The town of San Pedro
A dire place, its main saving grace is that it is too insignificant for The Coalition to have paid much attention to it after their bomber divisions leveled its only factory. The fumes from the bombing of this chemical plant drove out the few not too stubborn or too poor to leave. The massacre inspired by the shortly lived revolution in the city dealt with most of the stubborn ones.
The town is under the control of the Toro Gang, a group of former malcontents and deserters who seized control of the town in the final weeks of the war using the weapons they fled with and the local constable's armory. The elderly Sir Santos III, with no living sons and few men of fighting age, could do little to retain control over the land that his family owned for three centuries. With the support of the radicals, most liberals and royalists were dealt with in a matter of hours. The radicals took a little longer to deal with, but within a month the once-proud lord became a mere figurehead for the brutal and drunken bullfighter Lorenzo del Cuerno. As the aging patriarch of the Toro Clan, he has turned the town into his own fiefdom from which his men manufacture and sell moonshine. With connections to the military airfield nearby, they are able to sell their wares locally and in the city by delivering shipments to military trains passing through the region. So long as Sir Santos III continues to sign off on the paltry tax deliveries to the capital, the town avoids attention.
They stay away from the ruins of the factory to the north, as it is slowly being reclaimed by a newly born swamp. Clouds of noxious gas are released from the earth daily, and some claim to have spotted figures moving through the fumes. When the winds blow south, those who returned to San Pedro from the war recognize the faint smell of mustard on the air.
Local Saint:
San Pedro is the local saint of the area. He was a revered bullfighter who brought the tradition with him to the town. Having sired fifteen sons and daughters who followed in his footsteps, he issued a challenge to draw in the greatest bullfighters of the age and the finest bulls, beginning the annual Festival of the Bull. At the inaugural festival, he decided to lose his first fight at the age of seventy-three. Testing the grandest of the bulls to the edge of its limits and his own, they danced for three hours, long past the endurance of the matador's mount. The crowd, usually eager for blood over grace, watched in awe as he continued to dance around the beast on foot.
The two finally reached the end of the duet, with the man's dark skin and the bull's white hide drenched in sweat. They locked eyes. Pedro took one last gulp from his wine-skin, turned his back to the beast, and bowed to the audience just as he was fatally gored. This bull would go on to sire generations of fighting bulls, famed for their endurance, their virility, and importantly their showmanship even as they died. Now, before every fight, both the matador and the bull drink a wine mixed with the "Blood of San Pedro," taken from a bull of this patrilineal line.
The locals are fiercely protective of their saint. Given the proximity to the city, many are concerned that should the town be brought to the attention of The Coalition, his worship will be outlawed and the icon stolen.
Locations:
The Bull-Ring of San Pedro
In a better century, this was what had made San Pedro a famous stop for the aristocracy as they traveled north in the hot months. At the start of summer, a week of intensive bullfighting brought with it a highly seasonal but equally profitable tourism industry. Now much of the original stone facade has fallen into ruin, replaced with rotting wooden fences and walls. The only thing that remains in good condition is the icon of the local saint San Pedro, patron saint of bullfighting and wineries. Lorenzo and his gang frequently occupy the ring, with the matadors rarely in much better condition than the bulls they rustle up for the contests.
The Santos Estate
The Toro Gang has converted this mansion into their primary base of operations. It is one of the few buildings in the settlement in good condition, aside from the bullets riddling the walls just beside the front entrance. The once glorious garden has become almost entirely barren since the destruction of the chemical plant. Those who seek to meet with the patriarch usually do so with his brother "The Buzzsaw" watching through the iron sights of the machine gun he managed to bring home from the war. Sir Santos III broods in the "study" that they set up for him in the stables, rubberstamping their documents and sending false reports back to the capital.
The Old Mill
A little out of the way of the town atop a hill, this abandoned building has been repurposed into a distillery for the Toro Gang. The brewing, storing, and transporting of their illegal booze is carried out here. This spot is carefully protected as the only real industry and source of income the town has. The western and eastern approaches go through light forests, which the gang has booby-trapped and frequently patrols, whilst only the brave or stupid would approach from the north given the proximity to the toxic swamp.