Covenant:Survivors

They call themselves "The Survivors." They know the world didn't end in 1959. They know Alexander Dougal isn't God. They also know that most of Covenant isn't ready to accept the truth. In 1959, those who spoke out were cast out. When they realized that escape was impossible, they took up residence in the caves that criss-cross the town and its environs, hoping against hope that they would find a way out.

They didn't.

In the late 1960's, a chemical company used its military ties to dump a considerable amount of toxic waste in the outskirts of Covenant. Those chemicals soon spilled out into the cave system and caused a wave of birth defects among the Survivors. Their children became another part of Covenant's collective delusion: monsters who stalk the night, stealing what they need and frightening the faithful back onto the righteous path.

They've learned how to make strange weapons from the radioactive stones that litter their domain. Once fashioned into sling stone or arrow heads, they can be forced under the skin, where they slowly poison the body over a period of hours or days. The victim's hair falls out, their skin flakes off, their organs begin to bleed internally. Then, they die in agony.

It's not a weapon the Survivors use lightly, but their enemies would do much worse if given the chance. The Fianna, who believe them to be fae creatures from Irish legend, take great pleasure in hunting and killing them. The Survivors have encourages this myth because it helps keep most of the "topsiders" away. Fear of their "elfshot" does the same for the Fianna.

By 2006, all of the original Survivors are gone. Their deformed children don't remember the Fall and have never been exposed to Covenant's new dogma. They believe that they are guinea pigs in an on-going, government experiment and that the topsiders are all in on it. (So close, and yet so very far.)