Community:An In Depth Discussion and Dissection Regarding The Founding of Communities in The Post-War World, The Implication of Their Creations, and What it Means to You. By Professors Black Devil and Rubbinmahbelly./Capital Wasteland

=Capital Wasteland= The region of Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania surrounding the city of Washington, D.C., known as the Capital Wasteland, is home to a number of diverse communities. Surprisingly, many of the major settlements within the Capital Wasteland are relatively new, only forming in the last several generations.

Andale
The small town of Andale started out as a pre-war neighborhood with four families in the state of Virginia. These families survived in personal bomb shelters until they ran out of food, at which point they resorted to cannibalism to survive. Since then the town has remained insular, staying a "small town and proud." This I learned as one of the town patriarchs, one Jack Smith, was attempting to "have me for dinner". I should have been wary of his vague wording at the time, but live and learn. Thankfully I managed to escape my predicament by utilizing an escape method I learned reading old Silver Shroud comic books. Who knew dislocating one's own thumbs could be so useful. But back to the point, since the town was founded an indeterminate amount of time before the war, and there is an unbroken chain of residents from before the war to modern day (2277), it is likely to be the oldest still inhabited settlement in the Capital Wasteland.

Republic of Dave
The Republic of Dave, previously known as the Nation of Tom, previously known as the New Republic of Stevie-Ray, previously known as Billsylvania, previously known as the Republic of Stevie-Ray, previously known as the Kingdom of Larry, is a small settlement located in the northern Capital Wasteland near the Maryland/Pennsylvania border. If one ever finds themselves in the neighborhood, take the museum tour. The lovely young resident who runs the museum explained to me in detail much of the history of the nation, and the rest I pieced together from documents in nearby government buildings.

The Republic originated in the years before the Great War as a compound created by American citizens who felt the government had become corrupt, and that they would need to work together to take back the country for the people. The compound that would one day go on to become the Republic of Dave is but one several remote locations created by this antigovernmental movement. As it was founded shortly before the bombs fell, it is a pre-war settlement, but it is unlikely to be older than the established town of Andale. There is similarities between the pre-war anti government movement that gave rise to the Republic, and the Free States of nearby Appalachia, with both being anti-government organizations who established off the grid strongholds in remote regions of the American east coast, but any connection between the two groups, if one exists at all, is unknown.

Little Lamplight
Little Lamplight is one of the most mysterious towns within the Capital Wasteland, beat out only by the lost (and also cave based) city of Rockopolis. This strange cave town of children is one of the more odd locales in the Capital Wasteland, a region known for it's oddities. Being a "mungo" I was unable to enter the town proper, (a somewhat aggravating turn of events seeing as I had braved the Super Mutant hellscape that is the Irradiated Western Plains to get there). Instead I had to make due with asking the gate guard on duty what little they knew of the town's history, as well as an outgoing teenager who was on their way to "Big Town". Through this, I managed to piece together a short history of the cave city inhabited entirely by juveniles.

The cave system that would go on to become Little Lamplight was once a pre-war tourist destination known by the name "Lamplight Caverns." Any traveler in the Capital Wasteland is likely familiar with the billboards which bear the caverns' mole mascot. On the day of the Great War 200 years ago, a school trip from Early Dawn Elementary School would arrive at the caverns early in the morning. One wonders how early they had to leave the school which is situated on the GNR building plaza to arrive at the caverns before the bombs fell that morning... Especially considering the note I read from one of the teacher chaperone, one miss Carrie Delaney, said that the students were preparing to leave at the time the bombs dropped. I can only assume the students had arrived the day before and spent the night in the caverns.

Regardless, over the course of the next month every adult would leave to find help, and never return. The official founding of the city of Little Lamplight occurred on January 27th, 2078, when a young boy Jason Grant was named the town's first mayor. The holotape this I learned this from was dated January 26, 2077, however it refers to the events of the war as having taken place 3 months prior. So unless this child was a time traveler, I must assume they made a mistake when dating their holotape. An understandable mistake for a child to make. Regardless, the children had already been referring to the town as "Little Lamplight" by this time. This I believe to be one of, if not the first Post-War settlement in the Capital Wasteland still in operation as of 2277.

Underworld
The Ghoul community of Underworld is located within the pre-war Museum of History, situated on the National Mall in the heart of Washington, D.C. The inhabitants of Underworld are generally welcoming, if a bit untrustworthy of outsiders. This is unsurprising considering the history of bigotry ghouls have unfortunately faced in the wasteland. The town's mayor also serves as it's primary doctor. I found Doctor Barrows to be an agreeable, if rather morbid man. He claims to be the world's foremost expert on the ghoul condition, and after talking to him for several hours, I believe him.

While I was in Underworld, I stayed the night at a local Bed and Breakfast, Carol's Place. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and a welcome respite following several weeks of sleeping in the dark so as to avoid attracting the attention of raiders or Super Mutants. While there, I struck up a conversation with the eponymous Carol. She is actually a pre-war ghoul, a sight which is tragically becoming rarer and rarer these days. She told me of the day the bombs fell, and the situation in the days following. It was a truly moving experience. Her story also shed some light on the origins of Underworld as a whole, as it turns out Carol is one of the original inhabitants. In the weeks after the war, she hid within the museum. Over time, more survivors began joining her in the museum. As time passed, Carol and the other survivors began noticing their skin becoming dry and flaking off, the first signs of turning into a ghoul. The ghoulification process took at most a year. Some survivors went crazy, but the rest accepted their transformations, and Underworld grew in population as more ghouls arrived.

Without realizing it, Carol had given me an excellent timeline for the creation of Underworld. She stated that she was born in 2051, which would have made her around 26 when the bombs fell. (She herself refers to herself at the time as "little girl", which gives an interesting insight into how biologically immortal post-humans view age. Perhaps this is an avenue I shall study in the future.) Regardless, as per Carol's story, she was one of the original inhabitants of underworld, and it already had a sizable population when the ghoulification process began, which means that the town of Underworld MUST have been formed within one generation AFTER the bombs fell. Carol currently presents herself in the manner of an elderly mother. Whether this is due to her age during ghoulification, or simply due to age in general is unknown.

Megaton
Megaton serves as a testament to the ingenuity of the people of the Capital Wasteland. Where others would see a big hole in the ground with a weapon of mass destruction, the original settlers of Megaton saw opportunity. While in Megaton, I met someone who can best be described as the town historian. 64 year old Manya told me the entire history of the town, and how her family ties in with it. I was surprised to learn that Megaton is a relatively new settlement, as Manya's grandfather was one of the town's original inhabitants. This places the creation of the town at around four generations ago, (as a generation is generally agreed to be around 20-30 years).

Sadly that is as much detail as I could get from her regarding the WHEN. The HOW on the other hand she was more than happy to tell. It had been my belief, as it had with many others, that the Megaton crater was formed by the impact of the bomb which failed to detonate. This was not the case however, as in actuality the crater was formed by the airplane the bomb was in crashing to the ground. The crater provided survivors shelter from the dust storms, and the remains of this plane provided the initial building materials of the town. The rest were scavenged from more planes at a nearby airport. One might wonder WHY they left the bomb in the middle of town. The answer is twofold. First, the Children of Atom had begun worshiping the bomb, and their help was needed in the construction of the town. Secondly, it was believed that the bomb wasn't hurting anyone, and that it would be risky to move it.

By the time Manya's father was born, Megaton was a full on trade hub. And it was through trade that her father amassed his wealth before convincing the people of Megaton to construct the walls around the crater to prevent raider attack. The construction of the walls took several months, and were completed by February of 2241.

Arefu
The small settlement of Arefu in the northern Capital Wasteland has seen far better days. Previously boasting a population of 30, it has shrunk in recent years to a measly five. The town lies on an overpass spanning the Potomac, and last time I passed by that way it could be used to cross the river. However since then the town mayor Evan King had the northern span of the bridge demolished so he only has to defend from threats coming from the south. The town also serves as the lost stop on most trade routes out of Megaton.

As for the age of the town, when talking with the remaining local population, nobody could recall exactly when or how the town was founded. The town derives its name from a road sign on the south side of the bridge. The sign told drivers of a pre-war location known as Arefu which lies an indeterminate number of miles away. As for the age of the town, best I could discover is that the eldest person in town, Evan King, has lived in town his entire life. Meaning Arefu is AT LEAST 55 years old.