Helvetia

Helvetia is a town in the Forest region of Appalachia in 2102. It is currently inhabited by the Scorched.

Background
Settled by German and Swiss immigrants in 1869, Helvetia was a village of professionals and craftsmen, including musicians, cheesemakers, stonesmasons, doctors and teachers. It was established by the Grütliverein (Grütli Society) formed in Brooklyn, New York, who planned to establish a community of their own to maintain their customs and traditions, with the site chosen due to the low price of land and ready availability of materials; a function of it being near-total wilderness. With additional immigration from Switzerland and areas of the United States, Helvetia's population rose to 308 by 1875, specializing in crafts, arts and agriculture.

Helvetia never expanded beyond a village, maintaining its unique Swiss- and German-American culture, including art and holidays. Key among these was the Fasnacht celebration, on the last Saturday before Lent, when Helvetians celebrated the end of winter and the beginning of spring through burning an effigy of Old Man Winter, after a parade known in West Virginia for its extensive use of colorful and always unique masks. The small Helvetia found itself affected by the loss of workers due to the protests and the ongoing war with China, and the town invested in a fleet of Protectron robots to keep its traditions alive and reduce the workload. These proved quite useful and popular with tourists.

The nuclear war barely touched the village. However, the collapse of society pushed the town's peace to the breaking point, especially after a Horizon Airways jet crashed out of the sky and in the valley to the east. The cult of the Mothman seems to have turned the local church into a place of worship, but beyond that, Helvetia remained peaceful and safe over the years.

Masks
The town of Helvetia has had a fascination with making papier-mâché masks. Thirteen different masks can be acquired in-game, including a Fasnacht Man mask, an owl mask, jester mask and skull mask.

Layout

 * Helvetia is small and compact, bordered by the mountains on the north and the south, and straddling the Buckhannon River. The town was once a tourist destination and features German/Swiss themed buildings to showcase the town's heritage. There is a church, store/post office, bookstore, museum, Cheese Haus, The Honey Haus, Freyja's Haus Restaurant and a few other unmarked buildings. All buildings in Helvetia can be explored. The town is filled with the Scorched.
 * The two main roads are Pickens Road, entering Helvetia from the west and terminating in the east, over the river, at the Helvetia-Adolph Road passing through the town on a north-south axis. Helvetia also hosts the seasonal Fasnacht Day, released as part of Wild Appalachia. When active, Helvetia is decorated and the Master of Ceremonies floats about.
 * The northern side of the town includes the church in the west, with a chemistry station and a voting station on the first floor, Mothman's effigy in place of the altar, and a weapons workbench in the attic. Directly east of it is a small unmarked museum with a sleeping bag and a bookstore slightly to the north. The Cheese Haus and the locked Honey Haus lie in the east. Just by the road are the town hall with a banjo and a piano for those inclined to gain the Well Tuned bonus and the Welcome Haus (or hotel). On the other side of the road is the post office, with a locked safe behind the counter and a wooden maintenance and storage shed with a weapons workbench.
 * The eastern part of Helvetia, just over the river, contains Freyja's Restaurant, the stage where the Fasnacht seasonal event begins, a house and the school hause to the southeast.
 * The church has been converted into a Mothman shrine. The key to the post office is sitting on an interior desk and can be taken grabbed from a broken window.
 * The town has a good number of crafting stations:
 * Cooking station, in the Cheese Haus.
 * Chemistry station, just inside the entrance and on the top floor of the church.
 * Weapons workbench, upper floor of the church. A second one is in a small shack across from the vote counting station. A third one is behind a building south of the restaurant.
 * Water pump, beside the Cheese Haus.
 * There are machines called ballot printers scattered throughout the area, which are part of the quest Race for the Presidency.

Behind the scenes
Helvetia is an actual town in southern Randolph County, West Virginia. Both the game and real-life versions are nearly identical. One difference is Freyja's Haus Restaurant, based on the real-life The Hütte Restaurant in the same spot.

Bugs
An "immortal" level 1 Scorched can sometimes be found in the shop here. This scorched will, once you are detected, attack you without moving from the upper level, dealing unavoidable, invisible damage. The scorched will also be unkillable, regenerating health, and always retaining a minimum of one health.