The San-Kesh Desert

the endless rolling dunes of the San-Kesh

The San-Kesh is a vast desert to the north of Elothnin which is currently home to the Elvo-Felintark Empire. Though it is considered impassable and deadly by Elothninians, the felintarks and tinker elves have established extensive trade routes through it, both south into Elothnin and north into the Unknown Territories.

Unlike the Brovnajian Steppes and Dark Lands, which it borders, there appears to be a powerful vein of magic flowing through the San-Kesh, as evidenced by the existence of several magical creatures. Though information about these creatures is still spotty, specimens of what appear to be desert variants of sprites have been obtained from felintark traders. Autopsies have revealed the existence of Flumpert nodes, similar to those found in sprites from the Erkenheld, and observations of living specimens suggest that the desert sprites have a similar level of psuedo-sentience and language as the sprites with which we are familiar.

Though less substantial and largely uncorroborated, recent reports suggest that dragons may exist in the San-Kesh region. Long considered the stuff of myths, dragons have been described as very real creatures by felintark diplomats. Conversations among the tinker elves in Neerhemhind's Elftown suggest that dragons, if they exist, possess strange magical properties that are largely unfamiliar to the magical beings of the Pan-Elothninian world. However, these reports and conversations should be taken with a grain of salt as no physical proof of the existence of dragons has yet turned up.

Perhaps the most definitive proof of the San-Kesh's underlying magical nature lies with the felintarks themselves. The felintarks have long been classified as magic-influenced mundane beings, suggesting that though they cannot use magic they did evolve in a magical area. In the case of the felintarks, scholars (drawing both on modern biology and the traditional creation stories of the felintarks) theorize that the humans most likely populated the San-Kesh by migrating out of the Dark Lands. Upon populating the desert, the humans quickly domesticated a species of large panthers, whom they used for travel, hunting, and protection from predators. Eventually, the felintarks magically evolved sensory perception close to that of their panther companions. The panthers still exist, and are often used as mounts for traveling messengers. The riders are said to have deep, almost spiritual connections to the animals.