<div class="top-nav"> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/Home">Home</a> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/Character Main Page">Characters</a> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/Factions Index">Factions</a> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/Locations Index">Locations</a> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/World Lore">Lore</a> <a href="/mydndgame/publish/pages/Map">Map</a> </div> A section of land in the south of Aventyr that stretches from East to West. ### History Many centuries ago, the wasteland that's now known as [[The Scorched Lands]] was not the wasteland it is today. It was created acciddentally by mages in [[Timaeus]]. A group of mages that belonged to [[Order of the Obelisk]] were attempting to control the power of the sun itself, to harness and use as a power source for their own spellcasting. They overestimated their abilities and the resulting catastrophe threatened to destroy the entire planet. To rectify their mistake, the mages created a pseudo-sun, a powerful magical artifact, known as [[The Shard of the Sun]], infusing it with the essence of a star. This required a tremendous amount of energy. They attempted to place it high above the surface of the surface of the continent. Unable to handle the enormous amount of energy produced by an actual star, it began to plummet back to earth. They were unable to halt the decent completely, but they were able to deflect it. The deflection sent the star into a skewed oblong orbit around the planet. The skewed orbit resulted in the pseudo-sun orbiting the planet, and threatening to crash into the earth once again. The orbit takes 57 years to come back around again. Every 57 years, when the shard returns, The [[Order of the Obelisk]] must gather together again and using massive amounts of energy stored in magical crystals, they essentially deflect the object once again, preventing the impact and sending it back into orbit. When the sun shard passes, reentering the atmosphere, it sheds magical energy known as **Sun Magic**. This event is known as **The Shedding**. During this time period, while the shard scorches the land along its path, the mages also are able to harvest some of the magical energy that is shed by the magical artifact. The next cycle is roughly a decade away, so there's no immediate threat. In fact, [[The Scorched Lands]] are currently in a period where the lands are starting to show regrowth of the plants in the area (although the effect is somewhat limited.) # Handout Version Ages ago the events that created the wasteland known as the Scorched Lands were set in motion by a group of powerful mages from Timaeus—the Obelisk Order. This penultimate group of spellcasters dared tempt the natural order of Aventyr and sought to control the power of the Sun, and the resulting catastrophe threatened to destroy the entire planet. The Obelisk mages had created a Shard of the Sun, infused with the essence of the great celestial body itself (a source of unimaginable and unlimited energy), but they were ill-prepared to handle the power of a star and quickly realized their impending doom. The Shard that had been placed high above the planet began to plummet towards the surface, and only by coming together was the Order able to avert disaster and repel the Shard of the Sun. Unable to completely destroy their creation, they instead halted its descent and placed it into an oblong orbit around the planet. To this day the Obelisk Order performs a fell ritual every 57 years to keep the Shard of the Sun at bay and soaring across the sky as its orbit brings it near to Aventyr once more. Once each Shard epoch (57 years), the Obelisk Order perform a ritual to channel energy from five huge crystals surrounding The Sun Circle, sending a visible pillar of light up into the sky to strike the Shard of the Sun in an explosive event known as The Shedding. During the Shedding even the safest areas within the deadlands in the northern part of Timaeus become utterly uninhabitable as raw energy rains from the sky. This energy (known as sun magic) is later collected and used to charge the crystal pillars once again—and much more besides.  It is also known to be useful in the reanimation of the dead. Sun magic is a remnant of The Shedding, energy so dense that it takes physical form as a glowing orange liquid hot enough to burn unprotected skin. With careful preparation, however, it can be handled safely, charged into prepared crystals which other magical devices use as power. Though it can be found in the Scorched Lands where the magic of the Obelisk ritual connects with the Shard, the rain of magic continues into the deadlands and across northern Timaeus (and even further east into the ocean).