Wasteland Observer

Lord Ashur's reforms may falter, but his vision is still clear: The Pitt is a regional hegemon after having subdued Ronto, steadily expanding west to dominate the Ohio River Valley, and clearing the Ohio River as it does. An industrial powerhouse by the standards of the wasteland, and a primary exporter of new ammo on the East Coast, the Pitt's favor has weight.

With the last pockets of resistance to Ashur's new order in Ronto finally stomped out, the Lord of the Pitt has set his sights on Motor City and its rumored pre-war industrial stockpiles.

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The Bayou Cure: The First Consul's Lost Scientific Miracle

The forgotten fruit of the First Consul's research to try and make Orleans a more livable place, the Bayou Cure --lost at the time First Consul's death-- is said to be a revolutionary form of protection to the high levels of ambient radiation of the Bayou. If the rumors are true, the Cure could change the entire face of the Gulf Coast.

Radiation is the biggest obstacle to re-development in the wasteland, but especially in the Gulf Coast. While importing punga fruit and general reconstruction have allowed Orleans to rise from the rubble, radiation still sharply limits lifespans and livability in the Bayou and radioactive areas outside the city.

According to the legend, the First Consul studied one of the most radiation-prospering species in the wastelands, a species that not only survives in radiation but thrives in it: the common ghoul. Taking it one step further, the First Consul also researched how and why Ghouls go feral, in an attempt to stop that fate for Orleans' largest minority.

The Cure is believed to be a serum that can give anyone a ghoul's ability to metabolize low levels of radiation without the skin-loss and threat of going feral. Not a one-time remedy but an enduring trait, anyone who partakes the Cure would be safe from the lower levels of ambient radiation of the Gulf Coast and Bayou.

The Cure could change the entire face of the Gulf Coast.

With such a treatment, widespread colonization of not only Orleans, but the entire Gulf Coast could begin much more easily. As the serum purportedly requires products of the Bayou, Orleans would be perfectly placed to capitalize on a position of strength as the sole supplier of such a serum.

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Pan-Atomic Canal Restoration unleashes new era of Atlantic-Pacific Trade

Created before the Great War, the United States decided they needed a bigger Panama canal to move troops and ships from one side to the other. As expanding the Panama canal and building new locks would take too long and cost too much, they used nukes to blow one through Nicaragua. Regardless, when the bombs fell and the Panama locks were destroyed, the Pan-Atomic Canal was the only link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans left.

Though the Great War saw it closed due to debris, the Blue Water Monopoly have invested a great deal of money, manpower, and salvaged nuclear devices to re-open the Pan-Atomic Canal. Since then they have maintained a significant military presence on the canal, securing their monopoly of Atlantic-Pacific trades with an iron fist, and have used it to trade as far north as the Baja Territories and as far south as Chincha Islands.

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Lyons declares treeminders to be protected class

the capital wasteland has seen a population boom since the activation of the Aqua Purifier, and the rise of clean water has turned it into one of the most significant regions on the East Coast. New communities have risen, and the Brotherhood of Steel is the organizer of a loose confederation of settlements securing and distributing water. Wastelanders from across the continent have headed towards the capital in pursuit of the legendary Aqua Purae, and salvage efforts have intensified.

Elder Sarah Lyons, who ascended to leadership after the death of her father, Owyn Lyons, has led the Brotherhood towards a proactive role in the Capital Confederation. Most recently, she has publicly announced the Treeminders to be under Brotherhood protection, stating: "The Treeminders have been essential in cultivating the regrowth of wasteland. In recognition of their efforts, it shall be known that any attack on the Treeminders or their works will be seen as an equivalent attack on the Brotherhood, and be responded to accordingly."