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Welcome to The Morrow Project PF 010 The Final Watch

05:04, 19th March 2024 (GMT+0)

The Morrow Project PF 010 The Final Watch

A man named Bruce Morrow travelled to the future and returned with the knowledge that most of humanity was doomed to be destroyed in a coming nuclear holocaust, and perhaps civilisation itself was in peril of disappearing into savagery for perhaps centuries or longer. Founding the massive Morrow Industries corporation, he persuaded he most powerful and wealthy industrialists in America to join the Council of Tomorrow and help create the Morrow Project. The "Project" was a private organisation consisting of the best-trained, highly experienced Americans who would be formed into armed teams. Frozen cryogenically, they would survive the war to emerge into the postwar world and be well-enough equipped to allow the private sector to help the government and military rebuild the United States.

Due to unforeseen problems these teams awoke 150 years after WWIII (with the Soviet Union) to find the Project scattered and isolated in a hostile world, with the central Prime Base inactive. This game starts several months after Prime is reactivated, although the bulk of Project teams have yet to begin waking up (150 years late). In the Puget Sound, some of the teams of Combined Group Seattle have been activated and have established a base at Tukwila and has helped the two main regional factions: the Soviets (aka "Reds", the descendant of Soviet airborne and naval infantry forces that invaded the Pacific Northwest) and "Rebels", the insurgent movement that continued to resist the invaders. This has allowed both factions to reconcile, in order to cooperate and rebuild.

The Morrow Project is a RPG that dates back to the early 80's, and was notable for a very detailed and realistic combat system and background. World War Three took place in 1989. Although there are some isolated pockets and enclaves of prewar technology, much super-science and weird mutants common to the post-holocaust genre of that era are generally not present and the general technological level is quite low.

Background of the Puget Sound Area:

Seattle and the surrounding area was hit exceptionally hard by the war. Downtown Seattle, nearby Ft. Lewis and McChord AFB were all subject to nuclear strikes. In a completely unexpected strategic move within days the elite 83rd Separate Air Assault Brigade conducted a successful air assault into the Puget Sound area via Alaska, with follow-on ground and naval infantry forces arriving in the following weeks via container ships.

Those catastrophes were not the end of the problems, they were only the beginning. Within weeks of the attack survivors of the nuclear attacks began dying of a deadly illness that spread quickly, its origins and nature a mystery due to a complete collapse of medical infrastructure and a lack of records but fortunately it soon died out along with most of the survivors. Lastly, Mt. Rainier, an active volcano recognised before the war as presenting a potential threat surpassing that of the earlier Mt. St. Helens, began explosively erupting soon after the war. It would keep erupting intermittently for decades after the war, covering the entire area in a thick layer of volcanic ash that continues to severely hamper transportation, communications and agriculture throughout the area. 150 years later, Mt. Rainier is still active but eruptions have largely stopped. Mt. Baker, another active volcano, also erupted early in the 21st century, adding to the general environmental problems of the area.

Due to all these factors the rate of survival in the Puget Sound was far lower than most other areas. Over the last century and a half, industrial recovery has been almost nil in most areas and agriculture is mainly at a subsistence level at best. The population of the Puget Sound area has declined even further to an estimated 5-8,000 people remaining. The two main factions of survivors were the Soviets, descended from the Soviet invaders, and the Rebels, what remained of the American civilian population after the last surviving US military pulled out and all government completely collapsed. The Soviets were more technically advanced but culturally isolated while the more numerous Rebels were actively xenophobic, slavery was widespread and suffered a lack of internal unity. Other independent groups and communities (Viets, Gassers, Truckers, Bikers, Amerinds, etc.) eked out an existence on the periphery of the Sound by not taking sides in the low-level 150 year-old conflict between the Rebels and Soviets (although most warfare being waged was mainly the former on the latter).

Combined Group Seattle:

Using its 7ragmentary records a partially-activated Prime managed in March 2139 to send a recall code for the command team of Combined Group Seattle, the main Project unit in the area. Command UC-1C was successfully activated. After transmitting initial reports on the region and people living there UC-1C went dark.

After a year and a half of trying, Prime managed to activate one of CG Seattle's Specialty teams, PSYOPS QP-11 in the fall of 2140. After some investigation QP-11 determined that Command UC-1C had managed to make contact with the Rebels, who proved hostile. They then contacted the Soviets and aided them in the doomed defence of the town of Tukwila Collective Farm during a Rebel attack. UC-1C was wiped out but their bravery permitted most of the civilian population to escape. As a collateral effect almost the entire Neo-Nazi faction of the Rebels were wiped out in the battle by UC-1C and they ceased to be a significant political and social force in the Rebels thereafter.

QP-11, using its expertise in PSYOPS, leveraged the goodwill UC-1C had earned for the Project with the Soviets and their superficial resemblance to the "Green Berets", mythological heroes worshiped by the Rebels to bring the two sides together in a series of peace talks that ended hostilities in the two groups. Of great help were long-suppressed records of the Ponto Delgado Accords whereby Present Cheney and Premier Kryuchkov agreed to officially end the war in early 1990. Among other meaningless provisions, surviving Soviets in North America were to be repatriated back to the USSR but in the event this did not happen (obviously) they were granted immigrant status. While the USA and USSR were no longer functioning national entities at that point it provided the legal and historical pretext for ending an ongoing conflict 150 years later.

In time both sides recognised that both their survival in this harsh land required not only peace between them but active cooperation. After a few rogue elements among the Rebels were dealt with, including the Slaver-allied Night Riders and the neo-Nazi Brotherhood, the two communities now enjoy a steady if perhaps fragile new era of peace and cooperation.

The Morrow project established a base of operations in the rebuilt community of Tukwila Collective, which remains on the de facto boundary between Soviets in the south and Rebels to the north. Group logistics and maintenance facilities are in the process of being consolidated there. As well, various training programs for new Project recruits are being set up to fill vacancies and form new teams using prewar personnel as a cadre. Due to a need for manpower there has already been an intake of local recruits although full Project training will need to wait. For now, local expertise, knowledge and enthusiasm more than make up for the lack of formal Project training. The purpose of the expanded ranks is not to build an army but to rapidly expand services over a wider area.

After the cessation of hostilities, outside trade and local agriculture quickly picked up as the communities around Seattle could be swiftly connected to the Open Road trade network. The Soviets maintained some technical skills that proved valuable for maintaining and refurbishing vehicles while the Rebels' agricultural surplus could be turned into alcohol fuel for various travelers. Salvage throughout the Puget Sound is quite good. The rapid die-off after the war combined with a protective layer of ash and the Rebels' hunting down outsider scavengers means much salvage remains intact under the rubble. Due to this and the presence of Project expertise, Tukwila Collective is experiencing rapid growth, becoming an important regional economic and political hub. Tukwila is likely to be the site of the first Seattle City council after free elections are held in the summer.

In early winter 2140, Specialty QP-11 (PSYOPS) of Combined Group Seattle and the combined forces of Rebels and Soviets defeated two rogue Gypsy Trucker clans (the Vindicators and the Rape) plus Badges and mercenary forces in the pay of one of the powerful Slavers Guilds in their attempt to take over Puget Sound in early winter. Allied with the Project, Rebels and Soviets were the clan of Gypsy Truckers led by Slinger. In the process they assisted the Biker clan (the Tams MC) as the fortified clubhouse was under attack by the Vindicators from the east, attacking from Spokan. The Rape, the Badges (Oregon State Patrol) and Slaver mercenary forces being defeated to the south of Seattle.

Soon after, a Project source cultivated within the Western Slavers' Guild HQ in Taos ("Ray the Slaver") sent word that Slavers in Oregon had captured some Morrow Project personnel in California and sold them to a shadowy group known as the "Breeders". As well, locals captured by the Night Riders among the Rebels in the Puget Sound (before slavery was abolished) had been included in that lot, which was sent east to the Breeder base known as "Site W" in southern Idaho.

To effect a rescue, Prime was able to activate Frozen Watch FW-11 near Grant's Pass. They travelled through Klamath in Oregon (also the home of a relatively friendly and well-organised but small group laying claim to be the remnants of the legitimate Oregon State government and FEMA personnel). FW-11 proceeded to "Site W" in the rugged mountain terrain SE of the town of Pocatello. Site W proved to be a secret prewar hardened underground research facility. The team infiltrated the base and rescued all the prisoners, Project personnel and locals alike! Extraction was provided by two rebuilt Soviet helicopters (a Mil Mi-25E and Kamov Ka-35) stored at the Red community of Special Landing Area A (Sea-Tac Airport). FW-11 was instructed to stay in Boise while the rescued Project personnel and civilians were flown back to Washington.

Or at least that was the plan. The salvaged helicopters were rebuilt but still 150 years old and flying many hundreds of kilometres. This process was perhaps a little too rushed to get them ready for this mission and while they lasted the trip out, both suffered mechanical failure one after the other although luckily both managed to land safely. The Kamov lasted all the way to the eastern approaches to Snoqualmie Pass. Its passengers walked the rest of the way home, although along the way at the western end of an old abandoned rail tunnel under the pass a long-range reconnaissance team sent by the Warriors of Krell to spy on the Puget Sound area was discovered and eliminated.

From documents found at the camp it seemed the Krell were looking for something in particular in the Pacific Northwest but it wasn't determined what that was. It was rare to find Krell outside of the midwest but when they were found they were inevitably looking for Morrow Project boltholes, caches and installations to raid or else other valuable prewar artefacts.

It is now early spring, February, 2141. The last remnants of the snows still covers the ground. Word has come that the group called "Whale Worshipers" have discovered some kind of pre-war installation of the coast of the Olympic Peninsula. Prime believes this might be what the Krell team were looking for. A RECON team is dispatched to survey it and determine its nature, see if anything there is useful or presents further dangers.