The Veratun Islands is an archipelago located between the continents of Odish and Shae'daqen. The islands are now mostly abandoned, having been the target of a devastating bioweapon during the Lithos War. Prior to the region's desolation, the island chain was home to the Ventii, a culture of proud warriors. Nowadays, the island is little more than a temporary rest stop for ships travelling between Odish and Shae'daqen, as none dare to venture beyond the shores.
History
The Veratun Islands were first discovered in the year 2E 510 of the Fractured Age. At the time of the islands' discovery, the Ventii had already inhabited the archipelago for some time. As the Ventii became more well-known around the globe, so too did their island home, and before long the Veratun Islands became a hub for sellswords and those looking to hire their services. This also provided a significant boon for the nearby Myrian Empire, who benefitted greatly from the increased amount of traffic on the islands.
The Calpierre Incident
The Veratun Islands were destroyed in the year 4E 327 of the Modern Age, during an event known as the Calpierre Incident. The Ventii, despite their earlier commitment to remain neutral during the Lithos Wars, had joined with the Sanumic Combine. Their first actions in the conflict was a raid on the Dragon Clans of Odish, with the Ventii capturing a sizeable portion of the territory of Clan Sozita. The other Dragon Clans would push the Ventii off of Odish, but simply removing them from their territory was not enough to quell their anger. Timpok Belchiar, the current Draconic High Lord, was reluctant to waste soldiers fighting a campaign on the island chain, and instead chose to utilize a powerful weapon their alchemists and artificers had developed. Known as the Calpierre, the device would release a gas that would slowly turn any who inhaled it to a hard stone-like substance, as if caught in the gaze of a basilisk. The substance victims were transformed into was not stable enough to maintain their forms, and would crumble to dust shortly after the transformation had concluded. The initial gas would only last in the air for a few hours, though it was capable of spreading to others through contact with the dust left behind by other victims, allowing it to spread over a much greater area than a simple gas-based weapon would allow.
The device was used against the Ventii, and within days, nearly all of the Ventii living on the archipelago were dead, as well as anyone else who may have been unfortunate enough to have been on the island when the weapon was used. Despite nearly all of the Ventii men of fighting age being elsewhere when the weapon was used, the complete decimation of their civilian population caused them to rush back home, only to be transformed themselves by the ashes of their fallen families.
When the Lithos Wars ended in 4E 352, the newly-formed United Coalition of Allied Nations declared the Veratun Islands to be a quarantine zone, and brought charges of genocide and crimes against nature against High Lord Belchiar, though the Dragon Clans would claim sovereignty over the issue and the charges were dropped.
