Sahara Desert

## Description:

The Sahara Desert, the largest mass of sand and sun in the world, is known throughout the Material Realm as the third largest desert and one of the most inhospitable places on Earth. Intense heat during the day with chilling cold at night combines with the lack of flora or fauna and nigh-zero precipitation yearly leaves the massive region of Africa all but lifeless. Despite its hostility towards conventional habitation, the Sahara remains a center of trade, culture, and wealth for races from all over the K2 Universe.

### Physical Description & Attributes:

The Sahara Desert is most known for the endless sea of sand which makes up a large majority of its geography. For millennia, civilizations and nomadic tribes have traversed the ocean of sand in a variety of ways, from massive birds of prey to sand skiffs to camels. The sand dries out bodies, sucks the moisture from the air, drives men mad, rusts metal and disrupts electrical signals. Parts of the Sahara are also quite mountainous, the dunes broken up by massive plateaus or cliffs of tanned sandstone. Oases also act as the most important feature of the sandy void, serving as wells and springs of fresh water which local flora and fauna seek out in hopes of staving off dehydration a bit longer; governments and tribes alike have fought over these oases for as long as people have inhabited the Sahara. The Sahara's size is estimated to be approximately nine million (9,200,000) square kilometers.

The Sahara's climate is one of the harshest on Earth. Temperatures frequently breach one hundred (100) degrees Fahrenheit, and the sand itself can reach almost two hundred (200) degrees Fahrenheit during the summer months. At night, however, the temperature plunges into the twenties (20's) degrees Fahrenheit. Precipitation is very low on average.

Since The Fracture, the Sahara has begun exhibiting continually strange and anomalous behaviors. JPCU experimentation has declared that the Sahara's large size spans several Ley Lines, and the desert sands conduct Magic incredibly well; as such, the Sahara puts off a large amount of passive Magic radiation. Additionally, the Sahara has been observed as antithetical to long-term technological development; technology brought into the desert for more than a week or two (2) will rapidly begin to degrade and suffer malfunctions; tires and rubber melts, metal rusts, glass cracks and shatters, wires fray and batteries leak at record speeds. Initially, the JPCU believed this was the result of the inordinately high temperatures and hostile climate, but it was later discovered that such effects are an active process of the Magic of the desert sands, which seek to destroy pieces of technology. As such, most civilizations and settlements within the Sahara are reduced to tribal, ancient, or Medieval-equivalent technological levels; long-term modern habitation is only possible within long-standing settlements and large population centers, like the city of Tunis or Cairo.

### Flora and Fauna:

#### List of Flora/Fauna:

1. Saharan Dread Worm
2. Rocs

#### List of Local Races:

1. Scorpionfolk
2. Lizardfolk
3. Wad-Thet
4. Sun Elves
5. Dwarves
6. Orcs
7. Avianids
8. Beastmen
	1. Hobgoblins
9. Undead
	1. Vampires
10. Genies

#### List of Local Factions:

1. House Set (Vampires)
2. Egypt
	1. British Museum
	2. Cairo Exploration Museum
	3. New Egyptian Temple
3. Clan Dustcloak
4. [GENIE SULTANATE]
5. Phicerian Empire
6. Catholic Church
	1. Iscariot Crusaders
		1. [DESERT TEMPLARS]
7. Order of Assassins