Winterhome

"To all scientists: If you use any supplies, remember to notify the quartermaster upon your return to the City."

- Note posted on the Door of the Sturdy Shelter

"London: 1934 Miles, Home: 27 Miles."

- A Signpost near the Sturdy Shelter

"God, forgive us, we’re eating our dead. There’s no hope."

- The Last Entry of a Winterhome Survivor

The City of Winterhome is a playable city in the scenario 'Fall of Winterhome'. The ruins of the city are also encountered in the scenario "A New Home".

Winterhome is a Scouting location found in the New Home scenario.

Searching for Others, Winterhome
Before Arrival: There can be no doubt - it's a city much like ours. We can see the top of the Generator, but it's switched off, perhaps for maintenance.

During Arrival: We climbed up to the edge of the city. We stood there speechless, staring at the scene of devastation. It's a city of the dead. Most of the buildings are destroyed and the Generator has exploded.

The fall of Winterhome: The streets of the ruined city are littered with scores of dead bodies. The city chronicle describes the shortage of food and citizens' increasing despair, the following squabbles, riots and descent into anarchy, fights for dwindling resources and the eventual starvation... The last entry: "God forgive us, we're eating our dead. There's no hope."

After Arrival: N/A

Winterhome Lore
Winterhome was a settlement of survivors not unlike New London, which started out as one of Britain's long term research outposts controlled by the military (it was also the head quarters of all research and scientific expeditions within the frost land). By the Fall of London, the settlement had become a small city. It was expected by most of the residents to be very advanced and thus capable of providing assistance to its new neighbor.

Unfortunately, by the time New London's scouts reach it, the city is a frozen ghost town, with the generator damaged beyond repair. Alternatively, a dying man will reach New London and reveal Winterhome's grim fate in his last breath, setting in motion the events that follow the news regardless. Starting out as a militarized science outpost, Winterhome had access to some advanced technologies and a lot of manpower and resources, which allowed them construct automatons, an outpost, and an observatory, as well as a steel bridge over a deep, wide ravine.

Winterhome's backstory is revealed in the scenario 'Fall of Winterhome'. The ultimate demise of Winterhome is revealed to have been caused by the chronic failure of its generator - the result of either rushed construction, substandard materials, or poor workmanship. Despite its origins as a military research outpost, it is apparent that significant immigration has occurred due to the large presence of children. This undoubtedly put a heavy strain on resources, particularly food and housing.

It is perhaps from these pressures that the first Captain (likely as a military officer) resorted to a brutal, authoritarian rule to maintain order. The harsh rule combined with possible mismanagement induced great resentment of the leadership; the first major generator malfunction appears to have been the final straw that united the dissenters into a full blown rebellion, resulting in a city-wide civil war.

The victorious rebels install the player as Captain to restore the city, by now mostly a smoldering ruin, setting the scene for the 'Fall of Winterhome' scenario. In the ensuing battle, the Original Captain and his soldiers were gunned down and piled into the city's mass grave, piled on top of one another as far away from the citizen's bodies as possible.

It appears that the news about London's destruction and the arrival of massive amounts of refugees caused major strife within the city of Winterhome; a riot broke out over food shortages and increasingly harsh rule by an army captain before their generator exploded from lack of oversight. Many of them either perished from that explosion, fell in the resulting chaos, or scattered across the region in camps. Few survivors that were spared by the destruction of Winterhome were found and saved by scouts from the nearby settlement of New London.

Word of the city's fate delivers a crushing blow to the population of New London's Hope, and forces the Captain to take stricter actions in order to stabilize his people and regain control of his own city. Winterhome's demise also prompts several people to try to retreat back to London out of fear of sharing the same fate. It is up to the captain to prevent the Londoners from gaining followers and leaving the city, and to decide how humanely to keep the city together.