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Page 1 - Hook + Overview
# THE CHILDREN OF THE SILO
**Subtitle: They survived by shutting out the world. Someone inside has decided that must change.**
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Forty-seven years after **the Fall** - the collapse of networks, cities, and governments - the old Provence region is a patchwork of lightly irradiated zones, survivor hamlets, and empty territory where mutated nature has reclaimed everything.
The PCs are traveling through the region when they catch a signal. Short. Repeated. Precise.
- - - . . . - - -
Morse. S.O.S. The source is a hill two kilometers away, beneath which the ground vibrates with well-maintained machinery.
**Silo Mistrau** appears on no map. But it has been here since the beginning. And someone inside is counting on the fact that someone outside can still read Morse.
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Session parameters
| | | |---|---| | **System** | Year Zero Engine (Post-Apocalyptic) | | **Players** | 3-5 | | **Duration** | 3-5 hours | | **Tone** | Moral, brutal, fragile hope | | **Promise** | Freedom-versus-safety dilemma, resource negotiation, three factions to navigate, choices that matter |
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Countdown - Outside Pressure
Tick one box every real hour or after each major complication.
``` [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] ```
- **Boxes 1-2**: The mutant wanderers have not detected the PCs yet.
- **Boxes 3-4**: A scout from the Ferro faction enters the area.
- **Boxes 5-6**: Ferro assaults the silo at sunset, whether the PCs are still there or not.
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Immediate hook (choose or 1d4)
1. The Morse signal says more than S.O.S. - after the standard sequence: *"SICK CHILD. DOCTOR TOO OLD. HELP."* 2. One PC recognizes the identification code in the signal - it is the personal code once taught by someone close who disappeared. 3. A traveling merchant met yesterday mentioned Silo Mistrau with undisguised fear: *"They never let anyone in. Never."* 4. From a distance, the PCs see a group of mutant wanderers circling the hill. They do not attack. They are waiting for something.
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Page 2 - Situation + Silo Structure
Read aloud
*The hill looks like any other, except for the improvised solar panels fixed into its southern face. And that faint smell of turned earth, compost, and something green in a world that mostly forgot what green smells like. A reinforced metal door sits half-hidden under camouflage netting. An old but active surveillance camera has been watching you ever since you passed the tree line.*
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Truth of Silo Mistrau
In 2040, 18 months before the Fall, an agronomy engineer named **Aurore Pelletier** converted an old cooperative wine cellar into an agricultural bunker. She gathered 40 people there with seeds, hydroponic equipment, and one simple charter: together, or nothing.
Today, 300 people live in a space built for 60. Aurore died 20 years ago. Her daughter, **Cendrine Pelletier**, rules the silo with a benevolent iron hand. For 47 years, no outsider has entered. No resident has left.
The person sending the Morse is named **Leo** - 19 years old, born in the silo, never seen anything beyond these walls.
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Playable structure
**The reinforced entrance** Only access point, camera, intercom, double-door airlock. The inhabitants are not armed inside - they have never needed to be. Mother Cendrine may choose to open, or not.
**The reception hall ("The Terrace")** If the PCs enter, they are brought here: shared tables, handmade lanterns, smell of soup. A space designed to impress possible visitors - clean, orderly, slightly intimidating by contrast with the outside world.
**Agricultural levels (Levels 2-4)** Hydroponics, mushroom beds, worm and insect farms. 40% of the population lives and works here. This is the base of the **Cultivators** faction (see Factions).
**Residential level (Level 5)** Dormitories, schoolroom, meeting hall. Overcrowded for 15 years. Constant tension over resources. Leo is here.
**Council chamber (Level 6)** Mother Cendrine and her four advisers gather here. Archives of the Fall, Aurore's journals, silo blueprints. One document dated 2072 recommends an "exploratory mission" - rejected 12-2.
**Service tunnels (Level 7)** Access to filtration, ventilation, and emergency reserves. A secondary exit exists - sealed in 2045, but not collapsed.
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The Three Factions
**THE GUARDIANS** (led by Cendrine Pelletier) *"The outside already killed us once."*
Maintain total isolation. Collective safety matters more than any individual desire. They make up 40% of the population: the oldest and most influential. They are not cruel - they are traumatized.
**The Cultivators** (led by **Hamid Velu**, 45) *"We are running out of soil. We have to find more."*
Pragmatic faction. They want to negotiate for outside resources - specifically secure arable land to relieve the pressure on the agricultural levels. They do not want to "leave," they want to "trade." They represent 35% of the population.
**The Walkers** (led by **Leo Mistrau**, 19) *"I was born here. This is my whole life. And I did not choose it."*
A group of young people born inside the silo who have never seen anything else. They do not want to flee - they want the right to choose. They represent 25% of the population and have no formal political power. Leo is their face and voice.
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Page 3 - NPCs + Obstacles + Encounters
Key NPCs
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**MOTHER CENDRINE PELLETIER - Leader of the silo** *Woman, 68, gray eyes, soft and absolute voice.*
She has seen people die because opening decisions were handled badly. She is 68, and she is right about 80% of things. That is the problem: the 20% where she is wrong are the ones that matter now.
*Motivation:* Make sure her children survive her death. *Secret:* A group of 12 tried to leave in 2064. Three came back, sick. Two died inside the silo days later. Cendrine had the episode erased from the public archives. Hamid knows.
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**HAMID VELU - Leader of the Cultivators** *Man, 45, calloused hands, pragmatic, smiling but calculating.*
He wants to negotiate directly with the PCs. He has things to offer - rare seeds, hydroponic methods - and things to ask for: mapped and secured outside farmland, filtration equipment.
*Motivation:* Solve the agricultural crisis before it becomes a food crisis. *Secret:* He knows about the 2064 exit attempt. He is waiting for the right moment to use it against Cendrine.
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**LEO MISTRAU - Sender of the signal** *Man, 19, direct gaze, born in the silo, has never seen an unfiltered sky.*
He learned Morse in his adoptive grandmother's archives. He is not sending the signal only for himself - he is sending it for everyone who still has no voice.
*Motivation:* The right to choose, not freedom at any cost. *Secret:* His "illness" in the original signal was cover. He is fine. But his adoptive sister, **Naia**, 8, has developed a mild mutation (photosensitive skin) that the silo doctor cannot treat. Leo wanted to attract an outside doctor without alarming the Council.
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Two Outside Threats
**THE MUTANT WANDERERS** Group of 8 to 12 heavily mutated people, once part of an extended family from the Manosque region. They are not monsters - they are hungry, partly lucid, and they have smelled the silo's food for weeks.
*What they want:* Food. To be left alone. *What they might become:* A destructive threat if ignored, or an unlikely "perimeter protection" pact if someone takes the time to communicate with their leader, **Gray**, woman, 40, visible facial mutations, intact intelligence.
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**THE FERRO FACTION** A 30-person armed group based in the rebuilt ruins of old Manosque, 18 km away. They collect "tribute" from survivor groups across the sector. They spotted the silo 3 months ago. They arrive at sunset (box 6 of the countdown) to "offer protection services."
*What they want:* 20% of the silo's agricultural output every month, in exchange for not destroying it. *What they might become:* A direct enemy if the PCs confront them, or a deferred enemy if the PCs help the silo fortify before they arrive.
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Obstacles and key scenes
**Getting inside the silo (Negotiation, Danger 5-7)** Cendrine lets no one in. The PCs may show Leo's signal, offer rare resources, threaten her (not recommended), or reach Leo through the secondary exit (Exploration, Danger 6).
**Navigating the three factions (Relationship, variable Danger)** Each faction needs the PCs differently. Helping one too much alienates the other two. The PCs may try to organize a silo-wide vote - but Cendrine can block it.
**Ferro arriving at sunset** This forces a decision: help defend the silo (consumes resources, makes Ferro a permanent enemy), negotiate (Cendrine must accept exposing leadership to outsiders), or leave (the silo faces Ferro alone).
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YZE Stat Blocks
#### Mutant Wanderer (basic combat) *Heavily mutated human, desperate but not stupid.*
| Attribute | Value | |---|---| | Strength | 3 | | Agility | 3 | | Wits | 2 | | Empathy | 2 | | Toughness | 10 | | Armor | 0 |
**Attacks**
- Improvised melee: Danger 5 - Damage 2
- Group charge (3+): Danger 4 per attacker - Damage 1 each
**Special - Mutation** Roll 1d4 for the targeted wanderer: 1. Fireproof skin (Armor +1 against fire) 2. Heightened scent (detects hidden PCs, Danger 4) 3. Enhanced strength (melee damage +1 but Agility -1) 4. Slow regeneration (recovers 1 Toughness per round if not in active combat)
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#### Ferro Soldier (armed, trained) *Fighter of the Ferro faction, equipped with scavenged gear, disciplined.*
| Attribute | Value | |---|---| | Strength | 3 | | Agility | 3 | | Wits | 2 | | Empathy | 1 | | Toughness | 12 | | Armor | 2 (scavenged protective vest) |
**Attacks**
- Shotgun (long range): Danger 6 - Damage 3
- Combat knife (melee): Danger 5 - Damage 2
- Smoke grenade: creates a cover zone, cancels enemy positional advantages for 2 rounds
**Ferro Protocol** If two soldiers are taken out, the others make a morale roll (Danger 5). On a failure, they withdraw and return in force two days later.
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Page 4 - Endings + Tables + Follow-Up + Credits
Running the final scene
The final scene triggers when Ferro arrives (box 6 of the countdown) or when the PCs make an irreversible decision about the silo's future.
**Key variables**:
- Are the wanderers possible allies, or one more threat?
- Has Cendrine been confronted with her 2064 secret?
- Has Leo spoken publicly to the silo?
- Have the PCs strengthened the defenses before Ferro arrives?
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Open ending (campaign tie-in)
There is no "good" ending to this scenario - only endings that leave the world changed.
**Variant A - The silo opens a little** Cendrine accepts a minimal deal: resource exchange with the outside, Leo may leave but not forever, and the Cultivators gain access to an external farming zone. Ferro is driven off or paid. Something fragile has begun.
*Campaign consequences:* The silo becomes a potential base for the PCs. Naia (Leo's sister) needs treatment that cannot be found inside the silo. Ferro will return, better prepared.
**Variant B - The silo closes even harder** The attempt to open failed badly. Ferro caused losses, or the wanderers attacked in the confusion, or the Council voted against any change after an incident. Leo is confined inside the silo. The signal will not return.
*Campaign consequences:* The PCs know 300 people live there in isolation, and the chance may have been the last one. That knowledge has weight.
**Variant C - The Walkers leave** Leo and 20 to 40 young people from the silo follow the PCs. Neither escape nor expulsion - a negotiated, painful departure. Cendrine lets her children go because she cannot do otherwise. Hamid stays to rebuild.
*Campaign consequences:* The PCs now have a group to protect and feed. The Walkers are both a resource (energy, new agricultural skills) and a burden. Their existence outside changes the regional balance.
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1d6 table - What the silo archives contain
| Roll | Discovery | |---|---| | 1 | A 2043 map of the region, annotated by hand, with zones marked "still clean" - some of those places are now known to the PCs as irradiated | | 2 | The names and specialties of 40 engineers, doctors, and agronomists brought into the silo in 2040 - several regional families might pay to recover traces of their ancestors | | 3 | A hand-written treatise on water filtration techniques by Aurore Pelletier - worth a fortune in the right sector | | 4 | A personal diary dated 2064 - someone describing the day they chose not to leave with the exit group | | 5 | Seeds from three pre-Fall vegetable varieties, supposedly extinct - intact and hermetically sealed | | 6 | A hidden repaired radio that receives transmissions from another community 200 km away |
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1d4 table - Field complications
| Roll | Complication | |---|---| | 1 | A wounded mutant wanderer arrives at the silo entrance and asks for asylum - it still speaks clearly | | 2 | Naia (Leo's sister) suffers a photosensitivity crisis and needs treatment immediately | | 3 | One Cultivator secretly negotiated with Ferro - they were shown the secondary entrance | | 4 | The hydroponic system on level 3 fails: without outside spare parts, the silo loses 30% of its output within two weeks |
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YZE mechanics used
- **Resource management**: The PCs have resources to offer (food, medicine, ammunition) - every offer is a strategic choice
- **Zone exploration**: approaching the hill, finding the secondary accesses, mapping the silo
- **Corruption / Mutation**: possible exposure to mutant wanderers - Resilience roll after prolonged contact in lightly irradiated zones
- **Negotiation**: Manipulation or Empathy rolls to navigate the three factions
- **YZE combat**: if Ferro attacks or the wanderers are provoked
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Central moral dilemma (reminder for the GM)
This scenario does not reward the PCs for "saving" the silo according to their own idea of what is good. It rewards those who **listen** to what the different sides actually want, who identify what can be negotiated and what cannot, and who make choices with real consequences - good for some, painful for others.
There is no magic solution. Cendrine may be right. Leo may be right. Both can be true at the same time.
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License note
Scenario designed for the Year Zero Engine (YZE), compatible with any game using this engine. Original setting - no proprietary names used. May be published under Creative Commons BY or ORC depending on YZE policy.
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Credits
- Design and text: MythCore Studio
- Line: Flash Scenarios - Multi-Genre Pilots
- Genre: Post-Apocalyptic | System: Year Zero Engine