Varlem

To call the Varlem denizens of the Varlem Desert is not entirely accurate, as it is more apt to say that the Varlem are the Varlem Desert, manifestations of some sort of gestalt spirit of the desert that is not entirely understood.

The desert itself seems to be sentient, and the Varlem are mere vessels of sand to act as avatars for this intelligence. The Varlem often guide those lost in the endless sea of dunes to safety, seeming to imply that the desert is benevolent, or simply wishes that no outsiders reside within its borders. The Dunecrawlers of Lod'shwa being somewhat of an exception, being that they are possibly impossible to evict since they dwell beneath the sands.

The Varlem cannot communicate directly, but those who have encountered these mysterious sand-wraiths claim to have instinctively known what they expected of them. The S'aue have a marked interest in the Varlem Desert due to it being one of the last places on Nascindor that is yet untapped by their oil-sucking machines. To them, the Varlem are much less hospitable, and have even been reported to attack, causing sinkholes and violent anomalies to appear in the sands, crushing the robotic intruders and their machinery.

Appearance

Every individual that has encountered a Varlem seems to describe a wildly different being, which implies that there is no default appearance for them or that the shape they take is somehow reliant on who it is they are interacting with, as some witnesses describe being led out of the desert by sandy apparitions of their deceased loved ones, past lovers or even living relatives. In stark contrast, others describe them as frightening alien creatures that ominously float above the sands of the desert while keeping an eye on them.

Just as I was about to give up hope, there it was.
It guided me out of the desert. It saved my life.

–A traveler describing her encounter with a Varlem

by AI-generated

_{A depiction of a Varlem based on witness testimony}