My extremely small sampling indicates 2 has won out, so phase 2 is:
What city will we call home! For reference, members of the salvaging parties will be called Extractors.
New York: Sometime in the 2100's New York was converted into a floating city to combat rising surface levels. New York stands today as the sole remaining floating cities, and it sails around the Atlantic in search of resources. New York is ran by an oligarchy of CEOs of the most influential corporations in the city. The naval tradition of the city is strong, with many of its Extractors being expert seamen.
Vatican City: In the years leading up to the Crisis, Vatican City expanded its political borders to encompass most of modern Rome. The Crisis enabled the complete political takeover of the city. This ended up being not so bad, as the Swiss Guard combined with the city militia and police forces managed to keep the Harbingers of the Crisis at bay. Today, Vatican City is a theocratic state under the Pope. Military Orders have been recommissioned, and Military Order-trained men make up the majority of Extractors.
Munich: As the Crisis went underway, Munich declared a state of emergency and closed its walls to the outside, controversially firing on any entity that got too close to the walls. Over time, the city somewhat liberalized, but today they remain a militaristic democracy where rank more or less determines political power. Military service is mandatory, and so is Extractor duty eventually.
Tokyo: Japan was ground zero for the Crisis, and Tokyo's cleansing of the Harbingers of the Crisis was hard-fought. The brutality of the Crisis on Tokyo has drastically changed the city's social and political dynamic as a need for strong fighters was once again necessitated. Psuedo-Samurai have made a return and the Emperor has been restored to a more powerful authority. Extractors come from all walks of society, but notably many Samurai consider becoming an Extractor an inevitable part of the journey.
DISCLAIMER: There will be other fortress cities in the world, but these are the ones we're picking from to start on. You can expect all of these cities will exist no matter what the choice is.
DISCLAIMER 2: There will be no limits on character creation in terms of nationality and such. The world was previously very globalized, and it's not farfetched that people of diverse cultural background ended up in any one of these cities. Though it should be noted that they'd have lived in their respective city their whole lives, as the Crisis happened decades ago.
