Description:

Ringed in by a stringy, thick welt of rainforest, the Wastes of the Lost are the last-standing ruins of a village that no one remembers, called Mabalk Village. Explorers often come by it completely on accident, and seldom ever find it again, as though it is a place only meant for those who truly need it.
The village itself is overgrown and almost blackened, but neither from ash nor scorch, the plants are simply darker than the surrounding forest despite being bare to the sun. Vines and ivy creep up the half-disassembled homes, with only foundations, supports, and rubbles of walls and roofs the last remaining tell that there was ever a house there. No other signs of life dwell there, save for the flora.

Landmarks:

• Mabalk Totems: The standing sign that names the town; otherwise, no one would know the name. The totempole is extended with unknown creatures with familiar features, like a twisted spire of a world that doesn't exist in Maquraq.
• The Eye of the Village: Whether the marble and rotted-wooden building was once a church or a town hall, the ruins of a great tower and long building still remain. On the very top of the dirty, marble tower is a stained dome of glass or gem, and a single, square-framed, rainbow-faceted carving on its sunrise side, depicting an all-seeing eye.
• The Crescent Wall: A long, curving cobblestone wall on the far east side of the village, riddled with ivy, monstera plants, and bizarre, glowing mushrooms... Maybe don't eat the mushrooms, though.

Lore:

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• Spiritualists who have witnessed this mystical place believe it was an angry spirit that drove the village to be abandoned (though none can agree as to whom it was), while historians who have come across it believe that it was disease who destroyed the village, and the jungle and weather simply overtook what was left.
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• Rumor tells that if one's eyes water upon breeching the fog due to the shock of the chill, it means the malevolent spirit who is thought to have desecrated the village is nearby.
• Many in the region believe that, rather than just bad navigational skills, the village ruins are only a place the lost can find, which is why its mythical presence has been dubbed "Wastes of the Lost."
• The animals on the totem are debated to be depictions of spirits or maybe animals from another dimension and witnessed in a thin veil between worlds, which is why the animals have features of known rainforest fauna, but not the same entirety.


Original location inspiration by ToothyApocalypse
Location art by --