Sedo

Hireath's southernmost continent known as **Sedo** is home to the Serora Herd.

## History

Sedo is an open and arid continent created over 1500 years ago by Alya. Approximately 900 miles long and 800 miles wide, the desert continent houses 175,000 Serorans and surely some uncounted Vagabonds, making it the smallest herd in terms of population. Despite the continent's size and constant roaming nomadic families, the herd remains tightly knit, continually looking after one another and providing for them. All paths lead back to Osulas.

## Geography

### **Climate**

Temperatures in the desert vary greatly from day to night. Warm weather ranging from 120 F (or greater) to 72 F at night with humidity typically around 15% during the day. The short winter months possess a nice 60 F day with it dipping down to 37 F at night. Northern Sedo receives occasional snow during the coldest months, higher elevations receive the most snow. Though temperatures can change drastically depending on the location. Northern Sedo and higher elevations typically see cooler weather while the southern regions and lower elevations are usually hotter. Sedo boasts a hefty 12 inch average rainfall per year, the most active months for rainstorms are July through September. It's easy to become dehydrated in the dry weather as sweat evaporates rather quickly making it difficult to tell how much water has been loss. Serorans have adapted to this by frequently sipping on water and eating juicy foods throughout the whole day.

### **Flora**

**Native Plants**

Ziuseset as a whole has many types of flora that occur everywhere, but also each region can contain certain plants that can be seen thriving only there, adapted to its unique environment. There is no hard cut line between regions and many plants from each region can be seen mixing near their borders.

* All of Ziuseset: Mesquite, prickly pear cacti, grasses, sagebrush, various succulents, yucca, and wildflowers.

* Northern Ziuseset: Ponderosa pines, juniper, pinyon pines, fremont cottonwood, agave, peyote, claret cup, rabbitbrush, ferns, and mosses.

* Eastern: Juniper, desert saltbush, fourwing saltbush, jones cycladenia, and welsh's milkweed.

* Western; Palo verde, ironwood, saguaro, cholla, barrel cactus, aloe, and brittlebush.

* Central: Ironwood, desert willow, barrel cactus, ocotillo, joshua tree, parkinsonia, and cholla cacti.

* Southern: Sparse vegetation but white broom, jointed anabis, and white saxaul.

**Farming and Eating**

With the right nutritious soil ingredients, Sedo can produce a variety of food for its inhabitants. Not including the land above Osulas, farmers generally move around Ziuseset with the seasons for the best soil and to also give the land breaks between growing periods to regain its nutrients. Some plants are long term and can just have a bit harvested when available instead of taking the whole plant.

* Farming plants: Cucumbers, corn, melons, beans, eggplant, peppers, pumpkin, squash, sweet potato, tomato, agave, peyote, seeds, stinging nettle, dandelions,

* Foraged plants: Peyote, pinyon nuts, stinging nettle, saguaro fruit, dandelions, agave, prickly pear, cholla buds, desert hackberry, yucca, and mesquite, palo verde, and ironwood beans

**Poisonous Plants**

Serorans have learned to stay away from anything with white berries or milky sap, and are cautious with wildflowers, pea pods, and red berries. Two common and known poisonous plants are milkweed and datura.

**Medicinal Plants**

The creosote bush, prickly pear, mesquite, ocotillo, brittlebush, juniper, yucca, sagebrush, agave, saguaro, desert sage, and desert willow are all common plants found in Sedo that can be used for a variety of medicinal purposes.

### **Fauna**

**Familiars**

* Birds: Roadrunner, Secretary Bird, Phainopepla, Altamira Oriole, Gila Woodpecker, Gambiel's Quail, Burrowing Owl, Red Tailed Hawk, Harris Hawk, Hooded Vulture

* Mammals: Kangaroo Rat, Javelina, Sand Cat, Desert Bighorn, Serval, Coyote, Dingo, Meerkat, Aardwolf, Ring-Tailed Cat, Camel, Gemsbok, Pangolin, Cougar, Cheetah, Fennec Fox, African Wild Dog

* Reptiles: Monitor Lizard, Sidewinder, Thorny Lizard, Diamondback Rattlesnake, Gila Monster, King Cobra, Horned Viper, Gaboon Viper

* Other: Scorpion, Tarantula

* Rare: Quetzalcoatlus

* Mythical: Jackalope, Zesla, Peryton, and ???

**Non-Familiars**

* Birds: Cactus Wren, Ostrich, Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Night Parrot, Lappet-Faced Vulture, variosu desert Hummingbirds, Chukar, Pyrrhuloxia, Rose Breasted Cockatoo, Bee Eater

* Mammals: Sanga Cattle, Aardvark, Bobcat, Addax, Jackrabbit, Desert Wildcat, Barbary Sheep, various desert Bats, Caracal, Hare, Oryx, Armadillo, Chipmunk, Dorcas Gazelle, North African Gerbil, Jerboa, Pronghorn, Striped Polecat, Duprasi Gerbil, Spotted and Striped Hyena, Bilby, Honey Badger

* Reptiles/Amphibians: Helmeted Gecko, Cunningham Skink, River Toad, Hyperolius, Desert Tortoise, Desert Iguana, Zebra-Tailed Lizard, Banded Gecko, Horny Toad Lizard, Bearded Dragon, Blue Tongued Skink, Armadillo Girdled Lizard, Collared Lizard, Chuckwalla, Desert Night Snake
* Other: Black Widow
* Mythical: Sedo Thunderbird

## Regions

### **Ziuseset**

Even though a desert, Ziuseset is home to many different flora and fauna, all of which have adapted to the harsh environment and thrive in it. Ziuseset can be divided into 5 distinct areas: Northern (where Osulas is located), Eastern (contains God's Landing), Central, Western (contains the Valley of Melodies), and Southern. Northern Ziuseset is home to a menagerie of pale rainbow streaked buttes, mesas, monoclines, cliffs, tributary canyons, gorges, monoliths, and plateaus between rolling hills. While lots of water and greenery are around in the north, the land is very rocky and cannot support heavy farming. Waterfalls are common after the rare heavy rainstorm. Central Ziuseset contains pale, almost white sands that are loose and deep. making walking and running strenuous to those not accustomed. Arroyos, small hills, and a couple mountain ranges around found spread throughout the area but central is relatively flat with scattered rock formations and sandy plains. Southern boasts pinkish red sand with jutting rock formations and an erg. The Southern region is mostly a transition into The Sear but it also contains a cold, spring fed quartz terrace, a nice stop for those traveling to/from The Sear! Information for Eastern and Western can be found within the Valley of Melodies and God's Landing geography blocks.

### **The Sear**

An incredibly, and at some points unbearable, hot place. Winds howl through the dunes, shifting their shapes, sizes, and covering any hoof prints. Good luck finding your way back without an experienced guide. It is said the wind is stronger in The Sear than anywhere else in Sedo because it's Alya trying to chase Ignacio out, but the dunes also test Alya's worshippers' devotion. Worshippers of Ignacio come to the edge of where the dunes begin to pray to the fire devil. Because of the extreme temperature (120 F and greater during the day), wind (often 60 mph with stronger gusts), and accompanied dryness, nothing grows or lives in The Sear. If it happens to rain or thunderstorm above The Sear, the rain evaporates before reaching the sand. Groups of Serorans occasionally partake in a pilgrimage to Alya's temple that is located in the southern region of the great dunes. These groups are lead by an experienced Mullah, and likely accompanied by younger Mullahs who are trying to learn the route. The pilgrimage usually happens once in winter, when the temperatures are a bit more bearable. It's not uncommon for horses to only go once in their life to the temple.

### **Niurros River**

Considered the main source of life and rightly so. The Niurros river runs through canyons in northern Sedo and below Osulas before flowing through a flatter and progressively more empty landscape before it dries upon reaching The Sear. Nomadic troupes tend to stay near the river, providing water for themselves and the farmlands generally benefit from growing near the river (water and more nutrient rich soil). Niurros begins underground as a river in Sirith, slowly carving new tunnels, and comes above ground in Northern Sedo. It begins as a narrow, but quite deep, turquoise blue river through the canyons, creating caverns and caves through the twists and turns over the years. After leaving the canyons, the Niurros becomes wider, more shallow, and also loses its brilliant turquoise color due to sediments.

## Locations

### **Osulas - A Capital Sundered**

Osulas was the ancient capital of Serora, located in Northern Sedo. It was completely destroyed in the war against Aodh, and currently, a lake and a village of tents stand where it once stood. Osulas lost its capital status in winter 1701

### **Mbira - A Gate to the North**

Mbira is a walled town in western Sedo, and has acted as Serora's trading port with the northern herds for centuries. For such a small town, Mbira has a very lively culture with lots of foreign influences.

### **Cajon - Southern Trading Port**

Cajon is a small and somewhat rough fishing and trading village on the east coast, and primarily deals with importing and exporting from Aquore. The Rogue culture has rubbed off a fair bit over the years, the people of Cajon are known to be tough but friendly.

### **Alhaj - City of Legacy**

Alhaj is a large city located within God's Landing. It's an ancient settlement built around the same time as Osulas, and has remained untouched for nearly a millenia. Alhaj is currently the capital of Serora.

### **The Valley of Melodies**

**History**

Alya's winds have carved the strange structures found in the valley over many years. Her winds playfully blow through the valley, whistling through the structures and creating melodic sounds. Often interpreted as messages from Alya.

**Attractions**

Besides the lovely scenery and spiritual feeling Serorans get here, the oasis is found in the Valley of Melodies, hidden through a series of rock formations. The large oasis is surrounded by canyon walls, fins, and hoodoos with fresh, clear, vivid blue water trickling up through the sand from a spring below. Plunge pools line one edge of the canyon wall where a waterfall is occasionally created from rain. Plants thrive in the oasis, so well that it was able to save the herd during a long drought.

**Geography**

Located within western Ziuseset and characterized by bright red sandstone with bands of gold sandstone. The valley was carved by winds many years ago and is continually molded this day. The powerful wind thus creating unique slot canyons, caves, arches, buttes, bridges, hoodoos, "waves", and other various rock formations. Many of the formations have ridges along them where the wind travels and helps to create the whistling, which is bounced off the surrounding walls and echoes throughout the area. During the early mornings the valley is typically covered in a heavy mist.

#### **The Oasis**

A mystical, hidden valley located within the Valley of Melodies. It contains a small settlement, Gadis. Currently held by Water Bandits.

### **God's Landing**

**History**

Believed by the Serorans to be the place where the gods would land when visiting Hireath. The monolithic plateau has been around since before the first pegasi touched their hooves to Sedo's sands.

**Attractions**

* Some pegasi enjoy flying to the top of the plateaus, either out of curiosity, a test for their abilities, or because they find quiet solace with the gods at the tops. Only pegasi can see the tops, paths have not been completed for land bound equine to make the journey and they become very steep and dangerous to climb. The tops of the plateaus reach above the clouds and look as though they are floating amongst a sea of white when viewed from above. Land bound equines only see the bottom of the plateau as the clouds always block them from seeing the top.
* Underneath a small plateau closer to the river lies an underground salt cave. The water sliding off the plateau seeps through the ground and lives again as salt, collecting ions and other necessary ingredients for salt making through the sand. There may be caves under other plateaus but entrances have not yet been discovered for any. The herd has learned that salt is therapeutic (helps with skin conditions, stress, high blood pressure, allergies, respiratory problems, and salt is anti-immflamatory, anti-bacterial, anti-bacterial, anti-viral). Aside from healing abilities, the cave is utilized for its ability to provide salt for the herd and trading amongst the others.
* Also thunderbirds nest here, so good luck with that.

**Geography**

God's Landing is located in Eastern Ziuseset and contains pale gold rock and sand. God's Landing is one huge monolithic plateau but there are smaller surrounding plateaus. Hoodoos and mesas are also seen in this area.