Background

Mutations caused by the radiation being carried throughout the world were common in the years following the war. For many, these led to death, for others, pain and suffering causing a slow descent into madness. The latter became known as ‘ghosts,’ the remnants of someone long dead. They would roam in packs violently attacking anything that moved and became one of the biggest dangers to those scavenging in formerly populated areas. Not all mutated peoples lost their minds, though. Some, through willpower and pain tolerance, managed to maintain their humanity. However, this did not change the fact that they outwardly appeared much like the ghosts, with their skin pale white and rotting in places, and it was common for them to be attacked on sight. To survive, they began to migrate in the places furthest away from the old-world cities, and a group of them would eventually find refuge in a perpetually dark swamp. A cloud of ash covers the sky here, ensuring that even during the day only slivers of light break through. This makes the swamp cold and miserable, but not unlivable. And, more importantly, the darkness helps shroud its people from seeing what they have become. They became a society of survivalists, gathering moss and other plants that grow in the dark and fishing from the bottom of the lakes, aided by the fact that they no longer need to breathe. Over the generations, their descendants also would gain an uncanny night vision, further increasing their hunting and gathering potential. They were fine living this way for a while, until one generation began to get angsty about their situation. Why should they be forced to live in the darkness just because others deemed them monsters? Why should they not be allowed to live in the lands of their grandfathers and great grandfathers, and partake in the bounty there, instead of living like animals foraging for every meal? Eventually, the settlement grew, until raid groups were formed to ascend back to the world of the living. With their superior strength and constitution, they were able to overwhelm many of their neighbors, despite having little in the ways of technology themselves at first. They would take that from their vanquished rivals and make it their own, considering it by right theirs for having so long been denied. This would include the vehicles. They would form a makeshift caravan of all manner of different claimed vehicles from different societies, often barely held together due to their lack of understanding on how to maintenance them. Like their occupants, the makeshift fixes have made their vehicles surprisingly durable. They learned of the Demolition Race and saw this as a chance to prove to the world that they are more than just monsters. Perhaps while taking some much-desired revenge at the peoples that had so long shunned and hunted them.