The location

Alright so before starting the story we need to decide where we're going to start in general. Unlike other threads mass transportation is gone so they would have to be relatively close.

Alright for starting in America I've came up with a list of places that would be good.

New York City- Surprisingly New York City was largely left unscathed by nuclear weapons but was instead struck by multiple high explosive ballistic missiles, shredding the skyscrapers and landscape creating a slowly collapsing and decaying city. Most of the citizens remain underground in the city's subway system for fear of upsetting the uneasy structures up above as well as roaming mutants. Empire State subway station is a main hub for traffic into the city and to the rest of the stations.

Seattle- Seattle wasn't directly hit but was caught in the trajectory part of the fallout from the massive Korean cloud across the sea, most of the city's inhabitants died from the poison that struck them but scavengers from surrounding areas had quickly moved in. Poison ash falls from the sky daily forcing the inhabitants to always where masks. Most trees have died and turned into husks and skeletons and the ground is dead. Still the city is considered valuable for the amount of supplies still held in the city.

For Europe:

London- Though struck hard by at least twelve megatons of nuclear explosives, the Great Britain islands remain one of the most densely populate areas left in the world. Only ten percent of the land is able to grow food though, causing conflict in food in the surrounding area. Nearby Dublin is always a constant threat when it fell into anarchy, since little food is found there tribes of thieves and cannibals are common, usually crossing the channel into London territory. The city itself has a vague sense of government with an acting council of the numerous subway and countryside sanctuaries in London area.

Amsterdam- Far enough away from the the critical strike zones of the nuclear weapon blasts, the city itself was left undamaged at first. Once the government fell though the city's inhabitants broke into factions seeking control of the city's dwindling supplies. Since then the city has been shattered by fighting and corpses lie in the street unclaimed.

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These are ideas I had for our starting places but if you have an idea please comment or if you think there could be a better backstory for one of the cities listed above also say so.

Just know I'd hate you always... no pressure..

Just wanted to say I like the Story so Far post. Also as for location I'm definitely going with Amsterdam.

Man you just made this so much harder to choose.

I'm going to go with London, mostly to see just how people work under this limited government and if the government clashes with other factions. A quick note on London-The only weapons available would be professional police and military rifles, so no pistols and the like.

I'm drawn to Seattle myself. Raiders, masks, poison ash falling from the sky... what more could a girl want?

Looking at this I don't think we're going to get a solid block of votes for one so in a landmark government decision I suggest a alternative vote system!

Three points for your first choice, two for your second, one for your last E.g:

(My choices):
1-London
2-Seattle
3-New York

So, going by my new system, the points tally would be thus far:
London-3
Seattle-2
New York-1
Amsterdam-0

Order of preference for me:
1-Seattle (here's a pretty picture to help illustrate)
2-Amsterdam
3-New York

Wow that's a sweet pic Nit! With that in mind this is my vote.

Preference to me:

Seattle
London
Amsterdam


Keep in mind guys these locations are only starting and that in the future we may go to these other places depending on their distance or what happens. Just might take a while ;p you know with the whole huge body of water thing called the ocean in the way

Points tally! (I love a more fair voting system).

Seattle-8
London-5
Amsterdam-3
New York-2

My preferences in order:

1) Seattle (closest to my character where she was in the start of the nukings, and also very near the west coast.)
2) New York (still in the U.S., and also near a coastline. For some reason coastlines are a plus for me. Not to mention NY is on the opposite side of the country and therefore somewhere she could try to go to get away from the bad memories brought about by her original location. Note: London would have been my second choice had I been able to think of a way/reason for my character to get from Nebraska all the way over to England.)
3) London (see #2)
4) Amsterdam (Don't really care to go there. /shrug)

From the looks of things it's going to be Seattle as the starting location. Depending what happens in the story we just might end up in those other cities and some other points of interest. We'll see

From preferred to least preferred:

1) Seattle
2) New York
3) London
4) Amsterdam

I'd be open to London or Amsterdam, but I have no way of getting my char there.

Seattle-14
London-7
New York-6
Amsterdam-3

Yup, even if a few more people all voted for London Seattle would still win.

Alright then the starting location will be Seattle. I'll everyone some time to figure out how their characters got there as well as finally thinking of what my own character would be. Once the story starts we can see about heading to California to test out AJ's idea of a council then move on from there to... well somewhere... other then California... like... Norway... I think that's close by..

Sounds good to me