No Avail
Everyone knows about Wasteland Capital, but not many think about the other small settlements in this area. One of these is a settlement named No Avail. No, this isn’t the biggest settlement, not the most impressive or particularly important ones, but it’s important to know about such settlements as well. Places like Wasteland Capital managed to grow quite successful, and many others tried to follow in their footsteps. Much like others, No Avail tried many things to find its unique identity that would attract travelers and new residents, but to no avail. No matter how hard they tried, the settlement never got much attention, and so got left behind as what it is today.
It’s only a small settlement with no more than about 30 people living there at any given time. Sure, it’s easier to sustain such a small number of residents, but with how remote and unknown the place is, it’s much harder to get even the small amount of resources they need. The settlement can’t produce any resources of their own, and almost no travelers pass by to trade or gift them things such as food, clothing and other items needed for daily life. This area doesn't have anything interesting to offer, no archeological sites, no important landmarks, no interesting natural sights, it’s really nothing more than a small settlement of a few ruined buildings.
Because of this, people of this settlement often travel to the nearby better developed settlements to try and get more supplies for them to survive. Of course, the other settlements around aren’t exactly wealthy either, so they can only provide a limited amount of supplies.
But why would people even live here then? Why not just join one of these bigger and better settlements or just stay in the city? Well, if you believe it or not, this is exactly what these people want. The whole reason for people to move out of the city and come to Wasteland is to move away from fast and crowded city life, to live a simpler life away from most people. They really don’t need or want a lot from life, just enough food to be fed, enough clothes to not have to go naked, though in a hot wasteland even that wouldn’t be a problem. They want to get away from material possessions and other people as much as possible, and this is the perfect place to do so. Many come here intentionally for the extra challenge of living in such a remote place with so few resources. But of course, as it is with any Wasteland settlement, you’ll find that people here tend to come and go quite frequently, and no one stays here for a very long time. Only a few will stay here longer than a full year, and even the few that are staying here for a longer time tend to take a few weeks or months to return to the city.
This alone makes surviving here more possible. As you may know by now, anytime a new person joins a Wasteland settlement they are expected to leave most of their material possessions behind or donate them to the community they’re joining. All donations are voluntary and everyone can bring only as much as they have or can afford, but everyone knows that the whole community, including themselves, will benefit from any donations, so they tend to bring a lot of food, clothing and other practical items that are much needed for the survival of this settlement. They are encouraged to bring anything they can, if not for use at least to trade with other settlements in the area.
But, it’s not that easy to get into settlements like No Avail. It’s a very small and remote settlement that not many people know about at all, and because of how small it is, the residents here prefer to accept only the people they can really trust. You will hardly get here by randomly stumbling into that settlement, you have to know someone in the city who already lived here and can vouch for you, and also direct you to the settlement at all. Sure all that stuff is mapped out, but you really don’t wanna get lost in the Wasteland, not even knowing where north is or what the nearest settlements are.
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