A Mess of Places

Here

The Miracle Mine of Chalcedony

People are already saying this mine is going to be the most productive mine anyone has seen, and that means the Overseers are doing everything they can to bring people here. And when they start moving people like that, word gets out. We've had all types making their way here, giving up everything in hope of finding some better scrap of existence here. Boy are they in for a surprise. Trouble is, as far as anyone who knows anything about how minerals work can say, there's no reason we SHOULD have a mine here. Not that there ain't plenty that don't make no sense, but this makes less than usual.

The Mists of Chalcedony

Ever since that mine opened, there's been a kind of vapor settled over the county around Chalcedony. Those folks what come from the outside says that it's taken something from them when they arrive here. Shoot, you know what I'm sayin. You're one of 'em. You probably noticed that it's hard to remember dates and names. You remember shadows of faces. A gun barrel but not the summbich holdin' it. That's not just you. That's all of us now. Ever since that fog. That Mist. Ever since then, folk don't come or go, unless the Legion bring them in on that Meat Wagon

The Grand Boil

They say further to the West you'll come to a vast expanse of water, as far as the eye can see is water, but you can't touch it, can't drink from it. The water roils and bubbles, burning up but never depleting. They say one sip of the water drives you mad, makes your hair fall out and kills you before long.

The North

Well, way I always heard it told is the Overseers came from out the North. The Long Dark up there meant it was more comfortable somehow for them to ramble around in, shearing the sheep and harvesting as it were. There were more mouths to feed then too since they was making war, and so more and more of them sons of bitches was coming out of the gates and that meant they needed more meat to feed em.

Now that things have quieted down you don't see the Trueborn that often. You get the odd one here and there to be sure, but most of the ruling is done these days by the Marked or just other people that just picked sides.

The Emerald Fester

They say it's the largest 'city' in the North, but to call it a city is doing it a lot of favors. They say these ruins are home to plenty of street rats and scavengers, but that anything worth finding was carried off long ago. The Overseers levelled everything that was standing up North, when they came through, and Emerald was no exception. Anything left living there is used to living cheek to cheek with darkness.

Doesn't mean the folk from there ain't good folk, they just don't have much left in their eyes when you look at 'em

The Great Dark

Most folk don't spend much time North at all, least of all up in that deep dark cold they call the Great Dark. Rumor is that's where it all started. Some people still show up from time to time claiming to be from there. Most are just nuts or trying to sell something. People claim that at one time the days lasted for months and so did the nights. Nowadays sounds like it's just night.

The South

Supposedly the South goes on forever. Down and down you go and humanity ran and ran, trying to stay a step ahead of the Overseers. Way I heard it one of the reasons the Overseers haven't come back around here until recently is because they're busy down South and Back East trying to finish off their wars. I never been down south, but from the stories people bring, I hear it was once a vibrant place full of life and people.

Nowadays mostly it's mined for Lead and Silver as well as logging, far as I've heard it. The people there got beaten down harder than most when the Overseers finally put down the fighting. I guess that fighting spirit to never give up really pissed them off.

The Glass City At The End Of The World

Someone somewhere probably knows what The Glass City's real name was, but not anymore. It's nickname was Bastiao. Losollos would shout that as their battle cry. They say it was the last hold out against the Overseers, that the tenacity of the people there held out even longer than back east. Problem is, people run out and the Overseers never ran out of troops.

Eventually something gave and the city fell, and when it did it wasn't like here, or the other places, where they swooped in and set up shop. That was The Great Massacre. Nothing left breathing in the city. Not so much as a fly. Then they did something to the city, burned away most of it, turned the sands on the beach to glass, whole thing is supposedly just a giant frozen tomb.

Never seen it, but people still go there time to time as I hear it and bring the story back. Plenty of people hawking glassworks claim they got a chunk of the city.

Losollos

I'll say this once, and quietly, and then never again. Anyone says you heard it from me I'll call you a liar, shoot you in the stomach, and listen with a smile as you scream and the Legion eat you. Anyways. Losollos was a group of resistance fighters who stood up to the Overseers and worked inside the cities to fight them back. Didn't win them the war, but I'm sure they saved countless lives. Rumor has it Losollos is why humanity was free as long as it was down south.

They're also the reason the City wound up glassed and the reason the Overseers are so zealous in cleaning up The South. They got their pants pulled down and they've been pissed off and cleaning up hard ever since. So you hear anyone claiming to be with Losollos, you walk the other way if you want to live to see another sunrise. There were plenty of people they left out to dry to get in good with the Overseers enough to do some damage, and so if they don't stab you in the back, the Overseers will find out eventually and anyone who helped them even one iota is sure to wound up suffering.

Back East

The Shining Cities

Apparently back East used to be important. They say the scrap is better there and the ruins are bigger. The tech there puts anything we got now to shame, and rumor is the shields around the cities broke the waves of The Legion and for a time, everything was just Peaches and Cream. I guess the reason they didn't get it the same as Down South is they weren't fighting back, just sitting in their towers with the hungry wolves pacing back and forth below.

Didn't help them much in the long run, way I hear it one day the lights just went out and the shields went down and all the gloating disappeared. They fell one after another at that point. Some people make their way here from Back East but it's a devil of a trip as they gotta cross The Great Big Nothing to do it.

The Great Big Nothing

Once you climb over the mountains to the east of us, the land just dies off. There's a vast divide of empty nothing and dirt that stretches further than you can imagine. It's death to wander from here to there, without knowing what you're doing. But there are outposts, cloisters and the occasional settlement, and so the trip's possible if you're good, or extremely lucky.

Only The Legion really ever travels back and forth, and if they get hungry for a snack along the way, they're happy to pick off anyone who happens to be making the walk, or who they can find. Most people that find their way here from Back East are either savvy sons-of-bitches who knew how to navigate The Great Big Nothing, or they're just tenacious and lucky. Either way, crossing the Nothing tends to take something out of you.

Other

The Cloisters

Don't know much about these, but we got some folks who come here who obviously grew up in the Cloisters. These temples are closed off and hidden to outsiders, and generally the folk there keep to themselves. They tend to not ruffle the feathers of the Overseers, and so the Overseers don't hassle them too much. Now and then you hear about one of the Cloisters getting cracked into and burned out by the Hellions, but nobody ever talks about why or what went wrong.

They got plenty of gospel to speak, but they seem like the kind of folk that like to stand around talking' when shit needs haulin'. Oh also they all tend to be crazier than a three-sided coin

There's a ton of these out there, here's a couple I've heard of, but I'm sure you'll run into more

Mouth of the Machine-God - From how I hear it, they think mankind's downfall could have been prevented if we'd listened to the signs. Our machines reached far deeper into the earth than we ever traveled, and the cult says the machines whispered and called to us all along, maybe still are. Mankind named their machines and loved them, because there was a spirit calling its song to us all along. That was the spirit of the Machine God, and they say those who can hear his whispers know his truths.

Heraldic Brethren - Everyone thinks that the world has ended. How could they not, when all around us the waters boil and the unclean walk amongst us? But these grim bastards say that is because of a stifling lack of imagination on the behalf of humanity. We think ourselves to be suffering but the Heraldic Brethren claim that the suffering has only just begun, with the TRUE end times yet to come.

Skawage - The Skawage takes many animal forms and apparently comes before its followers when they least expect it. They must find the offerings it leaves hidden in the land for them where others can not or do not look. And apparently it always provides for those who are willing to learn its wisdom.

Seekers of the Perfect Moment - The Seekers of the Perfect Moment claim that death is an inevitability. They seek to find and appreciate the small things in life, enjoying each moment, since life is fleeting. They train their bodies to be ready for the moment when everything will hang on a knife's edge, and spend their time trying to understand and conceptualize death to more deeply be prepared for it when it comes.