“ Historicly, we have had plenty of rl groups like the Taliban and the Puritans who supressed anything which was in any way fun. What if there was some group that was the opposite? (which in time would cause problems of it's own for the civilians under their control.)”
“ There is a land where every person wears spectacles. Those without eyeglasses are considered to be the lowest stratum of society, so adventurers without glasses are treated like outcastes. It certainly would explain those heroes wearing sunglasses for no apparent reason...”
“ The devil's wind. Explains why people become crazy. They are caught up in this wind which steals their sanity which in turn feeds the wind. The wind is a leftover from when the air elementals banded together in a mass army at one point to attack the True Gods. The wind is leftover of their attack route and on the anniversary of the battle the wind sweeps through causing the madness.”