Neverlands

## Description:

"Neverlands," short for the phrase "never man's land," is a term which describes any swathe of once-inhabited land that is no longer habitable and/or no longer populated; the term came into use during and after the War of Vile Men, when the destruction and prolonged conflicts would leave landscapes blasted, pock-marked, bombed out, littered with corpses and ruins, and generally unlivable for normal people or creatures. The term can also be used to describe areas that are not meant for human habitation, like the upper levels of the Sky-Islands, although this usage is less common. Neverlands occur mostly in Breit, but do exist in other parts of the world, including Ostia, where the War was most severe.

Neverlands were not discovered so much has created. The War of Vile Men had such a profound impact on the environment that some ecosystems and landscapes were damaged beyond repair, beyond the point at which humans could comfortably live in the area; those regions became known as Neverlands, and most were the result of intense and repeated prolonged fighting during the War. The use of artillery, small arms, vehicles and mechs, bioweapons and chemical weapons, minefields, trench warfare, and excessive fortification left large chunks of Breit unfit for conventional life.

### Physical Description & Attributes:

Neverlands come in a variety of forms across the world, but all have some combination of the same basic elements: Intense battle damage, the remains of old fortifications, mine fields, mass graves, or fields of wrecked/crashed vehicles; lots of corpses or abandoned military positions; unexploded munitions; and the remains of biological or chemical weaponry. These elements, often combined in some fashion or present all together, work in tandem to create an incredibly dangerous swathe of land. Most Neverlands surround some historic battle site, where fighting took place for months or years at a time, with fortifications and rusting weapons and vehicle wrecks filling the landscape; old crumbling bunkers, bombed-out trenches, ruined and abandoned towns, etc. all fall into the "Neverlands" category.

Neverlands are made increasingly dangerous due to the unexploded, unused, unclaimed, and/or abandoned munitions which may remain after the War. Armories constructed at many older battle sites were previously designed to hold biological or chemical weapons, thousands of tons of unexploded ammunition and weapons, military vehicles like tanks or mechs, or other advanced weapons of war which, for some reason during the War, were never used. These unused munitions draw scavengers to their deaths, many of whom succumb to the undetonated traps, ditches, and mutant creatures which call the Neverlands their home. Most Neverlands also feature mutated creatures, undead humanoids, or some strange mimicry of normal flora/fauna created as a result of the regions' leftover biological or chemical weaponry, excessive Cyanite/Neutralite/Aether use during the War, etc. These mutants live in one of the most inhospitable biomes on the planet, and most are incredibly territorial and highly aggressive.

The terrain of most Neverlands biomes come in at least 1 of a few variations: pock-marked cratered landscape, crumbling fortifications, ruined towns/villages/cities, or scrapyard fields of thousands of rusting blown-up vehicles/mechs. The terrain of Neverlands is almost never flat, and rarely traversable; the ground is often hilly, with many dips, ditches, trenches, pits, and old craters dotting the region. The soil is muddy, as little normal flora grow in the area to soak up rainwater, and this can create a toxic mire or wetlands which produces poisonous or harmful gases or breeds mutated diseases.