Desert of Orun
A relatively small desert between Politer and Murtius in the Irawa Subu of northern Yaalk. The Orun is so hot, it is said it can suck the water from the man's blood in a matter of hours. Some of the most powerful armies in the history of the world have neglected or failed to cross the Cradle of Yaalk in conquest, and the Orun has sometimes been credited with this. Yet the desert is so small. Could the Orun have been larger in ancient times, preventing the Virtuosos of the Old Orckid Empire from expanding south, or the Paladins of the last Zaljan Crusade from expanding north? It cannot be said. But today, though the Orun is easy to avoid by anyone with a map or the wits to look about them, it remains a deadly home to scorpions, vultures, white manticores, sand wyrms, and supposedly more horrifying creatures not found outside the Shadowgates.