Fallout: Florida , The Sunshine State's Post-Apocalyptic Wastes Options

[RaderOfTheLostArk]

Well, I never thought I'd be posting in this particular subforum before now. But with all these ideas bouncing in my head of what post-Great War Florida would look like in the Fallout universe, I have taken to jotting them down and (hopefully) making a cohesive guide to it. I don't really write fiction, so I don't think I'll be writing actual stories like you all do, but I suppose we'll see. For the time being, it's really going to be a guide of sorts, somewhat like a wiki or what textbooks would say.

This will obviously attempt to adhere to Fallout canon as much as possible. I chose Florida as the setting not only because it is my home state (though that is definitely the biggest reason) but because, from what I can tell, so little about the Southeastern United States is talked about in Fallout lore, giving me a lot more room to operate in. And, of course, it's the state I know best and would love to see the most as a setting for a Fallout game.

So here's the plan for all this:
[*] I'm going to break up each section of the guide into its own post to separate it sufficiently. This one will be the introduction to the setting.
[*] I may include some incomplete information on here for several reasons. For one, it'll be an easy repository to refer to just in case the Word doc I am using has something go screwy or that my computer messes up or whatever. Two, it can be a little taste of what's to come. Three, I just want to get down as much content as comes to me.
[*] The tentative list of sections to have here include, but are not limited to (and not necessarily in this order):

[*] General overview of the setting and how I am breaking up the parts of Florida
[*] The Bestiary
[*] The Timeline
[*] The Factions
[*] Profiles of each of the regions I am making

Some of the stuff you see will definitely be subject to change if needed to make it cohesive. I'll try to document what I change to make it clear.

And most of all, I hope you all like it and I'd like to hear whatever feedback you have. Presenting and communicating information is one of the things I enjoy most, although I'm more used to doing so for real-life content (particularly political science).

First section of the guide coming up!

The Setting - Basic Overview

While not experiencing the same level of nuclear barrage as places such as Southern California, New York, and D.C., Florida was plunged into nuclear fire just like virtually everywhere else in the world. This was especially true of the Tampa Bay Area, Orlando and its surrounding areas, and South Florida, centers of great economic and political importance in Pre-War America. Being the 3rd-most populous state in the country, the Great War extinguished far more lives than average here and left plenty more to pick up the pieces in the post-apocalyptic, anarchic wastes. The exceptional biological, geographical, and human diversity of Florida led to a far more varied impact on the former Sunshine State when the bombs fell.

Nevertheless, many settlements started to crop up in the decades just after the Great War, even in those once-densely populated cities and metropolitan areas. In time, former towns and cities were beginning to be resurrected and reclaiming their old names, and brand-new ones started to form. But post-War Florida--and the rest of what used to be the country's Gulf Commonwealth, Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi--was still highly fractured. In the 22nd century, the first of many ambitious attempts was made to reunite this once-thriving landscape. While extraordinarily difficult at first, a string of successes in reunification gave birth to the Gulf Coast Union, a nation similar in concept to the future New California Republic (NCR). The so-called Great Reunification--a somewhat hyperbolic title, at least currently--started extending through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and even some of southwestern Georgia, though it has yet to reclaim the whole of any of these former states.

The process is far from completed, however, and many other factions both big and small struggle with the Gulf Coast Union for dominance in the former Southeastern United States. Many of the conflicts take place in what used to be the Sunshine State. The Gulf Coast Union was successful in claiming virtually all of Northern Florida and has made inroads into the Central Florida wastes. Major and minor powers violently feuding with each other and with the Gulf Coast Union have made the GCU's grip on these lands somewhat tenuous, preventing any attempts at expanding into South Florida.

As of this guide, it is currently the year 2130, over a half-century since the world was irrevocably changed. To most easily understand the lands that were once called Florida, it is best to divide the area into ten distinct regions--even if the divisions are a bit crude, arbitrary, or too convenient. Each have their own set of conflicts being waged, major and minor players vying for power, and civilizations trying to carve out a life in these harsh wastes. Welcome to the Sunshine State's post-apocalyptic wastes.

The Ten Regions and Their Counties

County Map
Here's how some coasts in Florida got their nicknames, though not all are explicitly mentioned here

Though these broken-up zones are somewhat crude and arbitrary, it'll be easiest to understand post-apocalyptic Florida this way. However, major conflicts in one region can definitely spill over into another.

1) Panhandle (13): Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington, Bay, Jackson, Calhoun, Gulf, Liberty, Franklin, Gadsden
2) Big Bend (8): Leon, Wakulla, Jefferson, Madison, Taylor, Lafayette, Dixie, Levy
3) North Central Florida (8): Hamilton, Suwannee, Columbia, Baker, Union, Bradford, Alachua, Gilchrist
4) The First Coast (6): Nassau, Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Putnam, Flagler
5) The Space and Treasure Coasts (7): Volusia, Seminole, Brevard, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Okeechobee
6) Central Florida (8): Marion, Sumter, Lake, Orange, Polk, Osceola, Hardee, Highlands
7) The Tampa Bay Area (6): Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee
8) The Gold Coast (3): Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade
9) Southwest Florida (7.5): Sarasota, De Soto, Charlotte, Glades, Lee, Hendry, Collier, Monroe (mainland only)
10) The Keys (0.5): Monroe (Keys only)


Just a quick side-note: The Panhandle West/East dichotomy is one I totally made up for my own purposes. They are, as far as I know, not referred to as such in real life. It is just the Panhandle, and the real-world Panhandle doesn't necessarily include all of the counties in Big Bend.

This post has been edited by RaderOfTheLostArk: Jun 9 2020, 01:30 AM

[TheCheshireKhajiit]

Do you have your version of Fallout on these forums?

Nah man, it’s not nearly as... developed... as your idea for Florida is. If you want to look at my ideas for it check out the Khajiit’s Fur Brained Plots thread a bit further down here in the Fan Fic forum. Feel free to use any info from there you like (just be sure to give me credit for it ).

[RaderOfTheLostArk]

Do you have your version of Fallout on these forums?

Nah man, it's not nearly as... developed... as your idea for Florida is. If you want to look at my ideas for it check out the Khajiit's Fur Brained Plots thread a bit further down here in the Fan Fic forum. Feel free to use any info from there you like (just be sure to give me credit for it ).

Well, if you do expand on it, I'd be interested in seeing it. I know very little about the real-life area. I took a look at what you had, and a couple of ideas you had were similar to mine, such as war-torn New Orleans and bipedal gators (though my development and name for them is different).

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Here's the first region profile I have (mostly) done. To make it more easily visualized, I hope to create a map of the area that delineates where all the locations are (especially the totally/partially fictional places, seeing as how...well...they're mostly or completely fake and therefore you can't even look it up on Google maps.

First up, the Panhandle.

Regional Profile #1: The Panhandle

Counties: Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Holmes, Washington, Bay, Jackson, Calhoun, Gulf, Liberty, Franklin, Gadsden

Brief Description: The Panhandle is the northwestern-most limits of Florida, bordering the state of Alabama. While sparsely-populated in comparison to the central third of the state and especially down in South Florida, the Panhandle was nonetheless very important to Pre-War Florida's geography, history, and culture. The region now serves as the GCU's gateway between the rest of Florida and the non-Florida land.

Alternate History Tidbits: TBD

Major Settlements: Pensacola; Panama City; Eastpoint; DeFuniak Springs; Crestview; Fort Walton Beach; Santa Rosa Island; Destin; Apalachicola;

Minor Settlements: St. Teresa; Lanark Village; Cottondale; Escambia Farms; Laurel Hill; Alpine Heights; Blountstown; Freeport; Mexico Beach; St. Joe; Walnut Hill

Other Points of Interest:

• Environmental Areas: Apalachicola National Forest; Apalachicola River Wildlife and Environmental Area; Tate's Hell State Forest; Bald Point State Park; Point Washington State Forest; Yellow River Marsh Preserve State Park
• Landmasses: Okaloosa Island, Avalon Beach, Alligator Point; Dauphin Island; Walnut Hill
• Larger Complexes: University of West Florida, Liberty Correctional Institute; Tyndall Air Force Base; Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport; Port Morgan
• Smaller Complexes/Particular Buildings: St. George Island Lighthouse, Emerald Bay Golf Club; Duke Field Airport; Indian Pass Raw Bar
• Other: Apalachicola River; Choctawhatchee Bay; Choctawhatchee River Water Management Area; Gulf World; Old Muscogee Cemetery; Muscogee Road

Totally Fictional Locations: Gulf Coast Union Outpost Gamma; Gulf Coast Union Outpost Iota; Brotherhood of Steel - Laguna Beach Bunker; Gulf Coast Union Government Center (Pensacola); Nuka-Cola factory; Benton House

Partially Fictional Locations: Apalachee Indian Village; Mart-Town (repurposed Walmart SuperCenter in Crestview, which has become its own little city)

Primary Factions Involved: Gulf Coast Union; Brotherhood of Steel - Midwest Chapter; Alabama Dissidents; Apalachee Indian Tribe

Main Storyline: The GCU is getting trouble from the Brotherhood of Steel and the newly-formed Alabama Dissidents. The Brotherhood and Dissidents have also been known to be hostile to each other, though a few GCU intel reports speculate that they may have brokered a temporary truce and are working together for the time being. GCU-held Pensacola has not yet seen a full-scale assault from either or both groups yet, but tensions are running high and war is considered practically inevitable at this point. Some citizens have already or are considering fleeing in anticipation of conflict. The GCU is not at full numbers in the area due to problems that have also formed on the east coast as well as trouble out to the west, which has spread their military presence thin.

The Apalachee Indian Tribe has also returned to their ancestral lands, though no one outside of the tribe knows why. There is some speculation that they may have been forced out of their homes in Oklahoma and wanted to at least go back to the lands of their forefathers and foremothers, though many suspect that there is also something specific they wanted to find. Whatever the case may be, the GCU didn't see any reason to oppose their resettlement in Florida and let them settle in the Apalachicola River Wildlife and Environmental Area since no GCU citizens had been living in the area, though the GCU also didn't want to have yet another problem on their hands. For their part, the Tribe has shown no interest in getting involved in the GCU-BoS-Dissidents conflict, though overtures have been made to them.

Other Storylines: TBD, but at least one I want to include involves the Mart-Town, the just-conceived idea I had for a Walmart Supercenter being repurposed into a little city. I guess that makes it somewhat like Rivet City in the Capital Wasteland.

This post has been edited by RaderOfTheLostArk: Jun 9 2020, 01:26 AM