Dead Zones

Geological / environmental event

Entire stretches of land become lifeless — no wind, no decay, just silence. Crops refuse to grow. Wind halts. The ground becomes eerily still in small pockets scattered across the land. Some villages evacuate; others vanish.

Across the known world, strange and silent patches of land begin to manifest. These “dead zones” are marked by unnatural stillness — no wind stirs, no animals cross their borders, and even decay halts within them. Crops rot in place without withering. Fires refuse to catch. Sound seems muffled, and spells become erratic or fail entirely.   At first, these areas are small and scattered: an acre of farmland, a section of forest, a dried-up river bend. But the phenomenon grows.   Villages located near these zones begin to evacuate, fearing illness or curses. Others vanish entirely, swallowed by the quiet. Survivors speak of strange dreams, shadowy figures at the edge of their vision, and whispers in languages no one knows.   Though alarming, many rulers and scholars downplay or conceal the severity, hoping to avoid panic. These dead zones mark the first undeniable physical signs of the Darkness’s encroachment, though at the time, few recognize their true nature.