Axis was once the heart of the Creator Empire, a lush, verdant sub-continent of sculpted landscapes and towering spires, of domed cities and glittering webworks of hypersonic track. Once this was a paradise, a warm and fertile land dotted with glittering glass cities. This was the golden age of Rym, the Age of Reason, a time of wonderous insight and learning. Through their new sciences, the Creators sought to understand the purpose of their own existance, and to change the world itself rather than accept its hardships. They broke away from the guidance of their ageless parents, intent on controlling their own destiny, and in doing so drove a rift between the followers of logic and faith. In the end, after centuries of mounting hostility, the Creators resolved to build their own god, to fight a war on their behalf. They called it the Perfect Mind, a Pandora's Box of terrible knowledge. It was to be the end of their civilization.

        The capital of Axis was the city of Des, a gigantic domed metroplex housing millions. The sprawl surrounding the immense inner city towers measured a hundred miles across, much of it stacked in multiple layers, all connected by glass walkways and high-speed lifts. Four huge matter-conversion reactors provided the entire city with power, one in each major quadrant, buried deep beneath the earth. This was the cradle of the Perfect Mind, the great thinking machine that orchestrated the Twilight War and saw the mutual anihilation of both gods and Creators.

        Even now, thousands of years later, Axis is a silent, lifeless graveyard of rusting ruins half-buried beneath an ever-shifting desert. Sailors steer well clear of its blighted shores, fearing ghosts and ancient terrors beyond discription. Supposedly, nothing lives on Axis, but the continent still has inhabitants, such as the ancient Machines who served under the Creators in the time before the Twilight War. A detailed description of the Machines can be found here. Some of these devices, and indeed many of the ruins, are still in working order, maintained over the centuries by the undying servants of the dead empire. The vast majority are made of a strange blue-black metal called 'adamas', an alloy developed by the City Mind to withstand both time and magic.

SALT WASTES
These are bleak, blighted alkali plains left behind by the devastation of the ancient war. Worse than typical badlands, salt wastes are typically dotted with salt forests - the statue-like remains of living things consumed by Nigh's weaponry. Most of these faceless, wind-eroded pillars seem to lean away from a single central point; the heart of the continent. During the day, these barren plains literally bake.

SCORCHED EARTH
These vast regions of pale desert are poisoned with the energy residue of the ancient war, terrible radiations that can sap the life out of any living thing. Attempting to cross these deserts unprotected can result in all manner of withering diseases, which will seep into food and water as well. At night, these areas are easily seen from a distance, as they glow faintly in the dark.

REGIONAL ARCHITECTURE

        Before the twilight war, Axis was the most densely populated region in the northern hemisphere. Dozens of smaller cities surrounded the grand hub of Des, now laid to ruin and largely consumed by the desert. Everything has a distinctly art deco design - the Creators associated bigger with better, and even the ruins of their architecture are impressive. Signs of tremendous organization and planning are evident throughout even the most ruined structures, suggesting a civilization of tremendous, almost unearthly accomplishments. The only real native inhabitants are the Machines, who do not generally take well to outsiders. Packs of these half-crazed killing engines will occasionally assemble in ruined areas for reasons unknown, and destroy anything perceived as a threat.