Corteau Canyon

Between the Copper, Gold, Silver Kingdoms and the Platinum Strait Princedom lies a curious arid space, known as the Corteau Canyon. 
Even though the canyon is covered by a blanket of white sand due to the erosion of the rocks and the corals, the climate is actually sub-arctic, the nights being particularly freezing. Despite that, snow and rain rarely fall on Corteau, with a small exception of the mountains and plateaus near the center of the canyon, where the Norskyrie amazons live. The fact that there is no snow lying in the Canyon also has to do with the high salt content of the soil. The white sand consists of a mixture of crushed corals, salt and remains of former fishbones. Other creatures that roam the canyon are the berbagazi, medium sized insects with a tough exoskeleton that dwell in the depths of the coral caves. Skeletons of ocean behemoths like whales and sea serpents also dot the landscape, providing cover to the Nerim against the ferocious sandstorms.
Huge pillars of calcified corals dot the landscape, a reminder of when the canyon used to be submerged at the bottom of the northern ocean. Human sized centipedes and wooly rhino beetles that resemble rocks roam the desert canyon, suited for its cold climate, acting as scavengers and providing each other with the food and moisture that's needed to survive.
The Nerim are the inhabitants of the Corteau Canyon. They are elite warriors who have perfectly adapted to the arid climate of the canyon, and have learned how to magically harness the power of the creatures that inhabit it, such as the wooly centipedes.
Their Naibs are sorcerers who practice sand magic, and are the leaders of each individual tribe. Each tribe lives in small communities (known as Sietches) inside huge corals or caves in rock formations around the canyon. Those communities are scattered around the canyon and the tribes usually are fighting with each other, preventing them from uniting and dominating the island.
Due to their fighting prowess and survival skills, they are often employed by the neighboring kingdoms as mercenaries, especially by those that want to pass through the spider infested forest of Shelkividur, or those that aim to sail beyond the Sea of Wraiths to the north. The "Immortals of the Desert" are the most known Nerim mercenaries, often being employed as far as Azan and Changrila.
Category:Zemyland
Category:Geographic location