Meinen Isthmus

Cracked and Fuming with Toxicity

Despite the smell and the neverending bursts of toxic gas, the Wastes are surprisingly lovely this time of the year.

— Karl

The Meinen Isthmus is a swath of land that stretches from lake Courage to Patience. The land there is cracked. The grass and shrubs all dead, with the exception a few sturdier plants. From these gaps, poisonous fumes burst every few minutes, making the land inhospitable for most creatures. Even when they aren't bursting fumes, the lingering gas can still kill or debilitate.

Impassable Wastes

Every so often, the ground near some of the seemingly endless cracks will begin to rumble and roar. Around a few seconds up to a minute later, a burst of reddish-brown gas will erupt from the gaps. After the burst, the gas will quickly settle in low-lying areas. These clouds themselves are seemingly odourless, but the holes from which they come are repulsive. Those curious or foolish enough to travel to the isthmus have described it as the smell of a thousand rotting bodies, all covered in fermented rotting fish.

Despite all that is wrong with the area, travellers who are near the lakes occasionally gaze upon the isthmus from a distance. During the sunset, the whole area looks as if it were inside of a large bright red cloud. A few prominent painters have even visited the area to create masterpieces using the scene as a reference.

The Effects of the Gas

Potatoes by Marco Antonio Victorino

For centuries, physicians have been investigating the effects of the red gas. While most have made little progress, the efforts of a few unlawful practitioners have revealed several important symptoms. Test subjects have noted that after walking through a thin cloud, their skin became irritated. After breathing in the gas, they had trouble breathing, their heads were aching, they became dizzy. Being in the gas for more than a minute caused their skin to feel a cooling sensation at first, but soon followed the intense burn.

Those who have attempted to drink the water from the lakes have suffered from nausea and vomiting. The long-term health effects are still mostly unknown as most have died quickly. The only known sign that is known is that the victims will suffer from lung problems for the rest of their life. No advancements have been made in curing such problems.

Alternative Name(s)

The Wastes

Type

Isthmus

Contaminated Lakes

The Courage and Patience lakes have been contaminated by the poison. There are remains of abandoned and ruined settlements on the shores of these water sources, suggesting that the lakes had once been clean.
The lakes' fauna has miraculously adapted to the water over time, but most avoid the eating the fish. The locals claim that the poison remains within all life that it touches and that eating it will result in agonizing death.