[[File:Stalker Irene B.jpg|thumb|730x730px|🎨 https://bsky.app/profile/dreadtie.bsky.social (commission)]]

== Gear ==

=== Haley Strategic X Chest Rig (D3CRX) (black) + X-Harness ===
[[File:D3CRX.png|center|thumb|D3CRX chest rig configuration|258x258px]]

=== Zephyr Grom MID ZX06 Boots ===
[[File:98726 Buty-Zephyr-Grom-MID-ZX06-Black-glowne.png|center|thumb|Zephyr Grom MID ZX06 Black|252x252px]]

=== Mechanix Wear Tactical Specialty Breacher Covert Gloves ===
[[File:Mechanix Wear Tactical Specialty Breacher Covert.png|center|thumb|Mechanix Wear Tactical Specialty Breacher Covert]]

=== Clothing ===
Same bodysuit as in the original version, stockings as in the original version, thigh holster as well[[File:Pentagon aphrodite.png|center|thumb|Pentagon Aphrodite Sweater - Wolf Grey]]
[[File:Mini cargo shorts2.png|center|thumb|mini cargo shorts]]
[[File:Belt.png|center|thumb|belt]]

=== Primary weapon ===

==== AK-308 ====
Taken from the diverted shipment that marked her escape, the AK-308 was never meant to be hers. She claimed it deliberately, knowing exactly what it represented: proof that she could take instead of be given. It is the first weapon she chose for herself, and she treats it as such.
* Strike Industries Viper MOD-1 stock
* Trijicon ACOG 6×48 riflescope + RMR TYPE 2 red dot sight
* Magpul AFG foregrip
* Suppressor
[[File:Ak-308.png|center|thumb|Customized]]

=== Sidearm ===

==== Walther P99 DAO ====
A gift from Margaret Hale, Irene has carried this sidearm since she was twelve. It has stayed with her through every assignment and escape, and she will not part with it under any circumstances.[[File:P99 FB RADOM.png|center|thumb|No attachments]]
== Story ==
Born at the turn of the millennium, Irene Barrett was a girl who found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The child of two British humanitarian workers doing their best to provide aid in an unnamed conflict zone in the Middle East, she was orphaned suddenly and violently in an American air strike at the age of nine. With no surviving guardians and no way to leave, she spent the next year fighting for scraps in a war-torn country where she was visibly foreign and unable to communicate with those around her.

At first, survival meant hiding. She learned which streets emptied before nightfall, which buildings still had intact stairwells, which groups to avoid entirely, and which she could steal from without immediate consequences. Hunger forced her closer to people than caution allowed. She stole when she could, scavenged when she could not, and learned quickly that being small only protected her until it did not.

On her tenth birthday, not that she realized it, she killed a human being for the first time. A man noticed her following a supply route too closely. He grabbed her, shouting in a language she did not understand, dragging her aside. She fought on instinct, clawing and biting. When his grip loosened, she found herself holding his dropped weapon. She did not hesitate. She pulled the trigger because she wanted him to stop. And he did.

She did not stay to understand what she had done. She ran until her lungs burned and her legs failed, then ran again when the shaking passed. After that, something fundamental shifted. Killing became a tool, one she now knew she could use, and one she did not yet understand the world would not readily forgive her for using.

Within another year, she had learned how to be dangerous. She did not pick fights. She watched. She followed. She took from those who would not notice the loss until it was too late. When violence happened, it was over as fast as she could make it.

----

She was found by a fellow countrywoman by accident, not design. A woman passing through the region on business that was the polar opposite of aid work. She noticed Irene because she was watching her with silent, careful attention. Because she did not beg. Because she did not run.

She spoke to Irene in English. Irene did not answer at first — by then, silence had become a habit. When she finally spoke, her accent marked her immediately as out of place.

She was offered food. Shelter. Safety. The woman did not call it rescue; she offered it in exchange for work.

Irene followed her because hunger is persuasive and because she had learned that refusing adults with power rarely ended well. The terms were simple. Obedience for protection. Utility for survival.

Only later did she understand that what she had really been offered was ownership.

The woman's name was Margaret Hale, and she had come to the war-torn country to ply her trade as an arms dealer. She did not insist Irene call her anything. Names, she explained, were for paperwork and introductions. What mattered was attention.

The first work Irene did was not violent. She was given errands that looked meaningless on their own: walking routes, sitting in rooms, carrying small packages that were never opened. She was taught how to keep watch without drawing the eye, how to listen without appearing to, how to remember details without writing them down. Hale didn't frame this as training. She framed it as teaching Irene to be useful. Nothing was ever outright promised, but completed tasks were always rewarded. Food arrived on time. Blankets were provided for cold nights. Shoes and clothes were replaced.

Dealing with violence came later. At first, Irene was simply present when armed men argued. Hale positioned her nearby, silent and unobtrusive. Irene learned where to stand so that Hale was never the most vulnerable person in the room if things escalated. She learned angles. Lines of fire. When to move, and when being still mattered more than speed.

Hale corrected her rarely. Praise was rarer. When it came, it was understated and devastatingly effective.

As Irene grew older, her work expanded. She became a courier not just for packages, but for information. She learned which questions not to ask and which answers to remember. She was dressed carefully, taught how to disappear into crowds, how to look like a dependent, a niece, a nobody. Men underestimated her. Women dismissed her. Guards waved her through checkpoints that would have stopped anyone else. Hale used this deliberately, and Irene understood that being overlooked was now her most valuable trait. She removed obstacles, human and otherwise, when ordered. Hale spoke freely around her, not because she trusted her, but because she had made Irene complicit. Another leash.

By the time Irene was a teenager, the pretense of choice had fully eroded. She did not ask what would happen if she refused an assignment, because she already knew. She had seen what happened to people who became inconvenient. Hale never threatened her with violence. She did not need to. Hale called what she provided a home. Irene had learned quickly that homes could be withdrawn.

By the time Irene was old enough to recognize it, her conditioning was already complete.

----

At eighteen, Irene had nearly outgrown the ambiguous space where Hale could plausibly frame control as protection. Despite her small frame, deliberately preserved through Hale's interference with her growth, she was now a fully trained, adult operative with nothing left to develop. From Hale's perspective, that meant one thing: Irene had reached the peak of her usefulness, and it was only going to fall.

The new girl arrived without announcement. Young. Quiet. Kept close in the same way Irene once had been. Hale did not explain her presence, did not reassign Irene, did not change her tone. The pattern was unmistakable: the same errands, the same positioning in rooms, the same deliberate neglect punctuated by small, conditional rewards.

Certainty settled in Irene's chest. Hale did not discard assets impulsively. She replaced them when they outlived their usefulness.

Nothing was said aloud. Nothing needed to be. Irene understood then that her survival had acquired an end date. The clock was already running, and when it stopped, she would simply no longer be useful enough to keep.

----

Irene did not leave immediately.

That, too, was something Hale had taught her without ever naming it. Sudden departures drew attention. Panic left traces. People who ran too quickly were remembered. Irene stayed because staying was safer, and because she needed time to be certain.

She prepared the way she prepared for everything else: quietly, redundantly, and without assuming she would get a second chance. She cached supplies in places she already had reason to access. She altered routes just enough to test who noticed. She let minor tasks fail in ways that could be attributed to chance, simply to see how much slack she still had.

Hale noticed nothing, or noticed and saw no reason to intervene yet. Irene was still useful.

The opportunity came in the form of a shipment Hale had been cultivating for months: firearms destined for the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Not the crude kind sold in bulk to bandits, but clean, modern weapons broken down, serialized components scrubbed or altered, meant to be reassembled once inside. Guns that would disappear the moment they crossed the perimeter, traded hand to hand until no origin could be proven.

Hale treated the job as routine. Irene was assigned oversight, not command. Walk the routes. Verify contacts. Be present where decisions might turn violent. The new girl was kept away, close to her new owner, watching and learning, exactly as Irene once had.

Irene understood what Hale was doing. This was not an execution. It was just a job dangerous enough that casualties would be acceptable, deniable enough that questions would not be asked. If Irene died in the Zone, she would simply vanish into it. If she survived, then there would be other such jobs.

That made the choice simple.

Irene diverted the shipment at the last possible point. Not by stealing it outright, but by doing what she had been trained to do best: adjusting details. A changed rendezvous time. A rerouted vehicle. A guard reassigned under the pretense of efficiency. Small changes that accumulated into separation.

By the time Hale realized something was wrong, Irene was already inside the Zone's margins with a portion of the shipment and no intention of returning. The Zone did not care about ownership or contracts.

Irene did not look back.

Inside the Zone, the rules were brutally honest. Territory was unstable. Alliances were temporary. Authority was enforced only at gunpoint and only for as long as someone was willing to hold it. For the first time, obedience was not assumed. It had to be negotiated, earned, or refused openly.

She sold part of the shipment to survive. She kept part of it because she knew better than to arrive unarmed. She learned the rhythms of the place the same way she had learned every other hostile environment: by watching, by mapping patterns, by assuming that anything not actively trying to kill her was only waiting for the right moment.

Hale did not pursue her into the Zone. That, more than anything, confirmed Irene had been right. The Zone was not profitable enough to reclaim a single asset, no matter how well-trained.

For the first time that she could remember, Irene existed somewhere she was not owned.

The Zone did not make her safe, but it made her free.

Irene Barrett/STALKER

2026-04-13T17:43:07Z

Reki:

[[File:Stalker Irene B.jpg|thumb|730x730px|🎨 https://bsky.app/profile/dreadtie.bsky.social (commission)]]

== Gear ==

=== Haley Strategic X Chest Rig (D3CRX) (black) + X-Harness ===
[[File:D3CRX.png|center|thumb|D3CRX chest rig configuration]]

=== Zephyr Grom MID ZX06 Boots ===
[[File:98726 Buty-Zephyr-Grom-MID-ZX06-Black-glowne.png|center|thumb|Zephyr Grom MID ZX06 Black]]

=== Mechanix Wear Tactical Specialty Breacher Covert Gloves ===
[[File:Mechanix Wear Tactical Specialty Breacher Covert.png|center|thumb|Mechanix Wear Tactical Specialty Breacher Covert]]

=== Clothing ===
Same bodysuit as in the original version, stockings as in the original version, thigh holster as well[[File:Pentagon aphrodite.png|center|thumb|Pentagon Aphrodite Sweater - Wolf Grey]]
[[File:Mini cargo shorts2.png|center|thumb|mini cargo shorts]]
[[File:Belt.png|center|thumb|belt]]

=== Primary weapon ===

==== AK-308 ====
Taken from the diverted shipment that marked her escape, the AK-308 was never meant to be hers. She claimed it deliberately, knowing exactly what it represented: proof that she could take instead of be given. It is the first weapon she chose for herself, and she treats it as such.
* Strike Industries Viper MOD-1 stock
* Trijicon ACOG 6×48 riflescope + RMR TYPE 2 red dot sight
* Magpul AFG foregrip
* Suppressor
[[File:Ak-308.png|center|thumb|Customized]]

=== Sidearm ===

==== Walther P99 DAO ====
A gift from Margaret Hale, Irene has carried this sidearm since she was twelve. It has stayed with her through every assignment and escape, and she will not part with it under any circumstances.[[File:P99 FB RADOM.png|center|thumb|No attachments]]
== Story ==
Born at the turn of the millennium, Irene Barrett was a girl who found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The child of two British humanitarian workers doing their best to provide aid in an unnamed conflict zone in the Middle East, she was orphaned suddenly and violently in an American air strike at the age of nine. With no surviving guardians and no way to leave, she spent the next year fighting for scraps in a war-torn country where she was visibly foreign and unable to communicate with those around her.

At first, survival meant hiding. She learned which streets emptied before nightfall, which buildings still had intact stairwells, which groups to avoid entirely, and which she could steal from without immediate consequences. Hunger forced her closer to people than caution allowed. She stole when she could, scavenged when she could not, and learned quickly that being small only protected her until it did not.

On her tenth birthday, not that she realized it, she killed a human being for the first time. A man noticed her following a supply route too closely. He grabbed her, shouting in a language she did not understand, dragging her aside. She fought on instinct, clawing and biting. When his grip loosened, she found herself holding his dropped weapon. She did not hesitate. She pulled the trigger because she wanted him to stop. And he did.

She did not stay to understand what she had done. She ran until her lungs burned and her legs failed, then ran again when the shaking passed. After that, something fundamental shifted. Killing became a tool, one she now knew she could use, and one she did not yet understand the world would not readily forgive her for using.

Within another year, she had learned how to be dangerous. She did not pick fights. She watched. She followed. She took from those who would not notice the loss until it was too late. When violence happened, it was over as fast as she could make it.

----

She was found by a fellow countrywoman by accident, not design. A woman passing through the region on business that was the polar opposite of aid work. She noticed Irene because she was watching her with silent, careful attention. Because she did not beg. Because she did not run.

She spoke to Irene in English. Irene did not answer at first — by then, silence had become a habit. When she finally spoke, her accent marked her immediately as out of place.

She was offered food. Shelter. Safety. The woman did not call it rescue; she offered it in exchange for work.

Irene followed her because hunger is persuasive and because she had learned that refusing adults with power rarely ended well. The terms were simple. Obedience for protection. Utility for survival.

Only later did she understand that what she had really been offered was ownership.

The woman's name was Margaret Hale, and she had come to the war-torn country to ply her trade as an arms dealer. She did not insist Irene call her anything. Names, she explained, were for paperwork and introductions. What mattered was attention.

The first work Irene did was not violent. She was given errands that looked meaningless on their own: walking routes, sitting in rooms, carrying small packages that were never opened. She was taught how to keep watch without drawing the eye, how to listen without appearing to, how to remember details without writing them down. Hale didn't frame this as training. She framed it as teaching Irene to be useful. Nothing was ever outright promised, but completed tasks were always rewarded. Food arrived on time. Blankets were provided for cold nights. Shoes and clothes were replaced.

Dealing with violence came later. At first, Irene was simply present when armed men argued. Hale positioned her nearby, silent and unobtrusive. Irene learned where to stand so that Hale was never the most vulnerable person in the room if things escalated. She learned angles. Lines of fire. When to move, and when being still mattered more than speed.

Hale corrected her rarely. Praise was rarer. When it came, it was understated and devastatingly effective.

As Irene grew older, her work expanded. She became a courier not just for packages, but for information. She learned which questions not to ask and which answers to remember. She was dressed carefully, taught how to disappear into crowds, how to look like a dependent, a niece, a nobody. Men underestimated her. Women dismissed her. Guards waved her through checkpoints that would have stopped anyone else. Hale used this deliberately, and Irene understood that being overlooked was now her most valuable trait. She removed obstacles, human and otherwise, when ordered. Hale spoke freely around her, not because she trusted her, but because she had made Irene complicit. Another leash.

By the time Irene was a teenager, the pretense of choice had fully eroded. She did not ask what would happen if she refused an assignment, because she already knew. She had seen what happened to people who became inconvenient. Hale never threatened her with violence. She did not need to. Hale called what she provided a home. Irene had learned quickly that homes could be withdrawn.

By the time Irene was old enough to recognize it, her conditioning was already complete.

----

At eighteen, Irene had nearly outgrown the ambiguous space where Hale could plausibly frame control as protection. Despite her small frame, deliberately preserved through Hale's interference with her growth, she was now a fully trained, adult operative with nothing left to develop. From Hale's perspective, that meant one thing: Irene had reached the peak of her usefulness, and it was only going to fall.

The new girl arrived without announcement. Young. Quiet. Kept close in the same way Irene once had been. Hale did not explain her presence, did not reassign Irene, did not change her tone. The pattern was unmistakable: the same errands, the same positioning in rooms, the same deliberate neglect punctuated by small, conditional rewards.

Certainty settled in Irene's chest. Hale did not discard assets impulsively. She replaced them when they outlived their usefulness.

Nothing was said aloud. Nothing needed to be. Irene understood then that her survival had acquired an end date. The clock was already running, and when it stopped, she would simply no longer be useful enough to keep.

----

Irene did not leave immediately.

That, too, was something Hale had taught her without ever naming it. Sudden departures drew attention. Panic left traces. People who ran too quickly were remembered. Irene stayed because staying was safer, and because she needed time to be certain.

She prepared the way she prepared for everything else: quietly, redundantly, and without assuming she would get a second chance. She cached supplies in places she already had reason to access. She altered routes just enough to test who noticed. She let minor tasks fail in ways that could be attributed to chance, simply to see how much slack she still had.

Hale noticed nothing, or noticed and saw no reason to intervene yet. Irene was still useful.

The opportunity came in the form of a shipment Hale had been cultivating for months: firearms destined for the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. Not the crude kind sold in bulk to bandits, but clean, modern weapons broken down, serialized components scrubbed or altered, meant to be reassembled once inside. Guns that would disappear the moment they crossed the perimeter, traded hand to hand until no origin could be proven.

Hale treated the job as routine. Irene was assigned oversight, not command. Walk the routes. Verify contacts. Be present where decisions might turn violent. The new girl was kept away, close to her new owner, watching and learning, exactly as Irene once had.

Irene understood what Hale was doing. This was not an execution. It was just a job dangerous enough that casualties would be acceptable, deniable enough that questions would not be asked. If Irene died in the Zone, she would simply vanish into it. If she survived, then there would be other such jobs.

That made the choice simple.

Irene diverted the shipment at the last possible point. Not by stealing it outright, but by doing what she had been trained to do best: adjusting details. A changed rendezvous time. A rerouted vehicle. A guard reassigned under the pretense of efficiency. Small changes that accumulated into separation.

By the time Hale realized something was wrong, Irene was already inside the Zone's margins with a portion of the shipment and no intention of returning. The Zone did not care about ownership or contracts.

Irene did not look back.

Inside the Zone, the rules were brutally honest. Territory was unstable. Alliances were temporary. Authority was enforced only at gunpoint and only for as long as someone was willing to hold it. For the first time, obedience was not assumed. It had to be negotiated, earned, or refused openly.

She sold part of the shipment to survive. She kept part of it because she knew better than to arrive unarmed. She learned the rhythms of the place the same way she had learned every other hostile environment: by watching, by mapping patterns, by assuming that anything not actively trying to kill her was only waiting for the right moment.

Hale did not pursue her into the Zone. That, more than anything, confirmed Irene had been right. The Zone was not profitable enough to reclaim a single asset, no matter how well-trained.

For the first time that she could remember, Irene existed somewhere she was not owned.

The Zone did not make her safe, but it made her free.

Irene Barrett/STALKER/JP

2026-04-11T20:16:47Z

Reki:

2026-03-21T02:14:01Z

Reki: Created page with "== Cruel Wonders == A researcher enters the unstable Warsaw Altered Reality Zone to search for her wife. cw: existentialism i guess?, grief and family loss"

== [[Cruel Wonders]] ==
A researcher enters the unstable Warsaw Altered Reality Zone to search for her wife.

cw: existentialism i guess?, grief and family loss

MediaWiki:Mainpage

2026-03-21T02:12:43Z

Reki:

Topics

2026-02-28T17:43:19Z

Reki: /* Location */

{{Index}}

== Location ==
Sprawling across the archipelago that once formed the British Isles, now a fractured landscape of storm-battered coastlines, resilient inland forests, and mist-shrouded moorlands, lies the Bretonian Palatinate. The relentless [[Collapse]] have reshaped this region, carving deep fjords into the western coasts and scattering the remnants of ancient human structures across the windswept plains. While the full fury of a Collapse may strike less frequently than in some other regions of [[Ziemia]], its impact is etched into the very land, leaving behind serpentine veins of [[Stygium]] that define the rocky terrain and contribute to the Palatinate's unique character.

== Society & Governance ==
The people of the Bretonian Palatinate are a proud and fiercely traditional populace. [[Ziemian Phenotypes#Canin|Canin]] are the dominant population, with [[Ziemian Phenotypes#Subgroup - Lupin|Lupin]] typically being recognized as nobility. A profound reverence for ancestry and lineage permeates their culture, deeply interwoven with the hereditary rule of the Palatines.

Governance rests with the Council of Palatines, an assembly of the heads from the twelve most ancient and influential noble clans. Membership is strictly hereditary, passed through bloodlines claiming unbroken descent from before the rise of the [[Nomad City|Nomad Cities]]. Each Palatine wields significant authority within their ancestral territories. Once per year, the Council convenes in the venerable, ruined city of Camelot, a sprawling network of sturdy, interconnected structures and deep shelters nestled within the rolling hills of what was once southern England. Deliberations often involve intricate consensus-building, fostering a complex web of political maneuvering and alliances between the noble houses, their personal [[Technology#Landships|Landships]] gathered in the city's center.

A unique aspect of the Bretonian Palatinate is their deep connection to the land and their ancient traditions. Druidic practices, intertwined with an understanding of Stygium's natural flow within their territories, remain prevalent. Certain noble bloodlines are believed to possess a stronger innate connection to Stygium, granting them a natural aptitude for Stygium Arts, which they often hone through rigorous training within their own clan's traditions.

== Naming ==
Old English or Celtic echoes. Members of noble lineages often have compound surnames.

* '''Given names''': Eira, Rowan, Cael, Aedan, Gwyn, Isla, Taran
* '''Surnames''': MacCrae, Talbot, Pendrake, Wynn, Ashcombe

== Capital - Camelot ==
Camelot serves as the political and cultural center of the Bretonian Palatinate. Situated amid the storm-prone hills of southern Britannia, it occupies the preserved remains of an ancient Still City. The site’s extensive stone and steel infrastructure has been reinforced with modern materials and protective Stygium wards, enabling the settlement to withstand the peripheral effects of a nearby Collapse.

The city functions as a permanent stronghold within an otherwise nomadic nation. It hosts the annual convocation of the Council of Palatines, the hereditary assembly that governs the Palatinate. Around Camelot’s central fortress complex lies a semi-permanent encampment of workshops, foundries, and supply depots supporting both political and industrial activity. Its symbolic role as the spiritual "heart" of Bretonia makes Camelot a focal point for trade, diplomacy, and ancestral reverence.

== Technology ==
Rooted deeply in tradition, the Bretonian Palatinate's [[Technology|technological]] landscape reflects a careful balance between time-honored craftsmanship and the selective embrace of advanced innovations, largely driven by the needs and status of its noble class. Master artisans within the Palatinate are renowned for their exceptional melee [[Weapons]] and armor, often imbuing these pieces with subtle Stygium enhancements that serve as both potent tools and cherished symbols of lineage. The acquisition and ownership of Stygium firearms is also increasingly prevalent among the nobility, acting as a clear indicator of wealth and influence. The production of these firearms remains a highly specialized endeavor, concentrated within the private workshops of powerful noble houses or the ateliers of particularly skilled gunsmiths.
In matters of communication, the Bretonian Palatinate's ingrained conservatism leads to a more cautious approach to modern digital networks compared to some of their more progressive neighbors. Traditional messenger systems, often utilizing swift riders and time-tested routes, remain the primary method for disseminating information across the Palatinate. However, the practicality of rapid communication has led to a growing acceptance of radio technology, with major settlements and the mobile Landships of the nobility increasingly utilizing it to maintain contact across the fractured archipelago.

== Military ==
[[File:Palatine-guard.png|thumb|430x430px|A member of the House Arthur Palatine Guard.]]
The Bretonian Palatinate's [[Warfare|military]] reflects their feudal societal structure. Each noble house maintains its own retinue of well-trained soldiers, often equipped with high-quality melee weapons, crossbows, and an increasing number of Stygium-powered firearms, the latter often symbolizing noble status. Elite units, known as the "Palatine Guard," are composed of the finest warriors from each clan, clad in distinctive armor and often wielding Evoker weapons passed down through generations. Their naval forces, while not massive, consist of sturdy, well-armed vessels designed for coastal defense and patrol, with some even equipped with experimental Stygium-powered weaponry.

== Stygiosis ==
Within the Bretonian Palatinate's feudal society, the burden of [[Metastatic Stygium Conversion Syndrome]] falls unevenly. Commoners afflicted by MSCS face a harsh reality, often met with brutal treatment driven by superstition and fear. Exile from the safety of Nomad Cities or even execution are not uncommon fates, leaving these individuals with little to no support. This starkly contrasts with the experience of infected nobles, who, despite facing social stigma and the pervasive fear of contaminating their bloodlines, receive better care due to their elevated status.

These noble sufferers are typically confined to their estates, attended by dedicated servants, and may benefit from attempts to find remedies, often drawing upon the Palatinate's ancient Druidic knowledge. However, even within the nobility, the repercussions of Stygiosis are significant. The fear of contagion and the desire to maintain the purity of noble bloodlines severely limit their involvement in governance and public life, effectively isolating them despite their privileged circumstances.

== Minor Factions ==

=== Keepers of Avalon ===
A secretive order dedicated to preserving and interpreting ancient texts, artifacts, and oral traditions believed to predate even the rise of the Palatine Houses. They often reside in small groups in secluded locations, sometimes within the ruins of the [[Still City|Still Cities]], and are viewed with a mixture of respect and suspicion by the more pragmatic noble houses. They might possess unique knowledge about the history of the land, forgotten technologies, or even prophecies related to Collapses.

=== Ironforgers Guild ===
A highly respected guild of blacksmiths and armorers renowned for their exceptional craftsmanship, particularly in the creation of melee weapons and protective gear. They maintain strict control over their knowledge and techniques, often incorporating subtle Stygium enhancements into their work for the Palatine Houses and wealthy Minor Houses. Their influence lies in their vital role in equipping the warriors of the Palatinate, making them a crucial, if often overlooked, power broker.
[[Category:Ziemia]]