Kixunyájel Desert (ki.xu.ɲɑ.d͡ʒel)
When you see where we live, you understand why we live as we do. It's a hard place, honestly, and most outsiders just aren't strong enough to handle it.Kixunyájel Desert is the largest desert in Thurásin, located in the foothills of the Dividing Mountains. Formed out of its eastern rainshadow, the desert sees little rainfall throughout the year, and is a hard locale to thrive in for many creatures.
Geography
The desert is a rocky expanse, reaching high into the mountains and out into the plains of eastern Thurásin. It experiences hot summers and cold winters, though both are largely devoid of rain, with the only minor reprieve coming during the wet springs. It is dotted with craggy rocks and small hot springs, from volcanic activity deep below the earth. Due to its dry nature, there is little flora and fauna in Kixunyájel. What is there is mostly in the form of shrubbery, burrowing animals, and scavengers who feast on the wayward victims of the desert. There are small patches of most hospitable ground, where stark trees provide shade and cool waters allow for the growth of grass and some flowers.History
Kixunyájel has been a barren desert for as long as any records show. Home only to the hardiest dragons and foolhardiest humans, it was largely ignored in favour of the fertile coastal regions and experienced little development. This changed with the destruction of Dyiiladuun, and the subsequent showdown between the people of eastern Thurásin and the powerful dragon Jrinta. In the aftermath of the dragon's defeat, a group of hunters were hounded away for trying to take trophies from the corpse and fled into Kixunyájel to escape. Though they found the land difficult, they were able to eke out a living as scavengers and nomads, trawling the desert's edges from prey and learning to harvest the shrubs and burrowing creatures for the most nutritious food available. This largely manifested in onion salads and regular dragon hunts, as they were by far the largest and most edible creature in the area. These people, the later Thurimppánye'i, have since become so adept at hunting smaller dragons that they have ample supplies of meat for much of the year.Ngáxom
Riyimunburi
Exceptions
Though the occupying Thurimppánye'i hunt "all" dragons, there is one key exception. He is Ffong'lá, a powerful dragon who spends most of the year residing in the caves of the Dividing Mountains. Unusually for a dragon, he does not come out during the warm summers, but instead during the frigid winters, when few are around to challenge him. The Thurimppánye'i believe he has saved a group of hunters from freezing to death during the Era of Conquest, and as such, he is granted special reverence by the community. Anyone who attacks him will be sent into exile.
Scales by David Clode
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