Factions of the Wasteland

Also known as Lone Wolves or Solitaries, these people prefer to live without belonging to a faction or group of people. They usually live on a far away home or travel from place to place doing oddjobs and completing quests. Not all of them travel alone, some have one or two companions with them.

Being a Wildcard is hell to some, heaven to others. Many Raiders, Gladiators and persons that have lived a life full of death and killing desire in their core to leave their way of life to become wildcards. They desire to live as something more relaxed and mundane, like farming, and live in peace for the rest of their lives. For this same reason people have to be careful with Wildcards, you can never know what kind of life they had in their past, hence the name. Many people have attacked Wildcards believing them to be an easy prey only to discover that they had combat experience and several powerful weapons at its disposal.

All the citizens and soldiers of Ohana are considered as members of this faction. Originally Ohana sought to recreate the glory of Pre-War days with the rule of law, democracy and peace and surprisingly enough they managed to do so at first. Then pride and greed made the politicians seek to control more of what they could hold, they started a war against Raiders, Critters, Pirates, Tribals and the High Evolutionary and ultimately ended stretching too thin. As the years passed by the Wars it was engaged on and several catastrophes ended summing the country in total chaos and impoverishment. In the year 2300 the Enclave took advantage of their fragile situation and staged a Coup to take control of the country, transforming it into a police state and using it as a proxy on their war against the Brotherhood of Steel. Currently all of the members of this faction count with a small weapons expertise as part of their forced military military training at the age of 17. While it is true that in the country of Ohana there is a sense of peace and the most heinous crimes like slavery and cannibalism have ceased to exist their citizens aren't truly free, they live under a great set of laws, taxes and a widespread corruption that complicate their lives. Due to the Enclave's influence the country is now openly racist against non human races, segregating and banning them from working in politics or owning private businesses.

After receiving the military training their citizens can opt to continue working as soldiers and receive further and more specialized training. If you are a soldier of Ohana you will receive equipment and training similar to what the Pre-War soldiers had. If you work as a soldier for twenty five years the government will give soldiers the offer of retiring and being given a small patch of land to farm or live on, albeit non human races will receive much poorer and smaller places to live on, another option is to continue working in a non active job like being a Radio operator.

Since the Wasteland can be so psychologically maddening many soldiers end scarred psychologically and ultimately desert to become Raiders or Pirates or join a different faction.

The people of Ohana fears and respect their soldiers. They know how strong, well trained and well armed they are but outside of their territory this respect disappears completely. Many wastelanders and warriors from all across Hawaii think of them as soldiers who live in a bubble, people who never really endured and lived in the harsh wastes and that for that they aren't truly strong.

While some people are born with the gift of charisma and a silver tongue many others are born with a proficiency in killing. People who discover and accept this talent sooner or later become mercenaries, killers for hire. Some mercenaries have a high sense of honor and a code that they follow, while others are mere slaves of the money and obey anybody and do whatever they are tasked with as long as the reward is high enough. This is a work with an incredibly high mortality rate and most mercenaries don't survive their first year, but the ones who do so slowly end discovering their own personal style and specialising in a unique way of killing, be it using explosives, killing using sniper rifles or using a cocktail of drugs and hurling at the enemy wielding nothing but a rusty machete.  

Mercenaries can freely work on the country of Ohana with two conditions, unless their objective is a law breaker they have to work with objectives from outside their territory and they have to give 15% of all their income to the government, this ascends to 30% if the Mercenary is non-human.  

The Enclave is a faction that formed before the War. It was conformed by influential politicians, rich people and scientists. Their objective was to be the continuation of the United States government even after the Great War. They had two main plans of action; the first one was to abandon Earth in case it was rendered inhabitable and the second one to retake what remains of America and bring it to glory once more. After hiding on their secret nuclear bunkers the Enclave saw that life continued to persist and even thrive in the Wasteland, so they abandoned their initial plan and decided to stick to Earth. Since they were unmutated humans they considered Ghouls and other mutants to be aberrations, a mistake from nature that needed to be erased. The Enclave experimented with humans and attempted to release a gas that would have killed anybody with a minimum trace of radiation or mutation on their bodies, which ascended to more than 99,99% of the population. Their plans were thwarted in California in the year 2242 by the Chosen One and they suffered a catastrophic loss. Even after their defeat the New California Republic along with the Brotherhood of Steel hunted down the remnants of the Enclave which forced the survivors to run away and settle in other parts of America, including a splinter group who traveled in Vertibirds and settled on Moloka'i.

After moving to Hawaii the Enclave discovered that it had the resources and technology but lacked the manpower to return to their plans of domination. This along with the despair of suffering such a catastrophic loss made them rethink their philosophies and decide to start anew, this time as Mercenaries. On the year 2300 they staged a Coup to invade and dominate the Ohanan society, their soldiers became the Generals and Captains of the Army while their Scientists and Diplomats became politicians.

Nowadays there are still Enclave soldiers, engineers and scientists living in Moloka'i, to them it is their true home. People from this faction are born into it, the Enclave doesn't accept outsiders, much less if they aren't Human, not everybody of the Enclave lasts in that faction until death. There are several internal laws that are punished with exile, to them being exiled into the Wasteland and forced to live with the mutants is far worse than a quick death. There are many reasons to be exiled but the most prominent ones are falling in love with somebody from outside of their faction, failing a critical mission, treason and disobeying orders.

Anybody who lives and works in a Vault will be called an considered a Vault Dweller, albeit it is a name that can also be given to people who live in underground bunkers, even if they haven't been built by Vault-Tec. Since the only known Vault-Tec Vault located in Hawaii is Vault 207 most Vault Dwellers are also citizens of Ohana and to them, being called Vault Dweller or Ohanan is both valid. Due to having plenty of water, food and medicines and living in a sealed and protected and environment they usually have a better appearance than most wastelanders, but at the same time since they have lived without despair and strife they are usually weaker and more pacific than outsiders.

The Broken Volts are a small group of raiders that specializes in the usage of robotic minions and that have several sentient robots among their numbers. They are excellent hackers and mechanics and can be usually encountered near scrapyards, old factories or vehicle graveyards. Even if they are Raiders they aren't murderous psychotics constantly high on drugs, they are willing to accept outsiders and live from raiding caravans and merchants, specially if they carry with them high technology objects. Another distinction is that they are willing to work and offer their knowledge on robotics, mechanic and hacking to the biggest bidder.

Robotics are so ingrained into their culture that they always travel with a Robotic companion, an artificial intelligence that they have to write on their own and that will grow up with them and is even considered as a brother or sister, to them losing this robotic sibling its a dishonor and might even be reason to be exiled, for that same reason the Broken Volts always travel with holodisks carrying copies of their Robot's AI.

Broken Volts usually marry within their own faction. If two Broken Volts marry they might do a procedure known as the Melding, during the Melding the two lovers will upload the AIs of their respective robot companions upon a machine, the Melder, this machine will mix the two AIs and create a new one, at the same time the two lovers will have sex in front of the Melder, watching the process and progress bar advance more and more. The resulting AI will be very primitive and will require to be polished from bugs and errors. The couple can then have or adopt a child and will grant it the AI once they become 5 years old. From that moment on the child will have to work on that AI, repeating the process. The Melding process can also be made with a single AI, allowing people to marry outside of their Faction, but doing so with a single AI will lead to more future errors and bugs, so it is discouraged.

The Broken Volts can be found in different places, since they are considered a Raider group they are actively persecuted on Ohana by the local law forces.

Deviants are groups of super-mutants, ghouls or psykers that have decided to live separated due to racism, fear or any other reason. They usually live alone or in small communities in abandoned places. Since they want to be left alone they usually place warning messages or traps around the buildings they live in. Not all the Deviant communities are alike, some become extremely xenophobic and believe that they are the evolution of humanity and true heirs of Earth, others simply believe that God has punished them and they must repent in solitude and a few other groups simply think that humanity isn't ready to live with them and that they require years of slow yet steady progress until they can harmonically coexists.

Either for religious reasons, a great sense of adventure and curiosity or any other reason from time to time a Deviant might decide or end traveling across the Wasteland to see and experience that world that might fear and reject them.

Even if their existence isn't a crime, the Enclave actively hunts them on the island of Oahu. The Enclave hates them for being both inhuman and asocial. They always invent a reason to persecute them and might even fabricate evidence to further boost their motives.

Raiders and Pirates are bandits and killers, the only distinction is that Raiders work on land and Pirates on sea, albeit its pretty usual for Pirates to assault on land and Raiders to work on sea, so the term is pretty interchangeable. Regardless of how you call them they are criminals of the worst kind. They see the cruel and harsh world they live in as an opportunity to be as violent and hedonistic as possible. They usually work and live in small groups next to concurred or concurred paths and live from raiding settlements or assaulting travelers, caravans or vehicles.

Being a Raider is usually entering into an auto-destructive way of life in which everybody is your enemy. Even different groups of Raiders kill each other or internal conflicts inside a Raider band can erupt and end violently.

Each group of Raiders is unique in its own way, albeit all of them are cancerous to society. Some of them are drug addicts, others simply are sadists and a few groups have even turned into cannibalism. Ironically enough Raiders are one of the most open minded groups allowing people from all races, genres and backgrounds to join them as long as they can fight or be useful to them.

Raiders and Pirates are present everywhere but they are more present in the big island of Hawaii and in the Old World Mourn. Any Raider or Pirate that lands on Ohana will be persecuted by the law forces.

Hunters attempt to turn the world into a better place and for that reason hunt down all the dangerous aberrations that the Nuclear War has created. Some of them settle down in a particular place and cleanse the location from abominations whereas others travel all across the Hawaiian archipelago in the search of people in distress.

From their viewpoint, people aren't weak but require protection. They decide to sacrifice their well-being to become the guardians and protectors of people. Hunters don't only kill beasts, if any particularly evil person becomes too strong or dangerous they might decide to eliminate it too.

They usually live to themselves and at most are accompanied by a pet or a lover. It is a pretty secretive society and its well known that they have a secret code that they use to communicate between each other, they might also emit several cryptic messages from some radio channels. Several types per year they meet in secret to inform of creature sightings, new killing techniques and simply exchange histories.

Even if they share some objectives with the Enclave, they are enemies. The Hunters want people to have easier lives, regardless of their race, the Enclave only want pure humans to remain and eliminate all mutants. The Enclave has gone as far as raiding Hunter safehouses to find their secrets, but so far there hasn't been any success. Despite their differences the Enclave and the Hunters might fight together against a common enemy.

Gladiators are fighters for hire. Unlike the Mercenaries they fight against people and creatures not only to kill them, but to make a show of it. There are several gladiatorial arenas spread across Hawaii, even in Oahu, were it is banned, are a couple of illegal arenas and fight pits hidden across the sewers, forests and mountains.

The Biggest fighting pits are the Thunderdome in the Old World Mourn were people fight against other people and the Execution Chamber, located in the lowest parts of the Prison and dedicated to making people fight creatures.

Every day can be their last to them, and that is why they live to the limit. It doesn't matter who or what they fight against, the only thing that matters is that blood is spilled and that the spectators have fun. Even then the Gladiators continue being living beings, complex persons with fears and ambitions. Some of them only fight to earn money and be able to settle somewhere else, some travel the Wasteland in the search of becoming stronger, learn new combat techniques or to simply visit friends and family.

After the nuclear war many people and groups regressed back technologically, becoming primitive tribes. These tribes might understand modern weapons to a degree but most prefer to use simpler tools like bladed weapons. Tribals might have superstitious beliefs but that doesn't means that they are stupid, there have been several cases of Tribals learning how to hack robots or use high-tech energy weapons.

Most tribals live in the Big Island of Hawaii, where the Great War devolved most people into the stone age. The island is so dangerous and wild that people in there simply turned into savage tribes devoted to surviving and becoming strong. Not all tribals are hostile and violent but since they live in such a state of constant danger and have been abused by so many people most have a great distrust of the civilized people.

Tribals are also less moral about cannibalism, sacrifices and violence. To them all means to survives are acceptable.

Most of the Tribals of Hawaii fight against the mutants of the island and war against other tribes to prove their worth and strength and gain the attention of the High Evolutionary.

The High Evolutionary are a group dominated by Super-Mutants and led by the almighty Kunuilakea, a perfectly evolved Super-Mutant capable of accepting Bionics as if it were a Human and with several Psyker powers too.

The High Evolutionary consider Kunuilakea to be a god and aim to be like him and evolve beyond humanity. To this end, they hope to transform as many people as they can to their cause and weed out the weak. They are the absolute leaders of the Big Island of Hawaii and reside in The Fortress, a Pre-War prison that survived the war unscathed and as the years passed by became their massive headquarters. From The Fortress they oversee all the island and watch the many tribes that survive in there, checking the tribals that show promise and might become fine Super-Mutants. Inside of Hawaii and specially in Barren Yard they are the judges and their word is law, pretty much everybody in Hawaii wishes to become part of their faction.

Since their first members were mostly asian-american prisoners this faction has a lot of asian imagery on their appearance. Jian or Ōdachi swords, Samurai like armors and nicknames that include mythological creatures from China, Korea, Japan and sometimes other countries like Indonesia, Vietnam or Taiwan.

They are currently at war with Ohana, the Super-Mutants are mighty warriors but they are also capable of acting as Generals and guide entire tribes if their island is ever attacked.

The Brotherhood of Steel, also known as BoS, is a quasi-religious technological organisation operating across the ruins of post-war North America, with its roots stemming from the United States Armed Forces and the government-sponsored scientific community from before the Great War.

They want to protect humanity in a passive way. They see themselves as guardians of humanity and modern technology and will actively seek advanced technology so it doesn't ends in the hands of Wastelanders who might not know how dangerous it can be. During critical situations they take a more active role and fight against anything that might posse a threat, like the Enclave or violent Super-Mutants.

They only accept humans among their ranks and believe that Ghouls, Psykers, Super-Mutant and sentient Robots are mistakes of humanity, things that shouldn't exist, yet don't actively hunt them down like the Enclave wants.

Following the lead of the Enclave, the Brotherhood of Steel spent several years repairing the PMV Valdez in San Francisco and headed all the way to Hawaii to fully exterminate the menace that the Enclave was. The Enclave used covert operations, propaganda and subversion to change the perception of people of the Brotherhood of Steel and make the entire country of Ohana believe that they are enemies and invaders.

They have a great asset of high tech items like robots, armor and energy weapons but they aren't as advanced as the Enclave is.

The Sons of Kanaloa is a mercantile group who have a monopoly in the business of Vehicle and Drone building, modding and repairing, necessities who are widely used on all of Hawaii. They have also a great share in the market of robots, bionics, armor and weapons but they still compete with local workshops and shops. Not all of them are businessmen or artisans, there are also a great number of soldiers of all kinds who are extremely loyal to their corporation and will become violent against anyone who attempts to enter into their factories and private territories.

The Sons are widely criticized across the Hawaiian Wasteland because they don't have any problem in doing business with Raiders and other evil factions for as long as it benefits them. People still begrudgingly use their services and buy their goods, because sometimes there isn't any other option, and the Sons know this, taking advantage of wars and catastrophes to spike the price of their wares and rejoice in the suffering of the Wastelanders.

Their own workers are sometimes harassed for being part of this faction. For that same reason the Sons of Kanaloa force their workers and warriors to wear a mask that covers their entire face.