Hey Bryce,

Thanks for the beers last night. Helped clarify some of my thinking about how this organization operates. I've come up with a bare bones idea for Frederika Reichman, who is going to be the head honcho of the MPD, although for how long no one knows. Feel free to respond with different ideas and send me what you're doing with Betsy (sooner than later). I think this can work well but it's better to have this planned out at least somewhat before the game play begins in earnest.

Frederika isn't a very nice person. In fact, she's a very spoiled person who has had things handed to her most of her life and has never stopped to think about that life doesn't work like that for everyone. She's old now, pushing into her 70s, and this whole apocalypse thing has been a real crimp on her style. The dingy living quarters, the bad food, the inability to get hot water or hot food on demand, but she lived through that because she's a tough old lady, and she's finally seeing that those days of hardship might be coming to an end. Her husband August has piloted them through the very worst of times and it seems, from her perspective, that it's only a matter of time before she can once again flip a switch and illuminate a room without thinking twice about it.

Life is cruel though. Her husband August kicked the bucket unexpectedly and now she's alone, except for her miserable kids. No one saw this death coming, and hence there's no plan in place for a successor. Frederika naturally thinks the power should rest with the highest ranking member of the family, namely her. Needless to say, the heads of the other three families feel differently but they seem content--at present--to bide their time and see how things progress. Frederika doesn't have many--make that any--allies she knows of. August burned plenty of bridges in his ruthless rise to the top and her aloofness did little to endear her to anyone.

So now she's torn. She will fight to the death with anyone who wants to take what she sees as being rightfully hers but, being pampered her entire life, she has no idea how to protect it. The very idea of another struggle, another fight, exhausts her, but what other options does she have? Her rivals would likely cast her out onto the streets if they detect the slightest weakness. But she has no clue as to her husband August's affairs. How close were they to getting the power turned back on? How much contact had they had with the outside world? What were the plans for the future? Expansion into the Greater Rivertown area, or consolidation and further excavation and reclamation of the city proper?

Frederika doesn't know. But Frederika needs to figure it out, fast. There are wolves at the door and they look hungry.