Second Dawn:Spelunkers
From EryriWiki
This is a reference document for the LARP The Second Dawn.
[edit] Society of Spelunkers
The evidence of the ancient world is all around. If you dig beneath the surface of most cities for long enough, you can see the skeleton of the old world upon which it was built. If you get away from civilization, you can find ancient ruins, buildings and objects, the remnants of days past. But most of these sites have been picked over by scavengers and nomads. However, there are still some really good places – places that have barely been touched by others. The waste zones.
They have been left alone precisely because they are so dangerous. All of them are places where one would not want to live. Plants and animals do not live near them, or if they do, they are twisted and deformed creatures. Some of them are so foul that to stay in them for more than a few hours would cause one to sicken and die. However, it is in the most dangerous places that the best treasures are found.
It is illegal in most countries to visit these sites, although enforcement of such laws is difficult outside of the Maple Kingdom. In the Eastern Union, the Tinkers own them all, jealously guarding their ancient secrets and hating Spelunkers as thieves (despite the fact that no Tinker ever explored the sort of dangerous places that your people go). The Society of Spelunkers is really a loose association of people who have explored places where few dare to tread. People who have seen ground turned to glass, or row upon row of perfectly straight streets with all the buildings flattened, or the underground bunkers where the most intact artifacts can be found.
To join the society you must be invited by another Spelunker, although they accept anyone who has the proper experience and attitude. Many of the members are solitary, and so a code of conduct has been drawn up for when two Spelunkers should meet. The three tenets are: 1) Free exchange of information – where you have been and what you have seen 2) What is said between Spelunkers stays between Spelunkers. 3) Always help another Spelunker.
Because of the first tenet, the Society of Spelunkers have the most accurate maps of anyone on the continent. Whenever a new site is discovered, it is added to the map, along with whatever details exist about it – how dangerous it is, what was found there, what it used to be. Most Ancient waste sites seem to have been either massive cities – larger than any that now exist – or military installations of some sort.
Spelunkers are the only people who have seen even a touch of the glory of the ancient world, and the thoroughness with which it was destroyed.
