The Cursed Wasteland - Irradiated Desert

There was a nuclear disaster here that leveled the civilization living here. The remnants of a great sea wall can still be seen along the coast. The disaster fractured the great wall and erosion took care of the rest over many generations, leaving it as just many crumbling piles of sediment and brick, blocking access to the desert from the sea.

### **History**

Many speculate that the curse laid on the wasteland (being bombed into a nuclear wasteland) happened during the Age of Dawn collapse, but in fact it happened many Centuries earlier near the peak of Human Civilization.

Records are missing, but a human Nation specializing in Biotechnology was seeking conquest of it's neighbors. For that purpose they created a weapon the likes of which the world has never seen. A weapon which while produced with standardized tools would be universal.

The "Teriad" an insectoid beast of war which would be able to instantly assimilate any technology it touches. If it came in contact with an enemy Tank it would absorb it and become one with it, same with infantry equipment.

The Teriad War, as it is now known was ended by the Union of World Nations trough a harsh decision. Complete Nuclear Holocaust. The once lush and mountainous region was turned into a sea of boiling radiation and mountains rose at the coast from the amount of nuclear warheads dropped. Still, repeated bombings were required for while all human life was eradicated the Teriads still remained. Albeit due to the radiation have heavily mutated and lost a lot of their original potency.

For the next centuries having thought the Teriad extinct the wasteland was used as a trash disposal as well as a place to drop defunct satellites onto. That mixed with it killing anyone who enters made it into the largest deposit of ancient Technology in the Modern World. Though now various forms of Extremophile life reside there, along with the mysterious Wandering City.

### **The Peoples of the Wasteland**

Radiation fades over time and while still leathal in most parts of the wasteland small regions have become habitable in recent years. The Expeditions from Goldland and Technobarbarians have lead to small communities emerging in those pockets of low radiation. While they still need to watch out for Feral Teriads and other extremophiles. They manage to live there.

These people are known as "Lead Shells" because they are either T'lc-Kha with lead shells or Humans wearing Lead Power Armor.

Deep in the wastland, there are also the elven reaver tribes. Little contact is had with these people, but those that have tried to communicate with them report act like they are constantly intoxicated and reveal no information about themselves.

### **The Great Pyramid**

Not much is known about this structure. The tech barbarian tribes that found it debate over its purpose. Some say that it is a tomb for an ancient evil. Others say that it was created from a contest between the gods. However, nobody knows for sure because entry into the structure has been found impossible. Any doors that have been found have been sealed with metal that has been proven to be impossible to cut. Also, the long and dangerous trip through the desert means that only the most determined of adventures can make it to the structure. There has been a recent breakthrough in its purpose though. Famed priestess and divine iconographer Qux Yozik recently made the journey to the pyramid, and spent several days excavating and studying the outside of the pyramid. Her work was difficult and took many days, but soon uncovered a massive metal door in the side of the pyramid. Her team was unsuccessful in opening it, but two signs were uncovered during the process. One of them was on the wall on both sides of the door, and the second was carved into the door itself.

No one knows for sure what they mean, but the talk of a great evil and death under the pyramid has increased amongst the tribes. Qux herself has now dedicated her life to figuring out these symbols, and has even sent for outsiders of many kinds to try to find anyone who would understand what they mean.

#### **Mendul**

Also known as the Machine King or the Great Creator to his followers, Mendul is a demonic entity made of metal shards and rust, dwelling under the Great Pyramid in the Cursed Wastelands. He is worshipped by mad artificiers and cultists alike, who seek wisdom and power trough creation and machinery. Everything around the Pyramid is infested by his powers, dark and toxic smoke rises from the faults of the ground and his blood spreads across mountains and plains like rivers, as a thick, black oilish liquid. His origin is hidden for many, not even those who worship him get any answers for it. Some say, he was a machine created by the god themselves who they planted into the world, others say Mendul is a fallen angel who replaced his broken body with metal. In truth, Mendul was a scientific genius, who was member of a council of artificiers that used the pyramid as a base for researches.

Mendul was obsessed with the idea of immortality trough artificial life, but not much support was given to him, for how unorthodox and dangerous his idea may be. However, this didn't stopped him to work on his project in secret. He began using theTeriads, to study their ability to absorb anything made of metal to become one with it, thus he invented Terian Oil, a subtance that could turn every organic life into metal. Bathing himself into with this oil, Mendul consumed to much from it, turning into a metallic abomination, that took control of the entire station and it's technology, while killing everyone inside. As his home got obliterated in a nuclear burst, he stayed inside the Pyramid in a deep slumber, where he slowly gained influenced over the destroyed land around him. Soon he began, to slowly recover, creatig minions that would dig and collect remaining nukes and any metallic parts the he could use to rise an army he needs to fullfill his visions of a world where organic life is replaced by artificial life and those would follow him as their god and leader.

### **City of Wandering Mimics**

Wandering city of mutant is called that because no one ever found there another human, or even an non human. Just hungry and mad mutated masses of tissue, some humanoidal, some just blobish. The truth is however that in deepest corners of city there are still humans keept in a stasis, with their minds active and connected to a vitural world. Those monsters that haunt the streets are those of pre-dawn humans that were exposed to radiation of meteorite and reactor, and were left behind. Those below were deemed to costly to evacuate. And now they sleep, forever.

### **Lead Shells - the psychotic Cults of the Wasteland**

There is not many sentient life in the Irradiated Wasteland as plainly very little life could possibly exist there. Though as radiation levels fell, specs of land have become inhabitable again. These Radless Oasis are inhabited by either rare Rainbow Mermaids who no one knows how they got there or by Leadshells.

Leadshells are either "Sacrifice" T'lc-kha or Technobarbarians sent into the Wasteland to find ancient artifacts or scavenge for metals. Even if both are fully clad in Lead, the radiation still slowly consumes them slowly mutating them and rendering them insane.

The only people who can stop this process are Radmages, mages seemingly capable to mold and bend the shape and conzentration of the curse to their will. Arround said mages the Lead Shell Cults form kidnapping people from outside the wasteland to sacrifice them to the Curse.

Trolls are also a common member of said cults as thanks to their natural regeneration they can live relatively freely inside the wasteland in spite of the curse.

Lead Shells are, likely the most despicable group of people on the planet. Happilu sacrificing innocents to the wasteland's curse. Pumping themselves full of narcotics and not shying away from either necromancy or cannibalism.

#### **The City of Odemark**

The City of Odemark was founded in the early days of the Belaran Colonial Empire as a stopping point for ship repair for ships on their way to the Norvia Stronghold. As time passed, Belaran traders began offloading some of their cargo in Odemark to trade with local technobarbarian tribes. In exchange for foodstuffs and modern luxuries such as silk, technobarbarians traded away ancient relics like laser crossbows. The relics were primarily sent across the colonial empire to ensure that Belaran colonies could not be dislodged. Eventually, the Belaran Kingdom granted a monopoly on trading with technobarbarian tribes to the newly assembled BOC(Belaran Odemark Company), which quickly addicted local tribes to xuxu beans in an attempt to get better deals on artifacts. However, in recent years, the addicted tribes have become less efficient at scavenging relics, and so the BOC has become less and less profitable. Reflecting this, Odemark has begun returning to its original purpose, a ship repair station for ships being sent to the. Life in Odemark is often harsh and short. It is populated primarily populated by Belaran soldiers on rotation. The city has a well deserved reputation as a bad posting, and soldiers and sailors posted there are frequently either petty criminals who were forced into service, or those who in some way displease their superior officers.