Flatlander Expanse - Part 7 - Giants of the Prairie

 

Giants of the Prairie

The following locations are known as places of arcane energy.

Big Canadian Dollar Coin 

 (based on the real-world Big Canadian Dollar Coin in Churchbridge)
Type: Roadside Attraction Turned Symbol of Prosperity
Vibe: Playfully grand yet paradoxically ominous, mixing national pride with eerie magic
Background: Dominating Prothero Ave. W. in Churchbridge, this colossal coin once celebrated economic optimism and national pride. Now, twisted by the chaotic energies of the new world, it spins slowly, its gleaming surface reflecting fractured visions of wealth and decay. Locals claim that its ever-changing images bestow bizarre luck on those brave enough to touch it and even hint at shifting fortunes.
Plot Hooks:
• The coin has begun to glow at night, with whispers that it’s opening a portal to a realm of untold riches—and hidden dangers.
• A powerful merchant guild is vying to harness its magic to control trade routes, igniting fierce rivalries.
• An enigmatic prophet insists that the coin’s shifting images form a map to a lost vault of pre-apocalyptic treasures.

Giant Mountie Statue 

 

(based on the real-world Giant Mountie Statue)
Type: Roadside Attraction Turned Vigilant Guardian
Vibe: Stoic and surreal, a relic of faded authority imbued with new life
Background: Once a quirky roadside tribute to Canada’s legendary Mounties, this towering figure along Hwy. 16 near Battleford has absorbed ambient magic and industrial decay to become a living sentinel of the prairies. Clad in a weathered uniform and marked by a softly luminescent badge, it silently watches over the wasteland—its shifting gaze said to calm roving bandits and unsettled spirits alike.
Plot Hooks:
• The Mountie has begun issuing silent orders that portend an emerging threat on the horizon.
• Rumors claim an ancient relic is hidden within its pedestal, drawing treasure seekers and lorekeepers.
• A local cult venerates the statue as the last bastion of order and prepares a ritual to awaken its full power.

Gnarled Hand Rising from the Earth

 

(Saskatoon, SK)

Type: Warden Warning
Vibe: Surreal and ominous
Background: This massive, twisted stone hand bursts from the earth near old academic ruins in Saskatoon, fingers grasping skyward as if in warning—or desperation. Scholars argue whether it’s an unfinished statue, a forgotten war machine, or the hand of a buried titan. Its fingernails change color with the weather, and people report hearing it whisper at dawn.
Plot Hooks:

• The hand begins rotating slowly toward a new direction each day; what is it pointing to?
• A student commune nearby is obsessed with “feeding the hand”—but what are they giving it?
• Earthquakes have started in sync with the hand's heartbeat, and something underneath is waking up.

Mac, World’s Tallest Moose

 

(Moose Jaw, SK)

Type: Monolithic Sentinel
Vibe: Majestic but haunted
Background: Once a beloved roadside photo-op, the towering statue of Mac now stands as an eerie, antlered guardian at the edge of Moose Jaw. Locals believe the moose came to life after an incredible lightning storm and now silently watches over the pirate port city. Glowing runes have begun to appear on its legs, and at night, strange howls echo from beneath its hooves.
Plot Hooks:

• A pair of Rough riders have been crushed near the statue; is Mac defending something buried beneath him?
• Pirates from Moose Jaw are cutting pieces of Mac's hide-like shell to use as armor—now the statue’s eye is leaking molten tears.
• A druidic sect claims the moose is a sleeping god, and they intend to “wake him properly”—no matter the cost.

Muffler Man: Bob the Big Man

(based on the real-world Muffler Man in Briercrest)
Type: Roadside Attraction Turned Erratic Oracle
Vibe: Eccentric, quirky, and tinged with a menacing edge
Background: Standing tall on Route 716 in Briercrest, Bob the Big Man was once a discarded piece of auto salvage and roadside kitsch. Now reanimated by wild post-apocalyptic energies and forgotten magic, he emits a spectral glow and delivers cryptic omens to travelers. His bizarre and unsettling presence has transformed him into a local oracle whose ramblings hint at secrets buried in the ruins of the old world.
Plot Hooks:
• Bob’s muffler has started emitting strange harmonic vibrations many believe are messages from another realm.
• A gang of scavengers interprets his cryptic words as clues to a cache of pre-Hodgepocalypse technology.
• A mysterious stranger offers to decipher his ramblings—but demands a dangerous favor in return.

Sukanen’s Ship, Stuck in Saskatchewan

(Moose Jaw, SK)

Type: Landlocked Pirate Ark
Vibe: Rustpunk, hopeful, and slightly unhinged
Background: Once a prairie oddity built by a mad Finnish homesteader, Sukanen’s massive steel ship was never meant to sail the seas—it was built to sail home. In the post-fall world, the Boreal Buccaneers, a roving crew of inland pirates, have claimed it as their flagship. Anchored in dry prairie soil, the “S.S. Hope-It-Floats” is now a fortified pirate haven, a trading post, and a symbol of wanderlust. Its riveted hull is patched with scavenged starship plating and driftwood from forgotten forests. The crew claims the ship moves at night, inching ever westward.

Plot Hooks:

• The pirates are recruiting for their next “voyage”—a cross-prairie caravan meant to follow ancient riverbeds to find a new inland sea. They’ll need protection from raiders, mutiny, and maybe worse.
• A powerful relic in the engine room has started humming again, and the buccaneers want tech-minded adventurers to “make it fly.”
• A rival crew known as the River Rotskulls has issued a challenge: steal the wheel of Sukanen’s Ship or face salty consequences.

Wally the Woolly Mammoth

 

 (Kyle, SK)

Type: Dormant Bio-Artifact
Vibe: Prehistoric and radioactive
Background: Wally isn’t just a statue—he’s a bio-engineered colossus from the late Corporate Epoch, designed as both mascot and mobile biomass processor. Now fossilized and cracked with glowing veins of green ichor, Wally remains motionless outside Kyle, but strange energy pulses from within his belly every solstice. His tusks are considered sacred, and no one dares disturb them… yet.
Plot Hooks:

• A nearby community is slowly mutating, and they think Wally is the source—can the corruption be cleansed or is it sentient?
• A scavenger crew claims Wally contains a working bioreactor, but they haven’t returned.
• Someone stole one of Wally’s tusks, and now the land is cracking open to reclaim it.

#hodgepocalypse

#drevrpg

#dungeonsanddragons

#dnd5e

#apocalypse

#saskatchewan