Mount Rainier erupted on August 17, 2017, burying fertile Puyallup's farmland and apple orchards under tons of ash. The eruption created the most spectacular geographic feature of the district, the Mowich Lava Flow, a souvenir of the rivers of burning lava that poured down after Mount Rainier erupted. Whole towns and villages were destroyed, and lava fires burned for days, obliterating nearly all of the district's vegetation. When the lava cooled, it solidified and formed kilometer-long beds of black, featureless rock.
The lava flow also forever altered the course of the Puyallup river. As the lava poured into the river, it pushed the water up past the banks and flooded most of the low lying plains. In time, a new river bed was formed, but some of the river water sucked beneath the flow still makes it's way to the top as powerful steam geysers and lakes of toxic, bubbling mud.
Soon after the eruption of Mount Rainier, several engineering corporations planned and built geothermal power plants on the solidified flows, hoping to turn the steam and hot water into power. The Crash of 2029 destroyed those plans, and many companies were forced to abandon their existing infrastructure, leaving the landscape dotted with the rusting hulks of forgotten power plants. Squatters set up camp on lava flows, in an area known as Hell's Kitchen.
Some actually enjoy this inhospitable region. Shamans are attracted by the nature spirits which abound and travel out into the flow wilderness to purify themselves. Talismongers wander the lava surface searching for bones and components of the dead animals which have died of exhaustion or wandered into one of the deadly pits that dot the landscape. Some Dwarfs have tunneled down into the lava flows, often with bare hands, gathering up rare minerals for sale.
Commercial helicopter tours are offered by Puyallup companies out to the lava flows. Some people say that for the right exchange of nuyen, insertions and extractions into the fields can be arranged with some of the tour operators.
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- Seattle 2072 p. 125