Godswrath Plateau

Popular legend among the human sailors who've seen this awful stretch of land is that the gods, in a fit of wrath against the demonic inhabitants of this plateau, smote it with a great radiant sword, leveling the large mountain previously there and destroying the scourge beneath. Both accounts are completely mistaken, but humans have shorter memories than the dwarves.
The dwarven word for this land roughly translates to 'calamity', though with a special emphasis. Six millennia ago, the twisted Hugjarr house launched an attack on all dwarves from this very location. The degenerate dwarves had built up a massive army armed with eldritch machines, and it took the combined might of all dwarves to drive them back. This plateau, located in the northern islands, had long been a rugged place to live with little arable soil and longer winters than most places in the world. When the dwarves pursued their foes to this land, the Hugjarr collapsed the entrances to their warrens, trapping themselves inside and preventing the dwarves from chasing them. Enraged, the dwarven military burned every flammable object they could find and sowed salt in the earth, hellbent on keeping the Hugjarr from recovery. Thousands of years later the plateau stands as a scar upon the world and a reminder of how tenacious an enemy dwarves may be.

Geography

The plateau has always been rather sizeable, with a diameter of a few hundred miles. The stark elevation change makes it difficult to approach on foot unless one knows the switchbacked trails to the top, and before their descent into madness, the Hugjarr performed all of their trade via skyship.
Though it once boasted tundra and a short but fruitful growing season, the dwarven army (and the Blackhearts in their place, even today) scoured the land of all life, going out of their way to prevent any living being from taking advantage of the soil. With no roots and turf holding it in place, the dried out soil blows back and forth between the lips of the plateau, piling up in large drifts and creating black sandstorms that rage across the expanse. No other settlements dot the island, except for the most desperate of pirates and raiders, so the soil storms impacts few others.
Temperatures range from blistering heat in the summer to the harshest winters on the planet come winter. The plateau is too elevated for much precipitation, though freezing soil storms can still sap the heat from those they gently bury.

Fauna & Flora

Due to the measures taken in its destruction, the plateau has little naturally occurring life, though the Blackhearts who scout the area constantly find small bands of undead roaming the wastes. The Hugjarr still live underneath the earth, subsisting on the gods know what, but the ins and outs of their underground ecology are unknown to anyone but themselves.

Natural Resources

Despite the destruction heaped upon it, the plateau has always served as a rich source of metals and minerals. Hugjarr built their mighty army from the plateau alone, though all dwarves have banned the use of plateau alloys in any construction, as the nature of Hugjarr's fall is still poorly understood. Plenty of destroyed war materiel is scattered across the plateau, as the Hugjarr made their last stand, and brave (or foolhardy) salvagers have occasionally made good money retrieving the old technology there.

Alternative Name(s)

Calamity (dwarven), the Scar

Type

Plateau