City_ Dayton, Ohio – Google Docs
Savage Sell-Blades of Dayton
City: Dayton, Ohio
Population: 30,000/180,000
Controls: Montgomery County
Government: Democratic, for the moment
Problem: Hostile City
Heroic Opportunity: Mercenary Work
City Aspect: Militaristic and Mercantile
Dayton was a major manufacturing hub for the United States military, prior to the Serpentfall. It is now — unsurprisingly — home to an ever increasing number of mercenary groups. The mercenaries dissuade would-be conquerors, keep the factories running and supplied, and do not interfere with the city government under Mayor Frank Krebs; in exchange, Mayor Krebs does not tax the mercenary groups directly, and makes it easy for them to recruit in Dayton. As a result of all of this, Dayton is rich, as cities in the Poisoned Lands go.
Mayor Krebs, by the way, has no intention of ever leaving office, elections or no. He is genuinely popular, so the issue has not yet come up — but certain troublesome individuals have consistently come down with unfortunate, and ultimately fatal, cases of the “Dayton Black Grippe.” In reality, they were victims of polonium poisoning (Dayton did top-secret polonium processing for the Manhattan Project), administered by the members of a former Girl Scout troop that was unfortunately driven quite mad by the Serpentfall. Krebs himself is unaware that he is being watched over by assassins, although he is rumored to be having an affair with the (rather striking) widow who currently runs that troop.
- Moe Lane
- http://www.moelane.com
As a current resident of Dayton, I heartily approve of this writeup.
I think that I’ve said this before, but: it’s almost insanely easy to write stuff for The Day After Ragnarok. Because so much of the country was geared up for war production, it’s like the towns come with pre-made adventure hooks. Just add some Conan post-apocalypse, and boom! You’re done.