Setting Intro
Mercy Pointe is a brand new small settlement in the northern portion of the Great Lakesea. Funded and run by the seafaring Sainthood organization, Wayfaring Strangers, it is advertised as a “home for all” for those that have lost their settlements, homes, and loved ones. With fresh water, a sea breeze, and boat access, Mercy Pointe hopes to welcome survivors from all across the Wasteland to their shores.
However, this wasn’t the first town here.
The town sits in a pocket of previously inhabited land, which was known as Driftwood Dover before a devastating and unknown event wiped out any inhabitants that lived here. The neighboring communities remain terrified of the land, whispering stories of what truly happened to the lost souls of Driftwood Dover.
The creation of a new town has drawn eyes to the fear of the unknown. What happened before could happen again… or even worse. The recreation of the town has brought in new parties hoping to get in on the action, or to see the town torn asunder.
Are you ready to see what washes ashore?
Before Mercy Pointe, there was Mourning Glory…
DR:MI 2019-2023 Plot
Mourning Glory was a young, modestly-sized settlement, seated right at the shores of the Great Lakesea. Backed and founded by a local Pureblood-run corporation, Ford Industries, it began as a promising enterprise, attractive to businesses and prospective settlers alike. With easy access to extensive salt mines, shipping lanes, and trade with Motor City, the Ford family hoped to turn Mourning Glory into a profitable little pin in their collective lapels.
There was just one problem with that plan.
There were already people living in those woods -- already people whose livelihoods relied on the salt trade. Already cultures and customs that date back generations -- not to mention systems in place, meant to maintain a balance with the region's sound-sensitive Gravemind.
With Mourning Glory's intrusion, that balance was shattered, turning the region into an economic (and sometimes literal) warzone -- with many smaller local communities left devastated and discontent in its wake. The Fords cared little for collateral damage, so long as they couldreap a profit -- but it's the townsfolk who were left to decide what costs are worth the crops that you sow.
Live games 2019-2020
The Fords intended for Mourning Glory to operate as their ticket to break into the salt mining trade. However, several conflicts reared their head early on.
Boisterous activity during trade drew the ire of a reclusive community of indigenous Quiet Folk known as the Silent. It took some time for the settlers to reach a better understanding of their role as guardians of the local Gravemind– and realize that their warnings against loud noises were not just idle superstition.
Driven to desperate measures by poverty and plague, some local Saltwise turned to acts of terrorism. PCs narrowly averted an attempt to bomb the town, but rather than turn the perpetrators in, they promised to assist in developing a cure for the dreadful Withering Disease.
Some PCs attempted to cooperate with Ford oversight, while others grew increasingly rebellious. Eventually, matters came to a head with the assassination of the youngest Ford sibling, Vic – followed by a fierce and immediate crackdown performed by their elder sister, Allegro. The town reluctantly fell back into line and began to rebuild, unable to resist against the sheer resources that Ford Industries could bring to bear.
Online Plot 2020-2022
The Fords unveiled the crown jewel they’d been working on – a self-sufficient underground mining town known as the Delve. Of course, opening-day celebrations were immediately disrupted by the appearance of a monstrous Being from Beyond. Players were forced to evacuate and collapse the area to escape the massive horde of Stitched raiders it had summoned.
From there, Online plots explored a wide variety of areas in what was once Michigan, outside the bounds of Mourning Glory.
Fox Theatre
At the invitation of a Nemesis troupe known as Rogue’s Gallery, players threw themselves into a madhouse of sick, booby-trapped games, all for the chance to reclaim powerful Faith artifacts that the Gallery had stolen away. When forced to choose between several victims to hand over to the Gallery’s clutches, players voted to hand over Mustang, the middle child of the Fords. But could it be that they played precisely into the villains’ script…?
Nackimaw Island
While investigating reports of a bizarre gravemind phenomenon off the coast of the Upper Peninsula, players encountered horrific cryptids, as well as the tragic experiments responsible for creating them. The Arbiters of Aeturnum swore to never abuse their scientific pursuits so severely again… still, those who set foot on the island left slightly Distorted from who they’d been before.
Two Sisters
The floating factory city which forms the beating heart of the Great Lakes Saltwise population. Unfortunately, starvation, sickness, and drug abuse have overtaken its once-bustling streets. Players sympathized with their plight and defended the city from a pirate army which threatened to wipe them off the map– only to discover that it was the Fords who were behind this attack all along.
The Mäl
An edifice to old-world luxury and greed, now half-swallowed into the Mortis Amaranthine. Truly haunting phenomena awaited those brave or foolish enough to plunder its untouched resources… and to make matters worse, Rogue’s Gallery took the stage once again, revealing exactly what they’d been up to with Mustang this entire time.
Winter’s Edge
Players followed a distress beacon to a research bunker in the northern hills– only to become trapped alongside its residents as a terrible blizzard rolled in. Tensions rose among the shivering refugees as it became clear that something was stalking the bunker’s corridors, picking people off one by one. Though difficult to kill, that something was successfully contained inside a psionic trap… for now.
Coldwater
A blossoming tourist town, their industry fueled by the unique Faith-enhancing effects of an underground spring. Following the events of the Delve, Coldwater’s residents were massacred by the swarm of Stitched raiders that Mourners had trapped belowground– only to be resurrected at the hands of SAINTcorp™, a pharmaceutical company with strange life-binding shock troops at their beck and call. During the anniversary of that great resurrection, Mourners investigated the mysteries at the heart of the town, and fought off a horde of Devoted Dead who arose to interrupt the festivities.
To many players, it became increasingly clear just how willing the Fords were to harm others in the name of profit. However, repeatedly sabotaging the Purebloods’ investments left Mourning Glory itself ripe for ‘new management’...
Return to Live 2022-2023
In the past, a splinter group of Darwinists known as the Dominion had crept largely under the radar, conducting various ‘supposedly beneficial’ experiments on diseases, creatures from Nackimaw, and the (rather too trusting) local population. Soon, though, they’d gone completely mask-off, taking over the region, and just generally making a horrible, irradiated mess of the place.
The creator of the Dominion— Professor Banting— sought to destroy the Wasteland completely, returning the world to silence. It was an extremist view of his former life as a Silent Cultist, made more extreme by his so-called betrayal at the hands of his partner Carlisle. The actions of the Dominion decimated settlements in the Lakelands, most notably the populous Capital City. Though Mourning Glory’s many factions may not have always seen eye-to-eye, many of them joined uneasy hands to force those homewreckers out.
Once the Dominion was finally ousted, the bloody war won, many local factions were resource scarce. This left a power vacuum wide open for the taking— and SAINTcorp™ had been lying in wait. Represented by the pristine Sloane, they quickly swooped in to make a deal with the Fords, and subsequently Mourning Glory. But with their appearance, the Devoted Dead also returned. The citizens of Mourning Glory readied themselves to take on both new threats.
But then disaster struck.