The nomad camp materialized out of the heat shimmer six hours after the Legacy Node, a cluster of weathered tents arranged around a central fire pit that should not have been able to sustain a flame in the crushing desert heat and was doing so anyway, because I had programmed the nomad camp fire as a permanent ambient feature and the world honored that decision regardless of atmospheric logic.
LOCATION DISCOVERED: WANDERER'S REST. SETTLEMENT TYPE: NOMAD CAMP. SAFETY STATUS: NON-HOSTILE ZONE. SERVICES AVAILABLE: TRADE, INFORMATION, BASIC HEALING.
I stood at the camp's edge for a moment before entering, feeling the specific relief of shade and non-hostile NPC presence in a way I had not felt anything in hours. I had designed this place as a mercy, a rest stop in a zone that did not otherwi
