Aan - Ateki

Aan - Ateki (Zean: The Great Eastern Desert) boasts approximately 1500 km² and covers the eastern part of the Zean continent, separated form the rest of the landmass by the Menas mountains. The desert's top layer is formed by fine white sand, forming mounds and shallow valleys, shifting each day in an uncanny manner even on windless days.
The desert makes no effort to let life develop, much less thrive. The temperatures fluctuate wildly from scorching heat during the day to frigid nights. No known sources of water exist within its vast emptiness. The only flora surviving in this hostile environment are fast-growing Erjat-Reh lichens. Their wide webs decay and are strewn around when the scalding tempertures and winds of the day come, only to start replicating as soon as the heat subsides. There is no known fauna occupying the desert, unless the Great Desert Hawk (Zean: Saj-Ataan) can be counted, as it sometimes roosts in the sparse vegetation between the mountain range and the sands.
Aan-Ateki is located in Nata-Kea territory. Few outsiders ventured into these parts, and on the surface it seems to be of no use to the tribe. Similarly to the deadly Jaba-Dal swamp in the west, its shape was confirmed by sea exploration, however the area itself is impossible to reliably map and may hide many secrets. While there are several Nata-Kea outposts on the eastern face of the Menas mountains, only one settlement, Safi-Tor, was built in the sands themselves.
Despite, or maybe because of its many unknowns the Great Eastern Desert is a common subject of superstition and gossip. The sands somtimes seem to act as a living being, and there are people who claim they saw blue streaks of Sefia running through the dunes and animating them to move with purpose. It remains to be seen whether those are just stories, some unexplained property of the supernatural material, or a cause for concern. In addition, only select few know about the spires of Sifi-Nor, an eerie, sealed city ruins in the southern part of the desert.