Cayota
A few days ride past the outer limit of Vegasia, heading north along a crumbling dirt road where patches of black tar still cling to the ground like old scabs, a cluster of adobe buildings marks one of the last signs of civilization on the northern Vegasian border. Cayota takes its name from the wild desert hounds that roam the surrounding landscape, and most travelers who pass through the settlement do so quickly, with one eye on the road ahead and the other on the big house at the end of the street.
The Casa de la Muerte dominates the settlement. A pre-fall Spanish Colonial building with a perimeter wall, courtyard, and dry fountain, it would be handsome if not for its inhabitants. The shambling dead walk its grounds in growing numbers, kept in something resembling order by Muzquiz, an intelligent undead who has maintained control of the property since before anyone in Cayota can remember. An agreement of sorts exists between the living and the dead: the townspeople leave Muzquiz and his household alone, and Muzquiz tolerates the living in return. The arrangement has held. But the number of zombies behind those walls keeps growing, and the residents who once accepted the deal with a shrug now watch the Casa with the kind of quiet dread that comes from knowing a line is being approached. No one can say exactly where that line is. No one wants to find out.
The Casa de la Muerte dominates the settlement. A pre-fall Spanish Colonial building with a perimeter wall, courtyard, and dry fountain, it would be handsome if not for its inhabitants. The shambling dead walk its grounds in growing numbers, kept in something resembling order by Muzquiz, an intelligent undead who has maintained control of the property since before anyone in Cayota can remember. An agreement of sorts exists between the living and the dead: the townspeople leave Muzquiz and his household alone, and Muzquiz tolerates the living in return. The arrangement has held. But the number of zombies behind those walls keeps growing, and the residents who once accepted the deal with a shrug now watch the Casa with the kind of quiet dread that comes from knowing a line is being approached. No one can say exactly where that line is. No one wants to find out.
Geography
Cayota sits on the northern road out of Vegasia, a stretch of dirt and crumbling blacktop that leads into increasingly empty country. The settlement is a small collection of adobe buildings, sun-baked and weathered, built low to the ground in the style that survives desert heat. The terrain is flat, dry, and open, with little cover between the settlement and the horizon in any direction. Wild desert hounds, the cayotes that gave the town its name, are a common sight on the outskirts. The most significant structure is the Casa de la Muerte, a pre-fall Spanish Colonial building that stands apart from the rest of the settlement behind its own perimeter wall, its courtyard and dry fountain visible from the road.
