WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK 0118 0118
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Descending into the cooling gloom, its stairs encompass
scores of landings, each with a carved, stone doorway
leading to a sprawling catacomb or vaulted labyrinth.
The uppermost of these former burial places are now
the well-protected residences of some who choose to
make Mornuus their home. Only those prepared to
clear out a sealed catacomb may claim any spoils they
might find inside and take the space as a home. In doing so, they may also earn a seat at The Table, Mornuus’s
council of protectors, rulers and upholders of their few
necessary laws.
Visitors and caravans that travel the wastes are essential to survival in this place. All are welcome inside
the surface walls, bringing food, goods, and news of the
world with them in trade for the true treasure of the
Morningwell. Without this small trade brought by outsiders, Mornuus would eventually revert to the lifeless,
corpse-filled tomb it was when first discovered. However, unless someone proves willing to carve out a place
among the underground elite, no visitors gain more
than limited access to the Morningwell or direct access
to the real treasure in its depths—water.
A fresh water aquifer flows more than a thousand feet
below the desert floor and is accessed only through
the Morningwell stairs. Built before the Classic Age,
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the system no longer has a strong flow, but it still sustains its ancient system of cisterns, aqueducts and reservoirs that once supported a far greater population.
This water source is still much surer than the rains, a
hidden resource that might one day play a crucial role
in the resurgence of what has become the New Dune
Wasteland.
The Pock & Environs
Desert wanderers avoid the miles-long wastelands
gash known as the Pock. It is a geological oddity of
unexplained origins and a festering sore on the face
of Khitus. Dangers lurk in and around the Pock, terrible, malignant manifestations from fiery realms
normally hidden but now inextricably linked to the
surface world.
The Pock steams and boils at all times, its lands heated
to extreme temperatures by bubbling tar, oil, and molten
lava constantly churning on or just beneath its surface.
The molten materials make a semi-permanent surface
that can be crossed only with difficulty. One must leap
from one barely-cooled patch to the next, with great effort to get across in places. Falls can burn exposed skin or
damage clothing or gear, sometimes permanently. Foul
