The Drownline Co-op

Locally displaced climate refugees from US Atlantic coastal cities — Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Annapolis, the Baltimore harbor edge. Organized into salvage and rebuilding crews. They have lost everything; that's the source of their militancy.

Role in the world

The Drownline reclaims drowned ground. They rehouse the displaced. They build free settlements outside corp control. Where CHEG fences off salvage zones, the Drownline reoccupies them. Where ARM declares a flooded neighborhood "off-limits," the Drownline reroofs it.

Their tactics: militant, direct action, occupation. They've already lost everything; they're not afraid to lose more.

The Drownline are distinct from Vịnh Mới. Vịnh Mới are Vietnamese-American mariculture refugees with bay-rooted identity; the Drownline are American coastal refugees specifically. There's cross-membership and alliance, but the two communities carry different histories and different tactics.

Public faces

• Dez (Desmond Pruitt) — Norfolk-born salvage rigger running the Hampton Roads fortification crew. Militant, blunt, practical. ARM has started threatening him.

Allies and friction

• Allies: Vịnh Mới (parallel community, cross-membership); Constructed Chaos (urban militant ally)
• Friction with: the Old Bay Council (the Old Bay thinks Drownline is reckless); the Free Stack (thinks Drownline's tactics will get everyone burned without better surveillance hygiene)
• Enemies: ARM (active suppression); CHEG (whose Aegis failure created this refugee crisis)

Where they operate

Drowned Hampton Roads is their primary territory. Stilt-house encampments along the bay edge. Occupied flooded neighborhoods in Norfolk and the Baltimore harbor edge. The current visible project is reclaiming and fortifying a free settlement in drowned Hampton Roads — a long arc that gets harder before it gets easier.