Seen the Rest? Now try NEST!

The obvious answer is single-celled proteins. These are micro-organisms that can be grown in vitro and then processed to form foodstuffs. The current state on the art of them (according to my wife the molecular biologist) is that the majority of them are poisonous, the rest taste awful and have little or no texture. However, they are easy to grow and do so quickly.

Given the appropriate investment of time and resources, it would be possible to come up with decent falvouring for SCP-based foodstuffs, and maybe to knit them into more platable forms in much the same way as is done with mycoproteins (like Quorn). However, they would definitely not be a balanced diet. It might be possible to synthesize the necessary additives, or find another simple organism (like a yeast) that would provide them. Ultimately, I can see the inhabitants of places like NEST recyccling a lot - possibly their dead too!

"Chokey Chicken is people!"
"Oh good. I thought it was chicken."

Ahem.

As for the zombies, if they have nanites in their bodies, then the nanites might be more than capable of leaching the various organic materials from their surroundings in order to keep them going. sure, it's easier to use something that is the right thing (which explains the desire for brains), but any organic material of the right type could be converted to useful mass for the zombie. It would just take longer.

These zombies could be very hard to stop.

Finally, Sheikh, you just gave me a very hoirrific image. Have you ever read Day of the Triffids? The narrator describes a situation where his farm is surrounded by triffids that are kept at bay by a fence. The triffids press against the fence, trying to overwhelm it, but are held back by flamethrowers and occasional application of electric cuyrrent. Meanwhile, the rest of the triffids beat out their messages to the rest of the world.

I imagined that, but with zombies.

I'm glad its daylight.

While not mentioned in the story, NEST does to some extent use sun-lines, hydroponics, and refining certain types of algae. As the narrator points out, its pretty much a space colony rooted on the ground. The point of such an arcology is to eliminate roads and the need for cars - with the resultant pollution and resources expenditure. Having at least partial food self -sufficiency helps cut down of traffic as well. I don't think the system was initially set up to recycle the dead, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Global warming is a reality in this setting - somewhere between 2058-68 - so the arcos are a bit closer to the ocean than you think. One is in fact, partially submerged.

As a side note, there are human space colonies and a mars habitat, though what impact they have on the setting is rather nebulous. The alien ships act as colonies as well - at least those that haven't been hit with anti-orbital weapons. Almost all the satellites have been destroyed though, and the aliens are too paranoid about potential ICBM strikes to allow any other rockets into the higher altitudes. Really rather cuts down communication, navigation, weather prediction and the like. Keeping in mind the integration of society brought by the tech singularity and most people probably feel a bit amputated.

The zombies tend to be normal humans, improperly remade. They tend to be hyper-violent, and have the thought pattern of a severely retarded individual. At least initially - if you don't kill them quickly, they can learn and get smarter. And then of course, there are the type fours... Somewhere out there, is an intelligently guided undead army.

Food wise, they still need the normal bits, though from a nano perspective a complete human is a better source of complete nutrients, than trying to find them separately. After all, the things were designed to work from a certain provided supplement rather than taking from the environ. Otherwise, the nano would be grey goo, not zombies. One other thing that hasn't been properly emphasized, is that its not the nano alone that's doing this. I'll post more of an explanation later.

This also means that the zombies are in fact alive. (and why they're called reanimates, not undead.) However, they will regenerate whole limbs in a day or two, so if you don't go past killing to actual destruction, they come right back. A bit like a Spriggan in Morrowind. One bullet to the head might not be enough. More advanced creatures regenerate quicker. A Type 5 can have half its head bashed in, both lungs ripped out, a 3 foot piece of rebar through its heart, and have one arm cut off, yet it will still come after you. Good thing there are only about -- of them.

At the moment I'm a bit torn. My original idea was that most of the cities have everything they need to survive, but not all that is needed to live. Entire sessions could go without sight of a reanimate, its just the problems of living in a ghetto with depressed and violent people. (A bit like SLA Industries now that I think about it - though like AFMBE I've never played that game.) However, reducing that independence per your ideas so people have to go out is pretty good too. Your thoughts on this?

There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.

I mean you've already written an adventure where they ahve to tend to a power generator, so why not adventures where they need to get supplies for the food or waste processing plants?

Oooh, a water caravan to Vegas, or some Deseret community. That would be a scary trek. I mean, even with rationing, wouldn't they occassionally need fresh water? They couldn't have any pipelines, could they?

And recycle their dead? Of course. You definitely want to burn them or chop them up and use them for something, rather than risk them getting back up.

Even if the cities have everything they need to survie, there will always be a need for more. Humans being what they are, they will want to distinguish themselves from the others. This could mean a trade in goods from outside, which would also keep the communications between the redoubts going.

And yes, this idea would work in a AFMBE setting. Like all good zombie movies, the main threat is not the zombies. Rather it is the people who you are stuck with. After all, if you watch the Romero movies, it isn't the zombies that do the most harm, it's the other survivors who won't so-operate with each other.

Not sure about SLA, though. The current philosophy on the game is changing towards psychological horror, which this more than smacks of. The gun bunnies would probably prefer to go zombie hunting though. Put them up against the Type 4s, I say.

Admittedly, all of the arcos are designed so that the PCs want to leave, even if they don't have too, but I think I'll make it clear that its a bit more encouraged for the every day citizen as well.

No one has actually seen a type four I might add. To review:

• Type-1: reanimate
• Alpha: Smart Reanimate
• Type-2: Tougher stronger reanimate
• Beta: Malignant mutated chimera
• Type-3: Cyber-Zombie
• Kappa: Zombie merged with technology
• Type-4: [hive mind intelligence?...]
• Type-5: Ubersoldat

Whether or not animals or aliens can be zombified has not been established. The fact that its an interaction between an alien bio-weapon (We heavily outnumbered them 7 billion to a few million when they arrived) fairly standard medical technology. (Nano-vaccine) However, the only people who really take advantage of this is New Birmingham - a theocracy with undead crusaders, just what we need in the aftermath of a war that set technology back several generations.

[This is as good a time as any to point out the oddity that I can correctly spell Birmingham, theocracy, and chimera, yet consistently misspell minuet to the point I just say 60 seconds in all my writing.]

For that matter, EMP weapons were deployed, so technology is at a premium - hence a preference for 50 year old AKs over Gauss rifles in many places.

Rules wise, lucidity is regained a lot faster if you hunt down amenities like easy chairs and working movie players.

There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.

Personally, I find having panopticon (all seeing) and enforcers in the same sentence to be creepy, in a 1984 way.

As to altitude, I haven't though much of it, though it would seem to vary point by point. On the lower levels, you would prefer to be near the core of the building to be away from the reanimates. On the upper levels, you want to be on the outer perimeter to have actual light and a view of the outside. The NEST arcos look a bit like a washing machine agitator, or a 1950's blender with fins.

Caste wise, there are probably some administrators and officials that put themselves at the top, and those with technical expertise to keep things running are valuable as well. However, since the place is quite literally a city - there's going to be a large number of hair dressers, accountants, insurance agents and so forth who are rather redundant. I'll leave it up to the GM to decide if all the pets have been eaten yet.

Although one of the NEST structures is the head of the US Government, they're out of contact with most of the country, and the other city states aren't likely to listen. Vegas is the home of a military junta, Ruby Ridge is a bunch of militia men, and New Birmingham is a theocracy. Central Gulf in Texas is rather far away, and its an incomplete arco, so they don't have much on hand.

As to Mr. Gentleman John, that is kind of the idea. Every city state is by definition a flawed entity taken over by fanatics who have the leadership and force for emergencies. Its expected to have people chafing under them, until many people enter the infested zones by choice. I'm not anti-technology, despite nano being blamed for the calamity, but rather anti-extremist.

What other places would you like to see in the setting? I've got one story that tells us what is going on in Russia, but everything else is a tabla rasia. Should I fill in the map anymore, or is it best to leave a "here be dragons" sign for GMs to play with?

There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.

I'll be unoriginal and refer to my other post on settings. I'd like a view point from an undeveloped country (if they existed pre-invasion). To get alittle more specific, how about an African Tribe, given the lack of resources and people, they probably aren't targets and don't have too high of a dead population. Somewhere like that, it would seem would be an ideal destination for people trying to escape the acros and live in relative safety. Plus once the idea spreads to enough people, they end up with a tower too (maybe it's already there).

You should find out everything you possibly can about someplace that we tend to think of as remote, like Lhasa or Timbuktu.

Well... maybe not Timbuktu. I think Mali is the poorest place on the planet or something.

How about Guinea, you have rainforests, plains, savanas, a coast, and cities, at least one of which boasts a population of 2 million, it borders on Mali which is just dustland. Tribal affiliation, like Fula, Maninka, or Susu are still important in many parts of the nation. Guinea is also the source of the Niger river.

The capital, Conakry, is always in various states of disrepair, even in our modern times, so it would be easy to turn it into an armed camp against zombie hoards shambling out of the northern deserts.

So you have to ask, would the Shrimps start tearing up the West African coast, because environmental concerns take such a back seat to economic (especially in Guinea where Bauxite mining has caused environmental damage) or would they start on the North African coast, which is more settled, developed, industrial?

This way you know where the refugees are coming from and where they are running to. Also remember that disease is a big problem in West Africa. The life expectancy is perhaps 50 years. Only about half the people can read, less so if the Shrimps have destroyed the major cities.

Africans can generally arm themselves at least as well as Americans, but they aren't big weapon manufacturers. Still, refugees from Siera Leone would be munchkined to the hilt.

Siera Leone also arms and trains children armies, which are known for their superstitious dogmatic fervor. Who knows what they would believe about zombies?

Overall, I think Guinea + Mali would make a great worldbook for Anarchy Zones.

If you're going for less-developed countries, India would be interesting. All that population with all those lax environmental laws. Add in the fact that the Indians have nukes, as do their Pakistani neighbours, and a volatile bordersituation to begin with, and you have potential for heavy duty anarchy.

However, I think there is more than enough to play around with in North America. After all, Zombie by Crucible Design (sorry, can't find a link to them any more) only had a sketchy background, but was still a good setting.

I know the a href thing, maybe that is the correct way. I know this isn't exactly the building design you are shooting for, but it might give you some ideas.

http://archidose.blogspot.com/2006/10/half-dose-30-urban-cactus.html

I doubt the NEST would be a garden paradise, but this is probably one of the closer things around. From the description given, I was thinking more along the lines of the city blocks in Judge Dredd.

Yeah, that's a bit like what NEST is, though I think of those new super buildings in Taipei/Taiwan and Hong Kong, or those Lampur towers in Singapore. NEST is not a slice or "Corosaunt" or some other world city, though the area around it looks a bit like that. If you get a satellite photo of the East coast, the city sprawl looks like creeping mold, and NEST is to clean that up.

As to other areas of the world, I have to admit that I don't know as much as I would like too/should. I've started a story for Africa, but its turned into a two page rant about how its just history repeating itself. Colonial rule leads to a rise in population, but doesn't set up the infrastructure to support it well, nor advanced industry, and there are no local people with leadership experience. Europe pulls out, and there is a spate of dictatorships, civil wars, boom and bust population, and pandemics. By the time this speculative future comes about, they have that mostly under control, but then the Aliens and undead kick it out from under them, and its the same chaos, just 50 years later.

In short, they still get the short end of the stick, and I feel bad doing that to them. I kind of see three or four zones, that are more homogeneous than the US. There are still nations rather than city states, but depending on where in Africa you are, you either have millions of zombies due to infectious diseases, (I shudder to think what a mahrburg/Ebola zombie would be like...) open war zone between what remains of national armies, a few safe states backed by nukes - the Southern tip for one - or some sort of alien power block.

There is a fine line between hobby and obsession. I seem to have lost sight of it some time ago.