Cool Ranch

If there is a bright center to the Spiral, Cool Ranch is the realm it is farthest from. A stark, beautiful realm of rocky islands and seemingly endless skies, Cool Ranch is a land of desert, cactus, and tumbleweeds, a wild realm where civilization can be as fragile as a cool breeze. The proud Bison tribes and the nefarious Toads are the original natives of Cool Ranch - all of the frontier's other inhabitants came here from someplace else. The proud Stallions, distant cousins to the Unicorns of Valencia, came to Cool Ranch long ago and built missions and villages throughout the skyways, but their heyday is long over, and now only Santo Pollo remains. The most recent arrivals are the Chickens, Cranes, and other Fowl who came to Cool Ranch from parts unknown - they rarely talk about their homeland, describing it only as "Back East."

A steady stream of bold and enterprising Birds has come to Cool Ranch, hoping to make a new beginning or escape a troubled past. Their skill at industry rivals Marleybone's: the Birds brought locomotives, steam engines, and other modern devices with them. Life has been hard for the new settlers, however: many of the new boom towns soon went bust, and the great railroads now stand empty. But the honest ranchers and townsfolk keep working: there's gold in them there mesas, and there's good money to be made herding the sleepy Buffaloons. The steady demand for refined food and other niceties has nurtured a bustling mercantile trade for ship captains willing to sail that far.

Cool Ranch is a land of legendary figures: heroes like the Chicken Rangers, Wild Bill Peacock, and the masked hero El Toro, fighting lawlessness and standing up for the humble settlers; but the wild frontier has also fostered terrible outlaws like Libirdy Valence, El Guapo, and the dreaded Duck With No Name. Smugglers and pirates have always been drawn to Cool Ranch - far from everyplace, the dusty realm is an ideal place to hide. Indeed, Captain Barnabus Blood, one of the most infamous pirates in the history of the Spiral, is said to have built a hidden stronghold somewhere in Skull Island before his well-deserved end. Blood's treasure has never been found...