The Vukotin Desert
"The godfall waste is an unwelcome stain on out otherwise beautiful continent. The only good thing about that seemingly endless sea of sand is that is acts as a buffer between us and the Tear."A harsh place to live the Vukotin desert, or simply Vu'Ko'Tin to the peoples who call it home, sits in the north east of spindle, a barren mirror to the great forest that sits across the mountains to the west. Believed by some to be the cradle of the old gods, the few myths that survive speak of the weavers first children and how the desert that we know now came from them being buried deep beneath the earth as punishment for rebellion. Today the desert is still the centre of many a night time horror story told to children, but this is due to the Tear, a rend in the fabric of the earth that is watched over by the Hepatic Schism, the Council of Maji, from their copper tower. The rest of the desert is the realm of the Vu'ko'kita, a nomadic culture who are the only ones capable of navigating the endlessly shifting landscape.Axal Keygrip, Senior Locksmith of the Guild of Gates, Speaking about the Vukotin Desert at a gathering of the Locksmiths.
Geography
A vast desert of golden sand the Vukotin stretches as far as the eye can see. It spans from the northern shore down to the foot hills of Malanate and the Malasti river that runs through them, on its eastern side is the Frey, and to its west the great Spindlebreak mountains, all but impassable, tower over all.
Far from a calm place the desert is a constantly shifting landscape, often likened to a sea the comparison is not far from the truth. there is something almost tidal to the way the place changes. as if currents run beneath the surface and shift the sand in almost unknowable ways. The few permanent settlements are not used all year long due to the sand engulfing and then revealing them as it wishes over the course of a cycle.
The eastern edge of the desert is often described as its most beautiful, the golden sands giving way to the emerald foothills of Malante, the first (or last) of the exalted lands, depending on where you come from. the contrast of the barren desert and the lush foothills inspires wonder in many, and it is this romanticised view that has lead many a would be adventure to ultimately loose their life in the Vukotin.
As you travel further north the sand begins to loose its colour, first to a pale yellow, and then to the stark white colour bleached sand that surrounds the Tear. With the pale sand so too do the few oasis that do exist in the desert become rarer, and the sand tides become less knowable, not even the Vu'ko'kita travel in the pale sands alone or by foot.
Alternative Name(s)
The godfall waste
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