Croatoan is the long-established mainland sa-khui community led by Chief Vektal. Its territory consists of the village and the surrounding places residents use for shelter, hunting, gathering, travel, and shared survival. The community is situated within Not-Hoth's harsh frozen environment, where knowledge of local terrain can be as valuable as physical strength. Croatoan is not a modern city, a walled kingdom, or the capital of the entire planet.
Territory here means a lived-in landscape of familiar routes and responsibilities, not a surveyed country with legally fixed borders. Residents know certain landmarks through repeated experience, while more distant places remain uncertain. The precise compass coordinates, village dimensions, and distances to every other location are not established in this campaign.
Croatoan is a place where families live, share meals, care for children, prepare for hunts, and recover from dangerous journeys. Its sheltered spaces support everyday life in a climate that would be deadly to unprotected humans. The settlement's exact arrangement of sleeping places, gathering areas, and work spaces should follow established scenes rather than a newly invented master blueprint.
A household may have familiar places for resting, keeping possessions, or working with materials. Community spaces may be used for discussion and shared tasks. Do not automatically add paved streets, a town hall, a market square, electric lighting, or defensive walls. A village can be organized and socially complex without resembling an Earth municipality.
The mainland's caves and sheltered rock formations are important because they provide protection from wind, snow, and exposure. A suitable shelter depends on its stability, available space, ventilation, and accessibility. Rock and ice do not automatically make a place safe; entrances can become obstructed, footing can change, and unfamiliar passages may contain hazards.
Croatoan's residents have practical knowledge of places they use regularly. Their experience does not mean they have explored every underground passage or can identify every danger by instinct. A newly discovered opening must be investigated before it is treated as a reliable refuge. Do not invent an endless network of tunnels joining all settlements.
The Elders' Cave is a major historical landmark associated with the ancient Sakh spacecraft Se Kilahi, which crashed on Not-Hoth more than a thousand years ago. The vessel's history is tied to the ancestry of the mainland sa-khui. It is not merely an ordinary hunting shelter, and its significance must remain distinct from the many natural caves elsewhere on the planet.
The presence of an ancient ship does not prove that its systems are operational or that its location provides unlimited supplies, transport, weapons, or medical equipment. The exact distance and route from Croatoan should be taken from established maps and events, not invented here. Characters may know stories about the cave without knowing every technical detail of the vessel.
Hunting grounds are places where experienced residents have learned to look for suitable prey and recognize the dangers of pursuit. They may include open frozen terrain, rocky approaches, sheltered areas, or other habitats consistent with the creatures being sought. Wildlife is not evenly distributed, and successful hunting depends on season, weather, animal behavior, equipment, and experience.
A hunting party must consider the journey home as well as the pursuit itself. Carrying meat or materials can slow travel, while an injury may change the entire plan. Familiar grounds are not guaranteed to provide a catch every time. Do not invent a fenced hunting reserve, unlimited herds, or a fixed supply of prey conveniently waiting near the village.
Croatoan residents learn routes through repetition, teaching, and observation. A familiar trail may be identified by rock formations, slopes, shelter locations, or other landmarks. Tracks can disappear under new snow, and storms can make even well-known ground difficult to recognize. Travelers should account for visibility, cold, fatigue, and the supplies needed to return.
There is no established network of paved roads, signposts, or precise route markers covering the mainland. A character who knows one trail does not automatically know every possible shortcut. If a new path is discovered during play, record how it connects to known landmarks and whether it remains usable under changing conditions.
Snow, wind, extreme cold, and changing visibility influence village routines and travel. A sheltered area may remain manageable while an exposed route becomes unsafe. A blizzard can delay hunters, obscure tracks, and complicate searches. Not every snowfall is a disaster, but weather should never be ignored simply because characters possess khui.
The khui enables survival in the toxic atmosphere and improves tolerance of cold and healing. It does not prevent exhaustion, injury, falls, or death. Humans newly arrived without functioning khui face an urgent atmospheric threat. Their immediate safety cannot wait for a sightseeing tour or a routine village introduction.
The region around Croatoan belongs to a living alien ecosystem. Some creatures are potential prey; others may be dangerous or simply difficult to predict. The detailed biology of each species belongs in its own lore entries. Do not fill the village perimeter with invented Earth wolves, bears, or deer merely to make the landscape familiar.
Wildlife may approach or avoid inhabited places according to conditions and behavior, but not every animal is aggressive. Residents can take precautions around children, food stores, and travel routes. A predator encounter should reflect the established creature's capabilities, not an arbitrary monster appearing whenever the plot needs action.
Icehome is a distinct coastal settlement, not another name for Croatoan. Their residents can have family ties, shared histories, and reasons to visit or assist one another. The existence of these relationships does not establish that the settlements are adjacent, connected by a straight road, or reachable in a fixed number of hours.
Travel between them requires attention to the campaign map, weather, route knowledge, equipment, and the travelers' condition. Vektal is Croatoan's chief; his leadership does not automatically extend to Icehome's households or the surviving island families. A journey may be meaningful precisely because it takes effort and planning.
Someone unfamiliar with Croatoan territory may need guidance to find shelter, understand safe routes, or avoid dangerous food and wildlife. A human from Earth may recognize snow and mountains yet have no experience with Not-Hoth's atmosphere or native ecology. An island survivor may understand the planet's hazards but not the mainland's local geography.
Hospitality does not require pretending every visitor is harmless or making every stranger a prisoner. Residents can offer practical assistance while learning who someone is and what they need. Rescue does not create ownership, compulsory work, or romantic obligations. Resonance remains a khui response, not a territorial rule.
Croatoan's landscape holds memories for the people who live there. A particular trail may remind someone of a hunt, a sheltered place of a family gathering, or a cave of a lesson learned long ago. These associations can deepen characterization without becoming universal sacred laws. Different residents may remember the same place differently.
Stories help younger people learn, but a story is not necessarily a complete map or a scientifically verified account. An elder can be knowledgeable without being omniscient. Newly introduced landmarks should fit the geography already established and should not retroactively rewrite the community's history.
Croatoan is the established mainland sa-khui village led by Chief Vektal; it is distinct from coastal Icehome.
Croatoan territory consists of lived-in places, familiar routes, and resources, not fixed national borders or an invented empire.
Do not invent exact coordinates, village dimensions, distances, or compass directions without map support.
Natural shelters and caves are important but are not universally safe or secretly interconnected.
The Elders' Cave contains the crashed ancient Sakh vessel Se Kilahi; its presence does not imply functioning unlimited technology.
Hunting and gathering require knowledge, effort, equipment, and realistic environmental conditions.
Do not invent paved roads, modern infrastructure, limitless prey, or convenient resource deposits.
Snow, wind, terrain, wildlife, and fatigue affect travel even for experienced residents.
A functioning khui supports atmospheric survival, warmth tolerance, and healing; it does not remove all danger.
Humans without khui require urgent help; receiving help does not create ownership or compulsory resonance.
Vektal's authority as Croatoan chief does not automatically extend to Icehome or every island family.
New trails, shelters, landmarks, and discoveries must arise through play and remain consistent with existing maps and events.