BRIGHT DESERT

Population: Unknown (scattered nomads)
Demi-humans: Doubtful
Humanoids: Doubtful

Since the beginning of recorded history in the Flanaess, the Bright Desert has intrigued and challenged mankind. It is supposedly filled with riches - copper, silver, gold, and gem minerals, The harsh climate, wildly varying temperatures, and hostile inhabitants (Suel peoples) who battle any intruder with ferocious determination and blood lust tend to discourage exploitation. The dervishes rumored to dwell in the bordering Abbor-Alz hills likewise turn away would-be explorers' although if such dervishes actually exist they are likely to be of Flan extraction and hostile to Suloise nomads. One or two organized forces have attempted to penetrate the Bright Desert, but none have ever returned to tell what happened.

About 85-90 years ago there was the Sullamen War over Allanon's creation of the staff of the Elcry's. They said it was a sin for him to take the heart of the Elcry's and that it would precipitate a great and powerful punishment that would threaten the entire world (the Dark Times). The Sulamen crossed the Spine of the World, crossed land, crossed desert, and finally attacked the Druids in the celladon. The war was pretty short by most peoples calculations. The Elves joined the fray as well as the druids in fighting the barbarians from the sea of dust. The barbarians left (with some casualties I might add ((the elves were really fierce))). Most thought the barbarians were defeated because most of the druid's and the Celladon's forces were intact. They declared a stunning victory over the savages from the sea of Dust. The barbarians had succeeded in their goal however - killing Allanon for his crime (which is all they really came to do). When the barbarian force left for the Spine of the World to go back to the Sea of Dust, some actually stayed behind in the Bright Desert. This tribe of barbarians/suleman remembered a prophecy that said when Allanon was punished for his sin, that would mark the begining of the Rebirth prophecy, where the one who created the Punishment would be reborn and conquer the world - the wetlands included. (wetlands refer to any area outside the Sea of Dust). This tribe believes that one of its memebers is Kas reborn. Remember that is was Kas who used Vecna's amulet which Initiates the Reign of Colorless Fire against her in their last battle. She had meant to use it in Avalon so ALL planes would be burned and the gods would be destroyed for lack of food etc. Instead she was hit with it and the Sea of Dust created.

  As legend has it, Kas had served the Dark Lord because she tempted him and seduced him with a powerful sword which she created specifically for his lineage. Thus, the suleman have foresworn use of swords, etc and fight hand to hand.  In any case, this group of suleman savages believed that they were part of the prophecy and have stayed in the wetlands - in the Bright Desert because it is what they know.

  In truth there are a variety of reasons why they stayed behind - some were drunk with victory against the soft wetlanders, others craved the glory of being part of the prophecy, others hated the wetlanders and relish the idea of conquering the wetlands. Some believe that a Foresaken or Dark Friend goaded them into believing they were the prophecy, but who really knows eh?

 
DRY STEPPES

The vast stretches of prairie north of the Sulhaut Mountains and west of the Crystalmist and LEsprue Ranges are known as the Dry Steppes. Rainfall there is scarce, and few rivers flow In the place. Once the area was well-watered and fertile, forming the homelands of the Baldunish Padishas and Sultans, but it was destroyed by the Invoked Devastation in the war with the Suloise. It is said that the central part of the steppes is still pleasant and rich, and there is no doubt that various large hordes of Baldunish nomads still roam the area under the rulership of various khans. This borderland of the Flanaess is otherwise unknown to the chronicler. Invading tribesmen from the Dry Steppes are typically fight cavalry employing composite bows, fight lances, and curved swords.
 
 

SEA OF DUST

A territory of unknown extent exists behind the Hellfurnaces, south of the Sulhaut Mountains. This bleak desert is the Sea Of Dust the former Empire of Suel or Suloise. History tells us that this was once a fair and fertile realm extending a thousand miles west and southwards, too. The merciless and haughty rulers engaged in a struggle for dominance and supremacy over all of Oerik with the Baklunish, and in return for a terrible magical attack, the Suloise lands were inundated by a nearly invisible fiery rain which killed all creatures it struck, burned all living things, ignited the landscape with colorless flame, and burned the very hills themselves into ash. Whatever the truth of this, the place is certainly a desert today, an endless vista of dust and fine ash in gentle rises and shallow valleys which resemble waves in the ocean. This aspect is far less picturesque when the winds howl and tear the surface into choking clouds which strip flesh from bone and rise to the clouds, making vision Impossible and fife hazardous in the extreme. Added to this unwholesome environment are rains of volcanic ash and cinders which are blown from the Hellfurnaces to drop upon the forsaken lands that were once an empire of terrible might Legends tell of strange ruins near the feet of the Sulhauts, and say that somewhere in the central fastness there still stands the remains, nearly intact, of what is called the Forgotten City, lost capital of the Suel Imperium.

There are a few mountain tribesmen in the Sulhauts who reportedly venture into the Sea of Dust now and again to obtain treasure from the remains of the cities and towns buried under the dust. The truth of these tales can not be established, but there is no doubt that there are peoples who dwell within the fastness of the mountain range. Somewhat similar fables tell of a secret expedition sponsored by the Sea Princes to find and bring back the loot left in the Forgotten City. If such an expedition ever was organized and left upon the journey, no news of its return has ever been had. This latter tale, though, caused the officials of the Yeomanry to attempt exploration of the far side of the Hellfurnaces, and reliable reports tell of at least one party returning from such a trek, decimated by half, but bearing strange art objects and jewelry back from their explorations in the fringes of the Sea of Dust. More details are not forthcoming from the Freeholder, of course, and the event happened too recently to give rise to sub rosa information.

There are suleman in the sea of dust. They are called suleman by wetlanders bacuse they are descendants of the Sulouise  of the Suloise/Balkuni empire. They are viewed as savages and barbarians. They call themselves hachdeshani (whi in hebrew means  Dedicated) and they call the land which they come from the Onesh (hebrew for the Test). They viewed the Onesh (the desert & the reign  of colorless fire) as a test of their people. They stayed in the Onesh and because of living in the test, the fittest had to survive and thus  they are stronger than the wetlanders who are soft and weak. They even have people who worship the Onesh as almost a god and have  nearly a holy quest to spread the Reign of Colorless Fire to the wetlands so that the soft will perish and only the fittest will survive  making a stronger and tougher world. (these are the defilers - like their shamans).