Illumined Decay (il̠l̠ʉmiɳɖ d̼ekei)

The Illumined Decay is an enormous changepool in the elbow of the upper yeoren range. It is one of the most inhospitable places on Noirox, caught in the rain shadow of the mountains. The soil is badly polluted with corrupt magics and little grows there. This is not helped by being in the rain shadow of the upper yeoren range, which means that the area sees less than half a millimetre of rainfall every year.
The Decay takes its name from the ghost lights often seen floating across it at night. Nebulous clouds of glowing fog drift across the Decay, only easily visible at night when the sun doesn't overwhelm their light. Often appearing jellyfish-like, with long streamers trailing back down towards the ground, they have occasionally been seen to move as if alive.
The Decay is noticably lower than the surrounding territories, sitting at the bottom of a depression that some academics have posited is the crater that remains from a pre-shockwave detonation of immense scale. Others argue that the Decay exhibits few other traits associated with such craters - there is no ring of displaced material around the edge of the depression, and the soil shows none of the compression minerals expected in an impact or explosive crater of that size.
Finally, there is a clearly dwarven structure in the middle of the Decay that is visible from the top of Mt. Shuj (Sataran Mt. Cadal). If, as the crater-theory states, the Decay is the remains of some great detonation it seems likely that such a structure would have been flattened. The ruin has never been explored, and was only discovered during the 906 VE summiting of Mr. Shuj by the Shen Expedition.
Few expeditions have been launched into the Decay. It shares borders with both Visava and Satara, and it is a matter of record that it swallowed armies from both nations during the Nayavri Incident. The few who have returned speak of beautiful but deadly salt lakes that glimmer like ice under the burning sun, and sparkling, multi-hued springs where pure magic bubbles forth from the earth.

Type

Badlands