According to the Book:
North of the
Eldeen Reaches, life gradually seeps out of the earth. Lush forests fade to a broad tableland of dried soil and cracked rock. Further north, the elevation rises into the bleak chain of mountains known as the
Shadowcrags, then drops dramatically. The land beyond, a highland plateau, is broken into badlands, a network of canyons and mesas that forms a natural labyrinth leading out to a plain of blackened sand and volcanic glass. This is the Demon Wastes—the last remnants of the rakshasa civilization that ruled Khorvaire millions of years before the rise of goblinoids or humans. Amid ruins so old that they barely resemble the buildings they once were, fi endish creatures search for fresh blood while ancient forces watch from the shadows. In this realm of death and desolation, long-forgotten treasures and primeval secrets hide in the blasted wastes.
This ruined land’s history, as pieced together by scholars at the
University of Wynarn and elsewhere, is incomplete and sometimes full of contradictions, but it paints a picture that can help outsiders understand the forces still operating in the Demon Wastes. According to these sages, Eberron has known at least five distinct ages over the course of its existence. The Age of Dragons, the earliest age still remembered in the current era, was a time of amazing wonders that dwarf even the greatest arcane achievements of the common races. This was a time when the world was one and not split into above, below, and between. Some legends say that the planes were bound to the world during this period, pulled from distant locations and attached via magic of unbelievable power. This was the age of the progenitor wyrms, the first and greatest of all dragonkind. Of these powerful creatures, three stood above the rest—Siberys, Eberron, and Khyber. The legends conflict as to whether these three created the
The Draconic Prophecy or simply discovered it and set it in motion, but all agree that eventually Siberys and Khyber became embroiled in a death-struggle over it. The powers wielded by these progenitor wyrms rocked the very fabric of existence until the world lay ruined and dying. Only then did Eberron, last of the progenitor wyrms, intervene, shattering the Prophecy and using the energy thus released to separate the rivals and remake the world. In the end, the legends say, great Siberys, dismembered and dying, became the glowing ring that surrounds the world. Khyber, on the verge of victory when Eberron intervened, was sealed within the world. And Eberron took his place between the rivals, healing the desolate world by becoming one with it. The last conscious act of Siberys and Eberron was to create their descendants, filling the world between with dragons and other related species of dragonkind. This spell of creation didn’t stop with dragonkind, however. Eberron blossomed with all manner of living things. Khyber, not to be outdone, shaped dark life of his own from within the depths of Eberron’s imprisoning folds. The fiends were born, slowly seeping up through the cracks in the earth, rising with the molten eruptions of volcanic pits, and bubbling up from the depths of the sea.
As the newly remade world cooled, the descendants of the progenitor wyrms were primitive, almost mindless creatures. But the fiends, led by rakshasas, zakyas, and night hags, were cunning and vicious. It wasn’t long before the Age of Demons took hold of Eberron. This was a hellish period for the world, when fiends ruled the land. Eventually, the legends say, the dragons discovered the Prophecy and realized their power and heritage. They rose up against their fiendish overlords. After a long and terrible struggle, the dragons won the day but paid a great price. The couatls, allies and as much the children of the union of Eberron and Siberys as the dragons, sacrificed almost all of their number to send the greatest of the fiendish lords back to the depths of Khyber and bind them within the Dragon Below.
When the great war between the fiends and the dragons ended, the lesser fiends that had not been imprisoned or destroyed went into hiding. Many returned to the place from which their lords once ruled, the land called
Fah’lrrg in the Infernal tongue but now known simply as the Demon Wastes. Here, among the ruins of their shattered fortresses and the open pits to Khyber from which their lords once emerged (and within which they now lie imprisoned), the rakshasas formed a secret society called the
Lords of Dust, dedicated to one day releasing the lords of darkness and recapturing the hellish glory of the Age of Demons.
Today, there is little civilization in the harsh and infertile Demon Wastes. Rocky cliffs surrounded by deadly reefs make up the coastal regions, volcanic activity rumbles across the land, and fiendish creatures and deadly spirits roam the interior. Amid rivers of lava, bubbling pits of noxious stew, and barren wasteland, a few barbaric tribes of orcs and humans struggle to survive. These savage warriors avoid the rakshasa cities, fearing the power of the ancient forces that lurk in the crumbling ruins.
Industries:
The human barbarian tribes who eke out an existence in the desolate plains between the Demon Wastes’ forbidding coast and the twisting canyons of the Labyrinth have no interest in making contact with the rest of Khorvaire. Indeed, they work hard to keep the dragonmarked houses and other foreign powers from exploiting the resources of the land. The barbarians actively protect narstone and Eberron-dragonshard deposits that dot the landscape, as well as the relics of the ancient rakshasa civilization that can be found throughout the Demon Wastes. If an exported commodity of any kind exists in the Demon Wastes, it is deception and deceit. The Lords of Dust spread their fi endish schemes throughout Khorvaire, working in the shadows—sometimes for centuries on end—to promote chaos, destruction, and their own personal plans for power and conquest.
Life & Society:
Two distinct barbarian groups occupy the Demon Wastes. The Ghaash’kala clans inhabit the Labyrinth, while the Carrion Tribes wander the plains that lie to the west of the canyons.
The members of the Carrion Tribes are the more numerous of the barbarian hordes. Descended from Sarlonan refugees stranded in the Wastes more than a millennium and a half ago, the Carrion Tribes consist of vicious human savages who worship the malevolent spirits that haunt the Wastes. Over the centuries a handful of different tribes have emerged, each following a different rakshasa rajah. No matter which demon they pledge allegiance to, the Carrions are bloodthirsty nomads known to slaughter any strangers they come across—including members of other Carrion Tribes. While they worship the ancient fi ends, the Carrion Tribes also fear the rakshasa ruins and so avoid such locations. Occasionally a tribe attempts to break through to the Eldeen Reaches, which results in a brutal confl ict with the Ghaash’kala clans. The Carrion Tribes are extremely primitive and generally use hide armor and wooden or stone weapons, though a few may possess superior equipment scavenged from their victims. The Carrions practice ritual scarring and mutilation; each tribe uses distinctive techniques designed to give its warriors the features of fi ends.
Ghaash’kala roughly translates as “ghost guardians” in the Orc tongue. The Ghaash’kala barbarians believe they have a sacred duty to prevent evil from leaving the Demon Wastes. Primarily orcs mingled with a handful of humans and half-orcs, the Ghaash’kala clan members are fierce but not bloodthirsty by nature. They act to keep travelers from entering the Wastes, preferring to convince with words before drawing weapons. On the other hand, they consider anything that emerges from the Wastes—whether wild beasts, barbarians, or travelers returning from an expedition—to be hopelessly tainted, and they strike against such creatures without warning or mercy.
The Ghaash’kala clan members are more sophisticated than their counterparts in the Carrion Tribes; they do not possess metal armor or masterwork gear, but they use studded leather, metal swords, and bows. Clan warriors carry the brand of the binding fl ame; they believe that these brands help to protect them from demonic possession. Four Ghaash’kala clans are spread throughout the Labyrinth, where they share a common priesthood and have strong diplomatic ties to help them carry out their sacred mission.
