Vitinji Desert

Twelve days to the Golden Town,
Fourteen days to the Molten Bow,
Fifteen days to the desert's edge,
and seventeen days to home!

— Vitlesh travelling song

Golden sand stretches until the horizon in every direction. A handful of large reddish-orange cacti wither in the baking sun. A reptilian tail flicks in the depths of an oasis lake. Welcome to the Vitinji Desert. Mind the wandering undead during your stay. And the occasional earthquake.

Shake and Bake

The Vitinji is located at the burning heart of central Vesrae. Sand dunes dominate the landscape as there are parts of this desert that have never seen rain in centuries of recorded history. What few plants and animals live here are either adapted to deal with the incredibly low rainfall or congregate around the oases and rivers. Same goes for the Vitlesh Smoothkin people who call the region home.
The region is also the convergence of two ancient tectonic plates, so earthquakes are frequent. They are rarely enough to do more than knock a clay vase off a shelf, but occasionally they can be quite disastrous. For example, a large earthquake around 25 years back sank much of the eastern half of Jakiret, leaving the area a mess of quicksand and buried buildings that the locals are still digging out.

CW: earthquakes

Type

Desert

Location under

Vesrae

Included Locations

• Aurobawn

Owning Organization

Princedom of the Steppes

Related Ethnicities

• Vitlesh

Related Traditions

• Luck Shedding

Inhabiting Species

• The Diseased Ones

Death and Undeath

Every Vitlesh child knows not to swim in the oases or the rivers. Great reptilian beasts called Vegegators disguise themselves as plant-covered rocks in order to lure in prey, and they're just the start. The Vitlesh are also masters of necromancy, and some of their failed experiments wander the wastes.

All images in this article were created by me, EmperorCharlesII, unless otherwise credited.