The **Great Waste** is the poisoned scar of the world, once the radiant capital of the Dragon Lords. Where once rose soaring spires of magic and splendor, now lies a barren expanse of cracked soil and withered stone. Poison seeps from the buried urns of dead dragons, tainting the land so nothing grows. Dotting the Waste are hundreds of colossal **stone towers**, built by enslaved giants under draconic rule. Their peaks remain untouched by time, each crowned with a **dormant stone golem** — silent watchers of a bygone age.
- **The Dragon Lords’ Capital** – At the height of their reign, the Dragon Lords raised a city of splendor, filled with obsidian spires, arcane monuments, and vaults of relics. Giants and elves toiled endlessly to build it, slaves beneath immortal masters.
- **The Giant Rebellion** – When the Giants discovered rune magic and forged the first stone golems, they turned their constructs against the Dragon Lords. In the capital itself, the rebellion climaxed in a battle that shattered the land.
- **The Fall of Dragons** – The Dragon Lords were slain, their colossal bodies entombed in rune-urns buried beneath the Waste. Their death-essence seeped into the soil, poisoning it for all time.
- **The Age of Silence** – With their masters destroyed, the giant-built towers stood abandoned. The golems upon their crowns entered dormancy, awaiting commands that never came. Over centuries, the city became the Great Waste, a forbidden land of ruin and legend.
- **The Wastes** – A cracked and barren desert of stone and dust. The soil glows faintly at night with poisoned light, and no crops or animals thrive here.
- **The Towers** – Hundreds of colossal stone towers pierce the horizon, many weathered but unbroken. Each tower was built by enslaved giants, their heights stretching into the clouds.
- **Dormant Golems** – Atop each tower stands a colossal stone golem, silent and unmoving. Their eyes are empty, but legends whisper that they could be awakened if the proper runes were spoken.
- **Relics of Splendor** – Within the towers are vaults, libraries, and forges filled with fragments of draconic and giant craftsmanship — most sealed, some lost to time.
- **The Poisoned Land** – The very air and soil of the Waste is toxic. Travelers sicken quickly without magical wards or protections.
- **Draconic Echoes** – Fragments of dragon essence wander the Waste in the form of spectral wyrms or living storms.
- **Awakened Golems** – Though most stand dormant, some have stirred in ages past, crushing intruders before falling silent once more.
- **Plague Zones** – Where dragon-tombs bleed into the Veil, patches of the Waste boil with Corpse Plague corruption and demonic rifts.
- **Forbidden Ground** – Few dare enter the Waste; even the Crimson Standard avoids it, seeing no settlement possible there.
- **Mage Guild Obsession** – The Guild covets the secrets within the towers: lost runes of giants, relics of dragons, and perhaps the keys to waking the golems.
- **Last Light & Vigil** – Avoid the Waste; they claim it is cursed, and that disturbing the dragon tombs risks new plagues.
- **Adventurers** – To treasure-seekers, the Waste is a final frontier, promising relics of power at terrible cost.
- **The Sleeping Colossi** – Some believe one of the golems atop the towers is not dormant but still active, watching silently across the Waste.
- **The Tomb Beneath** – At the Waste’s heart lies the **Great Tomb**, said to hold the urns of the Dragon Lords themselves. None who sought it have returned.
- **The Golem’s Command** – Whispers tell of a lost rune-sequence that could awaken the stone golems to war once more.
- **The Dragon’s Return** – Some cults believe the Waste’s poisoned soil will one day blossom — not with life, but with dragons reborn.