The Lore of the Wailing Shores
The Ocean, the ocean, it swallowed us whole.
It consumed our flesh. It consumed our soul.
The Islands of the Wailing Shores
Be wary when you enter the waters along the Wailing Shores. The restless dead are always waiting to snatch you up, the flesh floor rising from the depths to swallow you whole. The sea itself crashes against rocky shores, fortified in a desperate attempt for survival.
The islands of the Wailing Shores have become something stronger out of necessity, fortresses that stand against the threats within the deep and beyond. Each one of them, however, has developed their own culture and customs. Learn more about each by clicking on them, and get ready to plunge into the depths.
Chart Your Course to the Wailing Shores
The main setting for Dystopia Rising: Connecticut, Brownstone specializes in necrology and is ruled by the Griswold family.
The economic and military powerhouse of the Wailing Shores, Saltpier Island is overseen by the Chancellors of Order.
And untamed island, Bluff’s Island is best known for its roving bands of Tainted, Rovers, and Diesel Jocks — and for the dreaded Devil’s Turn.
A perfectly bucolic town next to the sea, Saltwater Islet is known for its glassmaking shop and reverence to The Voiceless Ones
Labor, metal, and smoke: These three words sum up the Iron Mound Islet, home to forges, guilds, and shipyards.
Never has there been a more grimy slice of hedonism and desperation. Phissbarrel takes debauchery to a new level.
While life on the islands is harsh, life on the mainland is harsher still. Those who live on the Mainland are rugged, wild, and tend to be a bit…off.
Choose Your Faction
The Wailing Shores is made up of several different factions and groups that all have their own goals, drives, and motivations. Click on each below to learn a bit more about what to expect when venturing to the shores.
Rooted deep within the stone and filth of Brownstone Island, the Griswolds represent decayed nobility wrapped in necro-science and whispered indulgence.
Efficient, shrewd, and infuriatingly self-righteous, the Merchant House serves as gatekeepers for ship production, trade negotiation, and quality control.
They build walls that last through storms, radwinds, and undead sieges. The Brick Workers Union is a power unto itself, commanding infrastructure.
Known for moving meat, leathers, and timber across undead-infested routes, they maintain cordial ties with groups too disreputable for polite company.
a semi-nomadic group of hunters, artisans, and logistics experts, the Leatherman Caravan Company is known to have powerful allies and is a political force.
Centered around Wellsworth Farm on Salterwater Islet, this family commands respect in regional governance and festival planning.
Law and order
There is one thing that is true about the Wailing Shores, and that’s that it wouldn’t survive without order. The strict rules and regulations that the islands have are, in part, to help cope with the harsh environs. Learn more about the various groups that assist with maintaining law on the Wailing Shores.
The Chancellors are the iron grip behind Saltpier’s spine. Born from the militaristic faith of the Fallow Hopes, they hardened into a subsect obsessed with discipline, control, and the idea that survival is a reward earned through the eradication of chaos.
Saltpier’s infamous military force is known simply as the Stormies. Trained through hellish boot camps and ritualized drowning trials, they are ocean-hardened, tactically honed, and cold to their core.
Nomadic agents that operate as neutral enforcers and mediators across the Wailing Shores, the Arbiters often step in when jurisdiction between islands becomes blurred or contested.
The Underbelly of the shores
Not all factions are as upstanding as others. Choosing one of these groups may mean you become involved in organized crime, murder, and other dark aspects of the Wailing Shores.
A patchwork of horror-draped clans who wear the bones of their dead and the shrouds of their slain, they blur the line between Lineage, cult, and nightmare.
Mad scientists in butcher’s aprons, the Splicers operate behind closed doors in swamp-labs and coastal sheds, pushing necrology into grotesque new territory.
They fly no national flag, owe no loyalty, and expect no rescue. The Black Dog Armada is a fleet of pirates that lives in the space between shadows.
The Voiceless Deep blend ritualistic sacrifice with maritime practicality, tending lighthouses during storms but dousing flames during the Night of Terror.
Where Murder Inc. ends with a corpse, the Black Market begins with a transaction. This isn’t a single cartel but instead it’s a loosely bound hydra of vice brokers, smugglers, and black science labs.
Operating like shadows in a world of gray morality, Murder Inc. sanctions death for order’s sake. Learn more about the prominent families.