The Basics
When the ‘God’s Teeth’ spell was cast it created the Basin by causing mountains to spring up from the earth in the blink of an eye. This had the effect of destroying the Nilroggi horde that was closing in on the terrified refugees, but it was not without cost. As the dust (literally) settled, the grim reports began filtering in. When the spell was cast, it opened a vast chasm in the south, which swallowed untold thousands of refugees who were attempting to join the main group.
To this day, the death toll remains unknown, but estimates are that the group of refugees making their way toward the main body numbered some twenty thousand souls.
The rift came to be known simply as The Crevasse of Sorrows, and the province that formed around it was called Widow’s Way.
Even now, centuries later, few venture near the dreaded Crevasse. No one has mapped or charted its depths, and no one knows what horrors may be waiting at its bottom. Of interest, even the Nilroggi, in all the times they have ventured forth from beneath the earth, tend to avoid this region. Not once in the history of the Basin has a Nilroggi attack come from the direction of the Crevasse. It is a mournful region that most regard as cursed.
At the conclusion of the Great War, the rift had sealed, but the fall of the Eye of Kaylaar caused a portion of the wound-- this vast scar in the earth--to reopen.
Thirty years ago, there were scattered reports of strange creatures emerging from the rift, and it was this news that prompted the inventor Lum to organize an expedition into the rift to explore it. Neither he, nor his fabulous machine were seen again.
His longtime friend Kwalish went searching for him, organizing an expedition with more than two-hundred men, and armed with his famous Apparatus. Sadly, Kwalish also vanished without a trace, and since then, few have dared to venture near the rift.
What secrets does it guard? None can say, but speculation is, of course, rampant. It is a region begging to be explored.
Political Situation
The province of Widow’s Way is part of the territory held by the Council of Seven. The province itself is sparsely populated and the Crevasse is considered cursed. Few go near it.
Prominent People & Places
Aside from the Crevasse itself, there’s only one point of interest in the region. Right at the edge, in a mostly forgotten portion of the province, there stands a ring of seven human statues, holding hands, with an eighth, a Witch, standing in the center of them. These were The Bearers. Those chosen from all over the Basin to bear the child with them to the Abbey. The child who would become the champion of J’honsa and give the people of the Basin their long sought—and some would argue, now squandered—redemption.
Frozen in unity for all eternity, they stand a patient vigil. It is a place of terrible silence and solemnity.
The circle of statues is quite near the Abbey of the Widow, which is unremarkable save for the fact that it was the place where J'honsa's Champion was revealed during the Great War. The nuns of the Abbey keep to themselves and maintain a silent vigil over the newly reopened crevasse.
Plot Threads
The Crevasse is fertile ground for exploration and if a base camp could be set up somewhere nearby (there are a few small villages close enough that they may be able to serve in that capacity), then an entire campaign could be crafted around exploring the Crevasse (including finding the bottom, which no one has ever done), and perhaps even discovering what befell Lum and Kwalish…
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