COLLAPSEIt has been eight to nine months since a deadly virus killed 80 to 90 percent of humanity. Collapse was quick and brutal. Within a month, the global telecommunication infrastructure ceased to exist, a month after that the power grid went offline. There were rumors that the collapse rekindled the settling of scores all of the world: sectarian violence, border skirmishes, and other small-scale wars. There were rumors of nuclear detonations in Europe, Russia, and the East Coast of the United States. For the survivors, those rumors quickly became lesser considerations. There was the reality of survival to contend with.
Humanity reacted in a myriad of ways: Some reverted to their basest instincts--stealing, killing, preying on the weak. Others retreated from what was left of society to ride out the plague on their own or with their families, employing their skills in hunting, fishing, subsistence farming, carpentry--whatever it took. Some survivors clung to demagogues, yearning for meaning in a world gone mad. Yet others clung to the idea of a civil society. These folks ended up establishing small communities or nomadic bands, helping other people when they could.
NOWThe characters have found themselves within one of these communities. There are eighteen people in all, each contributing whatever skill, knowledge, and hope they have left to offer. For now, it's a symbiotic community, each benefiting the other. It's a diverse crew: the youngest is 10 and the oldest 58, of all backgrounds and former professions.
Most have discarded their old names--"old names for an older time," the saying goes. Now folks go by names like "Crow," "Old Bear," or "Clove," a way to rid oneself from whatever sins and traumas they may have committed during the height of the Collapse.
THE SETTLEMENT
The community has established a settlement in the old bones of a university, each member taking residence within the school itself or one of the surrounding homes. There is a subsistence garden in the center, a kitchen, and classrooms turned into various workshops for butchering, carpentry, and for whatever the community needs.
The de-facto leader is Adrienne Greene, aka "Dawn."
The community survives through a combination of scrounging, hunting (birds, dogs, deer, coyotes, etc.), fishing, and gardening/farming. Scrounging parties are often organized with community members volunteering or taking turns.
Folks have come to call the settlement "The Uni" a reference to the site it's been established in.
ADRIENNE GREENE, AKA DAWN
From what community members can tell, Dawn was an engineer, maybe a professor, in the old world. She has a keen interest in tech and gathering tech. And despite all the tragedy around her, Dawn remains positive, even hopeful. While others tend to look directly at what is front of them, which usually means doing-the-thing-that-needs-doing for survival, Dawn somehow looks beyond, imagining a time of renewal, of rebuilding.
Regardless of what folks say openly, Dawn's hope is infectious, even when their imaginations, their experience will not allow them to hope.
THE WORLD BEYOND
It's mostly quiet out there and the small band of survivors spend most of their days taking care of the basics: food, shelter, and creating enjoyment where they can find it. But sometimes a nomad or a trader will pass through with stories. Most of the tales sound familiar--most folks have lived through some form of it or another. But sometimes there are rumors: of doomsday cults, slavers, folks that have gone feral, or ominous military vehicles in the night passing through.
The immediate surroundings (north and west) consist of mostly homes and strip malls. Directly east are warehouses and the port, just beyond the strip of trees that flank the university.
There is a highway nearby: The 5, but similar to most freeways, it is mostly clogged with abandoned cars.
