The Corrupted Ruins
LORE
Once a verdant and beautiful land, the realm of Eragion is now a corrupted and blighted realm. Death lurks around every corner, and only the strongest survive.
It is into this land that heroes must travel. For if they are going to build their hearth, they must tame the wilds around them, search out vital supplies, and maybe even find survivors to aid them in their quests.
Twenty years ago, in an event since dubbed the Harrowing, corruption burst forth from beneath the capital. Everything it touched mutated, be it plants, animals, people, or the earth itself. Those that survived its touch quickly fell to the angry depredations of the corrupted.
Strongholds withstood the assault, only to have the corruption seep in maddening their leaders. Bandit kings, warlords, and despots now rule the few strongholds that remain.
But slowly the tide has begun to shift, thanks to heroes who stand up against the corruption. Their strength and determination inspire others, and brings hope back to the blighted realm. Perhaps over time they might restore the land to what it once was.
The Harrowing & Corruption
Many heroes of the realm can manipulate the power of magic. Whether an Arcanist taught magic in the few remaining schools willing to take on pupils, a Witch from a coven hidden in the wilds, or a Priest of the One True Church espousing the redemption of holy fire, magic is alive in the blighted realm.
Unfortunately, the corrupted can tap their own source of magic, the corrupting blight itself. Corruption teems with energy that those willing to feel its corrupting touch can access to alter the very fabric of reality.
But the heroes must be cautious, as tapping into the power of corruption is a slippery slope. That way lies madness and mutation.
A Land of Magic
Prior to the Harrowing, Eragion was a land marching forward in progress, with great universities and men and women of science making advances in medicine, chemistry, machinery, and magic. Muskets and flintlock pistols replaced bows on the battlefield. Clocktowers sprung up in most town squares and printing presses mass produced the written word.
As society fell, many of these advancements reverted, but machinery and blackpowder can be found among the ruins, coveted by those that still recognize their value. The science of anatomy and medicine, once common in towns is now rare, but most strongholds keep a barber-surgeon around to cut the blight from the infected if need be. Some even try to help their patients, while others become too enamored with studying the mutation of the corruption, not realizing the hold it has taken over their minds.