Wasteland factions

Factions in the Desert are groups of survivors who work to achieve a common goal. Some have a goal to bring order and justice to the bleeding wastes, while others seek to enlighten people in religious ways or tribalistic ways.

Biggest armed factions
In Wasteland, some groups will seek unity to acheive larger goals. Some survivors will team up as much as they can maintaining strenth in numbers. Most hope to restore, but some actually look to destroy humanity. Those seen thus far in the wasteland series are listed below.

Desert Rangers
The Desert Rangers are one of the most influential factions in the Wasteland, despite their relatively small size. Established in the image of the Texas and Arizona Rangers, their primary aim is helping survivors of the nuclear devastation rebuild and step forward into the future.

Cochise AI
The Cochise AI was the result of the research that was being done by the scientists at base Cochise. It survived the nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union after which it started a campaign to eliminate all the survivors in the wasteland so that the world could be repopulated with 'pure specimens'. It continued to operate from base Cochise where it manufactured and controlled a large army of death machines. Eventually a group of Desert Rangers that were assisted by the android Max, another AI that had been developed at base Cochise, confronted the Cochise AI and put an end to its mission permanently.

Smaller armed factions
Small factions that either look to cause trouble such as a gang or ones who seek to form peaceful lives are listed below.

Rail Nomads
The Desert Nomads are a large group of wastelanders who make use of an old, dilapidated freight train to travel through the nuked-out Nevada. While at first sight it might seem they are quite advanced technologically, in reality, they became a borderline tribal community, forming a clan-based society with a polytheistic religion, the train becoming an arcane item, an idol.

Ugly's Gang
Ugly's Gang was group of outlaws that were led by a man named Ugly John that operated in the Arizona wasteland until 'something' drove them out and made them invade the small town of Quartz in 2087. In order to maintain control over the town they kidnapped Mayor Pedros and his wife Felicia and held them captive.

Religious factions
While many groups of people have survived using their guns and survial skills, others have formed their own religions out of the post apocalyptic world. Those are listed below.

Guardians of the Old Order
The Guardians of the Old Order are a fanatical sect entirely devoted to preserving and hoarding technology, led by Cardinal Scott. They are extremely xenophobic, to the point of shooting dead anyone they perceive as infidel unworthy of wielding technology (eg. any non-Guardian). Unlike organizations that exist to find, maintain and use technology, the Guardians instead stock and almost worship it. They are obsessed with pre-War times to the point of carving excerpts from advertisements and junk mail into the walls of the Citadel.

Blood Cult
The Blood Cult was a post nuclear religion that operated in Needles alongside the Servants of the Mushroom Cloud, seeking to convert the inhabitants of the town to their beliefs. In 2087 they were revealed to be connected to a series of brutal murders that took place in Needles. Little is known about the history of the Blood Cult, only that it was originally founded by a man who would simply refer to himself as the Blood Priest.

Servants of the Mushroom Cloud
The Servants of the Mushroom Cloud are a religious organization led by Charmaine, that worships the nuclear holocaust as a holy event and nuclear energy as divine. They occupy the Las Vegas Nuclear Power Plant, maintaining it and providing electricity to the city (and possibly other outlying settlements). They are seeking to convert everyone in the wastes to their "poisonous religion", as Faran Brygo puts it.