Voyushchiye Prizraki

> "*Chto takoye War Boy, delayushchiy etot krayniy Sever? Durak. No dobro pozhalovat'. (What is a War Boy doing this far North? Fool. But welcome.)*"
> ― Voyushchiye Prizraki
>
>

## Overview

Initially descended from the remnants of a Russian Submarine that went missing in 1981, the Voyushchiye Prizraki, or Howling Ghosts are a tribe that has a roughly late industrial degree of technology, primarily using motorized vehicles and flame based weapons. When it comes to more conventional weaponry, the Ghosts are known to use crossbows, which they can fire from their cars with a terrifying degree of accuracy.

## History

The ancestors of the Voyushchiye Prizraki first came to The Western Deadlands about 500 years prior to the modern day. The submarine that they were in was pushed through a tear, deep underwater, which materialized about 20 feet in the air above the desert. The drop damaged a lot of the finer components of the submarine, although the nuclear generator still was operational.

It took a month for the higher command to come public about the fact that they were in the middle of a desert, and they did so only when a riot seemed inevitable otherwise. The Captain, baffled about the strange and exotic creatures wandering around outside that he could spy from the periscope, took all of this time to come to terms with it himself. The knowledge wasn't accepted at first, and rather it seemed to anger the crew further. It seemed that the crew were on the edge of mutiny when, the Commander in a moment of complete frustration wrenched open the hatch.

The crew protested for a second, but when they saw sunlight shining down from above, their anger turned to confusion. They were glad to be on land, as food was painfully scarce after being "down there" for a month.

It took the crew another week or so to actually leave the submarine, save from simply stepping onto the hull to verify that this was indeed real. It took another week for the strange flora and fauna of this place to be cataloged, and alas, none of it was edible.

One more week and the surrounding areas were mapped. It's now that they were essentially out of food. Some were saying that they'd rather have died from decompression than starve. Others remained hopeful for a while longer.

A month later, and they met the first humans of this land.

They were wiped out and eaten.

Thus began the cannibalistic tenancies of the Voyushchiye Prizraki.

The entire crew of the Submarine were male, and while this wasn't an issue for some, a significant portion of the crew were worried about their future survival. Indeed, the Voyushchiye Prizraki were constantly at such a state of hunger that they consistently fell upon whatever humans they found with such ferocity that the unfortunate survivor was killed and butchered within a minute. Their ravenous bellies compelled them to kill whoever they found, and due to this, there were no females among the cannibalistic ghosts - and their numbers were dwindling. Of the 139 that were there initially, only 42 remained. That was until the turn of the sixth year.

Just when all hope for the Voyushchiye Prizraki seemed lost, a tear opened to a freeway in 2007. Numerous cars fell through - full of people. There was even a schoolbus.

Suddenly, the Voyushchiye Prizraki had more meat than they knew what to do with. They knew that the meat would spoil before they could eat it all, and thusly they tried something radical. They decided to recruit some of them.

Primarily the women and children, the men were butchered as before, but suddenly they had a way to swell their numbers, and perhaps something more directly useful. Motorized Vehicles. A lot of them.

In the present day, the Voyushchiye Prizraki are not a force to be trifled with. Speeding through the desert on the haggard remains of those vehicles, pain-painstakingly repaired for 5 centuries, the Howling Ghosts prowl the Western Deadlands for prey.

## Customs

Today, as a surviving remnant of their earlier days, the males are the only ones who are ever seen outside the main camp. The females are kept essentially imprisoned at the main camp, as breeders and mothers.