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DEAD CITIES
The skeletal remains of humanity's pre-Collapse metropolises haunt the Desolation's landscape, technological graveyards where twisted spires of rusted metal and crumbling concrete reach skyward like the fingers of buried giants. Most Dead Cities were abandoned during the Great Collapse or the Reaping, their streets now silent save for the skittering of mutated vermin and the occasional whistle of wind through empty window frames. Beneath these urban corpses lie the true treasures that draw scavengers despite the extreme dangers - vast subterranean networks of bunkers, research facilities, and emergency shelters containing untouched caches of pre-Collapse technology, but crawling with mutants and dangerous predators. These underground complexes, designed to withstand the apocalypse their builders foresaw, sometimes remain sealed by security systems that have outlived their creators, their contents preserved in a state of suspended animation for over a century. The most daring expeditions target military installations and research facilities, where weapons technology, medical equipment, and data cores containing lost knowledge await those with the expertise to claim them. Even more perilous are the sunken Dead Cities that lie beneath Eden's coastal waters, their once-proud skyscrapers now serving as grotesque artificial reefs entombed in coral and silt. Here, specialized Reef Divers plunge into predator-infested depths to access hermetically sealed preservation chambers, risking death from system malfunctions, structural collapses, and the mutated monstrosities that patrol these underwater ruins. The most valuable finds are inevitably the most dangerous to retrieve. Automated defense systems remain operational in many facilities, their programming corrupted by time and radiation, while security Automatons patrol on endless loops with lethal force, protecting their domain against all intruders. What makes Dead Cities even more treacherous is their unpredictability - neighbouring buildings may contain wildly different hazards, from apex predators to toxic spore clouds to electromagnetic pulses that fry all electronic equipment, ensuring that no expedition, no matter how well-prepared, can truly anticipate what horrors await in these monuments to humanity's hubris.
DEMI-MUTANTS
The offspring of desperate unions between female clones and male mutants, Demi-Mutants represent humanity's most radical evolutionary adaptation to the post-Collapse world. Born with the Reaper Agent already integrated into their cellular structure, these hybrid beings possess enhanced strength, resilience, and sensory capabilities while retaining human intelligence and social complexity. Their appearances vary dramatically - some bear only subtle marks like phosphorescent eyes or bark-textured skin, while others display dramatic adaptations including natural armor plating, elongated limbs, or muscular development that surpasses even veteran warriors. The Beast Clan in particular has elevated the creation of Demi-Mutants to sacred ritual through their "Offering of Flesh" ceremony, where volunteer clones venture naked into mutant territories, offering themselves for mating in acts of ultimate devotion that transform survivors into revered Life-Bearers within the clan hierarchy. Several generations of Demi-Mutants now exist, each generation showing greater genetic stability and more sophisticated integration of their hybrid traits. Unlike clones who struggle with questions of identity or mutants whose intelligence varies unpredictably, Demi-Mutants accept their hybrid nature as fundamental truth, creating communities that combine human ingenuity with mutant adaptability in ways that often surpass their "pure" neighbours. The established powers view them with suspicion ranging to outright hostility, yet these hybrid populations demonstrate exponential growth potential and evolutionary refinement that suggests they may become the dominant human subspecies within decades - not humanity's revenge against the Reaper Agent, but proof that even catastrophic change becomes opportunity for those brave enough to embrace transformation, rather than cling to the imagined purity of the past.
DROP SHIPS
Not many nations have the industrial power to manufacture large military drop ships. The thunderous arrival of a drop ship is therefore always a noteworthy occurrence, punctuating the sky with terrifying engine noise. Each drop ship design reflects the distinctive nature of its controlling power. The Jade Domain's multi-engined troop transport vessels streak over Hell's jungle canopy, their modular cylindrical hulls bristling with weapons as they leave trails of orange fire against the mist-shrouded mountains - an intentionally visible show of force before disgorging hundreds of fresh-faced clone troopers directly into deadly landing zones under fire. By contrast, the Prime AI's small vessels represent the pinnacle of aeronautical engineering. Prime’s sleek, delta-winged craft with seamless black hulls slice through the clouds like predatory sharks, their high-altitude contrails the only warning before they descend with methodical precision to deliver Emissaries and elite Prime Guard units to enforce the AI's will across distant territories. Most feared are the Ascended drop ships - angular wedge-shaped craft with ghostly blue thrusters that hover in eerie silence over the mist-shrouded mud lands, their metallic hulls reflecting nothing as they cast cold, pale light onto the scarred terrain below. These lunar vessels appear without warning in dead zones and blighted forests, disgorging their deadly Ascended warriors with surgical precision before vanishing back into the atmosphere. The technology that powers these vessels varies dramatically; the Jade Domain relies on scavenged pre-Collapse engines constantly refurbished by desperate mechanics,the aggressive angles and exposed thruster assemblies of their drop ships reflecting their hurried maintenance cycles, while Prime's ships incorporate cutting-edge propulsion systems manufactured in its Mongolia facility, their flawless aerodynamics and advanced stealth materials demonstrating the AI's technological superiority. The one commonality across all designs is their vulnerability during the critical landing phase, making drop zones among the deadliest locations in the Desolation, as anti-aircraft weapons and sometimes even mutant aerial predators attempt to bring down these technological marvels before they can disgorge their lethal cargo.
DUNE LURKERS
The dune lurkers are specialized mutant kraken that have evolved to exist in the dry climate of the desert. Similar to their cousins, the mud kraken, these highly adapted predators lie dormant beneath the sand's surface, their specialized tentacles capable of detecting vibrations from approaching travelers up to a mile away. Once prey is detected, they remain perfectly still until their victim is within striking range. Then, with terrifying speed, their barbed tentacles erupt from the sand to impale their targets, dragging the still-living bodies beneath the surface to be consumed. Caravan guides learn to recognize the subtle signs of lurker territories - faint circular depressions in the sand and unnatural stillness in areas where even desert winds seem to die. The most experienced Sand guides stake their reputations on their ability to spot and circumvent lurker hunting grounds, charging premium rates for their expertise. Those planning to cross lurker-infested regions travel only at high noon when the creatures retreat deeper beneath the surface to escape the scorching heat.
DUST
Far above the ravaged Earth, on the pockmarked surface of the Moon, another drama unfolds. Here, in the airless wasteland known as DUST, three great cities stand as testament to humanity's former greatness and current division. Apollo, Artemis, and Ascension, each of these domed metropolises a self-contained world, governed by a powerful AI that walks among its citizens in an AI Gestalt form. These lunar colonies were once humanity's pride, a stepping stone to the stars. Now, they are isolated bastions of technology and intrigue, their populations composed entirely of female clones following the purge of all males in the wake of the Reaper agent. Between these cities, the Forever War rages across the lunar surface, with Apollo and Artemis locked in seemingly endless combat, their clone armies reshaping the Moon's scarred face with each new battle. This conflict, while devastating, serves Ascension's purposes and keeps both rivals weakened and distracted while it prepares for "Ascension Day", the long-awaited return to Earth and the establishment of total AI rule over humanity's birthplace. Beyond the control of the three city-states lies a patchwork of smaller colonies and outposts, many connected by vast networks of service tunnels. In abandoned lunar lava tubes, the Forgotten, descendants of the men exiled during the great purge, eke out an existence, their bodies adapted to low gravity and thin atmospheres, their minds focused on vengeance. The Moon, once a symbol of humanity's boundless potential, has become a crucible of conflict, ambition, and desperate survival. As Ascension's plans for Earth draw ever closer to fruition, the fate of not one, but two worlds hangs in the balance.
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