Marsh Shadow Desert
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Covering most of the northeastern coast, this desert is the most deadly area in the Final Realm. Between the dangerous beasts, hazy mirages and areas where space has been turned on it's head, many explorers have lost their lives to the sands.
The Marsh Shadow Desert is named for the mirages that reflect from the sands. Covering most of the north-eastern coastline of the 14th Realm all the way to the central mountain range, it is the largest documented desert in the Realms and, like much of the 14th Realm, the most dangerous. Many of the creatures that inhabit the desert have adapted to navigating the sands and hiding from the consequences of the Convergence.
The Marsh Shadow Desert is named for the mirages that reflect from the sands. Covering most of the north-eastern coastline of the 14th Realm all the way to the central mountain range, it is the largest documented desert in the Realms and, like much of the 14th Realm, the most dangerous. Many of the creatures that inhabit the desert have adapted to navigating the sands and hiding from the consequences of the Convergence.
Geography
The Marsh Shadow Desert is a massive expanse of sand that stretches from the Vauxrich Mountains and Suwerost Range in the west all the way to the coastline of the Realm. At the northern-most point, where it borders the Mushroom Forest of Jyay and the Suwerost Range ends, lies the town of Dinaulde, the only settlement that can claim to be in the desert proper. It's southern border is defined by the river, cutting it off from the Belleterre Prairie and is the only way to access to the north-eastern half of the Realm that does not require traveling over the Vauxrich Mountains. The desert itself is filled with ever-shifting sand dunes and dry, cracked rock, with the dried up shells of rivers the only constant. While following the mountain border, an explorer can stumble across anywhere from three to seven riverbeds leading into the desert proper. The first sign of the desert's space warping, it has become a sign of how deadly the desert is at the current moment.Navigating the Desert
As a result of the space warping, mapping the interior of the desert is considered a fool's errand, as a day's trip into it can either lead hopeful mappers straight into the coast or hopelessly lost. One of the only ways to navigate back out of the desert with any form of accuracy is by stars. But navigating in the night is the most dangerous time, as many of the deadliest creatures only hunt at night. As a result, the safest and easiest way to navigate through the Marsh Shadow Desert is not by map, but by written word. Using a combination of accepted books and explorer-made markings, travelers follow along one of the seven riverbeds, using the descriptions of the ruins and distinctive markings to identify their approximate location under the night sky.
...follow the riverbed into the mountains for half a mile. There should be a large marker carved into the riverbed. Comparing it to the seven markers on the next page will tell you which riverbed...
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Dangers of the Sands
While there are many, many dangers in the desert, the two most deadly ones are its distinctive sandstorms and the mirages, known as Chaos Storms and Shadow Mirages respectively. Shadow Mirages are the harder of the two to identify, as they often take the shape of landmarks or sand dunes. Unlike regular mirages, approaching a Shadow Mirage doesn't dispel it, rather, it makes it more solid. Very few of those who end up caught in a mirage make it back out and often don't even remember what happened inside. Current theory is that the mirages are something similar to pocket dimension combined with a trap spell of some kind. Chaos Storms, while being easier to identify from a distance, are rarely avoided and always deadly. Characterized by a sound best described as "a combination of a fork scraping against a plate, a deep, oscillating drone and a piercing ringing," the storms form quickly and, much like the name implies, turns the area within into chaos. Due to the deadly nature, what specifically is unknown, beyond that something resides within the storm.Natural Resources
The natural resources found within the bounds of the sands are like none other. Perhaps the area was already magic-rich before the Convergence or it was hit the hardest after the intial backlash. Whichever reason, the March Shadow Desert has some of the most magic-rich resources in all the Realms, rivaled only by a handful of areas. So rich, in fact, that it is extremely easy to identify materials that came from it. Often gathered resources include hide, meat and bones from the creatures, a handful of desert fruits and naturally forming minerals and gems.Minerals
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Plants
Compared to most other regions in the Final Realm, the Marsh Shadow Desert has a far fewer fruits brought back by explorers. Summer persimmon and marsh guava trees are found most commonly around the ruins, where they managed to find some protection from the storms. Ombi berries and bova fruit bushes grow in the canyons, hidden from the worst of the storms. by Placeholder
Animal Products
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Gems
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History
Like the rest of the mysterious Fourteenth Realm, very little is known about the Marsh Shadow Desert before the Convergence. Explorers, however, have found evidence that not only have people once lived in the desert, it might not have been a desert. Many theorize that in the near 600 years it took to reach the desert, the flora and fauna of the area went under forced evolution thanks to the space-time distortions in order to contend with the new environment. The largest ruins imply that there was once a city as large as the capital along the coast, with a heavy interest in shipping and fishing. This lead to theories that the Realm was once divided into two territories by the central mountain range, with a neutral alliance between the two factions. The ruins were overrun with varying species of seabeasts, requiring another 50 years to begin to map out the city. Even now, almost 400 years after the desert was discovered, very little is known about the people that once inhabited it, although all signs point to them actually being part of the same faction as the capital.They were like nothing I've ever seen before, you know. And, as an explorer of the Fourteenth Realm, there is very little that can surprise me. But the things we had to fight in there? They give me shivers just thinking about them. It was like someone took a dozen animals, from both land and sea, and just smashed them together with no care of logic or how the animal would survive. And some of them... some of them are beyond description.
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