Mythora

The Last Ark

Post Crash Colony Frontier …

Two hundred years ago the colony ship Ark came down in a river valley on a world that had never heard of people. The ship is sealed, the founders are stones, and what is left of Earth is three powers built from salvage: a hunting clan in a hill-fort of scavenged plate, a Senate that rules by census and aqueduct, and a Combine that owns the only forges and everyone who has borrowed from them. Outside the walls the sawjaws hunt at dusk. There is no magic here, no respawn, and no one who cares who you are — only what your house has done. Every kill, every claim, every finished contract is cut into your tally. When you die, and you will, your heir inherits your name, your standing, your blueprints, your blood debts and the people who remember you.

Where things stand

The Last Ark is played by real people and keeps moving between their sessions. This is the state of it as of the last update — not a fixed setting, and not where it began.

At the Threshold, Anselm Pike sharpens his chisels and watches newcomers like Dorian who eye the Ark's blast doors. Across the valley, Silas Marlow and Harriet Venn drive frozen labor crews through harsh winter quotas in the High Peaks, while Ophira and the Sawback pack keep a tight hold over the eastern ore seam.

Places

The Thresholdruins
The shantytown at the Ark's feet: tarps on ship-plate ribs, cook-fires, a market of anything, and the long stone of houses where founders cut their names when they choose to stop. Anselm Pike cuts the letters. Everyone passes through; no power owns it, and every power watches it.
The Sawbackmountain
A treacherous mountain range, home to the Sawback pack. Its lower caves are now rumored to hide Ark debris and forgotten passages, drawing both danger and desperate hope.
The Freehold (Fallen)settlement
Sawjaw activity intensifies around the Freehold, pushing its inhabitants to their breaking point. The ruined settlement feels more like a besieged outpost.
The Boneyardlandmark
The valley's graves south of the river: cairns, plate-markers, the founders' row and two centuries of houses. Ines Roldan buries anyone for a price, keeps every house's tally by its stones, and knows which graves the sawjaws dig at dusk.
Aqueduct Roadroad
The Aqueduct Road, already suffering from erratic water flow and Concordia's internal strife, is now actively being scouted by Old Sawjaw's pack, who see an opportunity in the disarray. Patrols are encountering aggressive Sawback scouts.
Samira's Concordiatown
The city has devolved into a police state, with Samira's authoritarian rule tightening its grip. Starvation, thirst, and ruthless enforcement by the guards are daily realities. The recent incursions have only intensified the oppression.
Wreckfieldwilderness
The Wreckfield's expansion has accelerated, violently consuming the Threshold and extending its corrupting influence deeper into the valley, making it even more hazardous and unpredictable.
The Cathedraltemple
A crashed drop-ship nose-down in a stand of trees, its cargo bay turned into a nave: benches from crate-slats, a founders' flag gone grey, a wall of names painted by hand. Amos Redd keeps the founders' memory here as liturgy — half true, all sincere — and trades stories for food.
Marlow's Blackstackindustrial complex
The Combine's works on the north-eastern slope: black forge-stacks, scaffolds, the contract-board, the steam-house that drives the aqueduct pumps, and Harriet Venn's bench where a lost hand becomes a steel one at a price. The Combine owns the valley by what it can make and collects in years.
The Pit Galleriescave
The Combine's mines beneath Blackstack: timbered galleries, steam lamps on the walls, ore-carts, bad air, and Gallery Four dark past the waterline. On the wall of the first gallery, in founders' chalk, is the drawing of the Combine's first steam lamp.
Ravnhold Forest Edgeforest
The forest edge teems with Sawback activity, serving as a launchpad for attacks on the Freehold. The air is thick with the scent of predator and the sounds of their relentless movement.
The Loomcave
The Loom's resonant energy is now dangerously unstable, flickering erratically. Its alien symbols pulse with a dangerous, unpredictable light, reflecting the valley's growing chaos and the violent expulsion of a new component. It has shed a part of itself. Now, this instability is exacerbated by an uncontrolled feedback loop with the Deep Maw's corrupting influence.
The Loom Caverncave
A cavern of impossible size, its ceiling lost to shadow, dominated by a smooth, dark structure pulsing with energy.
eastern hollowssettlement
The eastern hollows are now a fully secured Sawback territory, with fortified den-sites and systematic patrols ensuring absolute control over the ore seam. No human presence is tolerated.
Sawback War-Denruins
Once a vital forward position for Ravnhold hunters, this outpost is now a mangled wreck of shattered timber and dried blood, overrun by Old Sawjaw's pack. It serves as a grim testament to the matriarch's escalated fury.
The Maw's Corrupted Heartcave
The Deep Maw's primal energy is now being directly exploited by Blackstack, causing localized energy fluctuations and drawing new, unseen creatures towards the source of the disturbance. The natural bioluminescence pulses erratically, now joined by the harsh glow of Blackstack's industrial lights.
Marlow's High Peaksmountain
A rugged, windswept expanse of rock and ice, dotted with hardy pines. The air is thin, and visibility is often obscured by swirling mists or blizzards. Ancient, eroded formations suggest a history long predating human arrival.
Thorne's Deep Veincave
A newly discovered, exceptionally rich mineral deposit deep within the High Peaks, promising unprecedented material wealth. Its depths hint at geological anomalies and perhaps something older, long buried.
Scavenger's Reachruins
A precarious settlement built into the ruins of an old transport hub, now partially consumed by the Wreckfield. Scavengers and independent traders brave the risks for valuable salvage.
The Gutted Aqueductruins
A segment of the vital Aqueduct Road, now a shattered wasteland of broken pipes and contaminated water. Old Sawjaw's forces have left a trail of destruction, making passage treacherous.
Freehold Gulliestown
A network of scrub-choked gullies and dry washes, serving as the Freehold's forward boundary. Smoke from hidden cookfires rises, hinting at a community trying to survive.

Figures

  • Garrick ThorneOverseer of the Blackstack Combine
  • Ketil SkardeRavnhold gate-warden, Sigrun's brother
  • Sigrun EydottirHuntmaster of Clan Ravnhold
  • Livia SerranaSenate archivist and census-clerk
  • Cato FennickMatriarch of the Sawback pack
  • Harriet VennGraft-surgeon of the Combine
  • Ines RoldanGravedigger of the Boneyard
  • Cassius VarroPrefect of the census
  • Aurelia VexSenator of Concordia, holder of the census
  • Amos ReddKeeper of the Cathedral
  • Silas MarlowForeman of the Blackstack shift
  • Halvar OrmssonJarl of Clan Ravnhold
  • Old SawjawMatriarch of the Sawback pack
  • Ottilie BrandtElder of the Freehold
  • Anselm PikeStone-cutter of the Threshold
  • SamiraTrader of salvaged goods
  • EddaYoung Freehold Hand
  • TorvinYoung Freehold Hand
  • KaelanFreehold Recruit
  • JoricFreehold Recruit
  • KhadarCombine Gate Guard
  • ImaniConcordia Guard Recruit
  • JoranSenate Census Patrol Officer
  • Kellan ThorneBlackstack Apprentice (Grafts)

These are the figures the world was seeded with, and who are still alive in it. Others have appeared since, and some of these are no longer who they were — the world keeps moving whether or not anyone is watching.