THE TARPAUL PIT
After the Wake of Steel, those who had survived being outside the walls and foreigners still trickling in through the Shroud formed small, close-knit communities in the Wastes. Like the farmers that occupied the lands before them, many of these settlers worshipped Annuaterra and attributed the fall of the Edelith Pods to her. Other than food, life in the Wastes was optimal with the lack of prey and the nearby Obsidian Crystallis warding off larger demons.
An emerging community within the Wastes, Tarpaul Pit sought to exude a greater influence on the sands. Combining a collection of gangsters into a standing militia, the goals of the Winds of the Wastes were to control the landing sites of the Edelith Pods. With a siphoning of food and resources, Tarpaul Pit’s growth was boosted exponentially to the point where Edelith Proper had successfully set up trade routes with them.
The aggressive practices of the Winds of the Wastes left many smaller settlements raided and starved. With little to no power left, the raw and unformed Corrosion creeped in on them, digesting them into nothing but Dust Dregs clinging onto the sand. Most still hold onto their memories, but they are jumbled like the sand that gives them form.
Thalor Vitric found a boy withered in the sand. He dug him out of the ruins, fed him some water, and led him back to the Obsidian Crystallis for him to grow in his early years. Quietly surveying the desert for weaknesses in Tarpaul Pit, the boy became quite fond of his foster parent. Budd visits the destroyed settlement, occasionally with Vitric and alone. He doesn’t know why; it comes naturally to him.
