Crag

The Crag is a massive crevice that was formed during the Sundering, which split the Burning Mountain and the entire region of the Lowwind Hills in two, dividing the region and cutting off the western and central parts of Terragard.

History
When the Sundering occurred, there were only a few modern settlements in Terragard in the resource-rich western regions, which were closest to known civilizations across the sea and thus easiest to colonize. The formation of the Crag cut off any means of travel to the rest of the continent by foot, except through the Burning Mountain - which became a dangerous area for everyone around this time, with the destruction of the dwarven city within, and the awakening of the Rhaegos Red Dragon.

Thus, the western lands of Terragard remained cut off from the east, and most kingdoms were happy to settle with the resource-rich regions in the east, with no shortage of food and fresh water as well as rich mines of rare metals and gems. Travel around the Crag proved difficult, it effectively cut off all land travel and travel via ocean to the north lead to the newly-formed Skylands, where the mountains had upturned and took flight into the sky. This region was feared by sailors, as the ocean was being pelted with loose stone and earth falling from the floating motes for many years after this and it made waterborne travel dangerous. Travel via Sea to the south was also avoided, as it meant sailing near the civilization settled in the Flooded Plains, known to be technologically advanced, and more importantly - hostile to outsiders. Most civilizations' attentions were too occupied by political conflict within in the region to effectively expand eastward regardless.

The crag opened up spreading the land miles apart, and proved an almost insurmountable challenge to overcome, it took decades, maybe even centuries, for anyone to construct anything to traverse its width. Not until ages later was Fort Desolation built, and provided a safe way to cross for settlers and traders.

The Inquisition and the Bridge of Borgod
After the inquisition was founded, their primary task was to identify the cause of The Sundering, and of the many locations they investigated, the Crag was one of them. Paths were constructed, and in some cases. Several groups and expeditions began to traverse these paths, but most didn't return. It wasn't until after the inquisition declared the Crag as too dangerous for exploration that efforts were made to cross the gap, the inquisition had already gone half way, and so they found a way back up the other side in order to finally bridge the gap.

Creating a bridge was not easy, a suspended bridge spanning several miles had never been done before, but there were a few successful attempts, the real challenge was keeping the hill giants from destroying it once they were done. After many attempts of engineering, and several significant losses to the hill giants raids, the inquisition abandoned their attempts to bridge the gap. By this time the dwarves in the Burning mountain had begun rebuilding and now had a new forge unlike any other in history, powered by a dragon. The inquisition agreed to support the dwarves' rebuilding efforts in exchange for the use of their vast raw materials recently exposed by the Sundering and their metalworks, in order to construct a solid metal bridge.

After several years, the dwarves were able to provide everything the inquisition had asked for and more. The largest single piece of metal ever created was forged deep within the Crag near the newfound city of Burningbor. In an effort unrivaled to this day in civilized society, dwarven mages shaped the earth to support this gargantuan metal ingot with two giant stone arms, and teleported millions of tons of metal into place, bridging the gap between the two sides of the Crag. This exchange between races is the most significant and most expensive exchange in recorded history, and solidified the relations between the withdrawn dwarven clans of Burning mountain, and the rest of the civilized raced of Terragard.

Fort Desolation
Now that the bridge had been built and could not be removed, the inquisition used their manpower and resources to build an iron fort on the metal bridge known as Fort Desolation, under the watch of the Inquisition of the Sacred Flame. After its construction, it proved to be a stalwart defense against any giant attacks, and acted as a gateway between western and eastern Terragard, leading to a new age of expansion and settlement. Settlers were able to expand eastward and found a rich land full of forests and valleys, as well as the largest lake ever known to the world - Lake Garrison.

Settlers quickly found an Elven civilization nearby, deep in the woods of the Reaching Forest, an elven conclave known as Everbranch. They were friendly, but cautioned the settlers against spreading too far too quickly, as the land was untamed and so too was the lake. Settlers began disappearing shortly after expansion, true to the elves word, and many blamed them for the disappearances. Not caring for the political trappings of dealing with a young civilizations till gaining a foothold in the region, the elves withdrew into Everbranch and the city disappeared for many years.

Expansion was successful and after a few generations, towns and settlements were growing and becoming well-established trade hubs and social havens brimming with possibility and adventure. Thus they remain to this day.