Shifting Wastes
An endless sea of sand and stone
The Shifting Wastes is a vast and dangerous desert wilderness that lies south of Harad and north of the Enlightened Kingdom.
The Shifting Wastes
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Geography
The Shifting Wastes is a warm-climate desert, largely devoid of mountains, mesas, oases, or any other notable features that would facilitate navigation or trade through the Wastes. The desert has it's name from the fierce and frequent sandstorms that shift the dunes into new patterns, complicating navigation further. The most notable feature in the desert is the one shunned most, a great gorge known as the Dragon's Scar. The gorge reeks heavily of Shadow magics, not to speak anything of the denizens within...
It is known by those who live near the Wastes that many traditional magics are weakened within its expanse. As one travels deeper within the desert, their connection to magic slowly weakens, and begins to sap the strength of many casters within its boundaries. If one travels in deep enough, magic is nearly nullified; with magical items dis-empowered, the bonds between magical familiars are severed, and even the mightiest of casters struggle to conjure even the simplest of spells. Scholars suggest that the region may have never recovered from it's planar sundering following the departure of the Shadow centuries before, but no formal study has been conducted, especially with Harad's superstition of mages complicate any efforts to organize a team of magical scholars to investigate the area.
More alarming still, the Shifting Wastes grows in size with each passing year, threatening the southern edge of Harad and the northern edge of the Enlightened Kingdom. While the expansion is relatively slow, it is an existential threat to the small kingdom, which channels magic into the soil to stymie the march of the desert southwards. Harad, on the other hand, has traditionally pushed it's poor and slaves to the undesirable and barren southern regions of their nation, and seem to care little about its inevitable march north.
Numerous creatures and monsters make the region their home, including those bearing "Black Blood". Nomadic groups and traders will run the edge of the wastes, but few are so foolhardy to try to cross the desert itself.
History
Following the events of the Last of the Primordial Wars, the forces of the Heavens and the Primordials joined forces to attempt to drive the Shadow from Arda. Turning the tide against the Shadow's followers, the Shadow worshipers fled to Harad, and after concerted effort from the Heavens / Primordial forces, they were driven further south. Finding their situation increasingly perilous, the Shadow worshipers fled into the Shifting Wastes, never to be seen again. There is some evidence that the Shadow or its worshipers corrupted the local species with their black blood, but it is unknown to what ends. According to the peoples of the Enlightened Kingdom, it was here where the Shadow opened a gate to its extraplanar realm, Amumbra. According to legend, not all of the Shadow-worshipers followed the Shadow into his planar exile; these renegades went on to found the Enlightened Kingdom.
See Also
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