Wastelands

Colonel Wes Handsome, AtFed WASINT-AFROZOM

Inside the Afrozone Command of Wasteland Intelligence the term Wastelander is not used. It is an entirely too broad term, and has too many negative connotations. Instead, we break the residents of the Wasteland zones of the planet into seven categories.

3State

A 3State is a sub-national level of organization, something larger than a city-state, but not quite a viable nation. There are quite of few of these in the Wastelands, and compose the bulk of the population. They are functionally normal people, and have relatively normal lives. The main difference is that the region they live in, despite have a localize central government, is not associated with a New Earth Government. The entire Balkan Peninsula is composed of more or less overlapping 3State factions. The DMZ between the AtFed and PacRim in North America is largely the same. For those of a historical bent, 3State falls back to Cold War terminology, with the first two global powers being the 1st State and the 2nd State, and if you weren't in either club, you were 3rd state. And that became a loan word for being a shit heel hell on Earth sort of place were utilities were a daily gamble and governments were as often not military dictatorships.

Ex-Pat

Ex-Pats are former citizens of a NEG who for whatever reason are either self-exiled, or no longer welcome within the borders of a NEG superstate. Most Ex-Pats are veterans, political dissidents, socio-economic exiles, criminals, or just anti-social anarchists who decided living under a few rules inside an arco-city was untenable, and it would be preferable to live a semi-nomidic lifestyle or resettle in a region that is decades or centuries behind socially and technologically.

Operator

This is the new socially correct term for a mercenary.

Scavver

Scavvers are people who make their living in the Wastelands by participating in anthropogenic reclamation, in accordance with the Utopia Initiative or who are variously employed by Industrial Scavenging operations. They are what amounts to Corporate citizens in the Wastes, and range from extranational operations being run through shell corporations to 'mom and pop' trash trucks systematically ransacking and leveling centuries old tract housing ruins and gutting the shells of long dead malls and super-box-stores.

Luddites, or Luddos

There are centuries old traditions that eschew technology, and they largely survived the various wars and socio-economic collapses better than most. Amish, Mennonites, Native American tribes, cultural enclaves that reject computers and hypertech just as they previously discarded electricity and telecomms.

Settlers

This is an important category, because once enough people in an area stop being classified as something else and start being classified as settlers, that region is increasingly likely to either elevate to 3state status or even more beneficially, be annexed by a NEG. This generally requires a mixture of local acceptance of NEG guidelines and oversight, and of NEG investment. This can lead to prolonged hostility between 3State factions and Settler factions, as there are many ethno-states that would rather retain their socio-politico-cultural identity rather than accept homogenization and conformation with a larger NEG.

Raider

This is the hot word in the wastelands, and the negative connotation of the term wastelander, because many cannot split raider from wastelander and use the terms interchangeably. The raider is indeed a hostile destructive force in the wastelands, but they tend to keep each other in check, give the NEG militaries something to spar with, and in the case of DFE they are remarkably effective at blunting them long enough for REFLEX teams to arrive and shut the entire situation down.

Centurion Sebastian Lem, 3rd Papal Infantry

The eggheads inside the intelligence communities and the state departments will lay out a rainbow of terms and acronyms when describing the people who live outside the borders of the modern world powers. This tends to be lost in jargon, and forgets that people are older than nations, and while a dozen nations have risen and fallen around them, some cities, some peoples, defy this infectious nationalism. The fact that Italia remains a third world nation, the seat of the Holy See, and Mother Rome, alone, shows how hollow the soul of the Atlantic Federation is, how weak the grasp of the Eurasian Alliance.

The Vatican divides the peoples of the Wastelands into three categories.

There are those who endure. They are the people of the Wastelands, the people who trace their blood back to forgotten states, extinguished dynasties, and broken kingdoms. They are civil, and they accept missionaries and aid from the Papal State. This also includes peoples who while not embracing the Mother Church, are not hostile to it, or its mission. The Jews of Nuevo-Jerusalem, or the ultra-othodox Zionist states holding up the banners of the Crusader States are consider those who endure, though they are not of the Cloth. They are kin and neighbors.

There are those who persecute. For those who jump to conclusions, yes, these are the terrible raiders. But the raiders are not barbarian hordes. They have masters, leaders, and there are forces that supply them with aid, weaponry, medical supplies. I speak of the hidden kingdoms of the Noddites and the Hidden Masters. These peoples are the enemies of peace, the devils of technology. They will seek out and try to destroy the lights of the world to replace them with their own alien designs. It is for these unfortunates that we carry anti-material rifles and wear armor when we carry banners of the Lord of Mercy.

Then there are the Lost. The lost do not know whom they serve and it is our duty to shepherd them to safety, and bring them into the fold of the Mother Church.

Podpurochik Dmitri Andreevich, a decorated bogatyr pilot.

Eh? What?

What kinds of people are there in wastelands?

Raiders, there are raiders.

How do I tell if a person is raider? When I point my gun at them, they run. Raider runs very fast. Slow raiders get shot.

What if a person I point gun at doesn't run? Eh? they are a raider with good discipline. I shoot them too.

Who do I not shoot? I am thinking this is classified and I shouldn't be talking to you anymore.