Durge

In the doom, evil covered the world. Those who wished to survive, burrowed underground. As the time passed, the evil pooled into areas now known as Durge. Durge is the name of any area where evil from the doom still persists. It is taboo for anyone to enter it. Ones who enter are cursed with lingering death. No human possesses sense to perceive Durge, not even those with blood of the warriors.

Nature of Durge

Durge is not well understood by schoolars of today. The sorcorers of old believed the truth behind the Durge should not be revealed to the people, and as such, there are no texts that explain the nature of it preserved within the empire. As such the scholars of the empire have been tacit in explanations of the Durge and only vague descriptions are available circuling amongst the adventurers. In most simple terms, Durge is an area saturated in evil magic. Durge is believed to be the cause of lingering death. Described as the unseen evil, Durge does not have any visable shape, it does not make any noise nor it has any smell or taste, and no one can feel it. The great thinkers have described durge as this unseen fog that slowly pools together, similarly to a condansate. It is thought that the evil unleashed in the doom once covered the entire planet, and through pooling together, cooled it down, plunging it into deep cold. Only with a century of sunlight, the world overcame the evil enough for the first lands in Topulan to be settled again. Ever since it is thought that the evil gets more and more concentrated in Durge, slowly pooling together to be more concentrated. The only reliable sign of durge is death.

Presence of Durge

Due to it being invisible, Durge is hard to detect. As such, any areas of Durge are marked by signs left by those who were lucky enough to notice the subtle signs of death around, or those unlucky enough to be cursed by lingering death. Before the empire, the wilderness was dangerous to explore, as those who would wander into the Durge would often never be seen again, as well as most of those that would look for them. Many signs still persist from the times before the empire, often first erected as tombstones. During the reign of the First Perduin, of the Vel dynasty, the empire used it's vast wealth and magics to draw the borders of Durge. This was possible due to support of the Hey Eye temple, as well as the sorcorous knowladge of the Vel dynasty. Through this effort, the guiding wands and jewel signs were first arteficed, and used to discover that most of the empires border was defined by the spread of Durge. Aside from the external border, there are pockets of Durge within the Empire as well, althought these are small and less common. In addition, Durge is sometimes found within vaults, and such vaults are called the Abyss.[/ p]  

Miscelannious facts

• Guiding wands are the only thing a regular person might have that could show the presence of the Durge.

• The border of the Empire is marked by the Gemwood totems. These are usually made into a white cross with a red light gemstone embedded into it, so it would be visible both in day time and night time.

• Beasts are life corrupted within the Durge, that breed and somehow persist within it.

• Mushroom forests have been rumored to grow within Durge.

• Durge can be trapped underneat the ground or within ice, and, when such places are disturbed, Durge can be released back into the world.