Once a lush, sprawling verdant forest, The Burned Woods were the heartland of the Solir civilization of Itela. The Solir, sun elves of unparalleled grace and mastery over Sun-Rifting, called this vast woodland home—not only living within grand cities woven into the trees but also hunting, harvesting, and tending to the land as the lifeblood of their empire. The towering golden-canopied oaks and radiant sunbloom groves were said to shimmer beneath the sun’s embrace, a testament to the Solir’s harmonious connection to the land.
Yet, this paradise faced the full wrath of The Sundering. In a moment of ultimate betrayal, Malekith turned against Avatar Lumina, Avatar of the Sun, within Itela—a city now known only as the City of Shadows. He tore the sun’s power from her, unleashing a catastrophic solar flare that burned with such intensity it charred the land itself. In the blink of an eye, the once-verdant expanse was scorched into ruin, its mighty trees reduced to blackened husks, and its glimmering rivers boiled into nothingness.
Now, The Burned Woods stand as a twisting labyrinth of ruin and despair. A blighted land of ashen bark and skeletal branches, it is a place where the dead whisper, and the air hangs thick with the weight of centuries-old sorrow. The Solir cities that once flourished beneath the trees are now mere ashen ruins, their stonework cracked and blackened by divine fire. The land itself has become a haven for all manner of horrors—from cruel night hags and lurking wraiths to the hollow remnants of Solir spirits, bound to their cursed homeland in eternal mourning.
The forest’s cursed nature is legendary, consuming the minds of those who dare to wander too deep. Countless adventurers, seeking forgotten Solir relics or lost knowledge, have entered the woods—only to vanish without a trace. Mad fables speak of shadows that whisper, of trees that move in the night, and of a relentless force that seeks to claim the living just as it claimed the Solir.
Though time has passed, The Burned Woods remain a wound upon the land, a testament to the devastation wrought by Malekith’s treachery. The few who dare approach speak of strange lights flickering within the depths of the blackened trees, phantom laughter carried on the wind, and the lingering, eerie warmth of a sun that has not touched this place in millennia.