The Scar

The area known as the Scar is a stretch of land in eastern Avas that cuts a swathe of arid wasteland between the Harrowfaust to the north and the Iron Principalities to the south.

It is believed that in ancient times, well before recorded history, the Scar was a fertile region of gentle hills and copses of elm trees. However, a catastrophe of epic proportions dubbed the Rain of Fire forever changed the landscape when a strange, unnatural meteor exploded in the sky above what would soon become the Scar, raining death and destruction down upon it. The debris shattered the land, burning away trees, vegetation, and arable soil, leaving behind a corrupt and smoking ruin. The destruction did not end with the meteor shower, however, as shortly thereafter the impact craters that dotted the devastated landscape disgorged bizarre metal monsters of horrifying power to wreak havoc across the Scar.

Though little is understood regarding the mysteries of the Scar even today, scholars believe that the meteors that fell during the Rain of Fire were not, in fact, meteors at all, but the shattered remnants of an immense, otherworldly vessel. Reports from explorers who have dared the strange metallic caverns of the Scar support this theory, noting that the "caverns" were obviously constructed by intelligent hands and contained unfathomably complex machinery of unknown purpose, guarded by the same strange metal creatures that were seen wandering the Scar after the Rain of Fire.

In addition to the immediate destruction wrought during the Rain of Fire and the depredations of the metal monsters that followed, the fallen debris has corrupted the land. Mysterious fluids leaking from the debris seeps into the ground, while the smoke billowing from chunks of smoldering wreckage poison the air, and a deadly, invisible energy surrounds some of the larger fragment which sickens and eventually kills those who spend too much time nearby.

Today, the Scar is populated by tribes of nomadic barbarians, horribly mutated creatures, and half-mad wizards determined to harness the enigmatic powers of the wasteland.

## Inhabitants of the Scar

Most of the people living in the Scar are members of the common races of Avas. However, the wasteland is home to a disproportionate number of goblins, leading some to posit that the goblin homeland is found somewhere in the lands of Scar.

The Scar is also home to a rare and unique race of humanoids: the androids. Over the centuries since the devastation of the Scar, these artificial humans have occasionally crawled from the wreckage of the vessel that fell to earth during the Rain of Fire; naked and devoid of all memories. Superficially identical to humans with tattoo-like circuitry that covers their skin, androids are entirely artificial creatures, made up of materials that mimic the properties of human flesh and bone. Most of the world's android population remains in the Scar, though even there they are rare, and it is believed that only a few hundred such people exist in the whole of Avas.

The principle inhabitants of the Scar are members of nomadic tribes that wander the wasteland, seeking out scarce game amid the blasted desert. While some of these tribes are little different from the desert nomads of the Sea of Dust or Kemet, others are strange and terrible packs of mutants that stalk the wastes, picking off lone travelers and those who linger too far behind their fellows with crude but effective longrifles.

## Skymetals and Star Fluids

While the barren landscape of the Scar is nearly devoid of arable land or natural resources, the wasteland is Avas's primary source of skymetals and star fluids.

Skymetals are seven rare metals with unique and useful properties. Of these, adamantine is the most common, and can be found in limited natural deposits across Avas. However, the other skymetals are only found in the Scar, harvested from the debris that is scattered across the wasteland. Smiths across Avas covet such metals, and pay exorbitant fees to acquire them, so much that braving the dangers of the wasteland in search of valuable fragments has become a common occupation in the Scar.

Star Fluids are strange liquids that seep from the wreckage that fell during the Rain of Fire. Engine fluid, coolant, hydraulic fluids, and other substances mix together in pools of noxious chemicals, further transformed by the radiation that permeates such concentrations of debris. While these fluids are often highly poisonous and no more useful or powerful than crude oil, others possess potent - and even sometimes desirable - properties. Some of the Scar's inhabitants have developed a taste for star fluids, eventually becoming addicted to the exotic liquids, which often leads to disastrous consequences for the imbiber.