City

Ruffalo is a relatively small, but rather dangerous, town located in Ontario, Canada. Ruffalo relies on maintaining a massive dam on the turbulent North River. The dam supplies electricity to half the province, so the government maintains a permanent staff of highly paid power engineers and technicians.
It is dangerous for several reasons:

1. Natural disasters - floods, storms, fires.
2. Frequent disappearances of people - people sometimes disappear there, the city government explains this by criminals and natural disasters, but local residents sometimes associate these disappearances with something mystical.
   But despite all its shortcomings, people often flock here, attracted by things like:
3. Mysticism - people have always been interested in something that they cannot explain and these cases of disappearances are no exception.
4. Air – the air here is quite clean, even though many residents own cars. The city is swept by powerful winds from the Great Lakes, and millions of hectares of pine forest surround it, acting as a natural filter.
5. Nature - the landscapes here are truly breathtaking.
6. Stable government work, benefits and cheap electricity.
   And the downsides:
7. Forced isolation during disasters:
   Ruffalo is reached by only one major two-lane highway, cut through the rocks and forest. During storms or forest fires, the town is completely cut off from civilization.
8. A prison was built near the city.

1. The colossal hydroelectric power station and dam: the heart of the city and a source of cheap energy. The old villages flooded during its construction now rest at the bottom of the reservoir.
2. The Citadel: A granite city hall and police station with powerful sirens. During disasters, it can be converted into a self-powered rescue headquarters.
3. The Northern Trail Rescue Station: A hangar with all-terrain vehicles and search dogs. A logbook is kept here, where those going into the forest are required to register their identity by hand.
4. Black Dam Diner: The main gossip hub, where engineers and jailers peacefully sip coffee side by side. A walkie-talkie is always on, hissing on the corner table.
5. Laundry and Household Goods "Through the Smoke": A place where people wash clothes from soot and buy generators, canisters, flares and whistles
6. Abandoned pier "Old Alloy": An officially restricted area under a dam with a deadly current. The river sometimes washes here brand-new belongings of long-lost people.

Before the construction of the hydroelectric power station, the town was a small village near mines, and most of the residents were miners. But then, a series of cave-ins occurred in the mines, rendering them unusable. Five wealthy local families proposed to the state to build a hydroelectric power station here and help with financing, and the state agreed. These five families are considered the founders of the town. Some of them still live in the town halls.
List of founding families:
Live in the city - Mackenzie, Vogel, Vance.
They fled the city for some reason - Mendes, Apsher.

1. An old, intelligent wendigo lives in the forest. He transformed into one back when there were mines in the Canadian Shield and he and his friend were buried. In mythology, the Wendigo is a spirit of insatiable hunger and cannibalism, born when a person eats human flesh to survive. Cultists call it the Patriarch.
2. The Cult of Wendigo.
   The Wendigo promises people what they most lack in harsh Ruffalo: absolute safety from cataclysms, survival, and primal strength. When the first Wendigo still partially retained human form and came out to people (or secretly visited the village), it left its offspring in Ruffalo. The Wendigo blood was passed down from generation to generation as a latent, dormant gene. Only those who still carry this gene can become Wendigos. These are primarily the city's natives, but some tourists may also possess this mutation. If a random tourist is found to have this mutation, it means one of their ancestors once fled Ruffalo for the big world, trying to escape the curse. But the Wendigo blood never forgets its source. When such a person comes to the city for the beautiful scenery or mystical tales, the Patriarch and the cult immediately sense "one of their own" by their scent. These are kidnapped and forcibly converted. The cult's goal: to bring back the lost blood and turn them into Wendigos, so that the Patriarch can become stronger.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when ore was being actively mined in the granite cliffs of the Canadian Shield, Ruffalo was little more than a dingy mining town. Deep underground, a massive cave-in occurred. Two surviving miners were trapped in pitch darkness without food or water for weeks. In Canadian folklore, it is precisely at such moments, when sanity is lost to hunger, that the spirit of the Wendigo appears from the depths of the earth. One of the miners succumbed to madness, but instead of simply killing his comrade, something mystical occurred between them—possibly the first such exchange of flesh in history. The surviving miner was transformed. He gained immortality, eternal hunger, but—unlike ordinary wild monsters—he retained his human intelligence, human cunning, and the memory of his former self. Wendigos cannot eat normal human food and water, only raw meat and the blood of people and animals. They camouflage themselves well, simply vomiting everything out afterwards. Wendigos live among the city's people. When a person becomes a Wendigo, they become immortal, and their stats improve.
When not in Wendigo form, the Patriarch appears as a middle-aged man with grey hair and completely black irises.

He's a somber, taciturn man in his 30s, born in these parts. His ancestors also worked in the old mines of the Canadian Shield. He's been running the maximum-security prison for over a decade. Under his leadership, Black Rock operates like a perfect Swiss machine—no high-profile scandals, escapes, or inspections from Ottawa. He's considered a model civil servant, dedicated to the rigors of his work. Warren is one of the cult's most senior and devoted members. He underwent a flesh-swapping ritual with the Wendigo Patriarch many years ago. For him, the prison is the perfect front. It's Warren who decides which prisoners, with no relatives in the outside world, can be "written off" during the next forest fire or blizzard and given to the Patriarch to sate their hunger.

Professor of Biogeography at Ruffalo College.
He chairs the Department of Environmental Management at Ruffalo College. Due to frequent natural disasters, the city government regularly calls on Vance as its chief expert.
Vance is more than just an ordinary cultist. Thanks to his access to historical archives and anthropological findings, he is the cult's chief "theorist." He translates ancient texts, studies myths about the Patriarch, and scientifically substantiates the connection between cataclysms and the Wendigo's famine. Rational Madness: Unlike the fanatics, he believes in the Wendigo pragmatically. Warren Vance's brother.

The senior foreman of the Roads Department's (RDB) maintenance crew. He's the one who, as part of mobile crews, heads out to repair the Rock 11 Highway during the worst storms. He knows every inch of the roads, drainage tunnels, and forest clearings around Ruffalo. A tall, wiry man with a weathered face and the intense, heavy gaze of a local. He always smells of pine needles, fuel oil, and cold.
A native. He's a member of a cult and a wendigo. He's also part of James's group, which carries out abductions. He's Tom Mackenzie's half-brother.

A middle-aged man with black hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin. He is a shooting range instructor and hunter. A native of the area, he is a member of the cult, but lacks the required gene, making him human. He leads one of the cult's abduction groups. He is the father of Mira Denmar and the husband of Lily.

A respected 50-year-old engineer, a weathered man who remembers Ruffalo from before the dam reached full capacity. He's responsible for dam safety and regulating water releases during the spring floods. He wears a permanent dam work jacket and always smells of machine oil and strong tobacco. He's a direct descendant of one of the miners who survived the collapse. He underwent a flesh-swapping ritual in his youth. He's the one who uses the dam to benefit the Wendigo: orchestrating "routine" power outages to blind the prison's cameras, or opening the floodgates to flood the lowlands and hide the tracks of a hunt.

A gaunt, limping old man with a keen gaze who knows every resident by name, his shop is the heart of Ruffalo's supply chain. Ezra sells walkie-talkies, tunes frequencies, and knows which houses have malfunctioning generators. Ezra is the cult's chief appraiser. He is the first to contact tourists when they come to him to buy flares or whistles. With his ancient, half-blind gaze, he instantly identifies "wayward blood"—those tourists who have the mutation. He also secretly coordinates abductions via radio, transmitting vehicle coordinates to the cultists in the forest.

A stern woman in her 40s who rules the town with an iron fist. She's a local, drives a heavily armored pickup truck, is a skilled marksman, and personally takes to the highway during storms. Locals respect her, but out-of-towners fear her. Evelyn doesn't have the Wendigo mutation; she's an ordinary person devoted to the law. However, she's made a pact with Thomas Mackenzie: the cult leaves the native Ruffalo residents and prison staff alone, and she, in turn, skillfully closes missing tourists' cases, blaming them on natural disasters. She does this to protect the town from federal investigation and destruction.

A tall, blonde woman with gray eyes and pale skin, she's 45. She works at the city hospital and is a skilled surgeon. She's not from around here and came to town about 25 years ago, when she was 20. She's also a cult member, but she doesn't have the windigo gene and is a commoner. In the cult, she helps her husband with abductions.
James's wife and Mira's mother.

A brunette with gray eyes and tanned skin. She has poor eyesight, so she wears glasses. She attends the local college. She's lived here since childhood. Her parents and she are members of the cult, but they don't have the gene needed to become a wendigo—they're just ordinary people. She's the daughter of James and Lily.

Their symbol is the puma. They are known for their stubbornness and calm. They own their own, now unused, estate in the city center and a couple of other houses within the city limits. The family fled, terrified of the Wendigo curse. Unfortunately for them, the gene has been preserved in their blood better than any of the other founding families.

Their symbol is the Canadian beaver. The family was the wealthiest of the founders, but like the Upshers, they fled under the oppression of the Wendigo. They are known for their resourcefulness and cunning. Like the Upshers, the gene runs pure. They have unused estates throughout the city and a huge manor in the center, although it, too, is unused.

Their symbol is the grizzly bear. Their family is the most influential among the founders. It is numerous, and the wendigo blood of its descendants is only slightly less pure than that of the Apshers and Mendes. Members of this family are distinguished by their hard work, loyalty, and high intelligence. They have many small houses with large basements in the city.

Their symbol is the moose. Members of this family are distinguished by fanatical devotion and diligence. They are typical middle-class people: their income and Wendigo gene purity are average among families. They have not feared the curse and are loyal to the Wendigo. They own a mansion on the outskirts.

Their symbol is the bison. They are the smallest, but also the oldest family. Members of this family are known for their grumpiness, stinginess, and intelligence. Their blood is the weakest, and Wendigo descendants from this family can suffer from genetic diseases. They have their own mansion on the outskirts.

1. Checkpoint No. 1 "Grey Gate".
   A fortified checkpoint on the outskirts of town, beyond which begins a remote forest road leading to the federal prison. Barbed wire, floodlights, concrete blocks, and armed guards.
   The boundary between the civilian city and the grim world of the inmates. Once a week, a bus carrying new inmates and trucks carrying supplies from Ruffalo pass through this point.
2. Black Rock Penitentiary. A colossal complex, lost in the remote taiga 7 kilometers from the city, at the very foot of the granite cliffs of the Canadian Shield. About a third of Ruffalo's population are prison employees: guards, guards, administrators, psychologists, and doctors. Their high salaries and federal benefits are an important part of the city's prosperous economy. The prison is more designed for isolation than intimidation. There's a timed schedule and three hours of free time, whether it's walking in the yard or sitting in your cell, library, common room, TV room, or board games. The work there included tending to the greenery, sewing bags, repairing equipment, maintaining greenhouses, and working with documents. There's an excellent cafeteria and common room with a TV, board games, and a library. The courtyard is also large, with a sports field. In winter, hockey competitions are held among prisoners and guards.

The Ruffalo Hydroelectric Dam is a monumental structure that not only gives life to the city but also largely controls its rhythm. It's a colossal concrete barrier that holds back the fury of the northern river, simultaneously attracting both admiring and terrified glances. The dam is a colossal wall, as tall as a 30-story building, sandwiched between two granite cliffs of the Canadian Shield. A service road runs along its crest. At night, the dam is brightly illuminated by a chain of powerful floodlights, which from a distance appear like a glowing corona amid the dark taiga. The turbine hall houses gigantic turbines. Their rotation sends a barely perceptible, low-frequency vibration throughout Ruffalo. Locals have become so accustomed to it that they've stopped noticing it.

Due to the disasters, mobile phone service and internet access in Ruffalo are constantly disrupted. Locals have relied on old radios (walkie-talkies), and every home has a diesel generator in case another storm knocks out the power lines.
Houses are built with shutters on the windows (to protect against storm winds) and fireproof materials. Roofs are often peaked to prevent the accumulation of tons of wet snow, which could cause roof collapse.
In the lowlands by the river, houses stand on high piles made of concrete or thick larch timber. In the spring, when the hydroelectric power station releases water, the ground floors or courtyards are flooded, and people move between houses by boat or across suspension bridges.
Every home has a fortified basement. But in Ruffalo, it's more than just a storage area for canned goods. It's equipped with a shelter: sleeping quarters, a supply of canned goods, water filters, and independent ventilation in case the city is blanketed by smoke from a wildfire.
Light-duty city cars are useless here. Everyone drives heavy-duty pickup trucks or SUVs with winches, snorkels (exhaust pipes for fording water), and powerful headlights.
When a thick lake fog descends on the city, life comes to a standstill. Schools close, stores lower their shutters. Locals lock themselves in their homes, check their radios, and turn on generators. Only tourists venture out into the fog—and it's often they who later end up on missing persons lists.
Huge warning lights have been installed on the hydroelectric power station tower and near the city hall building. Green means all is calm. Yellow means a storm warning or flood threat (time to start generators). Red means the city is cut off from the outside world.
Regular matches and lighters become damp during floods and storms. Locals uniformly carry tactical firestarters and signal flares. A flare provides light in the fog, protection from wild animals, and a way to signal a rescue helicopter. Every resident carries a firearm due to the prison's proximity.

The religious life of Ruffalo is the most important element of the social and psychological climate of the city. Here, faith serves as both a shield against depression in isolation and an ideal screen for secret cult rituals.
The Last Frontier ChurchThis is the city's dominant official religious community, a hardline offshoot of northern Protestantism.Architecture: The church is built in the style of taiga utilitarianism, a massive building of dark gray granite and centuries-old logs with a sharp, tall bell tower. At the top of the spire, instead of the classic crucifix, there is a simple, angular steel cross, which from a distance resembles one of the high-voltage towers of the hydroelectric power plant.Ideology and pastor: The congregation is headed by an elderly pastor Thomas Kingsley, a stern man with a penetrating look. His sermons are gloomy, in the spirit of the Old Testament. He teaches that "Ruffalo is humanity's outpost on the edge of primordial chaos" and that the hydroelectric power plant is "a divine instrument that brings light into the darkness." In his church, discipline, hard work, humility before nature and absolute obedience to order are valued. Almost all the old-timers and the city administration sit on these benches on Sundays.

Underground "Prayer Groups" and the Wendigo CultAs the Church of the Last Frontier has an atmosphere of strict control and dogmatism, those residents who break down under the pressure of "Rumble" (depression from the noise of the dam) or fear of extinction are looking for alternative solace. This is an ideal field for cult recruitment.A Trap for the Desperate: High-ranking cultists from among the HEP intelligentsia or college faculty organize closed, informal "psychological mutual aid groups" or home-based Scripture study circles.Faith Distortion: In these groups, Christian canons are gradually replaced for people suffering from loneliness. They are taught that the true power of this land does not belong to a distant God, but to the ancient, tangible Spirit of the Forest, who demands respect and... victims. Thus, ordinary, frightened residents, without noticing it, become neophytes of the Wendigo cult, finding in it a surrogate for "real brotherhood".

Sound insulation: All houses in Ruffalo are built with triple glazing and enhanced sound insulation of the walls. Not only to keep warm in winter, but also to drown out the roar of the dam. When a person comes home from the street and closes a heavy door, an absolute, ringing silence falls on him. This abrupt change in the sound background often causes slight nausea and panic attacks in visitors.
Due to the rocky soil, in which it is impossible to bury pipes, the city is entangled in a network of above-ground heating mains. Huge silver boxes on concrete supports stretch along the roads and over intersections, forming a kind of "arches". Local residents use these overpasses as landmarks in severe snowstorms.
Canadian Chalet Taiga (Residential Sector)The area where power engineers, technicians and their families live looks contrastingly cozy, but as practical as possible. Roofs have an extremely sharp angle of inclination - this is necessary so that multi-ton layers of wet Canadian snow slide down by themselves without breaking through the roof. Garages are most often integrated directly into the house and have access to a heated path. In Ruffalo, an open view is appreciated: everyone wants to see what is happening on the neighbor's plot and whether a large predator is sneaking out of the forest.

In the center, there's high-quality asphalt heated by cheap hydroelectric power, melting snow and ice. On the outskirts, there's broken dirt road and gravel, which gets washed away with every flood.
The two-lane Skala-11 highway is the city's only artery to the outside world. It's literally carved out of the granite cliffs. Due to frequent landslides and fallen trees, massive steel mesh and concrete barriers have been installed along the highway.
The "Concrete Belt" (Industrial Ring Road): a network of roads surrounding the hydroelectric power station and the prison. The road surface is made of heavy-duty concrete slabs to withstand heavy trucks, transformers, and prison vans.

Ice Dam ArenaThe city's main social hub during the winter months. A huge ice palace built on a subsidy from the hydroelectric power plant.Hockey madness: The local semi-professional team "Ruffalo Turbines", consisting mainly of strong hydroelectric technicians and prison guards, is the object of adoration throughout the city. Matches against teams from neighboring northern districts gather full stands. This is a place where residents legally throw out all the stress and aggression accumulated from isolation. After matches in the bar at the arena, there are often massive, but good-natured fights.Curling and figure skating: For a calmer audience. The wives of power engineers and the administrative staff of the city gather here.
The Sluice Gate Sports Bar and NightlifeThe city's main drinking establishment, located near the administrative sector of the hydroelectric power plant.Atmosphere: A spacious wood-concrete building with huge screens where sports channels are played. It is always noisy here, beer flows like a river, and the prices are very reasonable due to the fact that the owner of the institution is the former chief engineer of the dam.Contingent: On Friday evening, you can meet absolutely everyone here: from electricians tired after a shift to patrol policemen. This is an ideal location for collecting rumors. It is here, over the third pint of ale, that tales of "strange lights in the swamps" and "black wolves" are born.
Snowmobile and ATV racing: In winter, the taiga is covered with a network of spontaneous trails. Residents arrange drives along the frozen tributaries of the river and glades. In summer, they are replaced by heavy ATVs and lifted pickups (off-road). This is a dangerous entertainment: an inexperienced racer can easily fly into a ravine or stall in the wilderness, becoming the prey of wild animals... or someone else.

Shooting Club and Hunting Brotherhood. Almost every family has a weapon, and the ability to shoot accurately is a reason to be proud.Taiga Shooting Range: A huge open training ground on the outskirts of the city, cut down right in the coniferous forest. On weekends, competitions in practical shooting and clay pigeon shooting are held here.Seasonal hunting: The most popular type of recreation among old-timers. Men go deep into the forest for a few days for deer or ducks. For the Wendigo cult, this is the perfect cover: if a group of armed men go to a distant cordon for a weekend, no one in town will ask questions. They just "went after the bear".

Since the usual terrestrial TV signal from Toronto or Ottawa does not make its way through the rocks and is jammed by the electromagnetic field of the hydroelectric power plant, the entire city is connected to a single wired cable network. It is fully controlled by the city administration and subsidized by the hydroelectric power plant.
The network includes the main Canadian channels (CBC, CTV), sports broadcasts (the whole city is a fan of hockey) and several American networks. However, the signal is delayed by a few minutes through the central control panel in the City Hall building. News filtering: If the province begins to report on a "strange series of disappearances in northern Ontario" or investigations by independent journalists about Ruffalo, the broadcast of this channel in the city may suddenly be "interrupted due to technical problems with the communication line along the highway." Instead of news, they play an old hockey match or a weather forecast.
Hunting & Fishing Show in Ontario: The most popular local show. An old huntsman tells how to set traps correctly and behave when meeting a bear. Wendigo cultists can use this show to convey hidden signals: for example, a detailed story about which sector of the forest "now there is a lot of animal and hunters should not go there" actually means that the cult is clearing this square of witnesses.

Within a radius of five to seven kilometers from the dam, there is a barely noticeable low-frequency hum or static crack on the radio air. Sensitive equipment sometimes malfunctions, and analog radio stations have to be tuned more accurately. In the city itself, cellular communication works perfectly. The government has installed powerful towers that provide residents with high-speed Internet. But this network is strictly limited to the city limits. Drive three kilometers away from Ruffalo on a single highway or go deep into the forest, and the signal scale on the phone instantly drops to zero. The city lives on a digital island.
Since phones are useless in the woods, a walkie-talkie is a must-have accessory for any Ruffalo resident. Without it, leaving the house is considered stupid. The air is divided into strictly fixed frequencies:Channel 16 (Citywide / Emergency): It is forbidden to just chat on this frequency. Everyone listens to her: the police, rangers, power engineers and ordinary residents in cars. If someone gets stuck on the highway in a snowstorm or breaks his leg in the forest, he shouts on Channel 16.Channel of Technicians of the Hydroelectric Power Plant: Operating frequency of power engineers. Usually, they discuss the load on the turbines and scheduled repairs. But during the emergency, it is from there that the city learns the first alarming news.Frequency of the Prison Guard: Encrypted digital channel. Ordinary walkie-talkies of local residents hear only digital grinding at this frequency. The guards jealously guard their negotiations, especially when they comb the forest in search of escaped prisoners.
The main communication cable is laid on poles along the same single two-lane route. During wildfires or hurricanes, trees fall on wires, and Ruffalo is instantly plunged into a complete information vacuum. At this point, the city cannot call in police reinforcements or additional rescue helicopters from Toronto.
Expensive satellite communication dishes are installed on the roof of the North Dame Hospital and on the administrative building of the hydroelectric power plant. They always work, but their bandwidth is limited. Ordinary citizens are denied access to them.

Ruffalo City Hospital has a first-class trauma and frostbite department (due to the nature of hydroelectric power plants, sawmills, and winter blizzards). However, there are almost no psychotherapists there – the state allocates a budget for them, but specialists do not take root here, as they quickly begin to suffer from depression and anxiety.
In ordinary cities, missing a person is a shock and national news. In Ruffalo, people have developed psychological defenses (denial) and people are reluctant to talk about it. North Dam HospitalThis is a three-story building made of monolithic concrete with a powerful helipad on the roof.State-of-the-art traumatology: As the hydroelectric power plant is a high-risk facility and sawmills are surrounded by sawmills, the hospital is equipped with the latest technology to treat severe occupational injuries, complex fractures, frostbite and barotrauma. The best surgical tables and ventilators in the province were purchased here.Special unit of the "Prison Wing": On the first floor of the hospital there is an isolated compartment with bars on the windows and armored doors. Seriously ill or crippled prisoners from a nearby prison are brought here under escort. Local doctors are obliged to treat them, which creates constant tension: in the corridors of the hospital, ordinary interns regularly encounter armed guards and dangerous criminals.
The Ontario government regularly provides huge grants and high salaries for full-time psychologists and psychiatrists to help the staff of hydroelectric power plants and prisons cope with stress. However, this office is almost always empty:Visiting specialists from Toronto or Vancouver quit and leave on the only highway after 2-3 months.They cannot stand the "atmosphere of Ruffalo": isolation, the endless hum of the dam and, most importantly, the specific subconscious fear that can be seen in the stories of patients.

Funeral home "Eternal Rest" and the specifics of burialIn the harsh North, even death is subject to the laws of nature and hydroelectric power plants.The problem of frozen ground: From November to April, the ground in the taiga freezes for several meters. Classical burial during this period is impossible. Because of this, a huge underground freeze-drying morgue-refrigerator was built at the city hospital and funeral home, where bodies are waiting for spring thawing. Brotherhood of Spring Graves": In May, when the ground thaws, a mass funeral day is held in Ruffalo - everyone who died during the winter is buried. It is a dark but important cultural event. The whole city gathers in a hilly cemetery at the edge of the forest.Ban on open coffins outside the city: Due to the abundance of predators (bears and wolves), the city cemetery is surrounded by a massive three-meter fence made of metal mesh, going deep underground (so that the animals do not dig up the graves). The local dead are often cremated - this is considered the safest way to protect the remains of loved ones from forest desecration.

Almost all shops, car services, bars and hairdressers are owned by local families or the same employees of the hydroelectric power plant (as a family contract). The salary received from the state at the power plant is immediately spent at the local hardware store or family café. Due to this, the economy of Ruffalo is autonomous and does not depend on crises in the rest of Canada.
Instead of huge corporate hypermarkets, there are large regional franchises or one or two large independent supply centers that replace everything from selling groceries to fishing tackle and chainsaws.
Stores buy goods in huge wholesale batches, not small trucks every day. The basements and extensions of each store in Ruffalo are often larger in area than the trading floor itself. Residents have adopted this habit: each house has a spacious freezer and a neat rack with household chemicals and canned food.
Because hydropower is critical to the province of Ontario, the Canadian government is using powerful financial leverage to keep professionals off the beaten path.
Due to the fact that there is only one highway leading out of the city, residents are physically unable to spend money in Toronto or Ottawa every week. All earned funds are accumulated within Ruffalo. This generates high margins for local businesses - from car services to hairdressers. Money is constantly circulating between the same persons.
Prices in all stores are stable, but they include the so-called "road toll" - compensation for the risk that the truck will get stuck due to a landslide or forest fire. Local businesses factor these risks into the cost of goods in advance, so there is no inflation or price spikes during disasters.

In Ruffalo, the life insurance industry is abnormally developed. Due to the frequent disappearances of people, insurance companies are reluctant to go to this region, but the state subsidizes these policies for power engineers. The shadow economy of a cult is often tied to fraud with this money: if cultists need to "remove" a person, they can arrange his disappearance so that his family receives a huge payment, thereby buying the silence of relatives.
Promotions in Ruffalo are the main liquid commodity. Since there are a fixed number of jobs at hydropower plants, the career growth of one person always means the collapse of another. The cult actually trades in positions: they eliminate competitors or promote the right people, demanding in return not money, but loyalty and assistance in hiding the Wendigo's tracks.

December: Temperatures between -10°C and -22°C. The turbulent river at the hydroelectric power plant begins to be covered with ice at the edges, but at the dam itself, the water bubbles and floats due to the temperature difference. Heavy blizzards begin. The only highway is often covered with snow, utilities hardly have time to clean it.
January : The coldest month. The temperature drops to -25°C... -35°C (with the wind from the lakes it feels like -45°C). Extreme frosts are announced. The equipment of the hydroelectric power plant is operating at maximum capacity, power engineers are on duty around the clock to prevent icing of the locks. Wolf packs are approaching the prison fence and the outskirts of the city due to hunger. The risk of freezing to death in the forest in half an hour.
February: Temperature -15°C... -25°C. A month of the most powerful snowstorms and freezing rains. The wires are covered with a thick crust of ice and break. Due to the icing of the highway and the century-old spruces that fell on it, Ruffalo may be in forced isolation for a week.
March: About -2°C during the day, up to -12°C at night. The sun is shining brightly, but the winds from the lakes are still icy. On the highway there is the most dangerous black ice (an invisible crust of smooth ice on the asphalt), power engineers' cars and supply trucks often fly into a ditch.
April : Temperature +2°C... +10°C. Millions of tons of snow begin to melt rapidly in the taiga. The river turns into a roaring stream carrying huge ice floes. The dam operates in water discharge mode. Hungry black bears come out of hibernation, they are angry and look for food in the garbage dumps of the city.
May : Temperature +10°C... +18°C. The most dangerous spring month. Due to rains and melting forest snow, the river level rises to a critical level. The hydroelectric power plant is operating at the limit, the threat of a breakthrough or flooding of Ruffalo is announced. The route in some places of cut rocks can be blocked by a landslide or washed out by water.

June : Temperature +18°C... +25°C. The season of gnats begins - billions of midges and mosquitoes in the taiga make a hike in the forest without a special suit a torture. At this time, lovers of mysticism and beautiful views come to Ruffalo. The air becomes incredibly clean and healing due to coniferous vapors. Nights become very short ("twilight" lasts only a couple of hours).
July : Temperatures rise to +30°C... +33°C at high humidity. Powerful thunderstorms occur. Lightning strikes in the hydroelectric power plant (it is saved by lightning rods) and in dry moss in the forest. Forest fires begin.
August : Temperature +22°C... +28°C. Due to the collision of hot air from the land and cold air from the Great Lakes, squally winds arise. Local tornadoes can uproot hectares of forest. By the end of August, the nights become dark and cold.
September : Temperature +12°C... +17°C. Insanely beautiful landscapes — the taiga is painted in crimson and gold colors. Nature calms down. But moose begin the rutting period. Huge males lose their fear, go to the only track and attack cars, perceiving them as rivals. Thick, impenetrable morning fogs descend on the river.
October : Temperature +3°C... -5°C. Rains are replaced by wet snow. Birds fly south. Fogs become evening and night, visibility in the city drops to a couple of meters.
November : Temperature -3°C... -10°C. The ground freezes, the first permanent snow falls. The day is rapidly shortening, twilight comes by 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The river begins to cool down, there is thick steam above the water.

Predators are black bears, cougars, Canadian lynxes, wood wolves.
Large herbivores are moose and deer.
River and lakeside animals (Connected to hydroelectric power plants and dams) - Canadian beavers, otters and minks.
There are also a lot of birds.

Canada Day (July 1): The main summer holiday. The city is decorated with flags, a barbecue is held on the central square in front of the mayor's office for all residents, and in the evening a large-scale fireworks are launched over the reservoir. The holiday is financed by the hydroelectric power plant, so the illumination is always grandiose. At night, when the fireworks are blaring, no one pays attention to the strange sounds from the forest - this is the perfect time for the cult to hide the traces of their nightly rituals.
Thanksgiving Day (second Monday in October): The time when the first frosts and thick evening fogs descend in Ruffalo. The holiday is celebrated exclusively in the family circle. Traditional turkey is on the tables, but there is an unspoken rule among old-timers: the first piece of meat of a domestic animal or game is not eaten, but secretly taken out of the house and left on the border of the site. Officially, it is a "tribute to wildlife", unofficially it is an attempt to appease the forest spirits so that they do not come near the house during the long winter.
Halloween (October 31): In Ruffalo, this holiday feels frighteningly realistic. Young people dress up in costumes and go from house to house, but the police impose the strictest curfew: after 21:00, not a single child should be on the streets. The city is quiet. Hunters and patrolmen redouble their vigilance this night, since in the general atmosphere of mysticism and masks, it is easiest for members of the Wendigo cult to get lost among ordinary people.
First Reset Festival (April-May): The main spring festival that is not tied to a specific date. It begins spontaneously, when, due to melting snow, the river level rises and the hydroelectric power plant opens floodgates for the discharge of excess water. The roar of millions of tons of roaring foam is carried for kilometers. Residents gather on observation decks, arrange fairs and drink beer right on the street. It is a holiday of relief – a symbol that the harsh winter blockade and isolation are behind us, and the only highway to the south is safe again.

In a compact single-industry town like Ruffalo, public transportation is extremely utilitarian. Due to the harsh climate, abundant winter snow, and the fact that most energy workers own SUVs, there's no traditional, extensive bus network.
Municipal Route "Highway - Campus - Hydroelectric Power Plant." Ruffalo has only one official bus route, subsidized by the state and the power company. Transportation: Three massive, all-wheel-drive Thomas Built buses (similar to classic school buses, but repainted in the hydroelectric power plant's blue and white colors) operate throughout the city. They are equipped with heavy-duty suspension, winter tire chains, and powerful roof-mounted floodlights. Route: The bus runs every 30 minutes on a loop: Inbound Logistics Warehouse (Highway) - College of Technology - Residential Area - Hospital - Hydroelectric Power Plant Administration. College students and public sector employees receive free travel.

Political life in Ruffalo is completely subordinated to two main forces: strict federal-provincial control (since the hydroelectric power plant is a strategic energy facility for the entire province of Ontario) and local clan pragmatism. There is no place for classic party debates and rallies; The city's policy is utilitarian, closed and tied to security.
Triad of power (Who really runs the city)Officially, the city is ruled by the mayor, but in reality, all power is divided between three figures who are forced to constantly negotiate with each other:Mayor of the city: Most often, this is a compromise figure from the local old-timers. The mayor is responsible for civic infrastructure, schools, roads, and the distribution of budget subsidies. He is terrified of any emergencies (especially news about missing people), as his main goal is to show Toronto that everything is stable in the city so that funding does not stop. He is a technocrat with enormous powers. From the point of view of the province, the director of the hydroelectric power plant is more important than the mayor, because millions of houses in the south depend on his facility. If the director needs to close a street or impose a curfew due to a "threat to the safety of the dam," the mayor will do so without argument. It has its own staff of armed guards, heavy equipment and an independent budget. He keeps to himself, but his influence is enormous: the prison provides work and contracts for a good third of the city.

Politics is an ideal field for cult manipulation. Since money cannot buy power in the city (all positions are distributed under strict government contracts), the cult uses a system of promoting "their" people:High-ranking cult members among hydroelectric power engineers or prison officers secretly help young employees who have taken the oath to advance their careers.Through blackmail, cover-up of malfeasance, and the organization of "timely accidents" (when an undesirable official or honest policeman suddenly breaks his leg in the woods and retires), the cult gradually promotes its people to key positions in the mayor's office, the court, and the police. As a result, the city government of Ruffalo is paralyzed: they may not be monsters themselves, but they will obediently remain silent and look the other way.

Pine Crest High SchoolThere is only one school in the city, where children from grades 1 to 12 study. This is a two-story brick building with enhanced heating and closed covered passages between the buildings so that children do not go out into the cold in winter. In addition to the standard Canadian program, the school requires the subject "Fundamentals of Taiga Security". From the first grade, children are taught how not to freeze in the forest, how to help with frostbite, how to use a VHF walkie-talkie and what to do if a bear comes out to the school fence.
In such a relatively small, isolated single-industry town as Ruffalo, there is no full-fledged classical university (in the Canadian system, there would simply not be enough population for this). However, it is home to the Ruffalo Northern Technical College (RNTC), an institution of applied sciences that is fully funded by the Ontario Ministry of Energy and has undergraduate university status. This is a separate, purely practical student campus in the remote taiga. RNTC students are a special caste in the city. Strong, ambitious guys from all over Canada come here, attracted by huge government scholarships and the prospect of getting a well-paid job.
Students are the perfect target for the Wendigo cult. Young people, torn away from their families, locked in a harsh climate and experiencing tremendous stress from studying, easily break down psychologically.

Ruffalo does not have its own permanent full-fledged courthouse. Every two months, a district judge from Thunder Bay comes to the city along the only highway, accompanied by secretaries and lawyers.Court hearings in small cases (fights at the Gateway Bar, thefts, disputes over greenhouse contracts) take place right in the conference room of City Hall for one week. Serious crimes or prisoner cases from a nearby prison are immediately transferred to the south of the province.Cult Trail: The days of the judge's arrival are a time of fierce political games. If a cult needs to legally get rid of an objectionable person, they fabricate evidence for the arrival of the judge so that the person is guaranteed to be convicted and taken away along the highway to Toronto.

In Ruffalo, you will not find decorative lap dogs or cats roaming freely on the streets.Law of the chain and aviary: A dog in Ruffalo is either a formidable station guard (large huskies, malamutes, German shepherds) or a sniffer for the police and prison guards. A small dog on the street will be instantly dragged away by a cougar or picked up by a polar raven.Danger indicators: Locals keep dogs exclusively on heated verandas or in sturdy enclosures. Animals serve as the best signal: if in the middle of the night all the chain dogs on the outskirts of the city simultaneously fall silent and begin to whine in fright, huddling in the kennels, then something much more terrible than an ordinary wolf has approached the fence.