'What draws them to this place, I wonder. Is it the utter sadness that permeates this forsaken expanse? Does it call to them when they begin to feel the chill breath of death? Perhaps there is a wordless language spanning all species that speaks as the realm of Ahskul starts to beckon.'

- Kandake, dilettante and mage, upon observing a pile of Dragon bones on the Plains of Bone

After the Calamity struck the lands around the great Imperial city of Madrigos, only a dry, washed-out desert remained in place of the rolling plains and gentle hills of the region. The city itself was abandoned and following the chaotic first century post-Calamity, the Scortaur appeared and have infested its ruins ever since. The Plains of Bone is a veritable graveyard of creatures both large and small. Often, very old dragons come here to die, too, and challenge anyone they find there so that they would fall in battle. Those who dare risk entering can come back with a lot of valuable bone and ivory, but only if they do not run afoul of the Scortaur or some dying monstrosity. Such prospecting is frowned upon by the authorities in general, as it was proven it provokes the ire of the man-scorpions who in turn raid nearby realms.

The artwork for this place had to convey a feeling of sadness and abandonment, as well as show a large, open expanse where the constant chill breeze plays a strange dirge among the bone piles. Péter Kovács's work is, as always, extraordinary, and the illustration has a ton of character despite depicting a largely empty and dead location.

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