Salt Clan
Location:	Throughout Texas
Goals:	Security, Wealth
Motto:	First and Foremost

The Salt Clan is the premier mercantile dynasty of west Texas. From their towering fastness in Petroleum, they run caravans and cattle drives spanning from Fort Holly to in the north and Big Spring in the east to Marfa in the south and Wink Sink in the west. They also provide various other operations and services closer to home.

HistoryEdit

Originally just a single family headed up by oil speculator and wildcatter Horatio Prudence Salt in the 1940s, the Salt family became Midland socialites with numerous friends and business partners. In the 21st century Ephrem Salt (the distant ancestor of the mid-23rd century's patriarch Ephrem Salt) decided that trusting in a common civil defense shelter, a simple home shelter, or a corporate solution such as a Vault was imprudent. In his estimation, if he did not exercise control over the nature and inhabitants of such a shelter, he couldn't trust his family's safety to it. He privately approached his close circle of friends, the van Ecks and Wells families among them, and discussed to possibility of creating a superior shelter they and those of their choosing could survive in should the worst happen. Being a collection of the wealthiest families in the region they had significant resources at their command and they agreed to make it happen. To cover their activities they formed a corporation that purchased the Petroleum building, ostensibly to manage it as a commercial property renting out office space, but set about "renovating it," using it as a smokescreen while they had the building retrofitted and an extensive bunker complex put in below ground.

When the Great War came, the Salt family and their associates took shelter, assured in their own survival by dint of an enormous stockpile of supplies and a small hydroponics farm and fish farm. The Petroleum building had been carefully selected based on independent research the collective had performed: deemed ideally placed relative to the other buildings in Midland that with sufficient preparation it wouldn't be knocked over if the city were struck. So the bunker and the building atop it stood firm and the people within faded from the memories of those who survived by other means. Even as ghouls searched high and low for survivors in the area the Salt clan went undiscovered, if only because the ghouls were too superstitious to enter the intact building. Meanwhile the families in the bunker grew closer together, their interests and future were tied together and all acknowledged the leadership of the Salts.

Anticipating a variety of hazards on the surface, the clan remained below ground as long as possible in the hopes that the radiation would diminish and that dangerous elements would destroy themselves. When they did at last come up, they were delighted to find the Petroleum building mostly intact. Spying ghouls in the distance and ignorant as to their nature, they thought the world might have been inundated with zombies, so they set about fortifying the Petroleum building. Their industry attracted the ghouls and after some false starts (and a gun battle), they were able to make peaceful contact, informing the Salt Clan of the wider survivor community in the area. With their numbers, armaments, and superior organization they quickly dominated the surrounding area in Midland and took their place amongst the other people of the Midessa Compact.

Activities & InterestsEdit

The Salt Clan rules Petroleum, acting as law and landlords in the area. The area surrounding the Petroleum Building hosts numerous small ranches: each managed by tenants and client families, each with cog-stamped brahmin. They're partnered with Armory Water & Power in Armory, they jointly run the ammunition loading plant that provides the region with bullets and rifle rounds and the Salt Clan provides security for Armory's power plant and lines. The Clan has two large-scale salvaging operations that are basically stripping down the entire Pre-War towns of Wink and Notrees to fuel construction and industry in Midessa, as the former is buried under sinkholes and the latter's valuable materials are spread throughout a wide area the operations will take years to complete.

The clan operates a number of caravans in west Texas in a somewhat haphazard fashion with varying schedules for different areas. An outgrowth of the caravans are the Salt-maintained rest stops, the first of which was established in the ruins of Lamesa, they provide places for travelers to pick up supplies outside established communities and have the facilities to care for the clan's cattle during the drives. One of the goals of Ephrem Salt is to reorganize the caravans into two runs to hit every community they can, as frequently as they can. The patriarch anticipates the reorganization will be complete by late 2282.

MembershipEdit

Not every person in the Salt Clan is surnamed Salt, nor is every person associated with the Salt Clan considered to be a full member. The Clan is a collection of families united by marriage or close association over the course of decades along with hired hands and mercenaries. Each of the families in the Clan has a seat at the table, which is in this instance the clan's boardroom in the Petroleum building, though only the Major families get a vote. The patriarch frequently goes along with the vote but is not bound to do so, it's intended as a method for figuring out what direction the families want to go in general.

Major FamiliesEdit

• Gautreaux- Cyriaque Gautreaux: The Gautreaux family, formerly of New Orleans is the most recent addition to the Salt Clan. Having fled from the court at Tuloya after a disastrous intrigue, the Gautreaux's managed to marry their way into the clan once they demonstrated their engineering expertise. They're currently helping with the delicate operations in Wink Sink.
  • Other Members: Alzophine (Cyriaque's wife), Buford (Cyriaque's eldest son), Evangeline (Cyriaque's eldest daughter)
• Salt- Ephrem Salt: The patriarch and overlord of the Salt Clan, he has final authority over all projects and endeavors. The Salt leadership has always demonstrated superior business and political acumen, along with an ability to delegate tasks to those best suited for them.
  • Other Members: Ephrem VIII (Ephrem's eldest son), Ertha (Ephrem's wife), Hezekiah (Ephrem's younger brother), Nehemiah (Ephrem's youngest son)
• van Eck- Gervaas van Eck: The van Eck family were cattle ranchers who knew the Salt family socially during throughout the 21st Century and helped finance the construction of the hardened shelter under the Petroleum building. They now play to their ancestral strengths, helping manage the clan's brahmin ranches.
  • Other Members: Bram (Gervaas' eldest son), Cort (Gervaas' second son), Greta (Gervaas' wife), Loes (Gervaas' younger brother)
• Wells- Hoss Wells: The Wells family have been associates and friends of the Salt family for centuries, back to the time of Horatio Prudence Salt and Roscoe Wells in the 1940s. Hoss Wells is the leader of the Clan's Roughneck militia.
  • Other Members: Abraham (Hoss' eldest son), Enos (Abraham's eldest son)

Common MembersEdit

• Salt-Gautreaux: Colette (Buford's daughter, wife of Hezekiah)
• Salt-Wells: Salome (Ephrem's younger sister, wife of Abraham)

Minor FamiliesEdit

• Halberstam- B.W. Halberstam: A tiny family with no day-to-day presence in Petroleum, they're nonetheless valued for their work at Lamesa Wall.
  • Other Members: Dale (B.W.'s second son), Mable (B.W.'s wife), Rex (B.W.'s eldest son)

The Clan is probably the largest employer in the Permian Basin; as they have numerous ranchers, caravaneers, traders, laborers, and gunmen on payroll. Over two hundred men and women throughout the region answer to the Salt Clan. They also provide protection and justice for hundreds of tenants in Petroleum.