Great Khelegaian Desert (kehl.eh.GAY.an)
Long ago, the southern continent of Khelegan had vast expanses of grassy highland plains and woodlands across most of its interior, broken only by two chains of jagged mountains in the far east. Then the Targotian Cataclysm struck, rearing a new chain of tall peaks along the west of the continent, and the Great Desert of central Khelegan was born.
Within the space of a few generations, the land turned sere, barren, and harsh. The people who lived there, a mixture of Asa and D'itri cultures, found themselves thrust into a new struggle for survival as their world and way of life changed rapidly. Through the aid of their wind god, Sorya-Dama, these peoples survived to become the people known in the modern era as the Tanaari, or the Desert Folk.
Geography
The desert is vast, with seas of shifting dunes in some areas, and rocky, sand-choked ravines and caves in others. It is said that only the hardiest of living things survive in the deep desert, where rain never falls; yet there are those who have dared travel some short distance into the sandy outer desert (though never in view of Tanaari caravans, who would treat such a trespass with deadly force), who swear they have heard peals of thunder echo across the endless sands, always from deeper into the desolate waste.
Fauna & Flora
Plant life grows increasingly scarce and rugged the further one travels into the Desert. Within the distance of a few dozen Forthmarch, such vegetation is limited to gnarled, shrubby growth, which ceases entirely by the beginnings of the dune seas.
Wildlife is likewise limited mostly to reptiles and small mammals, the latter of which tend to be mostly nocturnal. One notable denizen of the sands is the tiny but fierce wolf mouse, whose social behaviors and predation on small reptiles and larger insects inspired its name.
Tourism
The Tanaari are warm and inviting to visitors of their Hagaara; they are markedly less so to those found trespassing in their domain. To venture too far into the Desert is to risk death, and the only question is whether the Desert Folk decide to see to it, or simply let their homeland claim the invader.
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