The Ruined
Enormous things. Ancient things. Creatures that should not exist, moving through fog and wasteland with a patience that feels almost like intention.
Overview
The Ruined are what the Regime calls the kaiju — vast, ancient, indistinct creatures that walk the wastelands beyond the walls of Caligo. They have been repelled by the walls before. They will be repelled again. The cannons hold. The garrison holds. The walls always hold.
Officially, they are mindless. Officially, they are simply out there, the way bad weather is out there, and the role of civilization is to shelter against them.
The party — and the more thoughtful end of the Resistance — has begun to notice that the official version does not square with the observable facts. The Ruined move with patience. They walk paths. They seem to know where the walls are. They do not test the same point twice in the same year. They strike, then withdraw, then strike a different point, in patterns that — if a person were graphing them — would look very much like strategy.
This is not a question one asks aloud.
Categories Encountered
True Kaiju
The big ones. Walking siege weapons. Repelled from the outermost wall by the Garrison's cannons during incursions. None have entered the city in any current citizen's lifetime. Whether one can enter is a question the Garrison would rather not answer.
Ash Walkers
Smaller predators. Reptilian, camouflaged, horse-sized. Worm in through sewage grates and river outlets along the outermost wall. Encountered by the party in Session 01.
Other
Unknown. The wilds are vast and the Regime's reporting is incomplete.
Theories
- They are drawn by something inside the walls. Harland Ashworth's theory, circa twenty-three years ago. He disappeared shortly after writing it down.
- They are being directed. Held by some operatives in the Resistance — that the Ruined are not autonomous, that something or someone uses them as instruments.
- The walls do not actually keep them out — they keep something in. A minority view among the most pessimistic resistance theologians.
Status
Active in the wastelands. Periodic incursions ongoing. Not currently massed at any wall.