Those who wished to lay low live at the bottom of Rise, composed of the Ruins, the remains of the theme park, and the trailer park. Considered a no man’s land, not even a monster’s appearance would draw out the authorities. The inhabitants must fend for themselves, barring the unlikely arrival of an officer defying orders to patrol this high-risk area. The concentration of magic is heavy enough to be felt, imbuing the swamp-like fog of Rise with a kaleidoscope of beautiful aether-induced colors. Even the land and wild-life cannot escape its touch, warped into an eerie, otherworldly mockery of itself.

The City

R-Corp has positioned itself on the docks where it ships a ready supply of aether goods. Ammunition, décor- just about anything that can be found in stores can be traced to the corporation. Up the hill and beyond lies the city proper, coiled atop itself like a crowned serpent. From so far above, the Ruins are clearly visible as a grim reminder of what monsters are capable of; the devastation caused fifty years ago was never repaired and what was once a booming metropolis now a decrepit husk bearing the weight of its successor.

Most characters will know the background of the Ruins and various memorials can be found mentioning them. News articles, television interviews, and the like are easily available for those interested in watching a massive monster carving its way through the city with apparent delight before succumbing to the glittering bombardment of aether-infused ordinance. The natural disaster’s incredible loss of life left an indelible scar on Rise, but since then, Rise has been fortunate enough to avoid monster incursions of that scale.

Still, the small attacks that continued to appear have given some people reason to question if criminals and wayward children alone could be responsible for it all. Interviews with monstrologists are beginning to crop up, studies claiming that monster sightings are markedly higher than should be expected. Dozens of theories offer up explanations, most commonly that a significant population somewhere continues to regularly employ magic. The question then becomes about why? When the dangers of magic are so clear and regulations on it so tight, it's almost unthinkable that anyone would go so far as to endanger the world like that.