Godherja Encyclopedia

Redlands (concept)

Biozone: Redlands

The Redlands are considered one of the most dangerous regions on Aeras. Foul creatures and disgusting monsters can be found lurking throughout the jagged passes, and there is little common animals that call this place home. While the fauna and flora are equally treacherous, traversing the Redlands without maps, experience, or even a guide is almost a guarantee of death, as the labryinth tunnels and passes can seem a maze to the uninitiated.

Travelers regularly call the wastes of the Redlands one of the most inhospitable places on Aeras, possibly at a level with the Lichdoms and Foglands. A miserable realm of blasted red sands and rocks and high levels of latent magics; scholars around the world have attempted to figure out what exactly formed the region's unique geography for centuries. They have all failed, primarily because the Redland's dangers have consumed thousands of would-be explorers and most neighboring cultures have learned to reject and avoid it. Even the Aversarians for all of their hatred of foreigners declared the interior of the Redlands the home of the Redlanders and only built settlements along the almost habitable coast.

In the Redlands, the deeper one goes, the threats exponentially increase, especially as one enters the mysterious ravines that dominate the Redland's interior. All who spend more than a small amount of time in the region hear strange and disturbing voices, and the ritual chanting of the thousand cults of the Redland interior seem to drift through thousands of small holes that dot almost every surface. Even worse, some of the most hostile and eldritch creatures known to humanity call the interior their home, from horrifying masses of tentacles known as Kesrravarga to the vein-rooting fungus of Ugk'ilrrrmags. Magi especially seem to be affected by the hellish biome, the majority going insane the second they leave the struggling coastal cities.

The only thing here to give one peace of mind is that the chances of dying of starvation or thirst in the barren interior is minimal, as the chances of cult sacrifice, fungus explosion, dreamdeath, madness, Exposure Sickness, chest-devouring body-controlling parasite infestation, and far more kill over half of non-natives who venture well before hunger ever becomes a concern.