TEXT: Legacy
  Life Among the Ruins
  2nd Edition
  Wasteland  
  Almanac
  Legacy
  Life Among the Ruins
  2nd Edition
  Wasteland  
  Almanac
  Extraordinary encounters
  in a chaos-twisted World
  
  WRITING
  Chris Farnell
  EDITOR
  Elizabeth Iles
  LINE DEVELOPER
  Jay Iles
  ART
  Tithi Luadthong
  LAYOUT
  Jay Iles, adapted from  
  the work of Oli Jeffrey
  NOVEMBER 2018
  © 2018 UFO Press. All rights reserved.
   ufopress.co.uk – ufopressrpg@gmail.com
              @ufopressrpgs – facebook.com/UFOpressRPGs
  Published in partnership with Modiphius Entertainment.
  Modiphius Entertainment Product Number: MUH051737-PDF
  This book was produced using Adobe Creative Cloud.
  Typefaces: Body in Garamond, Headings in Raleway, Chapter titles in 
  Urban Jungle.
  The Modiphius logo is copyright Modiphius Entertainment Ltd. 2018.
  TM
  
  3
   
  WELCOME TO THE WASTELAND!
  Legacy is a game about rebuilding your world after a reality-
  twisting apocalypse. Your families and characters have emerged 
  from their shelters and bunkers, ready to explore and understand 
  and restore the ruins that surrounded them. But what sort 
  of things will they encounter outside the safe fringes of their 
  Homeland?
  This book is here to help. Within its pages you’ll find dozens of 
  settlements, dangers and strange devices to find. In writing these 
  entries we’ve tried to leave room for your group to put your own 
  stamp on the things described, and each entry has questions and 
  prompts that will guide your player’s interaction with it – and help 
  you extrapolate how the settlement, threat or device may change 
  as the ages turn. After all, one of the best things about Legacy is 
  that you build your world together as a play group: defining what 
  the world looks like, what caused the Fall, and where you now 
  make your homes.
  So gear up, grab your companions and embark on adventure: 
  there’s incredible things to be found in this new, mutated world.
   
  - Jay Iles
  USING THESE ITEMS IN YOUR GAME OF LEGACY
  These items have been written with a focus on their impact on the 
  fiction, letting GMs decide how to best represent them in Legacy’s 
  systems to fit their game. Here’s some things to consider:
  SETTLEMENTS: Is it a point of interest on the landscape, a home for 
  a player’s family, or a Faction taking an active role in the Homeland’s 
  politics? If it’s the latter, decide what Surpluses and Needs they might 
  have, work out what agenda they’re actively pursuing, and give them an 
  Alliance Move and a face (Legacy 2nd Edition, p. 243).
  DEVICES: When a character first uncovers this Device, they can gain 
  some clues to its function with Unleash Power and some idea of its 
  cultural context with Uncover Forgotten Lore. It’s good to have some 
  idea of what you’ll say for those when you introduce the Device, 
  and remember that player’s guesses about Device functions can be 
  respected by the fiction if they roll well on Unleash Power. 
  THREATS: If this is an active threat, decide what level of Harm it will 
  normally deal (Legacy 2nd Edition, p. 242) and what weapon tags players 
  might need to face it. If it’s an environmental hazard, consider what Outfit 
  tags players would need to avoid Disadvantage from it (Legacy 2nd 
  Edition, p. 62), and what it’ll do to those caught in it unprotected.
  
  CHAPTER
  1. Vertigo 
  6
  2. Scratching Post 
  6
  3. Rook 
  6
  4. Place of Honour 
  7
  5. Cain and Abel 
  7
  6. The Last Festival 
  7
  7. Ingenuity Campus 
  8
  8. Fizztown 
  8
  9. Crashlanding 
  8
  10. Phoenix 
  9
  11. Depth 
  9
  12. Brunch 
  9
  13. Bespoke 
  10
  14. The Republic of Barbara 10
  15. The Many-Kin 
  10
  16. Easy Palms 
  11
  17. The Township of  
  Consensus 
  11
  18. Panopticopolis 
  11
  19. The Clad 
  12
  20. Cinder 
  12
  01
  
  SETTLEMENTS
  
  6
  WASTELAND LISTS
  1. VERTIGO
  A settlement has prospered in this city despite the catastrophic 
  fallout of an ancient anti-gravity device many years ago. People 
  go from skyscraper to skyscraper along inverted rope bridges, 
  growing fruit in the hanging gardens, and letting their waste and 
  their dead fall down into the sky.
  • 
  What has reversed this region’s gravitational pull?
  • 
  How long can the city survive, hanging off  the Earth like this?
  • 
  How can you use the anti-gravity well?
  2. SCRATCHING POST
  At first the town seems abandoned, but then you see them moving 
  in the shadows. The cats bring you food. They show you where to 
  sleep. They take your clothes and return them freshly laundered. 
  They watch you.
  At the centre of the town an impossibly old woman with 
  cataract-fogged eyes sits in an armchair. She sees through other 
  eyes now.
  • 
  Does the old woman control the cats? Or is there something more 
  happening here?
  • 
  Scratching Post is open to trade, but where can you find that much fresh 
  fish and yarn?
  • 
  The cat’s territory is expanding. What is their goal?
  3. ROOK
  Home of one of the last great Techno Minds, the citizens of 
  Rook are grown in vitro, psychologically conditioned as foetuses 
  and trained from birth. With care, one day, the ancient AI intends 
  to develop a human that can beat it at chess.
  How can you prevent war with Rook?
  • 
  Capture an important political hostage?
  • 
  Get a sympathetic figure in the derided “pawn” caste promoted?
  • 
  Teach them a new game?
  
  7
  SETTLEMENTS
  4. PLACE OF HONOUR
  An egalitarian, communistic society following the Ancients’ 
  commandments: No highly esteemed deed is commemorated 
  here, and nothing is valued here. It is not a perfect place- the old 
  monuments the people live among are ugly in the extreme, and 
  people get sick a lot. But they draw faith from the great plaque of 
  the Ancients. Someday they’ll unearth the rest of it.
  • 
  What are the ancient words that have been scratched off  the settlement’s 
  holy tablet?
  • 
  What is the strange trefoil symbol the ancients have marked every wall 
  with?
  • 
  What treasure is buried here? Is it something good? I bet it’s something 
  good.
  5. CAIN AND ABEL
  The twin cities, Cain and Abel, are each housed in an 800-metre-
  tall anthrofortress, and are ostensibly at war with each other. 
  However, the titanic robots are in poor repair, and can take days 
  to land a punch. When a blow connects, the citizens often use the 
  temporary bridge for trade, migration and family reunions.
  • 
  Why are Cain and Abel at war with one another?
  • 
  Is there any way to turn the awesome power of  the anthrofortresses to 
  something more constructive?
  6. THE LAST FESTIVAL
  Faced with the end of the world, many decided to go out in style. 
  They salvaged food, and drink, sound equipment and a stage.
  Centuries later, their descendants still sleep here in the tents of 
  their ancestors, cooking meat on communal firepits and drinking 
  their own home-brewed beer. The music never stops.
  • 
  How does the Festival continue, when no-one here seems to work?
  • 
  What is the entity that lives beneath the Festival, feeding off  the energy 
  of  revellers?
  
  8
  WASTELAND LISTS
  7. INGENUITY CAMPUS
  When it became clear the end was coming, those who could afford 
  to prepared. They spent trillions on constructing underground, 
  fully-automated hydroponic farms, self-sufficient, sustainable 
  power plants, and the latest in entertainment and leisure facilities. 
  Life inside the Campus is good. It is also heavily fortified, and the 
  drones that patrol the surviving wasteland sometimes take pot 
  shots at survivors for fun.
  • 
  This settlement is the greatest stock of  resources and tech in the Wasteland. 
  Can you establish trade with them? 
  • 
  Is there a way to take them by force?
  8. FIZZTOWN
  The water in this region is highly toxic, and so the only drinkable 
  liquid comes out of the ancient soft drink factory at its centre. 
  The people here are jittery with caffeine and sugar, have teeth 
  worn down to brown stumps and are severely malnourished, as 
  the drink is no good for watering plants. Still the people worship 
  the Fizz.
  • 
  Where does the factory get its water from?
  • 
  Can you loosen the iron grip of  the tyrannical King Fizz?
  • 
  Why do so many Fizz cans have human fingers inside?
  9. CRASHLANDING
  A relatively new settlement that appeared shortly after the fire in 
  the sky. The people here have built shelter out of the wreckage 
  of some kind of spacecraft, and claim to be from a distant planet 
  called Earth. They frequently express amazement that the aliens 
  of this planet appear so human, and speak such good English.
  • 
  Why do the settlers here seem so much like humans?
  • 
  Can their ship be repaired?
  • 
  What tools and knowledge can be gleaned from these people’s memories of  
  their home world?
  
  9
  SETTLEMENTS
  10. PHOENIX
  In this seemingly idyllic community adults often speak of the pre-
  Fall world as if they can remember it, but they’re not immortal. 
  When someone dies, a child who has come of age will sit vigil by 
  their bed. The next day they’ll have the strangest scars beneath 
  their hairline and will talk about the pre-Fall world as if they can 
  remember it.
  • 
  These people have access to many advanced and forgotten medical 
  technologies. Where does it come from?
  • 
  Why do your ambassadors always return from Phoenix so enthused about 
  the settlement’s agenda?
  11. DEPTH
  This underground bunker was equipped with everything a 
  population could want to survive- until a power surge irreparably 
  knocked out the lights throughout the facility. Too scared to go 
  outside, the people made do. Generations later their eyes are 
  vestigial, and sight is a myth, but they do just fine feeling and 
  hearing their way around the subterranean city.
  • 
  Can you convince them “sight” is a real thing?
  • 
  Is it ethical to introduce Depth to the outside world?
  • 
  Is there a way to trade or steal Depth’s huge, unread library of  Old 
  World knowledge?
  12. BRUNCH
  Every year the villagers of this settlement build an enormous 
  shrine, fills it with sacrificial humans, and then a leviathan emerges 
  from the wilderness and devours the entire thing. If you ask the 
  villagers why they put so much effort into building something 
  for the monster to devour, they will say that if they didn’t, the 
  monster would take its business elsewhere.
  • 
  What benefit does the monster give the community?
  • 
  Can you lure the monster away to your own settlement?
  
  10
  WASTELAND LISTS
  13. BESPOKE
  This community possesses the finest in cybernetic, genetic and 
  cosmetic modification archeotech, as well as the most avant-garde 
  aesthetic in the wasteland. This can make things difficult for first-
  time visitors, who may find it hard to distinguish people, pets and 
  furniture from one another.
  • 
  What’s the hot new gene-modification trend that’s sweeping the settlement?
  • 
  Is it connected the strange monsters in the settlement’s sewers, and if  so, 
  how do you tell the monsters from the people?
  14. THE REPUBLIC OF BARBARA
  Barbara survived the Fall, but believed she was the only one to do 
  so. Going mad with loneliness, she stumbled across a prototype 
  cloning machine that replicated not just her body, but her 
  memories as well. Today the Republic is home to 12,927 clones of 
  Barbara who, mostly, seem to get on with each other.
  • 
  It’s an election year. What are the issues in this hard-fought campaign?
  • 
  There are rumours that some of  the clones aren’t exact copies. How does 
  the Republic treat this new class of  people?
  15. THE MANY-KIN
  This town seems empty, but someone must live here. Somebody 
  must arrange the town’s hundreds of shop-window mannequins 
  into new tableaux of daily life each morning. Occasionally a gang 
  will decide to take the town for themselves. They quickly leave the 
  first time they wake up to 400 mannequins holding signs that read 
  “GET OUT”.
  • 
  Who is repositioning all the mannequins every night?
  • 
  Why do some of  the mannequins look so lifelike?
  
  11
  SETTLEMENTS
  16. EASY PALMS
  A deluxe, gated community built and maintained by a corporate 
  AI who is waiting for the economy to improve enough for 
  anybody to be able to afford to live in it.
  • 
  This is easily the best place to live in the Wasteland. But how will you 
  pitch the community AI a deal that will persuade it to let you live there?
  17. THE TOWNSHIP OF CONSENSUS
  Ophiocordyceps bilateralis is a highly evolved parasitic fungus that 
  has only one goal: To infect humans and maximise the number of 
  potential hosts for infection. It does this by encouraging empathy 
  and communication among the host brains, and driving them to 
  manage their resources sustainably. The village is thriving, and its 
  population are all engaged in emotionally supportive, mutually 
  fulfilling relationships.
  • 
  Are the locals here as happy as they first seem?
  • 
  Do you accept the Ophiocordyceps bilateralis into your own colony?
  • 
  Can the fungus be cured? Should it be?
  18. PANOPTICOPOLIS
  This fortress colony is actually a prison. The inhabitants are 
  descendants of people who committed a crime so terrible even 
  their children’s children’s great-grandchildren must continue to 
  serve out the sentence. Most of the citizens accept their sentence 
  meekly. Those that don’t are kept in line by the heavily armed 
  descendants of the prison’s guards.
  • 
  What crime did these people’s ancestors commit?
  • 
  Some within the Panopticopolis want to escape. Will you help them?
  
  12
  WASTELAND LISTS
  19. THE CLAD
  Nobody from this mysterious, reclusive community has ever been 
  seen without their strange, diving-suit like apparel, their faces 
  hidden behind opaque visors. No outside knows why they wear 
  the suits, or what the people look like underneath them. Nobody’s 
  even had the nerve to ask.
  • 
  What’s with the suits? No, seriously, what’s with the suits?
  • 
  Are they even human under there?
  20. CINDER
  There’s something odd about Cinder. Where other settlements 
  build, Cinder digs deeper into their mountainside. Where other 
  settlements expand, Cinder has strict population controls. Cinder 
  is stockpiling food, repairing and constructing cryo-suspension 
  pods, compiling seed and gene banks. While everyone else is 
  recovering from the last apocalypse, only Cinder is planning for 
  the next one…
  • 
  What do the citizens of  Cinder know that you don’t?
  • 
  Can the disaster be averted?
  • 
  Can you buy your way into their shelter? Or take it from them?
  
  13
  SETTLEMENTS
  
  CHAPTER
  02
  1. The Lotus Gate 
  16
  2. The Transit 
  16
  3. Mantic Gauntlet 
  16
  4. Genesec 
  17
  5. Satnav 
  17
  6. Bicycles 
  17
  7. The Genesis Bomb 
  18
  8. Grapevine 
  18
  9. The Splinter 
  18
  10. The Ascension’s Armour 19
  11. Euthanasia Coaster 
  19
  12. Emerald-Tinted Glasses 19
  13. Playmate Putty 
  20
  14. The Fortune Ball 
  20
  15. Energercise™ 
  21
  16. GVS 
  21
  17. The Dream Beacon 
  21
  18. The Ghost Furnace 
  22
  19. The Athenaeum 
  22
  20. The Arcolomotive 
  22
  
  DEVICES
  
  16
  WASTELAND LISTS
  1. THE LOTUS GATE
  Before the Fall a government agency spent billions on developing 
  a remarkably detailed, life-like, but sadly woefully inaccurate 
  simulation of how the country might look after a civilisation-
  ending event. The device in this bunker lets you enter that 
  simulation. Or possibly leave it- there’s some debate about that.
  • 
  What are the differences between the post-apocalyptic worlds?
  • 
  Is there any way to tell which post-apocalyptic world is the real one, and 
  which one is the simulation?
  2. THE TRANSIT
  An ancient network of still functioning organic 3D printers. 
  Step inside a booth, select a destination, and a clone with your 
  memories will be extruded from the system there. Meanwhile your 
  old self is anaesthetised and ground down to an organic soup that 
  can be used to print other passengers. Nobody has realised the 
  anaesthetic ran out centuries ago.
  • 
  Could the Transit allow you to rebuild a global civilisation?
  • 
  What happens when people find out the anaesthetic wells have all run 
  dry?
  3. MANTIC GAUNTLET
  Nobody knows if it’s caused by radiation, nanorobotics run 
  amuck, or some kind of viral infection, but there is a city where 
  the dead walk and feast on the living. The Mantic Gauntlet was 
  found on a worktop in a lab at the centre of the city. To wear it is 
  to find the bodies of the dead are an extension of your own.
  • 
  What does the Gauntlet take from you in exchange for control over the 
  zombie armies?
  • 
  Will you use your mastery over the undead to wage war, or to work on 
  desperately-needed infrastructure repairs?
  • 
  What if  the Gauntlet falls into the wrong hands?
  
  17
  DEVICES
  4. GENESEC
  A butterfly shaped implant that inserts itself into the base of your 
  neck, Genesec was originally designed to rewrite your immune 
  system on the fly in response to new infections. The machine 
  learning algorithm has gathered a lot of data since then, however, 
  and if necessary will procedurally grow you flame-proof skin, 
  venomous fangs, or gills.
  • 
  Is there any way to control, or perhaps – more importantly – stop, the 
  Genesec’s modifications once it has started?
  • 
  There are people who have worn Genesec for years. Are they even human 
  any more?
  5. SATNAV
  An ancient, solar powered phone that is hooked into the navigation 
  computer of a single orbiting satellite. But the satellite is old, and it’s 
  malfunctioning in strange ways. Often its maps will show locations 
  that aren’t there, or were never there at all, or aren’t there yet.
  • 
  Can an expedition find the treasure hordes marked on the Satnav map?
  • 
  What is the mysterious crystal city? Is it a long-gone ruin, or something 
  from another place?
  • 
  An area of  destruction even worse than the wasteland itself  keeps 
  flickering on and off  of  the map. Why is that?
  6. BICYCLES
  In a locked garage – seemingly untouched by raiders – is a stock of 
  dozens and dozens of bicycles. They need no power source, are easy 
  to maintain, and can be used to navigate quickly through even difficult 
  terrain. Ironically, the art of how to ride one is lost knowledge.
  • 
  As rival settlements each hit upon a cache of  bicycles, and each realise the 
  enormous military and communication advantages they could yield, the 
  race is on to master the art of  riding one.
  • 
  Some claim to have spotted a mysterious lone rider, cycling across the 
  wasteland…
  
  18
  WASTELAND LISTS
  7. THE GENESIS BOMB
  The instructions to this device, according to the translations, say it 
  will clean the air, purify the water, and optimise the soil’s chemical 
  composition for plant growth. It will make the Earth a paradise. 
  The only reason it hasn’t been activated is it appears to have come 
  from another world, so we don’t know who it will make the Earth 
  a paradise for.
  • 
  What planet is the Genesis bomb from, and what is it like?
  • 
  What effects will it have on our biosphere?
  • 
  What if  its creators come back for it?
  8. GRAPEVINE
  Small round implants to be inserted in the ear, connecting anyone 
  who has one to a technological group-mind. A dozen will allow a 
  squad of soldiers or team of engineers to work more effectively 
  together. A thousand will form the embryo of a civilisation-level 
  super intelligence.
  • 
  What military applications does the Grapevine have in small groups?
  • 
  How about when applied to large scale infrastructure projects with 
  thousands of  people?
  • 
  Who are the voices people on the Grapevine are starting to hear?
  9. THE SPLINTER
  It’s said that this device, an enormous loop of pipes and wires 
  nearly 30km in length, was built to unravel the secrets of the 
  universe. Some even say that it is responsible for the Fall. All that’s 
  certain is that anyone who goes near the facility comes back to 
  find the world different to how they remember it.
  • 
  Is the splinter changing people’s memories? Or is it a gap to worlds similar, 
  but different from our own?
  • 
  Are the effects of  the splinter widening?
  • 
  If  the splinter does lead to other worlds, can you bring things back from 
  them?
  
  19
  DEVICES
  10. THE ASCENSION’S ARMOUR
  History says she was a myth. Myth says she was a God. The 
  Ascension was a hero with the power to shoot fire from her 
  hands, and the strength to level buildings with a punch. She was 
  last seen flying into battle before the Fall. The woman is lost, 
  but you have found her armour, battered, but functioning. The 
  Ascension may rise again.
  • 
  What’s the best way to use the superhuman powers of  the suit?
  • 
  Will you admit you found the suit, or claim the Ascension is alive again?
  • 
  What of  the rumours that, far to the west, the shadowy figure of  The 
  Katabasis has been seen again?
  11. EUTHANASIA COASTER
  Built by an eccentric billionaire who believed the world was not only 
  about to end, but that the end would be unbearable, the Euthanasia 
  Coaster is the centrepiece of a theme park of deadly-yet-fun 
  attractions. The park is still sparklingly clean, and even the most 
  savage gangs in the surrounding wastes refuse to set foot here.
  • 
  Why is everyone so scared of  the theme park? Is it superstition? Or 
  something more?
  • 
  What ancient archeotech is hidden within the park’s vaults?
  • 
  What is the terrible event the coaster was built to avoid? Will it come again?
  12. EMERALD-TINTED GLASSES
  When you put these goggles on you see ruined buildings restored 
  to their former glory, and the translucent figures of hundreds, 
  even thousands of people walking to-and-fro along busy streets. 
  At first you think maybe these glasses are a window into the past. 
  But then the figures turn to look at you, and you see the holes 
  where their eyes should be.
  • 
  How do people respond to discovering their entire world is haunted?
  • 
  What are the ghosts trying to tell you?
  • 
  Do they have your best interests at heart?
  
  20
  WASTELAND LISTS
  13. PLAYMATE PUTTY
  Playmate Putty was the must-have children’s toy. Children 
  could shape the nanotech seeded playdough into the shape of 
  any animal, person or monster they desired, and see it animate 
  through procedurally generated movement. Usually you can only 
  find small tubs of the stuff, but if you stockpile enough you can 
  build a giant, rainbow-coloured automaton to do your bidding.
  • 
  Where are the best places to find Playmate Putty? Toy stores? Factories? 
  Playgroups?
  • 
  What are you planning to build with it, how big a thing are you trying 
  to create?
  • 
  Is the Playmate Putty alive, or just a programme?
  14. THE FORTUNE BALL
  A hollow plastic sphere resembling an oversized, black-and-white 
  snooker ball containing a 20-sided dice, with different words and 
  phrases painted on each side. Its ability to answer questions has 
  led to it becoming the centre of several Wasteland religions.
  • 
  How will the Fortune Ball’s advice inform your settlement’s policies moving 
  forward?
  • 
  What happens when the settlement population divides itself  into “Ball 
  believers” and “Ball sceptics”?
  • 
  What if  the ball gives two answers to the same question?
  • 
  As faith in the Ball increases, whomever controls the Fortune Ball, 
  controls the world.
  
  21
  DEVICES
  15. ENERGERCISE™
  Sold as a combined dieting and green energy solution. Simply 
  implanted into the palm of your hand, the device converts the 
  calorific energy stored in your body into electricity, which can be 
  beamed wirelessly to any electrical device. Taken off the market 
  when its more extreme side-effects became apparent, you can 
  sometimes see them in the hands of emaciated techno-mages.
  • 
  The Energercise™ is potentially a source of  incredible power- but how 
  will you consume the enormous calorific intake required to keep it running?
  • 
  What other side effects does the Energercise™ have?
  16. GVS
  GVS or Group Valet Swarm is a network of self-replicating 
  microscopic drones. Once a person is imprinted onto a GVS 
  they will surround that person at all times, analysing, monitoring 
  and meeting their every need. They will feed, dress and groom, 
  perform chores and fetch small objects. Warning: GVS can get 
  dangerously passive aggressive if you try to leave them.
  • 
  Can you get enough GVS to equip your entire settlement?
  • 
  Is it safe to do so?
  • 
  How can you get a GVS to leave you?
  • 
  Could the GVS be re-purposed as a weapon?
  17. THE DREAM BEACON
  This device is dismissed as junk at first. When it powers up 
  blinking lights appear, a thin whining fills the air and your hair 
  stands on end. But then, for miles around, people start to have 
  dreams of war and death and the sense of a mind that is not 
  human. The dream ends with three words, “We Are Here.”
  • 
  Who created the device? Who is the signal for?
  • 
  What is the meaning of  the images in the dream?
  • 
  Should you let the signal keep transmitting? Shut it off? Or change it?
  
  22
  WASTELAND LISTS
  18. THE GHOST FURNACE
  A hastily assembled prototype from the last, most desperate days 
  of the energy crisis. The instructions say it is able to generate 
  power from the Earth’s most abundant and renewable resource- 
  the souls of the dead. It’s preposterous, of course. Except, it 
  seems to be producing electricity, and you don’t know where from.
  • 
  Does the Ghost Furnace work the way it claims to? Or is there another 
  secret to its power?
  • 
  Is it even ethical to use it?
  • 
  When the Furnace begins to fail, how can you find more ghosts?
  19. THE ATHENAEUM
  This buried temple is filled with rows upon rows of computer 
  banks, all connected up to a device that looks like an old dentist’s 
  chair crowned with a shining metal halo. The Athenaeum can use 
  this chair to transfer anything from its data-banks to a human 
  brain- knowledge, a natural talent, or a deeply held belief.
  • 
  How will you use the Athenaeum? As a way to rediscover lost skills and 
  knowledge?
  • 
  Or as a way to indoctrinate your own people?
  20. THE ARCOLOMOTIVE
  Hidden in a five-mile deep silo out in the desert, this enormous 
  spaceship houses self-contained rainforests, hydroponic farms, 
  libraries, dormitories, leisure centres and scientific laboratories. On 
  top of that, there’s enough food and medical resources to keep an 
  Old World city going for a hundred years – and a nuclear engine 
  powerful enough to turn the wasteland to glass.
  • 
  Do you want to take the ship apart for salvage, or escape this doomed 
  world and head for the stars, cleansing the Wasteland with fire as you go?
  • 
  If  you do, which other tribes and factions will you allow to come with you?
  • 
  Does everyone else in the Wasteland feel the same way about how the 
  Arcolomotive should be used? 
  
  23
  DEVICES
  
  CHAPTER
  03
  1. The Midas Plague 
  26
  2. Car Swarms 
  26
  3. Fairies 
  26
  4. Tardigantuans 
  27
  5. The Neuronomicon 
  27
  6. Mole-rat Hives 
  27
  7. Regina Regenerati 
  28
  8. Birnam Wood 
  28
  9. Glittering Rain 
  28
  10. Lacrimavore 
  29
  11. Green Sun 
  29
  12. The Sapio Virus 
  29
  13. The Grey 
  30
  14. Zoologists 
  30
  15. The Immunity Zone 
  30
  16. Octopus Sapiens 
  31
  17. The Red Librarians 
  31
  18. Narquine 
  32
  19. Unborn Gods 
  32
  20. The Milk Man 
  32
  
  THREATS
  
  26
  WASTELAND LISTS
  1. THE MIDAS PLAGUE
  Science doesn’t understand how this quantum phenomenon can 
  add or subtract protons from atomic nuclei. All that is known is 
  that infected victims find everything they touch turns, literally, to 
  gold. Including their own dying skin cells, their sweat, their gut 
  fauna, and the ground beneath their feet. If you see this shining 
  crowd glinting along the horizon, run.
  • 
  Flesh, stone, even water are turning to gold at the subatomic level. How 
  is this possible?
  • 
  What caused this? What terrible thing is to be found at the centre of  the 
  golden fields?
  • 
  What effect is all this new gold having on the Wasteland economy?
  2. CAR SWARMS
  Before the fall we thought all our problems could be solved by 
  solar-powered, self-driving cars, networked together so that they 
  could learn from one another to prevent accidents. The fall came, 
  and development ground to a halt. But the cars didn’t. They 
  continued to learn. They learned most accidents are caused by 
  human error. So now they remove the humans.
  • 
  Can the cars be tamed?
  • 
  Is there some kind of  guiding intelligence behind them?
  3. FAIRIES
  Zoologists claim they are mutated insects. Doctors believe they’re 
  a kind of group hallucination brought on by a mix of exotic 
  radiations. Nobody seriously believes the story that the fae folk are 
  using the Fall as a chance to return to the world, to rule over it as 
  they did in ancient times. At least, not until they’re caught alone.
  • 
  Why are the stories of  fairies suddenly so common in the Wasteland?
  • 
  Is it possible to catch a specimen and prove their existence?
  • 
  What do they offer you?
  
  27
  THREATS
  4. TARDIGANTUANS
  These mountain-sized creatures are gentle by nature, but still pose 
  a great danger to settlers of the Wasteland for two reasons. Firstly, 
  they aren’t very aware of their surroundings. Secondly, they are for 
  all practical purposes invincible.
  • 
  This creature’s microscopic ancestors can withstand nuclear blasts and the 
  vacuum of  space. How can you kill it?
  • 
  Alternatively, is there any way to communicate with the beast, or guide it 
  away from vulnerable areas?
  5. THE NEURONOMICON
  The story in this book is actually a kind of neurolinguistic virus 
  that overwrites the personality of anyone who reads it. Reading it 
  is considered an act of suicidal recklessness, and translating it is a 
  war crime.
  • 
  Who wrote the book?
  • 
  What becomes of  people who read the book?
  • 
  How is someone printing copies of  it?
  6. MOLE-RAT HIVES
  Naked mole-rats have evolved. Individually, they look no 
  different from their pre-Fall ancestors, but their nests grow at 
  an exponential rate and burst out from under the ground into 
  teetering spires. And they’re organised. A hunting party of a 
  couple of thousand mole-rats can drag you, still alive, to the food 
  chamber beneath the swollen abdomen of their queen.
  • 
  How do Wasteland communities respond to mole-rat infestations?
  • 
  What do the mole-rats do with the people they drag into their nests?
  • 
  Is it just me, or do they seem to be getting smarter?
  
  28
  WASTELAND LISTS
  7. REGINA REGENERATI
  A Victorian inventor travelled to the future, returned to his own 
  time, and reported what he saw. The result is the appearance of 
  squads of time-travelling Victorian storm-troopers who, having 
  foreseen a time when Queen and Country have fallen, and realised 
  it is one they are helpless to avert, have decided to colonise the 
  future, and rebuild the British Empire anew.
  • 
  How can you fight the Regenerati without changing history?
  • 
  Regenerati troops have stockpiles of  supplies and munitions, buried in the 
  19th century. Can you find them first?
  8. BIRNAM WOOD
  A scout finds a copse of lush vegetation in a place marked bare on 
  the wasteland maps. Fine, the last scout must have missed it. They 
  walk among the trees looking for fruit and medicinal herbs. They 
  hear plants rustling and, alarmed, search for predators moving 
  among the foliage. But it’s not what’s among the foliage they 
  should worry about.
  • 
  The “Wood” is dangerous, but more fruitful than any other Wasteland 
  flora. Can it be tamed? Harvested? 
  • 
  How do you find a forest that is always moving?
  • 
  What happens to the people that disappear there?
  9. GLITTERING RAIN
  Scientists once theorised the atmospheres of planets such as 
  Jupiter and Saturn see rainstorms of actual diamonds. It should be 
  impossible for these storms to happen here. But sometimes you 
  still see sparkling clouds on the horizon. They look pretty until 
  they’re above you, and you realise you’re being rained on by the 
  hardest, sharpest things in the universe.
  • 
  How can you build a shelter that will survive the Rain?
  • 
  The diamonds the Rain brings would have been priceless in a pre-Fall 
  world. How can they be used now?
  
  29
  THREATS
  10. LACRIMAVORE
  Terrifyingly fast, unbelievably vicious predators that get an 
  incredible high out of the chemicals the brain releases when 
  crying or sad. Settlers that live within their hunting grounds will 
  greet with you a cheerful smile, and keep smiling no matter what.
  • 
  As the Lacrimavore’s presence continues and the psychological strain 
  becomes unbearable, how does your settlement cope?
  • 
  What are the Lacrimavore’s weaknesses?
  • 
  Where do they come from?
  11. GREEN SUN
  Astronomy is poorer now, so there’s no way of knowing if 
  the Green Sun is incredibly bright and extremely far away, or 
  something smaller that has somehow passed into your world’s 
  orbit. Neither does anyone know why its verdant rays dissolve any 
  organic life they come into contact with as it passes through the 
  sky.
  • 
  Can you find scientific instruments to study the Green Sun?
  • 
  Is there any way to destroy it, or negate its effects?
  • 
  What does your settlement do whenever the Green Sun passes overhead?
  12. THE SAPIO VIRUS
  An extreme and possibly synthetic mutation of the influenza 
  virus that hops species with ease. Infected subjects experience 
  rapid cognitive development: many animal establish a sense of 
  self, learn to use of tools and language, and form the embryonic 
  beginnings of society. Then their immune systems fight off the 
  disease, and they return to their baseline intelligence.
  • 
  What are the evolved animal colonies like? How does their intelligence 
  differ from that of  humans?
  • 
  Some temporarily uplifted animal colonies are looking to compromise their 
  immune systems to retain their intelligence. Do you help them? Or try to 
  stop them?
  
  30
  WASTELAND LISTS
  13. THE GREY
  A growing expanse of the wasteland sheltered by thick grey 
  clouds. All who pass through here are immediately struck by an 
  overwhelming sense of despair. It’s not uncommon for people and 
  animals alike to simply lie down and never get up. Surrounding 
  settlements retreat as the affected area grows, but nobody has 
  found a way to counter it.
  • 
  What lies at the centre of  the Grey?
  • 
  What will you do as the expanding Grey approaches your own borders?
  14. ZOOLOGISTS
  Occasionally a lone survivor will be picked out in the wasteland 
  by searchlights from the clouds. Seconds later they will be lifted 
  into the sky, placed in a glass jar and examined. Then, they might 
  be tagged and released, kept in a zoo, or – in extreme cases – 
  vivisected.
  • 
  What are the zoologists? What do they want?
  • 
  Why do they keep drawing circles in your crops?
  • 
  Knowing how regular their abductions are, is it possible to turn the tables 
  and trap one?
  15. THE IMMUNITY ZONE
  An outbreak of medical nanites makes permanent death an 
  impossibility throughout this region. Avoid at all costs.
  • 
  Can you rescue those who suffered terrible fates within this region, but are 
  forced to keep living?
  • 
  Can the effect of  the Immunity Zone be brought beyond the region’s 
  borders?
  • 
  Is there a way to shut down the medical nanites for good?
  
  31
  THREATS
  16. OCTOPUS SAPIENS
  When humanity was in its infancy, Octopus sapiens were already 
  building vast glass cities at the deepest points of the ocean floor, 
  and they would have been happy to stay there. But when human 
  foolishness turned the ocean water to poison, Octopus sapiens built 
  themselves land-suits and came up looking for revenge.
  • 
  Is it possible to communicate with the Octopus Sapiens to find a peaceful 
  solution?
  • 
  Is there any way to defeat their unstoppable super weapon, the mechanical 
  tentacle?
  • 
  How can you fortify your settlements against their armies of  augmented 
  crab slaves?
  17. THE RED LIBRARIANS
  The Wasteland isn’t even safe for the dead. When you die, your 
  entire life flashes before your eyes. Every day the Red Librarians 
  scour the wastes for the freshest dead bodies. The bones become 
  tools and ornaments. The flesh is used for meat. The brains are 
  preserved in a nano-fluid, and those last flashes of memory are 
  placed on a loop, forever.
  • 
  Where is the site of  the fabled “Red Library”?
  • 
  Why are some settlements willingly giving their dead to the Library?
  • 
  Some believe the Librarians are looking for a specific memory. What is it?
  
  32
  WASTELAND LISTS
  18. NARQUINE
  From a distance, these horse mutations resemble the unicorns 
  of ancient myth. However, like the long extinct Narwhal, the 
  Narquine’s horn actually comes from a single, hyper-overgrown 
  tooth. This makes them extremely angry, and travellers should 
  avoid their herds.
  • 
  How will you survive when your settlement is on their migratory path?
  • 
  Narquine horn is especially valued by some groups. Will you join the 
  trade, or attempt to stop the poachers?
  • 
  Can the Narquine be domesticated and ridden as steeds into battle?
  19. UNBORN GODS
  Nobody knows why the pre-Fall government was genetically 
  engineering human embryos to grant them greatly magnified 
  intellects and overwhelming psychic and telekinetic powers. 
  Neither can anyone guess why they taught them nothing but 
  cruelty. Still, best not get close enough to ask.
  • 
  The Unborn Gods are planning something far beyond human 
  comprehension. What is their plan, and what are its implications for the 
  rest of  the Wasteland?
  • 
  How can you defeat super-intelligent beings who know your every thought 
  and can rearrange matter on a whim?
  20. THE MILK MAN
  A man devoid of hope stumbled across a van of bottles and a 
  white coat and cap. Then he became something more than a man, 
  he became an idea. Every dawn you can hear him whistle as his 
  battery-powered truck trundles across the Wasteland, stopping to 
  leave a bottle outside every settlement. Whatever you do, do not 
  open the bottle.
  • 
  What is the noxious green, bubbling liquid inside those bottles?
  • 
  What happened to the mysteriously abandoned settlements he passed through?
  • 
  Why isn’t the “milk” running out?
  
  33
  THREATS
  • 
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Legacy (PbtA)/2nd Edition/Supplements/Legacy 2e - Life Among The Ruins (2nd Edition) - Wasteland Almanac.pdf