The Blast Void
The blast void is a crater nearly three hundred miles across, and a half a mile deep, located at the heart of the continent. It can be seen from space. Three thousand years ago, Nigh unleahsed the greatest of its weapons upon the heart of the civilization that had created it, and anihilated the vast majority of the Creator empire in retaliation for their high command's attempt to stop the City Mind's insane war. In a single blinding instant, millions of lives were lost as the expanding melt sheet wiped the continent clean of life. The detonation scattered billions of tons of earth and debris over a wide area, compressing it into a gigantic crater formation that exists to this day - the blast void. Climbing down into the depression is quite difficult due the sheer nature of the crater's wall; returning would be almost impossible without some means of flight. From the edge of the cliff, the distant, twinkling ruins of Des can be seen, its gutted towers reflecting sunlight across the baking wastelands. Faint, half-buried motorways and trackways can be made out in places, all leading in direct linear paths to the ancient city.
Generally, all the Machines encountered within the blast void are under the control of the City Mind, and consequently many of them behave in a very erratic manner. Some continue to perform duties such as pointless construction, cleaning, and resource-gathering. All of them move in a sort of lazy, dream-like fashion, as opposed the Machine's usual hurried efficiency. As one nears the centre of the ruins, this condition worsens to near-catatonia.
"I'm able to see the upper spires of the ruined city from up here, but I'd never venture down into the crater. Whatever destroyed this civilization could still be down there, though I can't even begin to imagine what caused such awful devastation." - Haxle
A journey to the inner ruins will be a perilous one. The City Mind will always try to capture 'curiosities' for study, which can include long periods of interrogation, confinement, vivisection, and worse. As such, any party defeated by Machines in this region will be transported to its vault and confined deep within for examination by the City Mind itself.
Back...