The Wilderness Beyond Savannah
Savannah may be a city of ghosts, but it is the wilderness beyond its borders that truly haunts the Kindred who call it home.
The Court holds firm dominion over Savannah’s metro area, its historic districts, and even a few of the coastal islands and stretches of nearby wilderness. But beyond those boundaries, past where the streetlights flicker out and the trees stretch like grasping fingers toward the sky, the world belongs to something else.
A Place of Vanishing
Kindred who wander too far from the safety of the city often do not return. Those who do come back speak in whispers and half-truths, their minds unsettled, their bodies marked with wounds that should not be. And sometimes, even they do not last long before disappearing altogether.
No single explanation exists for what lurks beyond the borders, but the theories are many.
Theories and Horrors of the Wilds
The Revenants and Rabid Ghouls
Some claim that rogue revenants—failed attempts at immortality, neither fully Kindred nor fully dead—stalk the woods, their minds twisted by centuries of degradation. Alongside them, feral ghouls roam, abandoned by their masters, driven into mindless hunger and hunting anything with blood in its veins.
The Brood Never Truly Left
Others whisper that the remnants of Belial’s Brood were never fully purged. Instead, they fled into the wilds, regrouping in the darkness, waiting for the moment to strike again. There are stories of abandoned shrines, places where the earth itself is tainted with blood magic, where fires burn without a source, and where the whispers of something ancient call to those who stray too close.
Monsters Beyond Imagination
Then, there are the oldest and most terrifying rumors—that something not Kindred, not Brood, not human at all waits beyond Savannah’s borders. That ancient horrors sleep beneath the earth, stirring when Kindred blood spills on the soil. Some speak of beasts the size of houses, of shadows that hunt without form, and of things that do not walk but slither, their movements unseen until it is far too late.
The Unspoken Rule
Few in the Court speak of what lies beyond the city, but all understand the unspoken rule:
Do not stray beyond the boundaries.
There is no Sheriff’s protection out there. The Prince’s laws do not reach into the deep woods. Whatever you find will not respect the Masquerade—or your survival.
Savannah belongs to the Kindred.
The wilderness does not.