The Lands of Zhadya

Where is Zhadya?

Zhadya was lost hundreds and hundreds of years ago, sweetheart. But where the Alliance now stands, Zhadya once stood.

Really? Capran was once part of Zhadya?!

Haha, yes, indeed, darling. In fact, many say that the Mist Dragon's Lair lies deep below Capran's capital.

But... it doesn't. Does it?

There are old catacombs there, but it's long since collapsed.

— A Mother to her daughter

Lost to time and ruined by spell plagues and constant rift raids, what was once the region of Zhadya faded from the world, known only by stories, songs, and books that preserved its legacy.
It was a region that spanned what is now covered by the Alliance Kingdom as well as the western Dragon Spine range though stretching a bit lower than current borders on the southern side. The lands were once a hub of the arcane and are known by many to be where the mighty Dhirga hailed and operated before being called to the higher purpose.
During the Brink of Existence, it was Zhadya that sent its casters off along with able-bodied men to make safe the Knife's Edge and opened itself to becoming a waypoint of realm travel. During this time, it is said that the mages of the city perfected teleportation magics due to its location closest to the Void rift and would pave the way for armies to travel to battlefields in an instant.

The Zhadya of Myths

From the recollection of stories passed down through generations, Zhadya was once known as a place of glittering shattered gems, beautiful on the outside but truly broken and ready to fall apart with just a slight touch. The city was known for being a black city, corrupt nearly to its core with the sole reason of it standing due to the High Council being handpicked by the gods that had carved out the lands for the people.
According to legend, the region was once rough and scarred, hard for mortalkind to settle. Seeing as how some gods were not as powerful as others, a couple minor deities banded their powers together to create the region of Zhadya, forming its hills and tilling its earth until it could sustain the harvest needed for mortals to survive. However, their help didn't end there. As mortals began to settle, the deities safeguarded the borders of the land ensuring that some secrets that were buried deep within the ground and in the mountains were uncovered and aided the people's survival.
No one knows how many gods helped form the region, but it is said that many had a hand in leading it to carry such an array of power and why it became the region with the most temples in the known world.