Tohr
The Spire of Tohr was once the rallying point for thousands, a graceful tower visible for miles across the Great Lake, a signal of safety and a defiant gesture to the slavers in the south. It was the pride of the Reclaimer people. Then the plague came.
The disease struck fast: fever building to a peak within hours, a choking cough, and black bile dripping from the mouth. Most strains suffered, but Reclaimers were hit hardest, with an eighty percent mortality rate. Suspicions persisted in Steel City, Lakehead, and Can Do that the plague had been deliberately introduced by the Ironworks. The city fell to the sick and the dead, its streets overrun by zed who were continual carriers of the disease. Survivors congregated on small islands offshore, surrounded and barely supplied.
During the Ironworks era, Tohr was being slowly reclaimed. Iron Slaves who had escaped from the south showed some resistance to the illness, and many joined the effort. Using the Tohr Islands and Tarry Oh Harbour as a staging area, and the Still District as their primary population center, the living grew in number daily. The Islands served as the linchpin of the operation: smaller islands were used for quarantine, with returning survivors checked by Iron Slave doctors after a week-long waiting period. Tom Singer, a grizzled Reclaimer plague survivor and Final Knights devotee, coordinated all movement from the harbour.
The Still District was built around old distilleries with a storied tradition of producing whiskey and hard liquors. Grain production fed the stills, and the booze was secretly sold south to the Ironworks. The irony was sharp: Ironworks money, spent on northern liquor, unknowingly funded the rebuilding of the very city the empire hoped to conquer.
The Castle served as resistance headquarters, an opulent pre-fall stronghold retaken by Ashlynn Massey and Patrick OhNiner, an escaped Iron Slave from Motor City. They coordinated resources using salvaged radio equipment and the Spire as a broadcast hub, while the surrounding zed served as an inadvertent moat. Saint Market handled trade near the Still District, bringing goods from as far as Mont Royal. And the Spire stood tall above it all, maintained by a dedicated team, broadcasting defiance while Rail City's own towers had been cut down for scrap.
The disease struck fast: fever building to a peak within hours, a choking cough, and black bile dripping from the mouth. Most strains suffered, but Reclaimers were hit hardest, with an eighty percent mortality rate. Suspicions persisted in Steel City, Lakehead, and Can Do that the plague had been deliberately introduced by the Ironworks. The city fell to the sick and the dead, its streets overrun by zed who were continual carriers of the disease. Survivors congregated on small islands offshore, surrounded and barely supplied.
During the Ironworks era, Tohr was being slowly reclaimed. Iron Slaves who had escaped from the south showed some resistance to the illness, and many joined the effort. Using the Tohr Islands and Tarry Oh Harbour as a staging area, and the Still District as their primary population center, the living grew in number daily. The Islands served as the linchpin of the operation: smaller islands were used for quarantine, with returning survivors checked by Iron Slave doctors after a week-long waiting period. Tom Singer, a grizzled Reclaimer plague survivor and Final Knights devotee, coordinated all movement from the harbour.
The Still District was built around old distilleries with a storied tradition of producing whiskey and hard liquors. Grain production fed the stills, and the booze was secretly sold south to the Ironworks. The irony was sharp: Ironworks money, spent on northern liquor, unknowingly funded the rebuilding of the very city the empire hoped to conquer.
The Castle served as resistance headquarters, an opulent pre-fall stronghold retaken by Ashlynn Massey and Patrick OhNiner, an escaped Iron Slave from Motor City. They coordinated resources using salvaged radio equipment and the Spire as a broadcast hub, while the surrounding zed served as an inadvertent moat. Saint Market handled trade near the Still District, bringing goods from as far as Mont Royal. And the Spire stood tall above it all, maintained by a dedicated team, broadcasting defiance while Rail City's own towers had been cut down for scrap.
History
Tohr was once the greatest city of the Reclaimers, its Spire a signal of safety and a source of fierce northern pride. The plague changed everything. A particularly virulent disease attacked most strains with fast-building fever, choking cough, and black bile, killing eighty percent of infected Reclaimers. Suspicions that the Ironworks had introduced the plague persisted across the northern settlements but were never confirmed. Survivors retreated to offshore islands, surrounded and barely supplied, while the streets below filled with plagued zed who carried the disease continuously.
Reclamation began when escaped Iron Slaves from the south showed resistance to the illness. Using the Islands and the Still District as launching points, the living population grew daily. The Castle was retaken and converted to resistance headquarters. Booze from the Still District was sold south to the Ironworks, the proceeds quietly funding the very rebuilding the empire wanted to prevent. By the time of the Ironworks era's late period, Tohr was slowly coming back to life, though the struggle against the plagued dead continued street by street.
Reclamation began when escaped Iron Slaves from the south showed resistance to the illness. Using the Islands and the Still District as launching points, the living population grew daily. The Castle was retaken and converted to resistance headquarters. Booze from the Still District was sold south to the Ironworks, the proceeds quietly funding the very rebuilding the empire wanted to prevent. By the time of the Ironworks era's late period, Tohr was slowly coming back to life, though the struggle against the plagued dead continued street by street.
Geography
Tohr sat on the shore of the Great Lake in the heart of Homeland. The Garden Riseway, a crumbling concrete road bridge, provided the most obvious entrance into the city from the south, arching up over the milling zed below. Offshore islands served as the staging area for reclamation efforts, with Tarry Oh Harbour coordinating all movement. The Still District, built around old distilleries, held the bulk of the living population. The Castle, an opulent pre-fall stronghold surrounded by zed that served as an accidental moat, housed the resistance command. Saint Market occupied old warehouses near the Still District. The Spire, the city's most visible feature, rose gracefully above the skyline, maintained as both a broadcast hub and a symbol of northern defiance. Zed were herded into other parts of the city to conceal fresh habitation from Ironworks spies, making the geography of the living a constantly shifting secret within the ruins.
