camwyn | Philly Notes, Part 4

- So we have most of the setting for Philly
- And now we need the main plot
- Our MacGuffin is the remains of General Atomics International
- Much of it is in moderately decent condition
- What isn't in decent condition at least houses stuff that can be scavenged for parts
- Assuming the robots don't kill you
- Or the roaming wildlife
- The robots don't recognize animals as threats unless the animals attack
- So you might very well get past three floors of robots only to be eaten by a disgruntled hippo
- Hypothetically
- Anyway the robots are the major defenses and they're still pretty scary
- The Brotherhood will send Ellen to Philly to scout out the area and determine whether the GA plant is worth attempting to reclaim
- She is being sent because they just thawed out a GA auditor who has promised to turn over as much as she knows about the place if it's still viable
- Lyons is currently a little overextended since his men are holding Evergreen Mills as well as the Citadel and Lacuna
- (Evergreen Mills being too important of a fortress to leave standing open, and also it has its own water source as determined in Millicanon)
- (seriously, there were how many raiders in that space, there had to have been an underground spring)
- Lyons would really like to be able to reclaim the Philly tech if it still exists but they don't have any word out of Philly at all
- So rather than waste men and tech he's sending Ellen and anyone she can scare up
- Support team will be small and may include her husband
- I am debating throwing one of Casdin's people in there as some kind of conciliatory gesture but this is not likely
- Lyons takes 'we do not help them, neither do we let them in' to mean oathbreakers more than outsiders and, well, yeah
- Anyway, Casdin is going to be aware of this in some fashion
- Possibly the former Outcasts may send someone up around the same time in which case Ellen & co. will encounter them along the way and stick together
- In the 'if there's a wasp in the room I like to know where it is' school of thought
- The auditor isn't going yet because if Philly is shot to hell there is no point in wasting resources protecting her on the road
- The Blood Prince does not know much about this Brotherhood and will be less than thrilled to have heavily armed and technologically savvy outsiders in his city looking to take stuff
- However he did not get to his position by being bad at assessing people
- If the new arrivals and any Millipeople who come along for the ride cooperate with him and do not piss him off he will allow them to attempt to claim the factory
- He will make it very clear that if they intend to retain the factory for any length of time he will require concessions from them
- Primary concession being a permanent educational mission because if these people exist and are branching out in the world then Philly is going to be in a bad way by comparison in a few years and he would prefer to stay ahead of the curve
- Secondary concessions being access to power systems and weaponry
- Possibly something involving information and documentation of the water purifier in Washington
- This is probably going to be the kind of thing that makes the Casdin faction unhappy
- They're all about reclaiming tech and keeping it out of dangerous hands
- And for all that he's thinking long-term the Blood Prince is basically an ice ganger in their eyes or he'd have taken the factory back already
- The primary alternative offered will come from the Royals
- Who believe Philly can gain greater resources and strategic advantage by conquering more territory and entertaining imperial ambitions
- The Royals are all right with the idea of infrastructure improvements but believe the Blood Prince puts too much emphasis on them
- As long as the city is functional the important thing is to expand the borders and bring as many productive areas under their banner as possible and let the outliers do the work
- Which admittedly is kind of an appealing idea given how persnickety some of the city's trading partners can be
- Let's just say attempting to negotiate with the Chicken Vault rarely ends well
- And don't get me started on the Amish
- Anyway, the Royals are willing to cede the factory entirely to the Brotherhood on an ongoing basis in exchange for an upgrade to their guns and armor
- Nothing so grand as lasers and plasma and power armor, they'd be fine with better bullet guns, better bullets, and cerasteel
- However, aiding the Royals in this way would be noticed by the Prince's Phantoms and thus result in a whole lot of ugly
- So probably the easiest way to make that happen would be to smash the Blood Prince's faction
- Which is not going to make Lyons happy at all because he only has so many men
- The Casdin faction would probably volunteer, though, because tech
- The auditor may have a third option involving accessing the GA hardshielded mainframe and remotely operating systems on the premises
- Because while Mr. Handys aren't much to look at, they can operate a whole lot of machines with their pincers
- And Mr. Gutsys can still kill things pretty good
- And the Robobrains will take orders
- So if someone can get in and hack the mainframe and operate it remotely it is theoretically possible to use the robot army against both sides
- I did say theoretically, though
- The Blood Prince and the Royals may not like each other very much, but they hate the idea of outsiders taking over Philly
- And I am pretty sure the Prince is more willing to team up with the Royals than he is to see part of the city carved out
- Plus GA only has so many active robots at the moment
- And while it may be a source of a good deal of electrical power it is not a source of refined metal
- So all the native factions have to do is prevent supplies from reaching GA and honestly, if you can't bomb roads to bits you have no business calling yourself an ice gang
- So there's that
- A fourth plan may be proposed by the Followers of the Apocalypse
- Because Dr. D has a lot of time on his/her hands when not actively running the Ben Franklin Brothel
- Namely, this is a city effectively ruled by ice gangs
- Ice gangs may be gladiatorial and combative but they do follow rules
- If the Brotherhood can train up a hockey team they can field them in symbolic combat at the Wells Fargo Arena and claim city leadership should they win the championship
- Not gonna lie, that's the kind of thing that people would find tempting
- Because POST NUCLEAR GLADIATORIAL HOCKEY THROW-DOWN FOR CONTROL OF PHILADELPHIA
- But we'll see how that goes
- Besides, you'd have to keep being the champions for years at a time to really make that work
- Anyway those are the major options for the central plot
- Fallout: Game of Thrones will come later