Sunday 21 April 2013

Factions in Utopia City


Here is a list of the different factions that can be found in this setting. This is not an exhaustive list and this list is intended to cover a faction type. Hopefully this will allow me massive scope to get creative with tabletop forces and terrain.  

Factions.


Enforcers
The Enforcers are the police of the city. Well armed and trained they try to keep order. When arrests are made they are shipped to the halls of justice and sentence is passed by a Judge. Often the Enforcers deal with the mundane policing duties such as traffic, routine patrols, clean ups or security. Enforcers will often support any Mags in the area. 

Magistrates
The Magistrates or Mags as they are known are the feared elite of the cities Law enforcement. They wear improved body armour and carry better weapons to the Enforcers. With 15 years of training the Mags are authorised to carry out on the spot justice . They are judge, jury and executioner.  They will often arrive at riots and block wars and wade in.  

The Mags act as the cities defence force and provide defence from Wasteland gangs and some upitty newly formed wasteland states. Occasionally the Mags will go out into the Wastelands to deal with raiders or criminals. Becoming a Mag is a massive responsibility. Once a Mag always a Mag. If they survive they can rise up the ranks and end up a judge or counsellor. However all Mags face retirement one day – those that do have to wander into the wastelands or undercity to bring the law to the lawless. They never return. 

Brat Gangs
Brat gangs come from the Lux Blocks where the rich dwell. They have the best stuff and are often targets of poorer gangs.

Bounty Hunters
Bounty hunters are employed by the Mags. The go out into the wastes looking for those fleeing justice and bring them back dead or alive. 

Cit-Def
The Citzens Defence force is a volunteer militia. Citizens gather and train in case the city is invaded. The Mags think its a bad idea to train and arm citizens. 60% of blocks having a Cit-Def unit and they sometimes get involved in block wars. Each Cit Def unit has its own uniforms and equipment which varies greatly in style and quality. Often the block Name influence uniform and equipment. It is rare if two Cit Def units look alike. 

Cit Def units spend a week at a time at the Outposts. Training missions into the Wastelands, Nuclear  Alley or the undercity are also taken. Sometimes they don't come back. 

Corporations
There are many corporations in the city having a block or two which the use to produce goods to sell to Utopia City’s residents. Kraptoidiots Corporation is the largest corp in the city. Corporations often try to out do each other and steal each others designs. This can lead to out right warfare between them. 

Cults
Many turn to cults as a way to cope with day to day life in the City. Many cults are shams to pick the pockets of the gullible, some genuinely want to help, others seek enlightenment but there are darker cults with death cults killing as many as they can or suicide cults wiping themselves and huge portions of the population out. Then there is the problem of My God is Better than Yours syndrome where cults set out to destroy each other in some imaginary holy war. 

The Cult of the Mattblackgod is the most popular cult in the city. 

Gangs
Every block has a gang. Some blocks have up to three. Each gang has a unique look or set of colours that distinguish it. Gangs are made up from youths with only a hand full of adults remaining with the gang. Many don't make it to adulthood. Those that do may find jobs in the Orgs or (very rarely) become model citizens.

Mercenaries
Mercenaries are often employed to deal with a problem outside the city, often with a Mag in support. 

Out in the Wastes there is many who employ Mercenaries to keep bandits and raiders at bay.  Mercenaries can be anything from a few hired guns through to full squads of highly trained well equipped warriors. 

Orgs
The Orgs are the Organised crime syndicates of Utopia. The are involved in all manner of illegal activities. Org gangs have a distinct look. Often suits are the uniform they wear. 


Under the streets:


The Ratmen/Vermen
No one knows for sure where the Ratmen came from. Some claim they evolved from rats after the nukecast and others claim they where made in a lab. What ever their source these strange Rat Men exist under the city and intelligence gathered from other cities show that Utopia is not alone in this invasion. They live in the depths and come to the surface to raid. Ratmen are often seen with giant rats who act as lookouts and additional muscle.

The Grotz
These strange little men are also called goblins or Mutiemen. They are often green but also come in a range of browns with human skin tones also being common. It is thought that these creatures are mutants. They live deep in the tunnels and love old shot gun style technology. Anything with a loud bang and a flash is loved by the grots. They rarely come to the surface but will often attack Scavs and Ratmen. 

 Trogz:
The Trogz like the grots are mainly green but can come in a range of browns and human skintones. They where developed for a war but never saw action. They where thought to have been destroyed when the Nuke Cast happened. The Trogz where tougher than Humans and survived. They escaped and have been living and raiding ever since. They have found a way into the tunnels from the wastelands and enter to raid the grots, Ratmen and scavs. They are seeking a way to the surface to slaughter the humans. 

Some Trogs are employed as Mercenaries by the Mags and see action keeping the city safe. Other Trogs gain employment by those with darker agendas. 

Scavs
Scavengers live in the Undercity having slipped through the cracks of the system. The raid into the city at night to grab the unwary who get dragged down into the darkness to become dinner. 

Mutants
Various types of mutant exists under the cities streets. Many have fled from the city above their mutations to severe. They form bands under the city.  Wild mutant beasts are also found in the dark. 

Rats & Bug
Mutant Rats and bugs are commonplace under the city and are a danger to those who dare wander under the city. 

Rogue Robots
With so many working Robots in Utopia some break their programming protocols and head off on their own (telling them there is no Silicon Heaven usually does the trick). They often head into the undercity where they form gangs. 

Smoggers: 
Smoggers are a strange mutation of mole that live in the udner city. They form bands and compete for resources. These mole men are ideal for living in these conditions. Smoggers can also be found out in the wastelands. Smoggers sometimes make pacts with the Vermen/Rat men. 

Out in the Wastes: 

Settlements
There are many settlements out in the wastes. There are many with up to 20 people living in them. They scale up in size to full blown cities (Liberty City is the largest with 15 thousand people living there).  It is often ill advised to pick a fight in these places. Everyone is armed and usually have some experience. They fight every day to survive. 

Bandits
Bandits live in the Wastelands. Some are criminals from Utopia fleeing the Mags others are Wastelanders born and bred. Bandits raid Utopia traders, prey on Stalkers and keep wasteland settlements in fear. Mags will often act when warbands get too large. 

There are also bandits that operate as Pirates on the Dread Seas and there are some bandit clans that specialise in raiding airborne transports. It seems beyond the walls no where is safe. 

Warbands
Warbands are raised from settlements and go to war or raid others. They often compete with Bandits for spoils. Some times a Warband is raised to rid a place of bandits. 

Warbots
Out in the Wastes many old warbots sit inactive waiting for something to reactivate them. Stalker and Scrap Wranglers love to find such bots. However they must take care for many of them are just waiting for the next thing to kill. Old Warbots are banned in the City.

Scrap Wranglers
The Scrapwranglers head out into the wastelands in huge vehicles looking for salvage. They haul this back and sell it to the Corps for recycling. The often fall into trouble with the Stalkers. 

Stalkers
With unemployment so high in Utopia some consider the dangerous job of routing around the wastelands and ruins looking for items of value some of which can fetch high prices from collectors. It is a dangerous job and many stalkers are viewed with both awe and suspicion. Stalkers often camp close to the Outposts as many find they cannot adjust back to life in Utopia. Stalkers are at times hired by the Mags to act as guides. 

There are a few different gangs of Stalkers (or Clans as they call them) and they sometimes get into conflict over claims. 

Tribals
Tribals exist in the wastes. They have lipped to a more primitive state and live off the land. Some regard the local ruins and tech as evil. Others worship it. Generally the old places near their homes are regarded as sacred. 

Rogue Mags: 
From time to time Mags go bad. They are corrupt and flee the city when they have been discovered. Rogue Mags form bands or lead packs of bandits that raid Utopia merchants and traders. 

Entertainment in Utopia City



Two Under Domes have been secured and are used for “Entertainment” purposes. Moixxie’s Underdome is used gladiatorial style combats where a team is put against all manner of scum from the prisons and mutant beasts. The surviving team wins cash prizes. 

The second secured underdome is known as the Mutant Bash Arena. Hunters travel the wastes capturing Mutant Ghouls & beasts and the contestant has to fight his way through and survive. Amazing prizes can be won.

Mars Arena is in a old city ruins that has been walled off to make a large arena. Here several teams of life prisoners battle it out across a booby trap filled ruined cityscape. The winning team (what is left of it) is granted freedom. The Mars Arena also holds the Running Man tournaments in which a prisoner is hunted and has to escape/survive. 

These shows are amazingly popular with the blood thirsty population of Utopia. 

Auto combat & racing is also popular with a couple of Wasteland tracks providing spills and thrills of vehicles going head to head. In addition to this there is the Death Race. Death Race started as a illegal race around the city with drivers scoring points for kills and style. The Mags soon put a stop to it. However it was reinvented in a prison complex outside the city. Condemned prisoners race in a series of races with the winner gaining his freedom. The track is booby trapped and the cars are armed. It is rare if anyone racing survives the tournaments.

The Death Race was popular and Utopia City has seen it return in a illegal format known as Carmageddon. The only safe place when these races start is inside. Mags and Enforcers move into stop such races. 

Utopia city Layout


City Layout

The city is divided into sectors and covers some 100 miles by 75 miles. Each sector is  2.5 x 2.5 miles in size. Not all sectors have city blocks on them such as Central Sector (Sector 150) which is the city’s central admin. It also houses the Halls of Justice, a Iso Cube prison and Embassy Blocks. 

Every sector has a Sector House Block which stations the Mag’s and Enforcers for the Sector. There  is a Rec Block which has restaurants, museums, zoos, fun fairs and other entertainment attractions and a Park Block which has a park for citizens to enjoy. Needless to say the parks and Rec Blocks have trouble with the gangs from the neighbouring blocks trying to control them. Different sectors have vary the Rec entertainments to attract Tourists (Rists) from other sectors. Each sector has at least one Grock Block which houses the city’s elderly population. There are Slum block where the deziens have destroyed the block. Conditions are bad in these blocks. They are patched up ruins with shanties or simple temporary buildings.

Not all sectors are populated. There is industrial sectors usually owned by the Corps. Sector 14 is in ruins after a Nuke got through the defensive screen. This area is radioactive and is known as Nuclear Alley. There is rents the ground which go down to the under city. Sector 55 is top secret and no one know what goes on there. It is rumoured to be a special Mag development facility. Sector 101 is a scrap sector that has become filled with rubbish. There is also Central Sector (Sector 150) where the Halls of Justice and a Prison are. There is a Airport sector and a couple of industrial sectors owned by the Corporations (the Corps). 

Each sector is divided into 25 Blocks. Each block is given the name of a famous person or place from the past and covers an area of approximately 1/2 mile by 1/2 mile. The block’s main building is a tower or tenement style construction with 100 to 150 floors and sits on either a 1/4 x 1/4 mile size footprint. Each block has its own entertainment and consumer levels. They also have schools and medical facilities too. Blocks with a Cit Def force will often dedicate a floor to the part time warriors. There are many smaller ground level buildings and even slums and shanties  around the blocks. 

The blocks are like small towns in one building. Many do not leave their blocks in their lifetimes. They view other blocks with suspicion and regard them as foreign countries. 

Many Blocks suffer Gang problems with a few gangs in each trying to control it. Some blocks are held by single gangs. There are many feuds in between rival gangs and often Block Wars break out – where all the gangs in one block attack the next block. 

Some of the richer blocks higher private security to keep the gang problem in check and often it is effective. However they try to stay out of the way of the Enforcers and Magistrates. There are one or two blocks held by foreign cities as embassies (Embassy Blocks) and they have there own security too. Also noticeable are the blocks run by organised crime gangs (known as the Orgs). Many suited well armed guards are found in these areas to ensure the Orgs interests are upheld. Usually the block gangs are in the Org’s employ. You know if you are in a Org block as they are suspiciously graffiti free. 

There is only one Mansion Block in the city. In this block a single family lives on three floors. There are a few Luxury Blocks (Lux blocks) where the wealthy live. They tend to have 4 apartments per floor unlike a standard block which has over 40. 

Below the streets there are many subterranean levels. These access the cities impenetrable gates, factories, sewers, water recycling facilities and factories. All the things a mega –city would need in order to survive. 

Beneath these levels there the Domes which serve as the city’s foundations in which are buried ruins of the old cities. Under these lie the old tunnel systems which used to serve them. The old bunkers still exist too, going many miles below the surface. All of this is buried and forgotten. However there are ways down to these forgotten levels. Scavenger gangs often go below looking for old tech. However they come back with tails of giant rats, rat men and other mutants found under the city.  Under the city also lies a polluted river that was Synthicreted over. The fabled River Styx is highly toxic and is probably the source of many of the mutations found in the city.

Beyond the city’s walls lie a harsh wasteland. Despite the popular belief that there is nothing out there Stalkers go out to scavenge the old ruins looking for loot and City Merchants travel to distant settlements to trade medicine, sythi food and clean water in exchange for fresh food and old relics. Still the wastes is a harsh place filled with radiation, toxic chemicals, mutant beasts and crazy people.

Welcome to Utopia City

I have finally finished the background fluff that should allow me to get creative with my minis and mix up sci -fi, historical and Post Apoc genres in a anything goes kind of way. So here is the first part of the fluff. The setting will also be known as Mattbalckgod's world +100 as it is 100 years after the end. Enjoy! 


Utopia City Background. 


Before the final death of Matt Black and the wars that started after his death on the island continent “Rosstralia” a new shiny city was built over the old settlements, many of which had been abandoned to go live in the now over crowded Matt Black God city. The city was to be over 200 miles across. 

The idea was to build a massive city with a low population density. Each home was detached with large gardens. They where high tech and eco friendly utilizing wind & solar power. All waste was recycled using various techniques to produce oil, rubber and other consumables. Food was synthetically produced and water was harvested from the very air.    It was to be a Utopia of luxury with Robots doing all the boring manual work and chores. 

A army of robots to clearing the ruins and building the city. Massive synthicrete domes where inserted over the old towns and cities the new city covered. On top of this a 15 meter high raft of synthicrete which housed all the facilities that the new occupants could ever want. 

As tensions where building on the world about the demise of the world’s founder a 10 meter wall above the raft was added along with a high tech security and defense system. 

The wealthy then moved to the newly opened Utopia city. Utopia became the envy of Matt Black’s world with a steady stream of people trying to move into the city.  

10 years after the people moved in tensions began to build and the wars of the Mattblackgod started.  Open warfare and terrorist attacks occurred across the world. Attack bots where dropped into civilian areas, chemical & biological weapons where used by all sides (historians claim that there was over 200 factions all fighting over what the world’s founder actually thought, did and wanted for them). Utopia city remained neutral during the wars. The city took in refugees from the worst effected areas. 

To house the refugees the city build massive tower blocks as temporary accommodation hoping they would return to their homelands when the warring had stopped. The city’s resources where stretched and the population boomed. Crime also boomed and pretty soon the Enforcers could not cope. A new breed of law man appeared - The Magistrates.

When the Federation arrived to evacuate the world two nasty bio viruses had been unleashed on the world’s population. The Federation ruled that they could not chance the plauges getting off world and cleansed it with nuclear weapons. The world was left to fend for itself and mines and missile satellites stopped anything getting to the world or off it. 

Utopia City’s defenses coped well. Only one missile from the orbital bombardment made it through the the defenses and landed in a sector now know as Rad Alley. 

Upon realizing that the orbital attackers would not go away until all life had been eradicated from Matt Black’s world a Magistrate “Mad” Dan Stevo launched all the cities nukes detonating them close to the city. This was to fool the Ships sensors into believing the city had been hit. He then overloaded the cities micro comms causing a massive EMP like pulse which wiped out a lot of the cities power for a short while. 

After the Federation left the world to fend for itself the city took in refugees from the wastes and evacuated the nearby towns and settlements. After all they could provide shelter, food, clean water and radiation medicines. New blocks had to be cleared and more tenements or towers added. Thank fully the city’s infrastructure was easily upgraded to take the extra demands. 

No comms where received from outside. The worlds magnetic flux was too damaged for comms to work. No more refugees came to the city. The world beyond the walls had a reputation as Hell and despite the conditions in Utopia city no one wanted to venture into the blighted place to see if it was any better. Meanwhile the city’s population grew and grew. 

In the years that followed there was massive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Gradually the skies cleared and daylight returned. The city had withstood this dark time. 

50 years after the Apocalypse the odd garbled radio broadcast was received. The Utopia City Council started to wonder who out there had survived. Then more death rained from orbit. Nukes fell again destroying various places on the world. The city was lucky, its defenses once again destroyed incoming warheads. 

Intrigued Utopia launched robot probes to discover where the missiles hit. First the probes showed that Rosstralia was no longer an Island continent. The world’s plates had shifted forcing the sea bed upwards. The world was now one large landmass.

Then Intel came back that new settlements in the Wastes had been hit. Utopia then evacuated people from Brittannia, Titansark, Aryanreiche and New Eden. The following year they launched a world wide campaign to get more people into the city. Many tens of thousands came leaving many settlements empty, but not all. General Human mutation are accepted in the city but those heavily mutated where turned away. This has caused much resentment in the Brittannia Wastelands and from certain sectors of Liberty City. 

100 years after the world ended Utopia’s population has doubled and it is seriously overcrowded with over 200 million denizens living there. Unemployment is high at 80% and many resent the robots that do all the work. Crime is high with burglaries and muggings at high levels. 

The city is a dangerous place to live with Muggers, Serial Killers, Utopia Shock Syndrome  sufferers (Crazies) going on homicidal rampages, drug crazed lunatics, gang wars, Organized crime (the Orgs), Block Wars, Riots, Suicide Cults, Death Cults, Rouge Psi-ers, illegal Car-Maggeddon races and things creeping up from the undercity. 

The city is keen to find some tech for disabling the hostile satellites above the world, terraforming kits (the city has trouble producing terraforming bugs to save the wastelands) and would love to make contact with space beyond the world. 

Outside the city there is a ring of 16 Outposts 30 miles beyond the City Walls. These serve as trading posts and forward observation posts. The Mags defend these Outposts. Cit-Def units also get stationed here for a week at a time. 

Out in the wastes at a secret location lies a massive high security prison where Utopia sends its most dangerous criminals. 

There was another further out from Utopia but the city lost control of it to the prisoners. The old prison is known as Lockdown Palace. It is a fortress in its own right where the population attack local settlements. The city doesn't have the resources to take it back and the Mags are hesitant to nuke it for fear of activating another nuke missile satellite. 

Sunday 14 April 2013

A few new wastelanders.


Tango & Caps. 

These pair a unlikely pair of Wastelanders. Tango got her name because of the hue of her skin. Best not call her a mutie though as that hammer will be used. Caps like getting caps, it doesn't matter how. 

With Tango I was going for the ever popular orange skin tone you seem to see people wearing. 
Tango is from East Riding minis and is from the Golgo line. Caps is a Copplestone sewer scavenger. 

Libbi


Libbi is a Psi-er. Dont piss her off. She will make you nose bleed just before your brain melts. Libbi is from Hasslefree minis. 


I liked what I read of the SSS game by Mojo Miniatures. So I headed into the mini pile to convert some figures. 



Its amazing what a head swap and a hood can do. 


The guy on the left was a WW2 American with a head swap, hood and arm swap. The guy in the middle is a Copplestone Sewer Scavenger. I swapped his SMG out for a staff/pipe. The guy on the right is a WWW2 British Paratrooper by Westwind. A head swap and hood changes the feel of the mini. Even if I dont get to play SSS these figures will make good additions to my Stalkers - which is why I kept the colours similar to the Rookie Stalkers. 



Sci Fi Town/City terrain

I got some stuff made for my Sci-Fi town/MegaCity


This wall thingy is a bit of polystyrene packaging. The grills are from Zinge Industries. 



The other side. Fan by Zinge Industries. 






The top showing a Salute to Judge Dredd/2000AD (Chopper was the Mega City 1 Sky boarding champion). 


A strange maintenance vent. This came with the Androids play set. With a little modifying and some textured paint (and a ton of graffiti) and its ready for the table. 

I am planning a few weird cults in my Mega City. 


The grill is embroidery mesh. 

Another building. This was a cheap plastic bowl, a food pot and bits from the bits box. 

The posters are pictures from the internet which I printed off and glued to the building. 


The Scrap Yard

I got an idea for a scrap yard table after playing the Borderlands computer game. 



The Scrap pile. Junk from my bits box glued to a base. Simple & easy. 

The processing station...







This was a Androids playset I got cheap from Home & Bargain. I simply added some textured paint (PVA glue, paint & sand) then painted it. 

There is more junk yard bits to follow. 

Back from the internet less wastes...with new terrain.

I am back from my forced internet silence. Dratted ISP companies messing us about. I have not been idle during my time away. 

I have been working on the background for putting a 2000AD/Judge Dredd style Megacity on Mattblackgod's world. There as been difficulties in figuring out it escaped the Orbital Bombardment that turned the world to a cinder but I am getting there. Details will follow. 

And now for some terrain....

Some quick hills to break up LOS. Made form polystyrene sheets. 



A simple wall. This may get use with my Sci Fi city set but I put it here as the wall is leaning, although you can't see it in this picture.

The other side. You can just make out thats its tilting.