Visual direction

Locations

Vehicles

1. Survivors (Remnants of Modern Humanity)

Aesthetic Theme:

Scrappy, rugged, and resourceful. The Survivors' vehicles are built from salvaged parts, repurposed technology, and whatever materials they can find. While they may lack polish and refinement, they are functional, durable, and often built to adapt to multiple roles in the harsh, post-apocalyptic landscape.

Vehicle Features:

• Exposed Frames: Vehicles often have exposed metal frameworks, welded patchwork plating, and makeshift armor that looks hastily reinforced.
• Mixed Technology: The use of old-world tech combined with scavenged electronic parts. Solar panels, jury-rigged circuitry, and hybrid fuel sources are common sights.
• Weathered, Earthy Colors: The paint is usually chipped, rusted, or faded. Common colors include dull greens, browns, and grays, with the occasional bright patch of scrap material used as a fix.
• Practical Mods: Makeshift cargo holds, tool racks, or farming equipment integrated into the vehicle for utility purposes. Large exhausts, roll cages, and external fuel canisters emphasize their DIY approach.

Examples:

• Reinforced Jeeps and Off-road Trucks: Heavy-duty tires and lifted suspension systems are common to deal with the rough terrain.
• Motorcycles: Nimble and light, but with saddlebags made from leather or repurposed materials, metal scrap windshields, and visible hand-welded repairs.

Weaponry Design:

• Repurposed Firearms: Mounted guns might be made from old assault rifles bolted together or crude launchers that fire homemade explosives.
• Crude Blades: Bladed attachments, like metal spikes or old car bumpers, welded to the front or sides for ramming attacks.

2. Deserters (Smugglers and Scavengers)

Aesthetic Theme:

Brutal, aggressive, and cobbled together. The Deserters' vehicles reflect their ruthless nature and opportunistic behavior. These vehicles are often fast and dangerous, showing off their chaotic, ruthless spirit. They take what they can from the wasteland, often raiding others for parts and using brutality to modify their machines.

Vehicle Features:

• Intimidating Spikes and Blades: Most vehicles are covered in spikes, chains, and makeshift armor, designed to look terrifying and dangerous.
• Rust and Blood: Their vehicles often appear unclean and grimy, with rusted metal and dried blood stains. There’s an aesthetic of decay that conveys savagery and lawlessness.
• Patchwork Armor: They use scrap metal and old war remnants to create jagged, uneven layers of armor. This is purely functional, making vehicles look heavy and crude.
• Tribal War Paint and Symbols: Vehicles might have splashes of red, white, or black paint, smeared with handprints or symbols that mark allegiance to warlords or particular bands within the Deserters.

Examples:

• Modified Pickups and War Buggies: Open-topped, fast-moving vehicles with oversized engines, ramshackle roll cages, and spiked bumpers. Some may have hanging trophies or chains dragging along the ground.
• Heavily Armed Motorcycles: Crude, savage bikes with mounted saw blades or harpoons for high-speed chases and combat.

Weaponry Design:

• Junk Weaponry: Weapons made from rusty pipes, old military scrap, and repurposed machine guns. Flamethrowers made from gas canisters and makeshift harpoons are common.
• Explosives: Grenade launchers that appear hand-built from plumbing pipes, or racks of crude molotovs and thrown explosives.

3. Miners (Underground Tech Experts)

Aesthetic Theme:

Industrial, utilitarian, and concealed. The Miners' vehicles are designed for function over form. They use their technological expertise to craft advanced yet practical machinery, often equipped for underground use and laden with traps. These vehicles are sturdy, reliable, and built to operate in harsh, subterranean environments.

Vehicle Features:

• Heavy, Functional Armor: Most vehicles are designed for durability, with thick, utilitarian plating that looks more like industrial machinery than combat vehicles. They feature reinforced joints and armored wheels designed for off-road and underground travel.
• Mining and Drilling Equipment: Drills, augers, and winches are often attached to vehicles for practical purposes. These tools double as weapons, creating a unique hybrid of combat and engineering utility.
• Hydraulics and Pistons: Mechanical elements like hydraulic lifts, gears, and exposed pistons give these vehicles a rugged, industrial feel. They have the look of workhorses rather than war machines.
• Concealed Tech: Panels might open up to reveal hidden weapons or tools. These vehicles often hide deadly surprises like pop-up turrets or retractable drills.

Examples:

• Armored Excavators and Drilling Rigs: Heavy, lumbering vehicles with mounted drills, tracks for difficult terrain, and built-in mining lasers. Perfect for digging out ambush tunnels or laying traps.
• Utility Crawlers: Low-profile, tank-like vehicles with mechanical arms, often designed for setting up defensive positions or quickly building fortifications.

Weaponry Design:

• Industrial Weapons: High-tech mining lasers, plasma drills, and automated saw blades repurposed as deadly tools of destruction. Powerful enough to slice through rock: and enemies.
• Trap Deployment Systems: Miners' vehicles often have deployable spike traps, land mines, or net launchers to disable or capture foes.

4. Imperials (Old World Nobles)

Aesthetic Theme:

Luxurious, polished, and imposing. The Imperials' vehicles reflect their wealth and status. They are sleek, sophisticated, and heavily armored, but with an emphasis on style and opulence. These vehicles combine old-world luxury with modern power, signaling dominance on the battlefield.

Vehicle Features:

• Sleek and Polished: Vehicles have a polished, pristine look, with glossy black or metallic surfaces. They are often adorned with intricate detailing, gold or silver trims, and emblems of their house or clan.
• Heavy Armor, Light Damage: The focus is on protection, with sleek, futuristic plating designed to resist almost any attack. This armor is built not only for functionality but to symbolize their untouchable status.
• Royal Colors and Insignias: The vehicles are adorned with bright colors like royal purple, gold, and black, along with banners, house insignias, and decorative elements like lion heads, eagles, or crests.
• Advanced Tech: Despite their luxurious appearance, these vehicles are highly advanced, featuring state-of-the-art energy shielding, sophisticated targeting systems, and top-tier defensive mechanisms.

Examples:

• Hovercrafts: Luxurious, silent hovercrafts that glide over the battlefield with reinforced energy shields, equipped with state-of-the-art energy weapons.
• High-Tech Armored Limousines: Elongated vehicles with armored plating that look like futuristic limousines, boasting high-end defense systems and powerful, precision weapons.

Weaponry Design:

• Precision Lasers: Energy-based weapons that deliver deadly accuracy and power, designed to disable enemies efficiently without damaging the elegance of the battlefield.
• Defensive Turrets: Miniature, retractable turrets that fire auto-cannons or plasma shots, housed within the vehicle’s sleek body.

5. Signalists (Cult of the Signal)

Aesthetic Theme:

Mystical, eerie, and alien. The Signalists’ vehicles are an unsettling blend of ancient relics and unknown technology. They seem to be influenced by the mysterious Signal, with glowing runes, shifting geometric patterns, and strange, energy-based augmentations. Their vehicles give the impression that they are more than just machines: perhaps they are conduits of the Signal itself.

Vehicle Features:

• Organic, Alien Shapes: Their vehicles often have curved, flowing lines that seem organic, as if they’ve been grown rather than built. The vehicles sometimes pulse with energy or shift shape subtly, making them seem alive.
• Glowing Runes and Symbols: Vehicles are etched with glowing runes that pulse in sync with the Signal’s power. The colors are typically unsettling: greens, purples, and eerie whites.
• Hovering Platforms: Many of their vehicles float above the ground, emitting a low hum or eerie silence as they move. Their motion is smooth and otherworldly, giving off a sense of detachment from gravity itself.
• Energy Fields: Instead of traditional armor, Signalist vehicles might be protected by shimmering energy fields that fluctuate and hum with power. These fields could appear unstable, giving off a constant sense of danger.

Examples:

• Hovering Skiffs and Discs: Floating platforms that glide effortlessly across any terrain. They are covered in shifting, glowing patterns and are powered by some unknown energy source.
• Levitating Obelisks: Massive, floating structures that resemble dark monoliths, moving slowly across the battlefield, channeling the power of the Signal and unleashing devastating attacks.

Weaponry Design:

• Energy Beams and Pulses: Instead of conventional weapons, Signalist vehicles use energy beams, strange pulses, or bursts of raw Signal energy that destabilize matter, disrupt electronics, or even warp reality in localized areas.
• Disruptive Fields: Their weapons can include area-of-effect devices that scramble or disable other vehicles' systems, like energy disruptors that temporarily cause machinery to malfunction.