The Magic Zone is perhaps the most feared range of land in all of North America. The entire landscape is dominated by mist-haunted forest. The red and white oak trees native to the region have been changed by the eldritch power of the ley-lines, and have grown to enormous sizes, unchecked for over 200 years. There are few roads, and those that exist, are always secret and often watched. The wild, far-ranging land that lays unclaimed by Federation Lords is dominated by the supernatural, many of which are demons and monsters that are fiercely territorial. Nearly every creature stalking beneath the shadowy canopy of the Magic Zone can see the invisible, and has excellent skills of perception, many of which are magical in nature. The wild things of the Magic Zone are almost uniformly cunning and furtive, ambushing travelers with a deadly efficiency.
Traveling the Magic Zone is always a long and harrowing endeavor. There is a quietude and sense of surveillance, which is almost maddening. Making travel even worse is the fact that the Magic Zone is huge, and getting anywhere usually at least 4-5 days. This raises the inevitable dilemma of sleeping in the Zone. Only those in large numbers, or beings of uncommon power, dare risk sleep in the forests. Most march relentlessly until they reach civilization. Unfortunately independent communities are isolated and vulnerable, and nearly always temporary, as places without a powerful benefactor, are often subsumed silently, into the darkness of the Magic Zone, and then quickly forgotten.
This leaves the dreaded kingdoms of the Lords of the Federation as the only measure of refuge for travelers. Yet the hospitality and tender mercies of the Lords of the Federation is well known to even the average Coalition citizen. The myths and tales of the horror endured by those living under the thralldom of Dunscon, and his Federation Lords is often in some measure true. Life with the borders of the Magic Zone is almost always desperate, terrorizing and often futile.
Those accounted as strangers to the Magic Zone, would do well to find a guide. Many are charlatans, who prey upon the innocent, but trustworthy guides do exist, and it would behoove travelers to acquire their services if they have interest in living. A good guide will know his way through the illusion-cloaked mazes of the northern Magic Zone, where the Lords D’Zir make their home. Sensible guides will take their charges on the paths of the Magic Zone Periphery, the lands closest to the borders. The reason this is, is because even the most travel experienced Wilderness Scouts, and Momano Headhunters will avoid the Deep Magic Zone, the shadowed core of the Ohio Valley. This region is the hell so often described by survivors of the Magic Zone. The Deep Magic Zone is vast and it’s dangers are many and perilous. Yet at uttermost need, a veteran guide can take (though not safely) a group of travelers through the Deep of the Magic Zone. The core of the Zone is home to the Lanotaur clans and the hunting grounds of the Corrupt. Marking the innermost sanctums of the Deep Zone is the Kingdom of Dunscon and the land Soul Harvest. Accounted the best for such journeys are Psi-Stalkers, Native Americans, and Wilderness Scouts. However, Momano Headhunters have developed a high regard as the best choice among guides. They often have the equipment, and mystical resources necessary to adequately deal with perils of the Zone. Better still are the mythical Battle Magi, the hidden sentinels of northern Magic Zone. They are rare to find, strange and difficult to treat with, but are always truehearted and deeply loyal.
The Ohio Valley, and the Magic Zone is a haunting place of beauty and unnatural darkness. It is a labyrinthine maze of silent, forested darkness. Travel by conventional means is often necessary, but should be undertaken with only the utmost caution and preparedness. It is an experience only the most canny and quick-witted adventurers can survive. Those who call the Zone home often believe that the land itself is almost sentient, marking those who wander it. They even say that eventually, the forest will claim those who tarry. Even the Lords of the Federation who claim dominion over the Zone do not trust their homeland, and neither should those who are strangers to it. Sound advice to travelers would be; find a guide and simply pray for deliverance, for you have been warned…