Chapter 9: The Atlas

“You ride too far, and you’ll see things no man oughta. The sky’ll hang wrong, the dirt’ll whisper your name, rivers’ll crawl uphill just to spite the rules of nature. So if you’re plannin’ to last longer’n a week, best you learn the landmarks. They ain’t just places — they’re teeth and bones in the body of a land that don’t want you.” — Old Pete Carver, Rustwater Barkeep

The Frontier is not one place. It is five — five distinct regions where the Veil thinned in five distinct ways, breeding five distinct ecologies of horror. The towns are sieges. The roads are arteries that bleed when cut. This chapter is the GM’s map.

The detailed region, settlement, and landmark files live in their respective collections. This chapter is the overview — a region-by-region tour, the mechanics of travel between them, and notes on running exploration play.

The Five Killing Grounds

The Ash Belt

Industrial wasteland northwest of Rustwater: toxic air, perpetual gray haze, dead petrified forests, abandoned mining towns. Controlled by the Consortium, who keep mining despite air that’s unbreathable to anyone not born to it. The Circle of Ash hides in its smoke. Its threats are products of industrial death — Glass-Walkers (silent crystalline predators), Hollow Men, and the building-sized Ley-Engines that pump the Current like oil.

Primary hazards: the air itself (the Filter Rule — GRIT + Resilience TN 11 per hour without a filter mask, or take 1 Strain and a lingering cough), toxic water (drinking it unfiltered costs 1 Erosion), and permanent smog that caps visibility at Near range. A week unprotected earns Miner’s Lung — a permanent −1 to your Strain Cap.

Major settlement: Rustwater — the Consortium hub, Sheriff Crowe’s town, and the starting town for most campaigns.

The Scorchveil

The deep desert, southwest: 120°F at noon, below freezing at midnight, semi-sentient sand that shifts to bury the unwary or expose ruins. Controlled by the Dust Vultures, who sail the dunes on wind-driven skiffs. Its Veil-Born are dust-things — Ashborn (storm-spirits that reform unless killed by water or magic) and Mirages (Current illusions that cost Strain to interact with).

Primary hazards: the Sun Tax (heat that punishes daytime travel), thirst (water consumption doubles — 2 rations of water per day), navigation (maps are unreliable; the deep desert demands a Seer or a Lodestone Compass), and The Shifting (a failed daily Frontier check adds 1d3 days to the journey).

Major settlement: Greystone (an Ironbrand-protected cliff-town on the mesa edge, reachable only by steam-winch lift). Major landmark: Ojo del Diablo — a 20-mile sinkhole lake, a Stable Breach where time runs sideways.

The Stormrise Bluffs

Jagged highlands under permanent storm clouds, northeast. Lightning hunts. The Metal Rule: wearing AR 2+ armor during a storm means rolling 1d6 every hour and taking 4d6 lightning damage on a 1 (usually fatal). Its Veil-Born are weather entities — chief among them the Stormcallers, Boss-tier riders of blue lightning that hunt anything moving fast.

Primary hazards: lightning, The Hum (saturating static inflicts −2 dice to Psionic Focus checks), and Acoustics of the Dead (canyon walls carry sound for miles; base Stealth TN 15).

No major towns, only outposts (like Lathrop, built atop a Ley-Line crossing where gravity runs at 80%). The Bluff Roads are the only navigable routes, and they require a guide (§15/day).

The Graven Plain

Vast open grassland, eastern Frontier, where the rolling “hills” are burial mounds and the bones beneath are the size of houses. Faction presence is split between the Circle of Ash (at Palomera) and Redeemer patrols burning what shouldn’t walk. Its threats are the reverent dead — Corpse-Candles, Walking Dead, and the Stone Circles that amplify any magic cast within them (+1 Rank effect, but doubled Backlash).

Primary hazards: The Humming (at dusk the bones thrum — ECHO + Resilience TN 11 or take 1 Strain and lose the night’s sleep) and The Sleepwalker’s Curse (sleeping on bare ground risks walking toward the nearest mound).

Major settlement: Palomera (a Circle of Ash town — see below). Major landmark: Bell-in-the-Black — a 50-foot obsidian monolith that tolls during storms; those who hear it must make ECHO TN 13 or carry a week-long Suggestion.

The Fen

Endless brackish swamp where all the water goes and the Veil is thinnest. Time runs differently here. A day’s journey can take a week, or an hour. No faction holds it; the Fen does not tolerate authority. Its Veil-Born are drowned things — Fen-Wraiths (who would rather bargain than fight, at first) and water-logged Walking Dead.

Primary hazards: time slip (1d6/day for hours unpredictably lost or gained), Rot (food spoils fast, metal rusts overnight, wounds infect at double rate), and The Bargain (Fen-Wraiths offer trades — some even honest).

Major settlement: Bellhaven (a waystation on stilts; Mother Elaine, a Flesh Shaper, treats Fen-Rot in exchange for favors). Other settlement: Mournstead (a town overshadowed by a cemetery three times its size).

Major Settlements at a Glance

The full settlement files are the canonical source. Key reference:

• Rustwater (Ash Belt rim): Consortium hub, ~3,000 souls. Sheriff Crowe. The default starting town.
• Orvain (eastern Ash Belt, rail terminus): the Consortium’s regional capital and the Rail Baron’s seat.
• Palomera (Graven Plain): a Circle of Ash town and Seer lodge (Elder Rhun’s seat) — one of the only places to obtain Psionic gear, Grimoires, and Flesh-Shaper healing, all traded in service rather than Scrip.
• Greystone (Scorchveil edge, cliff-mesa): Ironbrand-protected, winch-lift access only. Strangers wait three days at the base to “prove they aren’t Ashborn.”
• Kessick (Ash Belt): a major Silver Line rail hub (~6,500 souls), perpetually contested between Consortium and Vultures.
• Bellhaven (Fen): a stilt-village, half-sanctuary and half-trap. ~1,200 souls.

Use settlements as hubs: places to resupply, take contracts, learn rumors, and recover between expeditions. Each has its own faction tensions, named NPCs, and economic specialties.

Cursed Landmarks

These are the canonical “what’s out there” reference points. Use them sparingly. They should feel mythic, not routine.

• Ojo del Diablo (Scorchveil): the 20-mile sinkhole lake — the site of the First Rupture and a Stable Breach. Time dilates near the shore (an hour there can be a day outside), animals won’t approach, and things come out of the black water.
• The Screaming Rails (Ash Belt, between Orvain and Kessick): a canyon stretch of Silver Line track where the rails themselves scream — audible for miles (ECHO TN 9 per hour of exposure or take 1 Strain). Trains that pass through move 50% faster under time compression, and their passengers must resist hallucinating the deaths of the workers who built the line (ECHO TN 11).
• Red Mother’s Teeth (Stormrise Bluffs): crimson, fang-like cliffs that bleed a coppery fluid — “Red Mother’s Milk” — when lightning strikes. Drinking it grants +2 dice to Melee damage and immunity to pain for an hour, paid for with 2 Erosion and a berserker check when it fades. Addictive after three uses.

The Five Powers

The factions are detailed in the faction files. The thumbnail orientation:

• Orvain Consortium — rails, Scrip, ghost-rock mining. The cause of the Rupture. The architects of “progress at any price.”
• Dust Vultures — nomadic raiders of the Scorchveil. Wind-skiffs. They’ve forgotten how to be towns and remembered how to be free.
• Redeemers — a fanatic religious order. They burn Psionics and the Veil-touched alike. “Fire purifies. Salt preserves. Iron binds.”
• Circle of Ash — an underground network of scholars and mystics who study the Veil and run sanctuaries for Hollows. “The Veil is not a wall. It is a door.”
• Ironbrands — mercenary professionals in steam-assisted Hardsuits. They take any contract and break none. “Cold steel. Cold cash. No questions.”

Most campaigns hinge on the tensions between these five. Pick two who hate each other; the players are caught in the middle. Pick one who’s hiring; the players take the work. Pick one who’s hunting them; the players run.

Travel Mechanics

The Journey Check

When traveling through dangerous territory, the Guide (the character with the highest Frontier skill in the party) rolls daily:

Pool: SAVVY + Frontier. TN: varies by pace (below).

Pace Modifiers

Cautious doubles your time but halves your danger; Fast does the reverse. Most cross-country travel uses Normal. The choice to deviate is itself a narrative beat.

Travel Routes

The five major routes (full table in travel-summary):

Resource Consumption

Deprivation

Camp Security

Full setup takes 30 minutes and at least one security measure:

• Salt Circle (1 Salt Pouch): prevents spirit intrusion, and is required for the Tension Pool to clear overnight in supernatural territory.
• Watch Rotation: Awareness checks to spot approaching threats.
• Fire: +2 TN for predators to approach; visible for miles.
• No Fire: −2 to Awareness at night; less visible to enemies.

Without a salt circle in supernatural territory, the Tension Pool does not clear overnight and you get no Strain recovery from rest. Salt is cheap. Veterans never run out of salt.

Running Exploration

A good exploration session balances three things in tension: mapping (where are we?), resourcing (what do we have?), and encountering (what wants us dead?).

Set the pace. Make the players declare it. Cautious or Fast? The choice is theirs; the consequences are yours to deliver.

Use the Tension Pool during travel: every hour in dangerous territory adds a die, every Fumbled Journey Check adds a die. The pool grows, the players watch it grow, and the pressure builds even when nothing has visibly happened. Most exploration days should pass uneventfully. Save the encounters for the days the Tension rolls. The contrast is the point.