Setting Notes for After the Pulse.

Returning players can keep their previous characters if they wish. Talk to us about what has transpired the last 35 years or so.
New characters are quite welcome, of course.

Game date for posts will be: Date of first post in the thread + 30 years, unless otherwise specified in the thread title. (2051 at the beginning)

The Pulse: Tuesday, March 20, 2040. Noon Pacific Time.

While everyone knows the general effects, nobody really knows the cause, so speculation and conspiracy theories run wild.
Effect: Full Electromagnetic and Supernatural disruption globally. The Camarilla and Sabbat have ceased to exist as global entities. All new Kindred are Caitiff. In-Clan and Out-of-Clan disciplines no longer exist at differing point costs. Some Disciplines will require a teacher and are still jealously guarded, such as Thaumaturgy. New Garou do not fall in neat Tribal divisions. New Wizards are not bound by the strictures of Orders and Houses (think Harry Dresden and Alex Verus instead of Mage: the Ascension). Some of the Fae have come out of hiding. There has been widespread reawakening and creation of unique disciplines and powers. Global and digital banking has been disrupted and has not been rebuilt in the last 11 years. Massive virtual fortunes were wiped out in an instant. Most technology was fried by the Pulse, even things that were thought to be hardened against EMP, though the knowledge of how to build it still exists and many things disconnected from the power grid were largely unaffected. All artificial satellites went inert, knocking out global communications and GPS.

10 years on: Superpowers Balkanized. The US really exists only as a concept, with numerous regional governments. Several areas have declared their independent sovereignty. California is still technically part of the United States, but in reality is an independent nation-state, with a few breakaway regions. The seat of government has been moved to San Francisco. Starvation-level food shortages are mostly a thing of the past, but many items are hard to come by or nearly impossible to get. For the Sacramento region, being a diverse agricultural hub, most staples can be produced locally. Real coffee or chocolate? Be prepared to drop some fat stacks to get it. Cash is king. Nobody outside of corporations really trusts electronic funds anymore. Day-to-day transactions are cash or barter.

With the fall of the Camarilla, there is only local control over the Traditions. In Sacramento, while there is no official Masquerade, nobody really believes in vampires and the Kindred support that whenever they can. It's much easier to believe in cybernetic implants and genetically engineered supersoldiers than to think the supernatural is real.

Cellular communications and the Net (not the internet) are localized. Inter-region communications are not standardized and connections between cities are easily severed. You can generally make a call to San Francisco from Sacramento, but a call to Los Angeles is going to be difficult and a call to Portland or Seattle nearly impossible.

Police, as an institution, are corrupt. Bribery is a fact of life, even if it's illegal. As long as the shakedown isn't too egregious or high profile, it gets ignored. There are still individual cops who aren't on the take, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Truly corrupt cops who actively work against the interests of the populace are uncommon, but expected. Police surveillance drones are ubiquitous and most people either ignore them completely or quickly fade into the shadows when the characteristic whine approaches.

The most prominent authority figures are the sector police. They run the checkpoints between sectors and patrol the streets. They use the freeway network to get around and as boundaries between sectors. They are the permanent replacements for the National Guard troops who were called up in the initial unrest, freeing up the Guard to quell insurrections elsewhere in the state and patrol the borders. In the absence of command and control from Washington, DC, the United States military units in California have assumed control of the Guard in most cases, and the combined forces are essentially the National Military Command of California, recognizing Governor Roberta Lopez as acting Commander in Chief.

Anyone who wants to travel outside their enclave needs a sector pass. These are embedded with data that identify what sectors can be accessed for what purpose. Most checkpoint cops know the codes by heart and electronic scanning is reserved for suspicious individuals. Checkpoints between sectors often have lines stretching for a block or more. Those with the right passes can skip the lines and breeze right through. There is a thriving black market in sector passes, and a small bribe is usually enough for the cops manning the checkpoints to not look too hard. Sacramento has numerous sectors, and if you live in one sector but work in another, you need to factor in checkpoint lines to your commute time.

A loose coalition of Luddites has developed, pointing to the Pulse as proof that relying on technology is bad. They’re not violent, just shunning of technology. They use only human-powered vehicles and animal-driven transportation. They live in the outskirts, what used to be the suburbs, growing food and selling it at farmers markets in the city.

There are some electric vehicles, but imported rare metals are a limiting factor. A network of overhead electrical wires provide power to buses and trains within the city proper. Folsom Dam and other hydroelectric facilities in the region generally produce enough electricity for basic needs, though brownouts and rolling blackouts are common. Solar panels mostly still work, though the controllers and electronics got fried. Those are gradually being replaced as new, recycled, and scavenged parts are produced. Older vehicles without electronics have mostly been converted to run on locally produced methane or alcohol. Many cars have had their electronics replaced with analog technology. Gasoline is very expensive, topping $40/gallon for low-grade. There are facilities that re-refine motor oil and other vehicle fluids.

A thriving e-waste scavenging economy has developed. There’s more gold in a ton of e-waste than in a ton of gold ore, it’s just harder to extract. Now that international supplies are no longer available, innovators have turned to the fried electronics of the pre-pulse era for materials. It’s taken ten years, but a couple of separation and extraction plants have started operations.

Climate change has continued unabated. In Sacramento, summers are hotter, with heat waves longer, more frequent, and more deadly. Wildfires up and down the west coast bring thick smoke to the Central Valley for up to a month or more every fire season, which lasts well into October and November on a regular basis. Rainfall is typically lower, but also less predictable. Winters are generally a little warmer, but deadly winter storms happen at least once a year with little or no warning (it’s hard to see the storms coming with no weather satellites). Globally, the ice caps are continuing to retreat. Mean Sea level has risen more than half a meter since the year 2000, inundating the lowest coastal elevations and making storms worse. The Northwest Passage is open most summers, though navigation is difficult.

Joshua Sanderson, formerly known as Tony Caliban, has become the de facto Chair of the Sacramento Regional Alliance. If the Camarilla still existed, he'd have the title of Prince, but he prefers Chairman.

Some further notes about the setting, based on questions and observations from the player of Irina DiSanti. She makes me think about things in ways that I haven't necessarily put into words, but are good to get out and help fill in gaps.

We're seeing in real time 2021 what a collapsed nation looks like with Afghanistan, and that's with the technology still working. In the aftermath of the Pulse, things got a whole lot worse in Sacramento and downright catastrophic elsewhere in the world. We've set the game 11 years post-Pulse so that things aren't quite so dire locally. There really is no electronic contact with any place outside California, and only generally reliable communication with the San Francisco Bay Area. Contact with Los Angeles is spotty at best.
One thing to remember is that while the Pulse knocked out almost all of the electronics in operation, things that were powered down often survived. The knowledge of how to make things wasn't erased, and Sacramento has a diverse, if small, manufacturing base.

Q: 11 years after the Pulse, I expect the ready made goods that were warehoused for regular commerce have been long-since picked clean. Unlike Heston wandering a depopulated Los Angeles where every store served as his pantry and clothes closet, we have WAY more people to clothe and feed. Without manufacturing running, we are feeling the pinch as the ready-made runs out and people who can make things from scratch or recycle things will be valuable and valued.
Answer: And a lot of warehouses were burned or otherwise destroyed in the unrest. Once things started settling out, the population in the Sacramento area is roughly half what it was pre-Pulse. Some manufacturing has come back online locally, though power supply and raw materials are limiting factors.

Q: Likewise farmers: without them, food will be even more scarce than it already is. Industrial farms are probably no longer running but the land is still there, available to plant and harvest.
Answer: Sacramento is uniquely situated in that regard. One of our nicknames is 'America's Farm-to-Fork Capital' for good reason. It is possible to grow an amazing variety of food locally, and it is not difficult today to eat an almost exclusively local diet (produced within 100 miles) with the exception of luxury items like tea, coffee, chocolate, and bananas. Climate change has shifted growing regions north, so by 2040 we'd be seeing even things like avocados produced locally. Coffee is being grown as far north as San Luis Obispo, about 300 miles south of Sacramento, but it's still very expensive and almost impossible to get at any price. There are a number of local substitutes that can provide a caffeine fix, but most people have switched to roasted chicory and dandelion root. Apple and pear production has dropped off, but can still supply local needs due to the combination of reduced population and lack of exports to the rest of the country and the world.
Limiting factors for farming are water and labor. Farming methods have by necessity shifted to the labor intensive and water scarce methods of the 1860s. Forced farm labor is a common punishment for crimes, and close to 60% of the population is mostly agricultural. Even people living in the city have converted lawns into vegetable gardens and a lot of the streets have been ripped up to get to the alluvial soil underneath.

Q: Livestock farming: ditto. Quite possibly ranching might survive with only a little bit of adjustment and may go back to the 19th c. cowboy model of ranching. It's a pre-mechanized style of ranching that you can sustain as long as you have horses and the ability to feed your herd by grazing. Cattle rustling will likewise make a comeback and getting the cattle to market, abattoir, and then to the cities and towns will be interesting, vulnerable to criminal disruption and graft, and shortages.
Answer: Beef is expensive. Chicken less so, but still considered a rare treat by most people. With a massive reduction in the human population, wild turkeys and deer have seen a big population increase. Don't ask what kind of meat is on the grill with street vendors. It's well cooked, seasoned, and sauced, and most likely won't make you sick.
There is no interstate commerce on any practical level. Anything outside the local area might as well be the Moon for practical purposes. So, no long distance cattle drives.

Q: We've got some ruined urban landscapes of varying severity thanks to the mobs and riots of the aftermath. We have had/still have gang lords ruling their fiefdoms. We have pockets of prosperity in an ocean of dysfunction, destitution, and desperation. For sure we have black markets for everything which the criminal classes have a strong grip on.
Answer: Sacramento is a relative pocket of prosperity, and so is the San Francisco area. Rumor has it that Los Angeles is a hellscape that makes Mad Max look like a garden party. You shudder to think what New York has become, but you'll likely never know.
Some of the less densely developed areas in the sectors are farmland, and were before the Pulse. Mostly in West Sacramento in the south part of Sector India along the river. Areas of Sacramento that are outside the designated sectors are steadily being converted back to farm and orchard land. It's still going to be a few years before the trees are producing in any commercial quantities. There are a LOT of oak trees in Sacramento and acorn meal is a staple in many people's diets.
The mountainous rural north of California is in the grip of militia groups declaring their sovereignty as the State of Jefferson. The National Military Command of California is fighting on that front to reclaim that timberland.

Q: We have people trying to help the less fortunate. We have underground organizations going good, whether it is to help victims escape from abusive situations and/or transferring them where they need to go while avoiding bureaucratic red tape; or smuggle necessary supplies to those who need it.
I expect field clinics will have replaced most hospitals on the ground, midwives and doulas will be in high demand (no matter how bad it gets, people still have babies), and doctors and medics making house calls will definitely be a thing. All these people doing good will need protection of some variety, as the supplies they have to carry on them will make them targets.
Answer: Within Sacramento, hospitals are still in operation, though much cruder than in 2021. Fancy drugs and technological marvels like dialysis and ventilators are extremely rare. If it can't be produced locally, it isn't available to anyone but the obscenely wealthy, and most of that is using pre-pulse equipment that people have managed to get working.
Herbal remedies are people's primary form of medicine. There are people who have hung up their shingle in every Marketplace and neighborhood, though oversight is lacking and quality is wildly variable. The Willow Riorden Memorial Center has a clinic open to all that has a reputation on the street of being able to save people even the UC Hospital can't help.

Q: I wonder about the state of the roads, of river travel, and of flying and flight (is it done at all?); telecommunications and their alternatives; electrical grids and their extent and reliability; water supply both rural and municipal; ditto waste (how often do we have cholera outbreaks, for instance?).
Answers:
Roads: Unless they're used regularly by the military and police, they really aren't maintained.
River: The most reliable means of transport between San Francisco and Sacramento. A number of pre-electronic barges and passenger vessels regularly ply the Deep Water Channel and the Sacramento River and Delta. It takes about two days to make the journey, assuming no difficulties.
Flight: Very rare, and very expensive. The police use electric surveillance drones, not manned flight.
Telecomm: The local cell network is being rebuilt piece by piece from scavenged parts that weren't connected during the Pulse and whatever local industry has been able to work up. The World Wide Web/Internet is no more. Something might be built to replace it, eventually.
Water: Even with less reliable rainfall, there is still water in the rivers. Folsom Dam never breached, though it was touch and go for a bit in the winter of 2043/44. A collapse of Folsom Dam would be BAD. Fortunately, the utility company (SMUD) working with the military was able to get the gates working again, which had the lovely effect of restarting the electrical generators and getting some power back into the local grid. The transmission lines are heavily guarded. Power is not reliable, with brownouts and rolling blackouts common.
Waste: Cholera, Norovirus, Typhoid, non-specific Diarrhea, etc. are much more common than 2021, but though there have been outbreaks they haven't hit epidemic levels since 2042.

Q: Maybe this is too detailed to worry about. Maybe things haven't been taken back to pre-Industrial Revolution (with pockets of 1940s tech/diesel punk).
Answer: Not pre-Industrial Revolution, but certainly pre-Electronic Revolution in many respects. And answering questions like this helps us all flesh out the world.

Q: Is the Sacramento area held together (vamp-wise) by a committee or council or something else that collaborates to get things done?
Answer: The Alliance Council has representatives from the Kindred, the Wizards, the Fae, and the Garou. The chairman is Joshua Sanderson, formerly known as Tony Caliban. They all work together as much as possible. There are even a couple of Cathayans who have taken up residence in Sacramento, just as a few former residents of Sacramento have moved to the Bay Area to be part of the Kingdom of the Golden Sun.

Feel free to ask any other questions, please.