Mountaina
Blue-hued mountains wreathed in curling mist rise above rolling grasslands and dense forests in Mountaina, a wild and remote region bordering the western Overgrowth. The landscape ranges from open prairie to forested mountains to swampland, with clear lakes and rocky rivers cutting through terrain that is as beautiful as it is dangerous. Roads are rough and unsuitable for most vehicles; travel is primarily by foot or horseback, and the locals prefer it that way.
This is rancher and horseman territory. Natural Ones make up the majority of the population, scattered across ranches, farms, and small settlements where people wake each day knowing a lifetime of labor awaits and that countless threats want to steal the fruits of that labor. Cattle and horse ranching form the economic backbone, supplemented by hunting, trapping, and trade with the Rover caravans that wind along dirt roads through Sweet Grass Country. The communities are tight-knit, suspicious of outsiders, and fiercely independent. You keep only what you can defend, and the grasslands are full of things that want what you have.
The threats are constant and varied. Massive creatures emerge from the Overgrowth, some building-sized. Wandering undead are drawn to settlements by noise and activity. Raiders and slavers push in from neighboring regions. Diesel Jock clans demand fuel crops. Dangerous mutated plants, including seizure-inducing ivy and needle-sharp brambles, grow alongside the ordinary vegetation. When thick fog rolls down from the mountain peaks and blankets the region, unseen creatures emerge from the forest to hunt, and even the Mountain Men bar their doors.
Mountaina contains Sweet Grass Country with its genetically modified grasslands, the Dead Forest where corpse-absorbing trees groan in the dark, the Unbearable Mountains with their fog-dwelling predators, Misery Swamp with its insect plagues, and the Bleeding Depths at the heart of the Overgrowth. Yellstown Settlement is the only place with anything resembling actual society. Sweet Grass Ranch is the biggest ranch in the region. Beyond these points of civilization, Mountaina belongs to the land and to whatever stalks through the mist.
This is rancher and horseman territory. Natural Ones make up the majority of the population, scattered across ranches, farms, and small settlements where people wake each day knowing a lifetime of labor awaits and that countless threats want to steal the fruits of that labor. Cattle and horse ranching form the economic backbone, supplemented by hunting, trapping, and trade with the Rover caravans that wind along dirt roads through Sweet Grass Country. The communities are tight-knit, suspicious of outsiders, and fiercely independent. You keep only what you can defend, and the grasslands are full of things that want what you have.
The threats are constant and varied. Massive creatures emerge from the Overgrowth, some building-sized. Wandering undead are drawn to settlements by noise and activity. Raiders and slavers push in from neighboring regions. Diesel Jock clans demand fuel crops. Dangerous mutated plants, including seizure-inducing ivy and needle-sharp brambles, grow alongside the ordinary vegetation. When thick fog rolls down from the mountain peaks and blankets the region, unseen creatures emerge from the forest to hunt, and even the Mountain Men bar their doors.
Mountaina contains Sweet Grass Country with its genetically modified grasslands, the Dead Forest where corpse-absorbing trees groan in the dark, the Unbearable Mountains with their fog-dwelling predators, Misery Swamp with its insect plagues, and the Bleeding Depths at the heart of the Overgrowth. Yellstown Settlement is the only place with anything resembling actual society. Sweet Grass Ranch is the biggest ranch in the region. Beyond these points of civilization, Mountaina belongs to the land and to whatever stalks through the mist.
Geography
Mountaina is defined by blue-colored mountains wreathed in curling mist, clear lakes, rocky rivers, expansive grasslands, and dense forests. The landscape ranges from open prairie to forested mountains to swampland. Roads are rough and unsuitable for most vehicles; travel is primarily by foot or horseback. Mountain weather brings harsh winters and harsher summers, with thick fog periodically rolling down from the peaks to blanket the region. The Overgrowth borders Mountaina to the west and south, while I-Die-Low lies to the east. Notable features include Sweet Grass Country with its genetically modified grasslands, the Dead Forest of fungal-infected corpse-absorbing trees, the Unbearable Mountains with their remote treacherous peaks, Misery Swamp on the floodplain east of Sweet Grass Ranch, and the Bleeding Depths deep within the Overgrowth interior.
