Zombie Failure (SF+DR)

[LiatharD]

The Red Devils appeared on the scene shortly after the zombie apocalypse began to pick up steam, their center of operations Willis Tower (formerly known as Sears Tower). During the Day of the Dead and through the Night of the Living Dead, they contributed what they could to the Battle of Chicago, while also pursuing their own plans. A judicial use of explosives and structural know-how, they dropped every building between the corners of W Monroe Street and Historic U.S. 66, and West Van Buren Street, leaving only the Willis Tower to The Art Institute of Chicago intact. Art Institute, they used wrecked vehicles and what buildings they could collapse, to blockade it off from the rest of the city, building a line from there to the Chicago Yacht Club, a total area one block wide, and nearly 18 blocks long, a fortress in the besieged city.

The price was high since, to collapse so many buildings in such a short time, as well as build the high, makeshift barricades, they couldn’t exactly loot the buildings, or search for survivors. It was viewed as a necessary evil, and the barricades and defenses in place they began to gather what folks and supplies they could, turning the 18 block safe haven into Red Devils Fortress. [If used in your Zombie Failure Campaign, at least five months into the Day of the Dead, the fortifications will be in place and the start of finding survivors still in the city] The location, possession of the Chicago Yacht Club, the know how of the leadership, and the drive to fight back the infected, enabled them find survivors, trade and resupply resistance members all along the Great Lakes, and into Canada.

Like Hells Pit, Devils Roost (almost) anything could be had for a price. Red Devils and anyone living inside the Roost, uphold certain business practices. Namely, they don’t sell flesh (living flesh at least), don’t condone slavery, and have been known to take a Death Cult member into their, shall we say, “rehabilitation program”, which varies from confiscation of goods to outright Zombie Surfing (the morbid nickname for tossing a living person into a mob of zombies from a second or third story window). However, if the group’s righteous (which varies) in their view, they’ll do business with them [Retro-Savages who capture and throw the living to zombies, bandits, raiders, the more violent and/or psychotic Splatterpunks, they refuse to do business with. This includes Death Cults who practice human sacrifice whether by actually sacrificing the person, or denying them protection if said person refuses to accept the Death Cult leadership. Basically, this group is evil, but they’re not morally bankrupt. In a sense, they straddle Aberrant and Unprincipled. Hard to really express that the group is evil, but not EVIL or Evil. Between humanity and the zombies, they stand with humanity]

Overall, the place has a boomtown kind of atmosphere; gambling, vice, drinking, arms trading, brawling, all are allowed (within reason). All weapons (except blunt instruments) are checked in at the gates. Above the gates, only accessible from the guard walkway on the other side, is a stenciled message to any visitors: “The house requires all firearms and edged weaponry be checked in. Don’t like it, take your business elsewhere.” Beneath that, in legible spray paint lettering: “Don’t like it, f*** you, f*** your mode of transport, f*** your family, and f*** your family’s family.”

The few rules they have are more common sense than anything, but some folks need it stated.
1. If you fight, brawl. Don’t try to kill or maim the other guy. Maiming will get the offender booted out. Second time, goods confiscated and kicked out. Third time, banned permanently (with the exception for true self-defense and if someone else just killed a person who just rose as a zombie).

2. No price gouging. You want a profit, fine, but price gouging is outright banned (same penalties as #1).

3. No trading in (living) flesh. Humans need as many fellow humans as they can get, so slavery, serial killing, murder, etc., is out. Now, if someone has a market for zombies that’s fine, but not within the community itself (the security risks alone make that necessary)

4. Cheating (in any fashion) is banned. (“You want to cheat something? Go cheat death and smash some zombies.”). This includes shady business deals (selling a non-functioning firearm under the guise that it works, brand new, etc. counts as a shady deal).

5. Red Devils’ turf, what’s said, goes. Stay out of their buildings/areas, raise trouble, they’ll stop it, hard.

6. Don’t mess with the plants.

7. Any issues, take it up with management in the Sears Tower.

The current leader of the Red Devils (and the driving force behind them), is a rather non-descript human male in his early 30s, clothes clean and well kept (but prefers to wear the Red Devils’ jacket/patch), brunette hair, green eyes, thin body but toned, called Red Luther. Before the Apocalypse, he was a scientist, working in the fields of gene splicing (with a focus on plants, such as crops resistant to diseases, etc.), but dabbled in all scientific pursuits, a heavy physical regimen, and a love of tactics and strategy (whether playing chess, orchestrating battles, loves it all).

When dealing with people (especially those who wish to speak to management over an issue), he maintains a calm, polite tone and manner, using as few words as possible (without resorting to explicit language) to address the issue. [“Your business quota this quarter has been particularly low”, but in his case, that same sentence would be “Your profits are down, what’s the problem?”]

If magic is allowed in the campaign, he is a pre-Apocalypse practitioner (most likely Cybermage from Nightbane, or the Sorcerer O.C.C. from Nightbane, with a Doctorate Education, and the proper skills to cover his pursuits, including boxing, wrestling, and martial arts) who dabbles in almost anything arcane, with a strong psychic ability (major psychic).

If magic is not allowed (not even the Mystic Talent ability), consider him an Egghead, with the same level of education and skill note above. But unlike other Eggheads, he keeps up a hearty athletic regimen (“If you’re going to be smart and have the ability to, there’s no point in using your intelligence if the body isn’t fit.”).

In any case, his I.Q. and M.E. should be quite high (the former more than the latter), loves tending his plants (almost all roofs in their territory, outside of guard posts, are greenhouses), and does his best to maintain a calm, polite manner when dealing with issues.

He’s also the reason why the outer walls/buildings (and specific places on the inner walls) have giant Venus fly traps from hell. One of his proudest creations, they look more fitting to a low budget remake of Little Shop of Horrors than true fly traps. Instead of green coloration and leaves, like most fly traps, their outer “skin” has a color that ranges from human dead to human pale, mottled flesh like stalks, and plant like teeth (the cilia, the portion of the fly trap proper that looks like teeth, in this case, are actually as hard as bone, and are indeed teeth). Their diet happens to be dead flesh, which ensures they’re continued growth and expansion from the Roost proper. Their size limits them to any zombie size smaller than juggernaut, but several have been known to work together to tear apart larger zombies. When their awareness is interrupted by something cold and moving, the flytrap jaw extends like a frog’s tongue, snatches up the target, with the exterior of the jaws pulsating as if chewing (in reality, hyper producing an acidic solution that eats through dead flesh, turning the trapped creature into a syrupy paste for digestion).

If the weather is cold enough, and visitors (human, not zombie) are cold enough too, there are incidents of folks being accidentally snatched up, bathed, then deposited at the flytrap’s ‘feet’. None the worse for wear, except missing the first layer of skin, fingernail and toenails, and hair (they eat the dead skin, hair, and nails of the living, if a mistake happens to take place). Warning signs advise not to get within six feet, but if you do, relax and shut your eyes tight (temporarily blindness if you don’t, same penalties/pain as if shot with mace).