Dunes of Sölplanes

Why and how would you live in such an unfriendly place; it almost feels like it's trying to make you leave.

— an outsider

Geography

The Sölplanes covers a large portion of the Iraian lands, and the desert doesn't reach beyond the borders of Irai. It is located in western Irai, and spans across the midlands of the continent where it begins to fade into lowlands, and grassy hills. The Sölplanes are mostly made of rocky stone plateaus, sand seas, dunes, salt flats and gravel plains.

The western areas have sparse vegetation, such as small shrubs, trees and grasslands, and are generally more abundant with life and animals than further inland. Being close to the ocean in the west, a cold breeze tends to find its way to land, cooling the scorching sands.
Further south, the climate is cooler and humidity is higher, making plant life easier.

Climate

The central area of the planes is where the absence of clouds is most noticeable;

with almost 70% of all daytime hours being bright sunshine, the area is almost always under the scorching rays of the sun.

Direct sunlight, and thermal radiation makes the sand extremely hot, and can give you burns if you touch it for too long. The coastal areas, however, does get more of a cloadcover because of the humid air that travels from the west and culminates with dry air in the sölpanes.
Rainfall is extremely sparse in the center areas, and are almost nonexistent, here it is mostly, again, the western coastal area and the southern area that gets the occasional rainfall.
The primary source of water around the desert villages comes from the southern mountains bordering the desert; which is the beginning of the Moon trail mountains.

Temperature

Because of the unhindreded sunlight around the center most area of Sölplanes, the temperatures are record high in these areas, and doesn't diverge too much during the different seasons.

During the day, temperatures can get up to almost 45-50 degrees celsius, topping with a record high at around 55 degrees celsius.

But because of the almost nonexistent cloudcover, warmth that was "collected" during the day quickly disperse into the atmosphere and away from the ground. That in turn makes the nights significantly colder than daytime, with an average temperature of around 10-20 degrees celsius.
At nighttime is when most water wapor trapped in the sand gets to cool of and get liquid, making small pools in the lowlands around the south-western parts of Sölplanes - sometimes these water holes are found in other parts as well.

Weather phenomenons

The extremely high temperatures that occurs around the dunes makes for some interesting phenomenons not observed anywhere else.
When wind picks up and disturbes sand and rubble around the desert, dunes are mostly what is formed, displaying beautiful wave-like patterns and making the sand move almost like water. But when both wind and temperature collides, something even stranger happens; Sölpearls. Well, that is at least the name Iraians have given the small clumbs of sand.

Like rolling a snowman, the wind blows across the small sand grains, and the high temperature makes their surfaces melt together, forming small balls of sand grain.

Conditions tends to be just right generally around 2 times a year - fortunelaty! Don't want to get covered in melted sand balls everytime you walk outside your home!

Location

In the lands of Irai

Animals and plants

Hardy and tough animals are mostly what is found in the planes; animals that have adjusted themselves to the harsh surroundings. But, the animal and vegetation abundance is much larger than first anticipated by old explorers of the dunes.
Small animals, as well as large, have found this area to be their home for many decades, and they might not even be as hardy looking as we first thought they had to be to survive.

Old nations

Desert and sandy dunes are often thought of as barren, harsh, and empty landscapes, and has been portrayed as such by many visitors. Many writings of the desert have been written through history, and generally the older writings talks of an inhabitable place. Though many cultures and nations have lived in the plains throughout Aewyns history, many avoided the harsh lands in older times, thinking nothing really was able to survive in such landscapes.
Because of the dry climate in the Söplanes, structures from old times are preserved rather well. Ruins of old cities and temples have been found throughout the plateaus, some in better condition than others, buried below meters of sand and rubble.
The Sölplanes have belonged to and have been rules by many, but the most prominent and largest nation and culture to ever have called this their home was the Tri'in. Their kingdom spanned throughout the desert, connecting even the farthest corners of the planes. Temples, structures and large cities has been uncovered throughout Irai, seemingly belonging to this culture. Their building techniques are unique, but not completely unseen; moderns building techniques in Irai seem to stem from this long-gone civilization.