Cataclysm

Just over 1000 years ago the world suddenly became profoundly more dangerous. The details of how and why vary from culture to culture, but they all agree on the timeline and the sharpness of the change. Several cultures and powerful figures banded together and retreated to what is now known as the civilised lands. In the process of their retreat, a great magic was worked upon the land and the artificial northern extension to the mountain range was created from open plains. This was a formidable magic that cost the vigour, health, or even lives of countless powerful magicians, clerics, and druids and it scars the land to this day.