The Lost Land is the way it is now because of actions of a rogue wizard. The disgruntled, but powerful mage had been kicked out of the Brimstone Academy for tampering with forbidden magic, in particular time magic.
Time Magic was one of the forbidden arts of the Guild, along with other similar forms of magic that posed a significant threat to the continued existence to life. Thinking his potential as a wizard was being wasted, he left the Academy in anger, declaring he would be back to bring vengeance upon them. It did take him a long time but after twenty years of raiding ancient tombs, he managed to find a scrap of paper of how to learn time magic in an old tomb. Thinking he had found his way to take revenge, he quickly made haste to the makeshift tower he had set up on the island, if he tested it anywhere on the mainland, the guild would know immediately.
His first test was to attempt to summon the ancient lich king to bring about a new era of darkness. However things were not fated to go as he had planned. For it seemed the scrap of paper was left almost as a joke, with large reptilian creatures pouring through the portal and swiftly overrunning him and his tower. The creatures from the past swiftly took over the entire island and it was several years before anybody found out. At this point, an expedition was mounted by a group of towns in the area, as they feared the creatures might spread to the mainland.
After several attacks and numerous casualties, it was instead agreed that while they couldn’t kill all the creatures, they would build several forts on the island that would go on routine hunting trips to keep the population in check. Hunting these creatures has now become a very popular sport, and is commonly considered a rite of passage into adulthood in the area.
