Desert of Silhouettes
The Desert of Silhouettes is a badlands region on the eastern border of D'Hara. It is adjacent to the northern reaches of Luria Nova and the claims of fledgling Swordfell.
Description
The Desert is an empty yet dangerous place, home to ferocious beasts that easily kill the hapless traveler and witless peasant. Despite the grim landscape, Lord Constantine erected the Monastery of the Austere over an ancient, holy spring, where the Abbot Sophronius presides. A visiting scout gave this description:
Within the walls, the monastery resembled a small village with refectories, dormitories and chapels littering the area. In the center stood the imposing main temple built in the traditional style; three towers attached to a long nave with a domed apse facing west.
Ephrem led them through the main doors. Inside the temple contained all the usual furnishings: carpets covering the floor, a large glass window in the dome of the apse to allow for the light of the Stars to enter, an incense altar at the western end, and a pulpit alongside it. Unusually for an Astroist temple, a basin of water was located at the south-western corner of the temple in which a small spring bubbled.
Turning back to his guests the monk began his explanation:
"The Monastery was founded by His Eminence Luminary Constantine, shortly after he first became Baron of the Desert many years back. The land here was always considered sacred; in the old pagan days the spring was thought to be the dwelling of a water spirit. When His Eminence began the conversion of the Desert, he traveled personally to the pagan shrine here and cast down the false idols, even planning to block the spring itself. However as the workers prepared to carry out his instructions, night fell and the light of the Stars was reflected most brilliantly in the water, illuminating the land with their glory. Marveling at the beautiful sight, and recalling the words of the Prophet on "the simple perfection the Stars reflected in a cupful of water", His Eminence declared the spring holy and founded the monastery here to guard it. If you desire a blessing, wash your eyes with the holy waters; it is said that a part of their light still remains in the spring to illuminate the faithful."
Culture
Home of the Sandborn, a people daily tested by deprivation, blistering heat, scathing winds, monsters, and worse, the Great Waypoint Fortress, seat of the Desert Barons, lies near the ruins of Villa JeVondair in the central Waypoint Mountains, carved from living rock.
Even the noblility here dress in the native fashion, which generally includes a loose, flowing, thin tunic called a "mirage." So named for the translucent, silvery-blue fabric of which they are made, these are the native robes of the Desert's clansmen and protect the flesh from wind and sun.
It is well that this land is called the Desert of Silhouettes, for it is filled with lies and illusions. A home built upon the dunes may vanish and reappear over night. Digging only a few meters into the sand reveals ancient, cyclopean cities with alien architecture. It is from these strange creations that the monsters that oftentimes haunt the desert pour.
In the north, the desert becomes arable, still golden-brown, but golden brown with sheaves of wheat. The sun's heat is slightly less harsh allowing the locals to settle in small hamlets. In the east, the desert becomes more hospitable still. The well-watered Aelbourne Basin is a gently sloping valley bisected by a shallow stream that stretches from the West Divide to the beginning of the arid, rocky Waypoint Mountains.
The southern pass of oases fights unfair fight against sandstorms of endless central dunescape. It is a home to nomad tribes of darkest complexion and most melodic local dialect. Their language barely ever has consonants linking two words, so they conjoin the words in a way that is most convenient to them, and incidentally - the prettiest in sound. To a foreign observer their common parlance sounds almost like music.
These small areas of verdant life are but islands, oases of green in the vast stretches of inhospitable desert to the west and south. The people are hardened nomads full of stories of dark creatures from a darker past.
History
- Known as the Plains of Majestic Fountains in the ancient days, the land became a desert due to rapid climate change thousands of years ago.
- It has a rich historical background often included as the origin of the people of the Sallowsitte Cape.
- It has been reported that there was once a great city which has since sunken below the desert. Some claim it to be the Citadel of Ishkantar.
- The Keepers of Lore have gathered stories about the Desert of Silhouettes.
