Far to the North, beyond even the City of Steel, the mighty Swirl Wall rages. In its shadow a number of small settlements have coalesced, sheltered by the Wall’s presence that provides both peace (from war if not from noise) and sustenance. One of these settlements belongs to the Dome Dwellers, imaginatively named after their subterranean shelters.

A friendly if private tribe, they have developed underground communications and fungi-farming to avoid the more aggressive moods above ground of the ever-present Swirl. In fact it is to these violent storms that the Dome Dwellers owe their precarious existence – erecting large sail-like nets to catch whatever has been drawn into and subsequently spat out of the Wall before it is splashed into an unusable mush on the scoured and barren landscape. Catches often include small or large animals to supplement their fungal diet, building materials and useful artifacts.