The Plaguelands

The Plaguelands

The Plaguelands sit at the center of Oblivion Vale. They are the main reason the Drying reshaped the continent. Rivers are empty channels that end in cracked basins, and the land near the border ruins seed and clean runoff. Most records place their first rise at the start of the Third Age, but the worst inner belt is treated as newer. Within living memory, new dead pockets formed, and plague-wind seasons became easier to predict. No crown, court, or temple can prove a cause.

Land and Air

The Plaguelands look dry and exhausted. Soil turns dark and dusty, and ash drifts in low sheets. Dead trees stand in thin lines where water once ran. Sparse weeds sprout in patches, then die in rings. Insect clouds rise from shallow pits and collapsed drains. Some stretches are unnaturally quiet, and voices can sound dull or misplaced. Ruined hamlets often sit half-buried in drifted ash, with doors warped shut and wells choked by silt.

Water Collapse and Survival Limits

Open water is not reliable anywhere on the continent, and the Plaguelands made that normal. Border towns depend on deep wells, hidden aquifers, and sealed cistern vaults. Surface puddles near the Plaguelands are treated as traps. Even when they look clear, they can carry spore rot, bitter salts, or a fever that starts in the joints. Farming near the edge is a gamble. Crop fields fail fast, and a single insect bloom week can rot what survived.

Perimeter Control

The perimeter is held by quarantine towns, burn lines, and watch forts. Plague Wardens and burn crews control entry, travel dates, and what goods must be destroyed. They stop monsters, but they also stop refugees. Well-Wardens and Reservoir Guards enforce ration law beside them, because water theft and unauthorized wells are treated as survival crimes. In many places, the border is less a wall and more a set of stamped permissions that decide who eats and who is turned away.

Travel Rules

Travel is timed by wind, season, and watch signals. Marked lanes are cut through ash flats and dry channels, with posts spaced for line-of-sight. Signals use flags, bells, and mirror flashes because sound can fail in some pockets. Patrols inspect cloth, waterskins, and boots for ash residue and insect egg clusters. Many forts require travelers to strip outer layers, burn them, and accept replacement rags. Those who refuse are treated as a threat.

Common Plaguelands Effects

The following effects are widely reported and treated as part of Plaguelands reality.

• Plague-winds that carry sickness and cling to cloth and skin.

• Ash-fall on clear days, fouling tools and cistern lids.

• Biting insect swarms that spread blights, rot crops, and swell joints.

• Sound pockets that muffle speech or shift echoes.

• Ruin flashes where a dead hamlet repeats fragments of past panic.
  These effects are used to justify harsher law, more searches, and more burn orders.

Ruins and Salvage

Most inner settlements died fast or fled early. Many were burned by neighbors to slow spread. Salvage still happens because the ruins hold roof iron, well hardware, seal wax, and stone blocks from older river sites. Salvage crews work under strict permits and escort, and they often lose people to sickness, insects, or predators that use the ruins as bait. Some sites are sealed by decree, not because they are empty, but because the cost to recover them is judged too high.

Magic and Faith

Magic is rare across Oblivion Vale and heavily controlled. In the Plaguelands it is feared even more, because any casting can be blamed for an outbreak or a well failure. Licensed casters are watched by temples and courts, and unlicensed casters are treated as public threats. Faith can still produce narrow miracles of endurance, recovery, and clean burial, but the gods remain silent. Priests can ease suffering without explaining it, which leaves room for blame, rumor, and purges.

Monsters of the Plaguelands

The Plaguelands produce plagueborn life and also attract creatures that feed on rot and broken order. Border forces track spawn cycles tied to wind seasons, corpse density, and damp pockets, but they cannot prevent recurrence. The following spawns are treated as core threats in the region.

Blisterscale

Blisterscale is a high plague carrier that spreads change through toxic mist. Its attacks leave survivors whose wounds turn into infected growths, and healing often fails afterward. It targets battlefields, plague camps, and any place with open injuries, because spread matters more than a clean kill. A confirmed pass triggers lockdowns, cloth burnings, and forced quarantine across several towns.

Rot Charger

Rot Chargers roam dry pasture ruins and road cuts where bodies were left. They break groups with straight charges, then burst shoulder blooms that spray grit-spores. The burst blinds and burns eyes, and the wind can spread it through a marching column. They are common near fence lines, barn pads, and old herd lanes that still guide travel.

Pox Wolf

Pox Wolves stalk caravan routes and perimeter fence lines near pits and burn trenches. They hunt in small packs and focus on legs and hands. Their bite brings a wasting fever that locks joints and slows travel. They shadow a group until someone falls behind, then finish the target and fade back into cover.

Blister Lord

Blister Lords infest charcoal yards, tunnel rails, and oil salvage zones. They burst back blisters into a burning spray that sticks to cloth and armor until smothered or scraped off. Their bodies are also a fuel temptation, and illegal harvest attempts often end in mass burns. Many border yards moved or changed work methods because of them.

Plaguehog

Plaguehogs root through ruined markets, refuse heaps, and outer farms that tried to restart. Their bite carries rot that eats wood and leather, ruining doors, harness, and waterskins. A herd can destroy a supply shed in one night and leave infected scraps that draw worse predators.

Spore-Caller

Spore-Callers appear in damp sinkholes, failed cistern chambers, and shaded low alleys. They raise spore fog that causes panic and hallucinations, breaking coordination without a fight. Confusion near crossings and gates causes the worst losses, so reports cluster around choke points and relay posts.

Brand-Bearer

Brand-Bearers act with intent behind infected packs. They mark a target with a burning sign that draws nearby plague beasts into a focused rush. This makes them a threat to messengers, officers, and anyone trying to keep a line steady. They are often seen near forts and ration depots, where crowds make selection easier.

Crown-Carrier

Crown-Carriers turn outbreaks into campaigns. They direct lesser plague creatures and can force corpses to rise as new infected bodies after fights. They target well yards and ration lines because panic and body count feed growth. A confirmed Crown-Carrier presence can cause towns to seal gates and abandon outer districts rather than fight.

Death-Bloom

Death-Blooms drift in corpse pits, ruin gardens, and damp cellars that still hold shade. They lure prey with sweet rot scent, then lash and hold until the target stops moving. Burn crews try to destroy them quickly, but smoke can carry the lure downwind, so some forts restrict open burning during certain wind weeks.

Doppelshade

Doppelshades hunt where law is concentrated: watch posts, barracks halls, registry offices, and quarantine gates. They copy voices with perfect tone and issue orders that sound lawful and urgent. They redirect patrols, split guards, and create official-looking confusion, then kill after control is lost. This has pushed border towns toward countersigns, written repeats, and sealed message tubes, but mistakes still happen.

Regional Meaning

The Plaguelands sit at the center of the continent’s crisis. They forced every realm to build water law, quarantine doctrine, and border fort networks. They also gave every institution a reason to control people through ration access. The perimeter holds most days, but wind, insects, and fear cross borders every season. The continent survives through accounting, force, and denial, and the Plaguelands keep proving that survival has a cost.