more ideas for the post-apoc game/setting
I've been reading a book called Instant City - it's about Karachi, the city in Pakistan that's grown from 600k people in 1947 to 13 million people today. It goes into detail about how neighborhoods are built and operate - because of the weak government, communities simply pool their resources to build local infrastructure so you have people building sewage lines and the like on their own. Political parties are also divided by ethnic/tribal lines but one tribal group, the Muhajir, were literally invented after the nation's creation in 1947. All the Urdu speaking migrants from India just banded together and made up the Muhajir and then their political party, the MQM.
The MQM literally held Karachi under siege at certain points with extended gunfights for political reasons but they're still a legitimate political party in Pakistan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Karachi_riotsSo, how does this apply to the post-apoc game?
The idea of self-building urban sprawl and infrastructure is definitely more interesting to me than Mad Max/Fallout esque static post-apocalyptic worlds - people build as long as they're around. But I also want to explore the idea of ethnic/tribal politics but in a new way - there's definitely going to be a supernatural element to the post-apocalyptic world so ethnic/tribal identities that originate from before the apocalypse aren't going to be nearly as important as they are now - instead people will divide themselves on how they reacted to the supernatural. Some possible new identities/factions
Wrecked: People visibly scarred/damaged by unnatural entities or anomalies - they have impossible wounds, pure black eyes or some other visible change that makes no sense on a biological basis. Shunned as the new lepers/untouchables -they are a minority trying to survive the trauma of whatever damaged them and the prejudices of the other survivors
The Quiets There's a global plague that's killed millions (but it's not the cause of the apocalypse or why civilization is collapsing - more of a side effect). It goes by many names but usually it's called the Silence for the effect it has on a town. 10-30% of the infected survived though but they undergo a transformation. They look like they've been burned and often has a purple-pinkish tint to their skin. More importantly, they're immune to the plague. Then there's also the rumors they are ignored by the strange tiny creatures that live in plagued tainted lands. Quiets are numerous enough to organize themselves and because they live in plague lands, they can stay safe from lynch mobs. Usually.
Tainted/Hardened/Realists: The first encounter with the supernatural is especially traumatic to humans but humans are a resilient and adaptive species. People that survive their first encounter without breaking down develop some resistance to the supernatural and are able to incorporate the new phenomena into their worldview. They even become physiologically resistant to the supernatural - for example take ice embers - strange, gray flakes that burn flesh on contact and rain down from the sky on occasion. A hardened person's flesh won't burn instantly on contact but will take several seconds for it to affect them. These advantages make them suspect in the eyes of many. This is a dominant group, not a minority.
Untainted/Untested/Pure: Many people are shocked or emotionally traumatized by their first encounter with the supernatural. As a result, they develop a minor allergy to the supernatural - an allergy that makes them more sensitive to the presence of unnatural entities and anomalies. Some become mad but many untainted do not. This group tends to view anyone that displays any ability to resist the supernatural as suspect, tainted or corrupted by it somehow. They also tend towards eliminationist principles in dealing with the unnatural. This is the other dominant group and they frequently vie for power with the Realists.
Unexposed: A shrinking majority of people are still untouched by the unnatural. Many are afraid of becoming 'infected' in one way or the other. Both the realists and the pure try to manipulate/recruit them for political gain.
