Prologue:
Some might say this story is about more than just survival. That it has something to say about the very spirit of humanity. About our inherent greed, selfishness, and cruelty. Maybe it is. All I know is it's my story.
The Metropolis has always been a foreboding place. Once the megacity of New York, it was a prime target when the nukes started flying. Despite what people say, war changes. It wasn't soldiers those Chinese bastards were after, and it sure as hell wasn't strategic resources and important infrastructure. It was people. And hell, the nukes did a pretty damn good job. Those who weren't killed by the blasts died from radiation poisoning, or became horrific monsters, so called "ghouls". When humans finally began to emerge from the midst of the wreckage, they found nothing but rubble, smoke, and the remnants of past lives. They were without their laws or government, without the technology they depended on, without the basics of life.
Civilization began to build itself from the very beginnings, forming primitive tribes, parodies of the old powers of the world. Human interaction had reverted to its most brutal of forms, the animalistic "Survival of the Fittest".
From the smoking remains of downtown came the bankers and financial geniuses of the Pre-Great War era. Using their great wealth, they had built themselves shelters, similar to those of Vault Tec, and hid themselves away during the nuclear holocaust. They emerged equipped with resources from the old world and built themselves an empire amid the ruins of their former domains, quickly extending trade networks throughout the ruins of the great city. Wall Street continued to be a powerful term, not because of its wavering stock markets, but for its military and economic capabilities.
One thing's for sure, when the smoke finally cleared, the damage was catastrophic. Skyscrapers had crumbled, streets were left in ruin, and skeletons littered the street. Lives were shattered in an instant, entire populations decimated in the blink of an eye. People needed something they could direct all of their rage and aggression at. Neighbors turned on neighbors because of their appearance, rather than their origins. Chinatown became a haven for the now shunned Chinese populace of New York, giving birth to a second empire. Day and night its citizens worked to erect barriers, sealing its occupants away from the senseless persecution of their one-time friends, creating a fortress city unrivaled throughout the Wasteland, Nanjing.
These two powers are just a sampling amongst the feral humans that dominated the twisted terrain of concrete and rebar, two amongst hundreds more. I could mention the baseball bat toting soldiers of the Yankee Militia, or the Protectron armed NYPD, but the Chinese and Wall Street are by far the most important in my story, and that's what I'm here to tell.
The others?
Well, they're stories for another time