TEP Macrocosm

Initial Notes
Thinking about size led to wondering what the average size of a US county was which led to random thought of "how big is Yellowstone National Park?" BOOM. Whether or not Eden is YNP in a futuristic US or if its simply a good basis for offworld Eden? We're going to base the geology and geography off of Yellowstone. It makes it alien and imperfect for a utopic garden but hardly inhospitable.

--Greater Geography== The Eden Project itself is about 3500 sq miles (dark green exclusing Grand Teton) but it is surrounded by a forest zone (lighter green) that has been mapped and has watchers and possibly some homesteads or Outsiders. Everything outside of that is the Wastelands and believed by PCs to be unihabitable, toxic, bad. Even the Fringe is "dangerous"

Eden has a big lake like Lake Yellowstone. It has the geysers and other thermal features. Unless something goes really wrong, it should not have a caldera-sized erruption for 10,000 years. There's technology in play to "vent" the caldera so it never does but nobody knows if its actually gonna work. But they are confident that Eden has 10,000 natural years ahead of it before that kind of cataclysm will happen.

The biome is mostly taiga and alpine: coniferous forest filled with pine cones,firs, spruces, hemlock, larches, mosses and lichens. Long, cold winters and short, cool summers. It is not ideal for agriculture and grain crops. Hunter-gatherer bands/clans with outposts makes a lot of sense.

Playable Races
Humans are the only playable race but they might be broken down into a couple of types. Both mutations and bionic/biological adaptations/implants is worth considering. But if there are "space aliens" out there in the fringe and beyond? They are not PCs. They may or may not exist. The guardians/archangels with swords at the gates? They are machines not people and probably not very "archangelic' except in symbolism. They are plot devices not people.  If there is a god/Master of the Garden?  They do not present themselves in any tangible way.  But there could be some "Lost" tropes, ideas.  Maybe.  Nothing for certain.  Human is the only Echelon.  Animals used as plot devices could be Echelon 1-3.  The Sentinels/Archangels might be Echeelon 4.  This isn't meant for them to be used as sheeted support cast, just to give a comparison to what the PCs/support cast (all E-3) have to face from animal/robotic plot devices.

Flora & Fauna
Variants (mutations or otherwordly) on what factual YNP hase: see YNP plants and YNP wildlife. There should also be some domesticated crops and livestock that are doing "okay" but protecting them could very well be a a source of a lot of challenges and conflicts.

Monsters
There might be mutant/xeno animals that are very scary. They aren't human sentient or smarter. No zombie appocalypse, no obvious space alien kind of monsters. The "we don't know our history or what is really out there" theme is what is starting to come to mind. The monsters of this story might very well be humans who are exploiting other humans or simply wild animals that have been enhanced by mutation or science.

Cosmology/Mythology
There is no proof of God or gods in TEP. There is no organized religion per se but the community or communities at the core setting do have some rituals, folklore, spiritual beliefs, coping mechanisms and myth that are "seven generations" removed from factual modern religion/mythology.

Civilizations
The 7th Generation of residents since Eden began are now born and starting to reach adulthood. So its been about 200 years (give or take a decade) since TEP last had contact with the world beyond the Fringe. Its probably been a lot less since exploration of the Fringe started to be attempted. The technology is a blend of sustainable futuretech and traditional hunter/gatherer culture. There's only one civilization. There were only a hundred original human settlers and they have been intentionally keeping genetic diversity going but expanding the population incredibly slowly, carefully, with thought. Stewardship is a core philosophy. The humans of Eden are being raised to believe they are stewards and all the plants, animals, geological features, etc.,. are their obligation to protect from extinction/exploitation/over-use.

There are eight (actual or planned)developed areas in Eden. They may not have the same names, but they are based on the concepts/locations of Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower-Roosevelt, Canyon Village, Fishing Bridge, West Thumb, Grant Village, Old Faithful, and Madison. Each development has between 80-120 residents by intent: Dunbar's Number is taken to heart within Eden. If Eden has a 200ish year history, only 1-2 settlements is that old. The others have been build over time. Actually, lets make it that there are just -six- developed areas with two that are being reserved for the future. So Eden has about 600 living human residents spread into six outposts but many might only live in the outpost during the winters and summers are spend in hunter-gatherer bands and camps much of the time.

Anything Else?
It makes sense to pick one outpost/developed area and build it as the central location. Let's take Grant Village but rename it and make it the oldest and most "advanced" of the settlements with Lewis Lake as its "summer camp" and there being some kind of trade route or supply something at South Entrance who's Sentinel is called Euphrades.