The Great Desert

A region on the eastern edge of Chima's inland, bordering the Outland Mountains. Despite not providing many resources, the Great Desert has been passed through the hands of many owners.

## Description

(Originally posted by Egorsmirnov on "The Great Desert" topic.)

In the middle of it is the massive Gorge of Eternal Depth which splits the desert in half. The dull and hot desert is punishing. The nights are cold and dry, and the gorge of eternal depth is sucking in all who fly over it. The area is barren and not much is here, but it is strategically important for war.

## History

The earliest known colonizers of the Great Desert were the Vultures, as the desert was their original homeland. The Vulture Tribe's territory stretched all the way from the northern edge to the southern edge of the desert, occupying the eastern half of the long region. Sometime well over one hundred years before the events of the Roleplay, the Vulture Plague nearly wiped out the tribe. Vamprah gathered the survivors and formed the Brotherhood of Vultures, leading the tribe north into The Iron Mountains to escape the plague. At some point afterward, the Raven Tribe claimed the Great Desert. In the south, they built Raven HQ, which stood until it was destroyed at the end of the Bat—Raven War. Both raven factions lost their power on the Great Desert as a result; a power that was soon filled by The Rhino Tribe and the Gorilla Tribe. Predating the Chima Alliance—Crawler Empire War, the Crawler Empire destroyed the gorillas' base near the Gorge, driving them out of the desert. The Empire claimed the eastern half of the desert, building cities there (as well as constructing an "Outland Gate Bridge" across the Gorge, to connect the northern and southern cities), but agreed to the Rhinos' northwest desert claim, due to a treaty the Bats had made with the Rhino Monarchy. Later in the war, the Gorillas claimed the southwest Great Desert, directly east of their own jungle. With three large factions now inhabiting the desert, tensions grew between the Rhinos, Crawlers, and Gorillas there, driving them all to close off their portions of the desert with large walls and defenses.

### Crawler—Ice Hunter War

Though the gorillas started making tunnels east, the Brotherhood of Vultures, now among the Ice Hunters, eventually returned to reclaim their original eastern Great Desert territory. The Brotherhood froze the Imperial cities and their inhabitants, moving The Four Talon Towers into the desert and inhabiting the cities themselves. Despite multiple battles in the desert with Team Fire-Stinger, Vamprah maintained his claim to that half of the region, not affecting the Gorillas' and Rhinos' northwest and southwest claims. However, Rawlin built a town and base for the Ravens near the spot of their original HQ, in what was then the Gorillas' territory. Though the project, originally intended to be a nearly identical replica of the original Raven HQ, was abandoned by Rawlin midway through construction. During another battle with the Brotherhood of Vultures, the Stinger Brotherhood unfroze the former Imperial cities in the southern half of the desert with a momentary blast of Great Illumination energy. Soon after, the Four Talon Towers were destroyed as the mobile HQ moved over the Gorge of Eternal Depth, on account of bombs the Stinger Brotherhood had stuck on the bottom of the Outland Gate Bridge. The Brotherhood of Vultures then moved out of the Great Desert, going to the Valley of Balance to live with the Leopards due to their new alliance. The cities the vultures abandoned were not claimed by any of the desert's other inhabitants.

### Fire—Ice War and Beyond

Later, the empty, partially frozen Imperial cities were reclaimed by the freed Scorpion Tribe, on the orders of King Scorpio. The Scorpions completely unfroze the cities, armed their defenses with fire chi, and moved back into the houses. The Forgotten claimed the town Rawlin had previously begun construction on, and the Raven and Rhino sects of the faction used it as a base to plan their attack on the Sabertooth Tiger-controlled region of Southernfell.