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Puyallup Barrens, Would it really still be a wasteland?

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sable twilight

Feb 17 2004, 09:53 PM

Post #1

Moving Target

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I love this description DV8 gave of the Puyallup Barrens in a post that was recently made:

QUOTE (DV8)

In my campaign at the moment, the runners are stranded in the dead middle of the night in the Puyallup barrens, having to hoof it all the way back to downtown Seattle, through one of the most dangerous territories in the Seattle sprawl; a wasteland of broken buildings, soot and ash covered streets, with dense urban centers with claustrophobic mazes of alley-ways as well as wide open stretches of bubbling, boiling mudplanes left over from the eruption of Mt. Rainier.

But some things about it just seemed odd to me.

I cannot remember the exact Shadowrun time line, but hasn't it been at least 20 to 30 years since the Mt. Rainier eruptions? I can understand Puyallup not being rebuilt, but I do not understand why the streets would be soot and ahs covered still. I would think most of it would have either settled into new level of topsoil or blown away? Just look at the Mt Saint Helens eruption and how quickly the land around that started recovering.

Also, Rainier's got to be a good thirty miles or so away
Mount Rainier National Park - Map
I admit my ignorance when it comes to the dynamics of geothermal activity here, but would there still such hot spots so far away from the mountain?

Sunday_Gamer View Member Profile	Feb 17 2004, 11:26 PM Post #2
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 344 Joined: 28-July 03 Member No.: 5,133	The bulk of Puyallup is a Z-Zone, no one is going in there to rebuild or clean squat. The bottom left side is Tarislar, the bottom right side is Carbanado, the top edge is Puyallup City and along the right side is Loveland. The Rest is a Z-Zone. Most of it sealed off with a wall. The Mudflats are still going strong as are several regions of light volanic flats. Smack in the middle is Petrowsky Farms but they're walled and guarded heavier than Fort Lewis. I really need to finish up my maps... I really...really do. Sunday

Crimson Jack View Member Profile	Feb 18 2004, 01:48 AM Post #3
Running Target Group: Members Posts: 1,129 Joined: 11-June 03 From: Tir Tairngire Member No.: 4,712	Damn. That's a long way on foot. I live up in Seattle and can't imagine doing that hike as is, let alone with all the crap that's there now. Ugh..

FlakJacket View Member Profile	Feb 18 2004, 01:52 AM Post #4
King of the Hobos Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 2,117 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 127	Well does it say hoof all the way? I'd think it would be more likely to trek out of Puyallup and then hail a cab, use public transport or just steal a car to get the rest of the way once you got back to a slightly more civilized area.

Solstice View Member Profile	Feb 18 2004, 02:51 AM Post #5
Moving Target Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 870 Joined: 6-January 04 From: Idaho Member No.: 5,960	soot an ash doesn't have to mean from the eruption. The thousands of industrial buildings erupt every hour ;) Geothermal activity can occur anywhere, 30 miles is not far at all when you look at the scale of the earth or how far earthquake effects are felt.

Rev View Member Profile	Feb 18 2004, 03:07 AM Post #6
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 675 Joined: 26-February 02 From: Seattle Member No.: 2,034	Its supposed to be a giant mud flow from Rainier. Real life puyallup is, in fact, on top of mud flows from that particular mountain already, the most recent being 550 years ago. Mount Rainier volcanic risks, including mud flows in puyallup. So real life after ten years there would be plants growing all over it. But maybe there is enough acid rain, etc to stop that from happening normally in shadowrun. In which case it might just continue to erode away and blow around as dust??? Bah probably not after 3 decades anyway.

Solstice View Member Profile	Feb 18 2004, 03:15 AM Post #7
Moving Target Group: Dumpshocked Posts: 870 Joined: 6-January 04 From: Idaho Member No.: 5,960	John, You scare me. That is all.

grimshear View Member Profile	Feb 18 2004, 05:07 AM Post #8
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 146 Joined: 26-February 02 Member No.: 201	Then again, if the Mount has continued to sort of bubble away, it's preobably still spitting out ash and some pyroclastics every now and then. Grim Shear "I took this in school."

Sunday_Gamer View Member Profile	Feb 18 2004, 06:04 AM Post #9
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 344 Joined: 28-July 03 Member No.: 5,133	Yup, sometimes, it snows in Puyallup... and this snow never melts... nice coating of ash on everything, very creepy by night, in a z-zone, it's all Mad Max Beyond Thunderdomy (yes, I turned a movie into an adjective). Btw, Loveland is along the left side, not the right side, details details... Sunday

Solstice

Feb 18 2004, 06:11 AM

Post #10

Moving Target

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QUOTE (Sunday_Gamer)

it's all Mad Max Beyond Thunderdomy (yes, I turned a movie into an adjective).

bahhaahahh

DV8

Feb 18 2004, 08:50 AM

Post #11

Moving Target

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From: .nl
Member No.: 116

From what I can gather...

QUOTE

New Seattle, p. 68
Today, Puyallup is a thousand square kilometers of abandoned buildings, squatter camps, metahuman ghettos and black lava fields that stretch as far as they eye can see. In the shadow of Mount Rainier, Puyallup lives under the constant threat of new eruptions and new devastation. Industry (such as it is) has been slow to recover; only a few heavy-industry corps have been attracted by the cheap land and scant enforcement of environmental codes. Their factories generally add to the gray haze that hangs over the district.

Lava fields in the southern region altered the flwo of the Puyallup River. As lava poured into the river, it pushed the water up and over the riverbanks to flood the low-lying plains. A new riverbed eventually formed, but some of the water drawn beneath the lava flow still bubbles to the surface as geysers and lakes of toxic, boiling mud.

To me, the Puyallup barrens are significantly different from the Redmond barrens. In Puyallup it's less claustrophobic, where dense urban areas are the exception rather than the rule. Roling hills of abandoned areas where awakened creatures stalk those caught out there without transport or large numbers to keep them safe. Nomads stalk from one place to the other, huddling in bands, hoping that high numbers will provide safety from gangs and predators, much like wilderbeest huddle together when stalked by lions.

There's no Matrix access, or hardly any, which (arguably) means no mobile phone coverage. Firearms are rare and bullets are expensive, used as currency rather than anything else.

Seismic activity has destroyed buildings that were never rebuilt and has covered the hills with hardened lava. Magma still comes up to the surface in certain places, as do geysers and boiling mud.

The only buildings worth their salt are giant, monolithic, gothic factory superstructures belching and vomiting noxious gasses out into the air, only to descend upon the region for miles around, covering the already soot-covered places with more poison. Matrix access is available in these places, and if you can get close enough, you might be able to get within range of a telecom signal repeater that will get you a mobile phone access. Of course, guards patrol the towers and shoot at anything coming closer. Try to scale the walls and you're met with a burst of liquid fire from the flamethrowers they use to clean scavengers off the walls.

Anyway, I could go on for a while. :)

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