The Ash Barrens
General
The Ash Barrens forms the eastern border of the Shadow-Over Valley. It is an inhospitable region that once must have been comprised almost entirely of cities. When the fires came from the sky, the entire region was laid to waste. While the background radiation has largely dropped to tolerable levels, there are still pockets of hazard, and persistent biological contaminants are a constant threat. Little grows here, so subsistence foraging is all but impossible. The ruins are extensive, and the area does draw some people of the valley on the hunt for supplies and pre-war loot to scavenge.
These visitors are also the prey that allows the Ash Barren's only permanent residents to survive. The area is a haven to numerous groups of bandits and raiders. Often they are content to lurk and hunt those foolish enough to wander in without the means to protect themselves. If pickings are slim, the bandits are not above forming raiding parties and venturing west and taking what they can from innocent people just trying to survive. Many of these raiders also kidnap locals and ransom them back to their settlements for food, water and supplies. Those who cannot be ransomed back are often kept as slaves or sold on the thriving slave market (or sometimes eaten, if times are especially tough or the victim cannot work, be sold, provide any use or if they die in their captor's custody).
