Phalen Sands (Fay-lin Sands)

The Phalen Sands occupy a massive, shifting space over the breadth of Spahl (the continent to the east of Elotia, across the Strait of Aloc). While much of the Phalen Sands is nominally said to be within the borders of Fréole, this is largely because it has proven impossible to occupy any stretch of the Phalen Sands for a prolonged period and no other nation has contested the desert.

Geography

The Phalen Sands is largely comprised of ever-shifting dunes that are buffeted by localised storms, though several cave systems are rumoured to exist below the sands. Because of the frequency and ferocity of wind storms within the Phalen Sands, and because the sand that makes up the Phalen Sands is very fine and light, the dunes themselves are shifted at a rapid rate. Even the largest dunes shift in a given direction by 100+ metres per passing, resulting in an inconsistent overall geography. This rapid movement also causes the overall location of the Phalen Sands to shift quite dramatically over time, which has resulted in most nearby settlements being constructed at least 3-4 kilometres from the desert's edge at any given time.
The speed at which rapid winds and storms shift the sands has been known to cause complete erosion of anything built or placed within the sands, and yet it can also cause scouring which exposes the bare rock beneath the desert.

Ecosystem

The intense nature of the Phalen Sands means that most species of flora and fauna cannot abide in the space. However, there are several species of tall grasses, shrubs, and trees that thrive at the edge of the Phalen Sands and are able to withstand being submerged in sand for prolonged periods (if the desert shifts in their direction).
While many of the storms in the Phalen Sands are dominated by wind and lightning, some bring downpours that can dump enough water to turn scoured areas into temporary pools. These pools are often quickly filled with several species of algae-like lichen, moss, and mushrooms that can grow beneath the sands, normally absorbing what little water trickles down to (or perhaps comes up from) the rock below the sand. When these temporary pools emerge, the plants bloom with growth that absorbs as much of this water as possible and stores it in sprawling root systems.
The ecosystem of the cave system that may exist below the shifting sands has not been studied and is not well understood, as those who have tried to study it in the past have been trapped in the caves and never recovered. However, what is known is that there are fauna species within the sands and within the rocks, as some who have travelled across part of the desert have reported being attacked.

Ecosystem Cycles

The Phalen Sands does not experience the seasonal cycles as most other locations do, though snow within the Sands is not impossible. The flora along the edge of the deserts go dormant during colder, and extremely hot, periods in the same way that they do when they are covered in sand. The only major cycle that occurs within the Phalen Sands seems to be storm directionality: in the spring and summer, the desert most often moves northwest or east, whereas during the fall and summer it tends to blow either southeast or west.
It is also thought that rokh migrate across the desert during the fall, though it is unclear where they fly to. Many of the rokh that are live near the Sun Orchid gardens on the outskirts (or in the heart of) Lipare flock together near the end of summer and fly in the direction of the Sands. The birds do not return until the beginning of winter, but they do not return with young and instead return with only minor changes to their plummage.

Alternative Name(s)

The Phalen Desert, The Sands, Phalen

Type

Desert