Post by Michael on Feb 15, 2011 15:30:18 GMT -7
The colony of New Eden is one of the larger, safer, and most stable groups within the region. It's organized in a very simple manner; a leader is elected by vote, and that leader decides how everything else is run. And if a majority of the people believe that they're doing a bad job, a new one is chosen. Generally speaking, the leader organizes everyone into groups based on what the colony most stands in need of: the farm is tended, hunting parties are sent out in search of game, foraging parties are sent out in search of useful things among what had once been towns or to find edible plants, and anyone with a more specialized skill is encouraged to use it to benefit the colony whether they know how to purify water or build helpful things out of makeshift parts. Everything found or built is shared by all members of the colony based on need.
Supplies of everything are always low: usually they can keep ahead of the demand for food and water though it's always carefully rationed. Fuel other than wood is hard to come by, and there's never enough electricity coming from either the wind turbine or the scavenged solar panels to keep up with what people want to use it for. Security is another issue: because of the large size of the colony they have less to fear from the wandering bands of people who seem to prefer to make their living by taking from others than many smaller colonies, but the smaller groups of people sent out to hunt or forage are always at risk. And they can never be too careful about people trying to steal things, especially at night.
Crime within the colony is surprisingly rare, but mostly because it's usually difficult to not get caught and the punishment handed down by the leader is often very harsh: except for the most minor of offenses, anyone caught breaking the rules gets thrown out of the colony and warned not to return under penalty of death - and being turned out of a colony by yourself is a death sentence to all but the strongest of survivors.
A growing difficulty is the number of travelers asking to join the colony. Strangers are treated nicely but with suspicion; it can be difficult to tell those with good intentions from those that are bad, and new members of the colony are watched very carefully for a long time before they're fully trusted. Some members of the colony would argue that for everyone's safety they shouldn't accept anyone else but as long as they take in people who can work the area seems to have enough resources for the number of people and in many cases they would be turning away people who really don't have anywhere else to turn.
Supplies of everything are always low: usually they can keep ahead of the demand for food and water though it's always carefully rationed. Fuel other than wood is hard to come by, and there's never enough electricity coming from either the wind turbine or the scavenged solar panels to keep up with what people want to use it for. Security is another issue: because of the large size of the colony they have less to fear from the wandering bands of people who seem to prefer to make their living by taking from others than many smaller colonies, but the smaller groups of people sent out to hunt or forage are always at risk. And they can never be too careful about people trying to steal things, especially at night.
Crime within the colony is surprisingly rare, but mostly because it's usually difficult to not get caught and the punishment handed down by the leader is often very harsh: except for the most minor of offenses, anyone caught breaking the rules gets thrown out of the colony and warned not to return under penalty of death - and being turned out of a colony by yourself is a death sentence to all but the strongest of survivors.
A growing difficulty is the number of travelers asking to join the colony. Strangers are treated nicely but with suspicion; it can be difficult to tell those with good intentions from those that are bad, and new members of the colony are watched very carefully for a long time before they're fully trusted. Some members of the colony would argue that for everyone's safety they shouldn't accept anyone else but as long as they take in people who can work the area seems to have enough resources for the number of people and in many cases they would be turning away people who really don't have anywhere else to turn.