Utterly Mad

Pricetown is a medium sized post-cataclysm city in Arizona near the north-west corner of the state, an hour from the borders of both Utah and Nevada. In the pre-cataclysm world, Pricetown had been the site of a copper strike in the early 1900s. From that strike sprung Pricetown, the very picture of a an old west boom town. Like any boom town though, the crash  inevitably occurred seven years later when the mines suddenly and inexplicably dried up. Efforts were made to find a new vein, and when the search failed the town, like the mine, dried up. The years passed and the number of residents dwindled down to less than one hundred, a farcry from the ten thousand it had housed in it's hay day. Then, in early 2027, the government had purchased the small town lock, stock, and barrel for an undisclosed sum from the family who had owned it for the last thirty years. At first, it was simply kept for housing the soldiers from the base constructed soon after the town's purchase. Later, as tensions with China began to heat up, a refugee center and amenities we're constructed. In secret, a government lab had also been constructed beneath the new center.

When everything kicked off, the little town of Pricetown, which had gone from ten thousand, to less than one hundred, then up to one thousand, was suddenly home to nearly ten thousand people again. Over the next year, that number would plummet. The undead, the outsiders, and especially the screamers took almost 2/3 of Pricetownss residents.

It was decided that the only way to keep Pricetown alive, was to build a wall and in the second year the people began construction of fortifications and the training of a militia. Soon after, the Misling came out of the mountains to the east, bringing with them their large families and a new threat close on their heels; the mycus. Pricetowns population once again fluctuated wildly up and down as the fast breeding mouse like mislings added their number to the normal human residents, the mycus took it's toll, and Pricetown burned.

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When the smoke cleared, both literally and metaphorically, the searing spear and the shattered helm emerged from the ashes. The first, brave men and women willing to take the fight to the mycus, using the technology and mutagens from the lab under Pricetown. Thermic lances and swords wreathed in green fire, flame throwers with high pressure tanks, plasma flingers to rain death on the fungal menace, fire which could be produced at the snap of a finger, skins to shed the heat, and masks to filter out the smoke, the ash, and the spores. The second, the shattered helm, were to become Pricetowns regular militia, armed with more conventional weaponry from the military instillation armory and shields. Shields to take the brunt of the blow from the furious undead or to move in formation against a wall of such, shotguns to scatter the packs of glistening screaming sand creatures, assault rifles to spill righteous thunder into other worldly beasts, and rigorous training to hold strong against the enclosing abomination the world around them had become.

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Currently, Pricetowns residents include human, misling, cor, and a mix of other mutants and cyborgs. Misling adult residents outnumber all others three to one, misling children outnumbering adults of all kinds in roughly the same amount.

Poverty is high with roughly one third of it's inhabitants being below the poverty line. A majority of Pricetowns poor are, unsurprisingly, Misling.

Agriculture is primarily in basic crops (corn, tomatoes, beans) grown in one of Pricetowns growing number of aeroponics facilities.

Pricetowns closest neighbor is Prescott to the South. To the west and northwest are Algol, Lodi, and Mead. All of which are small towns. To the north is Prescott's rival city Chaseville. There are only smaller towns and settlements in the west, less and less the closer one gets to the Rocky mountains.

A majority of Pricetowns buildings older buildings are concrete while newer construction is composed of adobe, scrap metal/wood, or rough quarried sandstone. The last is especially susceptible to mycus infestation and so has to be scorched four times a year. As such, it is reserved for the poorer neighborhoods. Wood is reserved for Pricetowns richer inhabitants.

Pricetowns currency is two. The first, is ammunition. A great deal of ammo was used in the coming of the mycus. Soon after, it became apparent that bullets had become scarce in town and parties of scavengers were sent out to find more. A majority of Pricetowns bullet wealth comes from Prescott, a close ally, to the south. The other currency is the "water mark." Each "mark is valued at roughly one hundred bullets, or one gallon of clean water. In Pricetown, there are seven wells which pump and purify water up from aquifers in the region. Watermarks may be exchanged at these wells to obtain that water, and so it is no surprise that these simple scrips of paper became a good medium for trade.

Slavery is uncommon, accepted, but also contested in Pricetown. A majority of these slaves are "debt" slaves. When a person accumulates enough unpaid debt, usually by in one of Pricetowns casinos, they are found and fitted with a specially made collar. They then work off their debt by working for no pay, or pay that is directed towards their "owners." Another kind of slave is the "raid" slave. Such slaves are people unfortunate enough to be found by slavers or less scrupulous wanderers/travelers and collared. A "raid" slave is more valuable than a "debt" slave in that there is no limit on their usability. They have no financial responsibility to pay off and they are not covered by "debt slave" protection laws. Another difference is, A "debt" slave may be traded or sold for pennies on the dollar so long as they still have at least half of their obligation to fulfill, in which case the slave is still free at the end of their obligation. "Raid" slaves on the other hand tend to be vary wildly in price. A pittance for old or sick slaves, a fortune for young slaves, a kings ransom for slaves both youthful and unique. In Pricetown, a group known as "the misling delegation" operates to keep mislings out of "Raid" slavery, and to abolish slavery as a whole.