The Dozarin Desert

The great and vast center of Chulan was once a land of fertile plains. The first step towards the great change that the land would undergo was the impact of a great meteor near the River Kovano, creating what is known today as Tralathi Bay. The tsunamis and earthquakes caused by this meteor devastated the Izkesh, who were wiped out entirely, the Sulkesh, who were forced to move further inland to avoid being washed away, and the Lokians.
Over time, a great heatwave and drought in the center of the continent would turn the lands around Tralathi Bay and the River Kovano to a vast desert, known today as the Dozarin Desert. The peoples on the northern and southern sides of the desert avoided what they saw as a vast and dangerous wasteland, creating a deep divide between the two halves of the continent. The desert was not nearly such a wasteland as those who dwelled outside it believed, however. On the contrary, the desert teemed with life! Unique animals such as rattlesnakes, Dozarin lizards, and desert hares all lived within the dunes. And over time, a unique sentient species developed - the Pukuin, commonly called gnomes.
Legend has it that the Pukuin were brought to this planet by the great meteor that formed Tralathi Bay. It would not be surprising if they had stowed away on the meteor - they are small and adept at burrowing, making them highly suited for life in the Dozarin. Their facility at burrowing led them to spread across nearly the entirety of the desert, though they primarily lived underground. The great center of Pukuin civilization and culture, however, was the vast subterranean city of Pezkic. Pezkic stretches nearly fifteen miles across and almost a mile down into the earth at its deepest point, yet if seen from above it seems to be little more than a small collection of huts. The Pukuin have always enjoyed disguising one thing to look like another, and nowhere is this more evident than in Pezkic.
Some Pukuin found that they enjoyed wandering above ground more than burrowing beneath it, and over time they evolved into the group that today calls themselves the Zepiya, also known as halflings. The Pukuin and desert-dwelling Zepiya still enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship - the Zepiya collect the food and resources they find while traveling through the desert and trade it to their underground cousins, while the Pukuin provide water and magical items to the people they still regard as their "little siblings".
Today, the Dozarin Desert is still seen to be as dangerous and inhospitable as ever. The Pukuin still inhabit their ancient burrows, though some of them have been expanded to accommodate larger species who have become valuable trading partners, especially Thavuni and humans, who both enjoy the ingenuity of the Pukuin. The Zepiya still wander, though their lands have expanded from just the desert to all over the planet, starting with what they refer to as the Long March. The Zepiya of the settlement of Uelkina would even take to the seas, colonizing the Ainathi islands and coming into conflict with the aquatic Kaaleesh.

Type

Desert

Location under

Chulan