The oldest of the Post-Burnout professions. Ruin-Stripping, or “stripping” is the process of extracting resources from abandoned structures.

Stripping is distinct from looting in that the latter is a spontaneous and unorganized activity. Proper stripping is pure heavy-industry. Many argue that the first instances of stripping occurred in large cities before they collapsed. As security forces became overstretched, portions of the territories would be unmonitored for extended windows. Groups of civilians organized the “liquidation” of valuable buildings for supplies and equipment to sustain themselves after the collapse. Crews would be formed and brought to these sites in organized convoys, harvest the valuables, and transport the items to another locale for distribution. 

The competing definition states that stripping only began after the Burnout, when survivors were forced to cannibalize existing structures to meet their resource needs. 

Although stripping is a very straightforward practice, its development was not at all uniform in America. The resources obtained and the extent of stripping varied considerably based off of a few key factors:

• Initial Supplies. Depending on how well-endowed a surviving group was going into the Burnout, they may not have done any stripping. Some factions were able to start trading immediately. Groups that had few supplies, or were raided early on, would be forced to do wide-ranging, shallow stripping for essentials. 
• Perceived Threat. If a group knew that nearby settlements were occupied by hostile forces, or that there was some kind of local “threat”, they might have adopted deep stripping. Factions in particularly “hot” areas have been known to reconfigure their entire towns into a defensible fortress. The Dread-Cities are the most extreme example of this response to local hostility.
• Natural Presence/remoteness. Groups that took refuge in natural parks, or other wildernesses were not inclined to do any stripping. Many survivors realized it was in their interest to learn how to “live off of the land” and not be dependent on settlements. The exceptions gradually stripped nearby towns and built compounds in the woods.

As groups began contacting one another and early trade-dynamics formed, stripping 

took on new role in the developing economy. All of the in-demand products needed resources that came from stripping. But leaders realized that any faction could strip basic resources. Thus, the only way for a faction to stay competitive was through specialization: either they would focus solely on producing strip to trade for goods, or they would concentrate on making high-quality goods to trade for the resources needed to continue production. The only benefit of stripping and manufacturing was greater autonomy, even if it meant slower development. By the early 30’s a several travelling stripping-factions had emerged. They would tear-down settlements over a period of months and trade the resources for essentials and to improve their equipment. But the Federation quickly made these factions obsolete. 

Since 2037, ruin-stripping has been dominated by the Collectives in the West Range Federation. Almost all of the strip in America comes from the remnants of San Francisco and a few cities in the Northwest. The collectives organize their stripping by stages:

• Specialty: Scouts and engineers identify and remove high-value items or hazardous materials before normal stripping begins. 
• Loose objects: Anything that can be picked up by two or less people.
• Appliances: Objects that need to be disconnected from something and/or require several people to move out. By this point, all surfaces are bare. Also includes glass
• Guts: Wiring, pipes— anything that isn’t working to hold the building up.
• Structure: The walls, ceilings, and floors. 
• Frame: The remaining structural beams and foundation.
• Soul: Cleaning in the area to remove the last traces of human-activity. By this point, there is only bare earth left.