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Shattered Lands

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Shattered Lands © 2024 by Sydney Anderson is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International


Once a land of prosperity and magic, the four countries of Ilela shared in each other's wealth and enlightenment until calamity befell the land, generally referred to as the Shattering. A series of calamitous disasters turned the most prosperous, developed cities to nothing but dust and ruins, decimating the land. The heroes of old failed; a plague was released into the Northern mountains of Tragor, cultists in the Southern Province of Imea, deep within the jungle’s heart, summoned three Dukes of the Underworld with hordes of demons and devils under their control, and the greed of nobility in the Eastern Kingdom of Cadrin summoned dragons beyond counting who razed the land to ash and enslaved her peoples. The western deserts of Ezeth remain the last inhabitable part of the known world. It's a well-regarded mystery as to why Ezeth was the only area not to fall to ruin, to which no one has a concrete answer.

Before the Shattering, it was the least assuming next to the resplendent wealth and power of Tragor, Imea, and Cadrin. It was hard for their harsh lands to support such a surplus of crops as Cadrin and its once fertile lands, or the rich mining veins of Tragor in the mountains, or the exotic fruits, wealth, and magic of the jungles of Imea. Instead, Ezeth's harsh and unforgiving deserts were the home to criminals and exiles. Unwilling to deal with the worst of their criminals, the other countries sent their exiles and banished them to the unforgiving deserts of Ezeth, though many perished, some were able to make carve out a new life for themselves.

150 years after the Shattering, the last refugees and survivors of those once-great countries have settled into Ezeth, having nowhere else to go. The few that inhabited Ezeth, both native to that land and the outcast from the wealthy nations before have not taken well to the refugees, as tensions flare and violent clashes threaten what little remains. There are no glittering cities or courts of nobles any longer, but competing violent gangs, bands of scavengers and bandits, and ferocious, titanic sized beasts roam the Wastes, making travel between cities difficult. Even the magic that once flowed freely throughout the world has run dry and disappeared. For the current residents of Ezeth, it seems like all hope for a better world has been lost.


Forces beyond the ken of the common folk are in motion. From the obscurity of the barren sands of Ezeth, an amnesiac, a criminal, a pacifist, a patcher, and a gladiator will shape the future of lands torn asunder, and bring hope to those who have lost everything.

As the gladiator falls, and the patcher stays behind, a knight and a prospector join the Dust Devils onwards to Crookstone, taking with them a caravan of lost souls looking for a new life. After a city almost falls to devil control, the Dust Devils band together and inspire the people to rise up, freeing 18 souls kidnapped to be trafficked, convincing morally castrated knights to do more than stand idly by, and removing a general of one of the Dukes of Hell belonging to the Lady of Mercy. Bringing stability to a city shattered by class tensions is just the first step as their gaze turns to the East, towards the plague-ravaged mountains.

Created 1 year ago. Last modified 1 month ago