Fort Worthless
Fort Worthless is where dreams go to die. West of Star City, the shattered remains of a settlement squat on the Lone Star plains with deserted streets, crumbling buildings, and blood spattered on the roads. No standing army. No real defenses. No walls, though proximity to Star City provides some incidental protection from the worst of the undead tides. When the dead do come, residents crawl into underground bunkers and wait in sweltering hot rooms for days until the Lawmen eventually arrive to clean up. Fort Worthless is not their priority.
Sheriff Wilder Burns runs the town, a Merican whose primary skill is knowing which way to look when the price is right. Backroom negotiations with gangs, smuggled cargo, captured slaves, and murder are all overlooked for the appropriate payment. Criminals pay him off to operate freely, and the locals hide when actual law enforcement passes through. The bars grudgingly serve the Lawmen, who are looked down upon along with anyone the locals call "big city folk."
The economy runs on what no decent settlement wants. Fort Worthless is a stopping-off point for cargo destined for the Space Caverns. Drug trafficking and smuggling are the primary industries. Sky Temple priests denounce the settlement while Aggieland scientists negotiate slave deals. The population consists of injured workers from the Trembling Plains, down-and-out bounty hunters, and the sort of disreputable types that other towns are relieved to see leave.
Sullen drunks or fights fill every bar. Cockroaches the size of a face infest the cheap motels. Walking through town without a group of friends is dangerous even during the day. The settlement sprung up around the same time as Star City but never had a General Mustang to give it direction. While Star City grew, Fort Worthless stagnated and shrank. It became the home of everyone who had nowhere left to go.
Sheriff Wilder Burns runs the town, a Merican whose primary skill is knowing which way to look when the price is right. Backroom negotiations with gangs, smuggled cargo, captured slaves, and murder are all overlooked for the appropriate payment. Criminals pay him off to operate freely, and the locals hide when actual law enforcement passes through. The bars grudgingly serve the Lawmen, who are looked down upon along with anyone the locals call "big city folk."
The economy runs on what no decent settlement wants. Fort Worthless is a stopping-off point for cargo destined for the Space Caverns. Drug trafficking and smuggling are the primary industries. Sky Temple priests denounce the settlement while Aggieland scientists negotiate slave deals. The population consists of injured workers from the Trembling Plains, down-and-out bounty hunters, and the sort of disreputable types that other towns are relieved to see leave.
Sullen drunks or fights fill every bar. Cockroaches the size of a face infest the cheap motels. Walking through town without a group of friends is dangerous even during the day. The settlement sprung up around the same time as Star City but never had a General Mustang to give it direction. While Star City grew, Fort Worthless stagnated and shrank. It became the home of everyone who had nowhere left to go.
History
Fort Worthless sprung up around the same time as Star City, two settlements born from the same ruins on the Lone Star plains. The difference was leadership. Star City had General Mustang, who saw potential in the rubble and forced it into shape. Fort Worthless had nobody. Without a unifying figure or a defensible position, the town attracted the people that Star City did not want: criminals, outcasts, and those too broken or too stubborn to seek better ground.
While Star City fortified its walls and built a trade reputation reaching the Rust Coast, Fort Worthless stagnated and shrank. The settlement found its niche as a waystation for smugglers, a market for illicit goods, and a place where the laws of Lone Star are understood to be suggestions. Sheriff Wilder Burns formalized the corruption into something resembling governance, and the town settled into the role it was always going to fill.
While Star City fortified its walls and built a trade reputation reaching the Rust Coast, Fort Worthless stagnated and shrank. The settlement found its niche as a waystation for smugglers, a market for illicit goods, and a place where the laws of Lone Star are understood to be suggestions. Sheriff Wilder Burns formalized the corruption into something resembling governance, and the town settled into the role it was always going to fill.
Geography
Fort Worthless sits on the Lone Star plains west of Star City, its shattered remains consisting of deserted streets and crumbling buildings. The settlement has no walls or protective structures, relying on proximity to Star City for incidental protection from the worst undead tides. Underground bunkers carved beneath the town serve as the primary defense, where residents shelter during extended incursions. The terrain is the same open flatland that defines the rest of Lone Star, offering no natural advantages.
