Withering Dunes

## The Withering Dunes

> *“'Man’s rule can break the cliffs, pound the seas, tear the fields and covet the realm. Yet never shall Man forge past the mountains, for that is Death’s Domain.”* **~** Gosimer Toolred, fabled dwarven poet & arcane adventurer.
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  Drawn then branded off maps in ancient times, the superstition around the “Withering Dunes” Desert has not faded. Still considered to be a disfiguring flaw on creation, most will live an entire lifetime without a mention toward this place. Northern Frostborn might not even realize its existence. Still locals living near the Umber Mountain range hold the what lies beyond as very real. A brave storyteller might vocalize what little is written about the desert to frighten an audience: Giant Worms, blood pyramids, cursed ruins and Dryborn savages sporting grayish skin.

  Most that travel to the Dunces never return. So much so that the trails from the mountains into the desert are called “Suicide Slopes”. It is custom for explorers to hold a funeral for themselves before proceeding over the mountains. Occasionally an adventure will make it all the way past the challenges that mountains bring, only to immediately turn back on sight. Even witnessing the desert is extremely unsettling: no movement, no sound, no wind. One explorer who turned back claimed he could “feel death breathing down his neck” the entire time.

### *Superior Smoldering* Written by Gosimer Toolred

   A vast majority about the Withering Dunes were given to us by Gosimer Toolred, a strange explorer who lived long before the first crusade. Little is can be said for this dwarf except what has lives on in his writing. Scholars read Gosimer as perhaps a rich eccentric type for his day, yet his reasoning to uproot all his family and live in a land foretold to be cursed is very unclear. Cryptically, Gosimer talks once that his trip was originally to “*break chains and listen.*”  Either way, Gosimer, with his family, lived in the Withering Dunes for 75 years until returning back to teach the people of the *Fathering Sea*. Most of that time was spent within the Oochak’t Pack, a tribe of Thri-Kreen and Dryborn nomads. Gosimer wrote daily, giving accounts and experiences that are still taught to this day in certain colleges. All that was written eventually was compiled by him as the *“Superior Smoldering”*.

   Information however on his journey's beginnings and his befriending of the hostile tribe are still a mystery. Legend has it, on his death bed when asked where he’d like to be buried, he replied “In the Dunes if you are brave enough to honor me.”

###  Oochak’t Pack

  Traveling countless miles in a seasonal giant circle around the Withering Dunes is the Oochak’t Pack. Being composed by almost entirely Thri-Kreen, the pack is notably large, extremely isolationist and is theorized to be the leading cause for death in this desert. Blending into the Dunes themselves, they hunt in large numbers, tracking for days until the finally decide to kill the target as a unit. Gosimer writes that these *“Mantis warriors survive against nature’s cruelty. No gods, leaders, cities, music, or trinkets; they survive. If the pack moves, they all move, never second guessing anything.”* He goes on to explain that despite them not speaking common, he could still understand what they live for: to be predator not prey, to always survive. It’s these extreme survivalists that have used the barren land to thrive for tens of thousands of years.

### The Dryborn & What Is Left of Them

  Scattered amongst the Oochak’t Pack live the Dryborn. Dryborn are dark skinned,  normally tall humans that live in complete harmony with the Thri-Kreen. Usually, they walk in little clothing, covered head to toe in dirt and campfire ash to blend in better like there Thri-Kreen counterparts.

  The term “Dryborn” was coined by Gosimer’s wife, Holgetta, who noticed how rarely they would drink water. Elders would summon food & water privately to other Dryborn in need, but in such a way not offend the Thri-Kreen. Small in number, the Dryborn seem to be more spiritual then the mantis warriors in the pack, practicing long forgotten druidic magics in traditional worship ceremonies. Worship is toward the universe and all it produces.

  From what Gosimer’s expedition could gather, the entire universe was to be respected by them. With animals being regarded as “reincarnated ancestors”, Dryborn usually are able to talk to prey before respectfully killing them for nourishment. Speaking only the harsh Thri-kreen with clicks and finger snaps, the Dryborn can be taught to understand but can’t actually verbalize the sounds used in common, dwarfish or elvish. Elders are given ritual tattoos as a sign of oneness with the earth. Gosimer described them as *“a Gentle remnant from a bygone empire, griping onto its final flames. A wholesome savage.”*

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  Tales of Dryborn leaving the desert to live in *Rovania* have circulated for generations but most wave this off as nonsense.

### Blood Pyramids

> “Ruins belonging to millennia’s old cities all are barely dust. Next to nothing remains of these  settlements except for one constant: blood pryamids.” - ***Superior Smoldering***, Chapter 227.
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  Levitating anywhere from 200 to 1,000 feet above the ground over every ruinous site, a monolithic upside down colossal pyramid hangs in the sky. Suspended by odd magic, the blood pyramids are forbidding and awe inspiring. They are called blood pyramids by the continuous leaking of blood and insects from their suspended forms. The pyramids do seem to slowly move, but they stay within a close range of the ruins over which they hang. The dark aura along with intimidating presence can freeze weaker wills in fear. Whenever the Oochak’t Pack wanders near a pyramid, silence over takes the tribe as they hide their faces away from the mighty structures till all have past by. The blood pyramids don’t seem to do anything but leak. Every time Gosimer tried to communicate about the pyramid, the pack would growl at him, even once having a Dryborn bite a finger off.

> “All I have gathered is that the pyramids are evil to the pack. A being...a horrible thing lives inside them they say, called ‘*Zok’*. He steals face’s, devours spirit, lays upon mounds of gems and wields a ‘Doorway to Oblivion.’  *Zok* is the only god they believe, one taught not to be worshiped...” *-  **Superior Smoldering***, Chapter 232.
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