Evolution

2028 Messiah successfully landed and attached its payload of rockets to the surface of Ragnarok in order to alter its course from Earth. However, the rockets failed before they had time to do their work. The failure of the Guardian Missions kicked the Bunker Program into overdrive.

Howlers: Howlers are the newest known threat posed by the xenovirus. They are human xenolife, and they behave very much like zombies. They attack with sheer numbers, using their bodies as weapons. A bite from a howler is enough to infect the victim with the human strain of the xenovirus. Post-infection, it takes anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours for a corpse to reanimate into the dreaded howler. Worse, upon death, howlers somehow explode, raining purple goo on anyone within range. Even if a little bit of goo enters the victim’s bloodstream, he or she is as good as dead, cursed to become a howler within a matter of minutes or hours. How the explosion occurs, no one knows — it is surmised that the xenovirus itself creates some sort of agent that reacts violently with water or some other fluid present within the Howlers. There is also reason to believe that certain Howlers become Behemoths, as in the case with Kari in Bunker 114.

Hydra: A powerful spawning of the xenovirus, the hydra has only been seen deep in the heart of Bunker One. It contains three heads mounted on three stalk-like necks. It is covered in thick scales that serve as armor. It has a powerful tail that it can swing, from the end of which juts a long, cruel spike. It is likely an evolved, more deadly form of the crawler.

Ice Lands, The: Frozen in a perpetual blanket of ice and snow, the northern and southern latitudes of the planet are completely unlivable. In the Wasteland at least, they are referred to as the Ice Lands. Under a blanket of meteor fallout, extreme global cooling was instigated in 2030. While the glaciers are only now experiencing rapid regrowth, they will advance for centuries to come until the fallout has dissipated enough to produce a warmer climate. In the Wasteland, 45 degrees north marks the beginning of what is considered the Ice Lands.

L.A. Gangland: L.A. Gangland means a much different thing than it did Pre-Ragnarok. In the ruins of Los Angeles, there are dozens of gangs vying for control, but by 2060, the most powerful is Black Reapers, who usurped that title from the Lost Angels.

Lost Angels, The: The Lost Angels were post-apocalyptic L.A.’s first super gang. From the year 2050 until 2055, they reigned supreme in the city, led by a charismatic figure named Dark Raine. The Angels were different from other gangs — they valued individual freedom and abhorred slavery. Under the Angels’ rule, Los Angeles prospered. The Angels were eventually usurped in 2056 by a gang called the Black Reapers, led by a man named Carin Black.

Nova Roma: Nova Roma is the capital of the Nova Roman Empire. It existed Pre- Ragnarok as a small town situated in an idyllic valley, flanked on three sides by green mountains. This town was also home to Augustus’s palatial mansion — and it was around this mansion that the city that would one day rule the Empire had its beginnings. Over thirty years, as the Empire gained wealth and power under Augustus’s rule, Nova Roma grew from a small village into a mighty city with a population numbering in the tens of thousands. Using knowledge of ancient construction techniques found in American Bunkers, Augustus employed talented engineers and thousands of slaves to build the city from the ground up. Inspired by the architecture of ancient Rome, some of the most notable construction projects in Nova Roma include the Coleseo Imperio, the Senate House, the Grand Forum, and Central Square. An aqueduct carries water over the city walls from the Sierra Madre Mountains to the city’s north. The city grows larger each passing year, so much so that shanty towns have overflown its walls, attracted by the city’s vast wealth.

Nova Roman Empire, The: The Nova Roman Empire (also known as the “Empire”) is a collection of allied city-states that are ruled from Nova Roma, its capital in what was formerly the Mexican state of Guerrero. The Empire began as the territory of a Mexican drug cartel named the Legion. Through the use of brutal force, they kept security within their borders even as other governments fell.

Following the impact of Ragnarok, many millions of Americans fled south to escape the cold, dry climate that permeated northern latitudes. Mexico still remained warm, especially southern Mexico, and new global wind currents caused by Ragnarok kept Mexico clearer of meteor fallout than other areas of the world. At the close of the Chaos Years, Mexico was far more populous than the United States. Many city-states formed in the former republic, but most developed west of the Sierra Madre Mountains. Language clashes between native Mexicans and migrant Americans produced new dialects of both Spanish and English. Though racial tensions exist in the Empire, as Americans descendants are the minority within it, Americans and their descendants are protected under law and are entitled to the same rights — at least in theory. The reality is, most refugees that entered Empire territory were American — and most refugees ended up as slaves.

Of the hundreds of city-states that formed in Mexico, one was called Nova Roma, located inland in a temperate valley not too far east of Acapulco. Under the direction of man styling himself as Augustus Imperator, formerly known as Miguel Santos, lord of the Legion drug cartel, the city of Nova Roma allied with neighboring city-states. Incorporating both Ancient Roman governmental values and Aztec mythology, the Empire expanded through either the conquest or annexation of rival city-states. By 2060, the Empire had hundreds of cities in their thrall, stretching from Oaxaca in the southeast all the way to Jalisco in the northwest. The Empire had also formed colonies as far north as Sonora, even founding a city called Colossus at the mouth of the Colorado River, intended to be the provincial capital from which the Empire hoped to rule California and the Mojave.

Because of its size and power, the Empire is difficult to control. Except for its center ruled out of Nova Roma, most of the city-states are autonomous and are only required to pay tribute and soldiers when called for during the Empire’s wars. In the wake of the Empire’s rapid conquests, Augustus developed the Imperial Road System in order to facilitate trade and communication, mostly done by horse. In an effort to create a unifying culture for the Empire, Emperor Augustus instigated a representative government, where all of Nova Roma’s provinces have representation in the Imperial Senate. Augustus encouraged a universal religion based on Aztec mythology, whose gods are placed alongside the saints of Catholicism in the Imperial Pantheon. Augustus also instigated gladiatorial games, ordering that arenas be built in every major settlement of his Empire. This included the construction of dozens of arenas, including El Coleseo Imperio in Nova Roma itself, a large arena. While not as splendid as the original Coliseum in Old Rome, it is still quite impressive. The Coleseo can seat ten thousand people. By 2060, Augustus had accomplished what might have taken a century to establish otherwise.

Oasis: Oasis is a settlement located in the Wasteland, about halfway between Los Angeles and Raider Bluff. It has a population of one thousand, and is built around the banks of the oasis for which it is named. The oasis did not exist Pre-Ragnarok, but was formed by tapping an underground aquifer. Elder Ohlan rules Oasis with a strong hand. He is the brother of Dark Raine, and it is whispered that he might have had a hand in his death.

Odin: Odin is an S-Class Cruiser Spaceship built by the U.S. during the Dark Decade. It is one of four, the other being Gilgamesh, the capital ship, and the other two being Perseus and Orion, cruisers with the same specs as Odin. Though Odin’s capabilities are not as impressive as Gilgamesh’s, Odin is still very functional. It contains berths for eight crew, nine counting the captain. It has a cockpit, armory, kitchen, galley, two dorms, one lavatory, and the fusion drive in the back. A cargo bay can be reached from either outside the ship or within the galley. Unlike Gilgamesh, it is not spacious enough to store a Recon. It contains a single machine gun turret that can open up from the ship’s bottom. Odin, in addition to being faster than Gilgamesh, also gets better fuel efficiency. It can go months without ever needing to refuel.

Praetorians, The: The Praetorians are the most elite of the Empire’s soldiers. There are one hundred total, and they are the personal bodyguard of Emperor Augustus. They carry a long spear, tower shield, and gladius. The wear a long, purple cape, steel armor, and a white, jaguar headdress, complete with purple plume.

Raider Bluff: Raider Bluff is the only known settlement of the raiders. It is built northeast of what used to be Needles, California, on top of a three-tiered mesa. Though the raiders are mobile group, even they need a place to rest during the harsh, Wasteland winter. Merchants, women, and servants followed the raider men, setting up shop on the mesa, giving birth to Raider Bluff sometime in the early 2040’s. From the top of the