The Isle of the Black Mage (and the Desolate Lands)
- Area Square Miles: See below
The rough area in square miles of that nation. - Population: See below The total population, including all significant humanoid races, plus the average population per square mile.
- Racial Balance: See below The details of all the major races of that country, as a percentage of the total population.
- Capital City: See below The capital city of that country, if it has one, along with its population.
- Government: See below The political structure for that nation, if any. This will be one of: autocracy, confederation, democracy, despotism, dictatorship, imperial, monarchy, oligarchy, republic or tribal. By far, the most common form of government is monarchy.
- World View: See below The attitude of each nation toward its neighbors (passive, defensive or aggressive) and a number of terms that best sum that nation up (ie agricultural, nomadic, seafaring, wild, etc). Each nation can have one or more such terms, but will only ever have one attitude.
- Religion: Unknown The main gods esteemed by that nation. The list reflects the racial balance statistics (see above); so if humans are the largest racial group in that nation, followed by elves and dwarves, the list of deities follwed by humans will be first, then elves and dwarves. Within this context, they are listed alphabetically. No deity is listed more than once, even if more than one racial group prays to that god (for instance, both elves and gnomes are likely to follow Ky, but it will only be listed once nonetheless).
- Languages: Unknown The main languages spoken by the people of that nation, listed alphabetically.
- Climate: See below The climate of that nation, from: arctic, continental cool summer, humid subtropical, subarctic, subtropical, temperate, tropical, warm temperate.
Overview
No one knows who or what the Black Mage is. Some say the Black Mage is a powerful sorceress, others a powerful demoness. Whatever the truth, the Black Mage has made her home - for most agree the Black Mage is female - on what has become known as the Isle of the Black Mage and brought total devastation to the waters and lands that surround the island. Legions of orcs now cover the burnt fields and giants, dragons and all kinds of beasts are common in this nightmare land.
The once green pastures of Eassen, a small enclave where halflings and gnomes mixed freely, has been savagely decimated, a barren and harsh wilderness having replaced the once plentiful lands. All that was there has been destroyed; the villages burnt to the ground and the towns now haunted ruins where evil dwells. Eassen now goes by the name of the Desolate Lands and only those who serve the Black Mage live there. It is said that fire falls from the skies upon the scorched earth instead of rain and that flames erupt from deep fissures in the ground.
The once magnificent and world-renowned dwarven citadels of Samman and Karadan of The Wretched Mountains now stand in ruins, their once golden halls blackened and defiled, their great chambers inhabited by dark beasts from the deep. The dwarven realms of The Burnt Hills are likewise destroyed, the dwarven tribes forced to migrate south, and the dwarves and gnomes of The Splendid Hills now face a similar fate as the minions of the Black Mage continue to wreak their devastation. The great dwarven realm, the Golden Citadel, now lies in ruins, its magnificence shattered and its chambers strewn with the bodies of its dwarven defenders, the survivors pushed ever southward in their desperate fight to survive.
What the Black Mage wants or what her intentions may be, no one can say, but the trail of devastation that her minions leave in their wake is unlike anything ever seen in Arrasia since the great battles of Amman and Karnish and as news filters west of this terrible army, so eyes and minds are slowly bent in its direction.
Brief History
Once, the green pastures of Eassen were filled with halfling and gnome communities, who shared the beauty of the land. Their history extended little beyond the defense of their lands against the creatures of The Wretched Mountains, whose attacks were common, but misdirected affairs and easily repelled.
After the fall of Amman, with which Eassen had very little to do with, avoiding as they did the affairs of men and their follies, a tower appeared on the island which lay off the halfling town of Horst. For a while this event went unnoticed, the halflings not being too inclined to travel across the waters, but soon after word reached them about this tower, it is said that the water turned red and everything within it died. The gnomes renamed the waters around them the Dead Gulf and it was after this that disease and plague began to ravish the lands.
Soon the crops began to whither and the land became scorched. Fires seemed to rage uncontrollably through the land and it is even said that in some places fire fell from the sky. A host of orcs swept from The Wretched Mountains and great fire breathing dragons scorched the earth with their flame. So it was, their lands ablaze and their homes destroyed, that a great retreat began from Eassen. Few were said to make it out and those that did brought rumor of a great sorceress who possesses a great and terrible power.
The Desolate Lands were overrun and turned into dust and the great armies turned their attentions to the many dwarven realms that surrounded the now barren landscape. Unprepared for the vast numbers of orcs and other beasts, the citadels were soon overwhelmed and sacked, their beauty confined to history. And so, one by one, the dwarven citadels fell and their number dwindled and so it continues, with the fall of the Golden Citadel, fabled throughout Arrasia, the latest to succumb to the minions of the Black Mage.
Important Personages
The Black Mage: Who or what the Black Mage is, no one knows. Some say it is a powerful sorceress, evil and terrible; others that a great demon has come to Arrasia and seeks to be master of all. The wildest speculation says that Olmus herself has returned to wreak her revenge. Whatever the truth, the rumors all seem to agree upon one thing; that the Black Mage is female.
