The World of the Exiled

Map of North Appalachiad

This page will tell you about where your character will be living, breathing, and maybe dying.  North Appalachiad takes the place of our mundane North America, and you can learn about it here.  To learn more about the rest of the world, and see a world map, go to the Exiles World page.

            Exiles is set in the wild towns of the Republic in western North Appalachiad, a world similar to the one you know, but with a whole lot more adventure! Steam rises from the east, but the land in front of you is vast and unsettled. The Republic is a huge nation full of cowboys, cattle barons, pioneers, and exiles. The farther west you go, the rougher things get, and most everywhere could use a steady gunhand, a good doctor, or a clever entrepreneur to make the land livable. Of course, that means there's plenty of room for gamblers, hustlers and thieves - most anyone can find a place in the wild west. There's land for the taking and fortunes to be made!

            In the rest of the world, vast factories cover the coast to the east of the Republic, and also most of Britain, Hispania, Prussia, and Gaul.  Together with the Appalachian Empire, these countries dominate the globe with clockwork wonders and steam-powered tools. Their skies are black with smoke, and their lands covered with factories of iron, copper, and brass.  It is left to the less industrialized lands, like the Republic, the Celestial Empire, and Russia, to supply the goods to power these mammoth industries. And it is in these nations that a man can be free, or escape his fate.  All eyes look especially to the Appalachian Republic, a new country forging its own history side-by-side with the Empire, and full of unknown dangers, and unknown rewards.

            The Republic is bordered by the Appalachian Empire on the eastern side. The Empire was once a British colony, but their technological advancements, powered by the raw resources of the west, soon outstripped their parent nation. They earned their independence, and soon spread into a labyrinth of factory-cities ruled by a council of wealthy industrialists. Advanced, sophisticated, and secretive, the Imperials boast the most accelerated technology in the world.  There is almost no green space left in the entire eastern seaboard, and the Empire has turned its eyes to other prizes to fuel their factories. They claim land in South Appalachiad and islands around the globe, even founding settlements in Africa.  Imperials like nothing more than to continue their advancement, and they let nothing stand in the way of progress.

            To the north, the land is shrouded in fog from the Great Northern Mountains. These impassable peaks are ancient, rugged, and completely hostile to exploration. Only one city has ever been established; all other expeditions have met with failure and death.  Black Rock Station only exists in the shelter of a mountain, on the shores of the only large lake in North Appalachiad.  The rest of the north, apart from lands on the shores where the Eskimos make their home, are full of steep cliffs and sudden drops, huge beasts, and forbidding forests.

             To the south, the Independent Nation of Serape hotly contests the border drawn for it by the Republic. Once controlled by Hispania, the people rebelled and won their freedom.  Now they seek to expand their own nation, and don't mind killing some Republicans to do it.  Looked down on by many, the Serape have developed their own technology, and their army is a force to be reckoned with.  

              Many would say, though, that the worst dangers of all come from the west.  The western lands of North Appalachiad are covered in a vast, nearly lifeless desert.  Everyone calls it simply the Wasteland.  No one has ever explored it to the edges, but the tainted earth is known to reach north into the mountains and south into Serape.  The land is totally unsettled - at least by sane persons.  Stories of horrors crawling out of the sands are known throughout the land. Some settlements stare across the Snake River at the Waste, and the people brave enough to live there have seen things that would make your blood curdle.   They speak of the walking dead, of ghosts, of madmen, and of demons. Those unfortunate or stupid enough to go into the Wasteland and come back out are forever changed. 

 Wolves and demons, Natives and invaders, there are dangers in the west that could lay any man low.  But for those strong enough to survive; fame, adventure, and riches await!  Ride into the sunset, or ride off with a fistful of dollars, in Silver Springs, Redemption Hills, or Black Rock Station.