The Khandra Desert

The Khandra desert remains as one of Gaia's largest deserts, rivaled only by Ahquen and the Iksamas Deserts. The Khandra Desert sits on the northern half of the continent of Isiq. This desert is one of the most unforgiving as it is littered by Chasms, crystal formations, Ley Storms, and ruins. The Nation of Khandras claims the sole desert as the Underfoot is known to have several access locations known as Vaults through the desert. The monsters amongst the desert have magical base and are harder than normal for adventurers to engage and defeat.

Ecosystem

The Nights are cold and the days are hot. they are interrupted almost daily by Ley Storms and Sandstorms. There are countless Ley Lines that run in and under the desert that react with the weather and reflect on it's environment. The Nights are said to be mysterious, as Dusk seems to be the time where the Ley Storms start to form.

Ley Storms

"The scariest thing about the Khandra Desert is how the Ley Storms come and go almost daily through the sands. Don't ever be caught outside of shelter or safety during one, you will quickly lose your place and become stuck in a haze."

~Adventurer Tylis Nomonon Adventurer's Guild

The Leystorms are a phenomenon that occurs in pockets of the Desert, several times daily.  These are heavily electrical storms that are accompanied by strong winds, that are caused by magical fluctuations from the Ley Lines that run about the desert. The Crystal formations seem to encourage these and influence them to happen. The storms can last all day, to a few hours, they seem to always start at dusk. It is this reason alone that there are no roads in the desert, but what are called Marker Pylons that dot and identify highly traveled areas.
When a Ley Storm starts the wind starts to howl a creepy howl, and then the dark clouds of the ley storm role in, giving thunder and lightning even an echoing noise. The area turns to a greenish hue, and at times a purple hue. It is said the Purple Hue storms are the absolute worse. Legends claim that "Angels" create these or use them to travel in the desert. During these storms magic energy is elevated greatly, and electrical and modern devices are known to fail.

Underfoot Vaults

"These giant crystals jut out from the sands ad reach like mountains into the sky. But between where they meet the ground and the pillar are, t here seems to be these large cracks that seem to go deep and deep into the darkness. We call these Vaults, places where we think the Underfoot opens up."

~Scholar Saki Kenshuo Siyatama "Into the Underfoot"

Crystal pillars and ranges do jut out across several spots of the desert. In between the earth and the formations deep cracks are observed, and code-named Vaults. Only few have been explored and almost all go very deep into the ground, to a point where darkness envelops the surroundings. No exploration has had much luck going further into these vaults without assistance or light. Some teams have even reported that their teams get attacked or abducted by unknown assailants.
The Vaults are targets by the Mages guild and the Adventuers' guild does have them on their lists for places to delve. Each delve has these teams always working with the Mages College of Khandra Al-Isiq. Insane creatures and monsters have been reported emerging from these crevices to infest the desert adding to its danger. The worse case scenario reports running into Rathari Vaultjumper groups that have been sporadically spotted in the desert.

Alternative Name(s)

The Crystal Sands, The Crystal Desert, the Concrete Desert

Type

Desert

Owning Organization

Khandra Al-Isiq

To give Atmosphere of the mysterious and enigmatic desert.