Miami Keys
The Miami Keys are tropical islands stained with the memory of war. Lush vegetation, beaches, and palm trees give the chain a deceptive beauty, but the outlying islands hold mass graves from the conflict that forged the Keys into what they are today. The dead buried there do not remain lying down for long, and only the foolhardy dare set foot on those haunted shores.
The islands were once settled by mixed communities of Mericans and Red Stars in an uneasy coexistence. The King's Court gained influence among the Merican population, with the Queens of Soul inspiring peaceful island beats and an easy way of life. When the second generation turned to the harder Kings of Rock, tensions with the Red Star communes escalated into open warfare. The Red Star settlements banded together to form La Havana, a unified military fighting force that wiped out the Merican King's Court settlers. The survivors fled to the mainland, eventually settling in Savage Anna as the Savage Angels faction. The war left the Keys bloodied but firmly in La Havana's hands.
Today, La Havana controls the Miami Keys as the only Red Star commune in the southern wastes. Under the leadership of Adriana Castellanos, the commune operates with strict military discipline. Citizens are trained from youth, and year-long service periods send La Havana fighters to the mainland as mercenaries, trading their martial skill for supplies the islands cannot produce. Castellanos has been quietly building a secret fleet with the aid of local Salt Wise, a project whose purpose remains a matter of speculation and concern among mainland powers.
The surrounding waters are patrolled by Salt Wise tribal groups, and Sirens haunt the deeper channels between the islands. Storms periodically lash the chain, and tensions with the Kingdom on the mainland simmer beneath the surface. The Miami Keys stand as proof that ideology, when backed by sufficient violence, can carve out a place even on the most contested coastline in the wastes.
The islands were once settled by mixed communities of Mericans and Red Stars in an uneasy coexistence. The King's Court gained influence among the Merican population, with the Queens of Soul inspiring peaceful island beats and an easy way of life. When the second generation turned to the harder Kings of Rock, tensions with the Red Star communes escalated into open warfare. The Red Star settlements banded together to form La Havana, a unified military fighting force that wiped out the Merican King's Court settlers. The survivors fled to the mainland, eventually settling in Savage Anna as the Savage Angels faction. The war left the Keys bloodied but firmly in La Havana's hands.
Today, La Havana controls the Miami Keys as the only Red Star commune in the southern wastes. Under the leadership of Adriana Castellanos, the commune operates with strict military discipline. Citizens are trained from youth, and year-long service periods send La Havana fighters to the mainland as mercenaries, trading their martial skill for supplies the islands cannot produce. Castellanos has been quietly building a secret fleet with the aid of local Salt Wise, a project whose purpose remains a matter of speculation and concern among mainland powers.
The surrounding waters are patrolled by Salt Wise tribal groups, and Sirens haunt the deeper channels between the islands. Storms periodically lash the chain, and tensions with the Kingdom on the mainland simmer beneath the surface. The Miami Keys stand as proof that ideology, when backed by sufficient violence, can carve out a place even on the most contested coastline in the wastes.
Geography
The Miami Keys form a tropical island chain off the southern Rum Coast, their lush vegetation and beaches concealing a violent history. The main islands support the La Havana settlement, with communal living spaces, training grounds, and military facilities spread across the habitable land. Inter-island passages connect the chain by boat.
The outlying islands are a different matter entirely. Mass graves from the war between the Red Star communes and the Merican King's Court settlers scar the landscape, and the dead interred there have a tendency to rise. Only the desperate or the ignorant venture to these outer islands, and those who return often wish they had not.
Surrounding ocean waters are patrolled by local Salt Wise, who have established a working relationship with La Havana. The tropical climate brings sea breezes and warm temperatures punctuated by violent storms that lash the island chain with regularity. The Keys' isolation from the mainland is both their greatest defense and their most persistent vulnerability, as the commune depends on mercenary contracts and trade deals to supply what the islands alone cannot provide.
The outlying islands are a different matter entirely. Mass graves from the war between the Red Star communes and the Merican King's Court settlers scar the landscape, and the dead interred there have a tendency to rise. Only the desperate or the ignorant venture to these outer islands, and those who return often wish they had not.
Surrounding ocean waters are patrolled by local Salt Wise, who have established a working relationship with La Havana. The tropical climate brings sea breezes and warm temperatures punctuated by violent storms that lash the island chain with regularity. The Keys' isolation from the mainland is both their greatest defense and their most persistent vulnerability, as the commune depends on mercenary contracts and trade deals to supply what the islands alone cannot provide.
