The Crack o' the World
You sure that wasn't there before?
The Crack in the World is a massive series of canyons and chasms north of the Brackenthorn Ranges that marks the location in which the final battle of the Upheaval took place. Nominally a desert-wracked peninsula replete with petrified tree stumps and glarey salt-plains, the area was once home to deep forests and grasslands thought to be amongst the oldest growth in all of Arborea. Perhaps due to the natural puissance once concentrated within these old growth forests, Lolastre chose to conduct her complicated final rituals to usher in the Shadowfell from this location, harnessing the Unkept Roads between the Old Forest and her Cracked Palace in east-Arborea to lower the natural veil between the two realms. Accordingly, it was also the largest concentration of land and air forces during the Arborean War. While innumerable skirmishes continued over the following months, this final days-long battle was considered the final conflict of the War and, perhaps fittingly, has left it's permanent scar upon the realm. The massive upheaval of unbridled magical power released by Lolastre, seemingly in a pique of final revenge, destroyed the Old Forest, decimated the northern peninsula, open the titular Crack in the World, and killed the Autumn Queen herself. In all the tales, songs and poems that followed, perhaps none capture the loss of life between the two opposing sides with as much naked despair as X'ankris Ni-Celenist's 'Upon an Arborean Plain (Lolastre Wreakth Her Pain)' (original working title: 'I Left My Heart and Other Pieces in Arborea').Now that's just deliberately confusing
Related, and apparently definitely not a mis-pronunication, the northern town Crack O' the World sprung up in typical quick Arborean fashion, soon hosting upwards of one thousand souls only six months after the War's end. Perhaps befitting for a town perched on the edge of a chasm still heaving with magical energy and void-stuff a decade later, Crack O' the World is seen as a smuggler's haven, explorer's chalet, entrepreneur's playground, and farmer's hard-scrabble all in one. As the saying goes, 'you don't have to be mad to live in the Crack, but you'll definitely stand out if you ain't. Also, watch out for hyenas.' North of the Crack is the strangest lands in Arborea outside of the Void Islands. Obstensibly a desert wasteland with sand blowing through petrified stumps, the land is subject to titantic dust-storms, ruins that appear from no-where only to disappear in the next full moon, ghostly visages of unreasonably long caravans, and the occasional lush oasis full of things trying their damnest to eat you. The tales of the Crack are so inconsistent and unbelievable they have attracted a constant stream of fortune-seekers and adventurers who either believe every tall tale or seek to prove them all false. No matter the drive behind their motivation, those who venture into the northern peninsula have one thing in common - they believe fate has a role for them. Whether kind or cruel remains to be seen.t
"Look it's pretty simple. The Crack is the town built upon the Crack within the Crack. Listen to the differences as I say them: The Crack. The Crack, and The Crack. See? What? I think it's pretty obvious which one is which. Look, I can't help that you have the aural finesse of a warbling yellow-crested tree-saw being cut in half. Maybe ease up on that lightning maul of yours, eh? Not everything needs to be burnt from the inside out. Yes, gosh, I take that back, you're right. It was a stupid thing to say." - La'had Shadow-Consort teaching Bax Bigdong the finer points of geography, year 3EH, oral recollection
Type
Badlands
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