Burning Wastes

When ruin came to Tsen in 1491 I.R., the Barrier Hills to the west partially absorbed and deflected the shock waves south and east, spreading the devastation across a vast swath of territory now known as the Burning Wastes. The blast seared the land, though the impacts incrementally diminish based upon the distance from the epicenter in Tsen. The areas closest to the razed city suffer the greatest. Virtually nothing grows on the outskirts of Tsen. The soil is dry, mostly gravel and dust, and supports little in the way of either animal or plant life. What survives in these wastes tend to be mutated animals, carnivorous plants, and strange creatures that seemingly thrive in this arid and toxic environment. Even humanoids are a rare sight in this rugged terrain.
The Dead Lake is the only reputed and reliable water source within the Burning Wastes. Many of the buildings surrounding this body of water withstood the devastation. Nonetheless, they remain abandoned and are almost certainly haunted. However, some historians believe more buildings may lie beneath the waves. Debates rage about whether the lake predates the city’s founding, thus suggesting the presence of an older civilization in the region, or whether the lake is a byproduct of Tsen’s utter devastation. It seems likely that centuries of erosion took a terrible toll on any stone structure in the briny deep, yet some believe an expertly crafted building could endure prolonged exposure to water.

Type

Wasteland