Welcome

Rena

More than ever before, shelter is critically important for survival. Stragglers, fortress dwellers, gangsters, and hegemon figures all need shelter, both as a means of staving off the tumultuous weather as well as protecting themselves from the outside hazards. Those that do not have a defensible shelter commonly fall victim to illness and disease from exposure to the gales and acid rain, or they may find themselves on the wrong end of a Walker encounter.

However, perhaps paradoxically, shelter is more far more difficult to acquire and maintain, especially by early 21st century standards. The concerns of the housing market pale in comparison to the dire straights that many of the survivors face, and the tremendous lengths that some of them will go to secure adequate shelter. Gang members have killed stragglers merely for the supplies or raw material to construct a makeshift shelter.

Outside of the fortress, most shelters are crude and primitive, constructed from scrap and rubble, making use of natural materials such as tree branches, crosshatched brush, or animal hides. Even hegemon shelters are hardly Gothic masterpieces, and usually make do with whatever they have on hand. Even the upper tier hegemons figures usually have poorly furnished homes made from loose material, making use of spare parts: a garage door for a wall, old drainage pipes and scrap metal for paneling, and so on. When possible, they build shelters around preexisting structures. A relatively intact stone wall means less material is needed to construct the other three walls.

Hegemon houses are often bare and completely unfurnished. Sometimes, they may be lucky enough to find a mostly intact desk or filing cabinet. Many of them sleep on the floor, or a simple mattress. Cots are also fairly common, with many of them manufactured crudely after the Fallout.

But even these makeshift homes are rare. Usually, they are reserved entirely for the hegemon elites, and it's rare to see such structures outside of The Cathedral or Noten Park. Street Gangs usually build community dwellings, often by fencing off an area and building overhangs with two or three walls each. These little cubicles often face towards a central courtyard, and an observer from the center can see into each of these dwellings (as there is no wall there for privacy). Living in crudely built forts is more common than having your own home or apartment.

Stragglers have it the worst. Many of them don't even have a reliable roof over their heads. They will use anything from umbrellas to tarps to animal skins to try to keep out of the rain and weather. While some adventurous stragglers may venture away from the dense hot spots in the hope of 'striking it rich' by building more durable structures, they also tend to leave themselves critically vulnerable to Walker attacks and gang and hegemon interference. Those that gather in hot spots such as Central or Prospect Park tend to have little to no protection from the weather. Resources are especially scarce here; many stragglers need to sleep against a post while propping up their personal "roof."

Fortress dwellers are the only ones with what could qualify as modern 'buildings,' but even their structure is more cramped and minimalistic than what most people at the dawn of the 21st century would be used to. To conserve space, dwellings are built right on top of each other, often at an angle. The walkway to the next level would simply be the roof of the level beneath it, and it literally looks like a hillside constructed of homes. Because of the limitations of this model, windows only face in one direction, and these dwellings are often built right on top of machinery and infrastructure.

These fortress dwellings tend to be small and fairly cramped. Most people are not allotted a lot of space, and only higher ranking fortress dwellers get their own kitchen and bathroom. Dormitory style living is fairly common, with two or three people sharing a room. Their furniture tends to be pretty minimal, with a bed (sometimes just a mattress) and dresser per person. This suits most people just fine. Without department stores, most people do not have many clothes and possessions anyway.