Pottstown
"Those assholes in Pottstown think they run everything; they've always been nothin but a bunch of stuck-up nobodies from a town thats looked the damn same since the day before it got blown to hell." -KOP Settler
Demographics
The settlers of Pottstown claim to have lived there all their lives and across generations to the very first people who lived in the Pre-War town. Most of this is lies, Pottstown is one of the very few towns in the King of Prussia Area that remained largely undamaged by the bombs of the Great War and because of this it has maintained its status as a hub for traveling settlers and caravans. Some civilized ghouls reside within Pottstowns lower districts, closer to city hall and the shore of the Schuylkill River, many of these ghoul settlers live in large ramshackle shanty towns and villages which are built from the ruins of the lower houses of the Pre-War city closer to the river shore.
Government
The three boroughs are each run by their own council of elders, these are the oldest and most trusted members of their given settlements. These elders all work together on the Pottstown City Council to ensure the survival and prosperity of the three settlements as a whole. The elders all work with The Mayor of Pottstown, who is in large part the lead visionary and figure head of all three communities and whose position is voted on by all three settlements in order to ensure that the right man for the job gets put in place every single time. Under the Mayor is the Sheriff of Pottstown, who runs the police and security forces that watch over all three settlements, the Sheriff often appoints three deputies, one to each settlement, who all gather up their own men and equipment in order to fortify and protect their given settlement. The sheer number of settlers and gunman within them is often enough to dissuade any raider gang that might wish to take on the three boroughs.
Recently, with the arrival of the Enclave at both Fort Juno and Buck, many Enclave personnel have come to settle within the town of Pottstown, using the settlement and its people as assets and resources to advance their war against the brotherhood. The Enclave of course grants protection to the settlements as well as advanced medical supplies and personnel, on the condition that ghouls and severely mutated settlers are either pushed to the fringes of the settlement or exiled outright.
The three boroughs of Pottstown act largely independently from one another and are run by their respective councils of elders. These councils are in large part comprised of the oldest and most respected members of their given borough, these elders serve for life most often than not and are usually voted on once a seat becomes available. These elders all work together with the Mayor of Pottstown, who acts as the visionary head and primary public face of all three communities and who is voted on by the settlers of all three communities. The mayor of the town is considered to be the arbiter of the people's will and is put in place as a check to the power that the elders wield. The current Mayor of Pottstown is a man named Thomas Finch, the position of Sheriff currently lies vacant, but rumors have begun to circulate that the position has been slated to a bounty hunter who once did work for Finch when he was Sheriff of Pottstown. The job of the sheriff is to ensure that law and order is maintained, and the rules of each community are followed to the mayor and the elder's satisfaction. The Sheriff has the power to appoint deputies, often times each one will service their respective borough. Each deputy has the right and power to keep a small armory, of which they are the sole proprietor and overseer of. Each deputy
Defences
The three boroughs have several armed mercanary groups at their disposal which act as both police and security for the settlements. In addition to these hired guns, many of the settlers themselves are handy with firearms and energy weapons, btu the primary defense of each of the settlements are their walls. Both Lincoln's Ward and The Hill have a multi-layer wall system which allows them even greater protection. Greater Pottstown's sheer scale makes it almost impossible to fully wall off, so, the communites that are found within the area of the settlement wall themselves off and have created a "highway" system using the clearest streets, which have been blocked off with walls to allow for safer travel to and from the different communities of the settlement.
Infrastructure
The three boroughs of Pottstown survive together, and do so largely through farming, scavenging and some light industrial manufacturing. The farms of the boroughs are located largely within the Hill and Lincoln's Ward, which offer the greenest space among the three. However, the most scavenging and scrap gets found within Greater Pottstown allowing for the three to all exchange and trade amongst one another. In addition to farmland, The Hill also has access to the Pottstown Hospital, which they raid from time to time when Enclave supply drops come more infrequently.
Districts
The majority of the town's residents reside in the Three Boroughs, these are smaller settlements which each house their own families and businesses but work together to form the large community of Pottstown.
The first of these boroughs is The Hill, located on the eastern side of the town following the main street of the town past City Hall. The Hill is the remnants of an old boarding school, much of the campus has collapsed or fallen into such ruin that the buildings are uninhabitable. But the primary living spaces for the settlement are on the western edge of the campus, The Chapel is the smallest of the buildings and acts as a hub for travelers and caravans to come through and trade with the settlers of The Hill. The primary living quarters is called The Great Hall and is the largest of the buildings, featuring a subsection of the building that is connected by two conjoining hallways which flow across a central courtyard. The final building is The Library, which is the place where the elders of the settlement meat and work, delving through the books of the library in search of knowledge that can help move the settlement further into the future.
The second of the boroughs is Lincoln's Ward, the settlement is located on the northeastern side of the town, nestled between Johnson and North York Street. The southern border of the settlement is 5th Street while its northern border is 8th Street just before Lincoln Hill, where an elementary school resides. This settlement is characterized by a dense collection of dozens of homes, some of which are bombed out, but most of which are structured enough to house a decent number of settlers. The school at the top of the hill is the primary workplace for these settlers, as they have turned the yard of the school into a massive farm which helps to feed the other two boroughs in addition to themselves. The elders of Lincoln's Ward live within the elementary school itself, this is where they meet and oversee the great labor of much of the settlers.
The final borough is Greater Pottstown, located between Manatawny Street and Washington Street, this settlement is the largest by far in terms of geographical scale. The northern border of Beech Street and the southern border being the river itself makes this settlement capable of houses hundreds of residents, though many of these homes still remain vacant or too bombed out to live in. Pottstown suffered a terrible fire within its main settlement stopping the expansion of the settlement for a long while, but this has not deterred the elders of Greater Pottstown as they ambition to turn the town back into its Pre-War glory. The primary resource of this borough is scrap and the food supplies that are raided daily from the countless stores and shops that lie all across the settlement's borders. Many smaller communities have risen up within the Greater Pottstown area, but all of these communities have sworn fealty and loyalty to one another and to the Mayor of Pottstown.
Assets
Each of the three boroughs provides unique and interesting places to scavenge and explore, and the subway system of Pottstown provides a dynamic shift to the upper levels of the city. Much of the feral ghoul population which once resided on the surface of Pottstown, can now be found in its subway system.
Comments