Mod:DUST Survival Simulator/The Divide

The Divide is a region to the northwest of the Mojave Wasteland, entered through a train tunnel connected to Vault 74.

Background
An isolated town located on the California/Nevada border, Hopeville and Ashton were established in the late 21st century, The Divide was victim to a nuclear massacre in The Great War, and later again to a nuclear massacre in 2277, caused by The Courier. The ones that survived the nukes quickly turned into Marked Men, Bull and Bear, united by radiation. The only non Marked Man survivor was Ulysses, one of Caesar's frumentarii, fighting in the Divide front lines during the nuclear explosion.

The Divide with its varied history, having been part of what once was America's ballistic shield with its network of underground nuclear missile silos, was the subject of one last, devastating nuclear catastrophe.

Years after, Ulysses contacted The Courier, inviting him to walk the Lonesome Road with him, planning to once more rain nuclear fire on the wastes.

It is presumed Ulysses was defeated in his last confrontation with the Courier in Ulysses' Temple, leaving the Marked Men leaderless.

Soon after, the Marked Men, without hope to continue, a wise Marked Man stepped up and formed an alliance with nearby tribes of the Divide, Junaid.

The Five Tribes
In 2301, The Divide is home to five tribes constituting an alliance, forming a functioning society with the tribes complementing each other in multiple ways:


 * Deep Wells


 * Dust Walkers


 * Mole Herders
 * Stone Wolves

The tribes started accepting lone souls who were seeking for refugee in the Wastes, accomodating those who survived The Fall..
 * Sun Children

The player starts in the end of the High Road upon entrance, and the section leading to Ashton is blocked off. The only path is through the High Road to Hopeville, leading to the Market District.

Threat Level
Dust Walkers, Stone Wolves, and Deep Wells are the most well armed in the Divide, Dust Walkers wear sand resistant clothing to protect from storms in the High Road, and prefer long range ambushes, taking out the survivor before he can see them. Stone Wolves are expert crafters, using makeshift weaponry and armor, they can quickly take out the Survivor with high damaging makeshift weapons.

Areas

 * Hopeville
 * High Road

DUST Events
After the death of the leader of the Marked Men, Ulysses, The Marked Men merged with tribes neighbouring the Divide, Their power spread as far as to Kai'sar's Hill, occupied by Dust Walkers.

The First Coming
Sometime after the ending of Honest Hearts and the death of Ulysses, The White Legs were pushed back to Pine Creek Tunnel, retreating all the way to the Long Dark, causing the massacre of Vault 74 and the First Coming. During that period, The Marked Men were weak, due to the lost of their leader. The White Legs came to The Divide, but only made it to the High Road before they were pushed back to The Long Dark. The Marked Men hunted the remaining White Legs and wiped them out.

The Second Coming
Around 2287, The Dead Horses were forced to retreat from Zion, due to increasing threat of The Wendigo and food shortage. The Dead Horses ventured into the Long Dark, when they arised in The Divide, they were met with hostile forces, again the tribes of the Divide were massacred, but they ended up winning when they hunted the Dead Horses in the Long Dark, sucessfully wiping out the Dead Horses.

The Tunneler Incident
It is believed that after the Divide tribals tamed Deathclaws and chased out all tunnelers from the Divide, the tunnelers mass emigrated to the Mojave, causing chaos and being partially responsible for the Fall.

The Third Coming (Optional)
Should the player decide to escape the Wasteland through Zion, there is a chance that they will end up in the Divide, entering through the exact same entrance that the tribes of Zion had taken. Seeing this, the tribals of the Divide will take it as another invasion and will attack. If the player decides to defend themselves and advance through the rest of the Divide, they will effectively crush the society established there and will cause the leader of the Dust Walkers, Junaid, to kill himself. This would essentially mean that the player had vanquished a blossoming society for nothing, as there is no exit in the Divide. This tragedy is, however, completely preventable by either not fighting back or by not going to the Divide at all.

Areas of Interest
See Hopeville and High Road for details on these particular areas.

Tactical Considerations
See Hopeville and High Road for details on these particular areas.

Unlike Zion, The Divide seems to have largely retained its climate conditions, so Survivors will usually have good visuals, easing observation. Also, The Divide is not subject to the kind of contamination and its rather unpleasant results in the form of hordes of rampaging abominations as other regions.

Food, drink, ammunition, weapons and healing items will be available in quite large amounts, as well as places to sleep. Surivors hoping to use their Bedroll Kit will not be able to do so in large parts of The Divide.

Rather, the main threat of the region comes from the inhabitants fiercely defending their functioning society against anyone dare entering their territory.

The often very well armed defenders are supported by trained Deathclaws, so bringing something to scare them away in order to gain some advantage is advisable. The Flare Gun, not requiring ammunition, could be a weapon of choice for this.

Radiation can be an annoyance due to the ever present, abandoned nuclear war heads in the whole area, but with RadAway available as loot should be manageable.

Survivors exiting the tunnel leading up from Vault 74 to The Divide will find themselves in what formerly was called Ashton, and now is the North Watchpost area, right next to the High Road.

Trivia

 * Even though tunnelers were exterminated from the Divide, you can rarely find a few fighting Dust Walkers in the High Road tunnel
 * DUST somewhat reverses the path players follow in the unmodified version of Lonesome Road by having them start in Ashton (now The North Watchpost), instead of Hopeville.
 * There are almost certainly other means of entering and exiting the Divide, considering that some tribals are able to make the pilgrimage to Kai-sar's Hill, which is in the Mojave.