Kingdom of Dust

## The Lands of Dust

*“Poor in life but rich in secrets the unnamed Lands of Dust sits as a dusty jewel,  preserved by the desert heat as a portal to a time long past.  Unfortunately,  it still bear the burdens of its people’s sin.”* - An excerpt from Minori Saito's publication

### History

The Land of Dust was just recently discovered,  which means little anthropological work has been done yet.  The first expedition into the Ziggurat that contained its last ruler revealed a wealth of information,  however.

The people here worshiped the Osirian hierarchy,  the animal headed demigods that ruled over the people of the desert and were deeply steeped in the concept of reincarnation and the actions of the dead.  Being one of the few kingdoms native to Sheng to worship these gods has brought up some theories that perhaps long ago the Kivath desert bore a portal to Sheng as well; or was at the very least settled by early Osirian expeditionary forces led by the before mentioned demigods, although hard evidence has so far been elusive.

The similarities don’t stop at the gods they worshipped.  Similar to Osirian today the people here lived in a magic rich and highly bureaucratic society.  Enchantments were woven into everything,  from the paperwork to the lighting,  and what records have been discovered suggest that the Emperor was served by a council of mages and powerful clerics.

### Geography

The Land of Dust sits in what geologists believe was once vast, fertile valley that would have made the soil abundant and rich.  Petrified roots in the dirt and sand suggest that agriculture was rich here once,  and the dried beds of were once likely rivers and streams support this.  Whatever happened in ancient history to render this decrepit kingdom barren is unknown at this time,  but the effects are plain to the eye.

Nothing lives in this scorching wasteland.  The ground beneath a traveler’s feet is devoid of even the barest moisture that one would expect in a desert.  Caluna’s archaeologists struggle to stay well supplied through teleportation magics,  and the area around the Ziggurat has been claimed by their attempts to create artificially suitable soil to supplement this.  The land is resistant to such change,  an effect that has stumped researchers and wizards alike,  but the powerful sages of Caluna have had some success in this regard.

The desert landscape is dotted with crags and rock formations,  and the ground and surrounding mountains are riddled with caverns both natural and artificial.  Deep in these caverns are the only place life can survive,  and dangerous creatures have developed here.

### Dangers

If the barren landscape wasn’t enough to dissuade would be adventurers, the sands hold more dangers than dehydration and starvation.  Naturally occurring undead are common here,  and without the influence of churches and adventurers that most lands benefit from have grown rampant and deadly.

Zombies and skeletons while dangerous in their own right are the least of a traveler's concerns.  Bodaks stalk the dunes in packs,  eager to turn anything living into more of their own kind.  Wraiths and specters lurk in the ruins of cities,  screaming their accusations at men long dead while they torment and slay the living.  Ghouls and vampires seem to have created their own tribal societies,  and woe be to any unprepared souls that have ill luck enough to cross paths with a vampire magister.

Still darker suggestions lurk in the Ziggurats dotting the landscape,  and in the massive caverns below.  From these ominous corners of this dead land pour undead that are less natural,  driven by inscrutable and unknown masters.

### Rewards

Entropic resin is the only thing that ‘grows’ here,  and it grows in abundance around the skeletal remains of victims and in the dens of undead beasts.

The remnants of those foolish souls that came before you are perhaps the more enticing reward.  Powerful artifacts are hidden here in the dead sands,  too often being used by its unliving denizens.  If you’re brave or foolish enough to claim them they would serve as powerful boons indeed.

Perhaps the most alluring thing in this ancient kingdom are its secrets.  A dead civilization once ruled by priests and mages is a decadent and dangerous promise of magics lost and forgotten.  Relics that man has forgotten how to make forged by artificers that took their secrets to their graves here.  A human could make a lifetime’s worth of work cataloging these,  if he lived long enough to do it.

###

### Discovered Locals

**Ka'al Im:**  The discovery that lead to the interest in the Lands of Dust was the Ziggurat of Ka'al Im. Uncovered by a terrible storm this tomb once rested buried deep within the scorched sands. Adventurers were contracted to make the first expedition into the ziggurat and clear it of its dangerous inhabitants.

The Mad King Amenemsou plotted within these chambers, his lichdom providing him the time he needed for artifice or nature to free him from his subterranean prison. The adventurers cut whatever plots he may have had short, freeing the twisted spirits of his once loyal retainers. The ziggurat now serves as the current largest source of knowledge on the cultures and peoples that once resided here.

**Abt’atunis The City of Ghouls:** Abt'atunis was once a city of the dead in a more metaphorical sense. The sprawling necropolis still bears the ruins of buildings erected for the living, the priests and caretakers that oversaw the affairs of the dead and guided unruly spirits to rest performing their duties from barracks and temples surrounding the holy site.

In recent times its become a city of the dead in a more literal sense. Whatever calamity that afflicted the ghouls of Abt'atunis with the undead curse remains unknown, but a small hamlet of them live out their unlives here. As unwilling and sapient undead they've banded together to keep their horrific natures at bay, feeding on the marrow of long dead men and the rare flesh of adventurers that died to other means in the vast desert. They've provided a wealth of information on the landscape so far, as their needs have necessitated exploration in the hopes of finding new vaults or perhaps some scrap of information regarding what happened to them.

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*"In the short time we've known about these lands we've already discovered that there's more lurking here than we once imagined. It would seem to me that our discovery isn't simple happenstance, and that there are forces at work here we can't begin to guess at. Sheng would do well to keep an eye for news from the Lands of Dust. Old evil hardly rests long, after all."* - Minori Saito