Varlem Desert

The Varlem Desert is perhaps the single most perplexing enigma that Nascindor has to offer. This desert, spanning thousands of acres, seems to be alive in the most literal sense of the word. The sands of the desert are in constant flux, forming into breathtaking anomalies that defy all logic. Temporal bubbles where sand trickles like in an hourglass, buildings rising and falling from the dunes in a matter of seconds, monolithic swirls of sand frozen in midair and most notably, the Varlem, the living ”avatars” of the desert for lack of a better term.

It is due to this mysterious nature that the Varlem Desert is the chief interest of the Enlightened Few, the guild of mages that rules the adjacent city-state of Pluthem. The sorcerous researchers hope to make contact with the gestalt intelligence presiding over the desert, for they think it is an extremely powerful magical being that could be persuaded to share some of its power. The S'aue are also interested in the desert, but not for its mysterious properties. Rather, the machine-men only want to drill the soil for possible deposits of oil, which the desert seems to wholeheartedly object to.

Consciousness

All signs point to the desert possessing actual sentience, as it displays the desire to help those who get lost within it, engages in acts of self-defense against attempts to defile or excavate it and seems to be entertaining itself through the bizarre anomalous activity. It may perhaps be erroneous to attribute these actions to the desert itself and not some being or presence that simply cannot be observed through regular means, but whatever the case may be, something dwells in the vast desert and the scientific communities of Pluthem are determined to figure out what it is.

Varlemites

There is a group of people who deify the Varlem Desert which is often referred to as the Varlemites but this is a mere moniker. These adherents are members of a religious group called the Lucid Path, and they believe the consciousness of the desert is the true creator god calling its creations home from the nightmare that they view this reality as.

Utmost respect now, boys. I don't want to see you even sneeze towards the sand, understood?

–A brigand leader to his men, upon entering the Varlem Desert

Related Tradition (Primary)

• Returning

Inhabiting Species

• Cragback

Related Materials

• Ignisite

by AI-generated

_{An anomalous city forming out of the sands of the Varlem Desert}