Xandaria

It wasn't always like this. There were many Eras that came before the Great war between the mightiest Mages of the world and the Gods who nurtured the growth of heroes that has come to be known as the Calamity, but this is not one of those Eras. This is the Era that came after the Calamity, known as the Era of the Black Sun. Xandaria is a hot, arid land covered with endless seas of dunes, lifeless salt flats, stony wastes, rocky badlands, thorny scrublands and worse. Temperatures routinely exceed 100 degrees F. (38C) by midmorning and can reach 130 degrees F. (55C) or more by late afternoon. The wind is like the blast of a furnace, offering no relief from the oppressive heat. Dust and sand borne on the breeze coat everything with a gritty yellow-orange silt.   Sand, rock, sun, burning heat, and undead - these are the only properties that Xandaria possesses in abundance. Water is scarce in the most populated regions of Xandaria, and those who control life-giving wells or springs jealously guard access to such riches. Arcane Magic is rare, Divine Magic even more so, and those who wield it are usually feared, assumed to be an agent of one of the Mage-Kings. Undead rise from the world below and roam the wastelands when darkness falls, attracted to the life energy emitted by the living.   Six City-States hold the majority of the remaining worlds population, each ruled by one of the Great and terrible Mage-Kings, long-lived tyrants who crush dissent with no mercy. Villages and settlements exist only in a few oases or verdant plains where they are in a life of constant battle for survival. During the day settlements deal with wild beasts, bandits, or savages who roam the wastes. During the nights, they pray the barriers powered by Soul Stones ( which are procured from the City-States through egregiously lopsided trade ) keep the undead at bay so that they don't become overrun, joining the hordes in undeath. For most people, life is a choice between struggling to survive in the blasted wilderness or forever trading their freedom for the relative safety of the oppressive city-states.   This is the world known as Xandaria. The world is savage. Arcane magic is heavily controlled by the tyrants. The gods are silent and have been for longer than any can remember. Fierce Monsters roam the world and that which you might have thought familiar isn't going to be at all what you can expect.   This is the world that we now inhabit. -Teachings of Liet, of the Black Stone Mountains