> [!success] Integrated > Created [[Region - Remnants of Hatred]] and [[Hook - Remnants of Hatred]] on 2026-02-08 **LOCATION - Gryth - Iros - The Remnants of Hatred** **REMNANTS OF HATRED** The Remnants of Hatred, located in the shattered northern reaches of Iros, represent chaos incarnate, a place where raw magic has completely supplanted the laws of nature and undefined physics govern the horizon. The landscape is a nightmare of swirling, purple churning water that acts as a predatory force, dragging unwary creatures into a violent vortex defined by time dilations and spatial distortions. Above the waves, islands of jagged purple crystals pulse with arcane energy, while perpetual lightning storms of pure mana illuminate a sky filled with floating stone islands and haunting mirages of worlds beyond our own. The barriers between the planes are not merely thin here; they are violently torn, kept permanently agape by their own chaotic devouring of mana and matter from the physical world of Gryth. This area has become a terrifying inverted mirror of our own reality, where the very concept of a "landscape" is a fluid and dangerous hallucination. This apocalyptic wasteland stands in tragic contrast to the peace that preceded it; seven centuries ago, this region was home to the island nation of Marahn and its sister nation, Tultan. Marahn was a stable and idyllic place, a respected trade partner to its northern neighbour, Askesh, and maintained a steady, if uneasy, truce with the Umbrath Magocracy to the south. The nation was renowned throughout Iros for its devout worship of ancient gods and its beautiful marble temples that gleamed against rolling hills of curled grass. While it did not seek a dominant role in the geopolitics of the wider world, its presence was felt through the legendary quality of its wine and wool, produced by vast sheep herds that once roamed where purple lightning now strikes. To truly understand the horror of the Remnants of Hatred, one must look to the singular figure of Utaz the Endless and the cataclysmic event known as "The Shattering." Before he became a lich of unspeakable power, Utaz was a human archmage who had studied in the prestigious magical schools of Askesh and even travelled as far north as Auken. His original human name remains one of history's great voids, blasted from all records and the very minds of the living by powerful memory magic to hide his true origins. Driven by a lust for grandeur that transcended mortal limits, he committed grave arcane sins that permanently marked his soul. His descent began with the profane sacrifice of an entire town in Umbrath, where over two hundred souls were offered in a ritual beyond human understanding, followed by the single-handed slaughter of two of Askesh's greatest archmages to siphon their power for his own ends. By the time he arrived at the island of Marahn, the human man was long dead, replaced by the ascendant lich Utaz the Endless, a path of destruction following in his wake across Northern Iros and Southern Auken. He brought with him a vessel of his own creation to perform a ritual of such cosmic ambition that it defies description. Though he was opposed by the mightiest wizards of the age and a legendary adventuring party, they fell before his absolute power. However, Utaz’s arrogance was his ultimate undoing; the great experiment failed, and the magical vessel he had painstakingly constructed was cast into the earth with the devastating force of a meteor. The result was "The Shattering," a cataclysm that fractured reality itself and decimated the fabric of the planes, destroying both Marahn and Tultan overnight. Marahn was disintegrated in the initial blast, while Tultan was consumed by a kilometre-high wave that drowned the land as the very seabed was reshaped. Tultan now exists as the accursed Drowned Lands, a sunken graveyard beneath the waves. The surrounding nations suffered equally horrific fates; Askesh, in particular, was almost halved in size by the tectonic and magical fallout, a blow from which it has never recovered to its former glory. Hundreds of thousands of lives were extinguished as great troughs of land vanished into the void, leaving behind a permanent, swirling scar on the world. The evil unleashed that night has since sunk deep into the water and the earth, causing all manner of dark magical effects and corruptions in the surrounding areas. Demons, devils, abominations, and the forces of undeath have made this wasteland their home, and their desire for destruction has deepened the chaotic horrors awaiting any unwary traveller. The Umbrath Magocracy to the south has since transformed into a nation bent entirely on containing these runaway magical phenomena. From their island fort of black stone, Penumbra Hold, their elite battlemages work tirelessly to monitor the borders of the chaos. These warriors regularly venture into the spatial distortions of the Remnants to destroy or contain whatever horrors crawl out of the rift, acting as a grim bulwark against the spreading infection of Utaz's failure. The Remnants of Hatred now stand as a permanent, swirling reminder of Utaz and the horrific price of a lust for power that seeks to control forces far beyond the capacity of the soul to contain. ![[image 23.png]] ![[image 24.png]] ![[image 25.png]] ![[image 26.png]] ![[image 27.png]]