Full Name: People's Wasteland Union (PWU)
Territory: Headquartered in the Southditch region, with branch outposts scattered across the wasteland.
Type: Ideological guerrilla militia.
Characteristics: Impoverished, tenacious, loosely structured, but driven by an ironclad will.
Fiercely anti-slavery and anti-racial oppression; advocates for the collective survival rights of the people.
Inherits the spirit of populism and local primitive mutual-aid traditions.
Maintains that the wasteland must belong to the people; nobles and slave owners are viewed entirely as oppressive entities.
Rejects the old federal democratic system, viewing the FRF as the oppressors of the old era.
A grassroots militia system, primarily composed of spontaneously formed village and town armed groups.
Led by a Central Association.
Core figures are often "local heroes."
Extremely Primitive: Improvised firearms, captured weapons, and a small number of cold weapons.
Ammunition is highly limited; frequently relies on homemade gunpowder, Molotov cocktails, and scrap-metal shrapnel grenades.
Battle Cry: "For the wasteland! For the people!"
Heavily relies on combat willpower and familiarity with the terrain, rather than firepower superiority.
Primarily engages in guerrilla warfare, supplemented by positional defense.
Excels at mountain interception, night raids, and ambushes.
Engaged in perennial warfare against mutants and slave-owner factions, suffering extremely high casualty rates.
Frequently suppressed, but has never been completely eradicated.
Once launched "Operation Southditch Purge," driving deep into the spawning hives for an extermination campaign.
Achieved initial success, but was ambushed after pushing deep into the heartland—encircled and annihilated by Hyper-Regen mutants.
This battle, known as the "Southditch Bloodbath," remains the most catastrophic defeat in PWU history.
Deeply distrustful and refuses any united front.
Criticizes the FRF as "the old-world elites wearing a new face," only interested in the distribution of power.
Refuses their protection, boycotts their meetings, and rejects their charter.
Occasionally clashes with FRF troops in the wasteland, resulting in skirmishes, misfires, and supply raids.
A famous PWU propaganda slogan against the FRF:
"They wear human skin and speak the words of the people, but do the deeds of the elites."
Views them as the "incarnation of the slavery machine" and one of their top-priority targets for destruction.
Public declaration: "To cleanse the wasteland, first flay the Flayhouse."
Frequently conducts operations such as hijacking their convoys, liberating slaves, and torching their strongholds.
Culturally, heavily propagandizes them as "inhuman, uncivilized, and non-human."
Time: Winter 2142, one week before the cold snap.
Objective: Purge the mutant breeding grounds.
Initial Engagement: Successfully eradicated several mutant breeding grounds and reclaimed the mountain pass.
Cause of Failure: Ambushed and encircled by Hyper-Regen mutants after penetrating deep into the heartland, with front and rear reinforcements cut off.
Result: 800 to 1,000 troops deployed; 500 survived, with 80 heavily crippled.
Standard Flag: A red flag stitched together from rags.
Martyr Memorials: Hand-painted memorial portraits are common at village entrances, watchtowers, and mountain stronghold walls.
Oral Heroic Epics:
"Doc Sandwood" — A combat medic who single-handedly carried out thirteen wounded soldiers on his back.
"Auntie Steel-Helmet" — Held her ground by the machine gun until her legs were blown off.
"The Barefoot Mountain Artillery" — An entirely shoeless regiment that night-raided a slave transport convoy.
Within the overall power structure of the Gray Zone, they are the "weakest, most righteous, and poorest" faction.
Possesses an extremely high grassroots foundation, but extremely low combat and technological capabilities.
Often ignored, mocked, or coldly observed by higher-tier factions.
Advocated for "public ownership of resources," "labor sovereignty," and "anti-technological hegemony."
Federal media branded them as "populist fanatics" and an "anti-urban terrorist threat."
The Federal Intelligence Agency launched multiple suppression campaigns against them, destroying their settlements, radio stations, and printing presses.
The remnants of the PWU were forced to go underground into mountains, tunnels, and abandoned mines for long-term hiding, eventually regrouping in Southditch after the Cataclysm.
This historical contradiction and conflict with the Federation form the root of their current hostility toward the FRF.