The Palutian Desert

## Introduction

The Palutian Desert, named after the ancient Uldumian Pharaoh Palut, is the name given to the union of both the regions of Tanaris and Uldum. The region is most notable by its vast expanses of sand dunes, the colossal mountains surrounding the region, and its temperate beaches.

### Ancient History

When Al'Akir the Windlord had created his first elemental servants around 10,500,000 L.D, the Throne of the Four Winds and the Vortex Pinnacle had also been created. The Throne of the Four Winds served as a seat for Al'Akir to observe the world outside his realm of the Elemental Plane, Skywall. As for the Vortex Pinnacle, it acted as a gateway for his armies of elementals to enter Azeroth from Skywall. Upon the Old Gods being embedded into Azeroth around 8,000,000 L.D, C'thun, things changed for Al'Akir, as C'thun was the primary powerhouse of the Palutian Desert. When the First Generation Titan-Forged were created in 4,000,000 L.D, they imprisoned C'thun, and built a city around his prison known as Orzedus, a colossal city located right around where Ahn'Qiraj stands today. Another million years later, and the Forge of Origination was created near Orzedos, more specifically in Uldum.

It was a massive machine designed by the Titans and used by the Titan-Forged and their ruling Keepers to create races new races, the Forge of Origination specifically being used to create the Tol'vir and Anubisaths. However the Forge of Origination, unlike its northern counterpart known as the Forge of Wills, wouldn't even last more than a few hundred thousand years before Obth'aras, the Old God of Sloth, sent his legions to Orzedus in an attempt to free C'thun, in the process destroying the forge. Though the Titan-Forged of Orzedus fought back Obth'aras' armies and kept C'thun imprisoned, Al'Akir was still around and proved to be a constant threat.

For the next several million years, intermittent attacks from Al'Akir's armies were commonplace in Orzedus, and this was particularly a problem since the Forge of Origination was destroyed and could not replace the Titan-Forged who died with each attack. This threat would remain until Flesh-Cursed Proto-Drakes were formed in 1,000,000 L.D, these new creatures capable of being mounted by Vrykul and flying up to the Throne of the Four Winds and the Vortex Pinnacle, forcing Al'Akir back into Skywall. Orzedus would eventually fall in 700,000 L.D when Sheun Azero'thalon, or "Azeroth's Great Creation" had taken place.

### Contemporary History (C1)

In 700,000 L.D after Sheun Azero'thalon where Orzedus was destroyed and most of the Titan-Forged were wiped out, Azeroth was home to millions of new races born from the leylines. Ruling throughout the Palutian Desert was a subspecies of trolls known as Desert Trolls, known primarily today as Sandfury Trolls. For hundred of thousands of years, these trolls experienced the usual trends of uniting, separating, and warring with one another. The largest city to be built was Zul'Farrak, the seat of the Sandfury Empire and built around 200,000 L.D. Though the Sandfury Empire would eventually fall with the arrival of humans in 50,000 L.D, Zul'Farrak still stands today.

For hundreds of thousands of years, the Sandfury Empire acted as a unifying force between the scattered tribes of Palutia, and any external threats such as the armies of C'thun would only unify the empire further. Around 50,000 L.D, the small amount of Vrykul living in southern Uldum had begun to give birth to comparatively tiny creatures known as humans, this phenomenon seemingly a side effect from the Curse of Flesh. While the Vrykul in Northrend were much more barbaric and sought to kill the humans, Uldumian Vrykul chose to coexist with them in their small clan known as Clan Othil. However, with the Vrykul no longer able to reproduce their own kin, they eventually died off and were replaced by Uldumian humans.

The humans were not born into a peaceful world however, but rather they inherited the enemies of their father race—the Neferset. A race with a cat-like body and human torso, the Neferset were once the Second Generation Titan-Forged known as Tol'vir, however they succumbed to the Curse of Flesh. As for their Anubisath brothers also born from the Forge of Origination, similar to the Keepers, they were powerful enough to resist the curse, and remained as guards over the ruined Forge of Origination indefinitely. The humans however were much more intelligent than their Vrykul predecessors, choosing to keep a safe distance from the Neferset's Kingdom of Tol'vir rather than engaging in a war they knew they'd lose.

Traveling west along the coastline, once the humans were a safe distance from the Tol'vir, they built the City-State of Ammon, the first human nation on Azeroth. It was comparatively weak to Tol'vir, however the human population slowly grew overtime, eventually the City-State growing quite dense and resources were scarce. Hundreds of years since the City-State's formation, King Palut of Ammon saw that his people could not hide behind the walls of Ammon any longer, and they needed to travel to the oases ruled by the Nefersets to ultimately put an end to them. With the use of spears and bows as weapons, the Ammonians would travel east, eventually reaching the fertile oasis surrounding the Kingdom of Tol'vir.

Seeing hundreds of humans gathered around the city was naturally alarming to the Nefersets, and a battle would immediately erupt. The Ammonians however had the advantage of ranged combat by the use of their bows, and so even while outnumbered, after several days of fighting, the humans would secure Tol'vir with the remaining Nefersets escaping north along the river. With the Ammonians greatly enthusiastic of their King Palut, they would name him their Pharaoh, a title unique to the Ammonian humans that meant "Greater than King", and most closely translates to emperor. As the first Pharaoh, Palut would make the massive city of Tol'vir the capital of his Pharate.

The Nefersets who had escaped the siege on their city would travel north until they reached a fork in the river, and they saw this as a perfect area to create a new settlement. What started off as a scattered collection of tents would slowly develop into the City of Ramkahen over the course of half a century. Back in Tol'vir though, after thirty years of rule, Palut would've eventually died from sabulosis, or "Sand Lung." Being that he was the unifying force holding the humans together, this would result in a schism slowly forming that couldn't be addressed by his son, Heru. A caste system, though a simple one, had slowly formed within their territories. The dark-skinned humans, typically referred to as Ammonians, would frequently be barred off from walking the streets of Tol'vir.

This most notably became an issue when the population of Ammon grew out of hand, and these dark-skinned humans would be forced to set up tents around the oasis outside of Tol'vir. The brown skinned humans, or "Palutian" humans (Sometimes referred to as Tol'virian Humans), saw themselves as superior to the darker-skinned humans due to their supposed ancestry with Palut. To make matters worse, Pharaoh Heru would agree to this notion, barring the Ammonians entry into Tol'vir. Being that Ammonians could only land low-paying jobs and wouldn't even be allowed into their people's capital, they would soon choose to split off from being associated with Tol'vir, declaring Ammon to once again be a City-State.

Heru however was not happy by this, and would lead his soldiers to Ammon to massacre the Ammonians and reclaim the city. Like the Nefersets, the Ammonians would flee north, forming the city of Orsis. However the city wasn't built in such a rich and fertile area as Ramkahen was, but rather was built in a region devastated by frequent sandstorms known as the Gardoa Valley. For thousands of years, the Nefersets and two human City-States had forgotten of one another, and lived peacefully. However, around 40,000 L.D, the Palutian humans under the rule of King Namurot were guided to expand northward in search of gold deposits in the river.

These expeditions northward eventually led the Palutian humans to a fork in the river—a perfect place to find gold deposits. However this was of course also the location of the Neferset city of Ramkahen which housed the remaining Nefersets. After Namurot was informed of this, he would fulfill his father's destiny of wiping out the Neferset threat, and so he lead his armies north and sieged the city, claiming it for his people. At this point, the Nefersets had no official city and the scattered ones remaining would gradually be killed off overtime until extinction. As for the Anubisaths, they would be worshipped as "Godkin", or a race of the gods, and the Palutian humans would even earn the favor of a few Anubisaths who would offer to guard the tombs of their fallen pharaohs such as Palut.

The city of Ramkahen, though technically under the jurisdiction of the Tol'vir, would have very little communications with the kingdom and thus would eventually become a City-State. Ramkahen became most notable as a city of commerce, even allowing for the Ammonian humans to live and trade within their city despite the city primarily being composed of Palutian humans. Even so, Ramkahen's king Amset still held many of the ideals of his Tol'virian father nation, and so him along with future kings would ban interracial marriage between Palutians and Ammonians. For thousands of years, the Kingdom of Tol'vir, City-State of Ramkahen, and City-State of Ammon would exist independently in an era mostly of peace aside from the occasional minor conflict between one another or with the Sandfury Trolls of the north.

However a new era would begin in 20,000 L.D with the arrival of Abimian humans, a people native to the Southsea island of Tel'Abim. The Abimian humans would arrive in Tanaris, a region thus far not inhabited by many humans but primarily by the Sandfury Empire. The Abimian humans to arrive however were not very peaceful, but in fact were a band of pirates known as the Wastewanderers that had left their small home island in search of riches on the main continent. The Sandfury Empire seemed like the perfect faction to plunder a variety of gold and jewels from, and so after having established an encampment hidden along Tanaris' northern cove (referred to simply as "The Cove)", the Wastewanderers would slowly chip away at the empire.

With many of the Sandfury cities further away from Zul'Farrak left vulnerable to Wastewander raids, this left these cities bitter at the Emperor Azkejoza who seemed to not sufficiently protect them. This indignance felt throughout the empire toward Zul'Farrak eventually led many of the cities to voluntarily split away from the empire, however this only made it easier for the Wastewanderers to plunder. The Wastewanderers would only run into issues once they attacked the city of Seraz, owned by the powerful breakaway tribe simply known as the Serazi Tribe. During the assault on Seraz, over 70% of the Wastewanderers would die in the attack with the rest regrouping with their people back at the Cove.

The Wastewanderers realized that more would die if they simply attacked randomly, and so to unify them, a man known as Faramarz Nassirian would step up, forming a centralized faction known as the Wastewander Brotherhood. Though Faramarz was the central leader of the brotherhood, he also promised that centralization was only a necessity against a tough foe, and in any other situation his people could act freely. With the Brotherhood now formed, Faramarz would lead his entire people south to Seraz, this assault ending up far more successful with only 20% casualties and in the end they managed to secure the city. With Seraz by far being the largest city they had conquered, the Wastewanderers would decide to settle into the city and make it the official capital of their Brotherhood.