The Winter of Ash
The Dragon’s Realm, though naturally inhospitable, follows a rhythm of semi-regular seasons. During the cold season, there is no snow—only ash. As the air cools, it loses its ability to support the ash, which then condenses into a muddy mess that drifts down, smothering anything that attempts to live above ground.
Winds occasionally scour the landscape, shifting the ash into great drifts, especially between the two riges of the Dragon's Spine mountains.
Diggers tunnel through the ash, expanding existing surface entrances to maintain access to the air above. Those of the Dragon’s people who walk along the top of the ash report that the air is so clear during the worst of the Winters that it is almost impossible to breathe.
Manifestation
For Westerners
Imagine snow. Now imagine it is black and gray, thick and heavy—much heavier than snow. Smothering like a blanket. Now imagine the fall is not measured in inches, but in feet. And it doesn’t melt in the Summer.
This is the Winter of Ash.
The first came within a few months of the Explosion of the Dragon's Mount, but it has continued almost every Winter since, gradually burying anything on the plains in ash.
The people of the Eastern Continent are adapted to breathing a certain level of ash mixed with the air. However, they cannot breathe the ash in its condensed Winter solid form. To them, walking outside during the Winter is like walking on the top of a high mountain for us, because they do not have enough of what they need to breathe.
For Easterners
During the Winter of Ash, the ash condensces and lays along the ground, leaving the air devoid of this life-giving substance.
Remember to carry a breathing aparatus with you if you go to the surface in Winter. You'll be able to refill your tank from the condensced ash, but you'll need to heat it so that it becomes breathable.
Localization
The Winter of Ash phenomenon only exists within the veil of the Dragon's Realm.
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