The World of Grim Dawn: Cairn

[eisprinzessin]

Table of Contents
Cairn
Starting area
Rifts
Future regions

[eisprinzessin]

Cairn is a dark, war-torn world where a once proud empire has been brought to ruin and the human race driven to the edge of extinction. Cairn has become ground zero of an eternal war between two otherworldly powers, the Aetherials and Chthonians [1], one seeking to use human bodies as a resource, the other intent upon destroying the human race before that can happen. This cataclysmic war has not only decimated human civilization but is warping the very fabric of reality and, in its wake, giving life to new horrors. [2]

The warp is the result of aetherial energy seeping into the human plane of existence. The Aetherials have the ability to manipulate this energy but, untamed, it can spread like fire, feeding off the material world and growing in intensity. It is hazardous to living creatures, similar to fire or radiation and prolonged exposure to small doses can alter and distort living things. [3]

The world can never be fully restored to the way it once was. Grim Dawn is about survival and adaptation to the grim new reality. Individual survival and the collective survival of what remains of humanity. [4]
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The "Biggest, Baddest guy" #1 #2 Nov 2010
Introduction (http://www.grimdawn.com/about.php) Jan 2010
Dear Medierra: Aug 2011
Grim Dawn Story?! Jan 2010

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A pretty large world map has been sketched. The first installment of the game will introduce only a small region of it. That region will have some diverse environments ranging from swamp, to farmland, mountains, villages, and eventually an industrial town. It is sort of a backwater area. [1]

Devil's Crossing Prison will be the start of the game. Human survivors have taken up refuge behind the thick walls and iron bars of the Devil's Crossing Prison. This is where the game begins and the inside of the prison, along with a few outlying buildings will serve as the starting town. [2]

The iron bars help keep out Aetherials. The cliff walls surrounding the plateau also make for a highly defensible location, so it was a natural choice for refugees of the nearby Burrwitch Village to try and hold out. This is a town you will frequently return to and it will contain memorable NPCs.

The bridge to the East leads to a swamp road which in turn leads to the ruins of Burrwitch Village where many of the early quests take place. Surrounding Devil's Crossroads is a large area of marshland called Wightmire that stretches to the Northwest, South, and East.

The Northern bridge will initially be destroyed but you will be able to help the survivors repair it by completing a quest. This will unlock a new section of the world where Devil's Crossroads once again becomes the starting point. The Northern area will contain abandoned farmlands and a massive cemetery. You know no good can come from that.

The bridge to the West leads to a small area that players can complete a quest or two in early on but the road beyond is blocked by a region of aether-fire. Only after heading North and completing a quests that will grant the necessary protections will the player be able to cross the aether-fire and unlock a third region of the world. That may not happen until the first expansion though. [3]

This first game takes place in a more intimate locale surrounding the ruins of a town - a semi-realistic, continuous geographic area.

The starting survivor's camp is literally surrounded by a fully interconnected landmass. You can set from Devil's Crossing in three directions and each area you travel into splits off into other locations like the Abandoned Waterfront. This area is a trash littered slum with toxic rivers on the edge of another area aptly named "the dumping grounds". [4]
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Barricade revisited Aug 2010
DC Prison - this shit is real! Sep 2010
Starting Town - Devil's Crossroads Apr 2010
Abandoned Waterfront Screenshots Feb 2012

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There are also randomly occurring portals that can take you into other nightmarish dimensions such as the home realms of the Chthonians and Aetherials. [1]

Occasionally you may need to navigate your way through such a nightmarish extra-planar landscape in order to circumnavigate a real-world obstacle by finding an exit rift on the other side. [2]

It will likely be a large, relatively open wasteland of darkness briefly illuminated by cracks of red lightning and littered with bones and tall obsidian-like rock pillars. The voidland between realms of existence (basically in which they are situated) has become sort of the "dumping ground" of the gods. A place where unwanted creations end up. [3]
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Abandoned Waterfront Screenshots Feb 2012
Off World Teleporters Oct 2010
Off World Teleporters Oct 2010

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As the game world expands, you will eventually be able to travel further out to more exotic locations like deserts, snow-capped mountains [1] and towards the heart of the old human empire on Cairn and the remains of the capital city. [2]
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Abandoned Waterfront Screenshots Feb 2012
Barricade revisited Aug 2010