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War. War never changes.

When atomic fire hit the earth, many of those that survived did so in great, underground vaults. When they opened, their inhabitants set out across the ruins of the old world to build new societies, establish new villages, form new tribes and nations among the ruin and survivors of those not so fortunate.

As the centuries passed, what had been the American Gulf Coast was reclaimed by the Bayou, a massive and dangerous swamp born from the Mighty Mississippi and the pollution of the prewar. Expansive, oppressive, and radioactive, few tribes could survive outside the relative safety of the few pre-war cities not to be overwhelmed by the Bayou. With few resources, and fewer prospects, no societies formed even as small states and empires began to rise and struggle elsewhere in the wasteland.

No societies until Orleans, a ravaged and ruined city rejuvenated by one man, the First Consul. Uniting the many tribes and neighborhoods of the city in a vision of Librate, Egalite, Fraternite, the First Consul dedicated his vision to old world values of freedom and progress of the French Enlightenment. As progress grew, so did the city: streets were cleared, neighborhoods reclaimed, and the Bayou beaten back from the city, as friends and allies were won from across the Bayou. It was a golden age of enlightenment and progress, with visions of future liberalism and exploration soon to be squandered by the First Consul's heir and daughter.

Taking the name Napoleon in model of Caesar, and in tribute to the conqueror of old, she saw a different path to glory. Soldiers were raised, a system of nobility established, a declining slave trade revived as the Orleans Republic became the Orleans Empire. With ambitions of expansion and domination of the Gulf Coast, Napoleon reached out to claim the ruined city of Baton Rouge as he first prize. Then, the Enclave attacked, denouncing Napoleon's imperialism and slavery while promising a return to a republic, and old world standards of living.

With advanced technology and support from desperate and dissatisfied locals, the Enclave soon took much of the city and indeed the region. But Napoleon rallied, calling in allies and support from across the region, including the Gulf Coast Brotherhood of Steel, who stalled the Enclave's initial advance. The stalemate coalesced with the arrival of a third faction: an alliance of maritime merchants and pirates known as the Blue Water Monopoly. Having originally come to attack Orleans to preserve their sea-faring monopoly, the Blue Water's saw an opportunity to profit from the war by ensuring that neither side could best the other. Exhausted and overstretched, neither Orleans nor the Enclave could reject the new status quo as the city was split between them along the Mighty Mississippi.

Seven years have passed since the initial invasion, and the position on all sides has solidified despite sporadic fighting. While Napoleon rebuilds her Grand Army from the French Quarter, the Enclave's Governor Hans rebuilds the under Enclave rule in a bid for legitimacy and support from the undecided masses. Among it all, Blue Water merchants and mercenaries profit from the simmering conflict by selling their services to both sides, while subverting efforts to gain an advantage by either side. A sense of normalcy, if not peace, has covered the region as people go about their lives in this time of war.

Along the rivers a streams of the northern Bayou, a boat approaches. A Navigator, hired by mysterious young woman to take her deep into the Bayou. She has paid him handsomely to take her deep into the Bayou, were Orleans and the Enclave struggle for dominance. However, as the sounds of boats approach his own, he cannot help but feel that his apparent luck is about to change...