More than a thousand years ago, the Verdant Lands sprawled beyond the mountain range to the south out into the open plains of the Red Rock grasslands. The grasslands teamed with life; tribes, coastal cities and vicious marauders.
When Balfeus and the Magi opened the first spirit gates into the outer world, seeking new sources of magical power and a unique way to travel vast distances, they knew their arcane workings had gone terribly wrong.
The spirit gates began to leach life and natural magical energy from the earth and all living things. Most of the Magi struggled to close the gates before the disaster polluted everything. Their efforts were resisted by strange dark forces from beyond the gates and by a handful of corrupt Magi led by Kane the Betrayer.
The corruption of the gates has scarred the world forever. The south has become a desert wasteland. Most of the portals are now sites of twisted ruins. Magical items have become difficult to craft, but unique treasures can still be found in all corners of the world. Magic is still powerful in the world but it requires personal investment and a powerful spirit.
The Verdant Lands is now a highly contested region of fertile land; cultivated fields, vineyards, olive groves, meadows, forests and rolling hills. The peninsula is broken up into seven small countries that are split up again into counties controlled by major hill towns. Conflict and competition between countries and hill towns are common and often break out into acts of violence and subterfuge.
The lands between the hill towns are often wild and unguarded; a home for bandits, humanoid tribes and lone monsters. But, the wilds also contains many ancient ruins of civilizations past. Such ruins can be the source of great treasures as well as grave dangers.
Always to the south, the Red Wastes inexorably expand, draining the life from the borders of the Verdant Land. It is feared that one day the world will be a lifeless rock and then perhaps the inhabitants from beyond the spirit gates will invade.
In the Red Wastes, new cultures are forming, little known of by the population of the Verdant Land. Hardened races savagely cut out a means to survive upon the desert sands.
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