OOC -- Bartertown

Introduction

Description of the Mountaintop Mine -- Bartertown's location

In early 2025, the most destructive pandemic Humankind was ever to face began. Extremely contagious, transmissible for weeks before symptoms appeared, and 90% lethal, this new variant of the COVID-19 virus had spread far and wide before ever being discovered.

All attempts at updating the existing vaccines or producing new ones resulted in failure. By 2030, the population of Earth -- once nearly 8 billion -- had dropped to less than 40 million worldwide, with the population of the US being estimated at less than 2 million.

The Human Race seemed destined for extinction.



A tiny percentage of people -- less than .3% of the Human population -- had a genetic anomaly that made them immune to this virus. These people -- called Immunes -- would be all that remained of the Human Race.

In a remote, classified, West Texas CDC facility, epidemiologist Doctor Claire Taylor -- an Immune herself -- had been searching for a way of turning her own genetic good fortunes into a cure for the rest of Humanity. After 10 years of research, two things had taken place alongside one another: first, Taylor and her team had failed to find a cure; second, most of America's population had died off, leaving only Immunes, which made the team's failure moot.

During that decade of work, Taylor had heard rumors that Immune females were being forced into breeding programs designed to bring about Immune offspring. When finally she verified that this was in fact happening, Taylor wasn't going to sit still and see it continue.

In late 2030, Taylor and a Cohort of conspirators led the escape of Immunes from her facility. They fled east, then north, then finally west to throw off the pursuit that Taylor anticipated. She'd been right to take these precautions as the group was in fact pursued. But the chase was given up when the Government decided the gain -- female Immunes, of which they already had plenty -- simply wasn't worth the effort or investment.



Taylor and her Cohort faced many dangers during those first few weeks of searching for a safe haven; several deaths and disappearances -- kidnappings mostly -- of their members occurred, resulting in their number dropping to 22.

Then they learned of a long-abandoned mountaintop gravel mining operation that might offer that badly needed safe haven. They checked it out and immediately knew it was where they would settle.

Ultimately, as they secured and expanded it into a trading post for other pandemic survivors, it would come to be known as Bartertown.

Location:

• Think somewhere near the Arizona-New Mexico border ... but not. (In other words, this is a fictional location in a factual region.)
• Atop The Seventh Sister, the southeastern-most peak (or butte, depending on your definition of mountains) in a range of seven peaks called the Seven Sisters.
• The peaks rise between 1000-1800 feet above the surrounding valley floor. The range is surrounded on all sides by smaller foothills.
• None of the other peaks are near enough to the mine -- and now to Bartertown -- to be a significant security risk today.

Neighboring Communities:

• Rockville is at the base of the mountain. It once had a population of 2,000, with most of those people involved directly or indirectly to the mine. The mine's closure ran off 90% of the residents; the pandemic did the rest.
• Barrow is 30 miles to the east. During the mining era, it had had a population of over 20,000, with half of that indirectly connected to that and other mines in the region. Lowering water table levels in and around Barrow led to a major decrease in agriculture and manufacturing and, thus, population during the years preceding the pandemic. Combined with the mine closure and the pandemic, Barrow's current population is less than 200.

Description of the mine: During its mining history

• It was a source of gravel and sand for construction from the early 1900s.
• Almost 400 feet of the peak's top had been carved away by high explosives.
• Ultimately, the topping of the mountain was ceased and the digging of an open pit mine began.
• As the pit deepened, a "V" was cut into the south wall of the deepening crater for road access. This access is approximately halfway between the highest point of the rim and the pond level.
• See this link for an image and this link for a description of the pit.
• A plateau of sorts -- two football fields in size, or a bit more than 2 acres -- is directly before the southside access when entering the bowl.
• A pond on the north side is 50 feet at its deepest.
• The rock was taken to crushers outside Rockville, first by wagons lowered by powerful horse teams, later by cable lowered rail cars, then by trucks.
• The road ascends and descends the mountain from and to the valley via a 3 mile long road that has 2 switchbacks.
• When the gravel company closed the mine, all of the equipment in the pit was removed. Some of it remains outside Rockville today.

Original Members of the "Cohort" to reach Bartertown:

1. Claire Taylor, 39 -- Epidemiologist and honorary leader of the Cohort.
2. Richard Reid, ?? -- Head of Security (former Chief of Security at CDC-Texas)
3. (Unnamed female), ?? -- Member, Security Team and ??*
4. (Unnamed female), ?? -- Member, Security Team and ??
5. (Unnamed male), ?? -- Member, Security Team and ??
6. (Unnamed male), ?? -- Member, Security Team and ??
7. (Unnamed male), ?? -- Member, Security Team and ??
8. (Unnamed male), ?? -- Member, Security Team and ??
9. (Unnamed male), ?? -- Member, Security Team and ??
10. (Unnamed male), 44 -- Medical Assistant (training to be a Medic).
11. (Unnamed female)
12. (Unnamed female)
13. (Unnamed female)
14. (Unnamed female)
15. (Unnamed female)
16. (Unnamed female)
17. (Unnamed female)
18. (Unnamed female)
19. (Unnamed female)
20. (Unnamed female)
21. (Unnamed female)
22. (Unnamed female)

* Many of the Bartertown residents will have multiple duties.

Other residents of Bartertown:

• Trevor, 29 -- ???
• Maria, ?? -- ??? and Trevor's wife.
• Lanying (Lanny), 18 -- ??? and Trevor and Maria's adopted daughter.
• Glenn, 16 -- ??? and Trevor and Maria's adopted son.