Post Apoc Caravan Companies

More reviews coming including fat bundle of Midderlands stuff (id consider only a playable setting in print). The most recent Broken Hill game was good and ran my police station adventure. Cyber-Wizards sharing spell software which is always expanding their abilities early on like other classes don't. Working on armouring and arming their car.

Follow up to last post these companies are bigger with a regular crew and mercenary guards. Many have warehouses in some of bigger towns and have deals on their trade routes. Most of these more organised ones are based in a major trade town and have a regular route that includes broken hill. Bigger caravan companies have more diverse staff and vehicles they can mix up on missions so even if you know the company flag you may not see the same crews every time. Smaller companies are more like trading nomad families.

Im thinking of one more table for other non trade caravans like a circus, missionaries of a cult next. 

d12 Caravans

1 Magpie Freight Co - a family business with giant mutant wombat pulled wagons and the whole crew with muskets and black powder grenades. The leaders usually have some more advanced scrap built cartridge firearms. A friendly family who adopt foundlings and are notoriously loyal. Mostly operate from Broken Hill to outer Adelaide where they operate their own fortified trading post. The wombats are notoriously deadly and trample enemies and crush them with their buts. The square wombat poop the caravan sell as fuel and fertiliser. They will hire additional mercenaries on some routes with superior firepower if needed. Each caravan has pet magpies that alert the caravan to danger

2 Uluru Trade Mob - a mix of tribal baggage carriers from the centre of the continent often with pows and spears and a few rifles and muskets. On foot carrying bales of goods and pack camels they are notoriously slow but navigate the worst deserts and the hostile tribe's others cannot. A third of the mob dress and operate non-traditional dress and prefer guns and somehow they seem to get along. Trade with tribals including animal and plant products but seek to get basic scrap goods to return home to Alice Springs. Often other tribals travel with them through their own territory and the caravan can grow quite large by the time it reaches Broken Hill. Attacks on them get all the tribes hostile and out for revenge so raiders don't bother them much. A few animorph beast abumans of native animals are in any band

3 Gifted Trading Co - a mutant operated caravan most armed with scrap melee weapons and basic firearms. Most all covered in wrappings and wear masks, gasmasks and goggles. They are mostly unwelcome to stay in towns but prefer it with their own kind. Often stop off at mutant colonies and trading towns. They are barely tolerated by some places and avoid some stops where bad things happened. They are the cheapest freight available but people don't talk about using them. They also can cross some of the worst tainted regions others cannot and will assemble extra mutant guards to cross these hellish places. If you were not a mutant to start with people say going on route with these guys will make you one. They don't seem to have one base or owners and seem quite anarchic yet cooperate in adversity. Often have bizarre mutant pack animals

4 Slaver Caravan Co - these once raider punks became more involved in the slave trade and gave up their gangways to become a company of human flesh peddlers. They use mutant oxen to pull cage wagons of slaves in chains and their supplies. Often a caravan will have a few bikers for scouts or even a buggy. All are former gang members and their mercenaries are non-guild unknowns seemingly recruited from the worst gangs. May kidnap people on the way or buy unwanted people from locals. Some placed refuse them entry and they may stay with local bandits instead. They will rent out their unfortunate prisoners on the way if they can. All armed with homemade brutal weapons with extra spikes and serrations. Operate over South and East crossing places considered too lawless by others. Each caravan has own clan name

5 Amazon Exporters - an all women merchant company that deliver freight and employ 4WD trucks, bikes and busses. Many use archery but some of their best guards will have rifles and automatics. They are rather fearsome punks who prefer dealing with women only. They brutally will kill bandits and may pass through their camps deliberately. They have been setting up colonies in major trade towns and ruins and may lease out mercenaries. The sisterhood will adopt found children but exile males at 13. Sometimes they seek mates but they also seem interested in ancient reproductive technology. Many commoners are fearful and respectful of their visits

6 Muhummad Traders - a camel based service crossing the worst wastelands, many Afghan descents and tribals work this service that crosses the country wastelands. Claim decent from colonial-era camel trains and most Islamic and preserve various middle eastern traditions like food and dress. Many dozens of clans operate this service and most have swords, knives, muskets or rifles and are expert riders of their mutant camels. These caravans come from distant lands and may have spent months on the road living harshly. Famous for hospitality and the best service to travel with to faraway cities bordering the sand seas. They have good relations with tribals who they often visit and both fight bandits and raiders from ruined areas

7 Cosmo's Space Out Caravan Service - wandering clans of ferals, crusties and hippies often using wagons pulled by mutants or busses powered with biofuel plants. Famous for partying, drugs and vegetarian feasts they do good business despite locals worrying about their kids. Sometimes they stay on farms and work seasonal labourers who take and process and trade the food they helped make. Some operate their own farms. Respectable settlers always frown when caravan comes and may keep their youths indoors the entire time. They also attract raiders who seek to rob and enslave them or just come to their awesome parties. It turns out many members were veteran gangers who joined up to escape gang life. Have a surprising amount of tribal weapons and automatic firearms while preaching non-comital friendship. They also may include mutants and beast abhumans and even plants. Each band will have one ambulant trifrond-cannabis hybrid plant kept safely and sometimes herd them in large numbers might be mustered to a location for processing. It is said Cosmo is an intelligent one of these plants now root-bound and immobile in a huge shed tended by worshipers

8 Adelaide Trader Co - formed by an alliance of sunken swampy Adelaide ruins who trade to domes of the west to Melbourne and Sydney. Have some surprising amount of tech and operate from a large bunker complex by a council of founding family members. Employ own armed guards many with printed plastech firearms and armour. Have express convoys with a truck and several escort vehicles but most employ giant mutant koala wagons. Those loyal to them are given access to printed weapons and the promise of living in a bunker

9 Melbourne Market Traders - formed from the great scrap markets of Melbourne traders they made caravan to Sydney, Adelaide and Broken Hill. Wagons were built of scrap, hauling scrap and defended by soldiers with recycled armour and weapons. Though, resourceful and will pass through ruins to loot on the way. Communicate via radio and will earmark locations for business or looting. Occasionally will have a ground car or some bikes or buggies as scouts and escorts. Some even use scrap drones or ultralight aircraft that can be kept on a wagon. Closer to home they operate truck convoys and excavation machinery to mine ancient treasures. Many experienced with exploration and ruin crawls and very effective fighters 

10 Sin City Traders - formed by gangland crime clans who claim to rule the ruins of Sydney. These gangsters turned merchants are quite dangerous and feared by the wasteland gangs. Snappy dressers and well-armed with cartridge firearms, submachine guns being in every squad. Aggressive traders, they often offend others and use stand over tactics. They also offer credit and then are your business partners for life.  They even employ hitmen to eliminate problem bandit leaders or business rivals. Often try bribery and spreading vice where ever they go. They look for weaknesses they can prey on like drug addiction. Like to insult dumps build from salvage and claim to be more civilized and cooler than everybody. Often get into petty fights that can lead to massacres. They keep track of every gang whose territory they cross over many states. They actively seek to spread corruption and influence 

11 Blood Eagle Traders - formed from biker gangs of Mildura who throttled the drug and local slave trade who now have taken up trading. They produce goods from their slave plantations and distribute over several states. Most in a caravan use mutant anima wagons with an escort of motorcycles with well-armed biker guards. Most workers are in fact slaves owned by the bikers. They regard Sin CIty, Cosmo's Caravan, Slavers and other rivals as bitter enemies and they will sabotage them. Possibly they might even recruit local gangs to eliminate rivals. They also just hate mutants and tribals talking animals and robots because they are racist. People don't like dealing with them but they sell quality food and sometimes are the only reliable service. They are in fact a weird death cult with brutal initiations who seek conquest and worship demons

12 Chicken Attack Caravan - in certain places hover delivery trucks deliver processed long life self-heating chicken dinners to worshippers who build holy shrines and these caravans of missionary traders are a copy of this cargo cult. Wagons pulled by various huge mutants cross the wasteland with very polite uninformed traders trading their chicken dinners and faith. These meals are a luxury and they do get some hungry converts but many are wary of letting them set up a shrine-caravan or temple restaurant. Mostly they do best to improvise ancient dress and manners but more and more caravans include a hover-sledge or robots or chicken abhuman guards with energy weapons. The faithful may commune with their AI God CAPON if they are worthy. CAPON also might hire mercenaries to eliminate threats that attack caravans. Rival food vendors outside the cult have a mutual dislike for each other