Armageddon Rag

The Armageddon Rag is a Hub-based magazine produced and published in New California as of 2281. It is a collection of "true, wild, and wacky stories from all across the wasteland!"
==Background==
Some time in the early 2200s, a pulp magazine known as Californian Tales was founded in New Reno. Using a printing press rented from Cat's Paw, Californian Tales was able to print cheap magazines to be distributed to the people of New California. At first jet caravans leaving New Reno were given free copies to distribute for a small payment, this proved to be great advertising and soon the Far Go Traders signed a contract to distribute the magazines. Californian Tales grew even more in popularity in the 2250s after they began publishing the story Have Plasma, Will Travel, a series of highly fictionalized stories about Sergeant Granite and the wasteland adventures of his Enclave Control Company.
Seeking to capitalize on this booming magazine business, the Armageddon Rag was created by Hub-born wasteland wanderer and writer Marcus O'Green to publish his own stories of wasteland wandering. While the articles of Californian Tales were often of doubtful authenticity and outright fiction portrayed as fact, Marcus claimed that he kept his own stories as realistic as possible. Despite this his truthfulness was often criticized and called into doubt, with stories involving meeting Harold and visiting the Mariposa Military Base. Regardless of authenticity, the Armageddon Rag found a sponsor in the 3-Some Caravan, a fledgling caravan company in eastern California. They sought to advertise themselves in a popular Californian magazine, but as doing so in Californian Tales was out of their meager budget the Armageddon Rag would have to do.
With a sponsor the Argmageddon Rag grew and became profitable but was still constantly eclipsed by Californian Tales. It wasn't until the NCR cracked down on the larger magazine for their portrayals of the Republic in Have Plasma, Will Travel. While the distribution of Californian Tales was temporarily banned in NCR territory, the Armageddon Rag began rising in popularity. Around this time O'Green disappeared under mysterious circumstances and Guido Giordano of the 3-Some Caravan rose to take control of the magazine. Under Guido the Armageddon Rag opened up to allowing fictionalized and completely fictitious stories to be published, all still under the label of "true" stories. Now filling the hole left by Californian Tales, the Armageddon Rag rose to surpass its competition and eventually became New California's most popular pulp magazine. Many new magazines featured increasing advertisements from New Californian groups like Crazy Ivan's New and Used Guns and the Church of Numen. While Californian Tales returned to print after dropping Have Plasma, Will Travel, the Armageddon Rag remains the most popular pulp magazine in New California and Nevada in 2281.
==Notes==
The Armageddon Rag is based on the promotional newsletter of the same name that was used to advertise the now-cancelled Fallout MMO Project V13.
Category:Periodicals