Dusters by Blazbaros on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Separating the bustling Murrikan kingdoms and the mountainous lands of Norad is a vast wasteland. Naught but sand and heat, the Roastlands would be avoided by most. However there were those who would survive and thrive in it, using strange and unconventional means.

The Dusters

This exploration of the desert begins with the Dusters. In an attempt to escape a yet unknown enemy, a group of humans lost themselves in the Roastlands, destined to die and their bones bleached by the sun. In defiance of their fate, they constructed suits for themselves, a wearable water trap that collects and filters moisture given off by the body. While this aided them in survival, the great sandstorms that could tear flesh off bone were still a threat.

In an effort to adapt, the Dusters looked to the giant dune bug. They were large insectoid creatures that would bury themselves at first sight of a sandstorm, only their shells sticking out the ground. Their shells were impervious to the effects of the storm; the perfect protection the Dusters were looking for. The dune bugs were hunted for their shells and their meat, but this was not an easy task. There was a reason why they were known as the giant dune bug, being six feet at the shoulder. They had terrible tempers and vicious, multilayered mandibles for shredding flesh. Only through careful practice and cunning did the Dusters master wrangling any sort of dune bug. With the shell-overlaid-suit, humans were able to live effortlessly outside of their enclaves.

A Duster society, while primarily human, has accepted non human members in recent years. Anyone willing to change to the traditions and culture of the Duster are warmly welcomed, provided they can give back to the enclave in the form of some skill or talent. It is not uncommon to see a close knit group of various species working together for survival. Freeloaders are quickly abandoned.

A constant among Dusters are their bright, almost glowing blue eyes. Outsiders believe that they are under some sort of spell or infection, but in reality it is from a steady diet of dune bug meat. It does not provide any physiological advantage, but Dusters use it as an identifying mark. The shade of blue and the intensity of the glow can point out which enclave a Duster belongs to.

The Enclaves

While there are dozens of familial enclaves, all are tied in one way or another to one of the major ones. There names are reflective of their armour paint, along with a totem animal that epitomizes their traditions and beliefs.

Purple Spiders: Secretive and crafty, they like to lure their prey and entrap them in well laid ambushes. Adornments include petrified sand spider legs on their armour to mimic their appearance.

Blue Snakes: With ties to the Afro Order, the Snakes have developed a martial art with liquid movements with quick, devastating strikes.

Green Scorpions: A rather disliked enclave known for their use of toxic weapons made from great scorpion stingers.

Yellow Rabbits: Known for their swiftness and nonaggression. They are the largest clan that claims a single, nigh impenetrable fortress called the Warren.

Orange Hawks: An ever watchful clan that polices the others, especially the Red Vultures.

Red Vultures: An aggressor in most cases, the Vultures look for easy prey, whether outsider or duster. They adorn their armour with feathers and bird skulls, while their eye marker leans toward a purples blue shade.

Other Denizens

Orcoids, being the intrepid survivalists as they are, count themselves as one of the Dusters' rivals. While they are new and haven't mastered the finer points of suit tech, their resilience and determination can nearly put them on par. Instead of living off the desert, they live off of those foolish enough to wander in, along with unwary Dusters. These orcoids are usually criminals or outcasts from Murrika, most often of a vile sort. The Fomors, especially, use the northern desert as a proving grounds for their young fighters.

Orc strongholds are built up on the eastern mountainsides along the borders to Silphan and Murrika. Many of them are under the control of paid mercenaries, but some are under the command of a rogue warlord.

Slavers from the Kingdom of Ash, made up of self-serving Nains, often run their smoke belching vehicles into the desert. They seek to capture anyone and everyone that enters their crosshairs and even then they sometimes just engage in sport. While they do not have any permanent holdings, they do set up mobile slave camps and caravans on the backs of their polluting machinery.

Out of the Great White North come all sorts of barbaric tribes and peoples. They hear tales of lands of green and wish to conquer it. Their crossing of the desert can be quite devastating, both to themselves and the creatures living in it.

Watch Posts from Norad dot some western edges of the desert. They are in good relations with the Dusters, offering trade and the like between them. Joint ventures to an uncovered city are often made together with people from Norad.

Ecology

Giant dune bugs were not the only issue in the Roastlands. While there are not many plants in the desert, the Creeping Devil is something to be feared on the borders of Norad. Though they appear harmless and stationary, Creeping Devils slowly shuffle towards prey every time it turns its sight away. Blinking is akin to a deadly countdown as the tree-like entity approaches until close enough to smother smaller creatures in its tangling leaves. Their actual trunks are quite thin, but are shielded by dangerous foliage and the dozens, potentially hundreds of drained corpses they eventually gather.

Creeping Devils produce a high-quality oil as a by-product of their feeding habits and are sometimes farmed for it, an exceedingly dangerous task. It is best to lure one away before extraction. The Dusters use this oil to run some of their machinery.

A variety of burd, called the dustburd, is known to briskly run across the sand on wide padded talons. It's speed and rather docile temperament make it a good mount for desert travellers. It feeds on snakes and small insects.

The sandspiders are medium sized predators that attack from sheltered burrows with a trapdoor. Some larger varieties with longer limbs hide in cliffs and canyons, making webbed dens in caves and crags. The Purple Spider enclave has domesticated a larger wasteland species for mounts and pets.

Great Scorpions are monolithic monstrosities that make their lairs inside the vanishing cities. While fully grown adults are rarely seen, many different sizes of their progeny can swarm and overwhelm parties of adventurers. Some have concluded that the lack of adults come from the theory that the newly spawned scorplets eat their dying parent.

Rocs are a legendary sight, those that see them are said to be destined to great fortune. Shamans of the Orange Hawk enclave see them as their spiritual guides and mystic forbearers, keeping the desert safe from the outside evils. It's said they make their roosts on the highest mountains of the Noradian range, but some say that they travel from even more distant lands, perhaps even across the sea.

Fire vipers are a relative to the lindwyrms, a flame breathing serpent that tunnels through the sand at great speed. Even after death, glands that make the fire still burn and the rib cage is used as an oven for blacksmithing. Black sand from a mountainous region can be melted in the fire viper oven, producing an exceptionally resilient material called Viperglass. This is used for all sorts of things, from lenses in dune suit helmets to melee weapons. While it may be transparent, its as tough as any metal.

Desert Treasures

After a particularly powerful sandstorm, the desert may reveal an ancient city of the old world. It is an exciting time for the Dusters, along with anyone else in the area, as this is a great opportunity to obtain Old World tech. Untouched for centuries, protected by the sand, vaults of tech can be recovered in near perfect working condition. But, like everything else in the Roastlands, this can come at a terrible price.

Old World cities have left over denizens in the form of metal guardians. They are robots, some meant to hunt, some meant to guard, others have gone haywire and attack everything. While many are mindless drones bent on a single command, a party of salvagers can come across a particularly smart machine. They are completely unpredictable, they can be helpful or benevolent at first, but can quickly become treacherous and malicious. Rewards override risk when searching an old city, anything found can be invaluable to an enclave.

Another legend the desert contains concerns some of the many floating islands above Urth. This one is said to hold a massive tree and a wild variety of plant life, all the way back from the time the Roastlands were green. It has yet to be seen, but some desert roamers have said that they have been caught in a great shadow when there is not a cloud in the sky. Those say that the island hides in the midst of the sun, so none may know of its true location. What lies up there is totally unknown, but that does not stop adventurers from trying to find it.