Haze Hollow

Notable groups operating in Haze Hollow:
 

Odd Fellows Tavern: Local establishment rumored to be the preferred watering hole of individuals of ill repute.

The Restorators: Local Sanitations cleanup crew working to make the wastes more habitable.

The Fire Department: Emergency response for a settlement built next to an underground inferno.

The Eerie Medical Corp: Local medical services.

Haze Hollow operates under a loose system of competing interests rather than formal governance:
 

The Coyne Company: The primary financier of the Haze Hollow expedition. Their stated goal is to clear a path into the old mines and begin resource extraction, with the intent of establishing a profitable operation.

The Union: The organizing body of mine workers and laborers, representing the interests of the working and lower class. They advocate for a slower, safety-conscious approach compared to the profit-motivated Coyne Company.

The Obsidian Table: Operates the town Bounty Board and has contributed supplies and labor to the settlement's foundations.

  Local laws:

Killing outside of a bounty from The Obsidian Table or self-defense is punishable by Infection Transfer.

Theft or destruction of property is punishable by replacement.

Life-Binding of non-Green-Veining individuals is prohibited.

The settlement relies on the harsh terrain of the Cinder Trail as its primary defense. The ash-choked approach and underground fires deter casual incursions. The Trading Post itself has reinforced walls and filtration. Local defense is organized through the Bounty Board system run by the Obsidian Table.

The Mortis Amaranthine around Haze Hollow is dangerously unstable. The local Gravemind contains an entity classified by the locals as a Haint, a burning maw in its chest that consumes individuals filtering through the Mortis. This prevents the Mortis from properly regenerating bodies on return, causing individuals to come back in the state they died in, often badly wounded. The entity may also be consuming additional Infection from those who pass through.
  Faith Consecrations are rejected by the local Mortis with dramatic consequences. An attempt by the Church of Darwin to Consecrate an area caused a radioactive detonation and pulled a horde of Radioactive Undead to the surface.
  Local threats include Bloaters (large Undead filled with flammable gas that explode on death), Breachers (shelled Zed entombed in ashy cement that burst free when disturbed), Rust Buckets (bulky Zed that absorb weapons into themselves), and Cinder Shades (perpetually burning Zed capable of massive fireballs). Organized cannibals have been collecting flesh tithes from the town in an extortion racket, and a fire cult has been abducting travelers and throwing them into the burning mines as sacrifice.