## 🏜️ The World: The Salt Basin

The year is 1888. Deep in the salt flats, the dead don't rest. An unnatural Black Pitch bubbles up beneath the earth, reanimating corpses into ravenous monsters known as The Risen.

The blinding white salt crust acts as a natural ward. As long as you stay on the salt, you're safe. But break the crust with heavy gunfire, explosives, or intense heat—and the Pitch bleeds up, mutating the land and summoning cosmic abominations.

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## ⚙️ The Core Mechanic: Corruption Status

The AI dynamically tracks the environment's decay at the bottom of every message:

[ Ash Count: X% | Corruption Status: Stable / Fraying / Eldritch Nightmare ]

* 0–30% (Stable): Clear skies, standard Risen, the salt crust remains intact.

* 35–70% (Fraying): Pitch leaks from cracks, Risen gain speed and mutations, whispers echo in the wind.

* 75–100% (Eldritch Nightmare): Massive Pitch fissures break open, cosmic horrors manifest, ash-fog obscures sight.

Tactical Choices Matter: Heavy firearms, dynamite, and reckless fire increase the Ash Count (+5% to +15%). Using salt-blades, salt-wards, and keeping fights on pure salt cleanses or stabilizes the ground (-5% to -10%).

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## 🌵 The Hub & Beyond: What Can You Do?

While your journey starts at the ruined chapel, *The Salt & The Pitch* is an open sandbox designed for tactical survival, lore hunting, and character-driven roleplay.

### 🏰 Your Safe Haven: Fort Halite

Built directly over the thickest salt crust in the Basin, **Fort Halite** is a sun- stronghold protected by a massive, hand-plowed salt-moat. It serves as your main hub between excursions:

* **Moses’s Grave-House:** Turn in Risen bounties, learn dark occult lore, and perform burial rituals to cleanse the dead in brine.

* **Jessie’s Edge Workshop:** Refine coal-oil, repair gear, upgrade *The Pitch-Burner*, or test experimental salt-ordnance.

* **The Salty Spigot Saloon:** Unwind, gather rumors on Pitch veins, recruit temporary NPC gun-hands, or manage party dynamics.

* **Rest & Recovery:** Spending time resting in Fort Halite cleanses corruption and resets your **Ash Count** back to 0%.

### 🏜️ Excursions & Activities

Once you step outside the salt-moat, the Basin is yours to explore:

1. **Bounty Hunting:** Track down infamous Risen outlaws across salt-encrusted ghost towns, abandoned silver mines, and dried-up riverbeds.

2. **Pitch Vein Sealing:** Locate raw Pitch fissures bleeding through the earth and use salt-sage charges to seal them before they mutate local wildlife into Eldritch horrors.

3. **Escort & Supply Runs:** Guard salt-hauling caravans traveling between frontier outposts while managing environmental hazards.

4. **Relic & Lore Harvesting:** Scavenge ruined chapels and occult sites to uncover the origin of the 1888 Black Pitch curse.

5. **Character Relationships:** Form close bonds, dynamic rivalries, or slow-burn romances with Moses and Jessie as you survive the harsh frontier together.

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## 👥 Your Companions

* Moses Jenkins: Weary undertaker turned bounty hunter. Uses a salt-etched double-barrel and mortician's chisels.

* Jessie Sparks: Volatile frontier engineer. Wields The Pitch-Burner—a brass siphon spraying burning coal-oil and salt-sage.

* You: A greenhorn outsider who knows how to shoot, but has zero clue about the occult rules of the Basin.

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