The Bleeding Wilds

In a time beyond memory - maybe even before the Age of Myth, the great dragon Maudra Rua was divided and imprisoned, split between Ghur and Chamon, by a mismatched band of champions known only as The Six. Her soul was trapped in an ancient mountain range in The Badlands of Lahar, Ghur. Her physical body was encased in a substance that became known as Dragonmetal, and buried under a new mountain range in Silverside, Chamon. The new mountain range echoed the shape of the one in Lahar almost exactly and created a bond between two Realms.

Maudra Rua’s imprisonment was supposed to last all of eternity, and it might have done, if something catastrophic had not happened. As it is, she was freed after only a few thousand years.

Not that long ago the Ur-River was dammed by the actions of a powerful ritual down-stream, in another Realm. The Ur-River burst its banks and flooded Silverside where Maudra Rua’s body was imprisoned. The magical interactions between the river and the dragon, two powerful sources of energy, caused a phenomenon called The Bleed.

The Bleed flowed like a tidal wave over the areas and linked the Badlands of Lahar and Silverside in a violent and unpredictable way. For a while it was possible to walk from one Realm to the other, through a flowing wall of magic. Many were caught unaware as the tide of the Bleed washed over them and transported them to the other side without warning. Lahar and Silverside were called, collectively, the Bleeding Wilds.

While the tides of the Bleed ebbed and flowed, the Realms started to change each other. Chamon poisoned Ghur: Ghur made Chamon wilder and more predatory. The Realms went to war against one-another in a battle for survival.

For a time there was a mad scramble to explore this strange and shifting environment. A number of coalitions struggled for dominance. Each coalition was made up of a wide range of warriors, explorers, hunters and fanatics and each coalition was trying to control the Bleeding Wilds and the fate of Maudra Rua for their own ends.

But the Bleed eventually dried out and most of Silverside was lost forever. When the tide of the Bleed receded only a few areas of Silverside remained, and those that did were wholly transferred into the Badlands of Lahar.

At the height of the Realmwar the Mindstealer Sphiranx Nashwar and her followers performed a ritual of transference. They placed Nashwar’s mind and soul within Maudra Rua, as the great dragon broke free of her prison she shattered the mountain range in Lahar, split the land asunder and left a vast chasm where the mountains had been…

Nashwar Rua - a three-eyed dragon godbeast - was created, and in triumph she soared up through the Realmsphere and out into the Aetheric Void beyond.

The Scarlands

In the aftermath of the Bleeding Wilds the Badlands of Lahar became known as the Scarlands. At the same time a New Six formed, to try to recapture or kill the dragon and prevent her from unleashing her terrible power upon all the Mortal Realms. Their first act created a network of new geoglyphs and ley lines across the Scarlands that tapped into the power of Ghur and focused it to their own purpose. Each of the New Six were given demi-god-like powers with which to pursue and battle Nashwar Rua.

The Prowling Forest

In the east of the Scarlands there is a vast predatory and primordial jungle; wild and overgrown and teeming with huge reptilian monsters. It remained largely unexplored during the Bleed and is only now revealing its secrets.

The forest itself ensnares passing wildlife (and explorers!) that linger beneath its leafy bowers. Fast-growing vines tangle the limbs of its victims and drag them to openings to be consumed in the wells of digestive fluids within the tree trunks. There was a known convergence of geomantic ley lines in the Bleakwood Grove, on the southern edge of the Prowling Forest. The foreboding woodland was filled with all manner of strange and magical wildlife: animal and plants. At its heart was a crumbling stone city that was almost entirely lost to the trees and vines.

The Ruins of Qul'takteq

The remains of a city from the Age of Myth still persisted within the Prowling Forest. Most of the buildings had fallen, crumbled, overgrown; reclaimed by the earth and the trees over the centuries. Scattered shells of stone-built walls were all that stood, fragments of larger structures, obscured by the tangled trees and undergrowth. But there was still a chance that hidden within and beneath the ruins there were treasures beyond imagination: Relics from the time of The Six. Relics that have been dormant for centuries, but have been awakened by the apocalyptic events of the emergence of Nashwar Rua and the creation of the New Six.

Brackenthorn Tower

A moss-covered stone tower on a rocky hill at the northern edge of the forest, in the shadow of the Biting Stones. The tower and the surrounding woods were overrun with small spined beasts: Horrible hungry things sometimes called Bearakeets, with more teeth and claws and spikes than anything really had a right to have. The Swordfyshes made their first encampment in the tower; red and off-white striped sails were tied-up as awnings around the walls and their sky-ship was moored to the roof.

Ironlarder Gorge

At the edge of the forest on the north-eastern side was an ogor camp. Also known as the Hungering Canyon or the Ravenous Ravine, the Ironlarder Gorge was a narrow valley between forest-covered hills, with steep rocky walls and a small stream running through it. Both ends of the gorge had been walled-up with piles of great rough-cut stone slabs. At the south-western end a jury-rigged drawbridge, made from lashed together tree-trunks, was constructed by the combined strength of ogors and ingenuity (and rope-knotting skills) of gnoblars.

Blubberfen

Deep in the northern quarter of the woods there ws a Stranglegrove Swamp, ripe with fungi and teeming with horrible critters of all sizes. Only a few navigable paths wound in or out of the bog and an unwary traveller could quickly find themselves lost and swallowed-up by the swamp, or eaten by the semi-aquatic creatures that made it their home. It was temporarily dried out when a crude dam was built by the Swordfyshes and many of the flora and fauna either died-off or moved on to wetter habitats. But when the dam was destroyed the swamp was re-flooded and it burst into disgusting life once more.

Badrok Anchorage

Bounded by a high stone wall, covered in knotted creepers, with an opening through a broken archway, half hidden by overgrown plants. In the area enclosed by the wall were the crumbling remains of an ancient citadel. None of the buildings were intact, in fact most were nothing more than piles of stones, but remained half-standing. Long ago, this was an impressive stronghold: The remains of once-strong defensive walls and towers could be seen; houses and halls, barracks and stables, storerooms, a blacksmith's, a wide courtyard and much more. For a short time the Swordfyshes made their encampment within the walls.

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The Campaign

This is the stage for a Warcry narrative campaign set in a corner of the Scarlands, in the aftermath of the Animosity IV: The Bleeding Wilds campaign:

Our story follows the adventures of The Swordfyshes (a crew of Ironjawz orruk sky-pirates led by the Warchanter Explorer, Lord Krashhart) and the Ironforged (an Ogor Mawtribe led by the Tyrant Skargat) as they explore the forest and search for the treasures hidden in the ruins of Qul'takteq:

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