Empty Quarter

Elan nok Vircas, the land where no rivers flow, is the largest desert on Aiaos, occupying the western end of Suto. Because it accounts for approximately one-fourth of the land in the continent, but less than a twentieth of the population, it is often called the Empty Quarter. The region is loosely divided into four parts: The Tooth Coast, the Cloud Shore, the Sand Sea and the Scrub Margins.
The Scrub Margins lie in the western lowlands of the Central Mountains. They are arid, but with their tough vegetation and scattered oases are positively verdant by the standards of the quarter. Close to the boundary with the Sand Sea, the Great Oasis is a vast pool, its shores clustered with trading posts and campsites claimed by the various tribes and sodalities of the quarter. The largest of these is almost a city, the non-partisan gathering place of Oagapa (city of all communities.)
Beyond the Oasis, the rolling, ever-shifting dunes of the Sand Sea stretch away to the wavering horizon. The only permanent structure in the region is Apexi Gond (the crown of Gond) a magnificent funerary structure of a long-lost culture. The Apexi is considered a place of ill-omen and avoided by the nomads of the desert - mostly the hardiest of the goliath sodalities - but a constantly changing collection of tents always clusters around the crescent lake called Marestes' Bow, which lies below the mausoleum. Although often half-empty, the Bow is still the only body of water in the Sand Sea. In the belly of Marestes' Bow is the Inteka, a broad platform of unweathered stone. It acts as a focal point and meeting place for the visiting bands, and gives its name to the ever-shifting community.
The northern coast of the quarter is a long stretch of open sands, broken by occasional stacks of rock. Longshore drift pushes the edge of the sand ever westward, until it forms a spit against one of the stacks, forming the pattern that gives the Tooth Coast its name.
Three of the largest stacks form the Trident, sheltering a natural harbour which has been deepened and reinforced over the centuries. The harbour wall between the outer prongs of ther Trident and the lighthouse at the end of the central tine are considered wonders of goliath construction. The port city of Primak (city of the trident) is the sole major settlement on the Tooth Coast, a great sprawl of whitewashed, square dwellings, dominated by the tall, slender spires of the mist catchers, complex, multi-chambered towers which catch and condense the night mists to provide fresh water to the city. The Cloud Shore, as one might expect, draws more sea mist even than the north. It has no rivers or oases, but the dunes bristle with mist-catchers. Small clusters of these towers mark neutral ground where all may safely camp, and doing violence around a catch pool or interfering with a catcher is an unforgivable act, inviting censure by every tribe, band and sodality in the desert. No-one is more hated in the quarter than a water criminal. Larger clusters of mist catchers mark the the ports of the Cloud Shore. Culastale (city of the dolphin) is home to a large population of water genasi who maintain links with the plane of Water. Its architecture is the same style as Primak or the smaller communities of 'the Coast,' but Harak (city of stories) stands out much more. Harak was founded by and is still home to Aiaos's largest gnome population. Its buildings - some small, others large enough for goliath occupation - have a distinctive beehive structure. The city is dominated by the Cloud Tower, a huge mist-catcher which supports and supplies the campus of the Lyka Harast, the 'garden of stories,' largest and most prestigious academy in Juto.

Type

Badlands