Chernovodsk Lore

The Discovery of Chernovodsk

A small town in the Leningrad region, founded at a bend of the Luga River and surrounded by forest. It used to bear a different name, but after the disaster at the nuclear plant, people began calling it Chernovodsk — "Black Water." The river's waters, warped by radiation and the mutation of algae under the influence of phoenix particles, turned into an impenetrable black surface. Yet within those waters, against all odds, life remained. Now it consists only of disfigured fish and mutants — enormous creatures covered in tough chitin that hunt along the banks of the Luga.

After the accident, the town stayed abandoned until the nuclear catastrophe struck. Phoenix particles gathered pockets of radiation in isolated spots. The first to discover the outskirts of Chernovodsk was the Scavengers faction — mechanics and craftsmen who build various devices out of the wreckage of the broken world. Using the radio frequencies through which the Scavengers tried to reach any still-living soul, they were the ones who spread word of Chernovodsk and its surroundings. Moreover, they became witnesses to the fact that part of the Lost, as well as the Hunters faction, had already settled there.

The flow of the Lost was cut off after a series of solar flares swept across the surface, changing it beyond recognition. The wild forest severed any possible corridors leading out, and the temporary paths that remained were so dangerous, given the shifting positions of the anomalies, that only a handful could make it through. Those left inside found themselves cut off from the outside — empty as it was.

Anomalies, Mutants, Archalites

Both the town itself and its inhabited surroundings are full of dangers. Anomalous zones block off many routes and often prove fatal to careless members of the Lost. Aggressive flora and fauna are likewise an enemy of man. Phoenix particles, combined with radiation, had a horrifying effect on the region's once-rich wildlife. Packs of disfigured wolves tear apart anyone who strays too far, while monstrous bears attack the camps of survivors.

While exploring the town itself, the Scavengers realized it was far from abandoned. Its streets were filled with the ghosts of people — disfigured, unfortunate souls preserved by time, anomalies, and radiation. Their human bodies had mutated, overgrown with aggressive plants that had seized their flesh and taken control. That flesh was further reshaped by phoenix particles, turning limbs into tentacles and blades, breaking bones and twisting them into unnatural forms. According to the Hunters, there is no mind left in these bodies — none at all. It is nature's cruel vengeance, one that has reached even the dead. The Hunters themselves named such creatures Archalites.