Washington

The overall setting for much of the action takes place in the Pacific Northwest. The really broad definition of things is that there's east of the Cascade Mountains, and west of the Cascade Mountains. It's basically two different worlds.

West of the Cascades

Clouds from the Pacific Ocean roll in over this area, and dump a lot of rain when they reach the mountains. On the Olympic Penninsula in Western Washington, there's even a rain forest at the bottom of the Olympic Mountains. It's this fun bit of geography that lends Seattle and its environs its reputation for rain. The main city that everyone knows, and has the strongest chance of coming up in the game, is Seattle. Other important cities include Tacoma (a grungier version of Seattle to the south, and home of a couple private universities), Olympia (the state capital), Bellevue and Redmond (think Microsoft), Bellingham (home of Western Washington University, up near the border), and Portland (in Oregon). There are also a lot of small islands called the San Juans that are largely unpopulated for good reason.

East of the Cascades

Once you get pat the mountains, it's a dry, scrubby desert. Down in Oregon you have neat little canyons and other fun geographical features. In Washington you have a whole lot of nothing. Limitless, rolling expanses of not a whole hell of a lot. Occasional patches of woods where water's plentiful, but otherwise it's barren. Even where the Columbia River cuts through here, it's just a big slice through rock, with some green down by the water. The big city out here, without venturing into Idaho, is Spokane. Spokane is pretty good sized, but not nearly as big as Seattle.

Twin Peaks

"Diane, I've just entered the town of Twin Peaks. Twelve miles south of the Canadian border, eight miles west of the state line."

-Dale Cooper

Twin Peaks, in terms of climate and terrain, is much more like Western Washington than Eastern Washington. The real reason is because they filmed the series in Western Washington. In game terms, it's just a weird little meteorological phenomenon. While it's a bit more forested up there (as some towns depend on logging for their income), Twin Peaks is far rainier than neighboring communities.

Twin Peaks, with's population of 5,120.1, is primarily a logging community, with most of the jobs being through Packard's Sawmill. It was previously owned by Andrew Packard, who died a few years back in a boating accident. It has since fallen to his young widow, Josie Packard, much to the changrin of Andrew Packard's sister, Catherine Martel.

The other form of income is through tourism. The Great Northern Hotel, with its scenic view of White Tail Falls is a common honeymoon retreat. There are numerous lakes and rivers to go fishing. The forests and mountains in the area provide a good deal of hiking opportunity.