#178 Devilglass Dunes

Age: 3,000 Years

Hidden or Lost?: No

History: The rolling scarlet berms of the Devilglass Dunes look at first blush like a blood-stained desert made of red rock sands. However, as many poor explorers have discovered, the crimson dust known as ‘devilglass’ is actually a form of microscopic, razor-sharp crystal. Worse still, it’s haunted by the ancient essence of a brimstone anti-god.

The dunes were first discovered by modern civilizations around 500 years ago when a group of hapless cartographers came upon the red sands. Eager to study the ruby dunes, most of the party recklessly trekked in and quickly fell victim to the disintegrating effects of the devilglass, bleeding out from every inch of their skin, their bodies consumed by the hungry sand. Luckily a handful of their group were able to escape their comrades’ terrible fate and press deeper into the crimson hills to record some of the strange sights within its borders.

At the heart of the dunes is a mausoleum known as the Anti-God’s Shrine, an ancient tomb covered in decaying murals that are believed to tell the story of the desert’s origin. As the timeworn artworks show, the Devilglass Dunes were once verdant farmlands, blessed by the harvest goddess, Bloom. A gentle and nurturing deity, Bloom became the target of a cult devoted to the Anti-God.

This terrible demonic titan convinced the cultists to summon their lord in the flesh, but they would require the blood of another god, and Bloom seemed to be an easy target. The harvest anima was wounded by the raging cultists who took her blood and bid the Anti-God appear. The nethertitan grew from the offered holy blood, a towering monstrosity that threatened to devour the world. The wounded Bloom and the newborn Anti-God clashed, and in the end, the fecund goddess sacrificed herself to cleanse the demonic tyrant. In doing so, she reduced the demon’s soul to a strange, potent seed, while the body of the Anti-God shattered into a rain of devilglass, forming the dunes that remain today.

The Anti-God’s corrupting influence still clings to its particulate remains, and it has drawn a bevy of dangerous beings to the dunes to call home. There are the Distillers of Agony, poisonmakers who create droughts from the suffering of those who fall victim to the sands. One can also find blood beetles, giant insects that create tinkling orbs of lacerating devilglass, rolling them across the dunes until they shatter into highly sought after dagger-like gems.

But the true mystery of the Devilglass Dunes lies in the Anti-Bloom Seed. Sitting within a sealed temple, no one knows what new being will grow from it should it be placed within the devilglass sands. With luck, the world may never know.

1. The Cursed Pass

2. The Hellstones

3. Anti-God’s Shrine

4. Gleam’s Rise

5. Devouring Canyon

6. Demonbone Mound

7. Death’s Slope

8. Agony’s Distillery

9. Bleeding Sink

10. Old Field Hill

11. Temple of the Anti-Bloom Seed

12. The Crimson Ridge

13. Devil’s Jewel

14. The Secret Dome

15. Hidden Canyon Pass

16. Bloom’s Rest