The Basin
The Great Basin is still right where it's always been, but it's closer to the ocean now. The habitable parts of the basin have shrunk a bit, but there were never a lot of those to begin with. The Basin's main role today is to serve as an alternate route to the Lumberlands or the Coast for convoys who prefer relatively wide-open spaces to mountain switchbacks. The "relatively" there is the part that makes it dangerous, since the shadows of the fault-block mountain ranges that litter the flats make great hiding spots for raiders and the mostly flat, empty terrain in many parts of the basin means that roads are more of a nice perk than a necessity.
The Basin has a reputation for being inhabited by people who are too crazy to live anywhere else, but not quite crazy enough for The Coast. The southeastern section is home to an ongoing holy war between traditional and end-timer Mormons, the flats are home to cults of raiders and scavengers who prey on one another as much as they do passing convoys, and right in the middle of it all sits New Vegas, where Elvis Presley has proclaimed himself King.
The Basin has a reputation for being inhabited by people who are too crazy to live anywhere else, but not quite crazy enough for The Coast. The southeastern section is home to an ongoing holy war between traditional and end-timer Mormons, the flats are home to cults of raiders and scavengers who prey on one another as much as they do passing convoys, and right in the middle of it all sits New Vegas, where Elvis Presley has proclaimed himself King.
Geography
The Basin covers the western half of Utah, nearly all of Nevada, and parts of California, Oregon, and Idaho. The land here consists of dry ancient lake beds and salt flats separated by short, straight mountain ranges caused by the earth's crust being pulled apart.
Ecosystem
Ecology in the Basin is largely a factor of elevation. Most of the region is steppeland sprouting sagebrush, short grass, and the occasional wildflower. Lower elevations or often salt flats or lakebeds covered in desert shrubs. Slopes and hilltops are generally wetter and have milder weather, allowing for varying levels of greenery as well as reasonably clean water sources.
Localized Phenomena
The salt flats and dry lake beds of the basin offer both danger and temptation to travellers, offering time-saving shortcuts if the ground holds up but risking long delays if the crust cracks and dumps a vehicle into the muck just below the surface. Some marauder bands--who spend most of their time racing across the flats for vocational, recreational, or religious reasons--try to give themselves an advantage by luring or forceing convoys to leave the road and cut across the flats.
Climate
The Basin is cool in the winter and extremely hot in the summer, and dry year-around, but higher elevations tend to be milder and wetter.
Fauna & Flora
Scrub and sickly grass in most places, evergreen forests higher up. The wildlife here is mostly insects and small mammals, but wild herds of sheep, dear, and elk are also common.
Natural Resources
Salt, venison, Elvis Presley, leftover technology and gear from clandestine government test ranges and labs.
History
The people of the Basin spent a lot more time in isolation than those in most other parts of the Boomlands, which is why some people claim they're so interesting. In addition to the Holy Chuch of Jesus Christ of End Days Saints, the region has spawned more cults than
Tourism
While the Boomlands is still far too dangerous for leisure travel, Elvis has managed to turn New Vegas (formerly Elko, Nevada) into the closest thing modern America has to a destination. Most visitors to the city are mostly peopel from nearby regions or convoys traveling through, but as stories of the new Sin City have spread throughout the Boomlands, the phrase "maybe we should routee through Elko" has become a much more popular phrase than it ever was before the nukes dropped.
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