The Great Desert

The Mystery of the Southern Sands and it's surrounding areas: the south is a scorched wasteland, save a few spots of green which seem to be all the more lively compared to the harsh desert that encompasses them. These tiny oasis in this sweltering desert seem to have somehow drawn all the life in the surrounding areas, leaving only dust and the hardiest of it’s living inhabitants.

Legend dictates:  long ago, the entire southern area of the continent was full of life and great bountiful harvests were but common place. Times were peaceful and the people were placid, but before too long; a great blight struck the nation… farms and fields were ravaged by the black rot which seemed to flow from the normally pristine lakes and rivers dotted around the landscape. News of the south’s plight did not fall upon deaf ears, a powerful wizard known as: ‘Arkodias the fleeting’ travelled to the south and called for the ear of the southern kings. We don’t know the exact details, but it was arranged the villages and lands of the south were to be evacuated… a ritual on a colossal scale was to be performed, one which would draw all of the remaining life energy from the southern lands and focus it into a single point which would create an unsullied paradise within the desert. For reasons unknown, the exact assembly point for the evacuees was unknown, only those within the paradise would remain safe.

The ritual happened seemingly without warning: a towering wall of sand approached from the north, many tried to flee and in vain; their cries were lost in the wind as their flesh was stripped from their bones and then discarded, left in the hungering desert winds wake. Those who took shelter took a different fate, their bodies left intact but their souls dragged from their corpses as they huddled in fear. The negative emotions that coursed through them at the time of death and the sudden and violent way the soul was torn from the body caused these people to be transformed into monstrous ghouls which hold an insatiable lust for human flesh, in the hopes of perhaps regaining what they once lost… but they are already too far gone to remember precisely what it was.

Only one nation emerged from this horrific event, the sultanate of Knushil. It seemed the storm had instead transformed their barren landscape into an oasis, the king of Knushil called to arms and with every force he had at his disposal, he waged war against Arkodias who had fled into the desert of his own creation. The wizard claimed he had done nothing wrong, but the sultanate’s men were so filled with righteous justice, that they did not listen and they struck him down… life energy spewed forth as he fell, it seemed the wizard had not been able to completely exhaust his magic stores when creating the first oasis. With nowhere to go, the energy was drawn into the parched sands and another oasis was created, the sultanate took immediate action and claimed the land as their own, not that there was anyone left to contend with.

Some southerners were deeply angered at the wizards demise, they protested against their king and were cast into the desert, they knew resources were too sparse in the desert for a large group such as their selves to live upon, so instead they split into separate tribes and wandered off in separate directions into the wilderness without looking back.