DEVOTIONS

The many settlements, ranches, farms and mines on The Frontier ain’t readily protected by the Union, and lawmen tend to stick to to established towns, where they’re already preoccupied with plenty. This being the case, settlers pay rangers to protect their land. Sometimes this ‘protection’ comes in the form of raiding native villages, but work is work, and it can be a good living, if you live. Many Rangers are Afro-Americans or Cheroquois, looking to upgrade their social standard and subvert their oppression, to varying result. Their binoculars can be used when traveling to do a perception check on areas they’re about to enter, helping to prepare for whatever they may face there.

Gambling in games of poker, black jack, and king-killer is an unregulated and untamed art form on The Frontier. High-stakes games draw the ambitions of many a poor boy, and lucrative pay offs can be quite addictive. To make your living like this is obviously unstable, but hardly anything on The Frontier last very long, so a little instability is par for the course. Unfortunately, so is getting your brains blown out for calling the wrong man’s bluff, or gettin’ stabbed till you spill for your recent winnings. Best to carry protection. Gambler’s tend to carry a ‘lucky' card they can rely on to tip the odds in their favor when their ass is on the line.

In a land where many professions won’t hire women, viewing them as the inferior gender, prostitution serves as on of the few, and most reliable ways for a woman to achieve independence and self sufficiency. Being legally unregulated, the sex work industry is free from the infrastructural discrimination marginalized people face in most other aspects of American society. And some (usually gender non- conforming) men are able to find refuge in the many whorehouses on the Frontier as well, providing services seen in the current times as ‘deviant’ and ‘illegal’. Due to the nature of the work, many whores ain’t respected as normal members of society, so the ability to charm or stab your way out of hairy situations is a must. That old perfume madams pass around certainly helps sway the situation.

333 A.D. is a year of great social change, with the development of state infrastructure and rapid industrialization altering society's relationship with, and dependency on, religion. The influence of the foreign pope, and complex, ancient culture of the Holy Royal Church (the ‘Old Church’) is fading, and in its place people are worshiping God in a more personal, and less ritualistic way. Most on the Frontier belong to the ‘New Church’. There are still baptisms and church service every Sunday, and the New American Standard Bible can be found in just about every household, but the decentralized New Church isn’t focused on aggressively converting everyone they come in contact with. It’s focused on influence and wealth, and as such it can be quite profitable to learn the Holy Book, as many people will give tithe to a messenger of God, in exchange for a quick prayer, or the promise of God’s favor. The family bible they carry gives comfort and fortune to all blessed by it.

Back east, theater has become an esteemed medium of storytelling and entertainment. Not so much on The Frontier. Still, those with respect for the arts passionately pursue a living in performance. Most shows are small-scale, with scraps for budget and receiving scraps for pay, and the culture is plagued with the usual drug and vice loving “artsy” types. The allure of romance, adventure, freedom, and the love of performing keeps thespians ensnared in the lifestyle. Naturally this line of work requires a great deal of charisma and agility, and the ability to sing, and play instruments when needed. In addition, as part of the low budget, do-it-yourself nature of the shows they put on, most thespians are talented to an extent in the art of craftmanship, being able to quickly and efficiently sew costumes and build sets. They can mock up a disguise pretty effectively, if needed.

On The Frontier, those who choose to live outside of settlements or other bastions of civilization are referred to as ‘wildmen’. They are outcasts, often due to mental abnormalities or a distain for their fellow human beings and society, or perhaps just an exceptional love for nature itself. They usually are only seen around towns briefly to get supplies, trading with the pelts or raw lightiron they’ve collected. Many wildmen are Native Americans whose tribes have been broken by the ongoing Union occupation, but haven’t joined the Achatache for various reasons. Rumors of satanic possession and feral cannibalism keep many people from trusting these types at all. Years of experience usually leads to the habit of keeping at least a bow for hunting, and a healing poultice on their person at all times.

The good doctor, the surgeon, the pharmacist, the healer. Medical professionals on The Frontier are rare, cherished and respected. When violence and disaster are so close at hand for so many, a fellow that can set a bone, or knows how much opien to administer, or whether a limb can be saved or must be amputated, is an invaluable asset to the community. As such, doctors tend to be very well taken care of. That’s not to say there aren’t risks to the lifestyle. One risk of course is the constant exposure to highly addictive drugs. In addition, criminals, who naturally live more dangerous lives, need doctors to survive their escapades and often utilize threats or duress to obtain their services, paying pitifully, if at all. Ample intelligence with which to navigate these precarious social dynamics is essential. A frontier doctors bag usually at least has the supplies to stabilize a traumatic wound.

The most widespread occupation on The Frontier is that of the common laborer. The construction of several major railroads, the ongoing mining of deep lightiron deposits, the various essential tasks for the function of large company-owned farms, and other hard, manual labor jobs are slowly but surely transforming the young nation of The American Union into an industrial superpower. All of this is built on the backs of men and women that toil for their living.. Unfortunately most industries are rife with exploitation. Unnatural working hours and conditions, and frequent underpayment are 2 of the biggest obstacles laborers face. That, and the threat of Achatache or Confederate Rebel raiders, looking to undermine the power of The Union by sabotaging infrastructural progress and preventing the encroachment of Native lands.

By far the most cynical way to make a dime on The Frontier is partaking in lethal combat, and more often just brutal murder, for cash. Whether it’s a bounty hunter or a company-paid assassin, a gunslinger is recognizable by the black look in their eyes. The eyes of a natural born killer. They don’t often live very long, but those that do should certainly be feared, and even better, avoided. Folks may not ever warm up to a gunslinger, but everyone knows better than to offend one. A lot of gunslingers are Achatache or Rebel Guerrillas looking to make money to fund their wars of attrition, or former law and military men that wanted to keep using their combat skills. It’s a profitable life of absolute freedom, no doubt, but a short, bloody one.