Shame Place
Shame Place is the only consistently inhabited area in Pitts North. It is the home of a mysterious church that the locals use whenever they emerge from the water to perform cultish rituals. While it seems creepy on the outside, the true horrors lie beneath the foundations of the church.
To any would-be explorers of Shame Place, be forewarned; the fish people who guard the entrance are not fond of strangers. They speak an unidentifiable language more akin to guttural growls than speech, and are quick to pick up arms if anybody from outside their clan attempts to approach. The monstrous swamp creatures slithering about the place also have a tendency for swallowing visitors of Shame Place whole. One would do best to avoid coming near the area, unless you know exactly what you're swimming into.
Massive subterranean tunnels excavated over the centuries lay underneath the whole of Pitts North, main entrance to these caverns is within the church in Shame Place. Very few have ever escaped the tunnel system alive, let alone with their sanity intact. Survivors often tell stories of the thousands of bodies, from humans who died digging long before the collapse of the world, littering the floors and walls of the caverns. One account claimed that the walls were pulsing with an almost cardio-rhythmic pattern.
Some believe the fish people are still digging within the tunnels, though no-one knows exactly what they are digging for. The inhabitants don’t appear to adorn themselves with anything, so material pleasures like gold, diamonds or other precious minerals don’t seem like they would be very enticing. Perhaps the digging is a part of their religion, though that is still up for debate as no one has been able to successfully infiltrate one of their ceremonies, although some have tried.
One individual claims he and his brother accidentally wound up in Shame Place by riding along the river in a homemade dinghy after being trapped in Fenfield. It was the dead of night and the moon was full, a thick soupy fog covered the marsh and the two brothers drifted silently though the waters of Pitts North. They rowed as quietly as they could through the forsaken village, but they were enticed by dim lights within the church. That’s when they began to hear the chanting. Synchronized rasping voices from within the church building were rising, louder and louder. The individual recalled the sound of the voices had enraptured his brother and him. At that moment the brother, as if hypnotized, dove out of the boat and swam over to the swamp church, possibly to get a better look at what was going on. Upon entering the building, the chanting stopped abruptly and turned quickly into hysterical screams from the fish people. While the surviving brother couldn’t recall exactly what happened after that point, he could remember seeing the shadows of his brother being torn apart dance across the marshy waters to the beat of the cultish chant.
Demographics
People with fishlike mutations. Some are more fishlike than others, but all eventually turn.
Government
The fish people work as one to keep any intruders out of the area. There is no formal government, but nobody other than the fishmen are allowed to breathe within Shame Place.
Defences
The inhabitants of Shame Place wield crude fishing tools such as spears, tridents, and nets to attack invaders. Although the residents are fairly primitive militants, the waters of Pitts North house monstrous water creatures that will attack anything other than the fish people with their mutated jaws, tentacles, and other appendages.
Industry & Trade
The people of Shame Place do not communicate with the outside let alone trade.
Infrastructure
Shame Place houses an ancient church, the largest standing structure within Pitts North. Within this church lies the entrance to a massive subterranean labyrinth, mostly flooded from the waters in the marsh above. All other structures in Shame Place are ramshackle huts which appear to have only been used by a group of settlers from long ago.
Guilds and Factions
Fish People.
History
The tunnels existed long before the end of the world. But when the Maelstrom came to Old Rochester, it dropped the ancient church upon the only known entrance. Since then, the mutagenic energy of the Maelstrom has turned this land into a dreadful swamp full of terrifying water creatures and fish people.
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