Magic Dead Zones

A magic dead zone is a place where there is no (or else very, very little) ambient magic. Any attempts to cast spells within the area will see the magic drained from the caster but the spell will fizzle out of existence, as if the magic itself was siphoned off by some external force. Magical artifacts will slowly lose potency as the power they hold leeches out of them. Enchanted arms and armor slowly lose those enchantments, their enchantments requiring a refresh once their wielder has left the zone.
Magical creatures are especially vulnerable in these areas, as the land itself will seemingly drain them of magic the longer they stay there. Pure elementals have been known to collapse into nothing due to lingering too long in one of these zones.
Dead zones are formed when the amount of magic used in a given area far exceeds said area's capacity to regenerate. Most often this is as a result of someone casting an extremely powerful spell that requires a lot of magic all at once, but in some cases it can simply be the result of too much magic use in an area that simply does not have a particularly deep "well." Dead zones created by the former tend to be obvious, as the sudden magic draw often kills off the surrounding environment. It can take centuries, if not thousands of years, for such a zone to recover as it undergoes the natural process of ecological succession.
Dead zones formed from more gradual magical drainage, however, are much more insidious as they don't necessarily experience a noticeable amount of ecological damage. The most obvious sign of a subtle dead zone tends to be the disappearance of magical flora from that particular area. Magical beings and creatures will also attempt to steer clear of subtle dead zones, even if they don't fully understand why. Despite this, subtle dead zones can take significantly less time to replenish themselves if the proper steps are taken. This typically involves either re-introducing extinct or otherwise displaced species back to the area, or allowing new species to replace missing parts of the local ecosystem. Anything that helps increase the local biodiversity seems to greatly help the recovery process. Magic-Starved Beasts are also believed to be a natural mechanism to restore magic to a previously drained area.

Type

Metaphysical