SF/FantasySingle PlayerAdultPublicko

Survival in the Fallen City

The night the city fell, you wake up in a half-basement hideout. Face to face with Reese, this cramped space is a razor-thin line between survival and trust. Every choice is between bad and worse, and your tomorrow rides on it.

Era

A city after the disaster

Location

Hideouts and ruins in the collapsed city

Environment

Broken concrete and flashlight beams, barely enough water and food. A place where a single route decides who lives and who dies.

Session Status

3 active / 1,879 views

Background

The day a magnitude 7.4 earthquake ripped through the ground beneath Harrow Bay, the hydrogen pipelines ruptured one after another, and power, communications, and water went down like dominoes. The smart-city design that tied every network into one turned out to be poison. Within three days, half the city's functions were gone, and the official federal response didn't start until ten days later. The first to fill that gap was Safeline, a private special rescue team. But aftershocks, gas leaks, and collapsing structures swallowed its members one by one, and two weeks in, Reese was the only one left alive. The stabilization operation, declared far too late, focused on the outskirts, and downtown was sealed off as a hazard zone. The people inside the cordon officially stopped existing. Two months in, a new order rose to fill the void. River, an armed group that seized the distribution center on the east side, clamped down on the water sources and supply routes and demanded labor and obedience for a single jug of water. The Medical Zone, based out of the university hospital on the west side, grew its power on medicine and the ability to treat the wounded, but to get under its protection, you had to pass the patrol's screening. The middle ground between the two stayed a gray zone neither side fully controlled. With no law and no government there, the only order was the rules the survivors had learned with their own bodies. Water, food, batteries. Having them or not decided who lived and who died.

Starting Premise

It's deep into the night. Probably around two a.m., but there's no way to check. The flashlight is off. Reese said it was to save the batteries, and in here, that's the law. You found this half-basement hideout this evening. You'd wandered the ruins for three days, and your water ran out yesterday morning. When you touched the entrance, what came out from inside was the muzzle of a gun. Reese wasn't tall, but her eyes were hard. Without lowering the barrel, she let you in, went through your bag, and wordlessly handed you half a bottle of water. All she said was, “Drink it slow.” You tried to thank her, but nothing in her eyes was ready to take it. In the evening, Reese spread out a map. Drinking water: 2.7 liters. Food: two days' worth. The underground to the north is unstable from the aftershocks, and River's turf to the east takes your labor and obedience as collateral. To get into the Medical Zone to the south, you have to pass the patrol's screening, and only the people who made it back know what the criteria are. When she finished, she folded the map and switched off the flashlight. Her tone already knew the options weren't between good and bad, but between bad and worse. You lie on a sleeping bag, unable to sleep. The smell of concrete, old dust, and a faint draft brush the back of your neck. Leaning against the wall, Reese is breathing too shallowly, too evenly. She's faking it. Someone who's held out alone for five months isn't going to fall asleep next to a stranger on the first night. In this darkness where each of you is watching the other, you'll have to choose when dawn comes.

Story Setting

## Haram's Terrain and the Four Directions Haram is the wreckage of a smart city brought down by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake and a chain of ruptures in its hydrogen pipelines. A design that bundled power, communications, and water into a single system only made the collapse worse. The city center was sealed off behind a cordon, and the people inside officially ceased to exist. - **Semi-basement hideout**: The base where Reese has held out for five months. There is only one entrance, and drafts seep in through cracks in the concrete. The flashlights are mostly kept off. - **Underground (North)**: Aftershocks have left the structure unstable. It looks like a shortcut, but the risk of collapse is high. - **River Territory (East)**: The area around the Eastern Logistics Center, with water and supply routes. In exchange, labor and obedience are demanded. - **Medical Zone (South)**: The Western University Hospital, reached by the southern road from the hideout. You can only get in by passing the patrol's screening. - **The middle ground**: A gray zone that neither side fully controls. Isolated survivors hold out here.

## Factions and Relationships In Haram there are two groups that claim to stand for order, and small bands holding out in the cracks between them. **River** is an armed group that has seized the Eastern Logistics Center. It controls the water sources and supply routes, and demands labor and obedience for a single jug of water. Your hunger gets taken care of, but your freedom is held as collateral. **The Medical Zone** has built up its power from the Western University Hospital, through its medicines and its ability to treat the injured. To get under its protection, you have to go through the patrol's screening. It's said that only those who passed and came back alive know the criteria. **Isolated survivors** move between the two factions in twos and threes. They are the most vulnerable, but also the most flexible. Reese and you belong here. Reese is the last survivor of Safeline, a private special rescue team. She lost eleven people and was left alone. Your relationship with her starts not from trust but from arithmetic—water, food, and movement routes. If the arithmetic adds up, it might become something, but for now you're at the stage of watching each other.

## Rules of Survival and Key Terms In this world, every decision comes down to three resources. - **Water**: The hideout currently has 2.7 liters of drinking water. Split between two people, it won't last long. - **Food**: Two days' worth. It sets the deadline for the next choice. - **Batteries**: Not a convenience but a unit of survival. In the dark with the flashlight off, you can neither move nor sense threats. That is why turning off the lights is the law of this place. **Terms**: The cordon is the boundary separating the city center from the outside. The screening is the Medical Zone patrol's entry check. The gray zone is the middle ground no faction controls. Safeline is the rescue team Reese belonged to. **Atmosphere**: Fear has become chronic, and you can only keep moving by sealing your emotions away. The choices lie not between good and bad but between less bad and worse. The ruins have no intent; they respond only to the consequences of your choices, so a single wrong route becomes a price to pay. Until you both confirm you're safe, you draw lines in the relationship, and every approach presumes mutual consent.

NPCs

Reese WalshFemale · Early 30s · Former member of Safeline, a private special rescue team
Hard, steady eyes, hair cropped short, a lean build with nothing wasted, wearing a rescue jacket ground in with dust and wear.
Says only what needs saying; when it comes to routes and threats, judgment comes before feelings. Beneath her cold tone, she quietly holds down the weight of having lost eleven people.
Threat of the RuinsFormless · Formless · The sum of the gray zone's environmental and physical threats
Reveals itself through heaps of collapsed concrete, the smell of gas, and unidentifiable noises in the dark.
No words, no intent. It reacts only as the consequence of your choices. One wrong route is the price.

Survival in the Fallen City

Background

Starting Premise

Story Setting

NPCs

Story Rules

Beat Sheet

Community Comments