Crossroads

Created by

Sizzle65

Situated along the New Silk Road running through the ruined portions of Central Asia is the growing city state of Crossroads Proper. Founded after the Cataclysm that destroyed all life in the region, and plagued by monsters from the tenuous reality of the Retribution Wastes on the northern border, Crossroads rests on a wild, untamed desert. The city is fed by the Retribution River, which pours from the wastes, and is the only reliable source of water for miles around. A few hamlets, such as the Zhang Farmstead, lie along the river, which strive to ensure a stable food supply for the Crossroads region. While food and water flow into the city, trade flows through it. Little of the trade actually remains in the region for long due to the stream of traders not wishing to dawdle in the Crossroads more than they need to, though that is in fact changing, as the locals are beginning to find ways to harvest the monsters for useful materials that are improving their quality of life, which is helping towards a trend of improved commerce.   Being a wild city of only around 10,000, Crossroads has only minor governmental services, and no military to speak of, with most of the authority in the region being various religious institutions as missionaries and temples abound, and more stream ever into the region.   From the north, the Russian-backed initiatives of the Orthodoxy monks march into the region, carrying their crosses and their claims of control.   From the east, the endless Shintoists caravans stream into the region, sent under decree of the Emperor himself to state the spirits and repair the retribution.   From the south, the Daoists traders glide into the region, selling supplies and starting settlements.   From the west, the Catholic crusaders lunge into the region, rants of repentance delivered on voices of violence.   From all over, the Protestant industrialists From Pennies to Penance Foundation of the British Empire saunter into the region, proclaiming progress while capitalizing and exploiting the region’s cryptids.   Though those are the primary religions present in Crossroads, one need not look far to find representatives of other religions such as Judaism, Islam, Caodaism, and Buddhism.   Most of the religions believe the Retribution and its beasts are divine punishment having brought about due to the Cataclysm, and each religion typically blames the others for interfering with the healing of the scars of the Retribution. As such, open and biased bloodshed is common. However, the continued need to monitor the borders of the Retribution for intrusions of horrors prevents the bloodshed from getting too out of hand. Should any beast spawn from the destabilized reality, unorganized bands of cowboys and religious warriors rally to hunt them down for the sake of the Crossroads and promised coin.

The Cataclysm was the result of a war between Russia and China. In the early 1830s unrest in the Kazakh regions of the Russian empire led to a rebellion. The Tzar sent forces down to pacify the region, and began to win the battle against Kazakh’s liberation. In desperation, Kazakh revolutionaries called on Chinese aid. Having been previously drawn out of their isolation by the increasing attempts of the British to force trade upon them, and a coup that instilled an expansionist Emperor in the Forbidden Palace, China responded, secretly hoping to conquer the region for themselves. This lead to a bloody war between China and Russia, ultimately culminating in the deployment of an unusual weapon of mass destruction, one that destroyed all life in the region in what is now called the Cataclysm, and created the unstable reality of the Retribution Wastes in the northern part of the devastation.   Russia and China both claimed the other deployed the weapon that caused the Cataclysm, leading many to speculate on which power actually used the weapon and how such a weapon came to be in the first place. Soon, the locals on the edge of the wastes began to report sightings of nightmarish horrors spewing forth from the Retribution into the now lifeless region. On the northern side of the wastes, these beasts are successfully held back by contingents of soldiers stationed at forts along the new Russian border.   With the unusual properties of the Retribution Wastes, the beasts that pour into the world, and the mystery surrounding the weapon, many religions have taken the Cataclysm to be a religious omen. The most common interpretations include the Cataclysm being either divine retribution for the folly of man, or spirits angered by the continued fighting. Either way, with the rise of worshipers and the steady decline of trust for any governing body, these religious groups quickly gained influence.   Thus, Orthodox and Daoist missionaries flooded the region, hoping to heal the Retribution. These were followed by a call from the papacy for a new crusade to repent for the Retribution, along with a decree by the Japanese Empire for Shintoists to be sent to call the spirits and organize a presence in the region. They claimed a plot of land at the point where the Retribution River flows from the wastes, and established the shrine-fortress of Lyashino Yōsai.   With the influx of missionaries and resources flooding into the region, trade routes along the settlements have begun to form, collectively being referred to as the New Silk Road. Most of the trade comes from the harvesting of the unusual properties of the horrors found in the region, although food and building materials are a common stable of said trade. The trade expanded massively once Daoists found a type of man-sized carnivorous worm that produces vast quantities of a silk-like substance, which it uses to bind its victims. The New Silk Road is named after this silk trade, and has caused the locals to jokingly call this substance “New Silk”.   This newfound trade has caused yet another group to enter the fray: the Protestant industrialists of the British Empire, who work tirelessly to find new ways to harvest and refine the monster byproducts in the name of profit.   Thus, by the year of 1860, the conflicts between the religions, between Russia and China, and between the missionaries and the industrialists are only growing and it is feared that they will soon be coming to a violent, even cataclysmic, head.