Grimsel Pass Fort guards the high road between the Hasli valley and the Rhone valley. The Alpine League built it in 2036 around the old dam and hotel. Snow closes the pass from October to June. The dams below the fort make power for the valleys.
The Alpine League closed the mountain passes in 2035 and kept most of its people alive. It is Europe's strongest power, and it means to stay that way. Outsiders may trade at the pass forts, but they rarely get further in. The few who are let in must pass a blood test and wait in quarantine. Mutated are kept in quarantine huts below the passes. Undead are shot at the pass.
Lukas Brunner decides who may cross, and he says no far more often than yes. He will not open the pass for money or pity. Anna Frei follows the rules but thinks some are too harsh on refugees. The dead climb up from the south every summer, and Lukas's soldiers shoot them on the switchbacks.
The old Gotthard road tunnel to the south east was sealed with concrete in 2035, with thousands of infected trapped inside. The League checks the seal every week. There are stories that the train tunnel beside it has a way through, and smugglers have tried it. Most have not come back.
Lukas Brunner, the fort commander. He wants the pass held and his soldiers alive. His wife and son live in Meiringen, in the valley below, and he writes to them every week.
Anna Frei, mountain guide. She leads travelers and patrols over the high trails and tracks the dead that wander up from the Rhone valley. She loves the high country and hates being indoors.
Urs Baumann, president of the League Council in Bern. He decides which forts guard which pass and who may enter League land.
Dr. Regula Meier, head surgeon at Insel Clinic in Bern. People cross the Alps to reach her.
The people at the gate. Refugees, traders and smugglers climb to the wall every summer. Each one is a choice for Lukas, and for the players.
Guide work. Anna leads patrols and travelers over the high trails. She has walked over the Alps to Italy four times.
The Gotthard seal. The League must know the seal holds. Smugglers want through it.
Into the League. Bern has the only working surgery room in central Europe, a rich market and a council that trusts nobody. Getting in needs a pass or a sponsor.
Over the mountains. To the south lies Italy, with its dead cities and the Salt Fleet town in the Venice lagoon.
The mountains. Cold, altitude, glaciers, crevasses and sudden storms.
The dead climb up from the Rhone valley every summer, alone or in packs.
Gotthard Tunnel Nest holds thousands of dead behind a concrete seal.
Raiders from the dead lowland cities.
League soldiers shoot at anyone who climbs the wall without leave.
Nydegg Bridge Gate, Federal Palace Hall, Insel Clinic, Bern Arcade Market and Matte Workshop in Bern.
Gotthard Tunnel Nest, to the south east.
Venice Lagoon Town in Italy, a Salt Fleet settlement across the mountains.