Bleaklands

The Bleaklands is the wasteland that occupies much of the territory of the former Barony of Talador. In 5116, a magical catastrophe turned the entire land and barony of Talador into this wasteland of ashen earth and slate-hued skies where magic ebbs and flows, the climate ranges from hot to cold, and a variety of strange new abominations have festered where once civilization stood.

History

Talador was annihilated with the activation of a blood marble obelisk set off by Prelate Chaston Griffin during Eyes of the Dawn. This destruction was supposedly intended for Tamzyrr. It is suspected that the witch Raznel (Naimorai Kestrel), who was sent back in time by accident from a future where the Bleaklands had already happened, magically manipulated Chaston Griffin into destroying Talador instead. The Imperial Drakes shielded patches of Talador from destruction.

Properties

The Bleaklands was established to have some temporal anomalies by the Malvernus visit in 5118 Modern Era. This could originate ultimately in the blood properties of the ebon-swirled primal demon from the Southron Wastes, a primitive relative of the oculoth, whose blood was used to make the epochxin and presumably the blackblood curse fueling the obelisk. Bleak soil helped cure the time warped Larsya.

Bleakstone is a unique and rare material that can only be found in the Bleaklands.

Bleaklands and the Wizardwaste

In 5117 Modern Era the Grand Magister Dennet Kestrel of the Hall of Mages was in the possession of the Talon of Toullaire, a "siphon stone" artifact of chaos from the Ur-Daemon War of either Drake or Ur-Daemon origins. It was discovered decades earlier by a team of magisters in the Wizardwaste. Dennet Kestrel used the Talon in the Bleaklands because of its magical similarity to the chaotic Wizardwaste. His daughter Naimorai Kestrel was lost in the past due to temporal rifting under Melgorehn's Reach. She was confirmed by a vision from Jastev in 5118 Modern Era to have been trapped in Toullaire before its destruction with the glow of the Talon visible in a tower. It has been speculated Raznel manipulated her own creation, and this was reinforced when briefly possessing Larsya during her age reversal.

In 5118 Modern Era Praxopius Fortney, who would turn out to be a figure known as "The Alchemist" who was responsible for masked vigilantes calling themselves "Rone", was invited by Breshon Caulfield to help cure his sister Larsya from the epochxin blood curse inflicted on her by Raznel. This blood had been pivotal in curing the half-elven "blackblood" sickness which powered the blood marble obelisk as well as for making a tar-like weapon coating that was lethal to those with the Everblood. Praxopius discovered that soil from the Bleaklands is essentially blood, and he called it an "improved wasteland."

Bleaklands and the Shadow Realm

The Bleaklands bears a striking resemblance to the Shadow Realm of Althedeus, which is not coincidental given Raznel and Quinshon as well the origin of Larsya's curse (and other derivatives) in the blood of relatives of oculoth demons. By 5118 Modern Era during the Praxopius trip to acquire soil samples, which he used as an ingredient in the cure for Larsya as a substance of like origins, it was clear that the Bleaklands is bleeding into the Shadow Realm. There were now Shadow Realm creatures present as well as rifts in reality through which places in the Shadow Realm could be witnessed.

Praxopius confirmed that the Bleaklands is physically expanding. This had been previously implied in a vision from Jastev showing a possible future where the ruin of Wehnimer's Landing was in its own part of the Bleaklands. This visit was also accompanied by the returned presence of the bleakworm abomination, previously fled from in a Dennet expedition. There was a brief silent appearance by Quinshon. This is a property it shares with the Wizardwaste, which has been slowly expanding for centuries. The Wizardwaste warps life within it into twisted abominations, and has perpetual mana storms within it.

Bleakworld

It was discovered during exploration of Pylasar's memories or past using Melgorehn's Reach, which temporarily restored Pylasar's mind to some extent, that Raznel had abducted missing or dead figures from history throughout time to make "paragons". These were essentially horcruxes in pocket dimensions of time which preserved Raznel's physical form and prevented her from permanently dying. The paragons had the ability to project avatars of themselves, but were unaware of their true condition, and collapsed upon learning it. It was determined that Larsya had actually been a "paragon" made through other means. But whereas Larsya was cured before being fully transformed, the other paragons had to be destroyed. However, typical for Raznel planning the tying up of her own loose ends, the destruction of the paragons was a last step in her no longer needing them.

When the last paragon was destroyed in the Bleaklands, there was a large release of spores for spreading the Bleaklands throughout the world. Attempting to create a Bleakworld. (The blood consuming trees that had come from seeds provided by a Marluvian priest, whose blood fruit fed Walkar when he was in his cursed armor and survive in modified form in Goblyn's orchard, are also growing in the Bleaklands and were associated with spores.) Raznel intended for essentially everyone to become a paragon, and she would be physically frozen in time, but able to project herself and have control over the Bleakworld. By a stroke of luck, Pylasar thought to find her in the chamber where her parents had died under the Hendoran outpost, and she was killed without her paragons to keep her together. But during this event the Bleaklands were subject to severe temporal warps and there were many projections of people Raznel had taken blood from previously. With Raznel dead the Bleakworld process stopped, without its controller, and the bleak abomination stopped reaching out to the Landing. This suggests the Bleaklands no longer has a controller, but may still be expanding like the Wizardwaste.

Blight

The Blight was a separate phenomenon, related to the Bleaklands, that afflicts the Wehnimer's Landing region. It was introduced by Raznel through a bleakstone statue resembling Mayor Lylia, which was later taken by Vlashandra, and then taken and currently possessed by Octaven. The blight causes physical illness, crop failure, bloody Darkstone Bay, and even breaks the ground open with toxic gas, which causes violent possession of essentially the same kind as oculoths. The Blight also seems to have some degree of self-awareness. The Blight was suppressed by starving it of mana using mana fires at the bone pillars around the region, which had been created by Grishom Stone and were later modified for defensive purposes by Mayor Cruxophim and others. However, the Blight still exists, and it is believed Octaven wishes to learn how to control it, likely as a weapon.

Bleakwalkers

Monstrous entities in the Bleaklands have generally been thought to be malevolently transformed residents of the Barony of Talador. Whether or not they are "undead" in the narrow mechanical sense. This was more or less confirmed when Thadston was recovered from the Bleaklands, after having forced the portal from there to the Hendoran outpost closed using Sir Osment's kroderine gauntlets, during the climax events with Raznel and the Bleakworld. It was eventually determined that Thadston had been possessed by one of the "bleakwalkers" of the Bleaklands, which are one of the invasion creature types for that region. This turned out to be the transformed soul of a woman named Gabriela, a worker from the Honey Mine brothel of Talador. Her spirit was transferred into the bleakstone statue resembling Lylia, which ended up being stolen through a portal by Octaven.

Geography

Central Region

The following is how the Bleaklands appears in its central region close to the ruins of Talador:

[Talador, The Bleaklands]
The land is desolate and broken, with an endless terrain of fragmented, grey earth that is caked in layers of ash.  The air is suffocating, with a thick, rancid odor and a faint heat still lingers in the area.  The sky is bleak, resembling an expanse of ink-whorled slate.  You also see a small piece of flesh and a flickering red portal.
Obvious paths: east

XXXXX moves along the area and the fragmented grey earth beneath shifts uneasily, slowing his movements.
XXXXX's group just went east.
Roundtime: 3 sec.
[Talador, The Bleaklands]
The land is desolate and broken, with an endless terrain of fragmented, grey earth that is caked in layers of ash.  The air is suffocating, with a thick, rancid odor and a faint heat still lingers in the area.  The sky is bleak, resembling an expanse of ink-whorled slate.
Obvious paths: east, west

[Talador, The Bleaklands]
The land is desolate and broken, with an endless terrain of fragmented, grey earth that is caked in layers of ash.  The air is suffocating, with a thick, rancid odor and a faint heat still lingers in the area.  The sky is bleak, resembling an expanse of ink-whorled slate.
Obvious paths: northeast, west

[Talador, The Bleaklands]
The land is desolate and broken, with an endless terrain of fragmented, grey earth that is caked in layers of ash.  The air is suffocating, with a thick, rancid odor and a faint heat still lingers in the area.  The sky is bleak, resembling an expanse of ink-whorled slate.
Obvious paths: east, southwest

[Talador, The Bleaklands]
The great northern mountains rise up like a wall of jagged, icy fingers in the distance.  Their peaks are obscured by heavy black clouds, and the once fresh mountain air has been replaced by the stagnant, putrid odor of burnt flesh and scorched earth.  You also see the Dergoatean disk and a tiny oily black sapling.
Obvious paths: north, west

[Talador, The Bleaklands]
Rows and rows of crumbled, charred stones are strewn about the broken landscape where the towering walls of Talador once stood.  Even the wind is hot, swirling around and scattering ash and smoldering debris all about.  You also see a shifting ashen grey spore, a shifting ashen grey spore, a shifting ashen grey spore, a shifting ashen grey spore, a shifting ashen grey spore, a shifting ashen grey spore, a shifting ashen grey spore, a shifting ashen grey spore, a shifting ashen grey spore, a shifting ashen grey spore and a shifting ashen grey spore.
Obvious paths: south

Outer Region

This is how the Bleaklands looks farther away from the ruins of Talador. Malvernus went there in 5118 Modern Era investigating a musician who was frozen in a temporal warp:

[The Bleaklands]
The ground is a patchwork of broken and cracked hard clay with numerous rocks and boulders of all sizes scattered across its surface.  The devastation stretches off into the distance for as far as the eye can see, offering little relief or change in terrain, save for a thick jagged outcropping of rock rising off to the east.  You also see a sleek grey mouse and a dark green supply wagon.
Obvious paths: east

[The Bleaklands]
What appeared to be just an outcropping of rocks in the distance turns out to be a jagged mouth of a cavern.  Several large boulders lay strewn across the ground near the entrance, clearly having broken off or been hewn from the rock face, and partially block passage within.
Obvious paths: west

Malvernus's group just entered a jagged mouth of a cavern.
[The Bleaklands, Cavern]
The smooth rock floor gradually slopes downward from the cavern entrance.  Rough striated rock of various shades makes up the walls and ceiling, though its surface is covered with a thick layer of soot.  The air within the cavern is heavy and hot, despite being below the surface.
Obvious exits: down, out

[The Bleaklands, Cavern]
Hot, thick air fills the cavern and carries the scent of ash.  The rough stone walls continue to slope downward with the floor and are blackened in streaks and splotches across their entirety.  Despite being beneath the surface the area is filled with flickering light that filters in from further below.
Obvious exits: up, down

[The Bleaklands, Cavern]
The cavern quickly opens up to a large and wide space, while the semi-darkness gives way to bright light and intense heat.  The source of the both is a large ball of fire suspended in mid-air by no discernible means in the center of the chamber.  The rest of the area remains empty save for a lone man that stands several feet in front of the conflagration.
Obvious exits: up

>look man
He is an older man with short, straight grey hair with a few faint patches of light brown.  He has grey-green eyes, a hooked nose, and a faint scar running down the left side of his face.  He holds a silver harp in one hand, with the other frozen in motion as if playing the instrument.

>look fire
The fire is near blinding to look at, seeming to be nearly as bright as the sun.  Though mostly compact, individual flames extend outward from the center.  Most unusually the flames appear to be absolutely still, with barely flicker of motion.

Tears of Koar

The "Tears of Koar" are the special regions of Talador that were insulated from the catastrophe by wards erected by the Imperial Drakes. They are island oases of normal lands surrounded by the Bleaklands. It was discovered in 5119 Modern Era that the people inside the Tears of Koar are stuck there in a time loop. They are unaware of how much time has truly passed in the outside world. Visitors who get into the Tears of Koar get thrown out by temporal rifting. The Bleaklands landscape by the time of the climax with Raznel had other places from other times appearing within it.

See Also

• Travels in the Wizardwaste (official document; dated 5078 to 5084, released in 5119)
• Bleakstone
• Wehnimer's Landing Storylines