Chicago: Chicago was flooded by the cataclysmic events with a number of sky scrapers jutting out of the water. The water is dominated by groups of fish people called ichthoids who “share” the waters with land dwellers for a cost. For a human to fish, or even travel in the ichthoid areas, they must purchase protection. Boats entering icthoid waters without the special markings will not be warmly received. Without payment the icthoids will promptly scuttle the boat and devour the occupants. Payment is made annually and consists of gold or worked metal implements and weapons. The ichthoids are unable to work metal and they are highly dependent on trade for these items. The ichthoids also regularly trade with land dwellers. They will trade fish and some artifacts for worked metal an gold.

They are a very proud race, believing themselves to be superior to the land-dwellers. They have developed a rather intricate mythology regarding the end of the world, the judgment of the lake on the land-dwellers and of themselves being the heirs of a vast a great civilization. After all, land dwellers have to come the them for permission to traffic and fish in the Great Lake.

Since they have control over what was once Chicago they have sole access to many artifacts from the past. They, however, do not often understand the functions of the artifacts in their possession. Large quantities of the artifacts are rendered useless from being submerged under the lake. But the fish-men are not stupid. They are generally very careful in what artifacts they trade, generally trading things that are obviously of little or no value to them ( or perhaps anybody else)..

The fish-men have a high level of intelligence. They communicate freely among themselves but vocal communication with land-dwellers is virtually impossible. They developed a quasi-hieroglyphic mode of writing that the not only use as a written language for themselves but is a means of communicating with surface dwellers.

Not only do fishermen and merchants have dealings with the ichthoids, but pirates and nefarious folk do as well. Paying the fish-men handsomely they are able to set up base in the sky scrapers that jut out of the waters.

Within a certain city block of semi-submerged skyscrapers live several tribes of pure strain human, if they can truly be called that. For hundreds of years these humans have lived within the confines of a Chicago city block. Each tribe lives in at least one building. Tribes never share a building with another tribe. In fact, they are all at war with one another, each trying to annihilate the others and take possession of their buildings.

Physically these tribes have reduced themselves to almost a sub-human level. Hundreds of years of in-breeding compounded with the harsh conditions that they live combines de-evolution with survival of the fittest. Physically they are very thin and very strong. Physical mutilation is very common among the males. The scaring and other forms of self-mutilation is done to demonstrate their ability to withstand pain and bring fear to the enemy.

Cannibalism is the norm among these people. They only eat members of their own tribe when times are difficult, or when one dies or one has been punished for a capital crime.

The icthoids constantly guard the perimeter of this tribal domain. The will not allow any tribesman to pass the perimeter. If one tries the tribesman is immediately attacked and drowned. These humans have a strange place in the icthoid mythology. They are considered as mad gods who must both be contained AND appeased. Itchoids will, during certain festival times float various items as sacrifices to the tribesman. The tribesmen do not understand the icthoid veneration but fully understand that they are not allowed to leave the perimeter.

The tribesmen live not only by the flesh of others, but they fish the waters and harvest the underwater vegetation. They are able to eek out a reasonable existence.

Sometime traders will come by ship. This activity is allowed by the ichthoids. The tribesmen will trade the only commodity they own that is worth trading – their children. Weapons, tools, vanity items and food are often the goods for exchange.

In times past raiders have come to take a tribesman’s building by force, only they be repulsed by both the ferociousness of the defenders and the insidiousness of their. Rumors abound at the treasures hidden within the vaults of these buildings. But to date, none have been able to successfully take a building from the possession of a tribesman.

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Beta World: Central Illinois (plains)

Central Illinois

Snowy winters has all but disappeared from this area. The temperatures are much too warm. During the winter, temperatures have shifted up 20-30 degrees. The rest of the year the temperatures have shifted up 10 degrees.

 Spring produces some very violent storms. During this time people are concerned about tornadoes and hail. Such storms are more frequent and more violent. There is enough rain during this time to provide for the crops (provide storms do not take them out) lakes and cisterns. The August through October time period is very dry and hot. About December, the gentle rains come along with very "spring-like" mild temperatures. Luckily, the planting and harvesting times come months earlier in the year than the do today.

Migration is a fairly common sight in the area. A number of insect and mammalian creatures travel North and South, depending on the seasons. This is a threat on two fronts. The first is the herbivores that make the migration will eat the crops, if given an opportunity. The second threat is predators that follow the herbivores. These include, but are not limited to, reptilian stalkers that resemble dinosaurs. The ‘saurs vary in size from that of a dog to that of an ostrich (think voliciraptor).

Farming has its particular challenges. There are now a number of insect species that threaten both crop production as well as personal safety. Probably the most obvious change is the introduction of some very large insects. The can vary from poodle size to draft-horse size. Farmers method for handling these pests vary. Some make use of dogs to scare away these intruders. Some farmers work with introducing species that prey on crop eaters. Some “green” farmers attempt to plant special “crops” that will hopefully attract the insects from their grain crop, or perhaps repel them all together (think marigolds). But most farmers just shoot them.

The central Illinois region is populated by farms and small towns. The soil here has remained as fertile as it was before. Farmers are able to produce surplus for trade. Small towns offers a community as well as basic services for supporting agriculture.

While currently life is near idyllic it hasn’t always been so. For years the neo-human and other farmers were at odds with the wolfen packs.

Misunderstanding arose to the point of bloodshed. The wolfen resented others hunting their lands. By nature the wolfen are hunters and the hunt itself is an important part of their culture. They can also be somewhat territorial and the competition with the non-wolfen peoples escalated the tension. During the peak of tension two leaders were able to strike a compromise that has produced an enduring peace. The ‘solution’ was worked out by J’n-o-than and “Hunts-by-Moonlight”. The compromise was reached by having the farmers refusing to hunt the prize animals sought by the wolfen packs. This demonstrated to the wolfens that the farmers were submissive to their leaders and their pack. The wolfen not only no longer see the farmers as a threat but see them as an extension of the pack and will go to great lengths to protect them.

So the farmers would not hunt any of the larger game animals, leaving these for the wolfen tribes. The farmers can hunt small game but anything deer sized was forbidden. The wolfen, on the other hand, protect the fields from ruination by the deer population. They also provide the farm families with fresh meat each month. Farmers also plant “extra” grain to support the wildlife.

Because of this relationship there is a great deal of sharing between these two groups. Sometimes a wolfen will choose to be educated by the neo-humans. It is not uncommon to see wolfen traders and scholars. Neo-humans sometimes join the wolfen packs. They are treated as equals and have on occasion risen up to alpha-male.

The wolfen generally used bow and arrow for both hunting and warfare. Ceremonial hunts, and during certain celebrations, they will hunt without weapons. They are not above using modern weaponry, and will use rifles and pistols with great skill.

Peoria is an extremely important river town. The agricultural goods of the central Illinois region are important commodities both to the north and to the south and the Illinois river provides the perfect means of transporting these goods.

The distilleries of Peoria make it an important source of alcohol, both for consumption and for other uses. While the grade of its spirits are good, they are by no means the producers of the finest of beverage alcohol.

This city is the hub of all central Illinois. It is the cultural and trade center for the whole region. The next closest city is Champaign, but the phobic nature of its inhabitants keeps trade with that city to a minimum. Mostly Champaign deals directly with the city of Peoria, and never the individual inhabitants.(more on that later) The next closest city is Decatur, and the dark nature of that city limits trade as well. (more on both later)

Within the city are number of metal-working and machine shops. Because of this they are able to possess and maintain industrial equipment (tractors, power generators, etc) as well as some important military hardware. This has proven useful as the city, on more than one occasion, has been forced to repel attacks both from land as well as by river. To date, none has ever been able to defeat the defenses. However, other city do one day hope to one day take the city even the overlord of Indianapolis. (more on that later)

Champaign:
This is one of the foremost cities of Pure Strain Humans. The possess the greatest of all resources – knowledge. This city was the home to the University of Illinois and the libraries of this college has remained mostly in tact. Much of the knowledge has been kept alive as well. This city is perhaps the most advanced of all cities to be found in all of what was once known as the United States. This knowledge has kept alive much of the machinery from yesteryear. But they are not sharing their knowledge.

But all is not well in Champaign. The PSH suffer from two things: Low birth rate and isolationism. These two factors combined make for some paranoid people. It this paranoia that drives them to act in rather evil ways.

The first is their involvement in the politics of other peoples. While they often do not directly deal with other groups (public association to them is distasteful) that does not stop them for forging secret deals and having spies throughout the land.

Their second form of evil is their research into genetics. This field to them is not for academic exercise, it is for being able to reverse the effects of the alterations forced onto terran flora and fauna. The knowledge they gain comes from use of live plants, animals and people. Since none of this experimentation is done on PSH, they feel no ethical restraint. The create monstrosities and make monstrosities mundane. This work is fairly secret, even with their own people.

Champaign would be a national power if is wasn’t for their low birth rates and paranoia. They possess a great deal of indirect influence in all cities that surround them. Their plotting is not always very obvious or even logical….but they have their reasons.

Peoria

Population 10K

Military: 200 full-time 2k Militia

Government: Oligarchy

Technological – Mix of 19th and 20th century.

Peoria plays a critical stabilizing influence in the region. The farming cooperative success has been the result of Peoria’s presence. They counter the threat of “annexation” by Decatur, provide protection from the wilds of the West and North as well as being a close port to ship goods.

Peoria is rule by a 5 person oligarchy. The system has worked well. The citizens enjoy a good amount of freedom, the taxes are not unreasonable and the demands of the oligarchs are not grievous. The five members are the five richest families of the city. Their success and continued success is directly tied to the economic progress of Peoria. They have a definite interest to see the city prosper.

Trade:

Supply: Grain, some vegetables, worked metal, meat
Demand: Cloth, luxury items, pre-apocolpytic art, books

Not only is this a port town but it also provides a haven for people to market their goods. People from all over the region come her to sell their goods. Caravans from afar make this a regular stop. One never know what will show up in the market square.

This city is about a “metropolitan” as it get in this region. Most of the population is neo-humans but one can find many other races in the city on any given day. Other than the Wolfens, the more human-like a person is, the more accepted they are by the community. While they accept all races to trade within their city, they do frown at many of these races setting up a permanent residence.

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Decatur

Population 15K
Military: 1k full time – 4K militia

Government: Dictatorship

Technological Level: Mid-18th century.

Decatur is not a pleasant place to live. The dictator Stephan, rules with an iron fist. He follows the rule book of Machiavelli and follows the examples of Napoleon and Mussolini. Unfortunately for him, his ambition has outpaced his wisdom. Several attempts of expansion have been thwarted every time. Early on he sought the most tempting prize of all, Champaign. But before his armies got within 20 miles of the city, helicopters flew overhead. That was enough of a showing for the soldiers to lose heart and head back.

The second attempt was the easy pickings of Springfield. They were able to make considerable gains into this somewhat abandoned and haunted city. Booty was found and the men jubilant. Then men started showing up missing. As time progressed more and more men started to disappear only to show up days later – mostly eaten. Then came the sightings of the culprits, men who came out at night. Men, if they can be called that, with pasty white skin and pupil-less eyes. As the troops started heading back to Decatur they were being followed by these ghouls. As the troops retreated back to Decatur, the ghouls started attacking the civilians in the country side. So thoroughly horrified were the people and the troops that the items taken from Springfield were promptly returned and the attacks stopped shortly afterwards.

The constant struggle is with the Farmer Cooperative. The success of these farms have always been under the jealous eye of Stephan. While he has made some gains into these lands, Peoria has stepped in to defend these people. There have been a few severe skirmishes but Stephan has been forced to relinquish each time.

His success to maintaining land to the south has been better.

Like Peoria, the craftsmen of this city have a great amount of metal working skill. But unlike Peoria the skill is mainly with blacksmithing and not machining. While fire arms are common among the military, they do not have as many 20ths century firearms as Peoria does. The majority of the firearms area black powder weapons.

Decatur’s smiths are very adept and people come from various regions for their iron and steel products.

Surplus: Iron works, grain, meat, leather
Demand: Textiles, quality goods,

In reading one of Will Durant's history books I came across the following description. I decided it would be apropos for Steven of Decatur. I may write the stats on the dude sometime

Description of Jean-Paul Marat
The Age of Napoleon – Durant pp. 20-21.

He was a man of intense pride, hampered by a succession of ailments that made him irritable to the point of violent passion. His skin erupted with an unmanageable dermatitis, from which he found temporary relief by sitting and writing in a warm bath. His head was too massive for his five feet of height, and one eye was higher than the other; understandably he courted solitude. Doctors bled him frequently to ease his pains; in quieter intervals he bled others. He worked with the intensity of a consuming ambition. “I allot only two of the twenty-four hours to sleep…I have not had fifteen minute's play in over three years”…
His character suffered from his ailments. His compensatory vanity, his fits of temper, his delusions of grandeur, his furious denunciations of Necker, Lafayette, and Lavoisier, his mad calls for mob violence, overlaid a fund of courage, industry and dedication.

For ADM I was mulling some things over.

If you "pronounce" it it comes out ADAM which, of course has Biblical roots. First and obvious is the first Adam as described in Genesis. The second Adam is used to describe Christ in the NT.

ADM has, in the past, had a reputation for fatal accidents. Some have taken ADM to stand for "Another Dead Man"

What I would like to do is tie in ADMs focus on agriculture, the Biblical reference to Adam (or perhaps come up with "the Third Adam"), and the concept of people dying there - shaken not stirred.

One way of doing it it to make a religious cult in which people are sacrificed and then thrown off one of the high towers - ala an Aztecian ritual. But that may be too blunt and over the top. I would like to find something more subtle.

Springfield

The city of Springfield has not fared very well after the alien invasion. The majority of the population is best described as sub-human. While some live above ground, most dig underground dwellings – with tribes occupying often complex tunnels under ruined buildings. These devos (de-evolution) have poor vision in bright light but excellent night vision as well as increased auditory and olfactory capabilities. They are very omnivorous, willing and able to eat almost anything living, even their own kind. While cannablism is very common, it is rarely practiced against ones family or tribe.

Tribe and families often ‘war’ against each other. Since the technological capabilities are fairly low (clubs, spears, various modified junk) there generally is generally no large scale destruction. While they lack the knowledge of tactics that more advanced races/groups have, they are very capable in a sneaky cunning sort of way.

Unfortunately the intelligence of these people is quite low. They are unable to be very inventive. They are incapable of literacy except on a very primitive hieroglyphic sort of way. Trading does occur at times, but most of the other races fear to interact with them (for good reason). Sometimes, though a merchant will get lucky. A trade of some metal tools will be rewarded with a piece of valuable technology.

These people are very superstitious, for good reason. The central part of the city is inhabited by a race endowed with mental powers. This groups, whom for now I will simply term Espers (gotta give them a real name later), use their powers upon the devos. They regularly take the devos on as personal slaves. The Espers are not plentiful in number, and have no hope of increasing much in number since their fertility rate is so low. They are dependant upon the devos for labor and to supply their basic needs. In return, the Espers do watch over the devos and ensure that nothing of great consequence occurs that may threaten to unbalance the cart.

The expedition from Decatur cut into the holy part of Springfield. The Espers knew that the devos could not take on the armed force and so plied the minds of the devos to fight a guerrilla war. Some devos, under direct control of the Espers executed a plan to inpire fear in dread among the Decatur troops. Thus with a mangling of a couple scores of bodies, the Espers were able to convince Steven not only to avoid ever coming close to Springfield ever again, but also to return the booty. Make no mistake, the Espers are not nice people. The only reason they did not take on a campaign to utter destroy the invaders was simply because they did not have the capability.

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Of all the ‘professions’ beloved of all is the story-teller. Anybody who brings news from other places can often expect a free dinner. People who have interesting stories (PS: Story Teller) especially from far away places can often have their room and board paid for. This of course requires them to spend multiple hours each day applying their trade in order to receive “payment”. Truth is not as important as entertainment. People look for a way to escape from their current troubles, and people are grateful for a good laugh, scare or even cry.

Given the appetite for entertainment, it is no surprise that theatrical performances are a rave. None of the cities in this area has a theatrical troup. Instead, traveling performers go from city to city applying their trade. Throughout the year productions of modern (our current time) and ancient plays are performed throughout the mid-West. So well received are the troupes that the can travel unmolested no matter where they go. Even the Badders welcome them with open arms. Of course, for the Badders, special plays were written. They consist of 3 Stooges type humor with the action performed by “Badders” (neo-men in costume) against foolish and stupid humans.

Since no one city has the combined talent to put on these plays, actors have always been drawn to a small town south of Decatur, Sullivan, Illinois. The theater company has been able to make a successive business in playing to audiences for hundreds of miles. They are the movie stars of this new era. The plays range from serious to humorous. The most successful productions are musicals.
Thus, characters taking the PS:Acting and KS:Plays could expect to enjoy a certain amount of “political immunity” and enjoy the good will of many people.