Great Sandy Desert

The Great Sandy Desert is the largest stretch of sandy desert on Micras, and one of the largest known true desert regions outside of Eura and The Green as of 1723 AN. Located in the interior of far West Keltia, the Great Sandy Desert separates the Hexarchy's own interior territories from its neighbors on the western shores of the Keltian continent. Long considered extremely treacherous and near-impossible to cross except by air, the desert's sand dunes are among the tallest on the planet, and themselves are near-impossible to access from the east thanks to the unstable terrain of the West Keltian Divide, itself one of the tallest and most unnavigable mountain ranges on Micras. However, recent discoveries of native tribes in the region's ungoverned areas, paired with far-ranging Pyraxian native expeditions on dragonback from Pyrax's remote frontier areas refuted the theory that the desert was near-uninhabited. To the contrary, detailed reports indicated that the Hexarchy's side of the desert has approximately 505,600 inhabitants, some two-thirds of which reside in the arable regions near the border with Karnak.

With the exception of the semi-arable south, the deep desert is extremely sparsely populated. The desert is characterized by vast stretches of emptiness interrupted only by the inhabited oases dotting the otherworldly landscape. There are three designated cities in the Great Sandy Desert, which contain most of the region's population. The largest of these is N'qada with 246,800, and serves as the southern region's economic and cultural hub. The next largest is Lotharia with about 83,000 inhabitants, serving as the only major settlement in the desert's deep interior. The third city, and smaller still at less than 54,700 people, is Geb Oasis, a stop for Pyraxian dragon riders, and the largest place where desert natives and Pyraxian natives regularly mingle and intermarry.

The border between the desert's edge and The Green is extremely porous, and barely exists at all. However, the only ones that ever cross the border are the very so-called "desert natives" living in the vast sandy expanse, as the region is incredibly difficult to cross on foot (and impossible for the uninitiated), even were it not for the very territorial tribes living off the big game in the region. The desert's inhabitants are known for their peculiar fashion style, culture, and woefully outdated motor vehicles, giving them an image out of certain dystopian movies that may be shown in more advanced societies on Micras. The ethnicity of the inhabitants themselves is unknown, but it is thought that they are not one, but many peoples that have settled into the expanse since ancient times, either fleeing war, or desiring to be forgotten by the rest of the world. In the Great Sandy Desert, only the dunes and the few lonely peaks within it resist the tests of time.

Location

The desert borders the two regions of Karnak and West Karnak to the south. The area has always been hard to define a boundary with, given the very gradual transition from tropical plains to desert on its southern end, and the shifting tides of the sandy desert over a multi-decade cycle. It is near the average "desert tide marks" where Karnak's northern border was finally set in 1722 AN as concerted efforts to map and annex the desert area were attempted by the Hexarchy's central government. It is at Karnak's northern fringes where the desert transitions slowly into a vast elevated plain characterized by many rivers and small lakes. By contrast, the desert meets rocky hills and plateaus near the western fringes of Keltia, where the desert rapidly transitions first to elevated badlands, followed by scrublands and mountainous terrain in West Karnak before giving way to much greener areas near the coast.

The Desert borders a vast mountain range to the east that bisects western Keltia. It is this natural, incredibly treacherous-to-cross border that defines the separation between both The Empty Quarter to the southeast and Pyrax to the east from the interminable desert. The southwestern border is characterized by more mountainous terrain, characterized mostly by badlands that transition rapidly into scrublands that hang onto the rocky cliffs and sharply transition into other types of terrain. For the most part, the area is characterized by its environment characterized by its endless sand dunes.

The border to the north of the Great Sandy Desert is not so much marked by geographical boundaries, but more arbitrary lines in the sand drawn by the government in Marduk. In short, the so-called "edge" of the desert is merely the current line of control that the Hexarchy comfortably exerts over the region, which contains only sparse settlements. With the native population's general disregard for central authority and the near-total lack of strategic resources in the deep desert, both sides prefer leaving the natives to their big game hunting, which curbs the populations of the predictably gigantic fauna of the desert, which make desert crossings impossible without the appropriate (and speedy) type of vehicle or other desert-friendly mount.

Geography

The desert is dotted with oases, the lands outside of which are inhabited almost entirely by natives of the vast, nigh-uninhabitable desert. Few such oases are permanent, or last long enough for vegetation to anchor the soil and allow for permanent water collection against the massive dunes. Two types of wet zones exist within the otherwise completely waterless desert: oases, and mountainous wet spots. The former holds most of the Desert's population, which in turn is concentrated to the desert's south, which transitions slowly into Karnak, and have cultures distinctly separate from those in the deep desert, favoring their sedentary kin rather than the much more infamous nomads that roam the deep deserts to the north. Mountainous wet spots are few. While some extinct shield volcanoes dot the desert landscape, almost none are high enough to either stop the dunes or, more importantly, trap and contain water for surrounding life.

The most notable of these mountainous wet spots is Lotharia, the only major sedentary settlement in the Great Sandy Desert's deep interior. The settlement of Lotharia itself centers around an extinct shield volcano, located in one of the very few places where rain ever falls in this region. The lone maintain is the only major feature breaking the vast sandy landscape, and is tall enough to trap the scarce water that flows in the desert's upper atmosphere. Snowmelt flowing down the slopes regularly throughout the year (most common in the summer months) provides enough water to turn the place into a huge oasis year-round, catching the little moisture from all directions. This allows the plants to anchor against the desert's vast dunes, allowing a small area for self-sustaining levels of complex agriculture. The caldera lake itself provides drinking water for the settlement's 83,000 inhabitants, almost all of which are desert natives, and only a fraction of which permanently inhabit the city.

The largest oasis area is N'qada, which holds multiple such bodies of water thanks to unusual geology. Because of the unusual richness of water in the area despite being surrounded by desert, the population clocks in at around 246,800, with centuries of horticulture preventing the surrounding dunes from swallowing the vast network of oases and allowing for strong, year-round food supplies. This allowed for complex culture to develop, mostly in tandem with their counterparts in Karnak to the south. The area also serves as the southern region's economic and cultural hub, as there are no notable settlements to the north between here and Lotharia, despite the city's prodigious size and decent pasture-capable land on the desert's southern fringes. The only other notable permanent oasis settlement with a city-sized population is Geb Oasis far to the north, which only has 54,700 inhabitants. Thanks to a lack of serious armed conflict in most of the region and a stable (if very harsh) climate, these population numbers have remained relatively steady for a long time, per detailed reports gathered by the Hexarchy's central government in 1723 AN.

People

Geb Oasis

The Geb Oasis is considered the nearest place in the desert proper to the dragon-riding natives of Pyrax, and simultaneously the farthest the dragon riders will go into the desert. Their mounts cannot tolerate the heat for long, and so the large oasis presents itself as a resting point for the Pyraxian riders before they return home. The oasis is separated from Pyrax by a large, tall, and treacherous mountain range, the same that bisects the desert from the Empty Quarter. This means that the oasis is one of the only viable stops for riders that have made the perilous crossing to fly to the west or north of Pyrax, to avoid areas where dragon riding is either dangerous (due to the Empty Quarter's largest fauna) or illegal (due to Eridu enacting a ban to avoid disturbing the residents of its many urban areas).

Because of the difficulties involved in accessing it, the oasis has also become a settlement for fringe tribes or reclusive individuals, or people who simply prefer the desert landscape. A small number of fire dragons call the oasis home, most belonging to Pyraxian settlers and maintaining a steady wild population. However, even these cannot tolerate the desert's brutal conditions, so sighting west of the Geb Oasis are rare. Another common occurrence arising from settled natives are those who lack a mount of their own, almost always due to losing their mount on the wrong side of the mountains. Some, after a long enough time without assistance from others (be it family or passers-by), chose to make their home here rather than return in shame to their ancestral homes surrounding the Red Sea to seek a new mount.

The rough-riding natives of the deep desert similarly call this place home. Generally, the Geb Oasis is as far east as most groups will regularly venture, given its relative proximity to the mountains, which means a lack of big game for hunting. Many choose to settle this place for that very reason, though, as tribes could reliably go south or west for the biggest hauls and find their way directly back to the oasis's settlement. This allowed a semi-sedentary community to spring up over time. Paired with the settled Pyraxians, the desert dwellers (who themselves go by many different demonyms) similarly find this a good place to call home. As a result, the Geb Oasis is considered one of the few "major" intersections between the central divide between the Hexarchy's east and west, despite its smallish population of some 54,000 residents.