Editing The Post-Apocalyptic Roadmap/Washington (section)

==Seattle==
Seattle gets nuked, one way or another. But the warhead doesn't go off until after it's plunged into the Sound and detonates, nearly harmlessly, underwater. The radiation kills off the surrounding suburbs (and fucks over the already shat-on local orca population), but leaving the cities mostly intact. Survivors try to reestablish in bands of scavengers living high up in the tallest buildings to avoid radiation. Once the food runs out, radioactive fishing efforts in the Puget Sound lead many to eventually flee to Vancouver Island for better fishing. The Space Needle is first inhabited by a humanitarian effort, hoping to bring the local radiation down to a habitable level. Their plans crumble as a mad scientist guns down the effort and uses their research to turn the Space Needle into a giant, radioactive death ray.  <s>The only ones who remain in Seattle is a large population of [[Neckbeards]] drawn by the presence of a [[Games Workshop]] bunker in Bellevue that somehow survived.</s>  IF GW DIDN'T DEMOTE AND DOWNSIZE IT FIRST.


Notably, a large portion (about 30%) of the population took to the water and islands in the sound. There are many so-called "Puget Pirate" fleets (deridingly called "Mosquitoes" after both the insect and the independent ferrying vessels that trawled the Sound before the state ferry system existed); 10-30 sailing ships moving in tight formation. Not all of said fleets live up to the name, however - only about 20 of the roughly 100 fleets actively hunt other fleets, but they tend to stick close to shorelines and be larger in numbers, so they are usually the ones you encounter first. Many harbors, islands, and bays use these fleets for trade; notable is Eliott Bay Marina, home to the elite Eliott Mariners and center of most of the trade in Washington.  

Joint-Base Lewis-McCord stands despite all of this, becoming a new bastion of civilization in the madness surrounding Tacoma. Bangor Missile Base also survives (with the nuke that hit Seattle presumably heading for it but missing). Naval Air Station Whidbey Island suddenly becomes incredibly important, and the electronic warfare aircraft and sub-hunter squadrons formerly there are quickly pushed aside for refugees and later civil war-involved military craft.

Most of the world didn't notice, because it's fucking Seattle.