Rollin Hills
The Rollin Hills are where the post-fall radiation twisted the wilderness into something that howls. North of Charles Town in South Caroline, these irradiated foothills have mutated beyond recognition. Trees grew thicker and stranger after the fall, their warped trunks towering over rapids and casting twisted shapes across sharp rocks and white water. Normal wildlife died off, replaced by larger, mutated species: oversized wild turkeys, pheasant, and deer share the forest with unknown creatures that defy easy classification.
The hills are stalked by Mountain Raiders, a vicious group that hunts anyone foolish enough to enter their territory. Their mournful howls echo through the woods at night, a warning that trespassers are already being watched. They peel the flesh from their victims' bones, a practice that has made the Rollin Hills a place even the hardened residents of South Caroline approach with caution. Waves of shambling undead cross the rocky terrain toward settlements like Charles Town, and spring rapids make river travel through the hills nearly impossible for months at a time.
The Moonshiners have found opportunity in the danger. These independent brewers hide their stills throughout the hills, producing competing brews to the Peach Tree Soda Company in direct defiance of the Company's monopoly. They stake out territories and shoot strangers who come too close, their paranoia a reasonable response to both the Company's hostility and the hills' natural dangers. A river runs through the foothills, usable for moving cargo quickly; the Moonshiners use it under cover of darkness to transport their product to markets in Charles Town and beyond.
The Rollin Hills serve as a natural barrier between the swamplands of the south and the interior. The radiation that warped the landscape has also made it valuable: mutated wildlife offers tempting but dangerous hunting, and the isolation provides cover for anyone who needs to operate outside the law. It is a place where the trees reach shapes that make the darkness howl, and the people who live among them have grown at least as mean as their surroundings.
The hills are stalked by Mountain Raiders, a vicious group that hunts anyone foolish enough to enter their territory. Their mournful howls echo through the woods at night, a warning that trespassers are already being watched. They peel the flesh from their victims' bones, a practice that has made the Rollin Hills a place even the hardened residents of South Caroline approach with caution. Waves of shambling undead cross the rocky terrain toward settlements like Charles Town, and spring rapids make river travel through the hills nearly impossible for months at a time.
The Moonshiners have found opportunity in the danger. These independent brewers hide their stills throughout the hills, producing competing brews to the Peach Tree Soda Company in direct defiance of the Company's monopoly. They stake out territories and shoot strangers who come too close, their paranoia a reasonable response to both the Company's hostility and the hills' natural dangers. A river runs through the foothills, usable for moving cargo quickly; the Moonshiners use it under cover of darkness to transport their product to markets in Charles Town and beyond.
The Rollin Hills serve as a natural barrier between the swamplands of the south and the interior. The radiation that warped the landscape has also made it valuable: mutated wildlife offers tempting but dangerous hunting, and the isolation provides cover for anyone who needs to operate outside the law. It is a place where the trees reach shapes that make the darkness howl, and the people who live among them have grown at least as mean as their surroundings.
