The Real Growlerville 3 : Glitch
(A first hand account by investigative journalist, Mr. E)
Recap about The Forbidden Zone:
For most of the historic past, the Forbidden Zone was actually that: forbidden. Remember from my post Silent Falls & The Noise Thief that no one was permitted to enter it. Only for the highest elders who sought to make peace with the incredible forces known to reside there were allowed entry.
However, when valuable and rare minerals were rumored to be easily available, it became acceptable to sneak into the Forbidden Zone to go treasure hunting.
The first substance of recognized value to be taken commercially was a gem called "Glitch." It's visual beauty is stunning, and an entire industry developed around mining this mineral and selling it as jewelry. But it was a perilous occupation, and many of these miners never returned from the Zone.
The government at first tried to protect the citizens from the apparent dangers of the Zone by increasing the penalties for illegal entry. This strategy boomeranged by driving the value of Glitch to new highs. Glitch jewelry became the fashion rage, and caused the number of arrests & imprisonments for illegal entry to the Forbidden Zone to skyrocket, leading to a political movement which would drastically change the way society viewed the Zone.
The Ancient Huhu Council finally reversed itself and declared the area open to anyone foolish enough to enter. The government strongly advised against entry, and provided free counseling to anyone who felt compelled to go in, but there would be no more punishments.
As it became widely available, the value of Glitch collapsed to the point where today the mineral is no longer considered valuable, except as antique jewelry.
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The new law opened the eyes of a young Oldold, who had been perfecting processes involving the creation of substances with encrusted properties. With a small handful of healing agents and undo enchantments as protection, Oldold entered the Forbidden Zone and started gathering information on every encrusted form he could identify. His findings led him to believe that society would someday benefit from the proper harnessing of forces available in the Zone. The Oldold Institute was founded with this purpose in mind.
Nowadays most keep their distance from the Forbidden Zone. The huge statues, although 
they look ancient, are really very new, put up to remind wandering Growlers that they're too close to the Zone.
The Growlers themselves lobbied for the statues when it became apparent that they were by far the biggest victims of the Forbidden Zone, mostly a result of unintentional wandering.