The Gravelands is an undead-haunted wasteland, and all that remains of the once-proud crusader nation of Lastwall.
After the Shining Crusade defeated the Whispering Tyrant, Tar-Baphon and imprisoned him in his former capital of Gallowspire in 3827 AR, the victorious crusaders founded the nation of Lastwall. Knowing that they had not killed Tar-Baphon and gotten rid of him for good, they swore an oath to keep eternal watch over his prison and never let him threaten the Inner Sea region again. As the centuries passed, however, threats from Gallowspire became fewer and fewer and Lastwall's soldiers spent most of their time dealing with attacks from the aggressive orcs of Belkzen to the north. Their zeal and vigilance naturally began to decline as well, and the belief spread among them that their glory days were behind them. The Whispering Tyrant, meanwhile, continued to plan his escape in secret. He learned that the piece of the Shattered Shield of Arnisant that had embedded itself in his hand at the end of the Shining Crusade could be used as a terrible weapon. He sent his agents in the Whispering Way to collect the other remaining shards of the Shield, and placed them in key sites including Gallowspire and Vigil, the capital of Lastwall.
In the summer of 4719 AR, the Tyrant finished the development of the superweapon using the shards of the Shattered Shield of Arnisant and named it the Radiant Fire. As his agents in the Whispering Way conducted numerous crimes to destabilise Lastwall, he used the Radiant Fire to devastate its capital of Vigil and sent hordes of his undead to destroy Lastwall and its defenders.
Within a season, the nation of Lastwall was no more. Its last ruler, Watcher-Lord Ulthun II retreated to Absalom, while its most influential priest, Aylunna Varvatos, and recently arrived Magaambyan philanthropists are organizing daily evacuations by ship from the port of Vellumis. Lastwall had ceased to exist and the region is now called the Gravelands.