Land of Scars

The Land of Scars is the dragonfire-blasted wasteland that separates the Alshari Wilderlands from Enultramar and the great Mindens ranges. The region was formed during the early gurvani invasion when Sheruel's dragons cratered the highland plateau in a sustained campaign of terror; the resulting cracked, blackened, water-poor terrain has remained largely uninhabitable since.

Geography

The Land of Scars is a high-altitude rocky waste, marked by:

• Dragonfire-glassed rock formations.
• Few water sources; what springs remain are alkaline.
• Treacherous footing for cavalry and impassable for wagons.
• Fierce mountain weather, particularly in winter.
• Significant magical resistance — dragonfire residue impedes scrying and spell-hooks.

Strategic significance

The Land of Scars is the natural barrier between the political halves of Alshar: the Wilderlands above (Vorone, the Magelaw, the Wilderlaw) and Enultramar below (Falas, the Coastlords). The traditional pass through it — the road from the great gate above the Land of Scars down toward Anthatiel — was the only practical large-army route, and that route is now Olum Seheri's territory. Korbal's necromancer city sits on the approach as a permanent strategic blockade.

The southern boundary of the Penumbra brushes the northern edge of the Land of Scars, with only a thin band of contested terrain between gurvani territory and the wasteland.

Inhabitants

The Land of Scars has no settled human population. A handful of cannibal mountain-tribes survived the original cratering and shelter in caves; bandits, deserters from both the gurvani war and the Alshari rebellion sometimes use the region as a hiding-ground; very rarely an Alka Alon scout or a Kasari ranger crosses it on a deep mission. The Aronin warned Tyndal and Rondal that no humani had ever crossed it without being misled by night-mists, sinkholes, voices that lure travellers off cliffs, and the shades of the dead.