Citadel Council

Origins and Purpose of the Citadel Council

The Citadel Council grew out of the First Accord, during the year after the Collapse. When New Vance was close to failing, a group of surviving executives, planners, analysts, and civic administrators took on a clear role: they would manage food, power, and population in a strict and organized way. These people had worked in corporate towers, city planning offices, and security agencies before the world fell apart. They understood systems, schedules, and metrics.

In the early days, chaos ruled most streets. Ration lines broke. People fought over water. Shambler outbreaks kept flaring up inside supposedly “secure” zones. The First Accord assigned the technical tasks of power and water to the Solar Guardians and Hydro Hegemony, and they gave the outskirts to the Perimeter Watch. The Citadel Council took what they knew best: rules, tracking, and long-term planning.

Their stated purpose was simple and public. They wanted a stable city core where children could grow up, schools could teach, and hospitals could operate without constant fear of sudden collapse. To reach this goal, they decided that control of movement, information, and resources had to be absolute inside their territory. In their view, freedom had already destroyed the old world, and only discipline could hold the new one together.

This mindset has not changed. Today, the Council still frames itself as the only group that thinks beyond the next week or the next raid. They plan in years, sometimes in decades. They measure success in survival rates, infrastructure uptime, and reduced infection incidents. They see every other faction as narrow in scope. The Solar Guardians fixate on power. The Hydro Hegemony focuses on water. The Shadow Syndicate, Gear Rats, and Raiders chase profit or violence. The Citadel Council believes it is the only group trying to rebuild a functioning society.

The Glass Ring and Citadel Territory

The Citadel Council governs from the Glass Ring, a cluster of intact and reinforced towers at the heart of New Vance. Before the Collapse, this district held corporate headquarters, luxury apartments, and advanced research labs. After the Collapse, the Council walled it off and turned it into a fortified city-core. The towers are braced with armor plating, blast shutters, and internal bulkheads. Elevated walkways connect key buildings to reduce exposure on the streets.

Within the Glass Ring lies the Citadel proper: fused skyscrapers that serve as government seat, command center, and secured housing for high-ranking staff. The area below is divided into zones with clear functions: administrative blocks, residential stacks, medical facilities, education towers, and logistics depots. Access points are narrow and heavily guarded. Streets are clean, lit, and regularly patrolled by drones and reprogrammed automatons.

The Council’s reach extends beyond the Glass Ring. Surrounding blocks, known as “buffer districts,” serve as controlled neighborhoods, production sites, and transit corridors. These areas are less pristine but still under strict oversight. Food and supply routes are mapped and monitored. Checkpoints control who can leave or enter.

At the edges of their influence, the Citadel’s presence becomes less direct. Here, Council agents work through agreements, trade, and covert surveillance rather than full occupation. They place informants in markets, clinics, and transit hubs. They collect data through hidden sensors and contracted technicians. Even where their banners do not fly, their influence can still shape who gets aid and who is left alone.

Governance, Directors, and Systems of Control

The Citadel Council is run by a rotating group of Directors. Each Director oversees a sector: Security, Logistics, Civil Order, Health and Sanitation, Education, Infrastructure, and Data Compliance. Many of them were once senior managers or executives. They still use project plans, performance reviews, and risk reports, but now the stakes are survival instead of profit.

Policy is made in scheduled sessions where Directors review metrics from across Citadel territory. These metrics include food distribution rates, infection incidents, shambler sightings, power consumption, education attendance, crime reports, and behavior scores. Major changes require a vote. Temporary emergency orders can be issued by specific Directors if they present a clear threat assessment.

Retinal scans and biometric records form the backbone of their control. Every registered citizen in Citadel territory has an ID profile tied to ration access, housing rights, work assignments, and medical records. Behavior scores play a central role. Speaking openly against the Council, skipping assigned duties, or engaging in unauthorized trade can lower a person’s score. High scores bring stable rations, better housing, and access to education. Low scores risk reassignment to hazardous work, investigation, or expulsion from the Glass Ring.

Enforcement is layered. Drones and cameras handle general monitoring. Automated systems flag suspicious patterns, such as unusual movement between districts or sudden spikes in unlicensed gatherings. Human security officers and augmented enforcers respond to serious alerts. In key locations, automatons patrol with clear rules of engagement: defend Council property, protect key personnel, and suppress violent disturbances.

The Council claims that these measures are necessary and temporary. They say that once New Vance is secure and self-sustaining, restrictions can ease. However, there is no clear end date, and no public roadmap to reduced control. Many outside observers believe the systems are now permanent, because they are central to the Council’s power.

Life Inside the Glass Ring

For citizens who live fully under Council rule, daily life is safer and more predictable than in any other part of New Vance. Streets are lit. Trash is collected. Shambler attacks are extremely rare and usually contained before they spread. Children attend structured classes that cover basic literacy, technical training, and civic doctrine. Clinics and medbays have equipment and personnel that most factions cannot match.

Rations are distributed through automated kiosks that scan retinal IDs. Food quality is simple but consistent: nutrient bars, reconstituted meals, filtered water, and occasional fresh produce imported through controlled trade with other factions. Power is stable thanks to agreements with the Solar Guardians. Water is clean due to contracts with the Hydro Hegemony. The Council pays heavily for these supplies, using access to technical expertise, data support, and political leverage as currency.

Public spaces are designed to encourage order. Holographic displays broadcast news bulletins, public health notices, and civic messages. Many are framed in calm and clear language, but the underlying message is always the same: the Citadel Council kept you alive, and will keep you safe, as long as you cooperate.

Social life is shaped by the behavior score system. People talk quietly in public. They weigh every complaint against the risk of a lower rating. Neighbors report disruptive behavior, sometimes out of fear, sometimes out of genuine belief in the system. Trust can be fragile, because any conversation might carry a cost.

Still, not everything is cold or hollow. Families gather in small apartments and share rare treats bought from controlled markets. Students form study groups and dream of entering technical roles in the Citadel’s bureaucracy, medbays, or infrastructure teams. Some residents truly believe the Council is building a better future, and they accept the restrictions as the price of that future. Others stay only because leaving would mean returning to zones where infection, famine, or raiders take lives every day.

Tensions, Desperation, and the Wider City

Despite its polished surface, the Citadel Council faces constant pressure. The Collapse destroyed global supply chains. Local resources are limited. Population numbers keep rising as refugees try to enter the Glass Ring, seeking safety from raiders, shamblers, and faction wars. The Council must balance security with the need for new workers and specialists. Every new citizen means more mouths to feed, more people to track, and more risk of unrest.

Relations with other factions are complex. The Citadel depends on the Solar Guardians for power and on the Hydro Hegemony for water. Both groups know this and use it to extract concessions. The Council must offer technical support, diplomatic cover, and controlled access to medbays in exchange. Any major break with these factions could cripple life inside the Citadel.

The Shadow Syndicate, on the other hand, is a constant source of conflict. The Council views Syndicate operations as a direct threat to order. The Black Market leaks unregistered augments, contraband medicine, and untracked data into their territory. This undermines the behavior score system and creates pockets of quiet resistance. In response, the Council runs infiltration programs, sting operations, and targeted disappearances of suspected Syndicate agents.

The Perimeter Watch holds back shamblers and raiders at the outer edge of the city. While the Council respects their role, it does not control them. This independence frustrates some Directors, who see the Watch as a vital asset that refuses to fully integrate. At the same time, the Council knows that pushing too hard could trigger a political break and weaken the city’s defense.

Inside the Glass Ring, cracks show in small ways. Some mid-level administrators cheat the scoring system to protect loved ones. Blacklisted citizens sometimes vanish and later reappear in other districts under new identities, likely with Syndicate help. Small, private groups question the Council’s long-term goal and ask if there will ever be a time when surveillance decreases.