As the title, bought online and for a rather small amount. Really nice find.

Welcome to how to Paradox.

A short presentation of the Paradox games for those who don't know them.

I will only stick to the main titles and most recent titles of a series:
- Imperator: Rome (Ancient/Classical Era)
- Crusader Kings III (Dark Age/Middle Ages)
- Europa Universalis V (Medieval/Modern Era)
- Victoria 3 (Industrial/Victorian Era + World War 1)
- Hearts of Iron IV (World War 2)
- Stellaris (Future)

When it comes to difficulty, I think it depends on your skillset or natural inclination. Some people swear Hearts of Iron 4 is the hardest Paradox game ever while Crusader Kings 3 is easy peasy, other swear Hearts of Iron 4 is the easiest game ever while Crusader Kings 3 is the hardest game ever. I found them both easy peasy while I struggled with Stellaris, that many would say is easy. So I can only rely my experience but take it with a grain of salt.

Either way, for all Paradox games the in-game tutorial is bad. Unless you have a friend that can guide and explain you through as you play your first starting campaign, you should:

1. Ignore the in-game tutorial - the reason that tutorial exists is so Paradox can say they have a tutorial in the game and that's where all the utility of the tutorial ends, you cannot learn from it.

2. Search on Youtube for a tutorial of the game - a 20 minute one if you want to know the basics, a 1 hour one if you want to learn more advanced stuff. Make sure the video is as close to today's date as possible, because DLCs can fundamentally change areas of the game.

3. Accept that you will suck at first but is part of the fun - really one of the most fun thing about Paradox games is being bad at your job, and having to ride the waves of chaos.

4. Play with the starting nations recommended by the community not always the game - Play too small of a country and you're too small to do anything that's for later when you have at least +100 hours, play too big of a country and you will be overwhelmed in the opposite direction too many buttons to push and things to understand at the same time.

- Hoi4: Romania: Let you experience the flow of major European conflicts as an ally to Germany and Italy without bearing the full weight of leading the war. Go pro-Axis. Focus tree is unique but also simple, few zones with attrition, you have a lot of manpower for a minor and if you go pro-Axis before 1940 "Appoint Pro-Axis Government -> Iron Guard" path you'll be protected from USSR taking your land. Recommended Italy was good at release but now it can be a bit overwhelming for a new player. Low access to sea but players with 2000 hours don't know how to play the navy trust me you're good. Another good alternative is Hungary, but starts with: smaller army, worse national spirits you have to get rid of, relies more on diplomacy and timing and the margin for mistakes is lower.

- CK3: Petty King Murchad of Mumu in Ireland in 1066. In this case, what Paradox recommends is actually the objectively best choice for a new player. That's because in the previous game CK2 the official in-game tutorial nation was in Iberia but everyone was telling everyone not to play in Iberia for the tutorial but to play as King Murchad in Ireland in 1066. A second alternative like the game says Duke Vratislav of Bohemia is also easy, and you are right in the middle of European affairs, not good for the first campaign but good for one of the first.

- EU5: Hungary. Once again the one recommended by the game is also the best, this seems to happen in newer Paradox titles. Hungary is basically playing SimCity like King Murchad in CK3, except you also start reasonably big, not overwhelmingly big and in the middle of Europe. The have a good economy and one major market. And you have a ton of unique content. Not to mention weaker neighbours nearby. Bohemia and Castile are close second.

- Vic3: Spain. Is not a great power to be overwhelming but is powerful as a secondary power number 8 globally and has a very sandboxy feel, has pretty strong resources especially with a lot of coal and iron, the most important pair for industrialization, you have a pretty good sized population, you are reasonably strong in all areas. You have very good laws at the start of the game, which is big because those are complicated to do well. Japan or Persia are a close second.

- Stellaris: The United Nations of Earth preset is great for beginners. Basic and balanced human start that will be most familiar to you, you're in charge of the first Humans off Exploring and Colonizing space. It gives a lot of protection, so you can play a full game and not get wiped out by RNG. Don't fight your fallen empire friend and you should be pretty good. A close second is making a custom empire to familiarize yourselves with Civics, Ethics, Traits, and more; starting with individualist so you can get a feel for things like consumer goods and some chill ethics like: Pacifist, Xenophile, Egalitarian, Materialist, Spiritualist for stability, production, diplomacy, research and unity. Rapid Breeders is also a good trait, population growth is always a good thing.

- Imperator: Egypt. I bet you were expecting Rome and yes Rome is also one of the easiest but Egypt is easier. There are tons of mercenaries allowing you to ignore your manpower completely, you have easy power in the south if you want to avoid conquering into stronger people at first, but the Judean and Syrian regions are likewise easy to take. They can get happiness and zeal easily. Of course, for easy Egypt you've gotta sit out Alexander's succession. Close seconds are Rome and Sparta, zoom in for 5 hours on your patch of the world and then when Greece is small for your ambitions zooming put is like starting a new game and with Sparta buffs and you become steam roller.

Anyway, here is the difference between the Paradox Games:

Hearts of Iron 4: Focus on war. Is the easiest Paradox game to learn, it gives you a country, a deadline and a war that you know will start in 4 years. It has plenty of content even with 0 DLC in the form of a few countries with unique focus tree. The only criticism I have is I think Italy is too overwhelming for a new player, I think Romania is the better nation to play as a new player. It puts you right into the action, giving the most pressure.

Crusader Kings 3: Focus on characters. Is moderate difficulty to learn, not the easiest but on the easier side. It also takes a unique approach with a focus on characters rather than nations. A bad king, a bad marriage, a rival, Joe who hates you because he's religious and you're not, and suddenly this war becomes personal. Recommended starting nation will always be Mumu in Ireland. Takes longer than Hearts of Iron 4 but its characters will make you care about what's happening, creating the best stories.

Europa Universalis 5: Focus on states. Is moderate to difficult to learn, not the hardest but on the harder side. Is the natural advancement from CK3 when kingdoms consolidated therefore, this time even though you still have characters in the form of kings and family tree, they play a minor role. It may not be as personal as CK3 but is the best at making your country feel like it has a history.

Victoria 3: Focus on economy. I found it hard to learn, but once I understood the basics it became easier than most. Is the game that in a perfect world would be the prerequisite to play for anyone before they become a politician, it asks you to make an economy function before you can do anything else, and when the economy fails try to figure out why your economy just exploded, much like a real life politician. For starting nation I would recommend Spain or Japan, not small enough you can't do anything not big enough is overwhelming. The economic part is very advanced, with laws, production, factories, population, prices, to the point where the war simply means you create divisions assign them a general tell the general whether to attack or defend and on what frontline then the war is automatic.

Stellaris: Focus on exploration. It starts with curiosity, a science ship finds something strange and 30 years later your little exploration has turned into a border crisis. Is the game perfect if you just want to explore and see what weird things the galaxy throws at you. It's empire design and early exploration create genuine choices, and the sandbox makes different ones possible, but much later when your empire gets huge the game starts throwing something weird at you. Start as the United Nations of Earth.

Imperator: Focus on another game. I would not recommend this one as your first Paradox game for one simple reason, the game is dead. Have you heard the tragedy of Darth Imperator? it's not a story the jedi would tell you. When it was released in 2019 Imperator was bland and boring, it got bad reviews, then Paradox started to update it reworking entire systems from scratch, by 2021 the game was considered good and players started returning, but Paradox decided that too much is too much so they pulled the plug on him. It has some bug fixes in 2024 and 2025 and that was it, no new content. So is pretty barebones compared to the rest. All other games on the list are still in active development, some have over 10 years of development. Still, is important enough to worth being on this list.

Paradox's DLC policy: One of the most infamous features of Paradox is having tons of DLC, making long-term games that due to many DLCs look nothing like they looked like at release. But, it also has a lot of FreeLC, meaning every DLC usually comes with game content and updates as well, so you still get new stuff even if you buy 0 DLC.

And, as a new player you should not care about DLC. Play the base game first, try to understand the base game and have fun with the base game. Only after you mastered that you should consider going ahead and look at DLC.

The crowd saying "the game is unplayable with 0 DLC" is the same crowd with +500 hours in the game already.

Good Paradox Games Tip: Enjoy your time as a new player in Paradox Games. Treat the events and other Nations like the mystery that they are.. cause once you've played, its likely you'll start to meta-game and picking options that aren't for Roleplaying but rather what makes your Empire better, also knowing the results of Options A vs Option B, etc losing the mystery of space a bit in subsequent Playthroughs. It is akin to the game Don't Starve Together if you've played it, is really fun because is weird and full of unknowns. So it is for Paradox games. Embrace not knowing, and explore, just like in real life.

Hi all!

I'm the solo developer of Red Echoes: Berlin - a narrative turn-based strategy game set in Berlin during the German Revolution of 1918-1919.🌹While not quite a paradox-style grand strategy game, I definitely drew inspiration out of HoI4 mods like Kaiserreich, as well as the various alt-history paths within the games.

The game's demo is part of Steam Next Fest. The full game is due to come out early next year. Make sure to wishlist it, that helps me out a lot! The game uses no generative AI whatsoever.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4678370/Red_Echoes_Berlin_Demo/

What is Red Echoes: Berlin?

Red Echoes: Berlin is a narrative turn-based strategy game set in Berlin during the German Revolution of 1918-1919. Play as a group of revolutionaries, and attempt to bring about a successful socialist revolution - interacting with historical figures such as Rosa Luxemburg & Karl Liebknecht along the way.

It features a branching narrative with different endings, as well as strategic gameplay inspired by classic board games. The game is inspired by games such as Suzerain, Through the Darkest of Times, and Citizen Sleeper, as well as by alt-history HoI4 paths and mods.

✊Lead a Revolution
⛓️Overthrow the Kaiser
📖Experience a Branching Historical Narrative

If you want to stay updated on development, the best place is the official Discord:
https://discord.gg/cWrM4EqVe

I conquered the entire Middle East and Egypt as Israel, well, starting from an adventurer in Ethiopia, I migrated north and then slowly conquered the Middle East

Rule 5#: the blank page where the paradoxwikis site should be. First noticed the issue with the CK3 site, then Stellaris, afterwards checked the HOI4 site and the base wiki.

I’ve played Victoria 3, Hearts of Iron IV, and Europa Universalis IV and V, and I’m increasingly getting the impression that AI is one of the biggest weaknesses of Paradox games.

My problem isn’t that the AI loses to the player. Losing is perfectly acceptable. What bothers me is that it often seems incapable of playing properly in the first place.

What bothers me the most is the apparent lack of strategic coherence. The AI can have all the resources it needs and still fail to use them effectively. It can start a war without seeming prepared to win it, waste its armies, or make decisions that appear completely disconnected from the overall situation.

I understand that grand strategy games are extremely complex and that creating a competent AI for this genre is difficult. Every new mechanic adds variables and interactions that the AI needs to understand. But that raises another question: if games keep getting more complex, shouldn’t AI development receive at least as much attention as new mechanics and additional content?

I’d rather face an AI with a coherent strategy that can adapt to my decisions and make reasonable mistakes than one that is given artificial bonuses to compensate for its poor decisions. That said, I also love it when the AI pushes me to my limits, like during the defense of Helm’s Deep. Even if it doesn’t play perfectly, I appreciate its ability to create genuine pressure and force me to think carefully about every decision.

I’m not expecting perfect AI, nor do I expect every country to behave optimally. I simply want opponents that feel like they’re genuinely trying to achieve their objectives.

So I’m curious to hear about other players’ experiences.

Do you think Paradox’s AI has actually gotten worse, or has the increasing complexity of its games simply made its limitations more apparent?

Buenas. Que tipo de PC debo tener para que los juegos (como Victoria 3, Hearts of Iron IV y victoria 2 sean completamente jugables sin que el juego sea lento o se trabe?

Can’t seem to grasp EU4

I tried HoI 4 last year, and it broke my poor old brain. I think that I wasn't prepared for the level of complexity it offers. I sunk many hours into CK2 back in the day, but bounced off CK3 because it felt more complex when I was expecting a retooled CK2.

I've never played any of the Europa Universalis or Victoria games. I have CK2 with tons of DLC, EU4 with 29 addons, EU3 with Divine Wind and Heir to the Throne, and HoI 4 with the Bosporus pack. All the Vic 2 DLC is $2, so I don't mind grabbing the ones that I need.

all Hearts of Iron Games got review bombed just recently, curious what the rancor is about.

Please wish Kacper (Kaz) and his wife Klaudia all the best, from all paradox players :)

Mini Mega Campaign starting in 867 in CK3 then moving in EU5 in 1337, thanks to a new game converter!

Im playing as sweden, starting in 1933. I have set my sliders to be fascist by the help of a command, so i can conquer northern europe before ww2 starts. the problem is, denmark is guaranteed by both germany and uk. when i attack denmark, germany declares on me, and weirdly uk declares on germany, then germany later declares war on denmark. what the hell is even going on?

I have bought a new gaming lap top after suffering for 5 years with an old pc (A6-5400B with nvs 310).

I was playing Ck3 on 10 fps and victoria 2 and hoi4.

But they just crashes on my new laptop

for example Vic3 and CK3 crashes while autosaving

Cities skylines crashes while launching maps

Europa UNIVERSALIS 5 crashes while loading the map.

I can't figure out what is the problem

I have posted that on paradox vic3 tech support fourm and they couldn't help me.

( My lap: Core i7-10750H

RTX 2070 8GB

16 GB ram

SSD 500 GB NVM)

You can imagine how frustrated I am, especially since I bought this laptop for Paradox games:(

In its current state, would you recommend EU4 or EU5 to a new player?

I am thinking to play EU5, but I read that there are no mission trees so I am a bit worried that I will miss some guidance on what to do.

What do all of you think?

As a history graduate with a humble 5000 hours in eu4 and 2500 hours in vic2, I would say that I have jumped quite deep into the rabbit hole of seeking "realism" in historical simulations by spending many in-game hours on mods such as eu4 Meiou and Texas and vic2 hfm /gfm.

Eu4 Meiou and Taxes did this (what I calls mechanical simulation) extremely well by calculating every population in a province, their needs, wages, and expenses; any disease in the province; infrastructure in the province; bureaucracy in the province & on national scale; province elite loyalty, etc. Sure, the mod runs really slow, but it was surely peak mechanical simulation.

However, I find myself still not fully satisfied: mechanical simulation has its limits. For instance: Coalitions have always been called unrealistic in eu4 because they merely react to recent conquests, not the long-term encroachment that states truly fear IRL. Psychological warfare (like Vlad the Impaler mounting people on pikes) also cannot be properly simulated due to the "AI" being only mechanical programmes that inherently cannot simulate human reactions. The most immersion-breaking parts are by far the peace-deal systems. Fully mechanical war score systems that are supposed to simulate war and peace treaties. While such a system is very "fair" on paper, it utterly failed to bring proper simulations because peace negotiations IRL are arbitrary by nature: think of the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluks; Venice switching sides multiple times during the Italian wars; the War of Spanish Succession that ended up with no one getting the Spain PU IRL; etc. And also the "fluid" resistances and guerrilla warfare, which is partly the reason why Ming China cannot permanently conquer the Steppes in the 15th century IRL, but my Meiou and Taxes Ming can just do it like a cakewalk.

Well, aren't these things already addressed via the events system? Well, not really. The events system replicated what happened IRL given the correct circumstances, but not the billion possibilities for "similar but different events": What if it was Tunis that took over the Mamluks? Or Louisiana was sold to a unified Scandinavia? Or Corsica was sold to Britain? Or what would the Columbian Exchange look like if Ming China was involved in (OTL) California?

This is why I recently got involved with AI (LLM) games (I will call them arbitrary simulations). Now don't get me wrong, this isn't a promotion because they sucks (I will explain why). But let's start with the good first. In my Pax Historia 1444 Ming game, I was able to start the Mongol-China trade (https://baike.baidu.com/en/item/Mongol-Han%20Mutual%20Trade/5526897) more than a century earlier just by virtue of clever diplomacy. And by upgrading the trade relationship in a creative manner, I accidentally caused a Civil War that ended up with the Oirat Mongols being my vassals after Chinese troops saved their Khan. None of this is possible in eu4 due to the -1000 development too big modifier in the mechanical simulation. But this development actually makes sense because the Mongol-China trade utterly changed the dynamics in the Steppes. (The real roots of the strength and intensity of Mongol raids were due to the starving conditions of their land, these people raided to prevent starvation. By giving them a stable livelihood using trade and banking, the core reason to raid ceased to exist).

However, as I played further with overseas colonization, the core weakness of AI (LLM) games crept up on them: LLM hallucination. As the game progressed, things slowly but steadily became weird: my special expedition fleet that was supposed to return stopped in Alaska because the LLM forgot about them. The game showed me owning all of Hokkaido, but only a fort in Taiwan, even though the game text says the opposite, which is that my settlers flooded Taiwan, but there was just a fort in Hokkaido (caused by LLM inconsistencies). The Ottomans took a wholly disconnected province from the Qara Qoyunlu, which contradicted the game rules. The fixed report that the game forced the LLM to generate began to miss more details (compare with the original template) over time. All of this shows that the game is gradually falling apart due to LLM hallucination (which is probably unsolvable).

I believe these "pros and cons" both sides have are caused by the nature of history: the humans who made decisions in history are living humans who have what we call "free will". Therefore, their decision-making (esp. peace deals) is arbitrary, which LLMs simulate better. But the other aspects of the material world (physics, chemistry, biology) are all mechanical, so they need mechanical simulation.

To conclude, paradox games are still the best there. Despite having limits, mechanical simulations are at least not vulnerable to LLM hallucination. While paradox games have the best mechanical simulations. However, I believe that if LLM technologies become truly mature (many years later). It may be possible for Paradox to create a "perfect simulator": by having the core game logic (which nation owns what, population details, etc. ) run by mechanical simulation, but having diplomacy between tags handled by LLMs, and having things like guerrilla warfare or other events handling assisted by LLMs.

(As a sidenote, the reason I began writing alternate history is that I felt my Meiou and Taxes Campaigns were "not realistic enough") XD

What colour should Norway be on maps? Neither PDX nor in Norway itself have it been displayed in one colour consistently.

Dev Diary written by NullNiche.

Hello and Happy Wednesday Dustlanders! My name is Tudor and I am a game designer on Afterworld. After being an avid dev diary devourer for almost two decades, it is with great delight that I get to pen this dev diary for the first time. Anyhoo… Today I want to tell you more about one of the central features of the game we are making: Bands.

I want to explain how they fit to serve the game vision and why I think they are a very exciting element in the mix!

What are bands?​

Bands are a group of people who survive together and act as a unified group. People in a band are bound by common culture, share resources and living conditions they have access to. In Afterworld you play as a post-ap tribe rebuilding society. Bands are the people you bring together and coordinate to achieve this. Narratively they represent small social groups with their own ways of life and their own goals. Systemically they are a central feature which sits at the intersection of many other features, which future diaries will go into more detail to illustrate.

Bands have gone through a lot of iteration to fit together with everything we are developing for Afterworld, but their early conception drew inspiration from elements of Crusader Kings characters in the way they can develop through gameplay, Imperator families in the way that they contain a cast of prominent characters which can impact your society and Victoria pops in the sense that their followers are modeled so that the band as a whole can experience through them the conditions of the world. Of course we chose to do this because part of Afterworld’s appeal is to see how your choices impact the bands for better or worse and how the bands will in turn react and develop.

Today I’ll focus on those aspects that define the identity of a band to give you a better idea of how one band can differ from another. In Afterworld, a band’s identity is determined by core norms, customs, traumas and beliefs.

<IMAGE>
The band view lets you see at a glance what are the band’s traits, health and mood status as well as who are its prominent characters and how much drip are they rockin​

Core Norms​

Every band has two core norms and can develop more customs as they perform actions in the game. A core norm represents the most deeply set behavior of a band. This is a deeply rooted sense of self, unlikely to ever change, except in the most extreme circumstances.

Bands get awarded pride, which is akin to “cultural XP,” when they perform various actions in the world. After enough pride is accumulated, the band will develop its culture by adopting new customs. The customs options that are offered are weighted by their recent experiences as well as their core norms and memories.

In practice this means that you get to put your bands to work for your tribe, which then in turn shapes them. This way you want to make the most of the bands you have, then mold them to develop synergies in service of your plans.

<IMAGE>
We can see how these core norms have pretty wide ranging thematic effects on who this band is, for example what sort of luxuries they consume.​

Customs​

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Proselytizing Mission is a pretty natural fit for a band of Zealous Mystics, but there could be many others, depending on what the band has gone through​

Bands develop customs that help them adapt to life in the dustlands. New customs may be inspired by great deeds that fill a band with pride, or by learning to cope with a band's past traumas. Most customs have several levels, representing how bands can deepen their commitment to that custom as they develop. Higher levels of a custom will bestow stronger effects.

Memories​

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When I encounter a new band, I love taking a look at their memories along their norms and customs to get a feel for who they are and where they’ve been​

Band experiences can leave a memory. Memories can be neutral or a source of pride or trauma. Bands that suffer shame, pain, and deprivation may develop traumas. Traumatic memories contribute to a trauma accumulation we track per band and which at a certain point will trigger a trauma to develop, for example Hoarding (which impacts how much food and drink they need). Which trauma develops is impacted by the memories and already present core norms, customs and beliefs.

Traumas have conditions under which the band can overcome them and reform them into a regular custom. Narratively this represents how the memory of suffering may instead inspire the band with strength. The reform options are dependent on the specific trauma and current culture of the band and are meant to tell the story of how a socially unacceptable behavior was reigned in by the new custom which emerges to control that behavior or make it acceptable.

<IMAGE>
A band of hoarders? I think I’ve found my people​

Beliefs​

<IMAGE>
Look at how she burns with a shining peace​

Beliefs represent broader ideas of a religious or ideological nature in the world that can be shared across many bands and tribes. We will go deeper into them in their own dedicated Dev Diary. The Sungazers belief (mentioned in our recent lore video) is one of the more extreme examples, which turns a band into monastic scholars who blind themselves by staring into the sun.

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Given how much monitorgazing I do, I consider myself an initiate on the path to enlightenment​

Traditions​

Ok, let’s talk about traditions. Traditions are primarily sourced from customs and represent the collective competence of a band in a domain of activity. When bands perform relevant actions, they acquire pride which can then be used to level up specific traditions. Higher tradition levels make the band more capable in that domain.

For example, a band that uses the warfare tradition to for example perform garrison duty or fight as part of war parties will gain pride, which will lead to the band developing a new custom. In the options you will have to pick from for the band, there will be a high chance to see a custom which further increases warfare tradition. The story here being that a band got better at what they have been doing by developing its culture to this effect.

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The Pyreguard’s warfare and hearthkeeping traditions make them pretty good at both waging warfare and recovering from it​

Values​

Values represent how bands like or dislike certain concepts in Afterworld’s setting and are sourced from norms, customs and beliefs. They have a lot of ties with society building systems like the tribe council, laws and ideas - more on all those in future diaries. The main thing to know is that the band's values influence the sort of society they support and oppose.

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When choosing your tribe government, you have to consider the values that the government stands for and which bands will support or oppose them​

Population​

Bands are made up of diverse people which fall into two broad categories: prominent leaders and the less prominent followers of said leaders. The amount of leaders a band has scales with the overall size of the band and is impacted by the band’s culture. Some bands produce more or fewer leaders for their population size. Leaders can have their own quirks and gear, but will follow the cultural ways of the bands they belong to.

Every band has population of followers tracked and that you can inspect by feasting your eyes upon tasty pie charts! This info view is for checking what sort of people make up the band. There are bands with some pretty exotic demographics impacted by their cultural ways. I really like seeing how band followers can acquire statuses or change types because of what the band is experiencing: for example mutations from exposure to radiated environments or injuries from battles.

<IMAGE>
Hey this UI isn’t all that pretty yet, but it’s got graphs!​

Health & Motivation sections will get their own deep dive in a separate diary, but for now I can say that different bands can have very different ways of being kept healthy and motivated, depending on their norms, customs and beliefs.

Bands are pretty emblematic of the sort of game we want Afterworld to be: a game that produces a lot of emergent stories that you can see how they come from its interacting systems. Bands are both a tool for you to use to get things done in the game, but they are also subjective witnesses to the history that unfolds, and you can see how their experiences have shaped them and participate in that.

<IMAGE>
Things are still work in progress, but already the look of bands is a visual language you learn to read in Afterworld and get an immediate vibe of what these people are about​

Alright I think that’s where I will end this opening salvo of info about bands, I think you’ll see how they impact and influence things as more of the game is revealed in future diaries.

Stay dusty!

In our next dev diary, in two weeks time, we will go into more detail about tribes. But, before we finally sign off, the Turns Expedition continues its report below…

Turns Expedition - Environmental Report.
Subject: anomalous weather in the Pacific Northwest.

We had been warned that the storm wasn’t going to clear up. We spent three days camped near the edge to make sure. It didn’t.

The Pacific Northwest coast is experiencing category one hurricane conditions, and they are apparently permanent. Nearby tribes agree that the storm predates living memory. The sun has set over the Cascades, and likely will not rise again in our lifetimes. This strains meteorological explanation. Dustlanders always explain such things the same way: the Ancients had powerful science.

The topsoil of this land has long since been washed down to the sea, and the grass and trees with it. There is no ecosystem to speak of. Constant rain carves up the rock. The only landmarks are Ancient ruins with deep foundations.

Someone has drilled metal rods into the rock every twenty paces. (Local ballads credit this feat to a single folk hero, Dillon the Ropemaker. See attached ballads.) A trail of braided ropes ties one marker to the next. It’s fourteen days’ hard march north along the Ropeline to the trading settlement at the Tacoma Dig. You stay clipped to rope the whole way, even sleeping. Pass a broken rope without mending it, and I’m told the gods will sweep you out to sea as punishment. I’m not interested in putting this land’s gods to the test. We’ve packed rope.

I’ve sealed our report notes in plastic and affixed a beacon. If we are swept to sea, I expect you’ll pick them up. May we hold fast.