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Aerial view of a compact village of flat-roofed houses and walled lanes on a dry golden slope dotted with oak scrub.

AKAM: Shadows of Zagros

World

Gelî Reş: a sealed valley in the Zagros mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan.

In-engine capture · development build · 15 Oct 2026

Chapter 01

The Zagros of Iraqi Kurdistan

The Zagros rise in long folded ridges of pale limestone, one behind another, with dry golden steppe between them. Oak grows in coppiced clumps on the lower slopes. Black poplars stand in rows along roads and field edges. Villages of flat-roofed stone and whitewashed houses climb the foothills in steps, each roof level with the doorways of the row above. In summer, families carry their beds up onto those roofs to sleep in the cool. AKAM is set here, in a valley that is on no map.

A long row of whitewashed village houses with timber shade frames on their flat roofs, at the foot of a slope dotted with oaks under a blue sky.
The lower row In-engine capture, development build, 15 Oct 2026.
Across flat earth roofs edged with timber beams: whitewashed walls, reed-roofed shade frames, a grain sack and bedding on a roof, and dry mountains in the distance.
On the roofs In-engine capture, development build, 15 Oct 2026.
Clear river water over a gravel bed beside a sandy bank with dry grass, a row of poplars and a pale limestone peak in the distance.

Chapter 02

Gelî Reş: the Black Gorge

Years ago a secret research site buried under the mountain failed during an experiment. A grey fog poured out of the gorge. Whole villages emptied overnight, and within 48 hours a military cordon sealed the valley. The cordon still stands, and the fog still returns.

In-engine capture · development build · 14 Oct 2026

Chapter 03

The cordon and Shar

Where the asphalt ends, a line of concrete teeth, wire and radiation signs runs across the valley floor. Officially, no one crosses it.

Beyond it lies Shar, the valley’s town. It had concrete apartment blocks, a covered bazaar, a school and a hospital, and family homes with walled courtyards and water tanks on the roofs. It has stood empty since the fog came. The road from the cordon now ends in cracked concrete, broken walls and dry grass growing through the street.

In the build today The road to Shar, the cordon and the ruined outskirts.

In development The town itself.

Chapter 04

The Tide

The fog comes back on a cycle. The people along the cordon call it the Tide. It always gives warning. The sky turns copper, the haze thickens, and the old civil-defense siren over Shar starts to wail. The birds stop singing. Radios fill with static. Then the surge front arrives: a grey-green wall that carries radiation, and a weight on the mind that no dosimeter measures. Anyone caught outside takes the dose. Concrete walls and a closed door are the difference.

In the build today The Tide cycle, the siren and shelters.

In development The valley changing after each Tide.

A weathered civil-defense siren on a metal pole above the corner of a flat roof, with oaks scattered across the dry hillside behind.
Above the village Between Tides, the siren stands silent over the village roofs on the oak slope. In-engine capture, development build, 15 Oct 2026.

After the Tide

The Shadows

Planned

The people of the vanished villages never left. When the Tide passes, dark human shapes stand in doorways and walk the roads, repeating their last moments. Some are only echoes. Some seem to be trying to say something.

Chapter 05

Akam and Jaffan

Akam is a mountain guide from a village just outside the cordon. He knows the goat trails, the caves and the old smugglers’ paths better than any soldier. Two years ago his younger brother Jaffan went into the valley with a group of scavengers and never came back. Since then, every time the Tide comes, Akam’s old handheld radio picks up Jaffan’s voice, calling his name from somewhere deep inside the valley.

Find a way into Shar. Search for Jaffan.

Small whitewashed flat-roofed houses with dark doorways scattered across a dry slope, with oak scrub on the hillside behind.
Outlying houses In-engine capture, development build, 15 Oct 2026.

Gelî Reş, Shar and every character and event in AKAM are fictional. The landscape, architecture and everyday life are drawn from the real Zagros of Iraqi Kurdistan, with respect for the people who live there.