The Casino Families of The Sequoia Wastes

Purebloods of the Sequoia Waste live a life of privilege and luxury. Even those Purebloods that have been displaced due to the loss of their home casino in the conflict with Felvik’s Host are still welcomed with open arms* at the casinos that remain.

Purebloods have continued to dominate all areas of commerce within the wastes. It is said that if money changes hands in the Sequoia Wastes, a Pureblood somewhere is making a profit. In fashion, the Purebloods of the Sequoia Wastes are indistinguishable from their peers throughout the world. They love to wear bright colors and ornate jewelry to display their wealth and position.

All Purebloods within the Sequoia Wastes identify themselves by the name of their ancestral casinos. For those poor souls who have lost their casino to the machinations of The Final Knights and their Vegasian allies, they add their current host casino to their full appellation. Outside of Pureblood company, names are often shortened to make things easier to understand among strains that they perceive as inferior.

The Red Earth Casino Coalition – by Purebloods, for Purebloods.

The Purebloods of the Sequoia Wastes operate as a cohesive whole that was formed under the banner of the Red Earth Casino Coalition. Prior to the RECC, these Casino Purebloods were often found playing political games trying to be the most impressive and powerful family in the Sequoia Wastes. The RECC was formed in response to the destruction of the Fortune Reserve and Casino. It was the first Casino to fall to the might of Felvik’s Host of Final Knights and the treachery of the Vegasian advisors that worked within the Fortune casino.

The war between the Coalition and Felvik’s Host would rage for years. Every life in the wastes was touched by the conflict in some way. You either had a family member doing mercenary work for the casinos, or someone you knew was conscripted into the ranks of the Final Knights, often against their will. The RECC claims responsibility for the death of the forces of the Final Knights and maintain to this day that there are no Final Knights within the Sequoia Wastes.

Every Pureblood that originated within the Sequoia Wastes has (or had) a casino home. These homes often shape how they behave and even how they may dress. Here are the four most significant Pureblood Casino Families within the wastes and one that no longer exists.

The Windfall World Casino

The largest casino fortress in the Sequoia Wastes, the Windfall is home to excess and privilege on a scale that far exceeds all of the following casinos. The Windfall Casino is where the currency of the wastes, The Day, was first minted. People were allowed to gamble away their time if they didn’t have anything to barter. This always worked out in the casino's favor. The Windfall families are known for the casual disconnection with wasteland reality that often comes with nearly limitless wealth. The Windfall family dresses as is appropriate for a Pureblood, and often try to set their dress as the standard that they encourage other lesser Pureblood families to follow.

The Windfalls have enough money to invest in every venture within the Sequoia Wastes. Often, this is because people need a few extra Days to start off a project. On other occasions, it is because the Windfalls saw something making a profit, and decided they were entitled to partial ownership.

The Hardrocker Faith Museum and Casino

This casino family is known as the destination of choice for traveling members of the Virtues of the Kings Court. They care about all things related to music, but the other odd old world artifact can be located among their collection. Hardrockers stylize themselves as the Pureblood interpretation of their King or Queen of choice. They can be recognized by their over the top interpretations of their spiritual icons and are currently enjoying a fairly decent public image. They are simply too busy obsessing over their collection to bother with outsiders unless they absolutely have to.

The Shiverwind Casino

The fallen-to-third wealthiest casino family, the Shiverwind Casino is known for loving all things morbid and creepy. While the Casino produces a significant amount of Days for the family, they have learned that their real gift is in exploiting the corpse of the old world. The Shiverwind family produces a higher than average number of Jones. These Jones Purebloods are then responsible for scouring the wastes for treasures and ghastly little things they find of interest. Whatever they don’t like is often sold off to the other Pureblood families at as high a price as market forces will allow.

The Shiverwind family has also cornered the market on locating and ‘rescuing’ Full Dead survivors from wherever they may have gotten themselves stuck in the Shiverwind controlled necropolis. Additionally, they seem to be the only people who know where to find the pre-fall cryo pods that have a shot at producing a Semper Mort. All Semper Morts and Full Dead within the Sequoia Wastes exist at the largesse of the Shiverwinds and are often employed as valets and guards.

Their connection to all things morbid is often obvious in their dress. The Shiverwinds are fond of black clothing with bright colors, intricate lace and ornate jewelry as an accent to the outfit.
 

Oldcastle Casino (Oldcastle Farms)

This previously unexceptional casino family is now on the rise. While they do possess a casino, it was often seen as one of the least impressive structures that was allowed to be called Pureblood. The Oldcastle family was often the punchline for the jokes of other Purebloods. That is, of course, until Verdigrift Gardens was discovered. An Oldcastle Pureblood was one of the first to take the risk and buy an expensive map from a wandering Diesel Jock. When he arrived, this Pureblood saw this green space for what it was and set to cornering the market on providing food to the wastes.

He conned a community of rubes in to working for basically free, and he has been exploiting them ever since. As time has passed, the wealth generated by the labor of these Untroubled has allowed the Oldcastle casino to go from insignificant to being the number four casino in the Sequoia Wastes. They have enjoyed their new money status and have been rubbing it in the faces of any and all of the lesser Pureblood families as well as any other strain that will sit long enough to listen at how clever they are.

Members of the top three (Windfall, Shiverwind, Hardrocker) have taken to calling the group of Purebloods out as Oldcastle Farms as a way to belittle the accomplishments of the Oldcastle family.

The Fortune Reserve and Casino (Destroyed)

The Fortune was never counted among the wealthiest or largest of casinos in the Sequoia Wastes. However, the Fortunes were regarded as Purebloods that were able to stay relatively neutral during inter-casino disputes. This unique place among the Casino families meant that The Fortune was often the place that other Purebloods would go to settle their differences or buy themselves out of problems. This relatively trustworthy status among the Casino families caused the Fortune to become the home away from home for the valuables of many a paranoid Pureblood. Can’t trust your kids to not prematurely murder you for your stuff? Put their inheritance in the Fortune and your future is safe!

Owning a private vault became a mark of high standing among the elite of the Sequoia Wastes casinos. It was well known that anyone who was anyone had a private collection at the Fortune. This was likely a contributing factor in why the Final Knight forces of Felvik chose to take the Fortune before they attacked any other casino. While the public line pushed by the RECC is that the loss of the Fortune family was the motivation for everyone setting aside their differences, most of the more cynical Purebloods think the decision to team up was motivated solely by money.

The survivors of the death of the Fortune casino still carry the name with them to this day. While many of them have found new casino homes, and the names that are required of such affiliation, they will still proudly identify themselves as having an ancestral claim to the Fortune Reserve and Casino. These Purebloods include ex-Fortune at the end of their names.

The Gardens Country Club

The discovery of Verdigrift Gardens caused quite an uproar in the Pureblood community. The casino Purebloods of the Sequoia Wastes put a high value on golf course ownership. The largest ‘golf course’ in the wastes clocked in at a whopping 3 holes. That doesn’t sound like a lot to us, but in a world where green grass comes at a premium that’s a lot of farmable land that was sacrificed for prestige. So, when there was a chance to not only have a golf course, but to have an entire country club, the Pureblood factions of the Sequoia Wastes were on the edge and the truce that established the Red Earth Casino Coalition was at risk.

This is when the upstarts at the SaveWay Market stepped in and promised to create a neutral space where all of the Pureblood Casino families had equal influence and were able to enjoy the leisure and prestige that comes with Country Club membership. This neutral space is maintained to this day, and no other Pureblood family is considered superior to another while visiting the Gardens Country Club.

Country Club Members will occasionally wander into the griftier parts of town to experience the dangerous side of the settlement. The Country Club itself is a fortress filled with walls and elevated homes that have been secured against the threats of the wasteland. Access to the Country Club is restricted to Country Club Members and their SaveWay provided staff. Obtaining club membership is seen as a crowning achievement for many a Pureblood.