The Evergrace Combat Geology Core
This ties in with the articles on Wrackstone dungeons, and explains at least one response to this particular natural hazard. I cheated a bit in making the squads too small to actually clear the dungeons themselves, requiring mercenaries (i.e. PCs). I could go on about how it's easier to move quickly in small numbers or the vast amount of territory to cover, but the truth is that the corp is meant as a potential character background and a ready-made framing device for getting the PCs to a wrackstone dungeon while providing exposition that explains the stakes.
I added the "potential corruption" angle at the end because it seemed a potentially interesting plot twist, but be careful about overusing it. The "Oh my gosh, the inquisitor is actually working FOR chaos," shtick is massively overdone in, for example, the 40k universe, and I think it strains plausibility that an organization meant to contain this stuff doesn't have that problem largely contained, or they wouldn't be able to exist in the first place.
Just over 50 years old, the Evergrace Combat Geology Core (ECGC) is an elite rapid-response agency which dispatches teams highly skilled in both advanced military tactics and the study of geology. The organization’s mandate stems from the eruption of Mount Harbinger a little over 60 years ago, a volcanic event that launched mass quantities of stone and ash into the atmosphere that, possibly because of the high level of contamination by wrack energy, continue to descend at irregular intervals.
One of the most dangerous forces on Lens is wrack energy, a kind of living radiation that embodies chaos by warping surrounding reality. Though Wrackstorms sometimes spread this energy to other parts of the planet, most Wrack energy generally stayed confined to the Southern Wastes and the Eastern Badlands. That changed 60 years ago, when Mount Harbinger erupted. Near the farthest edges of the explored badlands, the explosive force of the mountain’s awakening spread wrack-corrupted earth and stone high into the atmosphere.
Aftter one of the corrupted motes of earth have landed at irregular intervals, they being forming a wrackstone dungeon, corrupting and consuming nearby animals, plants and minerals into twisted, chaotic, mutant, aggressive versions of themselves.
Initially those sent to clear Wrackstone Dungeons tried simply smashing the dungeon’s “cores,” as this seemed to solve the problem. It gradually became clear, however, that not only did such cores reform after being destroyed, they seemed to grow more deeply ingrained into the surrounding landscape from having been “scattered” and further integrated into the surrounding soil.
The Evergrace Combat Geology Core has two mandates: to locate Wrackstone dungeons whenever one of the abnormal meteors descends, and to work with local law enforcement to reach the center of the dungeon and “disentangle” the core from the surrounding earth so that it can be safely transported back to the Badlands, or in the case of some smaller specimens back to the city for further study.
Units typically consist of three person teams: a Ranger skilled at tracking and astronomy, to locate the downed meteorite; a druid knowledgeable about earth magic to actually perform the “disentangling” and a team leader responsible for liaisoning with local officials and recruiting sufficient muscle to get the three of them into the center of the dungeon, usually in the form of adventurers and other mercenaries.
The mission of these units is complicated by several factors. First, not all localities believe them when they explain their purpose, and even a small unit of foreign military operatives will cause tension anytime the corp must operate outside the borders of Evergrace. Second, since the existence and nature of the Wrackstone meteors is not common knowledge, convincing locals that there’s a problem can be difficult until people actually start dying from the effects of the dungeon, and even then particularly xenophobic communities might well turn around and blame these “outsiders,” for the problem in the first place.
One Corp commander once compared foreign field operations to “being a doctor assigned to cut a tumor out of someone who thought you were there to murder them with a scalpel.” The corp often operates in secret for this very reason, quietly enlisting the aid of adventurers or trustworthy seeming locals to prevent a massive disaster that could catch the community unawares.
There have also been (unconfirmed) rumors of the odd extraction team being corrupted by wrack energy themselves. While the study of wrack energy and related materials is heavily regulated in all civilized areas, what better cover to conduct experiments with such substances than being embedded in a team tasked with retrieving wrackstone from locations away from prying eyes? Familiarity also breeds contempt, and even some well-meaning druids, alchemists and wizards grow to believe that they can control wrack energy, and often learn too late that their hubris can give the malevolent and chaotic force an even more powerful vessel with which to sow destruction.
Type
Containment/Hazmat
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