Ashen Island

The Ashen Island is the cracked and broken land that rises from the Scalding Sea to the base of Aqshy's Heart and is inhospitable beyond even the extremes of theScorched Plains. As the land closest to Aqshy’s Heart the land itself burns with the heat of the magma barely contained beneath the rock. The air here is thick with ash, smoke and the acrid stench of sulphur. Little sun breaks through the cloud of ash and so the land is wrapped in a state of perpetual darkness, lit only by the red glow of the lava and the towering volcano that contains it.

The earth here is dry and cracked, a toxic mix of sulphurous ash, baked dirt and the burnt remnants that is all that remains of the plants and animals that once lived there. Yet in some places still stand more obvious remains of life. Most common, yet most disturbing, are the eerie forests of burnt and petrified trees that loom out from amidst the flying ash and cloak of darkness. Of the few who dare to venture beneath the dark and sinister boughs of these forests even less return. And those who do bring with them chilling tales of watchers in the dark and a heart chilling terror without reason or seeming cause…

From the towering volcano rivers of burning lava flow, cutting the wide expanse of the island into three. These great rivers roar as they flow winding their way down to the sea carrying with them a wealth in metals and minerals that are crystalised and encased in rapidly cooling rock as lava meets water. Here the water is vaporised by the heat, and throws up clouds of thick, white mist and steam which blanket the area for sometimes several kilometres. Inside these clouds, sight is severely restricted and it is not uncommon to be able to see no further than a metre or two ahead.

Unsurprisingly, few creatures survive here, but some have found ways to eke out an existence in this land. Tuskux are amongst these few and often live in colonies on the shoreline, hidden in the thick mists where rivers of lava meet the Scalding Sea. Salamanders too, mighty Magmadroths and their diminutive cousins occasionally stray from their hunting grounds in the caves of Aqshy’s Heart to prowl the wastes.