Up

Setting Guide: After the Reckoning
The setting is based on the story and setting in CJ Carella’s Witchcraft/Armageddon game.  The game is set in around Athens, Georgia, in 2021, a decade after the fall of civilization.

The Reckoning
In 2010, astronomers detected what they took to be a comet in the outer reaches of the solar system.  Named Comet Beckett, it exhibited unusual characteristic.  First was the unusual dark blue nimbus that grew around the object.  As it raced sunward, it began emitting hard radiation and heat.  Of greatest concern was the fact that, between the asteroid belt and the orbit of Mars, it veered  over 20 degrees, putting it on an intercept course with Earth.  After it passed the Martian orbit,  Beckett began to break up in a series of explosions.  Eventually, the fragments reached Earth.  Over the course of 28 hours in June 2011, roughly three dozen fragments struck the Earth, creating craters anywhere from ten yards to near half a mile wide.  Rather than being made of ice, dust and rock, the fragments were harder than iron, and did not lose much mass as they plunged through the atmosphere.  Two nearly simultaneous impacts in California and Missouri made various faults slip and causing enormous earthquakes.  The rest of the world also suffered similar catastrophes.  But worse was to come, for the fragments remained largely intact despite the tremendous impact, and they had horrific effects on all nearby life.  Researchers went mad; their bodies were twisted, and a few turned inside out or exploded on the spot.  
What came after is lost in confusion, for few credible witnesses survived.  Some say that, at the Missouri crater, a great being arose.  A glance from it would kill, and the sight of it brought madness. Others talk of a war of angels and demons, while still others spoke of armies of the Wise against legions of twisted Hellbeasts.  In the confusion, the first nukes fell in Missouri, adding to the panic.  Whatever came from that crater, it was gone in less than a week.  But between meteor strikes, bombs, madness, and unprecedented evacuations, civil government was on the brink of collapse.
Then came the White Eye Plague.  It is said to have first shown up in the refugee camps in Virginia, but whatever the origin, it spread quickly, turning hundreds of thousands into slathering, infectious monsters in the space of weeks.  In an effort to contain the plague, the military shelled and carpet bombed camps.  They even tried to create a containment zone along the eastern seaboard.  In the end, several nukes were detonated in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Nevada. Still, by the following summer the sickness was cropping up all across the Americas.  From the scattered, failing media communications, it was clear that the rest of the word was facing that same series of disasters.
The sky darkened with dust and ash; within weeks temperatures plunged 20-40 degrees F.  Power stations failed.  Communications failed.  Mobilized military units lost their chains of command, but continued fighting monsters, and sometimes each other. 
Worldwide, nearly a billion people died in the first week of the Reckoning.  By the autumn, the plagues and unrest claimed a billion more.  With commerce and civilian control utterly overthrown, and widespread crop failures, an unusually harsh winter killed over 3 billion more.
2021
A decade has passed.  Most of the dust from meteor and bomb strikes has settled, although temperatures are still a few degrees below what they were in 2000.  More humans saw the dawn of the 18th century than are alive today.  Still, the survivors have adapted, and are beginning to regain civilization one painful step at a time.  Many people live in small enclaves or semi-fortified towns.  There is limited power, and even gasoline is available – some refineries are still functioning in Texas – but transportation is costly and dangerous. Pre-industrial-revolution technologies are being rediscovered and used alongside the relics of from the Computer Age.
Threats and Pitfalls in 2021
  Nature
Something few Americans would have considered in the 1990s are the myriad dangerous faced by their pre-industrial ancestors.  Death can be found in a scratch, or in the cough of a winter cold.  A few well-placed rains can mean the difference between prosperity and a slow death by starvation.  A moment’s carelessness that would be embarrassing or expensive in 2000 can kill in 2021.  A warm fire on a winter’s evening is no longer a homey luxury; it’s a necessity. 
  Marauders
As there have always been, there are many folks who would rather steal what they want than work for it.  There are always farmsteads to loot, trains to raid, and people to entertain with their death throes.  Some marauders have set up protection rackets over large areas like the warlords of old, while others have started dealing in slavery.
  Madlands
The zones around the meteor craters are dangerous.  The zones of Taint from the meteorites stretch hundreds of yards to hundreds of miles. All life close to the craters becomes Tainted, twisted and soon dies.  To wander to the places where light dims is to invite madness.  Some victims are transfigured, becoming hosts for Minions of the Mad Gods.  In addition, cultists haunt these unholy places, and are eager for sacrifices.  Those living near these places must be vigilant against the dark things that creep from the Madlands. The nearest Madlands are just southeast of Atlanta, making the city a perilous place.
One bright spot: North Georgia received only minor amounts of radioactive fallout compared to the most of the northern states.
  White Eyes
Another threat to the humans is mutagenic disease commonly known as White Eyes.  The disease first appeared during the winter after the Reckoning, and is believed to be a hypermutated version of rabies. Like rabies, it is transmitted through mammalian bodily fluids, usually saliva.  A couple of days after infection, the victim grows increasingly aggressive and belligerent.  Within a week or so, the victim’s irises turn white and he becomes light-sensitive.  About the same time, the higher brain functions shut down and the victim becomes a ravening monster with a hunger for flesh.  Other changes include an increase in strength and overall toughness.  Because of their habits, they have been nicknamed “trolls.”  A handful of medical facilities have developed vaccines, but the drugs are not commonly available  Many settlements have “quarantine” facilities to hold strangers for the first three days of their visits, just to make sure they show no signs of the disease.
  Other Beasties
There are quite a few other creatures that can cause no end of aggravation.  A few Black Magicians and evil witches still roam the world, using the pain of others to grow their power.  Its said werewolves and other, stranger shifters haunt the wilderness between towns.  And the deaths of billions have resulted in a surfeit of ghosts and walking dead to haunt the dreams of the survivors.  And the Wise say that spirits and dark gods make themselves known much more than they seemed to in the jaded, technophillic times of a few decades ago.
Life After the Reckoning
  Power
The beginning of the 21st century saw improvement in electrical generation, including improved solar collectors and wind generators.  Solar collectors are common in the canton, and provide the basic power needs of many inhabited buildings. Several small hydroelectric generators are also in operation along the various rivers. Light bulbs are a rarer commodity, but enough are left over from the pre-Reckoning that electric lighting is available for important uses.  Candles and oil lamps are standard equipment in most houses.  
Transportation
Ten years out, gas and oil are rare commodities in Athens.  While it is true that drilling and refining are still working industries on the Gulf Coast, transportation is risky and expensive. Between fuel and maintenance difficulties, working gas-powered automobiles are uncommon, and usually reserved for the wealthy and military forces.   Electric cars are more common, although of limited utility beyond the well-maintained roads in town.  Some enterprising mechanics have replaced diesel and gas engines with electric motors in trucks and tractors.   Still, most farmsteads are more likely to have horses and wagons than working cars.  Hitching posts have begun showing up around towns.
The skies are largely clear of human presence.  Because airplane-grade fuel is impossible to find this far from a refinery, modern prop planes and helicopters (to say nothing of jets) are permanently grounded.  Only rugged bush planes can get airborne anymore; and the pilots command great fees.  Hot air balloons can sometimes used for surveillance.
The last year saw the resumption of limited rail traffic; trains typically carry more cargo than passengers, and most carry armed guards and extra engineers.
  Communications
While most houses have telephones, only a few are still working; wires and circuits have long been scavenged for repairs and other uses.  Outlying farmsteads are more likely to have two-way radios than hard line phones.  Government offices, military instillations, hospitals and other emergency services are far more likely to have the capability for instant communication than are private citizens.  Travelers into less organized areas shouldn’t expect any telephone service. Long distance communication between population centers is by radio or courier; maintaining cables in the wildlands is too dangerous and costly.
Because of energy and maintenance concerns, broadcast radio stations exist in only a few locales, and most are government-controlled. 
  Law
The law is a curious and mutable thing.  In the wilds, of course, there may be customs but not laws.  In more civilized places, law has transformed into something more practical to fit the times.  Most citizens carry some form of weapon on the streets, and all do out of town.  Looting is no longer a crime, provided a living citizen can’t establish a prior claim to the loot (i.e., someone else didn’t pick it up first). However, theft (stealing claimed loot) may earn harsher treatments, often by penal slavery, beatings, or branding.  Stealing a horse other vehicle may be considered attempted murder in some jurisdictions. Hangings are not unheard of.  Confiscation of property and banishment is a less common punishment, since sometimes the exile returns to plague the community as a troll.
Most jurisdictions have some sort of trial by jury system, but the fairness of these systems varies tremendously.  Often, such trials are a formality, and depending on the strength and convictions of law officers, vigilante justice frequently trumps blind justice.
  Commerce
Old US currency is nearly worthless.  Gold and silver coinage have recently returned to circulation, but barter is the most common method of exchange outside of large towns.  Many towns have at least one market complex that functions as department store, trading post, junk shop, and bank. Although there is no national currency, the various local municipalities have adopted similar standards of size and fineness of metal.  Thus, coins in one city are usually good in nearby towns.  Paper money, on the other hand, is heavily discounted outside the place it is issued, if it is accepted at all.  Interstate trade occurs, but less frequently.  Most traders travel in armed caravans for protection.
Prices fluctuate significantly. To begin with, a baseline for currency value would be $10-$15 in 2000 money would be worth a silver dollar.  One can buy something, or one can hunt around empty houses until the item turns up. If it's hard to find, then whoever has it to sell can command a premium.  Gasoline, for example, usually runs $2 or so per gallon, when it could be had at all, while an average 10-speed bicycle may run only $5 - $10 (this being Athens, these things are not uncommon).  
  Magic
There are folks that some people refer to as the Wise – folks with uncanny abilities.  Some can read thoughts or see the future, others can speak with the dead, or cast magical charms to heal or hurt or change.  They are usually respected and often feared, but in these times there are few skeptics.
  Religion
The traditional religious organizations were shattered by the Reckoning.  After all, most adherents died, while the survivors polarized.  For some Christians, the catastrophe repudiated their idea of a Just and Loving God.  Others, who thought the Reckoning was punishment for a sinful world, or perhaps the Tribulation itself, found their beliefs confirmed – and may go mad with the fear that they were left behind.  Still others claimed to have actually seen angels battling demons during the week of madness.  Regardless, many of the old denominations have been swept away, and new ones have taken their place.  Insular religious communities have sprung up all over the country.
Other, less mainstream religions have also sprung up.  Faced with heretofore hidden spiritual forces, worship of new (or very old) deities, pantheons and conceptual spirits have shown up in what passes for the mainstream.  Often, the Wise have become the spiritual advisors to these believers.
Canton of Athens
Athens was never totally abandoned, despite riots, fighting, Hellbeasts, Trolls, and famine in the Year of Reckoning.  Now it constitutes a major city-state in Northeast Georgia, with the surrounding counties included in its sphere of influence.  Outside the town (with a population of around 2,000) and a few small communities, the occupied countryside consists primarily of  primarily small farms, with a handful of plantations farmed by tenant farmers.
  Government
The canton is lead by an Alderman and an elected Canton Council.  Law enforcement in each of the counties is overseen by a sheriff. Towns are headed by a Mayor, who is elected by the locals.
  Defense
After Battle of Athens (2018), the Alderman fortified the downtown.  A 15’ wall surrounds the downtown area, and interlocking gun emplacements built into the existing buildings make the town center impossible to take by anything less than full assault by a   military force.  Later, much of the university perimeter was fortified, though much more lightly.
In addition to a small police force, there is a 50-man Athens Defense Force which mans the town defenses and patrols Clarke County.  Additionally, able-bodied men are expected to participate in the defense of the town as members of the local militia.
University of Athens
The university is staffed by a hundred or so dedicated teachers, scientists and scholars. At any one time there are between 200 and 800 students.  Besides the enormous libraries, the facilities contain instruments, laboratories, workshops, and stockpiles of chemicals, plants, and other materials.
  Population
Despite the neighborhood-leveling fires and fighting of the past, much of the sprawling city of Athens is still there, albeit grown over. The 2000 or so inhabitants of Athens have picked spots to take up residence. By canton law, any property can be claimed so long as no prior claim exists; the new residents must file their claim in the property office, though not everyone has bothered to do so. If the claim is approved, the applicant is given a deed and must now pay taxes on the property. Owning a property means that some other squatter can’t legally take it away.  Ownership also gives legal standing in a community that the regular squatter isn’t entitled to.  Within the walled downtown, residents can only move in with approval of the alderman’s office; hence, most people live outside the walls. Though some residents prefer being alone on their street, most live clustered in old neighborhoods such as Five Points or Normaltown. Because of its reputation for being stable, lawful, and learned the canton of Athens attracts survivors, making it the most populated district in north Georgia.
  Athens Emporium
In late 2011, when most of Athens lay deserted, entrepreneur Mandy Hawthorne and her brothers began to systematically loot stores and later homes, gathering goods into a large warehouse off North Chase Street.  Mark Franklin, heir to a gun and sporting goods store, joined her efforts, moving his remaining stock to the warehouse.  Over time, they fortified the entire block complex with fences, barbed wire, and brick walls. As inter-city commerce resumed, the Hawthornes developed connections and trade lines with Augusta, Gainesville, and the eastern reaches of Metro Atlanta.  Anything from vehicles to camping equipment to tools to wine to weapons to books – pretty much anything, in other words – can be found here.  It’s a lucrative business, and one with a high level of security.
  Bank of Athens
The bank mints coins for the canton. The Bank (or more specifically, the guys who looted the vaults of the various local banks) had a fair bit of gold and silver on hand. Between that, and looting of other banks, trading with whoever controls Dahlonaga, and probably the collection of teeth, they had enough precious metal to create a currency.  The determination of coin size and weight was probably somewhat arbitrary, since the organized markets collapsed several years prior, and the Alderman would be more interested in what coins used to look like than what their relative values on the pre-collapse market was. The current coins issued are:
Gold Cannon: $50 (Obv.: Double-Barreled Cannon  Rev.: Arches) Quarter: $0.25, silver (Obv.: City Hall  Rev.: Arches)
Gold Athena: $10 (Obv.: Athena statue  Rev.: Arches) Dime: $0.10, silver (Obv.: Torch  Rev.: Arches)
Silver Dollar: $1 (Obv.: Athena w/ torch  Rev.: Arches) Nickel: $0.05,nickel alloy (Obv.: Oak Tree  Rev.: Arches)
Half Dollar: $0.50, silver (Obv: Coliseum  Rev.: Arches) Penny: $0.01, copper alloy (Obv. Bulldog:  Rev.: Arches)
The bank also prints notes in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $1000.  The notes are seldom accepted outside the canton, but the coins retain their value within the region.
Neighbors
Beyond the self described territory of Athens, there is very little in the way of civilization.  There are a few scattered settlements, some marauders, and sinister creatures.  Most fear this wilderness, and usually only guarded caravans travel between towns here.
  Atlanta
Most of  Metro Atlanta is uninhabited.  The western and southwestern sides are Madlands,winds blow Tainted debris into the city, and hellbeasts and trolls roam the streets.  Apart from the occasional looting party, no humans cross the Perimeter Loop.  Several groups of Gifted claim Stone Mountain as a base to watch the happenings within the empty capital. 
Lawrenceville and Conyers are the closest permanently settled towns with working civil governments on Atlanta’s east side. Their major sources of revenue are trade (mostly of loot) and providing for visitors (usually traders and looters).
  Gainesville
Utterly depopulated by a White Eye outbreak in late 2011, Gainesville is now an economic power and a rival to Athens.  They claim Hall County as well as the part of Jackson county north of I-85.  Ownership of the interstate was contested until three years ago, when militias sent to drive off bandits opened fire on each other.  A subsequent agreement between the two cities designated the interstate a free zone, open to all law abiding travelers, and protected by both cities.  For all the tensions, a considerable amount of commerce exists between the two.
  Elberton
Though not so far-reaching as the Athens canton, Elberton is a well-organized trade center. They continue extracting marble from their quarries (albeit more slowly with a scarcity of working power tools), trading for food and other goods.  Lumber also a major commodity. 
Since 2012, Elberton has been controlled by an autocrat who is said to have supernatural powers.  He was given his authority by the survivors in exchange for food and protection.
  Madison
Madison is under military control; it serves and is protected by Fort Carlton, a military base set up by a detachment in 2012 to keep I-20 open for government traffic.  The post continues to patrol a 40 mile stretch of the highway, in addition to most of the surrounding area.  The army collects tolls on I-20, and taxes from the inhabitants of their “Area of Operations.”  The detachment claims to answer to Ft. Benning, but for the most part it is autonomous, and so long as Army traffic isn’t impeded they are allowed to run things their way.  Civilians are treated as second class citizens, which is one reason why so many local young men join the Army Militia (the auxiliary wing of the Task Force).  There is trade between Madison and Athens, but Athenians are wary as Carlton’s strength waxes, lest the Army decides to add expand their AO.