World Soul - map building
The Wolves, migrating south due to famine, grow increasingly desperate, pressuring the coastal Lobsters for food.
The Opossums, allied with the Anthropocene Solution, seek dominance through the revival of ancient technology and a new virus, relying on the Lobsters for relics from the Sunken City.
Meanwhile, the Lobsters, caught between the Wolves’ demands for sustenance and the Opossums’ reliance on relics, tread carefully, using diplomacy to avoid conflict.
Each tribe pushes the limits of survival, teetering between cooperation and inevitable war.
Tribe of the Wolves: The Nomadic Predators
Current Habitat: Migrating southward from Sacramento
Driven south from Sacramento by a worsening famine, the Wolven Californian Tribe has turned toward the coast in search of sustenance. As food grows scarce and their crops gone dry, their desperation mounts, making them more aggressive and volatile. Wolves are known for their enhanced survival skills and adeptness at combat, making them both formidable opponents and reluctant allies.
The Wolves are an instinct-driven group, honoring strength and unity above all else. Their hierarchy is strict, with leadership determined through physical prowess.
But hunger has started to erode this order, since Sacramento’s farmlands died causing splinters within the pack and as the Moon Feast draws near, impatience and desperation push them to consider drastic action. By pressuring the Lobster Californian Tribe to provide sustenance from their marine fields from within the Sunken City as a token of good will, the tribe tries to avoid active conflict with them.
However their recent incursions toward the coastal Lobster Californian Tribe's territory has revealed to them the existence of supporters of the Anthropocene Solution, the Opposum Californian Tribe. The Elder of the Tribe believes they might plan something but attacking them without satisfying the tribe’s hunger could prove lethal.
Tribe of the Opossums: The Scavenger Industrialists
Current Habitat: Eastern San Francisco and East Southern California
The Opossum Tribe, composed of meticulous scavengers, has developed a reputation as resourceful and innovative, with a unique ability to digest nearly anything, a critical advantage in these scarce times. Their strength lies not in physical might but in their sharp, calculated minds and their adaptable physiology. They roam the urban ruins, marking areas with the Anthropocene Solution tag and scavenging materials essential to reanimate their ancient factory and by extension, their ultimate weapon for dominance, a new virus favoring only them.
In recent months, however, they’ve faced a crippling issue: key relics and industrial components needed for the revival of their Anthropocene Solution factory are almost exhausted within their territory. Now, they depend on the Lobster Californian Tribe for these essential materials since most of them inhabit the deep waters of the Sunken City. Their relationship with the Lobster Californian Tribe is tenuous—while they do not hunt them and pay handsomely for relics by trading marine farming equipments and echo beacons, their patience wears thin as they suspect the Lobsters may be withholding or allying with the Wolven Californian Tribe, manipulating the two tribes into potential conflict.
Tribe of the Lobsters: The Coastal Merchants
Current Habitat: Shorelines and shallow waters of the Pacific Coast and Sunken City
The Lobster Californian Tribe, is thriving as merchants of the shoreline, has carved out a critical niche as scavengers of the ocean’s depths. Skilled divers, they are agile in the water but vulnerable on land, making them more inclined to rely on alliances than brute force.
Known for their natural affinity for water and extensive knowledge of aquaculture, they have established a society centered around survival, diplomacy, and resource gathering. Although they are skilled traders, their loyalty to the Banded Tribes is strained by the fearsome presence of the Opposum Californian Tribe, whose cunning strategies and alliances with the Anthropocene Solution make the Lobsters wary of confrontation.
Caught between the desperation of the Wolven Californian Tribe, who pressure them to provide sustenance from their fields in Sunken City, and the demands of the Opposum Californian Tribe, who seek relics for their mysterious and dangerous experiments, the Lobsters tread carefully. They rely on diplomacy to avoid becoming entangled in direct conflict with either side. This cautious approach has earned them a reputation as shrewd, if sometimes overly neutral, survivors.
Tribe of the Prairie Dogs: The Underground Communicators
Current Habitat: The underground metro lines of San Francisco
Adapted for life in underground networks, the Prairie Dog Californian Tribe are deeply communal, thriving on close bonds and cooperative living, and are renowned for their vast information-sharing abilities.
They serve as mediators and messengers, often connecting distant groups or diffusing tensions between the more aggressive tribes. Their underground complexes are scattered throughout central areas, allowing them to monitor ongoing events and gather intelligence on nearby tribal interactions (and allow Quick Travel to players?).
However, their openness and curiosity occasionally put them at odds with the secretive Opposum Californian Tribe, who are wary of the Prairie Dogs' tendency to openly share information, especially details of the Anthropocene Solution's intentions. This tension pushes the Prairie Dog Californian Tribe to remain cautious, sensing that any disclosure of sensitive information could escalate conflicts or draw unwanted attention.
Acting as a neutral party, they subtly influence tribal relations, often diffusing situations before they reach open conflict. With their adaptability and communication skills, the Prairie Dogs provide a stabilizing influence to the whole area while prioritizing the safety of their family members.
Tribe of the Owls: The Night Scouts
Current Habitat: The island of Alcatraz
The Owl scouts residing on Alcatraz are not a full tribe but a small, specialized team of
adventurers sent from their distant homeland.
Tasked with finding the last pure humans rumored to be hidden on the island, they are natural investigators, guided by the Owl Tribe’s values of curiosity, vigilance, and preservation.
Alcatraz now serves as a haunting outpost, where they search for signs of past human presence, determined to complete their mission despite the eerie emptiness of the island. They rely on their keen senses and stealth to explore, their connection to the broader tribe manifesting in their dedication to tracking and documenting findings.
A secret tunnel dug by the Prairie Dog Californian Tribe is their only connection and way reaching the mainland. The Owls provide the Prairie Dogs with valuable intelligence and maps of the surrounding regions as a trade for food. The Shadow Talon is willing to share valuable insights on the next location they plan to search for pure humans; if the player can obtain Department of Human Evolution (DoHE) documents currently held by the Opossum Californian Tribe.