Aliant was a town in southern Enroth, located west of what would later become the Mire of the Damned. Shortly before the Silence, a group of bandits passed by the town with a weapon they had stolen from the Ancients. They were caught by the local authorities, and the mayor, Alan, held onto the weapon for safekeeping.
Alan had a son, Michael, who was working his way up the ladder of the military, and a daughter, Alanna, whose beauty was the envy of every young woman in the kingdom. One night, Alanna was found murdered outside the council meeting hall, and the grieving father received a message that accused his fellow council members of the crime. He ordered the five elders put to death, and while one of them was executed, the other four escaped to Vissias.
Alan and his forces followed them, demanding that the Vissians hand over the "killers", but they refused, and fighting broke out. When Michael was killed in the battle, Alan became blinded by grief and rage and activated the Ancient weapon.
"The wrath of heaven poured out of the artifact, instantly slaying both armies to a man and filling the land with poison. Fire rained onto the town of Aliant, burned the green fields of Vissias, and wrought ruin for hundreds of miles around. Uninhabitable for centuries, the formerly lush lands of Vissias and Aliant became the vast desert known now as Dragonsand."