The Necrosis Stretch

Do not pass this point, or your death will be certain and painful.
This is not a gauntlet to prove your worth, only your foolishness. Go back.
There is no glory nor honor to be obtained here. Stay away.
The danger this place presents will not fade with time. It is not one that can be bested. It is not one that can be understood. Turn away.
If you are reading this, you have only months left to live. Run in the direction from which you came with all haste if you do not wish for an even shorter time.
The danger is to the mind, the body, and the soul, and it will kill.
-A few of many warnings dotting the border of The Stretch

Extending across the equator of the entire planet is a strip of land and ocean a bit more than a mile thick where all logic, magic, and physics seem to break down.

Divergence

When reality breaks down in The Stretch, it is known as 'Divergence.' There is no unit of measurement for it, but there are loosely defined 'tiers' in which symptoms of certain areas can be determined with relative predictability. Although the Necrosis Stretch is only a bit over a mile wide, its effects are some distance away from its border.
Up to 50 miles away, people may experience an increased level of paranoia. Spells may exhibit unique aspects they wouldn't normally have. For example, fire magic may produce multi-colored flames, messages may be distorted, or enchantments may glow extraordinarily bright.
About 10 miles away, headaches are almost universally common, and a distinct feeling of discomfort overtakes most people.
About 1 mile away, people begin to feel a strong sense of dizziness and fear. Heat flashes and cold spots are a sign of approach and are feared among many crews. Things begin to feel lighter and heavier to some. Many ships' crews have become disoriented and accidentally sailed further in and met their doom.

The Turning Point

It is here that the full force of the stretch begins to rear its head. Past this point, spells tend to backfire spectacularly. Arcane communication, teleportation, and even simple lights fail. The more magic something is imbued with, the more divergence is encountered. From this point, leaving will not save you from the side effects.
5000ft from The Center - Those that pass the turning point, are significantly more likely to develop biological or mental disorders. From being extraordinarily susceptible to disease, to frequent hallucinations, to blindness, to psychotic self-obsession, to an extreme desire toward self-harm, the stretch has earned the fearful reputation it has.
3000ft from The Center - People will have their lifespans fractioned. Even the youthful do not live for more than a decade after leaving this zone. Spells begin to have grossly adverse effects to the intentions of the caster. For example, a cleric's healing magic may instead freeze a patient's flesh.
2500ft from The Center - People are not expected to live for more than 12-18 months after leaving this area. The hair, nails, and sometimes even teeth of explorers begin to fall out. In addition, extreme dizziness becomes prominent, amplified by loud noises with no source.
1000ft from The Center - If someone survives to this point, they tend to have some sort of epiphany. This may be an unknowable, unintelligible, complex, arcane formula that they will spend the rest of their short lives pondering; it may be as simple as: "I have made a mistake." As a result it has earned the misnomer: The Revelation Zone. Many lose their ability to speak.
500ft from The Center - An intense burning sensation takes hold; everything feels as though it is being boiled in oil. People have also expressed a desire to "take their skin off."
250ft from The Center - You are now bleeding from every orifice in your body. Your skin begins to simply slough off, exposing raw muscle and nerves to The Stretch. This can feel like pure ecstasy or make you wish for death.
100ft from The Center - The closer you get to the center, the more 'screwed up' the flow of time is. The changes are most prevalent after this point. A being may begin to age rapidly or even become younger. In the most extreme cases, a person may age into a corpse in a matter of seconds or even de-age into non-existence.

The Center

If they somehow haven't already, all things die; humans, elves, rats, plants, everything. No exception has been found.

History

The Necrosis Stretch has no credited discoverer. Nearly every culture that shares a border with it or sails the seas tells tales of its power and the terror it causes. In some cultures, it is feared and avoided at all costs, in others, it serves as a punishment for the most heinous crimes.

Myths

Above the equator of the planet are magnificent rings. These are thought to fuel the strange effects that the necrosis stretch exhibits. One legend is particularly gruesome. A sailor was forced to watch as a lifeboat drifted into the stretch with no way to get out. Shortly after its passengers perished, the sailor reported seeing their corpses float up into the sky, presumably to the rings. This account and others like it have solidified the belief that the rings are the realm of the dead, and that the rings themselves may be made up of the bodies of the past. - This is, of course, incorrect. Gravitic anomalies are common in the stretch, yes. But the rings are colossal. Even if every body of every dead thing in all of history made its way into the rings, it would account for less than a percentile of the ring's predicted mass.

Luckily, their 'barbarous punishment' for our 'barbarous crimes' is just to retrieve some elder's heirloom from a mile or two south. It looks like a desert. All of thee trees and grass just stop. The area seems lifeless, but I've been in rougher situations. Me and Ened both have. We will get that damned necklace, give it to the 'elders,' and then they will give us back our horses. From there, we can go get the gang to burn this town to the ground for ever crossing us. Those old shits will never see it coming.
"Damn, it's hot."
"Yeaaah, looks like Urunand may be coming early after all."

---

Ened tried to kill me. We have been in this together for 4 years. He just kept screaming at me about... the eyes in his hands.
Fuck this. I'll take my chances back in town.

---

I don't know how to get back. Everything looks different. I can't even see color anymore.
The air looks like it is glittering. No, it's raining. But there wasn't a cloud in the sky earlier... How is it flooding? I'm in a bloody desert, aren't I?
H̷̫͗̅o̶͎͌w̵̛͖̖͙͂͂ ̵̘̳̈̓ḁ̷̡͛̒̽m̷̭̓ ̴̨͚̩̊̃I̴̬̭̿ ̴̢͚̀d̵̪̐͂ṛ̴̏̾̓ö̴̪͖́͠w̶͕̳̒́ṅ̵͖̻̎͐͜ḭ̵̚n̵͈̾ǵ̵͎?̵̛̫͖́
-The Dying Thoughts of a Man Sentenced to Death by the Necrosis Stretch

Alternative Name(s)

Gremó Grer, Divine Punishment

Type

Natural Wonder