Dystopia Risingan Eschaton Media ProductionOriginal World ConceptMichael PucciExecutive ProducerAshley ZdebWritersMichael PucciCatie GriffinKelsey DesrosiersAdditional MaterialsR.M. Sean Benjamin JaffeEditingThomas Buchanan Megan JaffeLayoutMichael PucciDesignJoshua Brain JaffeArtistsHelen E. SimmondsS.C. ScolaRalph Attanasia Cryssy CheungZach HerschbergerJoshua Brain JaffeAnastasia MarstonAndrew ScottMatthew Volk

Cover ArtistCryssy Cheung

ISBN: 978-1-939785-35-0 Copyright 2016 Eschaton Media Productions

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, mechanical,

electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of Eschaton Media Productions

All illustrations and images are property of Eschaton Media Productions or used under the allowed rights of public domain.

Dystopia Rising is a registered trademark of Dystopia Rising LLC, and may not be used without written permission of Dystopia Rising LLC.

All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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Introduction 5

Chapter 1: Flesh 6

6 Rovers18 Natural Ones27 Remnants35 Nuclear Family

Chapter 2: Blood 47

47 Origins of Mutation48 The Mortis Amaranthine49 Dimethyltryptamine52 Mutations in Vegegation56 Mutations in Critters66 Mutations in Beasts77 Apex - Mutations

Chapter 3: Bone 84

84 The Overgrowth 86 Western Overgrowth 87 Bleeding Depths 88 Forests of the Unmaker 89 The Nightmares Heart 91 Fort Wash and Talkie 92 Powdered Road 94 Factions in the Overgrowth 98 Notorious Persona

102 Westward Excess 104 Gateway 105 Bottoms Round 107 Bell’s View 108 Genesis Cradle 109 Rovers Rest of Freakmount 110 Factions of the Westward Excess

118 Mountaina 120 Sweet Grass Country 121 Sweet Grass Ranch 122 The Dead Forest 123 Unbearable Mountains 124 Bull City 125 Misery Swamp 126 Factions of Mountaina 131 Well Known of Mountaina

134 I-Die-Low 135 The Rim 136 The Noisy Jungle 137 The Pit

138 Aberdine’s Oasis 139 Valley of Monsters 140 Factions of I-Die-Low 144 Well Known Folks of I-Die-Low

145 Yellstone 146 Big Sky Ranch 147 The Wayward House 148 Three Bears Bar 149 Factions of Yellstone 153 The Only Reliable Person in Yellstone

155 Skatchen Land 157 Skatown 158 The South Bridge 160 Widow’s Park 161 Traveler’s Waystation 162 The Moon’s Lake 163 Groups of Influence in Skatchen Land 168 Well Known Folk of Skatchen Land

170 The Tinderlands 171 Old Wives town 172 The Shell 173 Tent Town 174 The Stone Circle 175 The Poisoned Hills 176 Groups of Influence in the Tinderlands 180 Well Known Folk of the Tinderlands

183 Lorado 184 The Wildfire Wastes 185 Paradise Acres 186 The Burnlands 187 Hell’s Garden 188 Saw River 189 Forgotten Outpost 190 Home 191 The Crossing

192 The Mile High City 193 The Slopes 194 Dead Springs 194 Blood Cliffs 195 Dead End Rockies 196 The Colosseum 197 Groups of Influence in Lorado 205 Well Known Folk of Lorado

209 The Drylands 201 White Sands 210 The Great Divide 211 Bomb Bay 212 Ugly Acres 213 Red Farm 214 The Bunker 215 Groups of Influence in the Drylands 217 He Who Makes the Drylands Known

219 Deserter 220 Progress 221 Green Desert 221 Crush Valley 222 The Flats 224 The Dunes 224 Caravaner’s Dream 225 Rottie Lake 225 The Spires 226 Ruin of Man 227 The View 228 The Slums 229 Glow Wastes 230 Toowilluh 231 The Silo 232 Hell’s Edge 233 Groups of Influence in Deserter 241 Well Known Folk of Deserter

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DEDICATED TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO CREATE WORLDS INSTEAD OF EXCUSES.

KEEP AT IT AND NEVER GIVE UP.

-ESCHATON MEDIA-

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The Overgrowth and the surrounding regions are a strange place.

A wild and unkempt territory where over-oxygenation has created massive creatures that roam among giant plants, fi lled with poisonous creatures and deadly monsters, and where the Strains try to burn back the rampant growth to build new homes. This is the place where rich soil and mutated plants have built some of the best potential for the rebirth of humanity, as well as some of the worst threats that have ever walked the planet.

And here, buried out in the middle of the wastelands, miles away from most civilizations, lays some of the biggest hints for the history of the fall of mankind. Here in the middle of nowhere you can fi nd secrets that were locked away, miles from prying eyes, and kept safe by the inhabitants. In the Overgrowth and surrounding territories, you will fi nd communities forged out of oppression, you will fi nd excesses born from nothingness, and you will fi nd clues to a grand pre-fall conspiracy to control an overpopulated planet.

Where do you hide the most important secrets? You hide them in a place where no one would bother to look.

Where do the largest threats rise from? They rise in the areas where they are given time and space to grow.

Welcome to the Overgrowth. Here be monsters.

And here, buried out in the middle of the wastelands, miles away from most civilizations, lays some of the biggest hints for the history of the fall of mankind. Here in the middle of nowhere you can fi nd secrets that were locked away, miles from prying eyes, and kept safe by the inhabitants. In the Overgrowth and surrounding territories, you will fi nd communities forged out of oppression, you will fi nd excesses born from nothingness, and you will fi nd clues to a grand pre-fall conspiracy to control an overpopulated planet.

Where do you hide the most important secrets? You hide them in a place where no one would bother to look.

Where do the largest threats rise from? They rise in the areas where they are given time and space to grow.

Welcome to the Overgrowth. Here be monsters.Sam

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“It’s diffi cult to know if a Rover likes you, but it is easy to know if a Rover loves you or hates you. If a Rover isn’t sure where you stand in their life, they will treat you as an honored guest. A Rover will be a gracious host, a wonderful companion, a great entertainer, and an amazing guide to the road. All of these things a Rover will do barely knowing you. The music, the stories, the food, and the companionship that you would expect from a lifelong friend; that is what a Rover offers new faces and people.”

“But the passion that Rovers show to strangers in no way compares to what love and devotion they will show to true friends and loved ones. Not only will a Rover climb mountains and dive deep into the Grave Mind itself to save someone they love, they will mark their loved ones and family so that all other Rovers will know that a perceived outsider should be given the benefi t of the doubt as a friend.”

“But never wrong a Rover and let them live. A Rover that hates you will turn you away from the fi re and companionship of their family and all other Rover caravans they meet. A Rover will work tirelessly, endlessly, to ensure whatever slight you have caused them will not go unpunished. While a Rover may not just punch you in the face like a Merican, or eat your bones like a Lascarian, by the time they are done you will wish they had just killed you.”

“Don’t believe me? Let me tell you the story of the Settlement of Harang. Harang was a Merican settlement just south of the Overgrowth. There, a number of Rovers had come together to break bread and swap supplies. The hosts of the settlement, devoted to the Nuclear Family, saw our ways as ‘evil and communist activities’ and that we were no better than the Red Star in their eyes. When the Rovers were politely leaving, one of the Mericans added insult to injury. Wanting to look bold in front of the community, that Merican took a shot with their pistol and struck a Rover family member in the back.”

“The Rovers did not turn and open in violence right then and there. With the town jeering they left silently with their heads held high. The Rovers gathered, they spoke, and they waited. They waited until the matron of the community was having a celebration of the season of her birth, and all of the extended family was present at the settlement.”

“Today there is not a single stick of that settlement still standing, nor a single member of the community old enough to know better that was left alive. You cannot fi nd Harang on the local maps, nor can you fi nd any written records of its existence. Now it only exists on the lips of Rovers that would remind the world of what happens when they are crossed.”

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The Nature of a Rover The Rover is an interesting Strain due to their shared evolution over such a wide geographic area. Rovers are a traveling community of people who have taken to the road as a genetic and cultural instinct. What is interesting is that across all discovered territories, some form of Rover has been found walking the wastelands.

Considered cousins to the high octane Diesel Jocks, the Rovers are a community and culturally minded people who travel from place to place as a means of survival. Commonly known as traders, caravan guards, entertainers, and scouts, the Rover is perhaps one of the most genetically adapted strains for a life on the road.

Rovers travel as single units as well as massive caravans from location to location. As Rover caravans travel, these kings of the road tend to pick up cultural and technological nuances from the places they visit the most. The Rover learns language, medicine, faith, music, stories, and lore from both massive cities as well as small settlements, allowing the individual Rover to become a mixture of dozens of cultures. It is not uncommon to fi nd Rovers covered in trinkets and bits of fabric found commonly in far off places, or using tools and techniques unknown to locals.

This mashing of cultures, supplies, and techniques causes the Rover to have a very eccentric and cobbled appearance. One should not be surprised to see a Rover wearing gang patches from Old York, fabrics from the Under Sea, and weapons machined in the Iron works.

In addition to learning from the cultures they have visited, Rovers trade and share information and knowledge with one another. As Rovers gather together on the road, or at short-term places for respite, Rovers trade information and knowledge like currency. Warm weather supplies are traded to Rovers heading to hotter climates, while layers are traded to Rovers heading further to the frozen wastes of the north.

With all of the trade of knowledge, ideas, and supplies, it should be known that there are certain items that are not as easily or freely traded among the Rovers. Scarves, swatches of knotted fabric, or sections and lengths of particular dyed rope often with small trinkets attached to them are tightly guarded and rarely given out. These ties, scarves, and trinkets are identity markers for each Rover. A particular color fabric knotted in a certain way may be the marking of being a member of a Rover family. A length of rope knotted with a frayed edge may be a bond that has a matching part worn by a life mate. A scarf may be the last remaining token of a Rover’s parents (and grandparents before them).

These tokens are the embodiment of the memories and culture that bind the Rover to who they are.

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