Our Narrative Focus

The Wailing Shores offer a harsh, unyielding section of the Dystopia Rising world where players face survival rather than leadership. Set within the desolate remnants of Connecticut’s New London coastline, this setting fuses bleak maritime culture with themes of silver-age horror. The Wailing Shores have transformed into isolated islands, marshes, and necrotic forests, shaped by radiation and the Infection. These islands are divided among resilient strongholds, isolated islet communities, and brutal coastside settlements, each with its unique laws, customs, and survivalist cultures.

Player should be aware that the political structures are powerful, almost immovable entities, defined by family rule, militant enforcement, and rigorous social codes. Island strongholds are overseen by influential families and the brutal military force, the Stormies, while smaller islets function more independently, with looser structures often resembling collective trades or unions. Across the Wailing Shores, survival and loyalty dominate, but idealism quickly fades as the region’s rigid hierarchies and unforgiving laws crush dissent and deviance.

Internal politics and threats are omnipresent. With clans and families, such as the Rawheads, Griswolds, and Merchant House of Harkness, vying for control over property and resources, tensions simmer and frequently ignite. Criminal organizations, like Murder Inc., operate in the shadows, contributing to the chaotic and ruthless environment. Meanwhile, the ocean itself remains a constant adversary, harboring aquatic undead, and the mainland is plagued with mutated creatures and toxic landscapes that discourage exploration and settlement.

For players, this setting means brutal combat, the need for adaptation, and acceptance of a world where even the most steadfast values are eroded by reality. They exist within this brutal hierarchy, where change is agonizingly slow, and survival is often the only reward.

Players in the Wailing Shores can expect the following:

• Intense Survival Focus: Combat and survival are daily struggles, with an ever-present threat from mutated creatures, undead hordes, and hostile factions. Characters must be resourceful, physically tough, and mentally prepared for continuous danger.

• Rigid Political Hierarchies: Players exist within a world controlled by powerful families and slow-to-change political structures. Idealism and reform are often stifled by unyielding traditions and entrenched authority.

• Player Influence within Boundaries: While players' actions impact their immediate surroundings and may sway local events, the overarching structures of the Wailing Shores change slowly, if at all. Leadership roles are typically kept at mid-to lower local leadership roles with the highest ranks out of reach for players. Players, for the most part are portraying the inhabitants rather than regional decision-makers. This allows for staff to encourage complex stories based on player actions and guide the narrative in a way to increase or decrease internal tension as needed.

• Low Technology and Isolation: With unreliable electricity and limited technology due to radiation, players rely on simpler, robust tools and skills for survival. Advanced technology is scarce, and communication with the outside world is minimal.

• Necrotic and Mutated Environment: The landscape is dotted with necrotic forests, radioactive marshes, and islands shaped by the Infection, where mutated plants and creatures present significant and strange environmental hazards.