The Blasted Lands bears that name for a reason: the area was twisted by the magic that brought the Dark Portal into being, spewing the rampaging Horde out onto Azeroth.

This wasted desert of red clay is home to the original Dark Portal. The portal still stands, and leads to Draenor (used to lead to Outland). Nethergarde Keep, a Stormwind fortress of dour mages and paladins, keeps watch over the portal and the demons and ogres that would abuse its power.

Now, the wretched land hosts few inhabitants and no significant settlements. Magic that leaked through the Dark Portal warped the Blasted Lands, leaving an infertile desert landscape. Hardy desert species like Basilisks, Scorpions and Hyenas have since colonized the area. The red rocks of the region do not come by their color naturally. The original tan color was transmuted into the unearthly crimson by searing heat and chaotic energies when the Dark Portal was destroyed.

There is but one usable road in the Blasted Lands, guarded at the north by Nethergarde Keep's grim mages. They have the unenviable task of watching the Dark Portal, guarding the rest of the continent from the demons in the south and protecting themselves from the ogre tribes that roam the desert. The weather here is dry and hot during the day and bitterly cold at night. Mountains block any moisture that may come from the Swamp of Sorrows to the north, and no rivers grace this land. The eastern coast will occasionally get storms from the sea, but these downpours come so quickly the water merely runs off the packed earth and back into the sea.

The keepers of Nethergarde have an uptight and uncheerful disposition that seems appropriate in light of the danger they face daily. The warriors and mages fight every day with the ogre magi and demons that threaten either to destroy the keep or take over the Dark Portal. This tightly knit community experiences little crime, however. Those found breaking the agreements they take on when accepting a post at the Keep are sent for a time to the Stockade in Stormwind. These mages cannot afford any dissension in the ranks. If you must visit the Blasted Lands, remember that the Nethergarde mages are the only hospitable people in the entire region for Alliance. And they're not even that hospitable.