The Boneyard

The Boneyard is a land of shifting mists and gloom, inhabited by lost souls who cannot find a way to the afterlife. It is lorded over by a spirit that takes the shape of a large skeletal Dragon, who guards the souls and tries to guide them to proper rest.

History
A great monster and a hero battled within Zanaris, the nexus of worlds, equally matched; they both perished. Just before dieing, the magic of the duel tore a rift in the fabric of Zanaris, transporting the two combatants to the darkness of the voidal realm; damning their souls to drift in nothing until the end of time. Upon death, the monster was freed from the hatred that its blood had bestowed upon it, and was able to regret its actions. The two souls drifted apart in different directions, never to see eachother again. Eventually, after an eternity of regret, the soul of the beast drifted upon a nebula, an oasis in a sea of darkness. Finding power in a birthplace of the stars, the creature's soul melded with the primal force, becoming a spirit. Seeking redemption for the crimes of the past, the newly risen spirit sought a new purpose. Finding none, the spirit waited for fate to decide. In time, a physical plane began to take shape around the spirit, moulding into a land of mist and rock. This place became a land of death, where lost souls began to find themselves appearing in. Taking pity on the dead, the spirit began to help them find their prefered afterlives, and accepted this as his new role. It did not take long for necromancers to find this world and attempt to abuse it for their own purposes. The necromancers did not consider the consequences and upon entering the new realm; withered and wasted away to nothing in moments, as it was discovered that nothing living can survive in the realm, ending up trapped as lost souls themselves. Enraged by this, the spirit denied the abusers aid in finding a path to afterlife. It was soon that more powerful beings began to assault this new ground rich with souls, and the spirit continues relentlessly to defend this world from liches and worse.

Physical
The Boneyard is a depressing and gloomy land of rocky spires, plains of gravel, and towering mountains; all encompassed by a thick blanket of fog with bones scattered across the ground. It is hard to say what may be found here within the shifting mists. The most inhabited spot is a great expansive plain of flat gravel, where many of the souls may be found wandering through the fog, as well as the spirit himself. Without guidance, it is easy to lose one's self in the shifting veils of fog forever.

Magical
The Boneyard acts like an airlock between worlds and realms, much like Zanaris, but for those no longer living. The fabric of its existence does not allow the living to tread upon it, as it is a place of death where life can find no foothold.

Entering
Those who count themselves among the living have little hope of finding or entering this place, and those who do often find themselves joining the unfortunate souls that call the realm home. The living might enter and survive by preforming a ritual to the spirit, which will mimic the state of death. This ritual involves entrusting the spirit with a piece of the living's soul, so as to both mimic death and ensure the saftey of the lost souls; as few living people would enact transgressions against a creature that holds a piece of their existence. Other creatures, such as the undead or other spirits, may enter to use the realm as a way to transport themselves across the different planes of the universe, but under no circumstances are they abuse the lost souls: and upon doing so risk the wrath of the guardian.