Sands of Hell Stafknir Hrerbjof

• Previous
• Next

Up until 11 War March 4500 DE, the area that is now called the Sands of Hell, was a verdant plain with forests and tall grasslands. It did not become the dangerous desert of today until the death of the legendary dragon Golruwyrm. This dragon was the first child, and daughter of Bruh Kreniik. She was defeated in the area when she took on an entire primordial army and the primordial lords Buldapulax and Kurrolath. Those that she did not kill, were blasted into nothingness when she died with her last gasp a storm of blistering sand that if it did not burn you to death, ripped your flesh off and reduced your bones to powder. Her death also created the landmark Diiv Prok, a cliff face resembling the back of a towering dragon. This cliff is not hundreds of feet long, but hundreds of miles long. It said to be an exponential of Golruwyrm length from snout to her vorpal tipped tail. One Plaque of Aphalur says that Bruh Kreniik had a hand in making this unimaginably large memorial for his fallen daughter.

The Sands of Hells is a vast desert bordering many regions. It is a hot and windy place. These winds, the Winds of Golruwyrm are said to blow eternal. The nights bring furious gritty winds capable of stripping the flesh to those not accustomed to such conditions. The desert is home to primordial sand worms, creatures growing up to double in size of the largest purple worm specimens of the Underdark. There are also herds of crodlu, driks, camels, and other creatures able to eke out an existence in the harsh environment of a very dry and windy desert.

The crodlu of the Sands of Hell are powerful mounts when trained. Most of these beasts are sold to the Fograth. Those of the Orchish Empire are referred to as Ahunil crodlu. Ahunil is a castle of the Orchish Empire, and point of entry for the crodlu coming from the Sands of Hell.

There are many places of interest scattered across and beneath the endless dunes of this desert. Near its center, the Sands of Hell is crossed north to south by the river Viiz Bo. This river is a vital trade-way for people moving goods to and from the Aerie of Dragons and then across the southern oceans.

In the Creation War, the Dezellâm were sent to this desert by the primordial Storralk. They were tasked with harvesting crystals growing from the bodies of xorn. Being a pacifist people, the Dezellâm followed catch and release procedures when they harvested the xorn's precious cargo. The Xorn of Stafknir Hrerbjof roam the shallow Underdark beneath the desert. Since they are not native to this system, they produce a white crystal on their bodies that grows like cyst on flesh. Storralk learned from Geb that the crystals are a variation of deep crystals and useful for holding psychic energy. Storralk wanted these crystals to help his troops against psionic heavy primordials that turned against him and to combat those angelic foes with great psionic potential. In the Demon Spawn War, the Dezellâm used powdered deep crystals to fortify their ceramic shields. This material they invented is called Ceratimus.

In the Lith-Crillion Era, thousands of Dezellâm lived across the Sands of Hell. During that time, the desert had many more fertile oasis's than today. On some of these were sizable settlements. When the giants encountered the Lith-Crillion, they came to pay them a respect that bordered on worship. The sand giants built great structures and monuments for them across Bal-Kriav. Its not known how the giants moved across the vast distances of the realm which separate each pyramid, but scholars think that some sort of teleportation device is inside each of the Pyramids of Power.

At some point in the age of the Lith-Crillion, the desert giants lost confidence in their masters. Disease, locust plagues, increased sand worm attacks, and intense sand storms started devastating the population and magnificent structures of the people. The desert giants prayed for aid, built more monuments for the Lith-Crillion that would undeniably last an eternity, yet they received nothing to stop natural and unnatural disasters. The sand giants turned their backs on the Lith-Crillion. Soon thereafter, a terrible curse befell them. Each morning, the Stone Curse caused random female desert giants to turn to stone. The sand giants nearly disappeared as a race from the Sands of Hell. A few survived in the remote corners of the region near Alluvium Deep. The sand giants that live today in the Sands of Hell can all trace their ancestry to those from that area.

Travellers to this desert will sometimes encounter these statues, some posed in awkward positions. Many are now buried under the sands. Some have even been carted off and now serve as decorations in castles and palaces.