| New Jerusalem | |
| |
| General Information | |
| Establishment: | 2258 |
| Status: | Stable |
| Location Information | |
| Location: | Washington |
| Societal Information | |
| Population: | Thousands |
| Notable Individuals: | Judge David, Maria, The Apostle Lucius |
| Factions: | The Kingdom of God |
New Jerusalem was known before the war as the Tri-Cities and is now effectively the capital of The Kingdom of God. Judge David conquered the area from its scavenger inhabitants and has rebuilt the city in him and his wife Maria’s personal image of God’s heavenly capital. The settlement is the Kingdom’s largest, and it also operates as the Judge’s secure and superlative fortress.
History[]
Ruined Tri-Cities[]
Pasco was the first of the Tri-Cities to be incorporated, in 1891. Kennewick was incorporated in 1904, and Richland followed in 1910. Before the Great War, the Tri-Cities were three closely tied cities – Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland located at the confluence of the Yakima, Snake, and Columbia Rivers in the Columbia Basin of eastern Washington. Pasco was the largest city in the Tri-Cities before the war, mostly due to its railroad station. It also had the most land for easy irrigation and farming and was still the largest up until the founding of Hanford near Richland. Farming was the basis of virtually every sector of the economy in the early years. Indeed, the area remained mostly rural well into the 1940's. It did not have a daily newspaper or radio station until the mid-1940's. Agriculture was always a big part of the Tri-Cities, Pasco in particular.
The second world war led to the establishment of the Hanford Site in the Tri-Cities to support the nascent Manhattan Project. After the founding of the Hanford Site in 1943, Richland became the largest city of the three overnight. Plutonium manufactured at the site was used in the first nuclear bomb, tested at the Trinity site, and in Fat Man, the bomb detonated over Nagasaki, Japan. After the war ended, economy continued to grow, but not without some turbulence. Every time the federal government cut funding at Hanford, thousands of talented, credentialed people would suddenly become jobless and leave for other jobs. During this time, other employers slowly made their way into the area, but they too would often be forced to cut jobs in the bad times.
During the Cold War, the project expanded to include thirteen nuclear reactors and six large plutonium processing complexes, which produced plutonium for most of the weapons built for the ever-increasing U.S. nuclear arsenal. Nuclear technology developed rapidly, and Hanford scientists produced major technological achievements every year it seemed. That was at first, at least.
As time went on, the Hanford Site continued to churn out plutonium while the Tri-Cities grew around it. Many safety procedures and waste disposal practices for radioactive material were inadequate, and Hanford's operations released significant amounts of radioactive materials into the air and the Columbia River. Completion of the Interstate 182 Bridge in 1984 made Pasco much more accessible, fueling the further growth of that city. Manufacturing became more relevant in the Tri-Cities during the 21st century while the Hanford Site fell more into the background so to speak. The high-level radioactive waste produced by the Hanford Site did not fade into the background however and only became more noticeable as time went on.
In 2043, a record number of mothers in Pasco experienced miscarriages, birthing what the press termed "Chicken-Faced Monstrosities". A great scandal then almost occurred when the negligence of the Hanford Site was quite easily discovered by a private investigator. Scandal was averted however when the government convinced all the affected mothers to settle out of court for untold sums.
After narrowly avoiding catastrophe, the Hanford Site was radically restructured under the guidance of the federal government to reduce its radioactive waste output. Across the country, most people were still unconcerned about radioactive waste, but at Handford Site, there was still a possibility of a huge scandal that could actually turn people against nuclear power. So, the government made a great effort to effectively seal and dispose of the radioactive waste produced by the Hanford Site's weapons built for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Although these efforts were successful to some degree, the fact that the Hanford Site continued to produce plutonium retarded the process somewhat. The Sino-American War only complicated the process.
The Great War came to the Tri-Cities much as it did elsewhere, with little warning. The Handford Site was targeted by Chinese bombers as well as the Tri-Cities themselves. The bombs proved devastating to the area, and the Tri-Cities burned for days after the bombs dropped. Meanwhile, the Hanford Site was directly targeted by Chinese bombs but avoided a complete nuclear holocaust due to the heroic actions of several on-Site staff. As the sirens blared outside, the personnel at Hanford Site worked tirelessly to minimize the damage the facility would cause if it was hit. Against the orders of superiors, the Hanford personnel intentionally scuttled the site’s nuclear reactors and plutonium processing complexes to minimize damage to any survivors. They did not completely succeed as the site did become contaminated, but they avoided creating an even larger area of radioactive contamination. No would ever thank them unfortunately: as all on-site staff at the Hanford Site died during the Great War.
The rest of 2077 was a quiet year for the Tri-cities. The lack of vaults near any of cities’ downtown meant most within the Tri-Cities were either killed in the initial bombings, died from radiation poisoning, or ghoulified. Some residents of Kennewick did apparently manage to escape to a Vault outside the city limits before the bombs fell, but nothing has been hear of them since the Great War. The Tri-Cities themselves became something of tomb, filled to the brim with corpses and small shuffling groups of traumatized ghouls, unable to fully process what had happened.
These ghouls, feral and non-feral, began to slowly migrate towards the Hanford Site in the years following the bombs. The non-ferals have never really been able to explain why they did this, but it has been theorized they all were simply attracted to the high level of radiation. Over time, the majority of the Tri-Cities's ghoul population moved on to the ruins of the Hanford Site, and they became even more empty than before. Only a few ghouls and unmutated scavengers were left poking around the Tri-Cities in the early 22nd century.
Things began to change as time went on. More and more outside scavengers began to filter back into the Tri-Cities and stake their claims on various parts of the ruins. Scavenger clans took shape in the 2100's that would go on to rule the Tri-Cities for the next hundred years. These clans were tied to together by both business and familial relations and would often war with each other over territorial claims. This warfare was most common between the clans in Richland and Pasco due to long-standing family feuds. This warfare would go on continuously for over seventy years and hamper any opportunity for trade in the area.
As time went on, raider bands also moved into the Tri-Cities to prey on the scavvers in the early 2200's and the violence escalated. By the 2250's, Kennewick had fallen to raiders. and the scavenger clans decided to unite to fight them. It was during this fight that David and his followers came to the Tri-Cities after fleeing Spokane.
Rule of the Judge[]
The arrival of David to the ruined Tri-Cities would bring great upheaval to the area. David's followers were fanatical and were prepared to fight tooth and nail for what they saw as their's. They quickly and quietly settled down in Richland around 2252, and they expanded from there. The conquest of the Tri-Cities took a few months as David's followers quickly swept aside the various raider tribes and scavenger clans. In their place, David left behind various loyal followers to govern many of the small shell-shocked communities left behind after his conquest. David finalized his conquest with the destruction of the last raider tribe in the Tri-Cities during the summer of 2252.
After the last raiders were exterminated, David decided that it was time to get serious. With the Tri-Cities conquered, David finally declared the Kingdom of God to have arrived and himself to be God's Judge. He also asked all of his new followers to take Biblical names to symbolize their "spiritual rebirth". This included not only his former raider followers but all those he had subsumed in his conquests. A defiant few in Pasco then tried to stage a rebellion but were quickly crushed. With that, the Judge then set about making a series of declarations that would come to shape the Kingdom and its people for generations to come.
One of the first and most important declarations Judge David made was making his original small group of followers the top of a new hierarchy, calling them Apostles. He named them as his most loyal followers and gave them authority over large numbers of the Kingdom's newer members. This would especially important in the Tri-Cities as the Judge gave his Apostles rulership over several communities within the larger city, most notably in Kennewick and Pasco. The Apostle Lucius was put in charge of Kennewick while the Apostle Judah was put in charge of Pasco. Meanwhile, Richland was kept under the personal rule of the Judge. Smaller communities such as the Columbia Center Mall also had Apostles installed as their new leaders.
Another of the Judge's declarations was a long list of items now banned in the Kingdom: alcohol, chems, cybernetics, pornography, non-Biblical literature, and any form of birth control. Another important series of declarations outlawed actions including rape, incest, sodomy, homosexuality, adultery, promiscuity, theft, apostasy, atheism, self-mutilation, and many other things. The last series of important declarations regarded the treatment of women and enraged quite a few of the Kingdom's female members. Nonetheless, they were soon enough convinced of the declaration's validity or were forcefully silenced. This declaration was followed in the Tri-Cities by a week long campaign to destroy all the listed items and to put a stop to any of the listed practices. Chem dealers and moonshiners had their stock confiscated by Apostle-led mobs and were intensely shamed. Prostitutes, homosexuals, and former raiders not in service to the Judge were meanwhile executed, either on the spot or using a construction crane that would soon become the Judge's favorite method of execution. On an even larger level, women were forced to become second-class citizens with most grimly accepting their fate. The image of tens of bodies hanging from the Mode of Execution, and "working women" being beaten to death by cheering crowds are seared into the memory of the people of New Jerusalem to this day. Most of this violence took place in Richland, but the same rules were applied across the Tri-Cities.
After this bit of "justice", the Judge went on to establish the Hands of David to formalize the process of domestic enforcement of his declarations. These brute squads continue to stalk New Jerusalem's streets into the current day, and they do a fairly good job in enforcing the law, although corruption is a problem in some communities. Before establishing the Hands of David, Judge David had also created the Army of God which he intended to use for more expansionist purposes. For much of 2252, the Judge built up his new army and readied them to march out of the Tri-Cities to conquer further. At the same time, Maria and the Apostles spent their time attempting to shore up the Kingdom's hold on the Tri-Cities by establishing community churches and continuing to root out the sinful.
Judge David would leave the Tri-Cities in late 2252 and would be gone for the next four years fighting to conquer the surrounding regions of Cascadia. The Tri-Cities were left to be collectively governed by the Apostles and Maria, who went about administration with a great deal of brutality. These four years were much more barbarous than the later ones as the Kingdom's hierarchy wanted to cement their position through any means necessary. Over time, the Apostles and Maria started to stray apart from one another as they began to face off against one another. Maria used the Hands of David to stamp out sin and dissent while the Apostles created power bases through their various fiefdoms.
Another important thing to happen in this time was a sharp increase in trade. This was due to the Tri-Cities becoming significantly safer after the Judge's conquest of the city which meant caravans could finally go through the region. Trade from both east and west began to filter into the Tri-Cities, and prosperity followed. The mall and Richland swelled with new business while the Hands of David worked hard to stem the growth of corruption.
The conflict between Maria and the Apostles boiled to the surface in 2254, and blood ran in the streets of the Tri-Cities. While working on the Kingdom's new flag, Maria discovered that the Apostle in charge of Pasco was abusing one of his daughters. That enraged Maria, and she demanded that the Apostle Judah be held to account. Most of the Apostles then proceeded to circle the wagons in defiance of Maria’s authoritative actions. The Apostles and their followers and Maria and the Hands of David remained at a standoff for about a few months. At the same time, Maria appealed to her husband, still campaigning, to aid her. Judge David did not immediately return, but he did eventually to mediate between the factions within the Tri-Cities. The Judge did not want to overreach in his power to being peace. That was, until rumors began to spread that David was under the thrall of his wife. Knowing that the Apostles were the source of these rumors, the Judge felt betrayed and decided to take decisive action. David gave them two choices: allow Judah to be arrested and punished or face the punishment alongside him. The Apostles decided to give in and folded to David, handing Judah over. Judah was subsequently hanged, and life went bad to normal. That is, the Apostles became more respectful of the Judge’s power as well as his wife’s.
The next few years were peaceful as the Tri-Cities continued to grow. In 2258, Judge David declared the Tri-Cities to be ‘New Jerusalem’ as that would be the only fit capital of the Kingdom of God. It took a while for the general population to get used to these changes, but more change was on the horizon. In 2259, the ghouls of the Hanford Site were moved from the original site to Pasco. This population transfer would be difficult, but the ghouls and the humans would learn to get along. The community would later go on to be renamed Hanford Town. The same year, Judge David hanged another Apostle for corruption to show no one was above the law. He also clamped down on corruption by evicting traders from the mall at Maria’s advice. In 2260, the Kingdom of God was declared a sanctuary for all Christians and other “People of the Book”, which brought in a slow but steady stream of immigration from the wasteland. New Disciples arrived in trickles from the wasteland as well as other Christians. Most of these New Disciples and other Christians settled in Richland, living alongside Apostles and those in the Kingdom’s leadership. A few Jews and Muslims also arrived in New Jerusalem with the Jews fostering a small but stable community in Richland.
The 2260s would also be a time of peace and growth for the 2260s, as Judge David would go back to his wars of conquest. Maria would oversee the city while he was gone with the Apostles assisting. This time, they knew better than to oppose her. Judge David’s brutal victories brought much happiness to New Jerusalem, with many in the city living vicariously through their leader and his Army of God. The populace also paid rapt attention to the Oregon Brushfire Wars, hanging on every word from a passing caravaner or a mad radio host In a propaganda move, Maria would rename Richland “Davidville” in 2266 to celebrate the Judge’s return to New Jerusalem. However, that was overshadowed from the frequent rebellions taking place outside New Jerusalem starting in 2267. New Jerusalem became under high alert as the Kingdom feared a large organized rebellion or a tribal invasion.
The rebellions would calm down by 2268 as the Oregon Bushfire Wars kicked into high gear. Judge Davis returned again to New Jerusalem to rule, and he began to gather a larger court around him, annoying both the Apostles and Maria. The most notable of these new courtiers were Eloise and Simon Adler. Eloise’s mysticism fascinated David, and many suspected them of having an intimate relationship. Meanwhile, Simon was willing to assist David in a project he had in mind for a long time: the Third Temple. David had the vision and Simon had the knowledge to get the job done with construction starting in 2271. The Third Temple has been under construction ever since though the Judge and Maria moved in around 2279. For much of the 2270s, New Jerusalem remained calm and trade led to prosperity.
The sense of peace that has pervaded in New Jerusalem since the 2250s ended in 2279. That year would begin a reckoning for the Kingdom of God that has yet to come.
Moral and Mercantile Decline[]
Success would come with its own price for New Jerusalem. The spring of 2279 was a turning point for the Kingdom in general as well as in New Jerusalem. Maria successfully took down Eloise, and that caused a cascading series of events that led to rebels re-emerging in the Kingdom of God. The feeling of insecurity because of these rebels has remained throughout the Kingdom of God ever since.
This is especially true in New Jerusalem. The Hands of David are on the prowl every day looking for sinners and law-breakers. They persecute any heretics they find among the factories and residences of New Jerusalem, especially in Davidville and Kennewick. Hanford Town, the mall, and other smaller communities are in slightly better condition as their Apostles are less tolerant of the Hands of David intruding on their territory.
The populace of New Jerusalem has largely become disillusioned with the Kingdom’s apocalyptic vision of the Heaven of God. Many within the city actually believed the Kingdom’s message in their early years. but all but the most loyal in Davidville have little real faith in their leader’s Kingdom. As a result, a large black market has sprung up within New Jerusalem in recent years. Corruption has become endemic within the Kingdom’s ranks, in the Hands of David and the Army of God. Women of the younger generation have started to test the boundaries set to them by the Kingdom. Most of them have been met by the brutality of the Hands of David, but they are not broken yet. A few covert rebel groups used to operate within the capital, but by 2281, most of them were caught and hanged by Maria’s spies.
Currently, New Jerusalem is feeling a sort of calm before the storm. The Kingdom of God is still on the rise with caravan traffic feeding its nascent economy, and the Hands of David maintain security, but a feeling of unease pervades the city. Judge David is old and has no heir. Rebels roam within the Kingdom’s territory and are set on the state’s downfall. It is to be seen how New Jerusalem will weather its current predicament.
Government[]
New Jerusalem is technically ruled by Judge David but in practice is run by several different people in the day to day administration. The Apostles, former raider followers of David who submitted to the Kingdom's religious teachings, have been given great power and privileges by the Judge. The separate communities within New Jerusalem are mostly run by Apostles subordinated to Judge David. Richland, renamed Davidville, is in theory directly governed by David but in practice is run by Maria and a few select Apostles who David lets have absolute power. Kennewick and Hanford Town are run by two Apostles appointed by Judge David who are allowed govern their communities as they see fit. The mall meanwhile is allowed to govern itself for the most part due to extensive bribery of many within the Kingdom's hierarchy.
The government of New Jerusalem is, as the Kingdom at large, a warlord state and theocracy run by religious fundamentalists mixed with a healthy dose of former raiders. Law and order is served through brutality, and government representation is non-existent.
Economy[]
The economy of New Jerusalem is closely linked to the overall economy of the Kingdom of God. The city is geared towards supporting the Kingdom in its expansion and prosperity, it was founded with that intention in mind in fact. Instead of many settlements in the wasteland, New Jerusalem is not focused on producing enough food to survive. It can survive just well enough with food imported from the rest of the Kingdom and from the outside as well. Goods manufactured in New Jerusalem include firearms, ammunition, textiles, and literature. These goods are highly valued by many outside the Kingdom and has led to a thriving trade. Lumber is also a product exported from New Jerusalem, as many on the outer parts of New Jerusalem are lumberjacks. However, lumber is less of a factor in New Jerusalem's economy than the rest of Cascadia.
Culture[]
New Jerusalem's culture is one of fundamentalism where Christian traditionalism is the law of the land. Judge David and Maria imported an apocalyptic brand of Evangelical Christianity to the region, and it has a visceral impact on New Jerusalem. Biblical law is strictly enforced by the Hands of David in New Jerusalem, and patriarchy is administered with great care by the powers that be. There are exceptions to the rule, as racial and some religious minorities are tolerated, but New Jerusalem was always envisioned to be a Christian state.
The differing communities within New Jerusalem vary in culture somewhat, but all of them have a flavor of the Kingdom. The churches of these communities are central to each. Those in Davidville are dyed in the wool members of the Kingdom, and the Hands of David are not only present but welcome there. Kennewick is a community terrified of its leader, and it is a quiet place where the elders keep their heads down and the youth sharpen their knives for future retribution. New Hanford is poorer than the others, but its community is more happy and united due to a variety of factors. The high number of ghouls also has lead to some tension within the community as well as some crime, but the Apostle in Hanford Town manages that fairly well. The mall is the capitalist heart of New Jerusalem that is in truth a hotbed of black market deals and sedition. The other outer areas are mostly logging camps that give lip service to the Judge while quietly going about their own business.
Points of Interest[]
Columbia Center Mall[]
The mall was the largest in southeastern Washington before the war and was a major hub for survivors shortly after the bombs fell. The mall continued to be a trading hub for scavengers right up until the arrival of the Judge. Judge David secured the Columbia Central Mall as an outpost of the Army of God but mostly just let the traders continue their amoral ways with an Apostle keeping an eye on them. That was until Maria pointed out the traders’ ways and nagged David into driving them out in 2259. The traders have slowly drifted back into the mall afterwards, and now things are back to normal for the most part. However, the mall traders at least try to stick to the standards set by the Kingdom of God. That includes not selling weapons, slaves, chems, or vice. The mall on the surface-level adheres to these rules, and the Kingdom of God tolerated the traders to a degree. That hides a massive black market that still exists underneath. The massive mall acts as an expansive market for the people of Mew Jerusalem who go there to buy necessities and more exotic products. Various traders occupy former department stores, and the automated food court acts as a sort of soup kitchen for local homeless run by an altruistic New Disciple named Enoch. The water fountain within the mall was reactivated after the arrival of the Judge and also acts as a local source for fresh water. Instead of being led by an Apostle like they were at one time, the mall is instead led by a mayor named Perseus Lindsey who was elected by the traders. The traders are allowed to elect their leaders because they pay “tribute” to important members of the Kingdom.
Davidville[]
Davidville, known before the war as Richland, is the central community of New Jerusalem where much of the administration and new infrastructure of the city is located. The Judge and his wife live there as well as many of the Kingdom's top brass. This top brass includes numerous New Disciples, Apostles, and veterans of the Army of God. Traders are not allowed to live in Davidville but do conduct trade there though not on the levels at the mall. Jews are also allowed to live within Davidville, but they have small numbers. The community is walled to provide protection from the outside and also to separate Davidville from the rest of New Jerusalem. Maria and the Hands of David do a lot to administrate Davidville while Judge David mostly just lounges around when he is not campaigning. Davidville is the most "ideal" community within New Jerusalem, with the close attention of Judge David and Maria making sure that the community remains as close to their vision of the Kingdom as possible. Any sort of black market or criminal element in Davidville is viciously prosecuted by the Hands of David, who are much more "hands-on" in their enforcement there than in other communities at the urging of Maria.
Hanford Garrison[]
The Hanford Garrison is an outpost of the Army of God in Hanford Town that was initially created to put the boot down on the local mutants. Held by the Apostle Zephaniah, the Hanford Garrison makes the Kingdom’s presence known in the slums and ramshackle neighborhoods of Hanford Town. The garrison was built off of the ruins of pre-War local U.S. Department of Energy headquarters. The soldiers of the Army of God live within the building, and the Apostle keeps to himself in the offices of the building. The garrison contains a mess hall, residential quarters, an armory, and a working generator room. The garrison in Hanford do very little work beyond occasionally defending the settlements from interlopers from the wasteland. The apostle's understanding with local shady elements mean the garrison do little to interfere with local affairs.
The Hanford Site[]
A relic of the old world, the Hanford Site is an old nuclear production complex once operated by the United States federal government northeast of the rest of New Jerusalem. As a valuable military asset, the facility was heavily bombed during the Great War and the radioactive material waste was exposed to the world. Due to the efforts of the facility staff however, the radioactive contamination was limited to around the facility’s ruins instead of covering the Tri-cities. After the war, the Hanford Site became a haunt for feral ghouls who loved the area’s high radiation. Eventually, civilized ghouls also took up residence in the Hanford Site and effectively evicted the feral ghouls into the rest of the ruins. The ghouls resided in the ruins of the Hanford Site until the arrival of the Judge, who brought many of them back into the light of civilization alongside “normies”. Currently, the Hanford Site stands empty except for a couple of reserved ghouls who respect the authority of the Judge but prefer to live by themselves. The ruins of the site are a mess of twisted metal and concrete that imply a complex pre-War architecture that has been long forgotten. Below the ruins and sometimes bubbling up to the surface is a seemingly endless supply of radioactive waste that was created during the Cold War. The site’s radioactivity means most people avoid it besides the most determined scavengers and the occasional Hand of David looking to mete out justice. An important member of the small ghoul community in the Hanford Site is Walter McGillin, a pre-War U.S. soldier who acts as smuggler and mercenary for the black market within the Kingdom.
Hanford Town[]
Hanford Town is a community that is built upon the ruins of Pasco that is mostly made up of mutants and ex-scavengers. The community was established by the Judge after he took the Tri-Cities when he settled some scavengers and brought many ghouls out of the Hanford Site to the city. Judge David let the Apostle Judah govern Hanford Town initially. The Apostle Judah created a sprawling shantytown and took a very hands-off attitude towards the community’s growth. Judah’s came to an abrupt end when David executed him and uplifted the Apostle Zephaniah in his place. Since then, the Apostle Zephaniah has kept a tight grip on power through a complex network of thugs and bribery. Hanford Town is the poorest of the communities in New Jerusalem, but there is a sense of unity within the area that is not present among any of the others. The Apostle Zephaniah, ruling from the Hanford Garrison, protects his community quite effectively from itself and outsiders, and his people love him for it. His expert control of the criminal undercurrent, both man and mutant, has ensured his comfortable place in Hanford Town for years to come.
Kennewick[]
Kennewick is a community that was built on top of the pre-War remains of the city that is mostly inhabited by traders and former scavengers. The community was originally a hub for scavver clans from across the ruins of the Tri-Cities, where most of them lived. It was there that Judge David came down hardest in his conquest of the Tri-Cities, and the people of the area remember the Judge's actions still with venom in their eyes. Most in the community work at a local industrial plant that manufactures ammunition while a few stubborn few remain scavengers. The Apostle Lucius is in charge of Kennewick, and he is a brutal tyrant towards the residents, extorting and abusing them as he wishes. Luckily for the people of Kennewick, the Apostle prefers to hunt rebels most of the time instead of hunting them.
The Mode of Punishment[]
The so-called Mode of Punishment is a pre-War industrial crane that serves as a place of public execution for many of those sentenced to death in the Kingdom of God. The crane is rarely bare, and the Kingdom’s executioner has a busy job cutting down dead bodies to prepare for new ones. The "Mop" is in remarkably good condition for its age and frequent usage and will no doubt be servicing New Jerusalem's executions for years to come.
New Jerusalem Church of the New Disciples[]
Although the New Disciples have smaller churches throughout New Jerusalem in Kennewick and Hanford Town, New Jerusalem Church of the New Disciples in Davidville is only one with the honor of taking the city's name as its own. The church is one that was restored from its ruined pre-War state to a better condition. Judge David offered the buidling to serve as Bishop Marcellus's ministry, but the bishop saw this as a farce. Marcellus told David that he should give it to another New Disciple pastor, and that is what the Judge did. Since 2270, Pastor Shane Gleeson has been the head of New Jerusalem Church of the New Disciples, and he has done quite well for himself.
The Third Temple[]
The Third Temple is the home and the personal house of God for Judge David while also symbolizing the coming new Messianic age. The temple has been a work in progress for decades now, but there is enough construction done that the Judge and many of his men have moved in already. The building is modeled after the Biblical Solomon's Temple according to descriptions given in the Bible and the advise given by a certain Simon Adler. The temple functions both as a palace and a religious center for the Kingdom of God. It is constantly under guard by members of the Army of God, with the addition of the nearby Temple Garrison. The Judge and Maria have also taken up a habit of collecting religious relics and pre-War artifacts in the Third Temple. Some of these artifacts include several LMLK stamped jars, coins from the Holy Land, and hundreds of Bibles.
Temple Garrison[]
The Temple Garrison is the outpost of the Army of God closest to the Third Temple in Davidville. The building was named after the nearby Temple serves and serves as a recruiting station for the populace of New Jerusalem. A former convention center, the Temple Garrison has been fortified and well-stocked with plenty of weapons. The soldiers within the Army of God are well looked after and are given the best supplies. However, they are also expected to serve the Judge directly in war if given the opportunity. The garrison hopes that day does not come soon.
Notable Individuals[]
Clementina[]
Clementina is a wife of a trader and a member of New Jerusalem’s thriving black market. Brought in from the outside by her husband, Clementina was forced to adapt to her surroundings while also trying to maintain her own status as a trader in secret. She sells plenty of products to men and women at the Columbia Center Mall, but she is cautious in her business. Clementina knows the punishment for a woman running a business like her's and she plays her cards close to the chest. Still, she much prefers the danger to being out of game altogether, as that would just make her life awfully boring.
Clementina was born around 2267 in the settlement of Chinatown within Seattle to loving parents. Her birth name was Zetian Huan. She was raised among caravaners and eventually became a caravaner herself. She proved to be shrewd and intelligent, with the only “bad” decision she ever made was an impulsive marriage to another caravaner named Krane. Krane would then make the decision in 2283 to move to New Jerusalem to start his own business. Neither of them were quite aware of the Kingdom’s rules before they arrived, but they were forced to conform to the state’s rules if they wanted to stay. Krane and especially Zetian wanted to leave, but they had invested everything in this move. They made the difficult decision to stay.
Krane took the name Onan, and Zetian took the name Clementina. They took up residence at the Columbia Center Mall where traders teemed with business. Onan and Clementina bought a stall for a clothing business, and Onan got to work. However, that was not before Onan impregnated his wife with their first child, Mary. That gave Clementina some time to rest, to begin her new life as a homemaker. Mary and her next child Jacob occupied Clementina for the next three years, as she loves her children.
Around 2287, Clementina began to consider that she wanted to get back into the trading game, as she had not been trading since she and Onan moved to New Jerusalem in 2283. Clementina began to get in contact with other female black market traders within the mall, and after a while, she was successful. Clementina's friends Hagar and Lucretia assisted her in getting into the chem trade, and she just right into it. Clementina obtained large amounts of jet, buffout, and psycho, and she began selling those chems for a profit to other women in New Jerusalem. In a few months, Clementina moved out of selling chems to "safer" products, namely pre-War consumer goods such as makeup and magazines. She has been much more cautious with her black market dealings than before, and the black market continues to run in New Jerusalem uninterrupted. She has considered getting out of the black market, but Clementina prefers the bit of danger to a mundane life as just a housewife.
Judge David[]
Judge David is the harsh autocratic ruler of the Kingdom of God who casts himself as the arbiter of God on Earth. Raised by raiders and converted by his wife Maria, a member of the New Disciples, David retains many of the sensibilities he held as a raider while carrying out “God’s will” with a fundamentalist’s vigor. Judge David is a man of extreme personas, the public and the private. He is the instrument of God's will in public while being a bit of a lazy bore in private life. His wife Maria would prefer most people knew about David's spiritual side and not the part that marks him as a former raider.
Judge David is a man of extreme personas, the public and the private. David’s public persona is one of a firm decisive leader who can be brutal but also charitable. This public persona is seen by everyone in the Kingdom and is projected to the outside as well. David’s private persona is one of a near illiterate man who is ferociously loyal, somewhat vain, and overall not the brightest. This private persona is only known to David’s closest friends meeting behind closed doors, recalling his raider days or reading the Bible. The pressures of maintaining the Kingdom have increasingly weighed on the Judge, and he almost feels like he is going to buckle under the weight sometimes. That is when Maria usually comes and steers him in the right direction, to David’s relief. As he always says, they make the perfect couple.
Judge David's relationship with Maria and his Christian faith have not changed his raider nature and his lust for war however. He may not be that intelligent (and acknowledge that), but one should never mistake that for weakness. Even in his old age, David has not mellowed out and is perfectly willing to use brute force to get his point across.
Lorenzo[]
Lorenzo is the young leader of the Hands of David who takes his job quite seriously despite the corruption of his peers. Born into the Kingdom, Lorenzo was brought up to respect authority and the Kingdom’s hierarchy. He is a diligent member of the Kingdom who reads the Bible and follows God’s laws, as he sees it at least. He is very prideful of his position and resents many of the Apostles for their high rank in Godly organization that contrasts with their low moral fiber. Lorenzo trusts in the Judge's judgement for now, but as time goes on, he continues asking more questions about the Kingdom and himself.
Lorenzo was born around 2262 in New Jerusalem to a family of ammunition factory workers in Kennewick. He was the third child in his family and was mostly neglected by his parents. There was no schooling in Kennewick unlike in Hanford Town and Davidville so Lorenzo naturally joined a gang as a young child. That brought his parents into focus, and they quickly asserted themselves in Lorenzo’s life. They took him out of his little gang and went about setting things right. They taught Lorenzo to read using the Bible and gave him a healthy respect for authority. This went on until Lorenzo's teenage years when he was thrust into working in an ammunition factory.
At sixteen, Lorenzo joined the Hands of David. The Hands of David in 2278 was a solid power within New Jerusalem while also being fairly corrupt. When he joined, Lorenzo was highly idealistic in how he viewed the Hands. He saw them as the just arbiters of the law as the Judge and his Bible interpreted it. Lorenzo was first put into a squad with Reuben, who he looked up to for a short time. That was until the one-eyed geezer nearly beat a teenage girl to death over her shoulders being revealed. Although Lorenzo agreed that the girl was out of line, he saw Reuben’s methods as overdone and bordering on sadistic. In response to Lorenzo talking to the boss of Hands about Reuben, the boss shuffled Lorenzo to another squad. There Lorenzo stayed for three long years. He became bit more jaded over time, but some of his earlier idealism remained.
Lorenzo got his big break in 2281 when he took part in the operation to wipe out subversives in New Jerusalem. The young Hand led his squad in a nighttime raid on a secret meeting of S.C.U.M. The female rebel group had been worming their way into the capital for years, and Lorenzo would remove them. The raid went off without a hitch, and the majority were captured with negligible casualties on the part of the Hands. Maria herself applauded Lorenzo and sent him on a few other missions throughout New Jerusalem. The missions were all successful and led to the complete destruction of New Jerusalem’s rebel cells. Lorenzo became a rising star within the Kingdom of God, and the Judge himself assured Lorenzo that he had his eye on the young man.
His time finally came in 2283, when the old boss of the Hands of David died an early death from a rough encounter with pneumonia. The Judge, recognizing Lorenzo as a go-getter, appointed the young man as the new boss of the Hands. Many of the older Hands were outraged that a youngster took up the leadership position instead one of them. They also became enraged when Lorenzo started to enforce anti-corruption measures, fighting against extortion and bribery throughout the Hands. He managed to limit the reaction by repeatedly appealing to the Judge for backing.
However around the same time, Lorenzo’s interaction with the Kingdom’s upper echelons began to increase his resentment of them. The Apostles, the companions of the Judge, were supposed to be the pinnacles of Christian virtue. Apostle Lucius, the ruler of Lorenzo’s home Kennewick, was one of first Apostles he met. Lorenzo had only seen Lucius in passing, and he viewed the Apostle with awe, as an incredibly powerful badass. Once he met the man however, Lorenzo found the Apostle Lucius to be an incredible ass of a man. Many of the other Apostles were the same. This troubled Lorenzo quite a bit at the time, as he had been always been Godly man who upheld the Christian virtues extolled by Maria and the Judge. However, the pair’s own friends seemed to Lorenzo to be a troop of shitheads who were not fit to rule a rickety shack, nonetheless a Kingdom. Still, Lorenzo hopes in time to reform the Kingdom to become more virtuous. He wants things to be fair, honest, and righteous. He goes to church every Sunday, and he refuses any alcohol. Everyone should be this way on Lorenzo’s mind, and Lorenzo thinks people should be forced to be the way he is. Lorenzo knows this is the way things have to be, and he hopes to give his ideas to the Judge and Maria someday.
The Apostle Lucius[]
The Apostle Lucius is one of the Apostles of Judge David, a thoroughbred raider, and the ruler of the community of Kennewick within New Jerusalem. He has been with David since Spokane, and he is happy with his power as long as he is allowed to abuse it. Lucius loves firepower and has little respect for authority, only begrudgingly respecting the Judge’s higher power. He is little more than a common thug who got lucky from knowing the right people. Lucius also fears the Judge’s “supernatural” powers to a degree, as he has always been very superstitious with the Kingdom's apocalyptic rhetoric only worsening his outlook on the world.
Lucius was born in 2245 to a raider and his concubine in Spokane, who were both followers of the warlord David. Born Freak, the child was brought up in Spokane while Davis still ruled there. Freak learned early about raider customs and that brutal mentality was ingrained in his mind for the rest of his. He killed his first man at eight to impress his father. Soon after he killed his first man, Freak thought he saw a ghost in the ruins of Spokane. That began his fear of the supernatural.
Freak left Spokane with the rest of David’s followers. His parents assisted David in taking the Tri-Cities, and they became prominent Apostles within the Kingdom’s hierarchy. His father took the name Lucius (the Elder), his mother became Rebecca, and Freak also became Lucius (the Younger). Lucius the Elder became the Apostle in charge of Kennewick, and his son enjoyed his new role as the royal brat.
Lucius the Younger enjoyed all the luxuries of being an Apostle at a young age, giving him a great deal of entitlement. He led little gangs of young hooligans throughout Kennewick causing mayhem, being unofficially sanctioned by his father as a local substitute for the Hands of David. Lucius the Younger also very publicly flaunted many of the Kingdom’s rules as a teenager, eventually going too far. One prank involving a venerable building going up in flames caught the Judge’s attention, and he commanded Lucius the Elder to bring his son to heel. The Apostle did so, violently.
The rest of Lucius the Younger’s childhood was rather quiet, with a large amount of rage building up within the boy. When Lucius’s father died in 2262, the now young man took control of Kennewick. He has run it as a personal fief that he has been allowed to terrorize for more than twenty years since. Lucius has little regard for just about anyone and only has just the right amount of restraint to not bring the attention of the Judge and his harpy wife. His community is perhaps the most prone to harbor rebels and at the time is the quietest, as they are very much scared of Lucius. He would not have it any other way.
Maria[]
Maria is the zealous wife of Judge David, a prominent figure within the Kingdom, and an ardent female misogynist. Raised among the New Disciples in Nicaea, Maria was captured by David when he was still a raider, and she worked to convert him, eventually marrying him. Maria's love of David, her religious zealotry, and her misogyny are results of a rather unique childhood, one she would rather forget but never can fully put behind her. Maria’s role in the Kingdom of God’s creation was pivotal, and she even helped design the Kingdom’s flag.
Maria is something of a contradiction. She despises many other women for using sex to gain power but used sex in past to gain Judge David’s confidence. Maria idolizes motherhood, but she hates her own mother and has no children of her own. She is fundamentally unable to confront the trauma and darkness within her own life, and if she can, Maria will continue to avoid her past experiences. In her mind, as long as Maria has David she will be okay.
Seth Bartley[]
Seth Bartley is a former ghoul scavenger who initially converted to the Kingdom’s faith with fervor but has since become disillusioned. Seth was a pre-War child who grew up in the shadow of the bombs and later became a ghoul due to unfortunate circumstances. The Hanford Site was Seth's home until the arrival of the Judge when he moved to Hanford Town. Now, Seth is a caravan guard for local traders who has lost the optimism that the Kingdom’s brand of Christianity once brought him.
Seth Bartley was born in 2069 in Seattle to refugees from Canada. He was given automatic American citizenship due to birthright citizenship to his parents’ joy. They began to move south to avoid the war with the Chinese and made their way to the Tri-Cities to work. The Bartleys stayed there until the eve of the war.
Just as the bombs were dropping, the Bartleys managed to flee into the desert and stayed in an abandoned house for a few months. In the early months of 2078, Seth’s father died from radiation poisoning. The eleven year-old Seth and his mother burying his father set the mood for the next few years. After Mr. Bartley died, his wife and son left north to return to the Tri-Cities to see what was left. They found only death. The pair spent the next few years wandering the outskirts of the Tri-Cities. That ended in more disaster. In 2085, Seth’s mother Falia died after being passed around by a gang of scavengers while Seth ran away. That sent him into a deep depression with no ending in sight.
Seth Bartley became a scavenger himself after his mother’s death, and he scavenged for two years before a terrible accident befell him. He stumbled upon a large dose of radiation that slowly transformed him into a ghoul. That sent Seth into a first spiraling depression. The many years after Seth’s ghoulification are a blur, and he remembers little of them. All he knows is that he moved to the Hanford Site after a while, and he remained somewhat intelligent unlike many of the feral ghouls around him.
Seth Bartley regained something of his humanity in 2259 when a troop of soldiers from he Kingdom came to the Hanford Site to investigate. The soldiers, some humans and some ghouls, identified the sentient ghouls in the Hanford Site, and they targeted Seth. They gave him promises, many promises. They told him that God would give his eternal life meaning, and that the love of Christ would redeem his soul. Seth wanted to believe them, so he did.
After returning with the soldiers to Pasco, Seth decided to join the Army of God. He served for twenty years throughout the Kingdom and made many friends in the army. That gave Seth even a little more to live for. Manasseh, Nahum, and Erebus were all good folks, and Seth lived with them for years at a time. Although they were humans and Seth knew they would die eventually, he wanted to reclaim some of his humanity even if it led to future pain.
In 2279, Seth officially left the Army of God and returned to New Jerusalem, Hanford Town specifically. He became a caravan guard for a local group, and he has been working ever since. Without being surrounded by his zealous friends in a holy crusade, Seth has become rather disillusioned with the Kingdom’s message. He takes issue with their position on women, and he thinks Jews and Muslims being allowed in New Jerusalem to be absurd. However, Seth does still give the Kingdom credit for making him want to live again. He does not have any sort of depression anymore and often writes his Army friends. Seth has also made friends with fellow caravaners. Seth is a friendly if somewhat apathetic man, who wants to a remain a man rather than completely become a ghoul.
Simon Adler[]
Simon Adler is an adviser to Judge David and a major component of the project to build the Third Temple. A Messianic Jew originally from New Jersey, Simon embarked on a journey with his family to the Kingdom after hearing stories of it from a trader as he wanted to escape the derision of his peers to a place where Christianity was celebrated instead of persecuted. He has been happy with his choice so, serving as a leader for the Kindom’s small Jewish community and a close adviser to the Judge on matters both religious and temporal. An educated man, Simon has nonetheless swallowed the Kingdom’s rhetoric hook, line, and sinker, and he sees Judge David as a messiah in the vein of King Cyrus the Great of Persia.
Simon Adler was born in 2238 into the intensely Jewish community of Teaneck, New Jersey. The Adler family were Orthodox Jews like many of the other Jews in the community, highly reserved and isolated from the wasteland. However, not all Jews in Teaneck were Orthodox, a few were Conservative or even Messianic. The small number of Messianic Jews were of little notice to Simon in 2258 as he was coming off his Bar Mitzvah and coming into manhood. Simon wanted to start a family soon, and he also wanted to help his community in any way he could. However, Simon’s interaction with a fellow teenage girl who was a Messianic Jew change his life forever. Simon did not initially know that Dana was Messianic, but that was not an immediate concern to him. He figured he could convert her. As it turned out, her and her family convinced Simon otherwise. Dana’s father Roland just made a lot of sense, and his version of Judaism just seemed so less cynical than the one that Simon had been raised with. At the age twenty one, Simon married Dana and converted to Christianity. That began Simon’s difficulties. Throughout the early 2260s, many of Teaneck’s Jews and even his own family shunned Simon. Meanwhile, many Messianic Jews in Teaneck left for parts unknown. By 2263, life had become insufferable. Simon wanted to leave but did not know where to go. The wasteland seemed hostile to not only Christians but any travelers. Luckily for Simon, things were about to change. He was informed by a trader about the Kingdom of God, and he liked how that place sounded. All Christians welcome, and a place where they could live their own lives? That sounded great. As Teaneck became even more insufferable, Simon decided that it was time to go find this Kingdom in 2264.
The next two years were spent finding Kingdom on Simon’s part. His first child Baron was born in 2266 around the premises of Richfield. Dana almost lost hope around Montana. However, they eventually did manage to find the Kingdom and New Jerusalem.
Simon was given a warm welcome by the Judge, and the Judge’s interest in Jews began with Simon, as he was the first to arrive in New Jerusalem. He was impressed by the Jew’s knowledge of the Old World and of religious matters, and so the Judge allowed Simon to settle in Davidville. In the following years, Simon became an adviser of the Judge and a leader in the small but growing Jewish community in New Jerusalem. Simon helped the Judge interpret Biblical law, and he would eventually help with a larger project: the Third Temple. The Third Temple has been in construction since 2271, and Simon has been paid well for his help since then. Simon tries to help as much as he can in telling the Judge what materials he needed. Cedar, gold, and linen have been hard to obtain while the stones used in the larger construction have been easier to obtain. Simon hopes for the Temple to be finished in the next decade, and he hopes that the Temple’s dedication will be the thing that ushers in Heaven on Earth. That would be preferable to Judge David dying, and chaos taking over.
Simon Adler is an intelligent man who has written himself into a corner. He has thrown in his lot with the Kingdom, and he will fight for them to the end (not very well probably). Simon’s love for the Kingdom is only outweighed by his love of God himself, which is equated to the Kingdom. Simon has a skill for numbers and historical reading, and he has put those skills to good use in service to the Judge. Jewish identity is not important anymore to Simon, but he keeps up his image as a Jew since the Judge is interested in him because of his Jewishness. The other Jews in New Jerusalem have mixed opinions on Simon, with many viewing him as generous if foolish while others see Simon as being a straight-up self-hating Jew. Then again, Simon has not rejected being a Jew, it is simply not the most important part of his life anymore. He is a Christian first and foremost, and he has better things to do than quibble about his own Jewishness.
Tryphosa Black[]
Tryphosa Black is the wife of the Kingdom’s executioner Elishah who has a muted yet dangerous attitude towards life. Tryphosa is a deeply disturbed individual who occasionally poisons people for fun. She rationalizes this as getting back at those who enslaved her, and she keeps a low head generally to both avoid violence and suspicion. Life in Davidville where she lives is relatively comfortable, but that never satisfied Tryphosa. She wanted a life beyond New Jerusalem, and poisoning is her way of taking out her frustrations. At least, that is what she says.
Born around 2254 in the Tri-Cities, Tryphosa (born without a last name) came about in the early days of the Kingdom of God. She was brought up as an orphan on the streets of the Tri-Cities before being “captured” by the Hands in 2270 for being a subversive. She was then put with a family to raise her. Tryphosa caused a great deal a mental anguish for her adopted family, and she hated her adopted family. The family was just a punishment in Tryphosa’s for being free. She was married at fifteen to Elishah Black, the executioner of New Jerusalem, and she has lived with him ever since. Tryphosa kept quiet about her thoughts and produced two sons for her husband. However, dark thoughts were swirling in Tryphosa’s head, thoughts of revenge. In 2281, she began her poisoning campaign. She has continued this little campaign for six years and has killed about eleven people: five men, three women, and two children. They needed to die to make Tryphosa feel better, to make up for the fact that she is a slave to men. It is all an injustice, Tryphosa thinks, so who cares if a few more people die. What is the difference if they die at lunch or hanging from a crane?
The Apostle Zephaniah[]
The Apostle Zephaniah is one of the Apostles of Judge David who runs a tight operation in the community of Hanford Town, earning the love of men and mutants through a careful system of patronage and bribery. He genuinely cares for the people under his rule but is willing to allow some corruption to make a cap or two. This includes a large amount of black market goods circulating around Hanford Town and the presence of a sort of mutant mafia that runs a protection racket in the poorer parts of the community. The Apostle Zephaniah asserts control over both underworld elements by getting his cut and making sure the operations do not go out of control. Some in Hanford Town ask the apostle why he doesn't just ask the Judge to legalize his activities as as a form of regulation, and he just shakes his head, saying it wouldn't be good business. After all, who can do business when your neck is dangling from a rope?
The Apostle Zephaniah, originally named Shock Jock, was born around 2235 in Spokane to a raider couple. He raised a raider and sided with David in his rise to power. He came to the Tri-Cities with David, became an Apostle, and was put in charge of Pasco. The newly-christened Apostle Zephaniah was more practical than most of the other Apostles, and he managed to quickly win the support of local scavver clans through some careful payments. As the years went on and the nascent black market formed in the Tri-Cities, Apostle Zephaniah seized on this corruption to serve his own means. The black market would be his friend instead of an enemy like with many of the other Apostles and the Judge. This system has continued on through to the modern day. It was Apostle Zephaniah’s idea to get the ghouls from the Hanford Site to come to Pasco. They had valuable skills which were good for the community. Integration was hard, but they did so with time. Eventually, the ghouls became so ingrained within the community that Pasco became known as Hanford Town. Since then, Zephaniah has gained even tighter control over his town to fight against subversive influences. Apostle Zephaniah is a true believer in the Kingdom but is willing to use corrupt means to get things done and keep his community happy. The Judge likes Zephaniah a great deal, and the Apostle likes to keep the Judge’s friendship.
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