Sorting some Fallout stuff out in my head
Aug. 5th, 2014 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynCurrently doing some research for possible fic set right around the time of the Great War- mostly to do with Roger Maxson. However, after stumbling across those pictures of the post-apocalyptic Captain America with the Interstate 35 sign as his shield and the other picture of a guy who built a full suit of body armor out of bottlecaps, I'm now thinking of some more plot foo to put Ellen through at Milliways. I'm debating whether I want to go with Major Wasteland there actually being located anywhere near I-85 or not. I'm not familiar with the I-85 corridor; I think the only time I've actually been down that highway may have been in 2004, when I was on a Red Cross emergency vehicle crew and we had to drive the ERV from New Jersey to Atlanta, then (once Hurricane Frances was out of the way) to Daytona, Florida, and to be honest I don't really remember which highways we took for that trip. So I can't even claim that level of familiarity.
I can do research on the region and that'd be fine in itself, but the fact is that I don't know that I feel comfortable speculating on the post-nuke status of the area. More to the point, I don't feel comfortable trying to speculate on the societies that would start to grow up in the area, especially given that this is Fallout and any genuine anthropological/sociological speculation would have to be tempered with equal measures of nightmarishness and ludicrousness (see: The Pitt, the less offensive parts of Point Lookout). It's one thing for someone who knows the American South well and who's lived there for a significant amount of time to speculate on what kind of craziness would happen in the area. I don't have that kind of background. I've lived in the northern part of the country all my life- either the New York City area, the New England area, or Cleveland. It feels like it wouldn't be right. Not without massive amounts of research.
The major reason I considered that stretch of highway for Fallout in the first place was because it would be relatively easy to do a photomanip of Major Wasteland's shield- turn the 35 into an 85. If I don't use the photograph directly, just describe it, I don't have to worry about that part. I'd been considering sending Ellen southwards for plot mostly to keep her away from the Commonwealth, since there's a good chance game 4 is going to be set there, but since my ultimate goal in sending her north was to get her to the Canadian Empire, all I really have to do is just not turn right at Interstate 90. If I can find an IC excuse for the Brotherhood to say "hey, we know you were comfy in the Wasteland and all but, uh, there's this thing", I can direct her into the parts of the country that I do know without treading on Jossy ground. Ultimately she'd have to end up in Ronto, but Ronto's a loooooong way to go on foot, and the remains of New York City, while also a long way, aren't loooooong. Just loooong. There are worse things than making New York a test run.
... especially since the most logical route to get there goes through Philadelphia and I millicanoned that one of the big robotic firms pre-War was based out of Philly; Elder Lyons would definitely take an interest in that. Perhaps I should send her that way first, before the New York trip.
I can do research on the region and that'd be fine in itself, but the fact is that I don't know that I feel comfortable speculating on the post-nuke status of the area. More to the point, I don't feel comfortable trying to speculate on the societies that would start to grow up in the area, especially given that this is Fallout and any genuine anthropological/sociological speculation would have to be tempered with equal measures of nightmarishness and ludicrousness (see: The Pitt, the less offensive parts of Point Lookout). It's one thing for someone who knows the American South well and who's lived there for a significant amount of time to speculate on what kind of craziness would happen in the area. I don't have that kind of background. I've lived in the northern part of the country all my life- either the New York City area, the New England area, or Cleveland. It feels like it wouldn't be right. Not without massive amounts of research.
The major reason I considered that stretch of highway for Fallout in the first place was because it would be relatively easy to do a photomanip of Major Wasteland's shield- turn the 35 into an 85. If I don't use the photograph directly, just describe it, I don't have to worry about that part. I'd been considering sending Ellen southwards for plot mostly to keep her away from the Commonwealth, since there's a good chance game 4 is going to be set there, but since my ultimate goal in sending her north was to get her to the Canadian Empire, all I really have to do is just not turn right at Interstate 90. If I can find an IC excuse for the Brotherhood to say "hey, we know you were comfy in the Wasteland and all but, uh, there's this thing", I can direct her into the parts of the country that I do know without treading on Jossy ground. Ultimately she'd have to end up in Ronto, but Ronto's a loooooong way to go on foot, and the remains of New York City, while also a long way, aren't loooooong. Just loooong. There are worse things than making New York a test run.
... especially since the most logical route to get there goes through Philadelphia and I millicanoned that one of the big robotic firms pre-War was based out of Philly; Elder Lyons would definitely take an interest in that. Perhaps I should send her that way first, before the New York trip.
