Red Wastes

The Red Wastes is the common name for the badlands directly south of the Dead Road. This barren plane is distinct from the surrounding Itzaiyur Steppe in its complete lack of flora. As one approaches the wastes, the grass of the steppe quickly gives way to naked earth. This earth has a maroon color similar to dried blood. This earth is toxic, and no plants can grow in it. The streams that pass through the wastes on their way down from the Ularn mountains to the north and the Crags of Narlingol to the west become poisonous as they run along the corrupted earth. The only other source of water is a small lake near the center of the wastes known as the Iyana's Tears. This water is somehow unaffected by the poisonous soil of the region and is drinkable. Moreover, the water is unusually nutritious and hydrating, with one drink being enough to sustain a human for a full day. Consequently, the few travelers that pass through the wastes invariably stop at Iyana's Tears to resupply.
Legends hold that the reddish soil is the result of all the blood spilled in a great battle during the First Age. Whether this is true or merely folk history, spirits of woe and battle can indeed be found meandering about the region (the only entities of any kind commonly found in this dead land).

History

Korsamu Legend: According to the legend told by the priests of the Korsamu, the Red Wastes are the remains of a great battle between Maruthar. As the story goes, long ago, in the time before the Ordering of the World, two armies met in the verdant lands that would become the Wed Wastes. One army wore armor black as a moonless night. The other, pale as bleached bone. Both armies numbered in the millions. The black army was led by a demon who wished to burn the world to ashes, ending all life. The white army was led by a vampire who wished to reduce the people of the world to livestock so that she and her servants could feast on their blood freely for all eternity. When these baleful armies clashed, thousands died every second. So many perished that the earth was forever poisoned by their evil blood. When the battle was over. Only the maruthar Iyana remained among the living. There she stood, surrounded by a maelstrom of vengeful anath. Overcome by the loss of all that she knew and driven mad by the howling spirits, she fell to her knees and wept until her body had no more water and crumbled to dust. Thus end all who follow the profane ways of the First Age: in blood or in tears.
Legion Legend: Those who have learned the occult lore of the Legion may have heard a different story. According to this tale, the Red Wastes were the site of the greatest battle of the First Age: the battle of the Melesir Fields. This battle was the start of the great war that defined the next two eras. The battle was a response to the Pale Queen's descent into madness. The knowledge that her son, Valişar the Silver Prince, had had not one but two sons with her hated enemy, the Dragon Queen Katşetzekzalana, was too much for her, and she swore to kill both the children. Tarak, her devoted king, had until then stayed out of her petty squabbles with the Queen of Dragons, but this was clearly beyond the bounds of tolerance. No one could sit by while their grandchildren were murdered. Tarak tried to reason with his queen, to dissuade her from this awful path. She, as always, refused his advice and sent out her servants to seize the children. Tarak, realizing this was the end, wished her goodbye and left to defend the children himself. Much to his relief, he reached the children first, and bore them away to the north where they would be safe. Seeing her scheme thwarted by her own husband, the Pale Queen lost all reason and called her armies to take the children by force. Tarak and Valişar did the same. The battle that unfolded was beyond anything Koru had seen. So many died that the Melesir Fields were forever after barren and dead. In the battle Valişar was slain by his own mother, but his children survived thanks to the valor of Tarak and his legions. From that day on, Tarak became known as the Dark King, the Pale Queen's opposite in all ways.
Kåra Legend: In the White Circle, a different legend is told. They say that the war unfolded because of the machinations of the Queen of Dragons, who corrupted Tarak with the knowledge of Sorcery. Desperate to save her precious Koru from this depravity, the Queen turned her armies towards the The Shadowlands to stamp out this vile practice before any more souls were consumed. When the Dark King's armies met hers at the Melesir Fields, the sorcerous magics of the Legion leached the life from the land. There the queen saw Valişar, her beloved silver prince who fought valiantly under her banner, collapse when his soul was ripped from him by her husband with the help of his twisted makar. So it was that the Dark King truly became a demon, for only a true monster could slay his own son. Tarak's corruption complete, the war began in full, devastating Koru over the following millennia, all because of the perfidious whispers of Katşetzekzalana, the queen of lies and chaos.
Nobrakhi Legend: In the Haborian land of Nobrakh, they tell yet another story. They say that in the first Era of the First Age, the Pale Queen and the Dark King ruled the world together. In those days they hid in the Underworld while the sun was in the sky, for long ago they had shown Hanaq great disrespect and been marked as her enemies. But every evening they emerged to walk the surface and bring strife and misery wherever they wandered. And so it was for nights without number—the wicked pair following their debased whims without thought for the suffering it might bring others.
Every day, Hanaq heard the stories of the horrors that followed in the couple's wake and frowned. While they were beyond her reach in the lightless depths of the Underworld, she knew there must be a way to end their depredations. And so, our merciful, radiant goddess, Empress of the Heavens, called upon Tşurruksekun, the lord of the Underworld, and asked him for aid. But the lord of the dark places refused her, saying the troubles of the surface mattered little to him. And so we learn never to go to the darkness for succor. Next Hanaq called to Erúe and asked the stars to help, for they were charged with the night post in the heavens. However Erúe replied that it is the stars' duty merely watch. Hence we learn not to look to the stars for comfort. Finally, Hanaq called down to the mortal invokers, those greedy few with the audacity to seize the powers of creation for themselves. But the invokers believed their arts could keep themselves safe from the King and Queen, and saw no reason to risk a confrontation with maruthar of such power. So we learn not to look to mystics for aid, for they only care about their own knowledge.
Fittingly, it was these maruthar themselves who finally ended the horror. The great wyrm Katşetzekzalana—a maruthar of tremendous power who to the dragons was as a goddess—flew up to the Golden Gardens and offered her services. With Hanaq's blessings, the beast took human form and came to the Dark King when he was alone. She warned him that the Pale Queen had taken an elven lover and would soon replace him. In a rage the Dark King came at his wife with his naked blade held aloft. Seeing his fury, the Pale Queen hurled her spear at him, wounding him enough to allow her escape. Once she was safely away, she gathered those loyal to her and marshaled them for war. The Dark King, whose injuries had healed quickly owing to his infernal arts, also summoned his servants and formed a great army. Soon the two hosts met in open battle, and the melee was so terrible that the Melesir Fields were forever after bereft of life. In the end, both armies were annihilated by their own unholy magicks and their captains—the Dark King and the Pale Queen—fled the carnage to hide away in their respective strongholds, he in the Shadowlands and she in the White Woods. So it is that the wicked, in the end, are their own undoing.
And yet, despite their defeat, these vile creatures remain in the world, lurking in the forgotten places. So it is that we must be ever vigilant, for the servants of the maruthar are among us still—the white cat in the alley, the crow on the weather vane, the cultist feigning piety as he climbs the spire. These sinister agents of the unholy are searching for a weakness to exploit. A weakness that could bring about the return of their accursed masters.

Alternative Name(s)

Melesir Fields (Former Name)

Type

Badlands