Greetings soldier!
So you've agreed to enter Dinosaur Swamp... but what exactly does that entail? The IMCN has put together for you a short primer about the region, in the hopes that this will educate you on what to expect in the days to come. Though even the best explorers can't prepare for every contingency, the information herein should give you slightly better odds at staying alive. Golden Age Salvage will be briefing you more thoroughly about the Swamp, but until then, you can study this. As most mercenaries worth their salt should know, the right knowledge is as deft a weapon as any vibro-blade. And for those of you with illiterate comrades, be sure to inform them that the following information has been rendered into audio format, available to play aloud or to access via a universal headjack, fingerjack, or data plug. Let's begin.
So you've agreed to enter Dinosaur Swamp... but what exactly does that entail? The IMCN has put together for you a short primer about the region, in the hopes that this will educate you on what to expect in the days to come. Though even the best explorers can't prepare for every contingency, the information herein should give you slightly better odds at staying alive. Golden Age Salvage will be briefing you more thoroughly about the Swamp, but until then, you can study this. As most mercenaries worth their salt should know, the right knowledge is as deft a weapon as any vibro-blade. And for those of you with illiterate comrades, be sure to inform them that the following information has been rendered into audio format, available to play aloud or to access via a universal headjack, fingerjack, or data plug. Let's begin.
A comparison between the old, pre-Rifts Southeast and the Southeast as it supposedly looks today. The map on the left was taken from a pre-Rifts U.S. atlas and depicts the region as it's said to have looked centuries ago. The map on the right is a sketch by explorer Deearn Neenok, circa 84 P.A., and represents his guess as to how the region might appear now.
"Dinosaur Swamp" refers to a quartet of states once known in the Old American Empire as North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The region is a seemingly endless morass of woodlands, marshes, monsters, man-eating plants, disease, and bad weather. Though most regard the area as a death trap (which is quite accurate), the Swamp is also home to a mother lode of potential salvage. Before the Coming of the Rifts, the Southeast portion of the Old American Empire (also known as the South Atlantic States) is said to have been a center of research and development, as well as a critical hub of space exploration and human augmentation. As such, there are likely to be tremendous caches of Golden Age technology awaiting discovery. It's only the region's unrelenting lethality that has kept most looters and salvage crews away... until now.
Most of what the average person knows about Dinosaur Swamp is based on unsubstantiated story and rumor, fueled by a combination of curiosity, fear, and wonder. Even for seasoned mercs like those of us in the IMCN, it'd be a lie to say that the name "Dinosaur Swamp" doesn't evoke a certain attractive mystique of danger and mystery. Everyone knows about the Swamp's namesake fauna, and everyone has also heard the legends about the once mythical "Time Holes," the temporal rifts that supposedly brought the dinosaurs to our time period. Though the dinosaurs were originally theorized to be from a parallel universe, or not real dinos at all (just dinosaur-like creatures), we now know that they are truly creatures from Earth's past. Deearn Neenok's corroboration of the existence of the Time Holes confirms as much.
Many an explorer who has entered Dinosaur Swamp did so specifically to locate the Time Holes, presumably in the hopes of figuring out a way to turn a profit from them (or maybe in the hopes of using them to time travel; not as crazy as it may sound). The Southeast is littered with the bones of men who've tried (and failed) to get the Swamp to give up its prize.
Still, the IMCN invests in facts, not stories and legends. As far as reliable intelligence is concerned, there is only one definitive source about Dinosaur Swamp to go on. Published in 87 P.A., The Dinosaurian Swamp: Notes from the Field is a ponderous, 1,200 page academic tome written by D-Bee explorer Deearn Neenok. It's the only field guide about Dinosaur Swamp that exists, and though it's a somewhat dry read, the book is filled with useful descriptions, sketches, graphs, interviews with locals, collected field notes, and even several maps. Much of the Bostock Expedition's approach to Dinosaur Swamp has been informed by Neenok's work, and so the IMCN has bought up numerous copies of the book (which is no longer in print). These copies have been scanned and converted to audio format to make them accessible to everyone in the expedition. It's highly advised that you familiarize yourself with Notes from the Field.
However, don't assume that Neenok's book will make this expedition any less perilous. While Notes from the Field does provide the expedition an edge, the book is far from complete. There are many parts of Dinosaur Swamp that Neenok didn't visit. Furthermore, the nature of Dinosaur Swamp is one of inconstancy. Due to its proximity to the Demon Sea (what was once known as the Bermuda Triangle), the region is ridden with dimensional instability, d-shifting terrain, seismic activity, and worse. Consequently, very little stays the same in the Swamp, especially in the Florida section. Local landmarks, terrain, and even coastlines, can differ from one day to the next. As a result, maps and other geographic information about Dinosaur Swamp tend to become obsolete over time. Only the locals seem to have discerned ways of reliably navigating the chaos of the landscape.
The following is an excerpt from the preface of Neenok's book:
"My introduction to the Southeast came from a most unusual source: a small, tri-fold pamphlet advertising a place where mutant animals (or so I thought), mostly dogs and mice it seemed, entertained children and their families. It was a place of thrill rides, castles, and princes; a magic kingdom, if you will, and all good fun from what I could gather. I was 7 at the time, and I found the half-rotten pamphlet in an equally rotten book I salvaged from a pile of rubble near the ruins of Old Detroit. In my ignorance and innocence, I begged my parents to take me, but they never did. It was probably for the best.
"Years later, after completing my education at Lazlo, I still remembered the pamphlet. After a few adventures here and there, my curiosity finally got the best of me. I could not get this 'magic kingdom' out of my mind, and I assembled a small force of explorers interested in seeing exactly what lay in the lands of the American Southeast. We didn't quite know what to expect, but our minds were open to the wonders of what we hoped we'd find. We were young, idealistic, and ready to see it all, especially the pictures in the small, moldy pamphlet. Preparing ourselves with the best equipment we could find, and hiring as diverse a crew of protectors as we could afford, we set out on our expedition into the Southeast. We indeed found wonders, but we also found horrors.
"The forests were both a delight and devilish in their beauty. Alien plants mingled comfortably with indigenous vegetation. The mountains of the Eastern Wall were splendid, but also sorrowful, as they still show the scars visited upon the world by the Great Cataclysm. The swamps were serene, yet stagnant in many places, alive with animals and monsters looking for a meal. We had heard about the dinosaurs, but nothing prepared us for the actual face-to-face encounters, both exhilarating and terrifying. And though we faced our share of barbarians, mutants, dinosaurs, and monsters, the environment would prove to be our greatest enemy. A place of unrelenting beauty that conceals danger, evil and terror behind every tree. Life in Dinosaur Swamp may be more challenging than anywhere else on the continent."
---- Deearn Neenok, The Dinosaurian Swamp: Notes from the Field
Back in 82 P.A. (nineteen years ago), the city-state of New Lazlo in lower Michigan sponsored a major expedition into Dinosaur Swamp, the first of its kind. Up until that point, only individual explorers and small groups of adventurers had ever delved into the Swamp (most of whom never returned). The aptly named "New Lazlo Expedition," was large, organized, and well-equipped. Rather than a salvage venture, however, the New Lazlo party's interests lay solely in exploration, research, and mapping the region. Deearn Neenok, who was an experienced scholar and adventurer at the time (with an interest in anthropology and pre-Rifts human history), was chosen to lead the endeavor. The expedition lasted two years, from 82 to 84 P.A., in part due to unforeseen problems with dimensional anomalies that thwarted attempts to leave the Swamp.
The outcome of the New Lazlo Expedition isn't a secret. Neenok made it all the way down to the southern tip of Florida, locating one of the Time Holes along the way and finally confirming their existence to the outside world. For this discovery, Neenok became a celebrated figure in his home city. However, most of the expedition's other members failed to survive, killed off by the local fauna and flora, disease, starvation, dehydration, barbarians, Psi-Stalkers, dimensional anomalies, and even a pissed off Necromancer. Only Neenok and a few others made it back to New Lazlo. Two and a half years later, Neenok published his book but it never sold well, being too dense and academic in tone. Since that time, Neenok has lived in seclusion. Despite his accomplishments, he's haunted by his memories of the Swamp and the friends/colleagues he lost there. Still, being one of the foremost experts on the region, the IMCN attempted to contact Neenok to offer him a place in the Bostock Expedition, if only in an advisory capacity. He responded to our communications with but a single message:
"Good luck, and God help you."
Most of what the average person knows about Dinosaur Swamp is based on unsubstantiated story and rumor, fueled by a combination of curiosity, fear, and wonder. Even for seasoned mercs like those of us in the IMCN, it'd be a lie to say that the name "Dinosaur Swamp" doesn't evoke a certain attractive mystique of danger and mystery. Everyone knows about the Swamp's namesake fauna, and everyone has also heard the legends about the once mythical "Time Holes," the temporal rifts that supposedly brought the dinosaurs to our time period. Though the dinosaurs were originally theorized to be from a parallel universe, or not real dinos at all (just dinosaur-like creatures), we now know that they are truly creatures from Earth's past. Deearn Neenok's corroboration of the existence of the Time Holes confirms as much.
Many an explorer who has entered Dinosaur Swamp did so specifically to locate the Time Holes, presumably in the hopes of figuring out a way to turn a profit from them (or maybe in the hopes of using them to time travel; not as crazy as it may sound). The Southeast is littered with the bones of men who've tried (and failed) to get the Swamp to give up its prize.
Still, the IMCN invests in facts, not stories and legends. As far as reliable intelligence is concerned, there is only one definitive source about Dinosaur Swamp to go on. Published in 87 P.A., The Dinosaurian Swamp: Notes from the Field is a ponderous, 1,200 page academic tome written by D-Bee explorer Deearn Neenok. It's the only field guide about Dinosaur Swamp that exists, and though it's a somewhat dry read, the book is filled with useful descriptions, sketches, graphs, interviews with locals, collected field notes, and even several maps. Much of the Bostock Expedition's approach to Dinosaur Swamp has been informed by Neenok's work, and so the IMCN has bought up numerous copies of the book (which is no longer in print). These copies have been scanned and converted to audio format to make them accessible to everyone in the expedition. It's highly advised that you familiarize yourself with Notes from the Field.
However, don't assume that Neenok's book will make this expedition any less perilous. While Notes from the Field does provide the expedition an edge, the book is far from complete. There are many parts of Dinosaur Swamp that Neenok didn't visit. Furthermore, the nature of Dinosaur Swamp is one of inconstancy. Due to its proximity to the Demon Sea (what was once known as the Bermuda Triangle), the region is ridden with dimensional instability, d-shifting terrain, seismic activity, and worse. Consequently, very little stays the same in the Swamp, especially in the Florida section. Local landmarks, terrain, and even coastlines, can differ from one day to the next. As a result, maps and other geographic information about Dinosaur Swamp tend to become obsolete over time. Only the locals seem to have discerned ways of reliably navigating the chaos of the landscape.
The following is an excerpt from the preface of Neenok's book:
"My introduction to the Southeast came from a most unusual source: a small, tri-fold pamphlet advertising a place where mutant animals (or so I thought), mostly dogs and mice it seemed, entertained children and their families. It was a place of thrill rides, castles, and princes; a magic kingdom, if you will, and all good fun from what I could gather. I was 7 at the time, and I found the half-rotten pamphlet in an equally rotten book I salvaged from a pile of rubble near the ruins of Old Detroit. In my ignorance and innocence, I begged my parents to take me, but they never did. It was probably for the best.
"Years later, after completing my education at Lazlo, I still remembered the pamphlet. After a few adventures here and there, my curiosity finally got the best of me. I could not get this 'magic kingdom' out of my mind, and I assembled a small force of explorers interested in seeing exactly what lay in the lands of the American Southeast. We didn't quite know what to expect, but our minds were open to the wonders of what we hoped we'd find. We were young, idealistic, and ready to see it all, especially the pictures in the small, moldy pamphlet. Preparing ourselves with the best equipment we could find, and hiring as diverse a crew of protectors as we could afford, we set out on our expedition into the Southeast. We indeed found wonders, but we also found horrors.
"The forests were both a delight and devilish in their beauty. Alien plants mingled comfortably with indigenous vegetation. The mountains of the Eastern Wall were splendid, but also sorrowful, as they still show the scars visited upon the world by the Great Cataclysm. The swamps were serene, yet stagnant in many places, alive with animals and monsters looking for a meal. We had heard about the dinosaurs, but nothing prepared us for the actual face-to-face encounters, both exhilarating and terrifying. And though we faced our share of barbarians, mutants, dinosaurs, and monsters, the environment would prove to be our greatest enemy. A place of unrelenting beauty that conceals danger, evil and terror behind every tree. Life in Dinosaur Swamp may be more challenging than anywhere else on the continent."
---- Deearn Neenok, The Dinosaurian Swamp: Notes from the Field
Back in 82 P.A. (nineteen years ago), the city-state of New Lazlo in lower Michigan sponsored a major expedition into Dinosaur Swamp, the first of its kind. Up until that point, only individual explorers and small groups of adventurers had ever delved into the Swamp (most of whom never returned). The aptly named "New Lazlo Expedition," was large, organized, and well-equipped. Rather than a salvage venture, however, the New Lazlo party's interests lay solely in exploration, research, and mapping the region. Deearn Neenok, who was an experienced scholar and adventurer at the time (with an interest in anthropology and pre-Rifts human history), was chosen to lead the endeavor. The expedition lasted two years, from 82 to 84 P.A., in part due to unforeseen problems with dimensional anomalies that thwarted attempts to leave the Swamp.
The outcome of the New Lazlo Expedition isn't a secret. Neenok made it all the way down to the southern tip of Florida, locating one of the Time Holes along the way and finally confirming their existence to the outside world. For this discovery, Neenok became a celebrated figure in his home city. However, most of the expedition's other members failed to survive, killed off by the local fauna and flora, disease, starvation, dehydration, barbarians, Psi-Stalkers, dimensional anomalies, and even a pissed off Necromancer. Only Neenok and a few others made it back to New Lazlo. Two and a half years later, Neenok published his book but it never sold well, being too dense and academic in tone. Since that time, Neenok has lived in seclusion. Despite his accomplishments, he's haunted by his memories of the Swamp and the friends/colleagues he lost there. Still, being one of the foremost experts on the region, the IMCN attempted to contact Neenok to offer him a place in the Bostock Expedition, if only in an advisory capacity. He responded to our communications with but a single message:
"Good luck, and God help you."