Snope's World - Meldorian Trenches: The Meldorian Trenches is a term that refers to both the massive quarries that originally comprised the boundaries of Hive Meldor, as well as the sprawling city that sprung up amidst the corpse of the great hive city that formerly overlooked them. Situated at the mouth of the Thidillic River, this teeming megalopolis was one of the most prosperous hives represented within the Saturnal Court, and its glittering palisades were home to the countless bulk lifters and cargo shuttles that once locked to the wealthy spire.Yet the lords of this celestial marvel delved far too greedily and too deeply into the mountain that formed the hive city's foundation, for one day, the spire toppled and collapsed, and with it one of the planet's main trade empires. It is said that the impact of this dreadful event was felt across Snope's World, and that the fallout from the resulting earthquakes and dust clouds devastated the surrounding ecology and Human settlements for many standard years.Instead of killing off the great hive city, though, the fall merely changed its direction, and soon the dazed survivors began to slowly rebuild their shattered city amidst the skeletal ruins of their former home. The spire's catastrophic failure had irreparably destroyed the once lucrative manufactoria, while the massive quarries and mighty river were then inundated with vast quantities of toxic runoff and debris.Currently, the river is little more than a series of interconnected mires and murky pools whose banks are choked with slag weed, barbed keratin creepers, and other stunted vegetation. Though the trenches have fallen into disrepair, the people of the sprawling habs who cling desperately to its precipitous slopes continue to eke out a wretched existence, their workers either scrabbling across the muddy slopes for ore and other refuse, or refining the putrid gases that bubble up from the flooded caverns below.The sprawl itself is a confused hodgepodge of salvaged buildings, repurposed equipment, and cavernous, exhausted mines, all crammed with habs, improvised shops, and manufactoria. Each of these uneven structures is attached either to anchor points or bolted directly to the nearby trench walls. A journey from one hab block to another is apt to include numerous detours, rickety walkways, endless stairwells, and perilous climbs.Meanwhile, the many cranes and maglev systems once used to carry ore from the great mines now serve as lifts for workers to and from the rank, stagnant muck that pools beneath the city proper. The toxic pools below this massive city are the bane of its citizens, for those that spend their lives near the putrid water risk all manner of maladies from exposure to this viscous, contaminated filth. Yet instead of ending their misery, many of these foul impurities only prolong their victims' suffering, as the vile toxins rot them from the inside out.Now the wretched inhabitants of this city's underhive have begun to view these painful maladies as the Emperor's divine judgement, and the afflicted as sinners worthy of persecution. This belief has inspired countless radical throngs of religious zealots to engage in purges of the lower levels, through cleansing chemical fire and acts of mob violence that defy rational comprehension.Yet their fears are often justified; those afflicted that embrace their condition frequently turn on others in grotesque displays of unnatural strength and resilience, and ferociously drag their victims down into the stagnant swamps below.