There are five basic types of communities: Nomad, Old Town, New Town, Specialist, and Frontier Town. All communities fall into one of these categories, although there may be some crossover from time to time, or one community may actually form a sub-group of a larger community.
Nomad (NMD)
These communities have no fixed residence. Instead, the pack up everything they own and regularly move around. They are usually small groups, as it is difficult to feed a large population while travelling. Masters of living off the land, they see more of the world than any other community type and often carry news with them.
The methods of travel are as varied as the peoples themselves. The slowest groups move about on foot; others use beasts of burden and wagons. The more technologically capable groups use vehicles left over from the Final Wars.
Ability Adjustments: +2 Mobility, -2 Resilience
Skill Ranks Per Population Level: 6 + Learning modifier
Class Skills: Craft (mechanical, metalworking, textiles, visual arts, writing), Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (art, gossip, history, streetwise, tactics, technology: archaic, technology: Pre-War, theology and philosophy), Linguistics, Perform (act, dance, percussion, sing, storytelling, stringed instruments, wind instruments), Profession, Survival
Starting Feats: 3
Wealth: 1d4 per level
Old Town (OLD)
Some communities build in or near the wreckage of the Old World. Most try to retain some of their town's feel, preserving the past's traditions to ensure that they are not forgotten. Some live in the remains of the old skyscrapers or shopping malls. Others take the rubble and build new structures from it. Some old town communities still live in facilities that somehow survived the Final Wars more or less intact.
Old town communities are usually the most conservative and traditional of all community types, although exceptions do exist. They are often composed entirely of pure-strain humans are are sometimes fiercely xenophobic. They remember--or like to believe they remember--how much better life was before the wars, and they would do anything to rebuild society as it used to be. In the meantime, they preserve the old laws and ways, even if they don't always fully understand them.
Ability Adjustments: +2 Learning, -2 Awareness
Skill Ranks Per Population Level: 4 + Learning modifier
Class Skills: Computer Use (data and operation systems, artificial intelligence, biotech systems), Craft (chemicals, electronic, mechanical, metalworking, nanotech, pharmaceuticals, structural, textiles, visual arts, writing), Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (art, behavioural sciences, business, earth and life sciences, gossip, history, physical sciences, politics, tactics, technology: Pre-War, technology: advanced, technology: nanotech, theology and philosophy), Linguistics, Perform (act, dance, keyboard instruments, percussion instruments, sing, stand-up, storytelling, stringed instruments, wind instruments), Profession, Repair, Research, Treat Injury
Starting Feats: 6
Wealth: 1d8 per level
New Town (NEW)
While the old towns look backwards, new towns look to the future. Formed more from necessity than anything else, new towns are the most cosmopolitan of all the community types. Most were founded by refugees banding together and settling in a relatively safe location, away from the dangers of the Final Wars' aftermath. Mutants and synthetics are usually welcomed as active members and many old-town prejudices are not as prevalent.
Ability Adjustments: +2 Awareness, -2 Mobility
Skill Ranks Per Population Level: 4 + Learning modifier
Class Skills: Craft (mechanical, metalworking, pharmaceuticals, structural, textiles, visual arts, writing), Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (art, behavioural sciences, business, earth and life sciences, gossip, history, physical sciences, politics, streetwise, tactics, technology: archaic, technology: Pre-War, technology: advanced, technology: nanotech, theology and philosophy), Linguistics, Perform (act, dance, keyboard instruments, percussion instruments, sing, stand-up, storytelling, stringed instruments, wind instruments), Profession, Repair, Treat Injury.
Starting Feats: 3
Wealth: 1d6 per level
Specialist (SPC)
Often existing symbiotically with another community, specialist communities concentrate on one specific area of knowledge to the almost total exclusion of everything else. Monasteries, military bases, prison camps, mines, universities, and other centres of knowledge are all examples of specialist communities.
The one thing all specialist communities have in common is that every member is directly involved with the community's main focus. Consequently, specialist communities are often forced to rely on another community to fill any needs they have. Whether this relationship is mutually beneficial to both sides is often uncertain; some specialist communities take what they need from their neighbours by force, whereas others rely on the charity of their neighbours in order to survive.
Ability Adjustments: +4 to either Learning or Command (depending on the nature of their specialization), -2 Mobility, -2 Resilience
Skill Ranks Per Population Level: 6 + Learning modifier
Class Skills: Computer Use (data and operation systems, artificial intelligence, biotech systems), Craft (chemicals, electronic, mechanical, metalworking, nanotech, pharmaceuticals, structural, textiles, visual arts, writing), Diplomacy, Intimidate, Knowledge (art, behavioural sciences, business, earth and life sciences, gossip, history, physical sciences, politics, tactics, technology: archaic, technology: Pre-War, technology: advanced, technology: nanotech, theology and philosophy), Linguistics, Profession, Repair, Research, Treat Injury
Starting Feats: 4
Wealth: 1d4 per level
Frontier Town (FNT)
In the more isolated parts of the world are communities that exist mainly to support those who venture out into the wilderness. Often based around supply depots or trading posts, they allow the wanderers to return to some semblance of civilization to recover and restock before heading back out into the wilds again.
The populations of frontier towns usually consist of a relatively small core, with a much larger transient population. People come and go all the time, and it is common to see new faces nearly every day. Many of these towns are rough and rowdy.
Rumours abound more in frontier towns than in any other type of community. The larger transient populations often swap stories, covering anything from the weather to finds of caches of ancient technology that survived the Final Wars.
Ability Adjustments: +2 Force, -2 Command
Skill Ranks Per Population Level: 6 + Learning modifier
Class Skills: Craft (mechanical, metalworking, structural, textiles, visual arts, writing), Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Intimidate, Knowledge (art, gossip, history, streetwise, tactics, technology: archaic, technology: Pre-War, theology and philosophy), Linguistics, Perform (keyboard instruments, percussion instruments, sing, stand-up, storytelling, stringed instruments, wind instruments), Profession, Repair, Survival
Starting Feats: 3
Wealth: 1d6 per level
