#carja lands

[tare-otome]

Lawan, Second in Command at Barren Light, after the Embassy...

"Sun watch over you, Aloy. I hope you find what you're looking for."

I really liked this guy, his face, voice and personality were so interesting!

[banukai]

on the real i think itd be cool if Horizon 3 was in East Asia/quen territory but ...........theyve been teasing The Claim and The Malmstrom for so long that i kinda want to see that more....

[thunderjawsandlightning]

Niloy November - Day 3: Fire

"Not my first firestorm", he'd told her, amidst the flaming buildings of Meridian Village and the Royal Maizelands. Behind him, the fire was raging – thatched-roof buildings going up in a crackle, upright timbers shivering beneath the roar of the flames, spitting embers that were crushed underfoot by both devil-machines and men.  Aloy gave pause for a moment, letting loose an arrow into the breast of the Longleg, before Nil stabbed into its wing-vents, downing the machine.  Shouting at her to go on ahead, to the path that called her further forward– and then she was gone, her hair whipping behind her, a wave of red disappearing into the fire.  The inferno was almost a beast unto itself, the heat whipping up gusts of air that prickled Nil’s skin and searing his eyelids as his eyes whipped around the battlefield, ever alert for a new enemy.  

The last time he'd been in a blaze this fierce, the sky had been choked black with smoke; the air filled with screams and war-cries of Nora Braves, and the clattering crash of a Carja gong and the sonorous call of a war-horn to signal maneuvers to the soldiers rushing down into the fray.  As the tall grasses and the triangle-shaped huts burnt in such a fury that made even the rocks ripple in waves, Nil could vaguely recall standing at the base of the ridge, the heat wafting up and licking across his face and snaking over his armour.  It was his first time in foreign lands, and the excitement and fervor of the skirmish began to take hold in his body.  The blood pounding in his ears, so loud it seemed to drown out the roar of the fires; a keening cry in his veins to stab-slash-parry-cut as Nora warriors emerged from the smoke with clubs and spears upraised.  

And after, in the calm and the quiet, Nil wiped his sword clean, seeing his own blood-spattered reflection in the blade.  As he stared at his own steely-eyed reflection, he became aware of a sound, reaching past the slowing, thundering tempo of his racing heart.  A ringing in his ears that would not stop, nor could the shivers that now washed over him quell the fire in his veins.  More, his body seemed to whisper to him.  More.

[emirgpark]

The Living World of Horizon Forbidden West

There was much talk about open worlds last year when Horizon Forbidden West and Elden Ring were released. A lot of people feel that Elden Ring's open world is much better than HFWs, but I don't. Having played both (although I didn't get very far in Elden Ring), I can unequivocally say that I prefer HFW's world over Elden Ring's.

A lot of the conversation about open worlds is usually littered with complaints about the HUDs and quest markers, but rarely about the actual worlds themselves.

Elden Ring's world is a dead one. It is without people. Yes, there are a handful of people scattered about, but you don't get to experience the way they live or their customs or their culture first hand. It's more akin to an anthropological dig. You go around picking up artifacts and piece them together into a satisfying narrative. The information about the various peoples are always at least secondhand. Most of the time, the information is filtered through unreliable narrators.

Then you have Horizon Forbidden West's world, a living one. In this, you can go to different towns and settlements and get a sense of how people live first hand. You can go to Plainsong and see the field of crops underneath the satellite dishes. You can see the farmers in the fields tending to the crops. You can get onto the dishes and see people walking around or lounging and hear them talk about their day and their troubles. Same with Barren Light or Scalding Spear or Landfall.

HFW feels more in the present while Elden Ring feels more like being stuck in the past.

[robo-dino-puppy]

little details in the carja camp

[i-lavabean]

AUgust: what if Kotallo had snuck into Carja lands earlier to try to rescue Itamen and Nasadi for Fashav’s sake?

[communistkenobi]

also I know I’m strolling in seven years late to Horizon’s representation problems but I feel like these games are an instructive example in how the liberal imagination understands “good representation.” the game seems to take a lot of care in demonstrating (what the developers understand to be) a fully post-racial society by way of universal racial integration - every society or ‘tribe’ or group of people you encounter is almost uniformly racially diverse. Being generous, I think this is an attempt to avoid any possible racist implications in the fanciful costumes and outfits that Horizon is known for; there is a lot of focus in representing the different people of Horizon’s world through what they wear. You can immediately tell an Oseram from a Carja, not by their racial makeup, but by their clothing. This means that, if you meet a particularly ‘savage people’ (a term characters in the game use semi-frequently) who wear ‘exotic clothing’ and face-paint, the diverse racial makeup of the group prevents (or is intended to prevent) a racist conclusion about that group. 

Likewise, the game presents a world free from systemic homophobic prejudice - Aloy is notably gay, but also her asking people about their partners, or assuming other people around her are gay, generally passes without comment. Horizon is presenting a fully ‘integrated’ social world, one whose conflicts are not meant to map onto ‘modern-day’ racism and homophobia.

But the underlying logic and structure of racism and homophobia (and binaristic, oppositional gender) are left intact. Humanity in Horizon is still presented as fundamentally separate from nature, moving overtop of it, extracting what they need from it, but never part of it as such. And this construction of nature as separate from “man” is not problematised, “man” just gets universalised into “human,” and “human” gets universalised into a non-racial category. This is completely side-stepping the history of this construction of nature as a white supremacist, colonial, capitalist construction, an understanding of nature as something colonial Europe is meant to hold dominion over through the dehumanisation of non-white, non-European people, converting them into non-human labourers and pests who live atop the land Europe is attempting to colonise and enclose. “Nature” in the modern western understanding is a fundamentally racial concept; nature is a ‘scientific, rational, biological’ container meant to house everything non-human about the world, an object to be studied and exploited by the one true subject of history, Mankind - and who is considered part of mankind is a question of whether you belong to the white European ruling class.

I think Aloy in particular represents this problem well - her access to and understanding of pre-apocalypse technology makes her universally suspicious and dismissive of any religious or ‘spiritual’ beliefs she encounters in other groups, frequently getting into reddit-atheist-adjacent quibbles with the ‘unenlightened,’ ‘primitive’ people of the world about the fact that the machines that harvest food for them and take care of the land are not gods, silly, they’re just machines! Her only real counterpart in terms of technological understanding is Sylens (a Black man), who is an antagonist. Like despite the game’s attempts at neutralising race as a coherent category, it is kind of unavoidable to notice that the protagonist is a white woman who’s only equal is a Black man engaging in constant deception for his own benefit lol

And Aloy’s anti-religious sentiments are deeply funny, because the game’s narrative itself has a theological relationship to technology - humans destroyed the world with technology, yes, but salvation of humanity is only possible through technology, specifically a globe-spanning technological system meant to be an environmental steward to the planet, repairing the damage caused by previous technological catastrophes and human wars. Human beings themselves are insufficient to the task of taking care of the planet, and “nature” itself is incapable of self-governance or regulation. And the way this technological system is made to function properly again is, hilariously, unlocked through the genetic code of a white woman, a perfect clone of the technological system’s original creator. the solution to Horizon’s central conflict and threat is, ultimately, a white saviour 

And so the appropriative elements of Horizon - calling the Nora ‘braves,’ the abstracting of hundreds of north american Indigenous cultures into mere aesthetics and symbols, the invocation of words like savage and primitive, and so on - are not surface-level problematic elements of an otherwise anti-racist game, they are indicative of a liberal anti-racist imaginary, a place where we’re all equal human beings whose main problem are vague sectarian grudges, without looking at or dealing with any of the underlying ideological frameworks that produced race or gender in the first place.

So I think Horizon is, despite attempts to imagine a post-racist world, nonetheless very limited in how it represents this post-racial world because it understands racism as prejudice against particular phenotypic characteristics, not an underlying logic that renders “nature” and “human” as fundamentally racial concepts in history

[xamiipholia]

okay y'all seemed to like the last one so here's a few more Horizon 3 thoughts:

Aloy won’t die. It would completely upend the series’ themes and just be really nihilistic.

Since Nemesis is a gestalt entity I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see Sam Witwer, Carrie-Anne Moss, etc again. I’m curious how they’re going to do it because at least structurally, it’s basically a reaper. Maybe it’ll use different Avatars when communicating like the Leviathan in ME3. 

It's gonna take some work to make a flashback/dream/vision not contrived but I would love to see Varl and Rost again. I think we deserve that.

Minerva is gonna have its work cut out for it blocking access to both the dormant Faro Swarm and the ZD terraforming system. 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Nemesis has some sort of corruption function that becomes the equivalent of the corruption in HZD. It would be a really fun tech showcase if GG uses Zenith nanotech for machine corruption and leans into mechanical body horror.

If we’re going to Ban-Ur I really really hope they do the work to make the Banuk less problematic and more fleshed out as a culture. A quasi-Spartan society absolutely would not survive in an extreme environment, *especially* without megafauna to hunt. The Banuk characters are lovely and well-written; they deserve a society as well thought out as the Utaru or Carja. I’m honestly fine if there’s retcons or revamps to the cultural lore because the whole “outsider barges in and becomes chief” is rooted in racist, colonial tropes and we just don’t really need that imo.

The most recent footage of Death Stranding 2 (also running on Decima) has me SO excited for the visuals. GG’s gonna knock it out. The facial rendering and animation that Kojima Productions are doing looks industry-peak and I’m sure GG’s gonna match that. Aloy’s Gay Panic™️ scene on the beach in HBS is already top-tier nonverbal storytelling through animation. Digital Foundry actually just posted a really cool tech breakdown of the current Decima engine. I’m especially excited about the environmental stuff. The ocean simulations in HFW are already incredible and I hope they increase verticality in the world. I can’t wait to see the Sacred Lands in current gen graphics. 

I really love Kotallo’s DIY arm and it’s so so important to his development but Beta and Gaia now have access to Zenith nanotech, maybe give your buddy a sick upgrade hmm?

Speaking of, I can’t wait to see Beta come into her own. She’s one of the best parts of HFW and Aloy’s character absolutely shines in a sibling dynamic. 

I wouldn’t get your hopes up for a romance mechanic. Everyone’s feelings on that aside, it would be really odd from a game development perspective to just overhaul part of how the narrative develops Aloy’s character in the last act of the story. Yeah, there are flashpoints but I would argue that the presence of choice in Horizon is smoke and mirrors- cosmetic at best. Kentucky Route Zero (which you should play) does something similar where the player is given a certain amount of control over the substance of individual conversations and scenarios and it does absolutely nothing to alter the plot, by design. I think it’s the same here - this isn’t really a choice-based RPG, the flashpoints don’t really affect anything plot-wise or for Aloy’s character development. Olin is still out of the story, Nil lives, Regalla still dies one way or another. Aloy’s character development is pretty firmly on rails (think Jin Sakai, not Shepard - you get to guide some momentary character reactions but that’s it). I don’t think HBS is a testing ground either - If they were gonna introduce a romance mechanic I think they’d just do it, and not spend two years making a direct continuation of HFW’s main quest and establishing a specific romance hard-baked into the plot, complete with multiple leitmotifs for the character relationship (which is something they haven’t done before afaik) just to introduce a side quest mechanic coming in 5 years. I genuinely can’t think of any game or dev that has beta tested a major alteration to upcoming game mechanics that way - it doesn’t really make any sense in terms of developer resources, and these games are extremely time-consuming to make. I know this is a thing a bunch of people want and I can totally empathize with that! I just think it’s probably not on the table. 

I would bet money the series will bookend itself and the epilogue will involve a) the naming of Zo and Varl’s kid and b) Lis’ pendant. 

Mostly I'm just looking forward to being surprised. One of my favorite things that Horizon does is use carefully established elements in the world to pull the plot in unexpected directions and keeping the world grounded while they lean into speculative science fiction. I can't wait to see what Guerrilla is cooking up

[the-horizon-lounge3041]

Talanah’s discoveries on the Red Harpy + Aloy POV

After getting screamed at by a harpy I set free, I sat for a minute wondering why she let me live. Was it because I let her live? Or are Harpys not what we think. My father would definitely be disappointed in me if he saw what I did, but I couldn’t do it. She looked frightened, probably more frightened than I was. Not long after I freed her, I decided to follow her although I’m positive that roar she gave me was a don’t follow me roar. But too bad, I want to know more about Harpys now that she spared me.

I walked and walked and walked, till I found this nice little cove. Has this always been here? It’s beautiful. But suddenly a flash of red darted in front of me, it was startling, I then saw the harpy gently float down towards the ground of the cove, that’s when I decided to get a closer look. She kept flapping violently towards the sky, her wing must’ve been broken from when I shot her down. She tried one more time before falling onto the ground hard, I heard her groan in pain, this poor thing. She then tried swiping at the fish in the water with her claws, great. So she’s injured, she’s definitely hungry, and has no one to help her. I sat there and gave things some thought. Tomorrow, I’m going to approach her again, without weapons to show I mean no harm.

I returned to the cove hearing roars from the harpy, she sounded upset. I quietly made my way down there until I slipped and landed on some moss, the roaring stopped, I was in trouble now for sure. I waited a bit to see if she would come around but she never did, I decided to sit down and wait to see if I saw anything, I started to feel hungry so I decided eat my meat sandwich.

Aloy POV

It was her again, the Carja that shot me down. I hid behind a rock and decided to watch her for a bit before I pounced, did she not get the message I gave her? Guess she doesn’t understand harpys can actually talk or understand harpy roars. I did use my harpy voice instead of speaking human, but never mind all of that, she did this to me now she will pay the price for following me.

I got behind a rock, ready to pounce but then I heard crunching?…I looked at the Carja and she was eating a sandwich…a meat sandwich to be exact, and it smelled so good. I realized I was drooling and my stomach was aching with hunger, I decided that meat sandwich was going to be my meal, but how do I get it? And so, I tapped her shoulder, quickly snatched the sandwich, and retreated behind a rock to go eat my meal. It was so delicious, but then…I heard that girl again.

Talanah POV

“HEY WHERE DID MY SANDWICH GO?” I asked angrily, I looked behind the rock and saw the red harpy eating it. She stopped and tried to fly off again, she kept failing and hurting herself. I asked her to calm down and let me help, but the harpy just roared loudly. I told her to please quiet down and she suddenly stopped, I tried to get her to calm down and let me see her wing. She growled when I took steps towards her, and I definitely was not risking getting scratched by her. I then asked if she ate my sandwich and she nodded, All I thought was….Great.

[horizoncountdown]

For those that are curious, this is the Real World Horizon location map that Count uses, done by jesuscuervo on Reddit.

See under the cut for more information.

Real World Horizon Map (Speculative)

The Embrace proper is just the valleys and lakes between Pike’s Peak and Cheyenne Mountain, the core of the Nora Territory. Here, I placed each village in a valley respective to the location of Cheyenne Mountain but moved a few things around so it would not be too crowded.

The Outer Sacred Lands – outside the Embrace proper – contain several outcast camps. I had the Nora Territory expand across the Grand Mesa and Gunnison National Forest. Brom’s Camp is located over the Black Canyon of the Gunnison as it is depicted in-game, while Rost’s Hovel and Grata’s Camp are located on the hills/mountains closer to the Embrace.

Valleymeet; the neutral land between The Sacred Lands and the Carja Sundom is based on Maroon Bells, CO in-game. However, I mapped it out to include all of the White River National Forest within Valleymeet.

Hunter’s Gathering the main settlement in Valleymeet would likely be would be located on the Roaring Fork Valley near Woody Creek. That is the largest open valley in the area and the path through which the present-day CO-82 passes could work as a main throughway between the Nora and Carja lands.

Shivering Watch, following CO-82 the mountains narrow into a canyon south of Glenwood Springs (not Glenwood Canyon). The canyon acts as the chokepoint and border between the formerly Nora lands and the Carja Sundom where Shivering Watch and The Daytower are located.

Two Teeth Camp is depicted as being on Maroon Peak in-game. However, it is built over the ruins of the Smuggler-Union Hydroelectric Plant, which is further south in Telluride, CO. I kept Two-Teeth in the southern location so it acts as a second buffer between the Sacred Lands and the Sundom.

The Carja Sundom; is where the game took the greatest artistic liberty. The game depicts the heartland of the Carja Sundom south of the Colorado River (Lake Powell specifically); however the real-world locations depicted within The Sundom, the area its geography is based on (Eagle Canyon, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks), and the route Alloy travels through suggests the Sundom is actually located north of the Colorado River in the real world. Thus rather than having the Sundom’s heartland located in the Colorado Mesa, it would make more sense to place it in the already fertile Price and Green River Valleys in Utah. This way I was able to keep Meridian in Eagle Canyon and Sunfall in Bryce Canyon. Thus Sunfall is actually southwest rather than northwest of Meridian. The Carja Sundom would extend across most of the Western Slope in Colorado into most of eastern and southern Utah. With Shatter Kiln (Provo) as its northernmost boundary.

The Sun-Steps – are the first region of the Sundom that Alloy encounters on her journey. In-game it stretches from Arches National Park to what appears to be Horseshoe Bend. However, Horseshoe Bend is too far south for it to make sense as the border, so I have Morning Watch located further north on another bend. Since river bends can form anywhere it is not a stretch to think there is a new bend somewhere else. Over all the Sun-Steps correspond to the Grand Valley in CO.

Free Heap – located within the Sun Steps is Free Heap, an Oseram outpost set up to provide construction material for Meridian. If they are mining for industrial materials from the Old Ones, it would make the most sense for Free Heap to be located on or near Grand Junction CO, which is the largest settlement in the area today.

Gatelands – form the eastern half of the central Carja Sundom. Unlike the rest of the Sundom, this region is relatively easy to map out since most locations have an obvious real-world reference corresponding to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.

Lone Light had to be relocated since Horseshoe Bend is much further downriver in reality. I placed it in a smaller bend upriver.

Gatelands Bandit Camp - I depicted the Bandint Camps as neutral/independent enclaves within the Sundom, the Gatelands Camp being the largest one of these and corresponding to the entirety of Arches National Park.

The Jewel – the central heartland of the Carja Sundom appears to be based on Monument Valley in present-day Utah and Arizona. However this location would be rather out of the way from Aloy’s journey and it doesn’t fit some of the locations depicted within the Jewel itself (mainly Meridian, which is located in Eagle Canyon). Thus, I thought it made more sense for it to be centered on the eastern Green River Basin along the present-day Carbon, Emery, and Wayne counties. This way Meridian remains in Eagle Canyon and the Spurflints in the San Rafael Reef. The Spearshafts would be a new formation (not present today) somewhere in Canyonlands National Park.

Rustwatch – in-game the Shadow Carja territory is north of the Jewel across from Daybrink (Lake Powell), however since The Jewel is no longer located south of the Lake, Rustwatch and Sunfall are now southeast of the Carja heartland. But Sunfall keeps its location in Bryce Canyon.

The Southern Frontier – in-game Kestrel’s Perch is defined as a fortress built by the fifth Sun King Zavarad as the Sundom expanded north of Daybrink (Lake Powell) into Rustwatch. However because in the real world, Lake Powell is south of what I’ve defined as the Carja heartland, this frontier is now south of Daybrink and Rustwatch.

The Mountain Frontier – Call of the Mountain doesn’t really give many references on where Rising Light and the main route of the game are located, except that it is mountainous and – for the most part – densely wooded. So I opted for the Sundom to have a “Mountain Frontier” along the Wasatch Range. Because the world of Horizon is likely set in a warmer and wetter Earth (due to rising sea levels), the Bonneville and Lahontan Great Lakes have been resurrected east of this range. The former of these acts as The Sundom’s western border and provides the precipitation and rainfall necessary to create forests and jungles in the Colorado Plateau.

Shattered Kiln – a bandit camp near the northern reaches of the Sundom, as in-game it is based on Provo Utah near Maker’s End (Salt Lake City).

The Daunt; the southwestern corner of the Carja Sundom corresponds to Zion National Park. However, Zion is relatively small to fit all the in-game locations. In-game, Zion National Park appears to be the same size as the entirety of Southern Nevada or the California Central Valley. To fit everything in, I extended The Daunt to include the entire Virgin River Basin in Washington County Utah.

Barren Light would then be located with St George, Utah where the Virgin River (and the I-15) cross Bloomington Hills.

Chainscrape and the Redhew Quarry, the Oseram settlement within the Daunt is located along a bit upriver from Barren Light.

The Claim; the Oseram territory is not depicted in-game, however, Pitch Cliff and Free Heap are two Oseram settlements near their border with the Carja Sundom. It is stated that their territory is north of The Sundom and west of The Cut, so it likely corresponds to Idaho, specifically the Snake River Basin.

Pitch Cliff is likely located along the Roan Cliffs, and possibly very near the border between the Claim and the Sundom.

The lands between The Long Roam, the Claim, and the Carja Sundom form an unclaimed region around the present-day Uintah Basin. Oseram traders travel through it and the Carja might have sent some raiders across it, but it remains mostly unpopulated. I shaded this area pink as the Carja might claim it but likely hold no direct control.

No Man’s Land - is the border between the Carja Sundom and the Tenakth Clanlands. No Man’s Land borders are not well defined in-game, but they seem to correspond to the northern shore of Lake Mead, specifically the area around the Overton Arm where the Virgin River meets the Lake. The overall location works for a real-world equivalent, but a few things get shuffled around for them to fit.

Jagged Deep; the eastern bank of the Virgin River was tenuously controlled by the Carja Sundom. What remains is Riverwatch, an abandoned fort on the banks of the Overton Arm, and Jagged Deep an abandoned mine that is now delved by Oseram adventurers. The Carja Camp on the west bank of the Overton Arm is the furthest west Carja settlement.

Eastern Lie & Deadfalls are the westernmost Tenakth settlements closest to the Cajra and Utaru borders, which have been taken by Regalla’s Rebels. In fact, most of the Tenakth side of No Man’s Land is occupied by the rebels.

Spinebreak; in-game Spinebreak is located on the southeastern border between No-Man’s Land and the Tenakth Clanlands proper and built under the ruins of a present-day highway tunnel. The issue is that there are no tunnels – or logical places to put a tunnel – between the Overton Arm and Las Vegas (the Stillsands). I thus place Spinebreak further north on the Virgin River Canyon acting as a second border between Barren Light and the Tenakth camps.

The Utaru Tribal Lands; the Utaru settled in the lands surrounding the Western Grand Array (WGA), which they named Plainsong.

Plainsong, although the WGA is based on the Very Large Array in New Mexico, the VLA is very far from Aloy’s path and the in-game geography. Furthermore just like the Nora take their name from the NORAD Facility and the Tenakth take their name from the Tenth Task Force, I suspect the Utaru take their name from Utah. Thus it is likely that the WGA is not the VLA but rather a new array built somewhere in Southern Utah, between the Carja Sundom and the Desert Clans. With this in mind, I placed Plainsong on the Cedar Valley and worked from there.

Stone’s Echo – Stone’s Echo is an Utaru outpost near the Stillsands, just past No Man’s Land. I placed it along the Meadow Valley Wash, which would likely be a tad more fertile than in the present day. Because we are dealing with what I expect is a warmer and wetter climate due to rising sea levels (and AETHER’s supercell storms going haywire).

Riverhymn – On the northern edge of the Utaru lands lies Riverhymn; the second largest Utaru settlement after Plainsong. In-game it is located in a fairly mountainous corner. So it is likely located near Frisco Peak with the river that passes through it being the Beaver River. However this river flows in the opposite direction that is seen in-game, rather than flowing south towards Plainsong, it flows north into the Sevier Lake.

·Due to the wetter climate, it is possible that the entire Bonneville Basin is once again flooded and Lake Bonneville acts as a boundary between the Utaru, the Carja, the Oseram, and Tenakth Desert Clans but the game map does not go that far north. Regardless I thought it be cool so I opted to depict it as such.

Tenakth Desert Clans; the Desert Clans inhabit most of Southern Nevada. Their territory reaches the present-day Great Basin National Park in the northeast and the Shining Wastes (Death Valley National Park) to the West.

The Stillsands; southwest of the Utaru territory, is another semi-contested region (it is within the Tenakth Desert Clan territory but both major settlement Camp Nowhere and Hidden Ember are Oseram). This is pretty simple since it corresponds to Clark County NV, with Hidden Ember clearly being Las Vegas. I originally had Devil’s Grasp be located in Barstow CA, but opted to place it closer to Las Vegas in Primm.

Dry Yearn; is the easternmost region of the Clanlands. It contains Arrowhand, the second largest Desert Clan settlement, and Restless Weald. It is fairly easy to place since Restless Weald is based in Caliente, NV. With this in mind, I placed Arrowhand over Crystal Springs, NV, and the Dry Yearn Camp just north of Restless Weald.

The Greenswell; is the northernmost region of the Desert Clanlands; it is also the least arid region of the Desert Clans. Part of this can be attributed to the supercell storms, but I also opted to have the core of the territory within the Great Basin National Park, which is a very green area within the Nevada desert, which further explains the area’s climate.

Scalding Spear; centrally located in the Nevada desert, the capital of the Desert Clans is located on the present-day Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project.

Shining Wastes; is an arid mostly flat expanse of land, which for the most part corresponds to Death Valley National Park. The only problem is that Death Valley is not particularly flat. I included Death Valley, now filled in with a saline lake, within the Shining Wastes but placed the main settlements located further north within the Nevada Desert (which is mostly flat).

Runner’s Wild – a small region in the Desert Clan territory, Runner’s Wild corresponds to Mammoth Lakes in California and acts as a border between the Desert and Sky Clans.

Salt Bite – north of Runner’s Wild this region borders Runner’s Wild and the Greenswell, it is clearly based on Mono Lake in California and the geography easily fits into this location.

Memorial Grove; although the Tenakth are divided into three warring Clans (and Regalla’s Rebels), the Memorial Grove acts as a capital / neutral ground for all three. The Grove is located on a museum and military base – specifically an airforce base – south of Mono Lake. The base does not exist in the present day but could be located anywhere in the Owens Valley. I paced it on Independence, CA (fitting name). Like other areas on the map, the Owens Valley is also much more fertile than in the current day.

Tenakth Sky Clans; northwest of the Memorial Grove the Sky Clans make their home along the Sierra Nevada, specifically Yosemite Valley and the Sierra National Forrest. Not many changes here, but it doesn’t seem like their territory expands much further north than Lake Tahoe (unless it is not depicted).

The Bulwark; the capital of the Skyclans is based on Sentinel Dome in Yosemite Valley, I kept it here and based the rest around it.

Sheerside Mountains; are based on the Sierra Nevada, the region itself corresponds to the northern half of the Sky Clans’ territory. I took Sheerside Climb to be the pass from Mammoth Lakes to Yosemite and assumed Bonewhite Tear and the other settlements would be located along CA Route 120 and the Tuolumne River.

Stand of the Sentinels the southern region of the Sky Clans appears to be based off the Sierra National Forest. Its major settlements follow a pass from Mammoth Lakes to Tide’s Reach (possibly Fresno CA, see below). This suggests that the major settlements are located along the San Joaquin River.

Tenakth Lowland Clans; like the Carja Sundom, the Lowland Clans pose a huge conundrum. The Lowlands seem to consist of the foothills of the Sierras along Kings Canyon National Park and the Sequoia National Forrest towards a coast. This suggests that California’s Central Valley is flooded due to rising sea levels. If this is the case it helps explain why The Long Coast (Bakersfield) is a coast and not inland.However, if this were the case there should be a long peninsula formed from California's Coastal Ranges. But this peninsula is completely absent from the in-game map. Furthermore, Tide’s Reach appears to be based in Oakland, but it is geographically located at the foothills of the Sierra National Forrest. This should be impossible; Oakland would be located on the aforementioned “peninsula” between San Francisco Bay and the “Central Valley Sea”, but this peninsula is nowhere to be found on the map.

I tried my best to come up with a creative solution.

Raintrace – as in-game Raintrace is based on Sequoia National Forrest, Lowland Path and Fall’s Edge are located along CA Route 180 and King’s Canyon, which provide a direct route from the Memorial Grove to the rest of the Lowland Clans’ territory. Fenrise is further south on Isabella Lake where the Kern River valley provides a connection between the Desert Clans and Lowland Clans’ territories.

Tide Reach – I relocated Tide’s Reach to Fresno, CA which is now along the coast of the “Central Valley Sea”. I opted to have it based on Fresno since it provides another large present-day settlement where to base it, and more importantly, it is directly on the path Alloy would take from Stand of the Sentinels. Since Alloy can’t swim from Tide’s Reach to the Isle of Spires (San Francisco) it makes sense to place it further away from the island than Oakland. SF Bay is large, but not large enough for there to be a storm that wrecks Alloy’s raft. To make the route Alloy takes a bit more logical I also broke up the Coastal Ranges north of the Salinas River into an archipelago. I considered sinking the entirety of the Mt Diablo Range, to provide a direct route from Tide’s Reach to the Island, but I thought that would be too much.

The Long Coast – in-game The Long Coast seems to refer to the Pacific Coast, but as already mentioned it also refers to the ruins of Bakersfield CA. Thankfully a flooded Central Valley means we’ve gained a new coast. Thus the Long Coast now refers to the western coast of this inland sea. Thornmash, in-game coordinates suggest it is located near Tracy, CA. but I placed it a little further south on this coast so it forms a triangle with Tide’s Rach and Raintrace Rise and so it is not too close to San Francisco.

Cliffs of the Cry – as in-game the Cliffs correspond to Big Sur and the California Pacific Coast. I opted to have Raintrace West located on the Cliffs (close to San Luis Obispo) since you travel from it to the Zennith Base.

Isle of Spires; is straightforward San Francisco, which is now an island. Alva describes San Francisco as an archipelago, so this helped me further justify the breakup of the Coastal Ranges. Although I realize that such geologic shifts would likely destroy the city of San Francisco itself. This is the suspension of disbelief in a world that has a volcano appear on Yellowstone and New Zealand sink beneath the waves.

Zenith Base; originally I thought about having it located in Monterey however it is south of Tilda’s Mansion, which is in Big Sur. It then seemed fitting to place the Zenith Base in Vandenberg Airforce Base instead.

The Burning Shores; it is LA, which like San Francisco is now an archipelago due to tectonic activity and rising sea levels. This is pretty much explained in-game.

Fleet’s End is located somewhere in the Baldwin Hills, which are now the main island of the “bay”

Pangea Park / Londra Productions is described as being on a peninsula. Because it is partially based on Dinseyland (or Universal Studios) I’ve opted to keep it in Anaheim. To make Anaheim a peninsula I’ve flooded the San Gabriel Valley in the north and Newport Beach in the south.

[tjerra14]

[chinhands] Hey so. If you could put Ikrie into Forbidden West, what would she be doing?

Oh buddy, I am SO glad you asked! The short answer to this would probably be "chase her down and then glue herself to Aloy's side because her spear needs company and what else is she gonna do" but since I'm slightly (pathologically) passionate about all That, I'll put a longer one under the cut (and buckle up because it will likely be overly long)

It's no secret that I'm an ardent believer in "Ikrie would not stay in the Cut" because there's just too much in the game's text to suggest otherwise. She categorically excludes going back to the White Teeth, and quite possibly the other werak(s) she's known since then at the end of her quest on the foundation of her beliefs not aligning with theirs, brings up the possibility of maybe forming her own werak further down the line; and when you meet her again at Snowchants, she expresses a certain uncertainty about what she wants to do with her future. Will she go back to Ban-Ur, after a little time to heal? Will she build Hunting Grounds of her own? "Fate's a long climb on a high cliff for people like you and me," she tells Aloy, and who knows where fate will lead her?

If you're a little deluded, like me, the answer to that would be "Aloy's side". She certainly is overjoyed to see her again at Snowchants, and when you tell her that you'll do her challenge another time, one of her possible replies is "Then I'll stay a little longer." For her. (cue me chewing through concrete again) But then Aloy leaves for the West, and isn't exactly subtle about it considering she just disappears after the Spire affair. Even if you don't stick with my personal headcanon (which sees Aloy asking Ikrie to come with her), I still think that word of what happened at the Spire (or is going to happen, depending on the timeline you prefer to follow) would reach the Cut, and eventually Snowchants, and Ikrie; and I can't imagine her sitting on her hands knowing the one person who helped her when she was at her lowest could use some help now (plus we all know Ikrie isn't all that good at boundaries and letting things and people go). (There's also a whole bunch about her and Inatut teaming up as Gildun's bodyguards and ending up in the West that way in my head.) So, if we then just skip to the "what would she be doing" instead of the "how did she get there", I always thought she would be a) a much needed addition to the gang (there is no real Banuk representative, as Sylens doesn't really count. Granted, with Talanah's bigger role having been scrapped, the Carja are also amiss, but I've always felt that to really drive home the point of the game, having members of all tribes as Aloy's companions would've been crucial, and they failed to deliver on that) and b) nicely tie into the Utaru arc. I really like Varl, so nothing against him, but I've always felt his role during the Dying Lands cauldron dive would've been better given to another character. He was there kinda just to hold Zo's hand, and while he did a good job at that, to me it also felt it didn't add all that much to the plot and character development, and was frankly a little underutilised. He was just Kinda There. The only stake he had in this was accompanying his friend and girlfriend, and while you can make the argument that alone was enough, he didn't really have as much connection to what was going on main plot-wise as the others (Zo, Kotallo, Alva) had with their respective sections of the subfunction collection quest. So here's where I'm fully going off the rails: I would've thrown Ikrie into that mix. She's from the Cut. She knows a thing or three about machines, be it fighting them or how they work and normally behave ("In thin air, [Scrappers] can smell metal for miles"), and she knows how Hephaestus affects them. Sure, Apex machines are a step up from Daemonic ones, but the pattern persists, and I'm pretty sure that upon seeing them roaming Utaru lands she would be able to make the connection similar to Aloy. And knowing what they have done to her people, she would have ample motivation to prevent the same happening to the Utaru. Not to mention it would've been fascinating to see her interact with Utaru culture and their approach to the Land-Gods, as I see a lot of overlap but also plenty of differences between Utaru and Banuk mindsets, and well. She seems an interesting character to explore some of that. After that, there's the Base. From then on, I'd just think she'd be part of the team. Maybe disassembling machine parts. Kissing Aloy. Hogging the work bench where you have to collect millions of parts to get a corrupted override working. Not that I necessarily think that she would be particularly good at that at first, but she'd likely be interested to learn. After all, if everything she sees turns Banuk belief and tradition on its head, why not figure out how things work in a different way? Also causing some havoc with Kotallo, because why not.

ANYWAY. This has gotten overly long, but the gist of it is. Ikrie in HFW. Yes.

[discar]

HZD Terraforming Base-001 Text Communications Network

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To Mother

To War-Chief Sona

To Mother [stick with the more personal tone]

I found The Anointed Aloy [she knows Aloy doesn't like being called that] deep in the Forbidden West. She believes that the secret to stopping the Red Blight, and perhaps even ending the Derangement, is here. We have settled into an Old Ones base [even with our Seeker blessings, that will make her uncomfortable] a permanent camp in the mountains. It is safe here. We have numerous allies, including Erend, the Oseram Vanguard. Sun-King Avad has implied his support. [that's confusing, and she wouldn't care anyway]

You're going to be a grandmother! [too light]

I met a girl. [too flippant]

One of those allies is an Utaru woman named Zo, who defied her leaders to fight the Red Raids. [don't bring up defying elders] She is intelligent and compassionate. [mother won't care] I am going to bring her back to the Embrace eventually. I think you'll like her.

[should this be part of the previous part?] There is also a Tenakth soldier named Kotallo who seems interested in our tales of battle against the Carja, and a woman from a new tribe, from across the sea [too confusing] and a lorekeeper named Alva from a distant tribe. Alva is very interested in our stories and customs, but is careful to ask me how to ask for permission to enter our holy sites [sounds bad] and I'm sure she will have much to speak to the Matriarchs about.

These new enemies we're facing, mother, these Zeniths... it's hard to describe them. They are immortal [she won't believe it] They bear the sins of the Old Ones [too fanciful] They have new machines that obey their commands, worse than the Eclipse cultists and their dark corruptors. Sometimes I'm not sure how we are surviving against one or two at a time, and they have hundreds. Aloy is a terror in combat. We have a plan, but it's all so beyond me. I'm not sure it will actually work. Not because I doubt Aloy or the others, just because it relies so much on things I am only now learning. GAIA [don't try to explain GAIA] The All-Mother says [makes me sound like a prophet] Our allies believe this will work, and I have to trust them.

Aloy has a sister [too flippant] The Zeniths made their own Anointed [confusing and blasphemy] The Zeniths had a captive. We managed to rescue her, and I've managed to get through to her, but she's scared and she's been alone her entire life. She reminds me of Aloy, but not in the good ways. She's smarter than the rest of us put together, but she doesn't know what to do with it and has no practical skills. She can't even sew up her own clothes. She hides in her room most of the time. Aloy has been talking to her, and sometimes it helps but sometimes it makes things worse. It's like watching someone yell at their reflection. [don't reference clones] They're too alike. I'm trying to get her to step out of the Base camp to see the sunrise, but it's hard. I think she's scared of not having a ceiling over her head. She always sleeps in, too.

There's a lot to see, outside the Embrace. New people, new machines I couldn't have even imagined. It's not like the Matriarchs say, all cursed heathens. [too aggressive, don't contradict the Matriarchs] It's beautiful, but frightening too. I wish you could see it, even though you'd hate it. [probably too much]

I hope this letter finds you well.

Your son, Varl.

[GAIA said she can print this out, but I think I should copy it out by hand]

[maybe I should just delete this, I'm probably going to be the one going to Nora lands anyway]

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[kotaloyelysiumevents]

June '24 - Monthly Prompt

🧚 Fairy tales / Shapeshifters / Magic🌏 Sweet and slow / “Let the world wait while you’re in my arms”

Fic

In the Slowness of the Morning (E) - @mayalli Aloy and Kotalllo indulge in a sweet and slow start to their morning.

Interlude - No touch can do half as much to make me feel better (E) (F/M/M)- @5ellaal5 Kotallo has been helping Hekarro learn to read Old One’s glyphs to complement his knowledge of Carja ones by using his Focus and their watching The Aloy Show together which means Hekarro is learning how to use a Focus. Aloy owes Hekarro one because he assisted her in her Nefarious Plot. Hekarro has some Nefarious Plots of his own. And some plans for diplomacy.

Interlude, restrospective: Five times Kotallo was distracted and confused, and one time he figured it out. (E) - @5ellaal5 What’s that strange and alluring scent? Oh. Figured it out. Awkward.

Mimicry (T) - theartseewinks It was only talked about in hushed tones on the fringes. Amongst the outcasts on the Sacred Lands, in the maize fields, in the seedier taverns, around cook fires. Something was out there, taking people. What happens when that thing sets sights on a young warrior from the Sky Clan?

The Huntress and the Beast (T) - @quiche-draws It is hard enough that Aloy must deal with dangerous machines, errant subfunctions and a growing threat from beyond the stars. So when she finds herself under the Tenakth Chief's service however temporary, it is with great reluctance, even more so when she is tasked to accompany his last remaining Marshal, dishonored not just by grave injury, but by extraordinary circumstance.

Red Aloy (T) - @cotanerd On the day Aloy finds her Focus, she also finds a cloak that is transformative in nature.

Safe and Sound (M) - @cotanerd Aloy and Kotallo take a beat the night before the impending battle with Nemesis.

Art

Trust - @sigvos

Aloy the Witch and her Familiar, Kotallo! - @setavvo

Frogtallo - @muffinvelocity

Has Anyone Seen Kotallo? - @tonys-art-n-stuff

Part of Your World - @apricity-writes

Alone at Night (NSFW) - @quiche-draws

---

Thank you to everyone for participating this June! Lots of ideas and cool concepts were thrown around!

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And as always, if you're interested in joining our server, feel free to send us an ask!

[horizon-ranger]

If there's one thing the Carja are known for, it's the sweltering heat of their sun and Sundom!

Ranging as far south as Monument Valley and as far north as Arches National Park, the Sundom fields across much of modern day Utah and Arizona, and their lands reflect this geographic location.

Canyons, deserts, even a hot, humid jungle all point to a still sweltering southwest, and the flowing, breathable nature of Carja clothing aid in keeping cool while under the light of the desert sun.

Whether it be the towers of Meridian or the wilds of the Rustwash, carrying water is crucial to surviving in the shimmering Sundom!

[gentlyrowan]

Sundom September

Today, we crest the mountain pass, walk through Daytower Gate, and embark upon our journey through very different biomes than what we've been exploring throughout Sacred Land Summer.

The homeland of the Carja encompasses no fewer than five major parks in Utah and Arizona.

How many can you name?

[poppypopp]

Nil/Fashav? 😊

💛 reunion kiss / relief

The air was sticky with heat, the evening sun blocked out by billowing smoke from the dying flames that licked the rebel camp around them. Fashav stepped lightly toward the Carja in the middle of it all, eyeing the syrupy blood that dripped from his curved blade. The red feathers of his helmet were streaked with the darker crimson of blood spatter, and an old, familiar warning blared in the back of his mind, a sensation he'd once thought forgotten. Do not sneak up on the bloodthirsty one.

The figure turned, and his glacier-pale eyes landed on Fashav at once. One corner of his mouth lifted into a weary smile. "General Fashav," he greeted. "How do you like your gift?"

"Gift?" Fashav scanned their surroundings, the bodies and blood, with new understanding.

"I thought this might be the best way to get your attention. You're a hard man to track down here in the Forbidden West."

"But you wanted to?" A shiver of flattery licked down his spine.

"I go by Nil now."

"As I go by Marshal Fashav. It seems we've both had something of a rebirth." He couldn't stop a smile from forming. "You made it through the war."

"And then some," Nil agreed, an answering grin lifting his lips. "You're far less dead than I expected. I scarcely believed them when they said a Carja had become a Tenakth marshal, but if anyone could, it'd be you."

Fashav risked stepping closer, bolstered by the easiness in Nil's expression. "I've missed you."

"And I you." Nil sheathed his blade. "One of these days we're both going to run out of lives."

"May it not be any time soon. Get over here."

Fingers sank into Nil's vest, hauling him in and crushing their mouths together. Nil gripped the sides of his head, pressing a tongue between his lips and groaning in relief. They were two broken men made whole, and now that Fashav had found him, he'd never let him go.