: The Foreman sends his "Enforcers" to find the author of Vol. 03. They don't want to kill him; they want him to build an army of "disposable" guns for a territorial expansion.
Elias is a "Tinkerer" living in the shadows of a crumbling shipyard. He doesn’t have a military background; he was a clockmaker before the world broke. Now, he uses his precision skills to authored the legendary (and banned) underground manual: Practical Scrap Metal Small Arms . The Conflict Practical_Scrap_Metal_Small_Arms_Vol.03-The_DIY...
: A young scavenger named Kael is caught with a prototype "Zip-Rifle" built using Elias’s schematics. Before he is executed, he manages to hide the manual in a pile of rusted slag. : The Foreman sends his "Enforcers" to find
: The "Battle of the Rebar." The Foreman’s professional guards, armed with aging but powerful assault rifles, face off against hundreds of workers. The workers are armed with Elias's Vol. 03 designs—crude, ugly, but functional weapons that fire handmade lead slugs. Elias is a "Tinkerer" living in the shadows
The local warlord, a man known as , has monopolized all "clean" pre-collapse weaponry. He keeps the populace subservient by ensuring he is the only one with firepower. When The Foreman’s scouts find a copy of Elias's Volume 03 —which details the construction of a reliable, repeating carbine made entirely from scavenged bicycle frames and garage door springs—he realizes his monopoly is under threat.
: Elias, realizing his technical hobby has become a spark for revolution, must lead a group of ragtag miners. They aren't soldiers, but they are masters of the forge.
Here is a story concept titled The Setting: The Iron Orchards