Pelaguros

From Shahara

Overview: Top of the World, Ma

The frozen country of Pelaguros lies North of the Unforgiving Lands of Auktishen. At first glance, one might presume that the country is in fact, a gigantic glacier. It is surrounded almost entirely by mountainous walls of ice, with only a few port towns hewn out to make contact with the Pelaguran people. They've always been relatively quiet to the majority of the world, believing war to be a waste of otherwise good resources. Staying warm and fed becomes infinitely more important than waging war for reasons no better than personal power or difference of opinion. Still, in the face of global war, they were forced to adapt some means of combat and use in the worldwide economy for the sake of survival. The people of Pelaguros closely resemble Spaniards- accent, mannerisms, and to some extent among more humanoid races, dark hair, dark eyes, and olive skin. They claim to have always been there, which puzzles biologists (particularly those observing evolution) to no end. They were the first country to venture into outer space. After the holocaust that took Hekaitor they poured all their spare resources into developing a satellite system to shoot down long-range missiles without causing harm to the rest of the world. They were quite successful in this venture, even going so far as to build the first space station and a unique trans-atmospheric shuttle to safeguard the skies. Unfortunately, these brilliant arctic people were struck by the Upheaval, the same as everyone else. They had no means of fighting back against trolls and devils made of ice, frost giants, and other such monsters. They had no way to cope with bloody snow and rain that polluted their few water supplies. Snow lichen alone decimated eighty percent of their food supplies. A few attempts to escape by air or sea were made, and all of them failed miserably against enormous fish, or mischievous mephits and elementals of ice. It is known that some people survived, but they have lost the ability to make contact with the outside world; their communication arrays smashed, radar facilities razed, and once amazing cities hewn into the ice destroyed. Athens made several attempts to send in aid, but to no avail.. Only one expedition has successfully penetrated past the ruined coastal towns that are overrun with frost-covered undead and other horrors. And they have not been heard from since. The lack of communication- magical or otherwise- leads many to believe that the few remaining Pelagurans are sadly on their own, doomed to slowly die off. A few optimists believe that the one successful expedition, which was composed of numerous spellcasters, have been too busy using their powers to safeguard the remaining civilized population to make contact.

Frozen Wonders

Before the Upheaval, Pelaguros sustained themselves quite well via ice-fishing, yak herding, and farming lichen and moss. With trade from such countries as Zipangu, Sharaha, and Pureacea, they were able to supplement themselves with other foodstuffs. Technology from the various world powers, particularly Gathyanjo, allowed them to experiment with biodomes where they could attempt farming in warm conditions to grow their own temperate-climate vegetation. In a post-Upheaval world, there is no longer any trade going in or out. Satellite recon suggests that their Biodome is still intact, sealed off from the rest of the country.. But no one has any idea if it too has become a breeding ground for monsters. At one point, they had a small but fierce military presence; their port cities supported one battleship and a few destroyers and several large land-based cannons each, but the real power lay in the air. Using state of the art radar technology, they had absolute mastery of their local airspace, combining this with aircraft specially designed to handle the cold temperatures and their trans-atmospheric shuttle- which was heavily armed with a vast array of missiles and even an experimental laser- they held little fear of invasion. The space station Atropos still hangs in stable orbit around the planet, but without supplies for the last three years.. A few say that the skeletons of the hundred some-odd crew must be laying up there, forever staring down and laughing at the fools below. Pelaguros was also attempting to construct a space elevator- a massive spire which would have gone from the ground up into space. The Upheaval ensured its destruction, and ruins of a formerly 1.5 mile high tower are scattered across the icy lands. Would-be adventurers could find all manner of riches here; abandoned, now derelict military facilities full of equipment and vehicles specially designed to operate in the cold environment, government treasuries in ice-covered castles of stone and brick, perhaps even the secrets to acquiring the trans-atmospheric shuttle that is somehow still lazily orbiting the planet with Atropos station. Of course, the livelier hazards of Pelaguros' altered environment make this challenge seem near suicidal without considerable support.

Tourism

Think of any post-apocalyptic environment, such as the game Fallout, or the Mad Max movies. Now cover it in ice and snow, replace mutants for monsters, surround it in mountains of ice, and you have the basic layout of Pelaguros. There are many places to find temporary shelter from the mundane and supernatural blizzards that regularly assault the landscape, and if you're lucky you'll find one of the remaining holdouts of civilization. But there is no place truly 'safe' to stay here, it is always preferable to be on the move before something smells you out and comes looking for a nice warm lunch..