The Rust Belt

Role in New Vance City

The Rust Belt is the main stronghold of the Gear Rats. It lies in the ruins of old factories and shipping yards on the edge of New Vance City. The core lore marks it as an industrial ruin zone claimed by the Gear Rats, not by the Council or any other faction.

This district matters because it turns dead industry into weapons, armor, and war rigs. The Gear Rats strip towers, cranes, and freight haulers for usable parts, then melt down the rest. Their rigs support raids on convoys, power lines, and outer districts. Scrap and weapons from the Rust Belt also feed the city’s black markets.

Almost no one here is a neutral civilian. Most residents are Gear Rats, their families, or people they keep as workers. A few independent scavvers and smugglers move through, but never on safe terms. In this place there are no rights, only deals enforced by force.

For the rest of New Vance, the Rust Belt is both a threat and a buffer. Gear Rat raids drain resources and damage infrastructure. At the same time, the Rats pull Raider attention toward their territory and away from weaker zones. No faction can ignore them, and none has yet paid the price to remove them.

Landscape and Industrial Ruins

The Rust Belt sits where heavy industry once ringed the city. Collapsed smokestacks, twisted cranes, and gutted foundries dominate the horizon. Old rail lines and loading yards cut the ground into narrow lanes and fenced pockets. Half-melted bots, shattered haulers, and rusted scaffolds fill most open spaces.

The air is thick with smoke and chemical haze. Oil fires burn in furnace pits and ruptured tanks. Plastic, rubber, and old fuels burn together and coat everything in soot. Long exposure without filters leaves people short of breath and sick.

Inside the foundries, the Rats have reactivated old machinery. Conveyor belts move scrap to sorting pits. Magnets pull selected parts from junk piles. Crushers and cutting rigs reshape metal into armor and frames. All of this runs on improvised power grids that mix city lines, hijacked generators, and stolen solar arrays. Failures are common and often fatal.

Below ground, old cooling pools and waste tanks have mixed with runoff and leaks. Some tunnels hold steaming sludge. Others hold dust that reacts when disturbed. Automated doors and maintenance systems still trigger in some pockets with no warning. The Gear Rats use these lower levels as hidden vaults, traps, or dumping grounds. Outsiders who wander down without a guide rarely return.

Movement through the Rust Belt is hard for anyone who does not know the routes. Vehicles rely on a few cleared corridors reinforced with plate. Foot patrols move along catwalks, gantries, and ladder networks that only local crews fully understand. The district is a layered machine with very little that feels like a normal neighborhood.

Gear Rats Society and Work

The Rust Belt is where Gear Rat culture is strongest. Every crew treats scrap as both currency and identity. Armor, weapons, and rigs are built by hand from salvage. A veteran Rat shows status through the quality of their plates, the reliability of their weapon, and the sound of their engine.

Gear Rats follow simple but strict rules. Scrap inside a crew’s marked yard belongs to that crew. Big finds are taxed, with a cut in parts or fuel sent up the chain. Betrayal of your own crew is punished in public. These rules are not written. They are enforced by violence and by group pressure.

Daily life centers on salvage, repair, and training. Teams push into broken zones and abandoned districts to drag back engines, armor, and tech. Mechanics and welders turn wrecks into functional gear. Drivers and gunners test rigs on closed courses before using them in raids. Off duty, Rats drink, fight, gamble with scrap, and tell stories of past runs.

The foundry pits double as arenas. Disputes between crews, challenges for rank, and loyalty tests all play out here. Fights range from bare-handed brawls to duels with improvised weapons or small vehicles. The outcome decides who leads and who ends up in the furnaces.

Shelter in the Rust Belt is crude but functional. Crews convert old offices into barracks, stack containers into living towers, and hang shacks from crane arms. Food comes from raids and trade, with some grown in barrel farms and vats. Water is bought from Hydro-linked smugglers or taken from damaged lines. Medical care focuses on getting people back to work. Cybernetics are rough builds made from reclaimed parts.

Cog’s Rule and Internal Tension

Cog is the top leader of the Gear Rats in the Rust Belt. He is a large figure in soot-caked power armor with heavy augments. Stories say he started as a mechanic and rose in rank after surviving a foundry collapse. Whatever the truth, everyone knows he controls the largest stockpiles of scrap, fuel, and finished rigs.

Cog rules through control of resources. Every major salvage run pays him a tax. Every big foundry and yard answers to him or to a boss he has chosen. In return, he assigns engines, armor, and weapons for large raids and major defenses. Crews that cooperate get better gear. Crews that refuse see their supply lines cut and their territory squeezed.

Under him, lieutenants manage specific zones and tasks. Some oversee heavy foundries. Others handle war rigs, long-range raids, or chemical processing. Rivalries between them are common. Cog allows a limited level of conflict to keep them aggressive. If their fights damage key production or invite outside attack, he intervenes. Punishments can include stripping a crew of rigs or sending them on near-suicidal runs.

This creates constant tension inside the Rust Belt. Crews want to rise and claim better yards, but they also need each other to hold the district. Fights over scrap, debts, and insults are common. A bad choice can turn a small dispute into a street battle that destroys half a yard. Once it is over, Cog’s enforcers decide who is rebuilt and who is discarded.

Faction Relations and Story Use

The Rust Belt has ties to almost every major force in New Vance City. The Gear Rats raid Hydro Hegemony convoys, Solar Guardian equipment lines, and Citadel-linked cargo hauls. They hit Raider groups that try to poach in their scrap fields. They clash with the Perimeter Watch when raids cross defensive lines or threaten key gates.

At the same time, they act as suppliers and sometimes as hired muscle. Shadow Syndicate fixers buy weapons, armor, and stripped tech from Rust Belt workshops. In exchange they bring medicine, information, rare chemicals, and access to off-book routes. Some Citadel actors quietly use Syndicate contacts to buy unmarked gear from Gear Rat yards.

Silent Walkers and similar cult forces avoid the Rust Belt when they can. The noise, light, and constant motion interfere with their normal tactics. When they do appear, it is usually for specific goals, such as reclaiming a captured item or killing a target. Their presence raises stress for everyone, since many normal defenses mean little to shamblers or zealots that do not stop when wounded.

This district is where the Gear Rats break down the old world and rebuild it into tools for war. They see metal, fuel, and people as material to be used. If something can move, they want it on a rig. If it cannot move, they want to cut it apart and feed it into the next machine.