The Vault Crawler
Nearly six hundred meters long, this moving skyscraper dominates the landscape as it slowly navigates the habitable zone of the Great Dust Bowl. A graveyard of scavenged ruins lies in its wake, picked clean of salvage and left to bake in the sun. The parasitic mammoth must operate on a twenty four hour basis to remain functioning, and it is a scientific miracle that it has never seriously broken down.
Few would claim their life easy aboard the mobile platform, the labor is hard, the food is terrible, and there is little down time for entertainment. With a working economy, clean drinking water, and rights to a fair trial, they are probably the most progressive settlement for thousands of miles if you are human. Along with a professional team of doctors, the lead lined walls and radiation arches keep the populace healthy.
You can find this stark contrast to these basic rights a short elevator ride from the top. Ghouls, mutants, and other undesirables are not allowed on the main levels, don’t have many rights, and are considered openly as expendable. Many sanitation and scavenging jobs are filled by people that could never hope to become a free citizen. They live their lives in choking exhaust, stinging sands, and sweltering heat, all in exchange for meager protection and a reliable income.
Security Forces
Working directly under the First Citizens Council are three different agencies that focus on enforcement of laws and expectations while on board the Vault Crawler. The VCP, or Vault Crawler Protectorate, patrols the common areas and any facility that currently harbors a First Citizen. They deal with common criminals and act as first responders to most crises. The Unstoppables are reserved for when things get out of control and serve as an elite strike force and peacekeeping unit to the best of their programming. Kept in storage all around the Crawler, they are perfect for quick responses to large problems. Finally, the Red Devils take to patrolling the air as well as providing invaluable intel and reconnaissance. Although their methods seem comically outdated, they often prove their big brains more than up for the challenges involved.
Operating with little to no checks and balances as compared to the other organizations running under the First citizens Council, this Brotherhood of Steel splinter cell rules the roost aboard the Crawler so to speak. They receive special treatment for their vital role in keeping the citizens of the platform safe, although they do tend to abuse their authority to take what they want when it comes to scavenged technology.
Main sources of Sustenance
Hard Pudding: Blended together with tumbleweed and dandelion leaves, protein is harvested from insect larva and fiber from the fungi farms. Lab created flavoring agents are used to provide some variety, although with limited resources these additions are subtle at best. It is served hot with a barrel cactus marmalade for breakfast, usually cold for lunch as a baked loaf glazed in banana yuka jam, then finally pressed in noodle form and covered in a brown sauce of rendered oils and animal fats for dinner.
Lazarus Sweeties: Recycled materials from waste management facilities allows a variety of 'luxury' foods to served, (and reserved), aboard the platform year-round. Due to diminishing returns, these goods become more expensive and retain less flavor as time goes on. The demand remains however, and so clever packaging is used to conceal the true nature of this ' nourishment '.
Hydration: Digging and drilling makes underground veins of water much more accessible to the Crawler. Purification technology captured from scavenged Vaults turns processing irradiated liquids into an almost autonomous operation. Those with low scores on their triennial exam often end up stuck managing the water chips, amounting to long days in the dark damp underworld of the platform with little else to do but watch mold grow.
Crawler Radio- A collection of works preserved aboard the Vault Crawler that were intended to be taken into space to introduce future generations to the best of the era's music. Preserved in an expansive holotape library, the First Citizens are in charge of operating the station to make sure it stays that way. They often place information in between tracks that range from news to propaganda, using it as a platform to keep society synchronized with their ideals.
- Population- <7000
- Motor Pool- Mostly utility and civilian vehicles
- Basic Security- The Vault Crawler Protectorate
- Military- The Unstoppables/Thunderbirds
- Leadership- First Citizens Council
- Credits at the normal rate on board the Crawler. You can access public job terminals under supervision near the lifts, giving outsiders access to grunt work jobs they can use to visit the city.
- Caps are used on the lower levels and by the host of nomadic tribes that clings to the heels of the Crawler for life. They can be used to purchase basic necessities, but most luxury and technical goods exist only on the upper levels and require Credits.
- Import: Scrap technical components have a high value in trade aboard the Crawler. Intact terminals and circuit boards can often be traded directly for Credits or favors from citizens trying to turn a profit as middle-man. Finding functioning robots or vehicles can even earn someone a citizenship themselves if they meet a 'short' list of other requirements.
- Export: Taking advantage of the people they have deemed unworthy of sharing the Crawler with, many of the things manufactured in bulk for trade are designed to help people survive in the desert. Cookware, tents, and tools sell as fast as they are made, an ever growing demand as populations grow in the shadow of the moving city. Simple weapons are also a big ticket item, as projectile weapons are forbidden within five miles of the platform and denizens must either surrender or conceal their firearms if they wish to avoid being Blacklisted.
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