This is Thirren. It's a pleasant outskirt province of the Realm, and provides many exotic ores and stones to the Greater Provinces and the Capital. The plains here are lush and bountiful, and life is easy, but it was not always so. Thirren used to extend into the east, bounded only by the wastes to the north and the south, and the fanged mountains. Here, bold pioneers built the cities of Misir, Rila and Nosgar, and built the Great Observatory to map the night skies; and brave explorers ventured across the wastes and the mountains in search of exotic resources.
Not all the explorers came back, and those who did spoke of terrifying places out there. Places where it was so hot that one's skin peeled off in rolls, places where dogs the size of giants roamed the dusty plains, places where explorers found strange glowing rocks that killed them slowly...and the one we don't mention.
These dangerous places never deterred the brave (though slightly stupid) explorers, at least, until they found the Gate of Fangs.
Indeed, when the now-infamous explorer Macin ventured through the gate, he awoke the monsters lying on the other side of the mountains. The monsters weren't impressed to be awoken, and laid waste to Macin, his party, and then most of Thirren Province. Only when the Realm's entire army was mobilised was the horde defeated.
To prevent such apocalyptic happenings again, the Realm's Executive determined that the ruins of Eastern Thirren should be left to waste away, and that anyone as
stupid as Macin who wished to die - I mean, return - to live in the east was
perfectly welcome to do so. Seven forts were built between Pir Solaire and the Western Ranges, leaving what remained of Thirren protected by the gorge, the forts, and the mountains.
The days of terror are long gone, and Thirren is lush and bountiful again, but speak carefully of the Dangerous Places. There's nothing worse than being accused of being a Macin.
Dec '16 / Jan '17 Lite Challenge: The Gate of Fangs & Some Other Dangerous Places
