By late 2029, U3C (under the influence of Formers) realized that it could not hold both New York and Boston as Last-Stand cities. Knowing that formally abandoning the city would result in a catastrophic mass-panic, U3C was forced to gradually pull assets from Boston and send them to either New York or Chicago. Part of Boston’s defense plan entailed a naval blockade that extended up to Nova Scotia. The hastily-promoted Navy Admiral charged with this blockade, Gabe Leniz, was ordered to transfer his forces to assist in open-ocean warfare against other navies. Leniz planned to have his ships fully withdrawn by February of 2030. He knew that the Northeastern coast of America would still be vulnerable to sporadic landing-attempts by refugees or raiding-parties. Unable to provide any materiel support for these coastal defense efforts, Leniz sought to create a domestic solution. 

Leniz asked his captains to round up crewmembers who they believed to be preparing for desertion or would otherwise be unhelpful when the fleet went to open-ocean war. He then took a patrol boat up the coast and deposited groups of these would-be deserters at coastal communities as far as South Trescot, Maine. Their instructions were to assist in the formation of a civilian brigade to safeguard the Northeastern coast in the absence of the Navy. Leniz then took his forces deep into the North Atlantic and was never heard from again. 

Many of the would-be deserters commenced to spread panic, loot supplies, and make a break for Canada or New York. Nevertheless, the afflicted communities understood that it would fall to them to defend their coasts. By early Spring, the North-Atlantic-Civilian-Naval-Brigade, or NAC-N-B (Pronounced “Nac-’n-bee”), had been founded with major bases in Nantucket, Portsmouth, and Bar Harbor. While they did succeed in countering a few refugee landings, their main struggle was against fuel-scarcity. By April, it was clear to the Brigade that Boston and New York would fall soon, and that their territories would soon be consumed by anarchy. Thus, the brigade shifted from mutual defense to a survival-network. Most of the Brigade’s ships were retrofitted with sails to further decrease resource-consumption. They also fortified several coastal estates to withstand attacks by marauders— most of these were stone mansions. 

As the Burnout swept through the Northeast, the Brigade became masters of island-hopping, sailing, and siege-warfare. Their culture also evolved as well. Many members of the brigade found solace in the enormous houses that they stashed supplies in and defended against hostile groups. By the Winter of 2031, NAC-N-B had become the Atlantics: stewards of the coast and its ultra-wealthy heritage. With America’s Northeast decimated by the fall of Boston and New York— and the resulting hemorrhaging of rogue militaries—, the only other significant faction in the area was F5 and the dormant Formers cell in Manhattan. F5 only came into contact with the Atlantics in 2032 as the Widow’s Passage was in full-swing. As a show of good-faith in his dealings with Rillerman(and to test the loyalty of his troops), Col. Halgen had agreed to provide a security detail for an expedition to the East. This expedition was headed by Rhonda Lurtz, a close friend of Tara. She and a few others from the Hail Mary had been left with Andalous and Rillerman when Tara set off on her Passage. Rhonda, who had worked as a CFO for an insurance company in Hartford, was still in partial denial of the Burnout and off put by Rillerman’s demented nature. She agreed to go on the expedition in the hopes of finding surviving members of her community.

When the leaders of F5 held a formal audience with Rhonda’s expedition they were seriously considering executing the whole group. Their Priest believed that Halgen, with what appeared to be a brainwashed yet competent army, would gain control over Rillerman and Andolous and then try to annex F5. Rather than being known to Halgen as a non-militant spiritual faction, F5 believed it would be safer to give him no information about the ruling party in the East. This plan was broached to Reginald “Rick” O’Nalley the Third, a captain from the Atlantics who was trying to find seamsters and fabric-goods for his people. Rick, whose family had been involved in banking since the 1800’s, agreed with the plan, but asked the Priest to let him meet with Rhonda before taking any action. 

Over two days, Rick and Rhonda had a semi-formal courtship. In this time, she told Rick about her experiences working with Tara before and during the Burnout, as well as her longing for the pre-apocalyptic upper-class culture. Apart from romantic infatuation with Rhonda, Rick gained several key insights to the situation faced by other factions in the country as well as how uniquely positioned his own was. Desperate to save her (F5 typically put whatever expired chemicals they had into food to kill off unwanted guests. This produced extremely inconsistent results and often required F5 to convince victims that they were suffering ordinary food-poisoning and not dying from soup laced with battery-acid.), Rick made a pitch to Priest on how F5 could protect itself from Halgen, should he come to power, and gain resources. He made the following points about the state of the country:

• Anyone with significant skills/experience in mass logistics or resource-systems likely would have joined U3C and been killed during the Burnout.
• Almost no group in the Burnout had experience managing multiple sites. Survivors had either fortified a single location or become fully nomadic.
• Almost no group in the Burnout had developed non-hydrocarbon vehicles. The nomadic factions had opted to keep their Pre-Burnout cars and trucks operational for as long as possible before dying out or becoming stationary. 

Rick then made the following arguments about the Atlantics:

• The Atlantics had managed over a hundred sites across the Northeastern coastline, and they had been doing so for over a year. 
• While their experienced was limited to crude sailing boats, the Atlantics also had experience making vehicles from scratch. 

Rick believed that in exchange for recognizing F5’s “dominion” over the East (except for the Verdant Delta) and a modest yearly tribute of resources, Halgen and other political leaders in the East would be happy to have personnel from the Atlantics “jumpstart” the transport-related elements of their statebuilding. Priest jumped at the idea of this peaceful, yet respectful relationship. In his effort to muster volunteers from the Atlantics, Rick took Rhonda’s expedition to his estate in Cape Reddick Maine (He had earned it after reclaiming the area’s massive hotel from marauders) with their Agribine. The Atlantic high-command also though that this arrangement would be highly beneficial for them. Several duplicates of the Agribine were made to run the heavy-duty inboard motors used by the Atlantics. 

On their return trip to Rillerman’s territory, Rick— who was drunk— confessed F5’s original plan to slaughter her expedition to Rhonda. She then had an extended panic-attack in which she lamented the barbaric state of the world and admitted her own inability to “let-go” of her Pre-Burnout culture. Later that evening, she overdosed on a cache of prescription-grade painkillers that she had been keeping since 2027. Upon arriving in Conver, Rick was able to convince Andolous of his plan. Thus four companies of twenty Atlantics were dispatched to a handful of factions that Andolous favored for their willingness to cooperate and production-capacity…

… Naturally, these factions became leaders in their regions and their competitors quickly sent envoys to the Strets for Atlantics or other specialists. While the logistic-capacity of the country grew quickly, there was also a cultural phenomena amongst the managers and engineers who the Atlantics trained. The Atlantics, under Rick’s guidance, had propagated a subculture among many of America’s ruling elites that partially resembled their Pre-Burnout counterparts in terms of etiquette and mannerisms. Many Callers and other leaders were divided and concerned, it actually led to the creation of the Post-Burnout Parallelism Theory, over the cultural ramifications of the Atlantics. Many of these new elites (who had little to no stature in the Pre-Burnout) welcomed the “finer” culture of the Atlantics and thought that it would be a draw for other people to advance themselves. Others were concerned that this would lead to a problematic separation of classes along cultural lines, similar to the Pre-Burnout. The most apparent benefit was that the Atlantics gave elites from different factions a shared culture, which many hoped would help ease diplomatic proceedings. 

When factions started sending their youth to the Strets to be educated in the 40’s, the 

Atlantics invested in their presence as a significant faction in their native region. They opened a handful of exclusive “clubs” in the major conurbations that taught students about fine-dining, sailing, fashion, history, architecture, and other fields associated with the Pre-Burnout elites. The faction had also diversified from the Northeastern yacht-enthusiasts that made up its founders. The Atlantics had come to represent wealth throughout all of history. They spawned many offshoots that tried to replicate medieval cultures or even older ones. Their philosophy evolved to become an “interrogation and celebration of high-culture throughout the ages”. However, the Atlantics objected to the fascination with Pre-Burnout excess in the Strets. To them, the modern era marked a point when the “corrupted aspects” of wealth became too much and ultimately led to the downfall of civilization at the hands of an uncaring and incompetent elite. Many lament that the Atlantics are revisionist, impractical enablers of wealth-stratification— that they only exist to make administrators and steel-tongues feel like they are special when compared to their native factions. The counterargument is that the Atlantics have helped America redevelop and that they have influenced some of the most beautiful and practical inventions. The designs for the capital vessels of Great Clans and Dreadnaughts take inspiration from the Atlantics. Furthermore, the teachings of the Atlantics are supposed to give America’s elites a sense of purpose and responsibility. They are supposed to represent the pinnacle of individual achievement, excellence, and virtue. The faction goes as far as to reject individuals who do not display “strong moral character” regardless of their skills; Formers and the Swells eagerly accept these people.