The Glow

Formed by the final cataclysmic magical attack of the Dragonscourge, the Glow is a bruise in the land, a scoured region of wild and untethered magical energy. A furrowed scar dug across the Midlands, the glow is ever-changing, the terrain shifting in slowly undulating patterns and shifting hues of blues, greens, and reds. Attempts to harness magic in the area run wild, uncontrollable, creating unpredictable effects - and may draw the attention of manifestations of raw magic, drawn to displays of power like sharks to blood.

Creation

The area that is now The Glow was once simply the southern reaches of the Empire. A land of gentle rolling hills draped in farmland, nestled against a bend in the Bloodpeak Mountains. The area supplied much of the grain that fed the Empire, and was generally a peaceful province. During the Dragonscourge the area was targeted by ranging bands of dragonkin and Sorcerers, both to deny the Imperial forces supplies and to forage for their own food. This ravaged the land and the population, even as the Imperial army struggled to defend their food supply.
This pillaging paled in comparison to what happened at the end of the war.
As the final, devastating attack in the war, the Dragons shattered one of the world's two moons and pulled a fragment towards the capital of the Empire. As the rock descended, it crashed through the southern stretch of the mountains, blasting a canyon through the peaks. The shockwave and debris from that impact blew across the hills and farms; the impact of the rock near the Imperial capital shattered the land further before the tidal wave rushed in from the sea, finishing off anything that was still standing or alive.
In the subsequent centuries, lingering magical energy from that attack seeped into the land. A creek trickled its way from the northeast (eventually growing into a proper river), but instead of clear water the river glowed a gentle purple color. The land of the new canyon became the color of a fresh bruise: purples, blues, reds, and yellows appearing in streaks and blotches across the earth. A haze of various colors hung in the sky with streaks of lightning appearing from out of the clouds, and none that entered could breathe the air for long. Even the land doesn't remain coherent - large chunks of stone will sometimes lift into the air, floating and spinning slowly across the sky, before settling again some miles away. The arcane residues of the meteor’s strike had created a region of entirely uncontrollable magical energy.

Today

The Glow, today, is as inhospitable as much of the rest of the former Imperial lands along the eastern coast of Lasair. The land is constantly shifting in slow rises and falls - hills lift up over the course of days or weeks, then drop down over the same time span. The soil and rock takes on strange hues, and the river continues flowing through this changing terrain, its course diverting but always finding its way to the sea in the west. As the magic begins to fade slightly during the flow to the sea, the land gives way to a stark desert - even without magic the Scar River is utter devoid of lifegiving nutrients and poisons all life on either side of the river.
Life, of a sort, still exists within the Glow. Manifestations of pure magic blink in and out of existence, seeking out other sources of arcane power to draw upon or even to merge with. The raw magic also has a tendency to raise bodies of fallen mortals: groups of dozens of glowing skeletons, the animated remains of Imperial farmers and solders, wander the wastes. Even a small species of Feline Predator stalks the Glow, hunting rodents and small elementals.
There even exists some small semblance of civilization within the Glow again: a small outpost on the edge of the wild magic area, named Elem'tor, has been built by enterprising sorts. The town provides supplies to adventurers making their way through the edges of the Glow attempting to reach Drake's Fall in the southern reaches of The Desolation, and even helps arrange protective escorts. The success of these expeditions are still extremely low, but there is no shortage of those willing to risk everything at the chance at fortune or power - whether in discovering ancient relics or by providing a sword arm to those doing the searching.