The Shell Rats
Beneath the Tinderlands lies the Shell, a tunnel complex that began as a Genjian bunker and now belongs to the Lascarians who took it by force. The Shell Rats, as they call themselves, broke through from nearby Old Wives Town, drove out the original inhabitants, and expanded outward with additional tunnels and family living chambers carved into the earth.
What they found in those tunnels changed them. Genjian technology, firearms that fire smoother than anything on the surface, running water diverted through deep underground pipes, and most precious of all, diaries and journals from before the Fall. The Shell Rats are among the most technologically advanced people in Skatchen, and they know it. Two designated Scribes serve at all times, copying and re-copying the pre-Fall writings so that the knowledge survives even if the originals crumble. The rest of the community hunts on the surface at night, dragging large animals back to the Shell to skin and eat at dawn.
They trade cautiously with Old Wives Town but prefer their own company. Outsiders who enter the tunnels uninvited tend to become the next meal. Several break-ins over the decades have ended that way, and the Shell Rats see no reason to change the policy. Recently, though, a few members have begun to acknowledge the limits of their own scholarship. There are whispers that an enterprising historian might be granted access to the Shell, if they approach correctly and bring something worth trading.
The Shell Rats guard the last words of the old world. Whether that makes them archivists or hoarders depends on which side of the tunnel door you stand on.
What they found in those tunnels changed them. Genjian technology, firearms that fire smoother than anything on the surface, running water diverted through deep underground pipes, and most precious of all, diaries and journals from before the Fall. The Shell Rats are among the most technologically advanced people in Skatchen, and they know it. Two designated Scribes serve at all times, copying and re-copying the pre-Fall writings so that the knowledge survives even if the originals crumble. The rest of the community hunts on the surface at night, dragging large animals back to the Shell to skin and eat at dawn.
They trade cautiously with Old Wives Town but prefer their own company. Outsiders who enter the tunnels uninvited tend to become the next meal. Several break-ins over the decades have ended that way, and the Shell Rats see no reason to change the policy. Recently, though, a few members have begun to acknowledge the limits of their own scholarship. There are whispers that an enterprising historian might be granted access to the Shell, if they approach correctly and bring something worth trading.
The Shell Rats guard the last words of the old world. Whether that makes them archivists or hoarders depends on which side of the tunnel door you stand on.
History
The Shell began as the remnants of a Genjian bunker: a tunnel with a ladder descending to a metal-lined room. Lascarians from Old Wives Town broke through the walls, drove out the Genjian inhabitants, and claimed the complex for themselves. They expanded outward with new tunnels and family chambers, discovering caches of advanced technology and pre-Fall writings in the process. What started as a territorial seizure became something rarer: a community built around preserving what the old world left behind.
