The Circle
Created by Founder Serena Reynolds M.D. on Thu Sep 10th, 2026 @ 9:00am
Information contained in this dossier has been compiled from survivor testimony, road intelligence, escaped captives and observed Circle activity. Some details remain incomplete, contradictory or unconfirmed.
Active / Expanding
High
Wisconsin
Upper Midwest
Executive Assessment
The Circle is not a single settlement, roaming gang or ordinary raider group.
It is an organised network of settlements, compounds, checkpoints, patrols, scouts, radio operators, supply teams and informants.
Its power does not depend upon physically occupying every community it influences.
The Circle can control through access to food, fuel, medicine, security, transport, labour and information.
The Circle can appear organised, stable and even protective. Its greatest threat is not always open violence. It is the gradual surrender of independence.
Core Doctrine
Observed Circle behaviour suggests a basic principle:
Skilled survivors may be assigned or relocated where Circle leadership believes they are most useful.
Food, fuel, vehicles and livestock may be requisitioned, redistributed or seized.
Organised survivor groups are generally more valuable intact than destroyed.
Reports about travellers, vehicles, livestock and settlements can be exchanged for scarce supplies.
Known Structure
The exact Circle hierarchy remains unclear. Evidence suggests several layers of authority.
A leadership structure is believed to establish broad policy, expansion priorities and high-value targets.
Most ordinary Circle personnel are unlikely to have direct access to this level.
Oversee territories, supply corridors, settlements, quotas, recruitment and patrol operations.
Checkpoint crews, scouts, collectors, recruiters, compound staff and radio operators.
Independent traders, settlements and individuals who exchange information or cooperation for supplies, protection or access.
Known Territory
Wisconsin is the strongest known concentration of Circle influence.
Compounds, controlled communities, checkpoints, agricultural quotas, supply depots and recruitment activity may all operate here.
Influence is less consolidated than in Wisconsin.
Informants, travelling groups, paid intelligence and regional search activity have been reported.
Armed checkpoints, food and fuel seizures and active searches for travelling survivor groups have been confirmed.
Circle intelligence is capable of crossing state lines.
There is currently no evidence that the Circle controls territory across the entire United States. Its ability to project direct power appears to weaken outside the Upper Midwest, where it increasingly relies on travelling teams, radio relays, informants and temporary alliances.
Field Methods
Control roads, inspect travellers, gather information and collect food or fuel.
Fuel, medicine and ammunition may be exchanged for information about travellers or settlements.
Small mobile teams travel major routes looking for targets and collecting regional intelligence.
Useful communities, vehicles, livestock and skilled survivors are often considered more valuable captured than destroyed.
Apparently stranded travellers or clean vehicles may sometimes be used to encourage targets to stop.
Coercion is often described using administrative terms such as relocation, reassignment, toll or community need.
Circle Compounds
Testimony from escaped survivors indicates that at least some Circle-controlled compounds operate under strict internal rules.
Survivors may be assessed and assigned according to what Circle leadership believes they can contribute.
Families may not necessarily remain together.
Labour, specialist skills and even movement between communities may be controlled.
Former captives have described people being reassigned or relocated with little ability to refuse.
Assessment & Classification
Evidence from former captives indicates that people taken into Circle custody may be questioned, medically assessed and classified according to usefulness, risk and intended placement.
Considered useful or acceptable for placement.
Retained pending a decision or further assessment.
Designated to be moved to another location or assignment.
Judged unsuitable. Final disposition is unknown.
Age does not automatically exempt someone from Circle authority.
Survivor testimony indicates that young people may be assessed, reassigned or relocated according to what Circle leadership describes as community need.
This makes organised family groups especially valuable — and the possibility of family separation one of the most feared consequences of Circle control.
Symbols & Markings
A confirmed Circle field marker consists of a white circle with a short vertical line cutting through the lower edge and extending slightly beneath it.
The mark is simple enough to carve, paint or reproduce quickly.
A newly placed symbol near a settlement may indicate that the location has been observed or assessed.
It may mean someone has already watched you.
The Information Network
One of the Circle's greatest strengths is that information can move farther than its soldiers.
A traveller seen in one settlement may be described to a trader.
The trader may exchange that information at another Circle contact point.
A radio operator may then send the description ahead.
By the time the traveller crosses another state, someone they have never met may already know they are coming.
What the Circle Does Not Know
The Circle is dangerous, but it is not all-knowing.
The Circle has shown sustained interest in a large westbound survivor convoy known as Wayfarer.
Known Circle intelligence has included a large vehicle count, livestock, families, minors and a distinctive converted double-decker bus.
The persistence of this search demonstrates that the Circle can distribute identifying information across multiple states.
The Circle should not be treated as a single enemy camp that can be destroyed in one battle.
Its settlements, supply relationships, informants and regional operators allow it to survive setbacks and continue exerting influence.
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