Scourgelands

The Scourgelands are an almost uninhabited region in the Western Coast of the Chaska Sea. Settlers from the eastern and northern shores of the Chaska founded small cities and towns om the area several centuries ago, but today it is almost completely abandoned after the appearance of a strange type of insectoid creature called the Scourge.

Geography, flora, and fauna

The forests of the Scourgelands were once full of life, an inviting new home for colonists from elsewhere. Today, much has changed. The settlements are depopulated ghost towns, and even many of the animals that used to live in the area are now gone.

The native wildlife of the region is still recovering from the emergence of the Scourge. Their origins are poorly understood, with the first recorded sighting of a swarm of giant insects near Acridae in Y9629^*. Reports of the creatures expanded outwards rapidly. Wherever the Scourge was seen, they quickly devoured all they came across. Towns in the region soon dwindled and depopulated - sometimes from not evacuating in time, but more and more frequently out of fear.

After sweeping over the land, the swarms of the Scourge disappeared as quickly as they arrived. Unconfirmed sightings of the creatures have continued in the centuries since. However, most seem to have re-entered their underground burrows to wait until some future date.

To the west, the forests and plains of the Scourgelands are separated from the Sangora Desolation and other arid regions by the Kheldezir Hills.

History

Timeline

• Y9444^* - The first modern settlement in the area, Senasa, is founded on the banks of the Rokola River by colonists out of the Tamkaranu city of Cedarwood. Senasa served as the first town of arrival for most new inhabitants, a stopping point before moving farther inland.
• Y9444^* - Y9629^* - Colonization continues. By the middle of the 97th century, around 8,000 people lived in the area.
• 16 Falcon Y9629^* - The Scourge is first sighted near Acridae.
• 4 Wasp Y9630^* - The population of Acridae stops stops sending regular mail to nearby towns. Expeditions sent to investigate find bones stripped of all flesh, accounting for almost all of the roughly 550 humans and dwarves that lived there. Over the next month, smaller settlements around Acridae suffer the same fate. Swarms of giant insects begin to appear throughout the region, devouring all they encountered.
• 16 Basilisk Y9630^* - Metar, home to almost a thousand people, goes dark. Boats and barges with only the remains of their crews drift down the river, prompting more investigations. Those that are sent to explore are quickly driven away by lingering swarms of the Scourge creatures.
• 9 Wolf Y9630^* to 20 Dragon Y9631^* - A mass migration out of the settlements begins, aided by further rumors, some true and some not, of other disappearing towns. Senasa was the last to be fully abandoned, as the docks remained operational for long enough to assist the evacuation.
• Present - Few remain in what is now termed the Scourgelands. A handful of small settlements have been reestablished east of Senasa, and scavengers occasionally visit Meliagria in search of items left behind.

Inhabitants

Almost no one lives within the Scourgelands today. Outside of a small number of hermits and druids, the region is otherwise entirely depopulated. The few new inhabitants that do arrive tend to be desperate and fleeing something worse than the fates that might meet them here.

At one time, this area was a unique melting pot of peoples and cultures, primarily seafarers from the eastern Chaska and colonists from Hellea. Traditions, cultures, and religions mixed with the material realities of settling the area. Settlers were generally not well-off and valued their independence highly.

Many settlements had small shrines and altars, usually to the Chaskan pantheon of deities - worship of Taliash and Hasamel in particular were quite widespread.

The structures that still stand in and around old settlements tend to be architecturally quite simple, built using vernacular techniques and common local materials like wood and stone. The area was not settled for long, and most towns kept a rustic appearance until their demise.