The Fall of Osterath sent the entire world reeling, and the wounds opened that fateful day would take over a thousand years to heal. Some of them would never be healed at all. Deep scars were left upon the land that would fester and decay for millennia, threatening to poison the world and complete the doom promised by the Fall. The Malediction serves as a reminder of what was lost and of the danger that looms over the mortal races. Now, new heroes rise to explore this accursed land. Are they brave or foolhardy? Who am I to tell…
It was during the final siege of Osterath, fought for control of the Everlasting Relics, that the armies brought to bear the Relic power in a way that had not been seen in the face of Agnar since the departure of the Everlasting. All the while reality itself screamed silently in utter agony. On that last day of the Age of Relics, the world would make its pain known.
As mortals pushed reality to do their bidding against each other, they forced it into inconceivable shapes and unimaginable chaos. Like a vase forced to contain a storm, the world could not abide such forces, and just like that vase would, the world shattered.
The storm of chaos brought on by that final war rippled through the world like a tidal wave, before receding back into the Astarian vales that cradled Osterath. The destruction the Fall brought to the world that day was wrought a thousand-fold in those hills and the unrelenting storm of chaos still rages there today. The once fertile and prosperous region is now known only as Malediction.
The Malediction occupies a country-sized part of central Selejia, practically cutting the continent in half, with the only land passage between north and south being found in the eastern regions. It is an arduous and long path, seldom traveled by those without experience in such journeys. Still, no matter how dangerous a path it is, it’s still the only safe choice, for traveling through the Malediction is tantamount to accepting a very painful death.
The Borderlands may seem innocuous at first, but many have been lost to the effects of the rampant magic that leaks from the deeper parts of the corrupted lands. Time and space start to fray here, and it’s extremely easy to lose the path or find yourself traveling for years on a journey that should have taken days.
The deeper you travel, past the Borderlands and into the Havoc, these effects become more and more pronounced, and new dangers make themselves known.
Reality itself has suffered a grievous wound in the region, and everything that exists inside of it is now contradictory to mortal existence. The land itself is trying to kill you three-fold. First, most terrain inside the Malediction is harsh to the point of being completely inhospitable. Second, the land can move beneath your feet, and, without even realizing it, all of your reference points will be moved around without rime or reason, leaving you hopelessly lost. Finally, even if you can adjust to the previous challenges, the terrain can transform into something else completely. It can do this gradually or in the blink of an eye. In a moment you may be traveling through a dark, deadly, and perfectly survivable forest, and in the next, you may find yourself neck-deep in a lava pit. As dangerous as this may be, the Malediction does not limit itself to environments that could be conceived by sane minds, and all manner of nightmarish landscapes are possible. Some say that the Malediction manifests these from the worst fears of those who decide to face it, or worst still, from the depraved depths of the souls it has claimed. Most accounts of the Havoc come from the failed expeditions that were sent to explore it over the centuries. Until very recently, very few had ever been able to return victorious.
The dangers of the maledictions are innumerable, and the region has been only partially explored after the Fall, but things have been changing of late at a rapid pace, and it’s not difficult to understand the reasons why. Over the last few decades, the Malediction has started to recede. The Borderlands, once shunned even by the most foolhardy savage tribes of the neighboring region, have become safe to travel, and the outskirts of the Havoc have become less severe as well. The source of this effect remains unknown, but it has allowed for the advent of a new age of exploration of this forsaken land. Now, why would anyone be fool enough to brave these dangers, you may ask? For one simple reason: Relics. The areas of the Havoc were once the battlefields of the last war of the Age of Relics and are littered with them. These Relics are themselves volatile, having been affected by the same cataclysmic magical forces that brought destruction to the land, but it seems like the very spirit of the Everlasting has safeguarded them from utter destruction, for they are more stable and, in a sense, more real than anything else that surrounds them. For those who can feel their presence, they are beacons through the darkness. Unfortunately, only a few are capable of braving the Malediction. Even fewer are brave or foolhardy enough to actually do it. I speak of course of the Seekers.
Wielders of some of the most powerful Relics on record, the Seekers are able to impose their will on reality. If elsewhere they use this power to break and bend reality to produce astounding magical effects, in the Malediction they use this power to mend and heal the world, albeit temporarily. Seekers ground reality around them and have become the leaders and guides of expeditions into the heart of the cursed lands. Through their power, they are able to protect other like-minded individuals, crazy enough to risk everything in the search for the Relics. Although the number of members of these Seeker Pacts is very limited, this new method of exploration has allowed for much greater success than any previous attempt. Of course, it has also created a new form of deadly danger for the Seekers.
Many different factions have sent Seekers into the Malediction, and all of them can feel the stabilizing pull of the Relics. More often than not, Seekers will locate a Relic only to discover they have a counterpart vying for the same prize. Through their own Relics, both seekers attempt to ground reality around them and make it stable enough to create a battlefield in which their allies can safely exist. When two seekers meet inside the Malediction, a great battle of wills ensues, and the final shape of the battlefield is often a combination of their desires. The longer this process goes on the easier it becomes for the Seekers to manifest into that new stable pocket of reality both their allies and any magical power they can bring to bear. That stability is never long-lasting, however, for as soon as the Seekers withdraw their willpower, it collapses in a torrent of chaos.
Ever since this race for new Relics started, more and more information about the Malediction, Relics, and even the past ages of the world has been uncovered, but the accursed lands still hold their secrets. Some reports tell of a deep part of the Malediction, a Maelstrom of chaos that has been raging since the Fall of Osterath. Within the Maelstrom, the Malediction seems to attack any who attempt to brave it with malicious intent, summoning perils that defy comprehension. What exists beyond that, if anything at all, is impossible to say. That does not mean there won’t be those foolish enough to try to reach the Eye of Madness.
