1. The Town Itself Scarptown was a crossroad with a few buildings in north eastern Texas when the disaster hit. It was however, in the advantageous position of being in the middle of an area surrounded by rivers and a natural escarpment. Old Man Markey and his family were on the run from plague and mutants when he gathered some other survivors and decided that these abandoned buildings were just isolated enough to give them a chance. Over the years, the original half dozen buildings has grown into a town consisting of 50 “households”, each of from 8 to 20 people. The population spends most of its time growing food, making clothes, gathering fuel and patrolling the borders. One member of each household sits on the town council which picks its chairman who runs the place, and the marshal who defends it. There's one iron law: no one enters or leaves the town unless the marshal says so. The key features of the town are Old Man Markey's tractors, which allow large food production, Sally Macquire's Still, which provides trade whiskey and fuel for the tractors, WIlson's mill, which uses water power to grind a multiple of grindable things, and the Blockhouse, a sturdy long fortress where the marshal keeps the town's defensive weaponry.
2. Characters of Note
Old Man Markey: was nearly 50 when the disaster struck, and is now near 90. He has a technical brilliance with farm machinery and used this talent to maintain the two tractors and the other farm equipment that allowed the community to survive. He has withdrawn from town governance, and merely stumbles from his house to the barn every day to tinker with the machines. He's mostly known for muttering and spitting.
Old Doc Lockspur: was a 25 year old medical student when the disaster struck, so he's now about 65. He managed to use his salvaged bag of medical gear and a suitcase of reference books to see to the health of the town. He is currently head of the town council. He is notorious for wheezing while he turns any question into an interminable story.
Marshal John Feathers: he is a 45 year old man, a disaster orphan raised in the Markey household. When the old marshal, “Two-Pegs” Johnson was killed by mutants, Feathers was the unanimous choice of the council to fill his shoes. He is much more ready to send out Outlander teams, believing the town is in danger of rot and collapse. Nevertheless, he himself has an almost pathological fear of leaving town and won't do it under any circumstances. His most annoying trait is that he begins every sentence with the words “Well, ya see..”
The New Librarian: she is the 35 year old daughter of The Old Librarian, who passed away two years ago. Her family fortified an old adult bookstore in what would become the center of town and slowly collected enough proper books to make it a real library. She is cagey and suspicious of everyone, and is rumored to have a blunderbuss.