Shifting Sands
Geography
Shifting Sands lives up to its name, there are very few constants in its geography. It can be generally relied upon that there will be dunes upon dunes of sand, but they shift and change at a rate far higher than any other desert, not to mention the impossible movement of rocky valleys and plateaus, the spontaneous creation and destruction of oases, and an incredible number of other moving or changing features. What few permanent landmarks exist are rendered all the more important, and nearly all are the site of a major settlement. Though some were established to take advantage of the landmark, many more are less intuitively the reason for the landmark's existence. Each city within the desert tried to stop the rapid arcane desertification from affecting them, with varying degrees of success. The most successful remain today, straddling an effective oasis of their original climate, while those which were less successful are now nothing more than ruins alternately buried by sand dunes and unearthed by their motion.
Ecosystem
Since the Shifting Sands were artificially created, and so quickly, the overwhelming majority of its initial ecosystem died off and most of what inhabits the region now is made up of transplants from the Eternal Desert or the Dust brought by the Altayih. That same arcane nature which caused the change to occur too quickly for most to survive allowed others to adapt, and these holdovers today are among the most fantastical creatures in the area.
Ecosystem Cycles
The shifts of the desert are so swift and seemingly so random, no discernible cycle can be observed in nearly any case. One notable exception are the Sand Snakes, who don't seem to care about the irregularities of the Shifting Sands, and simply keep to the same schedule they had in the Eternal Desert.
History
In 218 Sun Imperator Resplendens Ardentis attempted to turn the imperial capital of Solaire into an Eden. He succeeded... by sucking the life out of its surroundings for leagues and creating the Shifting Sands; only a few locations throughout the heartland of the empire are able to be saved and turned into oases.
Alternative Name(s)
Stultitia Ardentis, Fiery Foolishness
Type
Desert
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