Jackson

The heart of Jackson is a ghost town, where the infrastructure has crumbled under the weight of neglect and the relentless march of nature. The once-bustling downtown area, with its historic buildings and small businesses, now stands silent. Storefronts are shattered, their windows gaping open like wounds, exposing the decaying interiors to the elements. Vines and weeds creep through the cracks in the pavement, claiming the streets and sidewalks as their own.
The Jackson County Tower Building, once a symbol of the city’s modest ambition, now looms as a hollowed-out shell. Its upper floors, long abandoned, are open to the sky, where birds nest among the ruins. The lower levels are dark and damp, filled with the stench of decay and the detritus of a world long forgotten.
The neighborhoods that once housed families and friends are now eerie remnants of the past. Houses, once well-kept and vibrant, have become skeletal structures with roofs caved in and walls crumbling. Lawns that were once green and manicured are now overgrown with wild grass and thorny bushes, obscuring the boundaries between properties. The few homes that remain occupied are fortified with makeshift barriers, their inhabitants fearful of both the living and the dead.
Jackson’s industrial areas, once the lifeblood of the city’s economy, are now rusting hulks of metal and concrete. Factories that once hummed with activity stand silent, their machinery frozen in time. The air is thick with the scent of rust and mildew, and the ground is littered with debris—broken glass, twisted metal, and abandoned tools. The railroad tracks, once busy with trains transporting goods, are now overgrown with weeds, the steel rails warped by time.
Cascades Park, once a place of beauty and recreation, is now a shadow of its former self. The famous Cascades Falls, where residents once gathered to watch the colorful light displays, are now dry and silent. The amphitheater is overgrown, its benches rotting and the stage crumbling. The playground, once filled with the laughter of children, is now a rusted, twisted wreck, overtaken by nature.
The city is not entirely deserted; the undead roam the streets, remnants of those who once called Jackson home. These shambling corpses are a constant threat to the few living souls who remain. Their presence is a grim reminder of the pandemic’s devastating toll, and their moans echo through the empty streets, adding to the city’s eerie atmosphere.
The surviving population has dwindled to a small, scattered community, eking out a harsh existence in this decaying environment. Some have banded together in fortified enclaves, while others live as solitary scavengers, moving from ruin to ruin in search of food, water, and supplies. Trust is a rare commodity, and encounters between survivors are often tense, as resources are scarce and the threat of violence always looms.
Nature has begun to reclaim Jackson, with trees sprouting through the cracks in the pavement and animals venturing into the heart of the city. Deer graze in overgrown parks, and raccoons scavenge through the remains of abandoned homes. The once-clear rivers and lakes have become murky and overgrown, their banks lined with thick vegetation.
The atmosphere in Jackson is one of quiet despair. The city is a haunting monument to a lost civilization, its ruins standing as a testament to human fragility. The silence is occasionally broken by the distant sound of a collapsing building or the mournful cry of an animal, but for the most part, Jackson is a city of ghosts, slowly being consumed by time and nature.

Guilds and Factions

The Scavenger’s Guild
The Silent Keepers
The Iron Fists
The Forgotten Children
The Echoes
The Last Sparks

Type

Large city