The Reach
The Reach was a graveyard before it was a border. When the zed plague swept the eastern coast, Old York and the surrounding cities were among the first places badly hit. Thousands fled north toward the perceived safety of the land across the lakes. Traffic locked up for hundreds of miles, and the dead found easy targets trapped in their cars. The rusted shells of those vehicles still choked the landscape during the Ironworks era, some with undead passengers still moving inside them after all the years.
The ancestors of the Reclaimers tried to stem the flood of refugees and zed breaching their borders. During the struggle, they managed to destroy two of the three main bridges into the north, leaving only the Rainbow passable. This single remaining crossing, packed with rusted cars and hissing zed, made any large-scale military invasion nearly impossible. The enormous waterfalls that roared along the crossing crushed many who attempted boat travel, sealing the Reach as one of the most dangerous border zones in the known world.
During the Ironworks era, the Reach served as a critical chokepoint. It was one of only two access points to Homeland, the other being the Lake crossing and a bridge through the heart of Motor City. The Ironworks could not bring a large force over the Rainbow, and the Reclaimers intended to keep it that way. For any traveler heading north on foot, the Reach was a gauntlet of crumbling infrastructure, restless dead, and the thundering falls that had outlasted civilization. The road to salvation ran through a corridor of the lost.
The ancestors of the Reclaimers tried to stem the flood of refugees and zed breaching their borders. During the struggle, they managed to destroy two of the three main bridges into the north, leaving only the Rainbow passable. This single remaining crossing, packed with rusted cars and hissing zed, made any large-scale military invasion nearly impossible. The enormous waterfalls that roared along the crossing crushed many who attempted boat travel, sealing the Reach as one of the most dangerous border zones in the known world.
During the Ironworks era, the Reach served as a critical chokepoint. It was one of only two access points to Homeland, the other being the Lake crossing and a bridge through the heart of Motor City. The Ironworks could not bring a large force over the Rainbow, and the Reclaimers intended to keep it that way. For any traveler heading north on foot, the Reach was a gauntlet of crumbling infrastructure, restless dead, and the thundering falls that had outlasted civilization. The road to salvation ran through a corridor of the lost.
Geography
The Reach occupied the site of the pre-fall Niagara Falls border crossing, defined by massive waterfalls and a series of destroyed bridges. The landscape was choked with the rusted shells of cars abandoned during the Fall, many still containing undead. Enormous cataracts continued to roar along the crossing, making boat travel extremely dangerous. Of the three main bridges that once connected the south to Homeland, only the Rainbow remained passable, and even that was a gauntlet of wreckage and zed. The Reclaimers had deliberately destroyed the other two arteries to prevent large-scale invasion. One additional bridge to Homeland existed in the heart of Motor City, protected by that city's defenses. Together, these two chokepoints were the only routes an overland force could use to reach the northern territories.
History
Corebook Era
Earlier sources describe the Reach as a field of rusted out wrecks, stretching miles upon miles to the north. The vehicles were haunting empty shells, all that remained of tens of thousands who tried to flee during the Fall. Long forgotten highways packed to the brim all converged at the settlement known as the Reach. This heavily bunkered settlement was once the gateway to the great northern forests and the frozen wastes beyond, and stood as a strange memorial to the fallen, adorned with a thousand painted red leaves.
