#hopefully i haven't shown ALL my cards for manchester impasse now

[purkinje-effect]

(im @qualtoth ) did i hear something about vermont fanon. eyes emoji

It took me a few days to get back to you, but hey hi hello again <3

Yep! I've craved for many years to extend the Fallout 4 map to include all of New England, not just Bar Harbor and about a third of Massachusetts. I've called the region between the Great Lakes and Maine "The Hinter," though I fluctuate whether that includes US-annexed Canada, or if that's its own entity. Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are the particular focus for my worldbuilding efforts for The Hinter. (I really need to put in the effort to flesh out what survived of Montréal in the Underground City. Montréal, Ottawa, and Canada in general are a blind spot in the project at present. I don’t really have much of anything for Northern New York yet, either.)

A lot of my focus has been on meteorological and geological features. Settlements are scattered and, as I mentioned in the post about August, many of those are nomadic and don't stay put in any one place for more than a few months. Let's see if I can sort my thoughts a bit better than last time. Starting with an incredibly messy mostly traced map. Let me know if Tumblr shrinks it too much to be legible, and I’ll repost this reply as an image post. Not sure what it does with inline images these days...

Edit: Tumblr done screwed up these inline pics. I made a separate photo post here.

Let’s discuss... The Hinter.

Hinter Settlements

The region called The Hinter starts at the Northern border of Massachusetts. I typically demarcate it somewhere West of Montréal, and out East some way into Nova Scotia. Settlements are few and far between, but it’s not unheard of for individuals and single families to occupy houses “in the middle of nowhere.” There’s a lot of mountain life abound. Vault-Tec only built two proper vaults in New England outside Massachusetts--one in New Hampshire, and one in Bar Harbor, Maine. Most settlements consolidated survivors in locations ripe with prewar amenities.

The warhead that struck Montréal permanently obstructed the flow of the St. Lawrence River. Lake Champlain subsequently dried up and became a valley, no longer able to collect sufficient water from the Richelieu. Its sediment is rich in nuclear deposits washed in from the inundation of the tributary being blasted off course, and its lime in particular a major facet of the glassblowers’ artistry in Burlington, VT.

The Underground City (Montréal, Québec): Based on the location by the same name, much like in the Capital Wastes with its extensive subway tunnels, Montréal’s population largely took shelter beneath it. I haven’t fleshed it out, but it’s definitely still the largest Canadian settlement. It’s not very well known to outsiders, and the primary travelers are Children of Atom pilgrims on Valence track. (Eternal thanks to @mayihavethisdanse for cluing me into details for this area. You’ve contributed some really great insight for this region in general.)

Burlington, VT: A Children of Atom settlement. The Grand Mother Skwodovska of the Hinter Children resides in the Five Sisters monastery here, a sect dedicated to archival of holy knowledge. Much of the settlement overall is monastic glassblowers, who craft with a mixture of lime from the now-dry Champlain Basin and trinitite silicates that washed ashore from the Montréal blast. They make non-radioactive glassware as well, but only for commerce.

Montpelier Galleria, VT: A settlement with both pockets of Children and a sizable secular population. The federal district provides housing for a diverse mercantile settlement structured much like Bunker Hill in the Commonwealth.

Manchester, NH: [Redacted] live here, unknown to a majority of the region. Not even Children at The Ledge tend to be aware of their misanthropic hidden neighbors.

Ant Lane (Nashua, NH): Once the Pheasant Lane Mall, Ant Lane was erected as an experiment in above-ground vault design. It held fast on Great War Day, and now stands as one of the largest settlements in the entire Hinter. Many of the inhabitants of both the mall and the satellite strip are descendants of those shopping on October 23, 2077, but it is a major travel hub on the border of the Hinter. Ant Lane’s Concourse is a significant Granitic Mass site, lined with holy Barre granite, but for reasons unknown to a majority of Children, it does not whisper. Children have thus nicknamed the mall “the Quiet Granite.” Burlington Glassworks is the Children’s home within Ant Lane, and while living at the mall on their Valence pilgrimages, they spend the season diligently maintaining the Armillary Bulbs which illuminate an otherwise entirely dark shopping mall. The Aldermen and the Mayor have a generational dynamic. Also there are literal ants.

Far Harbor, ME

also, included to bridge my worldbuilding, these two aren’t in the Hinter proper, but are still important-ish:

Worcester, MA: CIT Worcester is overrun with Super Mutant activity hostile to outsiders. There are human settlements in the outskirts.

Lowell, MA: Largely a ghost town. There’s still signs of life on base at the Deenwood Compound in Chelmsford, but the largest settlement is in Voire in Centralville. The Furriers are heavily mutated social chem addicts who do travel to do trade with their meat and leather craft. Their leather is the zenith of Rad-Resistant gear, for one intending to live in the Hinter for any duration.

The Hinter Children

Hinter Children’s religious history goes back well before the Megaton caravan brought Cromwell’s Children into New England, but the religion found its direction and unity in their arrival. Much of the area saw Joual-style modification of Quebecois, and Children are frequently fluent in a “Church French” version of Quebecois called Keb, complete with the bleed of Catholic imagery. Many Children are bilingual, but it’s far less common for them to speak English in locations where its inhabitants are residents not travelers, such as Five Sisters, the Rock of Ages, or the Singing Stone District. As a whole, the Hinter speaks Keb, regardless of whether their spirituality follows the Church of Children.

Armillary Bulbs: Glassblowing has become a religious practice for the children of Burlington, approximating the ideology of Holy Atom as a World-Vessel. Their primary commerce by caravan with other settlements is their rich glass artistry, most notably their alchemical lights, armillary bulbs. Klein bottles with necks flourished to intimate an atomic diagram, these bulbs are filled with a fluid which fluoresces in reaction to the radiation present in the glass. (They’re in essence reverse uranium glass: the contents glow, not the glass.) They provide a long-lasting light source free of electrical necessity, a crucial utility for anyone living in The Hinter.

The Far Harbor Children got along on neutral terms with the nomadic Hinter Children for years, until Tektus took on the mantle of High Confessor and shut out the slightest hints of heresy. The lighting in the Nucleus is the only thing that remains now of the time during which Hinter Children could make pilgrimage to the hangar, albeit disguised as or transferred to other vessels to mask their origins. When pressed on the matter, the High Confessor will insist that the chemistry of the light source is a gift found in Atom’s Kingdom and available for the pious and humble, NOT those heathen Fog-Lost.

Atom As a Woman: Burlington Children in particular believe Atom is a World-Mother.

Granitic Mass: The greatest source of Tektus branding them heretics, the Hinter Children regard not just nuclear sites as holy but large granite and marble quarries also. Granitic intrusions have a tendency to “imprint” resonance, especially upon adopting its crystalline structure. All Children believe in Division: just as atoms split and spill forth Atomic Light, so to does the soul. For the Hinter Children, these Granitic Masses are evidence of entire worlds that underwent Division, the cosmic dust of which forged our current world. Certain quarry sites are settlements for higher orders of Hinter Children, most notably the Rock of Ages, home to the Daughters of Radon.

In addition to the quarries themselves, granite hewn from specific quarries to erect architecture and monuments are of particular holy significance to Hinter Children. The Hope Cemetery, the Singing Stone District, and Saint Gaudens Park are notable examples. Traveling Route 89 from Ant Lane to Burlington, Children frequent any major cemeteries rich with statues and headstones. The Singing Stone District in the ruins of downtown Montréal is one of the largest concentrations of both Barre and Stanstead granite, used for federal and financial district structures such as the Sun Life Building. It is a harrowing site to traverse, however, and observing here is often reserved for Hierosacristans.

Valence Pilgrimage: Just as atomic particles follow an orbit drawn in by Atom’s nucleus, Hinter Children travel extensively from Granitic Mass to Granitic Mass. Typical travel takes them clockwise from site to site at the changing seasons or more frequent. Only Sacristans, tasked with curating a Granitic Mass, stay longer. Pilgrims travel in troupes by caravan, doing commerce with non-Children along the way and spreading the good will of the World-Mother. Not all Children travel the same orbit: some cut wide and far, while others visit only a couple of Granitic Masses.

Hierosacristans and the Daughters of Radon: Most Hinter Children follow set travel routes on their Valence orbits. Within Barre’s Daughters of Radon are two groups. The first remains behind to worship the granite and listen to its whispers. The other travels off the well-traveled orbit, in search of documenting other Granitic Masses. The latter, Hierosacristans, are in essence the Hinter Children’s Zealots. They are a rare example of the pacifistic faction taking up armor and defensive weaponry. Sacristans act as scribes, archivists, and religious leaders. Hierosacristans act as trailblazing cartographers. Prior to their exile from the Nucleus, Hierosacristans were afforded access to procuring Marine Armor, but they have since been denied even that. Their armor in recent years is frequently a mix of salvaged metal and the fur and leather of CaRadBou, the fur of which absorbs all Atomic Glow and shines a brilliant white. Due to their sheer size, hunting CaRadBou is also an activity left to Daughters, who can travel as a pack to collect one to feed a settlement as needed.

Stone Tape Sites (Children Holy Sites)

Hinter Children worship not just nuclear sites, but also granite and marble quarries and architectural remains which used stone hewn from them. As stated above, under Granitic Mass, the material’s tendency to record information in its crystalline structure presents itself to Hinter Children as proof of the Worlds Before. (Granite can be very radioactive as well, depending on its composition.)

(A wip of the Ant Lane Concourse.)

The Singing Stone District (Montréal, QC): The federal and financial district in the ruins of what once was downtown Montréal. Barre and Stanstead granite were both used extensively during the city’s deco revival. It’s incredibly hazardous to travel at ground zero in Montréal, both due to failing buildings and the various wildlife that’s reclaimed the involuntary park, so travel here is typically reserved for pilgrims equipped for it. The most highly revered of the structures is the still standing Sun Life Building. Children just love that company logo...

Burlington, VT: The Hinter Children’s mecca. Some study at the Five Sisters monastery as Sacristans. Others observe glassblowing practices, crafting Armillaries. Though not a granitic site, the entire Champlain Basin is of particular significance as a nuclear site, due to the geological sequelae of the Montréal bomb during the Great Division.

Stanstead Quarry (Stanstead, QC): Prewar, this quarry was bored by the same company that owned Rock of Ages. Its makeup is largely the same as Rock of Ages, but it lay deeper in the Fog, and can be a difficult travel location on the Valence orbit. It’s socially acceptable for Hinter Children to season here for long stretches, as most Children are not versed in combat and wildlife this deep North into the Hinter can be harrowing. The granite here typically does not produce audible playback, but often yields breathtaking boreal effects.

The Nucleus (Mt. Desert, Bar Harbor, ME): Nucleus Children call pilgrims the “Fog-Lost” after the High Confessor’s pejorative. They’re forbidden from entering the hangar, but are known to wander the wilderness directly surrounding it. Hinter Children insist that Atom’s Spring is for all Atom’s Children, not only those Tektus will call his own. Every season the Zealots will elect a single “Fog-Lost” to drink from the Spring and report back their experience. If the Zealots believe the individual’s vision indicates the good favor of the Fog Mother, the entire group of pilgrims may partake in a Fog sabbatical together. They are not allowed to season anywhere on the island past this test and ritual. Harbormen no longer trust any Children, regardless of their allegiances. (Mt. Desert is additionally a granitic site, but it is not from a granitic intrusion with strong imprints.)

Maine State Prison (Thomaston, ME): Originally a penitentiary quarry abandoned long before the Great Division, the warden used prison labor for recreational excavation. This location has only just recently been discovered by Hierosacristans, and is not populated. Grand Mother Skwodovska has yet to declare it safe for pilgrimage. Despite its original imprint of the Worlds Before, due to the nature of the labor which carved it out of the Earth, it’s also picked up the essence of repetitive manual labor.

The Ledge (Derryfield Park, Manchester, NH): This granite lights up in a brilliant boreal tapestry under the right conditions. Before the Great Division, prewar Manchesterites were drawn to the water that fills this quarry. Many swimmers were once compelled to jump from the top of the quarry walls down into the water below, often to their deaths. Hinter Children do not venture any deeper West into the ruins of Manchester, content with the forested region surrounding The Ledge and Vault 140. Second only to the Rock of Ages, Children regard wintering at The Ledge to be the height of their religious experience. They will ice skate on the pond well to dance with the lights.

Ant Lane (Pheasant Lane Mall, Nashua, NH): Its Concourse is lined with holy Barre granite, but for reasons unknown to Children it no longer whispers. The Children call the mall “the Quiet Granite.” Children usually only stay for one season at a time, to share the task of maintaining the Armillary Bulbs which illuminate the settlement, before handing the task over to the next caravan of pilgrims coming in from The Ledge.

Saint Gaudens Park: Monument to one of the greatest sculptors of the modern world, and the designer of countless bronze monuments throughout the country, the grounds are filled with examples of his granite, marble, and bronze work. The park lay just off Route 89 on one’s way Northwest through the White Mountains. Many Children pass through here. It still functions as a sculptural school, and here many hone their grasp of three-dimensional space to heighten their glassblowing skills upon returning up the interstate home to Five Sisters. It’s said the artistic medium whispers to the artist, begging to be freed.

Dunwich Borers (Salem, MA): A site chiefly reserved for Hierosacristans, as traversing such a deep mine shaft requires skill and purpose... It’s also necessary for Children entering the mine to be able to remind feral ghouls of what they are, as the deeper one goes, the more one will find. The granite in this location is especially radioactive.

Kingsport Lighthouse (Kingsport, MA): a splinter sect of Children who worship a Glowing One. An example of a denomination of Children who regard ghouls, feral or not, as touched by Atom. They likely once studied at the Church of Eternal Light before traveling with the Megaton caravan that brought the Capital Wastes’ Children into New England. (included as an afterthought cause I forgot)

Thicket Excavations (Bedford, MA): I can’t remember off the top of my head what I had planned out for this site. I can’t even remember if I think the Children would have determined a way to drain it, or if they’d leave it flooded. It’s there. I guess.

Quincy Quarries (Quincy, MA): An abandoned quarry picked as a site for widespread improper nuclear waste disposal. Not a Valence site, but Hierosacristans do make occasional visits to the location in an attempt to convert the rational ghouls who have taken up residence in the quarry. Despite these ghouls’ resistance thus far to listen to religious fanatics, Hinter Children still regard them utmost as Atom’s Undying.

Crater of Atom (Providence, RI): When the Children traveled from Megaton to make pilgrimage to the Nucleus, the caravans eventually split into three directions. The then-Sister Skwodovska took one North, and founded Five Sisters and the Singing Stone District. The Then-Confessors Martin and Tektus led a second Northeast, and founded the Nucleus. Sister Isolde took the third East, and founded the Crater of Atom amidst the Glowing Sea. Now Mother Isolde, she cares deeply for all Atom’s pilgrims. The settlement will accept any of Atom’s Children, regardless of whether they are simply visiting, so long as they will not hesitate to protect the holy site without hesitation. (included in sentiment only cause I cropped to where it isn’t shown on the map)

Retreat Trail (Retreat, Brattleboro, VT): In a similar way that Maine State Prison prescribed prison labor as a mode of rehabilitation, so too did Brattleboro Retreat, the nation’s first asylum committed to recovery. Many of the stone formations in the area Currently only known to a single immodestly heretical Hinter Child, August, though Hierosacristan Fresnel will eventually cross paths with him and seek to study the site. The tower was erected in rough-hewn local granite, but the whispering stone lays below ground in a cistern where digging had allegedly continued past the point the project required. The nature trail which encircles the Tower is of particular caliber for meditative strolls for Hinter Children, a personal solipsistic Valence track of sorts. The asylum itself is a strong candidate for Children housing, should the Grand Mother ever declare it appropriate for Children to make pilgrimage.

Norcross-West Quarry (Dorset, VT): The oldest marble quarry in the country. Though not granite, the metamorphic rock contains some of the most potent Worlds Before imagery. Many of its subterranean inhabitants observe a hybridized religion between their wilderness beliefs and the ideologies the Children have brought with them on their Valence. Sacristans remain on site year-round to study the visions the granite yields, though many inhabitants consider the phenomena ordinary by their everyday standards, they’re so commonplace.

Hope Cemetery (Barre, VT): Mausoleums, monuments, and headstones here are all carved from holy Barre granite. Sacristans curate the monuments here year round, often traveling only a two-site Valence between it and the Rock of Ages. Its imprints are fragmented and scattered, but frequent in the open air.

The Rock of Ages Quarry (Barre, VT): The holiest Granitic Mass to the Hinter Children. Only Hierosacristans are permitted in its deepest caverns, but the vast deep dimension rock face of the site whisper so loudly and so continuously that even Children who are not Daughters of Radon can hear it. Rock of Ages was regarded as a Stone Tape site even before the Great Division, and pursuit of its secrets has been ongoing for centuries. Its history is the most well documented of any of the Children’s holy sites.

Weather

Weather in the Hinter still includes events commonplace before the Great Division, but two types of weather have since developed.

The Fog: Not isolated to Mt. Desert Island, a dense radioactive fog blankets a high ratio of the Hinter. Unless settlers are able to tolerate mountain life above the Fog, they must adjust their living conditions accordingly. It can yield a weak magnetic field at times that can cause the simplest technology to malfunction. Even a seasoned internal compass can be led astray. Without extensive Wasteland homoeopathy or sufficient Rad Resistance, it’s impossible to survive in the Fog for any extended duration.

Nor’easters: Before the war, they posed the risks of both a blizzard and a hurricane, but now the highly radioactive seawater they carry ashore has mutated them into an entirely different, more potent hazard. Once a storm cell hits the Fog front, they magnify one another, generating deeply disorienting magneto-acoustic fields and scattering upwards of ten feet of radioactive snow at a time. These magneto-acoustic fields “activate” the granite imprints and trigger replay events of the sensory input contained therein. Children consider such experiences deeply entheogenic, as only Daughters can experience the granite whispers without a storm to bring out the Worlds Before.

Hinter Children are especially winter-ready, and even pilgrims mid-transit rarely struggle in the face of heavy winter weather. They have to be ready, if they’re to witness for themselves every event time the eldritch arcane seems to bleed from one reality into the next.

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I’ve probably forgotten things here and there... but here she is. Gonna put a lampshade on my Lovecraft-grade spoiler dodging and call it a night.

[purkinje-effect]

Oh ffs Tumblr why must you persist in tormenting me.

Here’s a photoset of the images from the Hinter post, @qualtoth. Map of the Hinter, example of some Armillary Bulbs, and a wip of the Ant Lane Concourse.