The Blazing Harvest

Just over two-hundred years ago, the Verdant Grasmark - known for its lush, green grasslands and vibrant, thriving forests - was suffering its third straight summer of drought. Dried and cracked creek beds cut through jaundiced, fallow fields. Foliage and livestock desiccated. Rivers trickled.
As summer turned to fall, the farmers and villagers still toughing it had little to look forward to. There were no crops. There was little food. Their brightest hope was for shorter days and cooler temperatures.
And that's when the flames came.
Where and how the flames ignited is a mystery. Some say it was a spark from a sleeping traveler's campfire. Some say it was a mythical conflict between man and beast. And others say it was divine retribution to the region for "abandoning the old ways."
They all say it doesn't much matter. The years of meteorological neglect had left the Verdant Grasmark a tinderbox. In a matter of days, the entire region was ablaze. Farms and villages were abandoned as refugees fled for the safety of the Gebondekrag Mountains or King's Bay. 
The King's Council was quick to act. Magical practitioners and Elemental Guardians were summoned to the front lines to contain the blaze. Coordinating their efforts a day's ride from King's Bay in what would become The Crossroads, their job was to contain the fire within the Grasmark and not one inch further.
And it worked. The fire was contained, quite literally, to the strict borders of the Grasmark as presented on a map. Flames licked up against walls of mystical energy for two solid weeks. The ten million acres burned so hot, for so long that there are records from the same time period in Eer Sadyr that refer to a "smoky haze from the southeast."
Eventually, the fire died out and the smoke ceased. Deep into fall, with winter approaching, The King's Council granted temporary asylum in the capital to those who fled the region and forbade anyone returning to the area until the safety of the region could be ascertained.
The Verdant Grasmark was re-opened for settlement in the Spring. Three years later. After a series of investigatory "safety probes" were sent into the region with increasingly rapid succession. And not all of whom came back.

Type

Metaphysical, Arcane