The Drowned Wilds

Located along the thumb and eastern shoreline of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, encompassing the remnants of Port Huron, Lexington, Sandusky, and pushing into Marlette and Cass City, this region was once lush farmland and coastal forest.   Now it is known as The Drowned Wilds — a perilous, forbidding no-go zone under strict quarantine, where danger lurks at every turn.

Physical Environment:

Decades ago, the Great Lakes rose unnaturally, inundating the area and drowning entire counties under brackish, tainted water. This catastrophic event led to the creation of The Drowned Wilds as we know it today.   Dense fog rises daily from the land, thickest at dawn and twilight.   The remaining land is mottled wetland, dead forests, and salt-slick grass plains, bordered by blackened marshes and canals.   The terrain of The Drowned Wilds is a constant source of danger, shifting unexpectedly. Maps cannot be relied on, as land collapses into sinkholes or is reshaped by creeping, bioluminescent fungus networks.

Ecosystem & Interactions:

Soil and water are toxic to most introduced species.   Native organisms have mutated symbiotically — fungi and animal hybrids dominate, creating mycelial communication webs through the soil.   Trees like Blightcedars filter the toxic air, their roots forming flesh-colored tubers that hum faintly when stepped on.   Pollinators are blind, echolocating, and often symbiotic with spore-producing plants.

“Whispers in the Slough” — a low-frequency hum only heard in deep marshes; prolonged exposure causes auditory hallucinations, often leading people to walk into the mud until they vanish.   Time Collapse Zones — scattered locations where time loops or stutters, plants bloom in seconds, and people age decades in minutes.   Light Bleeds — Unnatural glows emerging from tree trunks or abandoned buildings; light seems to seep out of objects, and shadows behave independently.   The Hollow Choir — Every equinox, a harmonic soundscape emanates across the region, without a known source. Survivors claim it feels like being observed by something beneath the earth.

Climate and Long-Term Weather:

Perpetual overcast skies — the sun is rarely visible. Summer temperatures barely exceed 65°F (18°C). Winters are longer and harsher than in surrounding regions: temperatures fall to -30°F (-34°C) with crystalline snow that doesn't melt in direct heat.

Localized weather phenomena:

Static storms: Black clouds crackle with white, silent lightning that melts glass but leaves flesh unscathed.
  Salt drizzles: Rainfall with a saline content 10x higher than ocean water — corrodes metal and stunts growth.
  Zero-winds: Moments when all air movement ceases, sometimes causing levitation of fine debris — always a precursor to supernatural phenomena.

Flora

Glassvine: A transparent, fibrous plant that grows across water surfaces, snapping shut around movement. Believed to "sense" electromagnetic fields.
  Ash-root Bramble: Thorny ground creeper that burns cold when injured, covering intruders in hallucinogenic pollen.
  Mirefruit: Bioluminescent berry-bearing bush, only edible to native animals. Humans develop internal fungal growth after ingestion.

Fauna:

Lureherons: Birdlike creatures that mimic human voices to trap prey. Their beaks are translucent and glow faintly.
  The Hollow Marrow Elk: A skeletal, luminescent cervid communicating in harmonic moans. These Elk act as both apex predator and eerie guardian, often seen just before natural disasters, such as predicting sinkholes before they appear. They are immune to firearms.
  Cinder Foxes: Nocturnal scavengers that leave behind glowing paw prints and spontaneously combust upon death.

Pre-Dystopia:

The region was part of a failed bioengineering megaproject in the late 21st century — an attempt to terraform eastern Michigan into a self-sustaining ecosystem following freshwater shortages and agricultural collapse.   Experiments using myco-synthetic biointelligence were deployed across farms and lakes.   A series of quakes in 2082 split part of the Michigan Thumb off from the mainland, forming inland seawater deltas and triggering "The Drowning".

Post-Drowning Collapse:

Survivors formed cult-like communes that worshipped the strange lifeforms.   An entity called “The Deep Kin” or “Mother of Spores” began appearing in communal folklore, and it was said to dwell beneath the old riverbeds.   The government cordoned off the area in 2091; “Black Zone 6” was declared, and no entry is permitted without genetic and cognitive implants to resist environmental influence.   Technocratic ruins and old biotech towers still rise in the distance, covered mainly in growth and impossible to approach due to EM interference and mental disorientation.

Tourists and visitors are not welcome to The Drowned Wilds as militarized drones patrol the outer edges and secretive research stations monitor spore activity, climate flux, and "entity drift".   Smugglers and rogue scientists enter seeking rare compounds (e.g., Heartmoss, used in neurotherapy).   It is rumored that a neo-religious sect lives deep within, sustained by the ecosystem, and perhaps no longer human.