Dead Zones
Vast, irradiated wastelands where the laws of nature—and civilization—break down. Home to Nulls and mutated horrors.
Population: Unknown (Nulls, Reapers)
Status: Barely surviving, Extremely Resource-Poor
Governance: None or controlled by warlords and militant leaders
Dead Zones / The Wastes: The vast, lawless expanses lying between the Sanctums and Colonies.
Visuals: A desolate patchwork of scorched red rock, grey ruins of old cities, and "glasslands" where heat has fused the sand. The vegetative "Green Zones" are often toxic, choked with mutated, aggressive flora. Ruins serve as silent monuments to the billions lost during The Onset, often picked clean by scavengers.
The People (Nulls): The inhabitants of the Wastes are called Nulls. They lack official identity or citizenship, simply existing outside the system.
Daily Rhythm: Unlike the constant hum of the Sanctums, the silence here is heavy and absolute, broken only by the wind or the distant howl of a Reaper buggy.
Threats: The environment itself is the primary killer. Other threats include Reapers—militant factions of Nulls who survive by looting and raiding Colonies—and the lingering toxicity of the landscape.
Security and Law: There is no law. It is the realm of survival of the fittest.
Key Feeling: Ancient, hostile, watching. A place where history is visible in the layers of debris, and where the "Ghosts" are said to walk.
The Uprising
- The Reapers are becoming more organized, with better weapons coming through from the black markets and unknown entities providing tactical training.
"There is no law in the Dead Zone. Only the food chain." — Mercenary Maxim