The Badlands

The Badlands

A rocky and scrubby region with desert plants, wildlife, and unique rock formations. It is a region of diverse landscapes, with rugged terrain, canyons, and cliffs, and it is home to hardy flora and fauna adapted to the arid conditions. The Badlands intersect The Dust where once-mighty mountain ranges stood.  

Features

 

The Deepwell Archives

  The Deepwell Archives, locked behind the equivalent of a nuclear silo’s level of security, maintained by a small group of archivists and guards they hire. It’s the single largest collection of LightDrives and MagTapes since the Cataclysm, or Karithat-Aldawi. It’s behind several layers of meters-thick interlocking plates, multiple high-caliber automated turrets, and a very, very deep refactored silo, powered by an arrayed RTG.   Nobody but the archivists are allowed into the silo itself and they’re authenticated with multi-factor biometrics. Data can be purchased at the surface compound and retrieved. Similarly, LightDrives and MagTapes of significant importance can be sold to the Deepwell Archivists. Nobody is even allowed in the processing area at the surface compound without armed escorts and at least two Archivists in tow. The data brought to the Deepwell Archives is often very well compensated for.   The location is situated in the Badlands near the Vertebra, and it has an imposing structure situated at its entrance. Its location is naturally defensible with a singular entry point and it is bristling with automated defenses that can be enabled in the event of an emergency.  

The Yawning Maw

  The largest known entrance to The Deep, The Yawning Maw sits at the edge of The Badlands. At one point a giant dwarven excavator had broken into The Deep, collapsing a hive queen's chamber and crushing her, initiating a blood feud between the dwarves and the aphorini colony below. This lasted right up until the Cataclysm, which decimated the dwarven operations in the area. The aphorini then reclaimed it for their own. It has become an exchange point between roving clans and the aphorini for their resources.  

Inhabitants of The Badlands

  Avundari   Chirals   Dragonborn   Drakaan   Dwarves   Goblins    

Monsters Unique to The Badlands

  Dead-Dropper   A weird and somewhat pale reptilian creature that creates lighter-than-air gases to fill its membranous bladders which lift it up into the sky, and positions its legs and claws in such a way that it can basically pencil-dive on its prey from above, piercing whatever it might consider its next meal in the process. They're relatively small but they can still pose a threat to individuals. Can sometimes be found in groups lifting off before a dust storm sweeps up.   Desert Angler   A giant arthropod (about the size of an SUV) that uses its tail to create the illusion of edible desert plants to lure prey to its location. It then springs up and coats its targets with an immobilizing mucus, to drag it back into its den which is covered by a trap door made of bonded sand.   Laash-Sangraahat (lit. Corpse Collector) लाश-संग्राहक   Otherwise known as Kafani-Almawt (lit. Death Shroud) - the Laash-Sangraahat is a hematophagous aberrant humanoid creature mutated from the Karithat-Aldawi's fallout that stalks the badlands at night. It feeds on the life force of those that it finds to magically recharge its strange abilities. The creature has unnaturally long limbs with vicious claws and often walks on all fours. It possesses eyes that shine when gazed upon beneath its shroud. Its body is almost never seen as it attaches dessicated remnants of the dead to itself as armor which sway like puppets from its form. Charged with necromantic energies, it may also briefly animate the dead it carries to fool prey or even attack its quarry. It steals the songs of those it has drained and sings them in the desert to lure its victims with an eerie mockery of life. There is a belief that prayers must be said if the creature has been seen so as to avoid one's soul becoming trapped on this plane of existence. One such prayer is: "'Iinaa ladunya wa'iinaa 'iilaa dunya rajieun" to slake the creature's thirst for life and allow one’s Ka to return to Dunia.   Stun-Raptor   An intelligent eyeless theropod-like monster that unfurls its frill and causes a biological reaction with glands in its mouth to activate its photophores and generate a flashbang-like effect. It hunts in packs. They're found in The Badlands and The Dust.  

Native Fauna

  Golden Wheel Spider   A species of huntsman spider native to the desert and badlands that rolls up into a ball to get away from predators like wasps, at speeds of up to 44 revolutions per second. If translated to the relative scale of a car tire, it would be moving 350 km/h. It also uses a silk-lined burrow to protect itself.   Grenadier Pseudocactus (Fajir Khata-Sabaar)   A mutant variant of the Desert Jeevit (Treant) that is capable of launching barbs at opponents, but also deploys its 'Cactus Pears' like grenades when threatened. These barbs can detonate the Cactus Pears in a relatively small radius.   Marathon Mouse (Dauta-Choohar)   The Marathon Mouse is a hardy desert rodent that makes its home during the day in the rocky outcroppings found throughout The Badlands.   Roller Beetle (Kori-Kori)   The Roller Beetle rolls up to evade predators similarly to the Golden Wheel Spider. It mostly feeds on detritus and fungi, and is primarily terrestrial. Its flight capabilities are really limited. It will stand on its head in a sort of handstand pose to channel dew in the morning to its mouth. Despite its sandy tone, it has an iridescent elytra.