Norkal
The Kingdom of Garlic
“I …. just wanted some food, I really don’t want to be beheaded.”
A strange place to be sure even with the relaxed standards of the post-Fall world. The Kingdom of Garlic is surrounded by walls patrolled by horse mounted warriors that guard it’s precious farmlands in the name of their King.
Positioned over what was once Gilroy, the Kingdom of Garlic grew up around a small central village around a large stone keep. Surrounded by some of the only working farmland known the Kingdom of Garlic is forced to vigilantly defend itself from outsiders with mounted horsemen and some of the finest archers. If all of this sounds like a feudal kingdom, it’s because it is. This strange anachronism somehow not only survives, but thrives.
It is far from a idyllic paradise however. Most of the Kingdoms residents live in slavery to the few Lords that own the land they farm on. These Lords are much more comfortable than their serfs, but pale in comparison to the opulence that the Garlic King lives in. The Garlic King demands nothing less than absolute obedience. Weapons of any sort are banned for use among the serfs to keep them in line as is any degree of learning. Since it is said that the secrets of the Kingdoms crops and farming are held by the King, few are willing to risk revolt when faced with the very real possibility of starvation.
Zalez
“Biggest little city in the Wastes.”
The “Gateway to the Promised Land,” as the town’s extremely enthusiastic Mayor likes to call it, is the closest thing to a boomtown in Norkal. The deep lowlands that make Zalez unbearably hot most of the year are a blessing in disguise as they shield Zalez from the worst radiation storms and acid rain. making limited but profitable agriculture possible.
The town created a meager but functional ranching and farming community. Jaded Wasters, former bunker dwellers, and even some tribals flocked to Zalez as a result, looking for the promise of food and work. Initially this created a huge problem; newcomers would show up and cause trouble, confident that they could leave it behind and disappear into the Wastes. This changed when the town formed the Zalez Rangers: A group of hard men and women trained to track down and bring in criminals dead or alive, and paid in bounty.
Criminals and the disreputable in general now know to fear the Rangers because they aren’t limited to taking bounties from wrong doers only in Bako. Anyone with a price on their head will do for the Rangers as long as they’ve done some sort of wrong and the bounty is good.
The relative stability in Zalez has been both a blessing and a curse though. Soon after Zalez became whatever the Wastes qualify as prosperous the Zalez Free Trade Conglomerate. The Conglomerate has benefitted Zalez immensely by bringing in goods and merchants from all over the Wastes, but it’s created no small amount of tension