The Town of Barker Meadow, Lorado

Nestled in a mountain valley overlooking the eponymous Barker Meadow Reservoir, the town of Barker Meadow was founded after the first gathering of 12 Knots of wasteland survivors, a few years before the Three-Year Winter engulfed Lorado in snow and ice. The town's founding is credited to the Rover Clans of the Jaunts and Graces, the Red Stars of the 7x7 Cacophony Collective and the Mutual Aides, and a collective of representatives from all major Faiths known throughout the Greater Wastes.

Barker Meadow began as a farming community steeped in superstition, faith, and zealotry. Its inhabitants believe that talismans, charms, and prayers are necessary to ward off adversity and adversaries, including the mysterious threats lurking in its lucrative mines; the region's dangers, particularly those coming from the Mortis Amaranthine, are peculiar and distorted due to the zealous beliefs of the local population. The people of Barker Meadow bridge both religious and secular backgrounds, but are unified in their passion for their beliefs in a place where superstitions wield immense power. To survive here, one must be resolute despite facing adversity and be prepared for Trials that will test their conviction, such as the Profane Wolves that stalk believers of different Faiths throughout the year.

Since being selected several years ago by the Lorado Trade Commission as the new home of the region's monthly Trade Meets, the town has entered a boom period. The quiet valley and its dark secrets have found themselves submerged in a new, vibrant, seedy element as outsiders have taken up residence in search of fortune: tradespeople with their sights on the mines or the mill; mercenaries and muscle for the Warehouse or Lorado's Financial Institutions; innkeepers, saloon proprietors, and brothel workers there to make a Gold Standard or three off the aforementioned; and always a rogues’ gallery of cutpurses and charlatans eager to prey upon all of them.

It is into this boom that you step when you cross the threshold into town. The All-Faiths are a cult with sociopolitical dominance. The Jaunts and other ruling factions are corrupt. Zealotry rules the day and its consequences leave scars everywhere. Schemers and dreamers from across the wastes try to utilize the ever-shifting social currents of Barker to make a buck, to make a legend, to make a following — all the time. Within all this drama, the endless tide of the undead menace and the other dangers of the Wastes lay ever in wait to cut down the careless, the unsuspecting, or the simply unlucky.

Welcome to the Wasteland, survivor. Your story awaits...