The Maw of Malrith
The Volcano Born of Chaos
When the Disciples of Chaos stormed through Herja, bringing ruin to the kingdoms that stood against them, the land itself rebelled against their presence. At the climax of their conquest, when the city of Gandoa fell and its people were slaughtered or enslaved, the skies darkened, the ground trembled, and a terrible force was unleashed. Whether it was the sheer magnitude of death, the chaotic energies bleeding into Deuslair, or the wrath of a forgotten power buried beneath the earth, something awakened.
From the heart of the land, a mountain of fire was born in an explosion that turned the world red. The Maw of Malrith, as it is now known, erupted with such force that the very fabric of reality seemed to waver. Ash and molten rock swallowed what remained of Gandoa, and the resulting shockwave shattered the landscape for miles, turning once fertile land into the Ashen Deserts. Even now, over half a century later, the volcano still roars, belching smoke and fire into the heavens, a constant reminder that the land itself was defiled beyond repair.
The Curse of Malrith
The Maw of Malrith is not a normal volcano. The Disciples claim it was a divine punishment, a manifestation of their god’s fury upon the world. Others whisper darker truths. Some believe that something was sealed beneath the land, a force so terrible that even the gods themselves sought to bury it. The eruption was not just a natural disaster, but an unsealing, a crack in the prison of something ancient, something forgotten.
Even now, strange shapes move within the smoke, and the rivers of lava that pour from the Maw glow with an eerie, unnatural light. There are rumors of creatures born from the molten rock, their forms twisted by the corruption of Chaos. Some say the Disciples venture into the heart of the volcano for their darkest rituals, seeking to commune with the entity they may have freed.
The Ashen Veil and the Firestorms
The Maw of Malrith’s eruption cast a perpetual haze over the Godless Lands, a choked sky of ash and ember. Though the eruption has long passed, the land never recovered. Firestorms occasionally sweep across the desert, igniting the very air with blazing winds. These storms are unpredictable and deadly, capable of reducing anything caught within them to cinders. Travelers in the region must navigate by instinct, as the blackened skies make even the brightest days feel like twilight.
The City of Gandoa: Buried Beneath Fire
At the base of the volcano, buried beneath layers of rock and molten ruin, lie the ruins of the last fortress of Gandoa, the first kingdom to fall to the Disciples. Some claim that the fortress still exists in part, entombed beneath the stone, and that within its forgotten halls, ancient relics remain untouched. The Disciples themselves avoid disturbing the ruins too much, though whether out of reverence or fear is unknown.
The Cult of the Black Pyre
Among the Disciples, a sect known as the Cult of the Black Pyre has made its home near the Maw. They believe the eruption was a baptism of fire, a trial by Chaos that only the worthy can endure. These zealots perform ritual burnings, offering both living sacrifices and their own bodies to the flames, believing that the heat will burn away weakness and transform them into something greater.
"The land remembers, even when the gods do not. Where once stood the proud spires of Gandoa, now yawns the Maw of Malrith, spewing forth its curses upon a world already steeped in ruin. Was it the wrath of a forgotten deity, or the screams of the earth itself, roused from slumber by the butchery of the Disciples? No bard can say for certain. But I know this—fire does not cleanse here. It only corrupts."
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