The Treton Wasteland is a large area of the planet Lazarus, covering 5.4 million square kilometers. In the early days of the planet, it contained a rich jungle, teeming with life of all varieties. Species within the jungle were known to be very effective predators, as the area was extremely competitive evolutionarily. However, it was discovered that the ground under the jungle contained large deposits of galite.
Several affluent families which had settled on the planet began quarreling over the crystal, eventually hiring mercenaries and forming factions for control of the wealth. When the UPMW military attempted to step in, the families controlling the planet jointly declared it independent, as they knew if the UMPW took over they would all lose access to the mineral. Decades of fighting went on throughout the Treton Wasteland, and when heads of family died, they were succeeded by their children in leading their faction, creating a new form of monarchy.
The Treton Jungle (as it was then known) suffered through the conflict. Large swathes of the jungle were burnt or killed with chemicals to make mining easier and clear the deadly predators within, while other areas were killed in uneven splotches with chemical weapons during battle. Use of these weapons is considered a war crime in the UPMW and the galaxy at large.
The resulting effect transformed the jungle into the wasteland as it’s known today, but still containing sparse patches of greenery and jungle life. While these patches have slowly grown over the years, the surrounding soil was turned dry and rocky, not conducive to jungle plant life.
Eventually, the wasteland was plundered for all its resources, and was thus abandoned, existing as an unpleasant mass of land separating several of the Lazarian nations (as the factions had grown into nations at this point).
For some of the nations, the wasteland became a kind of holy site, a place to be used for rituals or tests. The former nation of Syleth, for example, ritually used the wasteland to execute their enemies, unless said enemies managed to make it back to civilization from an unknown location within the wasteland, in which case they were granted amnesty. It’s unknown exactly how many were put through this test and how many survived, but interviewed former Sylethian officials have estimated less than 3% survived.