This is the area of southern Seattle devastated in 2031 by the eruption of Mt Rainier, and following mudslides ( Lahars ) and Pyroclastic flows destroying much of the area, fires started by the eruption also did a large amount of damage. It is now filled with many refugees who had no where else to go and many Orc's, Trolls and Tenctonese .
On the morning of the 13th of June 2031 the residents of Tacoma, Puyallup and Emunclaw were woken by a 5.1 Magnitude Earthquake, which was followed by a wave of smaller quakes over the next 3 to 4 hours, by 12pm a haze of smoke had appeared on the summit of Mt Rainier and SPD/SDF units started drawing up evacuation plans. Over the next 3 days the smoke disappeared and the Mountain seemed to settle down, Makah strike teams chose this time to launch a series of raids on Bainbridge Island and Tacoma, and with the mountain settling down, evacuation plans were shelved as Troops move westward to counteract the Makah threat.
Then at midnight on the 17th of June Seattle was blasted by a massive explosion from Rainier, the mountain blew its top in spectacular display of fire and smoke, and lahar flows started racing down the northern river valleys towards the densely packed refugee camps in southern Seattle. Thousands died as the White, Carbon and Puyallup River Valleys were swamped with mud, debris and rocks, followed by smaller but no less deadly Pyroclastic Clouds. Many areas north of the mountain were also hit by chunks of rock launched miles into the air by the initial explosion, with Everett in the north being the farthest hit.
The large Lahar that hit Puyallup flowed nearly to Puget Sound cutting the I5 north of Tacoma, the 2nd large Lahar destroyed Greenwater and Buckley and petered out near Sumner, Pyroclastic Clouds flowed down behind the Lahars and hit southern Emunclaw and Eastern Tacoma, with the town of Graham basically destroyed. this was followed by lava flows as Ranier erupted solidly for 5 days before calming down. Over the next two years Ranier was very active and built a beautiful cone which increased the mountains hieght by nearly 500m. By 2040 however Rainier had settled and aside from the occasional rumbling and small Lahar, seemed to have blown out its frustration.
For the people who lived in the area however it was not going to be so easy to recover, the large number of deaths cause many areas to become haunted, paranormal activity increased dramatically, many people living in the area were devastated by this 2nd lose of property and familly after the evacuations of the Indian Wars, and with nothing left to lose, turned to lives of violence and crime. Puyallup is considered a No-Go-Zone (NGZ) by Seattle's over stretched Police and Military forces, thus leaving it open for many criminal organisations and corporate enclaves to exploit. On top of all this Puyallup is a major Nexus Point of local LeyLines and as such is leaking magical power all over the place
Demonic Manifestations are reported on a weekly basis, luckily most are fairly minor, but they do keep various Demon Hunting Organisations busy.
Anywhere in the Barrens adds between 5 and 20 to the background count, with several mapped areas being so Dark, just being near them can cause psychological harm to those who can sense it.
Elves are a persecuted minority in the area, resentment of the Makah attacks which drew away military help for evacuations still runs strong in the area and all Elves are tarred with the same brush. Native Americans are also barely tolerated, many refugees blaming them for putting them in the position to suffer the eruption
Because of limited policing of industry in the area, and the inability of police to keep crime in check, corporate and criminal interests do what they want, and don't apply normal standards of enviromental protection. There are many toxic areas in Puyallup, and toxic and corrupted magic users are on the rise.
Puyallup Rainbow: A system of waterfalls created by Lahars, Pyroclastic Flows and later Lava Flows, which moved the flow of the Puyallup River and created an amazing 2 km stretch of falls. There are 4 main falls and 5 areas of rapids over the length of the Rainbow, which got its name because the water that flows thru the area constantly changes colour as it washes thru different mineral deposits left by the eruption.