Lux Tenebris: The Braerosan Wastes

Separating the coasts of Nur is a vast, poisonous desert known as the Braerosan Wastes.  The Wastes did not always exist. Seven thousand years ago, the land was known as the Braerosan Empire. Then, overnight, the empire was destroyed. To this day, no one knows what happened. Ancient records hint at some kind of divine punishment, but there are no concrete facts known about the disaster.  Indeed, most temples and churches actively discourage people from looking into the matter, and the origin and history of the Braerosan Wastes is one subject that even the Adamantine Archive refuses to research.

A harsh sort of existence can be eked out on the extreme edges of the Wastes, but not in its interior.  The landscape is barren and unforgiving. Alchemical storms pour out of the Wastes, scouring the landscape with transmutational rains.  Ley lines flare with unexpected fury, shattering the landscape around them. Most magic falters and fails within the Wastes and in some areas does not work at all.  There are reports of ancient monstrosities lurking in the deep Wastes, joined now by the unfettered tarasque.

Adventurers who travel into the Wastes seldom return. Those that do, claim to have discovered ancient ruins and encountered monstrous creatures, terrifying undead, malevolent elemental beings as well as unnatural weather.  Many who return refuse to speak of their experiences.
For most of recorded history it was thought that travel across the Wastes was impossible. Then, a little over a hundred years ago, a dragonborn explorer named Amarak Rom became the first person in recorded history to travel overland from the Draconic Empire to the West.  The route Rom took became known as the Dragons Road, and is the only overland route through the Wastes.  That said, most merchants and travelers prefer to avoid the Wastes entirely and make the long voyage from coast to coast via ship.

Three years ago, the Draconic Empire successfully transported their military Legions across the Braerosan Wastes by erecting a series of teleportation circles along the Dragons Road. Since then, however, this teleportation network has failed, leaving the Draconic Legions cut off from their homeland. The Empire’s efforts also seem to have exacerbated the magical disruptions that plague the Wastes.