The Codex of New Terra

The Great Collapse

The cataclysm that ended the Before Times was twofold: the slow death of climate collapse followed by the quick fire of nuclear exchange. The specifics are lost, but the results are etched into our very DNA - every human bears the vitiligo markings as testament to the radiation that scoured the planet.

Global civilization shattered into isolated pockets of survivors. For centuries, the descendants lived as scavengers and hunter-gatherers, the knowledge of their ancestors fading into myth and superstition.

The Scavenger Lords Rise

Three centuries past, the first Scavenger Lords emerged - those who could decipher the ancient technologies and turn them to advantage. What followed was the Geolithic Revolution, where the greatest power became not strength of arms, but understanding of the old ways.

These technomancers, as they came to be called, learned to harness solar energy from ancient panels, purify water through molecular filtration, and even coax life from the barren soil through hydroponic systems powered by geothermal energy. Their knowledge is guarded jealously, passed through apprenticeship rather than books.

The New Power Dynamics

In this era, power belongs to those who control:

• Water: The aquifers beneath the desert are fiercely contested
• Technology: Functional pre-collapse equipment is worth more than human life
• Knowledge: The ability to read and understand ancient texts
• Genetics: Those with resistance to radiation or other adaptations

There are no nations, only city-states and tribal territories constantly shifting through alliances and conflicts. The greatest achievement of this age has been the geodesic domes - massive structures that create microclimates capable of supporting agriculture and sustaining larger populations.

The Technomancer Guilds

Keepers of the old knowledge, the Technomancers are both revered and feared. They move between settlements, their bodies often augmented with salvaged technology, trading their services for protection and resources. Their understanding of electronics borders on the mystical to common folk.

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. But any sufficiently lost technology is indistinguishable from divinity."

The Guilds are fiercely competitive, each specializing in different ancient technologies:

• Spark-Singers: Electricity and power systems
• Data-Divers: Information recovery and computation
• Bio-Weavers: Genetic manipulation and agriculture
• Metal-Shapers: Fabrication and manufacturing

The Gourdfolk League

When the gourdfolk first emerged from their hidden valleys, they were met with fear and violence. Their green skin and plant-like qualities marked them as mutants. But their knowledge of xeriscaping - creating gardens in the desert - made them invaluable.

Today, the Gourdfolk League acts as intermediaries between human settlements and the other mutated species. They negotiate water rights, agricultural knowledge, and territorial disputes. Their representatives wear distinctive woven fiber armor and carry living staffs that still grow leaves.

The League's motto: "From barren ground, life. From despair, hope."

The Seven Gangs of Urok-Kabor

Urok-Kabor is nominally ruled by a council of seven gang leaders, though in practice their control is constantly challenged. Each gang controls a sector of the city and specializes in different illicit trades:

Gang warfare is common but rarely escalates to outright destruction - everyone recognizes that the city's survival depends on fragile cooperation.

The Grave Keeper Collective

This mysterious order maintains burial sites and tombs across the wasteland. They believe that the dead hold wisdom that the living have forgotten, and that proper respect for ancestors is the only way to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

Grave Keepers are easily identified by their black cloaks and skull-face paint. They are fiercely protective of their charges and known to respond violently to grave robbers. Despite their ominous appearance, they often provide neutral ground for negotiations between warring factions.

Rumors persist that the Grave Keepers hoard powerful pre-collapse artifacts in their deepest crypts, but none who have sought proof have returned to speak of it.

Bad-Tibira: The Iron City

Bad-Tibira stands as a testament to stubbornness in the face of existential threat. The city is carved into and built from the wreckage of a massive pre-collapse mining operation. Its buildings are fashioned from rusted equipment, its walls from compacted earth and reclaimed metal.

The city's most distinctive feature is the canopy of colorful textiles stretched between structures - the sun shades created by the wampusfolk population. These provide crucial protection from the relentless sun and seasonal sandstorms that would otherwise scour the city from the desert.

Notable Features:

• The Crucible: The city's main forge, powered by geothermal vents
• The Dust-Scribe's Repository: A library of etched metal plates
• The Canyon Market: A bustling trade center in a natural gorge
• Sand-Singer's Oasis: The only natural water source for miles

Life in Bad-Tibira is harsh and short. Water is rationed, food is scarce, and the constant threat of sandstorm, raiders, and dehydration hangs over every resident. Those who survive learn resilience or perish.

Urok-Kabor: The Dome City

Urok-Kabor represents the pinnacle of Geolithic achievement - a fully functional city housed beneath a massive geodesic dome. The dome's panels are crafted from salvaged solar-reactive materials that provide power while filtering the harsh sunlight into something that can sustain life.

Within the dome, the air is breathable without filters, the temperature regulated, and agriculture possible on a scale unimaginable elsewhere in the wasteland. This paradise comes at a cost - strict population control, constant maintenance of ancient systems, and the eternal vigilance against those who would take the city by force.

Notable Features:

• Hawkeye Halls: The greatest repository of knowledge in New Terra
• The Grand Bazaar: A market where anything can be bought for a price
• The Honeycomb: Apiaries that produce medicinal honey and mead
• Violetta Fontenot Museum: A collection of salvaged artifacts
• The Undercroft: A maze of maintenance tunnels and ancient ruins

"Urok-Kabor is a beautiful lie. It makes us forget what we lost by giving us a pale imitation. That may be the greatest cruelty of all."

The Eridu Swamp: Mire of Mysteries

Where most of the world became desert, the Eridu region sank beneath rising seawater, creating a vast brackish swamp filled with mutated flora and fauna. The swamp is contested territory between the wampusfolk and mothmen, who have fought for generations over its resources.

The waters are treacherous, hiding sinkholes, predatory creatures, and patches of toxic waste that still leach from pre-collapse ruins beneath the murk. Yet the swamp also contains valuable medicinal plants, clean water, and the ruins of a major coastal city that occasionally yields priceless artifacts.

Travel through Eridu is done via shallow-draft boats or along the precarious raised walkways built by both wampusfolk and mothmen. Neither group takes kindly to trespassers.

The Glass Plains

A vast expanse of fused silica created by a tactical nuclear strike during the Great Collapse. The plains are eerily beautiful and incredibly dangerous - the glass is razor-sharp, radiation levels remain high, and strange electromagnetic phenomena disrupt technology and senses alike.

Despite the dangers, scavengers brave the Glass Plains to harvest the unique materials created in the atomic fire - primarily the prismatic crystals that grow beneath the glass surface. These crystals are vital components in energy weapons and communication devices.

The Plains are also home to the Glass Walkers - humans mutated to have crystalline skin and immunity to radiation. They are fiercely protective of their territory and known to impale trespassers on shards of glass as warnings.

Humanity: The Scarred Children

Baseline humans remain the most numerous species in New Terra, though "baseline" is a misnomer. Generations of radiation and environmental adaptation have created a hardy, resilient people marked by universal vitiligo - patches of depigmented skin that serve as a constant reminder of their ancestors' folly.

Human settlements range from primitive tribal villages to technologically advanced city-states like Urok-Kabor. What unites them is a desperate struggle for survival and a deep cultural trauma from the Collapse that manifests as either determined optimism or nihilistic pragmatism.

Cultural Practices:

• Naming Conventions: Children are often named after pre-collapse artifacts or concepts their parents don't understand (Diode, Voltage, Kernel, Syntax)
• Water Rituals: Ceremonial sharing of water marks important agreements and life events
• Memory-Telling: Oral history performances that keep fragments of the past alive
• Scarification: Important events are recorded as scars on the body

Wampusfolk: The Desert Tigers

The wampusfolk are felinoid humanoids standing nearly seven feet tall, with fur patterns ranging from desert-tan to obsidian black. Their society is built around nomadic clans that follow traditional migration routes between sources of water and prey.

Wampusfolk culture is intensely visual and tactile. They communicate as much through body language, scent marking, and intricate patterns as through speech. Their language, Marekaj Pale, is a melodic blend of Haitian Creole and English with additional vocalizations outside human hearing range.

Society and Culture:

Wampusfolk society is matriarchal, with elder females making clan decisions. Males typically serve as hunters, scouts, and warriors, while females handle crafting, healing, and spiritual matters.

Their most celebrated art forms are textile weaving and ceremonial body painting. A wampusfolk's worth can be determined by the complexity of their patterns and the vibrancy of their dyes - the best of which are reserved for significant life events and achievements.

Wampusfolk religion centers on solar worship and ancestor veneration. They believe the sun is both creator and destroyer, giving life but also punishing arrogance. Their most sacred text is the "Sòlèy Liv" (Sun Book), said to contain prophecies about the world's end and rebirth.

Notable Figure: Madame Zarah, Pattern-Mistress of the Crimson Paw Clan

Madame Zarah is renowned across the wastes as the greatest living pattern-weaver. Her textiles command prices that would buy a water-rights contract for a year. She is said to be over ninety years old, though she moves with the grace of a juvenile. Her most famous work, "The Sunset That Lasted a Thousand Years," hangs in the Urok-Kabor museum and is believed to depict the Great Collapse.

"Humans see cloth as protection or decoration. We see patterns as stories, warnings, prayers woven into being. Each thread is a choice, each color an emotion, each pattern a history."

Mothmen: The Silent Ones

The mothmen are perhaps the most misunderstood of Terra's peoples. These tall, slender humanoids possess large, light-sensitive eyes and delicate membrane wings that allow limited flight. Their bodies are covered in fine scales that provide protection from radiation and extreme temperatures.

Mothmen society is organized around light - both literal and metaphorical. They worship the moon and stars, building their settlements to capture and amplify celestial light. Their language is primarily gestural and photonic - using controlled light emissions from their eyes and specialized organs on their wings.

Society and Culture:

Mothmen live in vertical settlements built into cliff faces or the ruins of skyscrapers. They are primarily nocturnal, with their cities coming alive in patterns of mesmerizing light after sunset.

Their culture values silence, contemplation, and subtlety. What humans interpret as secrecy is simply their preference for communication through subtle light patterns and gestures rather than crude vocalizations.

Mothmen are master geneticists and biologists, maintaining vast hidden libraries of genetic material from pre-collapse species. They believe their purpose is to preserve and eventually restore the world's biodiversity.

The Eternal Conflict with Wampusfolk:

The mothmen's longstanding conflict with the wampusfolk stems from fundamental philosophical differences:

• Wampusfolk are solar worshippers, mothmen lunar devotees
• Wampusfolk are territorial and expansive, mothmen are contemplative and isolationist
• Wampusfolk communicate openly and vocally, mothmen value subtlety and silence
• Both species claim ancient ownership of the Eridu Swamp

This conflict has lasted generations, with periods of open warfare alternating with tense ceasefires. Currently, an uneasy truce holds, maintained through the diplomatic efforts of the Gourdfolk League.

Notable Figure: Lumos of the Silent Wing Clan

Lumos is the mothman ambassador to Urok-Kabor, one of the few of his kind to regularly interact with humans. He moves with eerie grace and communicates through a combination of limited speech and light patterns that require translation by specialized devices. His efforts to establish understanding between species have been met with suspicion from both humans and his own people.

Gourdfolk: The Green Prophets

The gourdfolk are humanoid plants, their skin resembling various gourd textures and colors. They photosynthesize in addition to consuming food and water, giving them exceptional endurance in harsh conditions.

Gourdfolk society is organized around the concept of the "Great Growth" - both literal agricultural abundance and metaphorical spiritual development. They believe all life is interconnected through root-like spiritual bonds, and that the Collapse resulted from humanity severing these connections.

Society and Culture:

Gourdfolk live in settlements seamlessly integrated with nature, their buildings grown rather than constructed. They practice advanced xeriscaping and hydroponics, creating oasis gardens in the most inhospitable environments.

Their culture values patience, cooperation, and long-term planning. Gourdfolk think in timeframes that seem glacial to other species - their political decisions might take years of contemplation before action.

Gourdfolk communicate through a combination of speech, subtle changes in their skin patterns, and releasing pheromones that convey emotional context. They are masters of herbal medicine and biochemistry, producing potent medicines, poisons, and psychoactive compounds.

Notable Figure: Elder Podra, Keeper of the Seed Vault

Elder Podra is believed to be over two hundred years old, her skin hardened and textured like ancient bark. She maintains the Last Garden, a hidden sanctuary containing seeds from thousands of pre-collapse plant species. She rarely speaks, but when she does, entire tribes listen. Her prophecy about the "Second Blooming" of the world has inspired both hope and dread across New Terra.

Lizard Drinkers: The Crimson Scourge

The lizard drinkers are perhaps the most feared inhabitants of the wasteland. These mutated humans have bright red skin, reptilian eyes, and elongated limbs ending in sharp claws. They are exclusively carnivorous, with a preference for blood that gives them their name.

Lizard drinker society is brutal and hierarchical, organized around packs led by the strongest individuals. They inhabit the deep wastes where other species cannot survive, emerging to raid settlements for captives and resources.

Biology and Abilities:

Lizard drinkers possess several unique adaptations:

• Enhanced senses, particularly smell and vibration detection
• Limited regeneration capabilities
• Ability to extract moisture from blood, allowing survival in waterless regions
• Radiation immunity and even absorption for energy
• Echolocation capabilities despite being mostly blind

Their origins remain mysterious. Some believe they were humans who adapted to extreme radiation, others that they are the result of pre-collapse genetic experiments. The lizard drinkers themselves claim descent from "the First Blood" but share no details with outsiders.

Notable Figure: Blood-Chieftain K'tharr

K'tharr has united dozens of lizard drinker packs under his rule through sheer brutality and tactical genius. Unlike most of his kind, he recognizes the value of technology and has been capturing Technomancers to force them to service his war machines. His ultimate goal appears to be the conquest of Urok-Kabor and its life-sustaining dome.

Technologist

Technologists are the priests of the old world machines. They understand the fundamental principles of electricity, engineering, and computation that underpin pre-collapse technology. Their knowledge is part science, part intuition, and part superstition.

A typical Technologist carries a multi-tool of ancient design, voltage probes, and a battered datapad containing fragmentary technical manuals. They worship at the altar of functionality - if it works, it's right.

Notable Technologist: Silas the Spark-Wright

Silas maintains the power grid of Urok-Kabor, a role that makes him one of the most powerful people in the city. He speaks to machines in a combination of technical jargon and baby talk, claiming that technology responds to emotion as much as proper procedure. His body is crisscrossed with lightning-like scars from countless electrical accidents.

Grave Keeper

Grave Keepers are the guardians of the dead and the knowledge buried with them. They explore ancient ruins and burial sites, recovering artifacts and information while ensuring the dead rest undisturbed by scavengers.

Their distinctive black cloaks are woven from radiation-resistant materials, and their skull face paint serves both ceremonial purposes and psychological warfare. They refuse ranged weapons, considering them disrespectful to the dead, and instead wield massive melee weapons often fashioned from industrial equipment.

Notable Grave Keeper: Sister Morvana of the Silent Step

Sister Morvana is legendary for having cleared the Necropolis of the Sunken City single-handedly. She moves with utter silence despite her massive frame and carries a wrecking bar she calls "The Key" for its ability to open any door. She believes the dead speak to her, guiding her to those who would desecrate their rest.

Bio-Weaver

Bio-Weavers understand the fundamental building blocks of life in a world where genetics have become unpredictable art rather than predictable science. They manipulate plants, animals, and even people through chemical, radiation, and viral treatments.

Most carry cases of syringes, genetic samples, and bizarre biological tools. Their laboratories are frightening places where the line between healing and horror is often blurred beyond recognition.

Notable Bio-Weaver: Dr. Aris Thorne

Dr. Thorne maintains a mobile laboratory in a converted pre-collapse ambulance. He claims to be searching for a cure to the genetic degradation affecting all species, but his methods are questionable at best. He has created chimeric creatures that haunt the wastes and is rumored to have developed a serum that grants temporary regeneration at the cost of sanity.

Sand-Singer

Sand-Singers are desert survival experts who understand the wasteland like no others. They can find water where none seems to exist, navigate featureless dunes by star and wind patterns, and predict sandstorms days in advance.

Their name comes from their practice of "singing" to the desert - creating low-frequency vibrations that reveal underground structures and water sources. Many also use these vibrations as weapons, capable of disorienting opponents or even causing avalanches.

Notable Sand-Singer: Elara of the Whispering Dunes

Elara is said to have been born during a sandstorm and to have the desert in her blood. She guides caravans across the most dangerous routes with preternatural accuracy. Her services cost more than most make in a year, but those who hire her always arrive alive. She claims the desert speaks to her in the shifting of sands and that she's merely listening.

Pattern-Weaver (Wampusfolk Specialization)

Pattern-Weavers are wampusfolk artisans who create the intricate textiles that serve as both art and practical survival tools. Their creations provide camouflage, environmental protection, and even psychological effects through carefully designed patterns and color combinations.

The highest level of pattern-weaving involves incorporating light-reactive materials and even limited computational elements into fabrics, creating "living" clothing that changes based on environment or wearer's needs.

Notable Pattern-Weaver: Kaito of the Setting Sun Clan

Kaito is a radical among traditional pattern-weavers, incorporating salvaged electronics and smart materials into his creations. His "Chameleon Cloaks" are worth small fortunes and highly sought by scouts and assassins. The traditionalists consider his work heresy, but even they cannot deny its effectiveness.

Light-Shaper (Mothman Specialization)

Light-Shapers are mothman artisans who manipulate photons both as artistic medium and weapon. Using specialized organs and crafted lenses, they create solid light constructs, communication displays, and devastating energy weapons.

Their art is incomprehensible to most other species - intricate patterns of light that convey complex information and emotion simultaneously. In combat, they can blind opponents, create defensive barriers, or focus sunlight into cutting beams.

Notable Light-Shaper: Photis of the Crystal Wing Clan

Photis is the foremost light-shaper of his generation, responsible for the magnificent light sculptures that adorn the mothman settlement of Lumina. He has recently begun experimenting with capturing memories in light patterns, creating what he calls "echo-portraits" that preserve moments in perfect detail long after those who experienced them are gone.

Wanda Roll

The most popular gambling game in the wasteland, played with three eight-sided dice and a deck of cards. The game originated in the black markets of Bad-Tibira and spread rapidly due to its simple rules and high stakes.

The shooter rolls the dice while bettors wager on the outcome. Certain rolls have special names and effects:

• Sandstorm: Triple ones - automatic loss for shooter
• Oasis: Triple eights - automatic win for shooter
• Radiation: Any triple - shooter can force double or nothing

The cards add additional complexity, with face cards allowing additional rolls and aces letting the shooter set points. Professional games often include house rules and custom cards, making each establishment's version slightly different.

Guerrus: The Post-Collapse Tabletop Game

Guerrus is a strategic wargame played on a checkered board with pieces representing different wasteland factions and creatures. Each player commands a force with pieces that have different movement and attack capabilities.

The game is known for its brutal simplicity and high lethality. Tournament play is popular in larger settlements, with champions gaining significant status and sponsorship opportunities from factions wanting to associate with their strategic prowess.

Notable Piece Types:

• Sand Skimmer: Fast movement but weak attack
• Junk Golem: Slow but powerful melee attack
• Radiation Mage: Area effect attack but fragile
• Water Merchant: Can restore other pieces but cannot attack
• Scavenger Lord: Versatile and adaptable

Pattern-Matching (Wampusfolk Game)

A wampusfolk game of memory and perception played with intricate patterned tiles. Players must remember and recreate increasingly complex patterns under time pressure. The game is played in complete silence, with players communicating only through tile placement.

Humans find the game nearly impossible to master, as it relies on visual processing capabilities that exceed human limitations. Among wampusfolk, pattern-matching champions are considered intellectually superior and often become advisors to clan leaders.

Light-Dancing (Mothman Game)

A mothman game that combines elements of dance, storytelling, and competitive light manipulation. Participants use their natural bioluminescence and crafted light projectors to create intricate patterns while moving through complex choreography.

Light-dancing competitions can last for hours, with participants creating increasingly elaborate visual narratives. The game is incomprehensible to most outsiders, but mothman audiences respond with enthusiastic light displays of their own.

The Tale of Two Warriors

The air in the training arena was thick with heat and tension. Jean, a young wampusfolk of the Setting Sun clan, circled his opponent, the human Marcus. Both bore the scars of their shared training at the Guardsman School, and both knew only one would earn the coveted guardsman designation.

"I can't believe it's come to this," Marcus said, his voice tight with emotion. "We've been training together since we were kits and pups."

"Oui," Jean replied, his creole accent melodic despite the circumstances. "But only one of us can become a guardsman. The city's resources are too scarce for both."

They had been friends since childhood, discovering the ruins of Old Terra together, protecting each other from sand-stalkers in the deep wastes, sharing water when one had none. Now they fought with blunted but still deadly weapons, the rules of engagement clear: fight until one could not continue.

Marcus fought with human determination and strength, his technique refined through years of discipline. Jean fought with wampusfolk grace and adaptability, his movements fluid and unpredictable.

As they fought, they spoke of memories - racing through the market streets as children, studying ancient texts in the library, their first solo patrols in the dangerous outskirts. Each memory was a blow not struck, a defense not raised.

Finally, Jean saw an opening. A slight misstep from Marcus, a overextension of his guard. In that moment, Jean could have struck a disabling blow. Instead, he dropped his weapon and raised his empty hands.

"I yield," Jean said, his voice clear in the sudden silence.

Marcus stared in disbelief. "Why? You had me."

"A guardsman protects the city," Jean said. "But a friend protects his brother. You have a human family depending on this position. My clan will care for me regardless."

In that moment, the instructors revealed the true test: not combat skill, but character. Both were made guardsmen that day, and their partnership became legend in the annals of Urok-Kabor's protectors.

The Last Blooming of Elder Podra

Elder Podra felt the seasons changing in her woody flesh. Two centuries of life were coming to an end, and the Great Cycle demanded its due. She walked through her garden one final time, touching each plant with affection and gratitude.

Her assistant, a young gourdfolk named Sprout, approached with concern. "Elder, your vibrancy fades. Is there anything I can do?"

Podra smiled, a cracking of bark-like skin. "All things return to the soil, child. Even I. The important question is what grows from what remains."

She had spent her life preserving the genetic heritage of a world long dead. Seeds from plants that hadn grown in millennia rested in her vaults - oak trees, wheat, roses, and countless others whose names had been forgotten.

"The Second Blooming approaches," Podra said, her voice like rustling leaves. "When the world will be ready for these gifts again. You must be ready to plant them."

She led Sprout to the heart of the garden, where a single magnificent plant grew with silver leaves and flowers that shimmered with captured starlight. "This is the Last Gift," Podra said. "My final creation. It will purify the soil and water, making the land fertile again. But it requires a sacrifice to activate."

Before Sprout could ask what sacrifice, Podra placed her hands on the plant. Her body began to dissolve into glowing particles that the plant absorbed. As she faded, the plant bloomed with incredible brilliance, then produced thousands of seeds that floated away on the wind.

Where each seed landed, the soil would become rich and fertile again. Elder Podra's final gift would literally transform the world, but at the cost of her own existence.

As she faded completely, her final words hung in the air: "From barren ground, life. From despair, hope."

The Light-Weaver's Dilemma

Photis of the Crystal Wing clan faced an impossible choice. His daughter, Lumina, had contracted the Fading - a degenerative condition that caused a mothman's light to dim until extinguished completely. The only known cure required capturing a living sun-stalker, a dangerous creature that dwelled in the deepest desert.

To complicate matters, the only person with knowledge of sun-stalker habitats was Kaito, a wampusfolk pattern-weaver whose radical ideas had made him an outcast from both their societies. Photis had to overcome generations of prejudice and suspicion to save his daughter.

He found Kaito on the neutral grounds of Bad-Tibira, in a dusty workshop filled with half-finished creations. "I need your help," Photis said, the words feeling foreign and uncomfortable.

Kaito studied the mothman with curiosity. "Why would I help one of your kind? Your people have attacked mine for generations."

"My daughter..." Photis began, then did something unprecedented for a mothman - he shut off his light displays completely, making himself vulnerable and open in a way his species never did with outsiders. "She will die without the sun-stalker's venom."

Kaito saw the genuine desperation and made his own leap of faith. "I will help. But we must move quickly - the sun-stalkers are migrating and will be gone in days."

Their journey through the desert was fraught with danger and cultural misunderstandings. Photis moved silently while Kaito chattered constantly. Photis navigated by stars while Kaito used scent markers. Yet they learned to complement each other's abilities, discovering that together they could overcome obstacles that would have defeated either alone.

When they finally found a sun-stalker, it was Kaito's knowledge of patterns that allowed them to approach without triggering its defenses, and Photis's light-shaping that created the precise frequencies to tranquilize it.

With the cure administered and Lumina recovering, Photis made a formal proposal to the mothman council: an exchange of knowledge with the wampusfolk. The proposal was radical, controversial, and ultimately accepted as a trial.

The partnership that began as desperation became the foundation for the first lasting peace between their peoples, proving that even the deepest enmities could be overcome by common need and mutual respect.

Sand-Stalker

Large predatory creatures that burrow beneath the desert sands, emerging to drag prey to a suffocating death. Their bodies are segmented and armored, with multiple grasping limbs and a circular mouth filled with rotating teeth.

Sand-stalkers hunt through vibration detection and are virtually blind. The best defense is to move quietly or create decoy vibrations. Their venom has valuable medicinal properties but is extremely dangerous to extract.

Habitat:

Deep desert regions with fine sand

Threat Level:

Extreme - avoid at all costs

Value:

Venom glands, armored plates, digestive enzymes

Rad-Scorpion

Giant scorpions mutated to enormous size with multiple stingers and pincers. Their carapaces glow with faint radiation, and their venom causes rapid cellular degeneration.

Rad-scorpions are attracted to energy sources and often nest near pre-collapse power facilities. They are highly aggressive and will attack without provocation.

Habitat:

Radioactive ruins and power facilities

Threat Level:

High - engage only with preparation

Value:

Venom, chitin, radiation-resistant organs

Glimmer-Wing

Large moth-like creatures with wingspans reaching three meters. Their wings are covered in fine scales that refract light into disorienting patterns. Glimmer-wings are attracted to light sources and can be dangerous to settlements with inadequate shielding.

Despite their intimidating appearance, glimmer-wings are generally docile unless threatened. Mothmen consider them sacred and often use them as mounts and companions.

Habitat:

Eridu Swamp and other humid regions

Threat Level:

Moderate - defensive if provoked

Value:

Light-reactive scales, silk, pheromones

Junk-Golem

Mysterious constructs of scrap metal and debris animated by unknown forces. Some believe they are the result of pre-collapse nanotechnology gone rogue, others that they are spiritual manifestations of the waste itself.

Junk-golems vary tremendously in size and capability. Most are mindless and destructive, but a few show signs of intelligence and even curiosity about living creatures.

Habitat:

Scrapyards and ruins

Threat Level:

Variable - from minor nuisance to catastrophic

Value:

Salvage, possible intact pre-collapse technology

The Sun-Heart

A spherical device of unknown composition that emits light and heat without apparent energy source. The Technomancers believe it taps into zero-point energy, but its principles remain mysterious.

The Sun-Heart is currently housed in Urok-Kabor's central temple, where it provides warmth and light to the agricultural sectors. Pilgrims travel for miles to bask in its radiance, claiming it has healing properties.

The device is sought by multiple factions, including the lizard drinkers who believe it could make them independent of their blood-based diet.

The Codex of Forgotten Voices

A collection of memory crystals that contain the recorded voices and memories of pre-collapse individuals. The codex is fragmentary and poorly understood, but contains priceless information about the Before Times.

The codex is kept in the Hawkeye Halls under heavy guard. Only senior scribes are permitted to access it, and even then only for approved research purposes.

Rumors persist that the codex contains information about the causes of the Collapse and possibly even ways to reverse some of its effects.

The Pattern-Loom of Madame Zarah

An intricate device that allows the creation of complex patterns with impossible precision. Some believe it incorporates pre-collapse nanotechnology, others that it taps into fundamental cosmic patterns.

The loom is used by Madame Zarah to create her legendary textiles. She claims the device was a gift from "the pattern that underlies reality" and that it shows her possible futures through its weaving.

Many seek to steal the loom, but Madame Zarah's workshop is protected by deadly pattern-based traps that few can navigate.

The First Seed

Believed to be the last surviving seed from the World Tree mentioned in pre-collapse myths, the First Seed is kept in Elder Podra's sanctuary. It is said to contain the genetic blueprint for restoring the world's ecosystem.

The Gourdfolk League protects the seed with fanatical devotion. They believe that when the conditions are right, planting the seed will begin the "Second Blooming" - a restoration of the planet's fertility.

Multiple factions, including the Bio-Weavers and even some Technomancers, seek the seed for their own purposes, not all of them benevolent.