Bull City
Most of the month, Bull City is a ghost town: hollowed-out pre-Fall ruins overgrown with vines and trees, home to nothing but scavenging animals and the occasional squatter. Then the cages arrive. A week before each rodeo, captured creatures are hauled in and locked into rows of metal enclosures, partially starved and beaten to peak aggression. By the time the arena opens, the ruins come alive as travelers and locals gather from across the region for the spectacle.
A large cleared area just outside the ruins houses a dirt arena with stands and a patched metal barrier. Sniper posts ring the perimeter, not for decoration but for the creatures that escape containment. The monthly rodeo is the settlement's entire reason for existence. Livestock shows and food contests fill the early hours. Then come the arena events: Goliath Wrangling, where competitors fight massive captured creatures; Tank Riding, where contestants ride massive bulls with sharpened horns; survival contests where the last person standing wins; and monstrous bird fighting with stock from the Sweet Grass region.
The air fills with cooking meat, sweat, and unwashed animals. Betting is rampant. Prizes are large enough to maintain a steady flow of competitors, though the winners are marginal. The snipers are not for show; when the starved and maddened creatures are released into the ring, the chaos that follows routinely breaches the arena barriers. When the month ends and the last spectator leaves, Bull City returns to silence, the ruins waiting for the cages to arrive again.
A large cleared area just outside the ruins houses a dirt arena with stands and a patched metal barrier. Sniper posts ring the perimeter, not for decoration but for the creatures that escape containment. The monthly rodeo is the settlement's entire reason for existence. Livestock shows and food contests fill the early hours. Then come the arena events: Goliath Wrangling, where competitors fight massive captured creatures; Tank Riding, where contestants ride massive bulls with sharpened horns; survival contests where the last person standing wins; and monstrous bird fighting with stock from the Sweet Grass region.
The air fills with cooking meat, sweat, and unwashed animals. Betting is rampant. Prizes are large enough to maintain a steady flow of competitors, though the winners are marginal. The snipers are not for show; when the starved and maddened creatures are released into the ring, the chaos that follows routinely breaches the arena barriers. When the month ends and the last spectator leaves, Bull City returns to silence, the ruins waiting for the cages to arrive again.
History
Bull City was a pre-Fall settlement before the world ended, and for most of its post-Fall existence it sat empty, slowly being consumed by vines and weather. The monthly rodeo transformed the ruins from abandoned wreckage into a regional institution. The Rodeo Wranglers organize and run the events, working with Sweet Grass ranchers to capture the arena creatures. The rodeo draws competitors and spectators from across Mountaina and beyond, providing entertainment, trade, and the specific thrill of watching starved predators released into a dirt ring surrounded by metal barriers that may or may not hold.
Geography
Bull City occupies a hollowed-out pre-Fall settlement outside the Dead Forest, south of the Unbearable Mountains in Mountaina. The ruins are mostly rubble overgrown with plant life. A large cleared area just outside houses a dirt arena with stands and a patched metal barrier, surrounded by sniper posts and rows of locked cages for arena creatures. The settlement is abandoned between the monthly rodeo events.
