Nova Satus

by Napkins

I wrote a prologue for a divergent timeline after the events of project purity. It's going to be being a take on law/order, religiosity, government and interpersonal dynamics in an apocalyptic setting. The following chapters will be written from a first person perspective as a regulator. Looking for some honest feedback and hopefully some enthusiasm as well.

NOVA SATUS

Prologue

The year of 2277 marked the end of highly contested war. While few of the inhabitants of the wastes took notice, even fewer recognized its conclusion. The battle of superiority between the Brotherhood of Steel and the Enclave had reached a fever pitch with the Brotherhood clinching a decisive victory in the final hour. A scholar may have look towards the future with apprehension, feeling sure that a new war would be waged on the pure water that now flowed into the Potomac River. On the other hand, a historian would have viewed what happened next about as banal as an outcome can be.

The explosions that rocked southern D.C during the battle went relatively unnoticed. Project Purity succeeded, both the architect of the project and his son-saviors and martyrs in equal regard-faded into obscurity after their deaths, leaving only the Brotherhood to claim responsibility for what would become the linchpin of the capital wasteland. Like any knowledge, word began to spread.

Not long after the dust settled against the gray backdrop of apocalyptic landscape, the first settlers arrived. By no stretch could you call the inhabitants of the wastes settlers, but the phrase makes for better history amongst the peddlers of academia and sounds significantly better than "disenfranchised, starving, highly irradiated vagrants." About 10 or so showed up in the first week and even more the next. The inaugural meeting between the visor clad ranks of the Brotherhood and the sun beaten and battered faces of these new arrivals would set the tone for their future interactions. Before the arrivals could even protest, they were told that the water had to be monitored and rationed out accordingly. The tone was polite-or as polite as one can interpret looking through the thick lens of a suit of power armor-or down the barrel of a laser rifle. The settlers quietly accepted, the Brotherhood dutifully allocated them space and regulations to follow. Nova Satus was born.

Within a month the settlement on the shore of the Potomac reached well over 100 people, within six months it was over 500. Crops began springing up in the newly fertile earth along the river. Shops, eateries and other vendors began carving out their spots in the growing complex that was colloquially known as "Nova." All the while, the Brotherhood shipped twisted, soot stained metal from the crater of Raven's Rock-once the seat of power for the Enclave. For every payload of scrap sent to Nova as building materials, an equal amount was sent within the gargantuan matte gray walls of the Citadel.

To an outsider this would seem like a utopia in the making. Water was plentiful, as was food, occupation and safety. The Brotherhood relentlessly forced back the onslaught of Super Mutants, demoed the southern entrances to the Metro as a means to stop the flood of Ferals-and raiders, well, they came within throwing distance of the wall just once. Pieces of them are still in the sand.

To anyone who lives within the sturdy steel walls of the ever-expanding Nova knows, residence and safety comes at a cost. Not so much as a day after the first settlers arrived, it was made clear that access to the fresh water and safety would have to be repaid with-as the Brotherhood put it-"indulgences." The explanation of these taxes were to help the Brotherhood not only recoup the resources it expended bringing this project to fruition, but also to aid in the continued safety of the area as well and fund the "further pursuits of mankind."

In the following years, residents of Nova toiled away making their new home habitable. Erecting walls, businesses, farms, infirmaries, apartments and even a school. The remaining residents sought work for the Brotherhood, the compensation being more than adequate. Men and women who were once independent scavengers began plundering the wastes in pursuit of raw materials and technology with the assistance and protection of the Brotherhood. When Raven Rock was finally depleted, a formidable contingent or power armored soldiers and Nova laborers set out to the Northwest, returning after several months with power armor in varying states of disrepair and considerable less laborers. They did however, return with load upon load of shiny steel shipments.

Five years after the arrival of the first settlers, Nova's size rivaled that of any other settlement on the eastern seaboard. Well over 2,000 residents lived in the baking hot steel and sheet metal infrastructure. While not as comfortable as one's imagination could contrive, it was far more livable than other known settlements. Megaton was last considered uninhabited and even though Tenpenny Tower still catered to the rich and infamous, they did most of their trading with Nova. Even once the rumors of a city in Boston reached the Capital wastes, the stories paled in comparison the standard of living Novans came to expect.

All while power armored feet patrolled the city, the problems in the waste did not desist. The Brotherhood, contented with its own projects, much like before, gave little focus towards clearing the wastes of unruly, malignant inhabitants. Because they were disinterested in these pursuits, and recruited so infrequently, 10 years after the creation of Nova a long-forgotten revenant of the wastes was rekindled. The Regulators, once a moralistic band of vigilantes was resurrected to attempt some semblance of law and order within the wasteland.