The San Francisco Irregulars
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 6:38 am
A group I was thinking of submitting, since I found 'em on my old hard drive, but since PG can't accept robotech submissions, here we go.
Note that this is the idea of a "local" threat. the Irregulars aren't intersted in conquering the earth or forging the new Empire. They largely want to be left alone within their self-declared boundaries. However, not everyone agrees with those boundaries or intends to leave them alone, and therin lies the tale:
HISTORY:
Before:
San Francisco was obliterated, like most of the West Coast, in the rain of death. However, immediately after a large number of zentraedi warships crashed either on the coast, or not far away from in either direction. Had nothing else happened, it’s likely that the region wouldn’t be as unusual as it is today, but the massive bombardment and vaporization of cubic miles of water resulted in a massive, 9.0 earthquake ripping though the region, in some places changing the coastline by as much as a mile after the giant tsunami came roaring through.
In any other time or place, it would have been considered one of the greatest disasters of the modern era. In the aftermath of the destruction of most of humanity, it wasn’t even effectively recorded—the seismic stations and the scientists manning them had all been destroyed and there were few survivors to die in the earthquake or waves.
But most importantly, a number of zentraedi warships found themselves sinking into the heated mud, or buried by collapsing buildings and mountains, entombed, with or without their crews. Those zentraedi who escaped evidently died before being able to carry their tale to others, or those they spoke to simply assumed that the ships had been destroyed, as indeed, many had been. The UEG had no time for reports of lost human naval vessels and zentraedi ships and overflights saw only ruined terrain. The loss of most population in the area made recovering the ruins of Northern and Central California a low priority for the recovery efforts, especially as the ports were no longer needed, the populations they serviced being mostly dead.
Limited reseeding attempts and the gradual restoration of the local ecology were responsible for the return of some individuals to the region, but these were mostly small villages, largely of people seeking to avoid trouble. Occasional rumors of lost zentraedi equipment brought prospectors, but most of the ships they were searching were buried under dozens of meters of hardened debrie. A few were found, most notably a single crashed scout ship with a large amount of mecha that was found (and promptly impounded by the UEG) but there were many more accessible wrecks and the lack of much cover, either human or natural meant that few renegade zentreadi were in a position to try to seek their fortunes.
The Second Robotech War.
The Second Robotech War brought disaster to much of the earth, but also saw something of a population boom in the region—many families were evacuated from more industrialized regions, especially after the defeat of the Master’s and confirmation that the Invid were on the way. With little in the way of supplies, (until the very end the official word was that they would be relocated once the Invid had been defeated), many individuals died in the harsh winter, but others survived, building small villages and towns. The Invid largely left them alone, although the same could jnot be said for marauders and bandits.
The Discovery 2035:
A group of survivors, mostly orphan young people driven out of more hospitable regions, camped out on the edges of what had once been San Francisco bay. Over the course of the winter, seeking better shelter and hiding places from bandits and slavers (and as more groups show up and start competing for shelter), a number of groups explore the wrecked buildings and caves in the region.
One group, following a winding cave, found themselves at a sheer metal wall, with a small fracture in it. Worming through the facture, they found themselves within a wrecked zentraedi destroyer—one that still had a large amount of usable supplies. The group realized two things:
1. They had a treasure.
2. if anyone found out about it, they would probably all be cheerfully murdered, or worse yet, enlisted into the doomed fight against the invid.
Over the next several months, the Group, now naming itself the San Francisco Irregulars, contacted trusted individuals for help. They traded equipment they had “found” in old warehouses for goods and supplies, and avoided trading anything that looked too valuable, especially mecha.
Meanwhile, under the earth, an increasing number of patchers and other helpers started to pull apart the ship they’d found, salvaging protoculture generators and reactivating the life support systems. More importantly, they found that the region under San Francisco had been riddled with caves created when the tsunami waters receded. Explorers ventured into the dangerous subterranean realm and came back with other finds—not the least being the remains of the UEEF naval base that had been destroyed in the rain of death, including an entombed underground complex, staffed only by the skeletons of its crew. That provided more conventional equipment that could be traded—carefully, without attracting too much attention. It also provided books and manuals on how to refit the equipment.
During the War:
The Irregulars took little role in the war against the Invid. Most of them felt that the war was a fool’s gambit and that the Invid would leave them alone if they left the Invid alone. Some might call it cowardly, but the Irregulars pointed to the fact that the brave warriors mostly met a brave death. They were not it must be stressed collaborators and would accept and help Invid slaves and experiments, but were uninterested in risking the fragile safety they had found to battle the alien invaders.
When the first Mars division arrived in 2038, things changed to some degree. A number of Mars division craft fell in the region and while most of them were lifeless hulks, a number of survivors were located. Some died at the hands of the Invid, others were brought back to some of the surface villages. The fact that there was a resistance out there led to a schism in the group, between those who wished to fight and those who feared the consequences. Ultimately, it was solved by a simple expedient—those who wished to fight could, but they had to do so well away from San Francisco. In that way, the retaliation of the Invid would not fall upon the caves.
As this occurred, a growing number of war orphans and refugees once again started to populate the surface city. The Irregulars helped out, but the underground wasn’t large enough (or safe enough) to take the entire population. Some were moved to other villages, and some were helped to restore parts of the old city. The Irregulars found themselves having to start to worry about problems like “governance.”
2040-44: Wars of Organization
From 2040 to 2044 the problem wasn’t the Invid, at least not mostly, it was renegades and other groups moving through California. Without the overwhelming power of the Invid, more than a few groups were willing to use salvaged mecha and weapons to set up their petty kingdoms, often marked by a slavery worse than what the Invid offered. At this point, the Irregulars started to make their presence known, digging long tunnels to provide mecha access without also betraying their position. Bandit kings found themselves attacked by modified mecha, ranging from Southern Cross battloids to VF-1s. They never stayed around, retreating immediately after striking in order to avoid the danger of detecting by the invid. Ground troops were mostly armed with conventional weapons, with the rare protoculture powered system used only as a last resort. In any case, most bandits found that M2 machine guns firing SLAP rounds was more than enough to deal with their ragtag forces.
Villages that were liberated were largely left alone, although a share of any grown crops was taxed and sent to storehouses for later dispersal in bad times. Some protested at this, but in truth the amount taken was far less than what the bandits demanded (which was usually summed up by the simple phrase: everything you have).
More importantly, the Irregulars found some villages coming to them to settle disputes. The Boss soon had to start holding court, and coming up with a list of rules and decisions that would then be enforced. All quietly—after all, one never knew when the Invid might decide to move in.
Then the Invid left, after the UEEF decided to blow up the planet rather than let them have it.
2044: Decision point.
The news of the UEEF’s attack, the Invid’s retreat and the Neutron S missiles hit the Irregulars like a thunderbolt. Most Irregulars were horrified by the idea that any human could unleash death on his or her homeworld. Suddenly, the UEEF forces seemed nearly as alien as the Invid themselves, as warlike as the Zentreadi. But more importantly, most knew that the next step would be declaring a return to the old UEG and few were interested in bowing down to the government that had failed to defend them. AT a meeting two weeks after the Invid abandoned the Earth, the Boss declared that the Irregulars were claiming a region encompassing Central and Southern California, as well as parts of the surrounding state. They would protect the local villages and towns from bandits, not the UEG. How that will play out remains to be seen.
Note that this is the idea of a "local" threat. the Irregulars aren't intersted in conquering the earth or forging the new Empire. They largely want to be left alone within their self-declared boundaries. However, not everyone agrees with those boundaries or intends to leave them alone, and therin lies the tale:
HISTORY:
Before:
San Francisco was obliterated, like most of the West Coast, in the rain of death. However, immediately after a large number of zentraedi warships crashed either on the coast, or not far away from in either direction. Had nothing else happened, it’s likely that the region wouldn’t be as unusual as it is today, but the massive bombardment and vaporization of cubic miles of water resulted in a massive, 9.0 earthquake ripping though the region, in some places changing the coastline by as much as a mile after the giant tsunami came roaring through.
In any other time or place, it would have been considered one of the greatest disasters of the modern era. In the aftermath of the destruction of most of humanity, it wasn’t even effectively recorded—the seismic stations and the scientists manning them had all been destroyed and there were few survivors to die in the earthquake or waves.
But most importantly, a number of zentraedi warships found themselves sinking into the heated mud, or buried by collapsing buildings and mountains, entombed, with or without their crews. Those zentraedi who escaped evidently died before being able to carry their tale to others, or those they spoke to simply assumed that the ships had been destroyed, as indeed, many had been. The UEG had no time for reports of lost human naval vessels and zentraedi ships and overflights saw only ruined terrain. The loss of most population in the area made recovering the ruins of Northern and Central California a low priority for the recovery efforts, especially as the ports were no longer needed, the populations they serviced being mostly dead.
Limited reseeding attempts and the gradual restoration of the local ecology were responsible for the return of some individuals to the region, but these were mostly small villages, largely of people seeking to avoid trouble. Occasional rumors of lost zentraedi equipment brought prospectors, but most of the ships they were searching were buried under dozens of meters of hardened debrie. A few were found, most notably a single crashed scout ship with a large amount of mecha that was found (and promptly impounded by the UEG) but there were many more accessible wrecks and the lack of much cover, either human or natural meant that few renegade zentreadi were in a position to try to seek their fortunes.
The Second Robotech War.
The Second Robotech War brought disaster to much of the earth, but also saw something of a population boom in the region—many families were evacuated from more industrialized regions, especially after the defeat of the Master’s and confirmation that the Invid were on the way. With little in the way of supplies, (until the very end the official word was that they would be relocated once the Invid had been defeated), many individuals died in the harsh winter, but others survived, building small villages and towns. The Invid largely left them alone, although the same could jnot be said for marauders and bandits.
The Discovery 2035:
A group of survivors, mostly orphan young people driven out of more hospitable regions, camped out on the edges of what had once been San Francisco bay. Over the course of the winter, seeking better shelter and hiding places from bandits and slavers (and as more groups show up and start competing for shelter), a number of groups explore the wrecked buildings and caves in the region.
One group, following a winding cave, found themselves at a sheer metal wall, with a small fracture in it. Worming through the facture, they found themselves within a wrecked zentraedi destroyer—one that still had a large amount of usable supplies. The group realized two things:
1. They had a treasure.
2. if anyone found out about it, they would probably all be cheerfully murdered, or worse yet, enlisted into the doomed fight against the invid.
Over the next several months, the Group, now naming itself the San Francisco Irregulars, contacted trusted individuals for help. They traded equipment they had “found” in old warehouses for goods and supplies, and avoided trading anything that looked too valuable, especially mecha.
Meanwhile, under the earth, an increasing number of patchers and other helpers started to pull apart the ship they’d found, salvaging protoculture generators and reactivating the life support systems. More importantly, they found that the region under San Francisco had been riddled with caves created when the tsunami waters receded. Explorers ventured into the dangerous subterranean realm and came back with other finds—not the least being the remains of the UEEF naval base that had been destroyed in the rain of death, including an entombed underground complex, staffed only by the skeletons of its crew. That provided more conventional equipment that could be traded—carefully, without attracting too much attention. It also provided books and manuals on how to refit the equipment.
During the War:
The Irregulars took little role in the war against the Invid. Most of them felt that the war was a fool’s gambit and that the Invid would leave them alone if they left the Invid alone. Some might call it cowardly, but the Irregulars pointed to the fact that the brave warriors mostly met a brave death. They were not it must be stressed collaborators and would accept and help Invid slaves and experiments, but were uninterested in risking the fragile safety they had found to battle the alien invaders.
When the first Mars division arrived in 2038, things changed to some degree. A number of Mars division craft fell in the region and while most of them were lifeless hulks, a number of survivors were located. Some died at the hands of the Invid, others were brought back to some of the surface villages. The fact that there was a resistance out there led to a schism in the group, between those who wished to fight and those who feared the consequences. Ultimately, it was solved by a simple expedient—those who wished to fight could, but they had to do so well away from San Francisco. In that way, the retaliation of the Invid would not fall upon the caves.
As this occurred, a growing number of war orphans and refugees once again started to populate the surface city. The Irregulars helped out, but the underground wasn’t large enough (or safe enough) to take the entire population. Some were moved to other villages, and some were helped to restore parts of the old city. The Irregulars found themselves having to start to worry about problems like “governance.”
2040-44: Wars of Organization
From 2040 to 2044 the problem wasn’t the Invid, at least not mostly, it was renegades and other groups moving through California. Without the overwhelming power of the Invid, more than a few groups were willing to use salvaged mecha and weapons to set up their petty kingdoms, often marked by a slavery worse than what the Invid offered. At this point, the Irregulars started to make their presence known, digging long tunnels to provide mecha access without also betraying their position. Bandit kings found themselves attacked by modified mecha, ranging from Southern Cross battloids to VF-1s. They never stayed around, retreating immediately after striking in order to avoid the danger of detecting by the invid. Ground troops were mostly armed with conventional weapons, with the rare protoculture powered system used only as a last resort. In any case, most bandits found that M2 machine guns firing SLAP rounds was more than enough to deal with their ragtag forces.
Villages that were liberated were largely left alone, although a share of any grown crops was taxed and sent to storehouses for later dispersal in bad times. Some protested at this, but in truth the amount taken was far less than what the bandits demanded (which was usually summed up by the simple phrase: everything you have).
More importantly, the Irregulars found some villages coming to them to settle disputes. The Boss soon had to start holding court, and coming up with a list of rules and decisions that would then be enforced. All quietly—after all, one never knew when the Invid might decide to move in.
Then the Invid left, after the UEEF decided to blow up the planet rather than let them have it.
2044: Decision point.
The news of the UEEF’s attack, the Invid’s retreat and the Neutron S missiles hit the Irregulars like a thunderbolt. Most Irregulars were horrified by the idea that any human could unleash death on his or her homeworld. Suddenly, the UEEF forces seemed nearly as alien as the Invid themselves, as warlike as the Zentreadi. But more importantly, most knew that the next step would be declaring a return to the old UEG and few were interested in bowing down to the government that had failed to defend them. AT a meeting two weeks after the Invid abandoned the Earth, the Boss declared that the Irregulars were claiming a region encompassing Central and Southern California, as well as parts of the surrounding state. They would protect the local villages and towns from bandits, not the UEG. How that will play out remains to be seen.
