Epharan, the Ashen Expanse

Credits to Andrew Bishop (Andy) from Artstation for the awe-inspiring cover art!

Forming the borders between Gahelas and Akkerath, Epharan is a realm of ash storms and a blasted, volcanic -- but no longer active -- landscape. The region actually known as the Ashen Expanse is the swath of dead volcanoes and settled ash between the endless ash storms closer to Gahelas and the deadly heat closer to Akkerath. Here, long-inactive volcanoes reach high into a sky permanently choked by clouds of ash, which casts the long-cooled lava flows beneath in permanent shadows. Like the dunes of a desert, the winds of Epharan shift the ash of the plane around so often that the landscape is ever-changing, and whatever ruins or scars of the Reckoning the Ashen Expanse may bear are constantly moved and hidden. Who knows what secrets the shadowed and often scalding ashes of Epharan hide?

Inhabitants

Few creatures call Epharan their home. Natives of Gahelas and Akkerath are much more comfortable in their respective planes, and few extraplanar mortals or entities would crave a life in the Ashen Expanse; however, the very barren inhospitality that pushes away almost all creatures is the same aspect of Epharan that attracts a handful of others. Those creatures, mortal and otherwise, with the power to move between planes and the need to hide themselves or their secrets can find countless places in the wastes of the Ashen Expanse, and a handful of lairs -- sometimes guarded and sometimes not, at least not by any creatures -- have sprung up over the centuries, hidden away in the countless nooks and crannies Epharan has to offer.

Type

Dimensional plane