Lost Lands

The Lost Lands is a large area in western Arad, previously known as Aetgard, that was once notable for being home to the highly prosperous Kingdom of Aetgard. Once a thriving land with a sprawling human population, the Aetgardian Plague nearly wiped out humanity, with the notable exception of the inhabitants of the Tatlhuecatn valley who were seemingly untouched by the terrible illness. The Lost Lands region is now often divided into three areas known as the Northern, Central, and Southern Lost Lands. A strict Quarantine is enforced by other nations, refusing to allow anyone to leave the Lost Lands for fear of carrying plague or one of the many other maladies that now afflict the region.

It has been nearly 100 years since the Plague struck, and some pockets of humanity have gathered together to survive in what is now a very harsh land. The extremely xenophobic Kingdom of Lapis remains in the south as the last major surviving remnant of old Aetgard. Other notable, if relatively small, population centers in the region include Porto D'esilio, Mistral Lake, Shadgard, and Corvus Outpost.

While the threat of the Plague seems to have passed, other dangers have taken root in its place: large populations of infested, nethrim, and canim now roam the forsaken lands, often taking up residence in the ruins left behind by the ravages of the Plague and giving outside nations all the more reason to continue enforcing the Quarantine. Not all surviving pockets of humanity remain civil, either: the region is home to many hostile gangs of bandits, brigands, and exiles, as well as the fearsome and enigmatic Liberi.

Nearby Lands

• The jungle valley of Tatlhuecatn, home of the Huecatn people, stretches along much of the border between the Northern and Central Lost Lands.
• The frigid mountains of Sirak Drauth, home of the Giganti, border the northwest edge of the Northern Lost Lands.
• The Fey Forest separates the Southern Lost Lands from the region of Karnath which is the home of the Hillfolk.
• A mountain pass, now blocked by a massive glacier, once joined southern Aetgard to the nation of Khaldea.

Knowledge & Memory Anomalies

One of the many strange phenomena affecting the Lost Lands is the anomolous disruption of knowledge and memory about the region's history, as well as that of its inhabitants. Though the Kingdom of Aetgard was once considered one of the largest and most prosperous nations on the continent of Arad, contemporary knowledge and records about the now-ruined kingdom are bizarrely lacking even outside the Quarantine. This has led many to speculate over how such a thing could be, and some to suspect some grand conspiracy, strange occult phenomenon, or meddling by the Immortals to be at fault.

It is not uncommon for the people of the Lost Lands to experience strange gaps in their memories or knowledge, or even to suffer false memories that are later proven to be untrue. All of this has made it all the more difficult for humanity to survive in this harsh land, though Lost Landers have proven stubbornly resilient, insisting on re-learning or re-discovering anything they might have forgotten from their past lives.

The speculative theories regarding these anomalies are many, but some of the more popular theories include:

• A lingering effect of the Aetgardian Plague, which was said to cloud the mind among other things.
• The abundance of nether in the region. Nether is often associated with memories and the muddling thereof.
• An effect of the mind-clouding resen spores that are abundant in the heavily-infested region.
• The psyche being damaged as a natural result of the many and frequent traumas regularly experienced by residents of the dangerous and hostile land.
• Some curse or scheme by one or more Immortals. Malfant and Aranas are particularly popular suspects, being known for affecting the memories and minds of mortals.
• An effect similar to that of Draumfeldr - Aetgard was originally founded by Faewyr, after all.
• A result of the excess meddling with occult forces in the region which has caused reality to begin tangling or fracturing.