The Sea of Dust: Setting Details

Introduction:
    The sea of dust is a massive desert which lies between the Tortoise Herd and Coda Mountains. This region is hilly and sits at a higher elevation than the surrounding areas, with no major rivers, or really any rivers at all, which go through it. Additionally, its location between two large mountain ranges on its east and west puts the Sea of Dust inside of both rain shadows, resulting in very little and very rare rainfall. When it does rain, it comes in massive thunderstorms from the north and south during the wet season, which can quickly overwhelm the capacity for the soil to absorb moisture, resulting in flash floods. Very few permanent settlements exist among the shifting sands and cactuses, but a single group of humans, the Dusterinos, have managed to build a thriving society of semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers who spend the hottest, driest parts of the year in settlements built around extremely rare oases and springs and the rest of the year wandering the sands and gathering food and water from the few wild sources they can find. There are, understandably, rather few Dusterinos considering the size of the territory they claim. No one else, however, wants to live where they do, so their way of life has been mostly undisturbed by outsiders for thousands of years.

Geographic History:
      The Sea of Dust has been a dry, hostile desert for millions of years, ever since the end of the last ice age. When Tero was much colder and had permanent ice caps, the Sea of Dust was quite green and pleasant. Since then, the area has become much hotter due to the now-warmer climate of Tero and annual rainfall has gone down as the Ashmount Range has slowly grown. These forces worked together to eventually bake the land into the massive expanse of scrub and dunes that people see today. The region contains a wealth of fossils from groups of animals that have since left to colonize more hospitable places. Today, the Sea of Dust represents a major boundary to the spread of plants and animals, an apparent reversal of its role in the deep past. What plants and animals that remain today are hardy and tough, being able to survive for years, in many cases, without any liquid water. The most notable of these are the cactuses of the region which have evolved to store vast amounts of water within their stems, along with single-humped camels which seem to be the descendents of llamas who adapted to the desert as it dried out rather than leave for the mountains. As one of the few animals able to eat cactuses, spines and all, camels are the most common herbivore in the Sea of Dust.
    A few species from the northern reaches of the Great Convergence have adapted to the desert and now live throughout it. These include raccoon-wolves, which tend to have a thinner coat with sandy colors to match the desert, and ducks, of all things. Exactly one group of ducks from the Great Convergence has moved to the desert, getting used to the lack of water, losing the webbing between their toes, and becoming what are now known as lost ducks. Tiny flocks of lost ducks roam the Sea of Dust looking for insects and edible plant matter to eat with their relatively sharp and narrow bills. Additionally, several species which are common in the Ashmount Range to the west have found that their adaptations for the dry, volcanic mountains also work quite well in the Sea of Dust. The most notable of these creatures is the burrowing bear. These creatures which originated in the loose, ashy soils of the Ashmount Range, have found their massive claws and thick skulls well-suited to the loose sands that cover most of the Sea of Dust. The end result of all this migration is that the desert is home to a surprisingly diverse array of animals on its margins, although diversity begins to drop off sharply the deeper one gets into the dunes. Dusterino myth states that the very center of the desert is so dry that even the hardiest of plants and animals will dry out within a matter of days, the thirsty air sucking the water right out of them.

The Dusterinos:
    Dusterino culture was originally born from a mix of Convergent Wanderers from the Great Convergence and Ashmount Herders from the Ashmount Range. Outcasts from the two groups were forced to survive on the edges of the Sea of Dust for hundreds of years without support, eventually learning the ways of desert survival and developing their own, unique set of beliefs and traditions. Today, the Dusterinos are semi-nomadic, spending the dry season in towns built around oases and springs. The rest of the year, the Dusterinos roam the Sea of Dust, foraging and hunting for their food in small family groups. Although there is rarely any kind of surface water in the desert, the relatively wet and cool season of wandering is when large cactuses can be tapped for water. This time of year is also when game species are most active in the area, allowing families to stock up on food for the dry season in the towns. Being in tune with the cycles of nature like this is very important to the Dusterinos. Dusterino culture values factual knowledge about the natural world, the application of logic to practical issues, and the ability to observe the world around oneself accurately. They believe that these qualities are imperative to surviving in the desert and that their god, the collective consciousness of all of the grains of sand in the Sea of Dust, rewards those who display such qualities with good health and bountiful harvests. Dusterinos do not have much interaction with the outside world, since merchants have very little that interests the Dusterinos and the Dusterinos do not seem to produce anything of interest to the merchants. The sea of dust is fairly easy for merchants to go around without going through the desert, so there aren’t very many opportunities for trade anyway. This seems to suit the Dusterinos just fine, however, and they seem to be happy with their way of life. They are generally distrustful of magic and technology, preferring to live life simply in the desert. All of this may be changing, however, as the merchants recently realized they can sell the water tapped from cactuses during the wet season to people back home as a health drink.

Rough Timeline

• 6,000 years ago- The Convergent Wanderers move into the Great Convergence to the south of the Sea of Dust and begin exiling outcasts and criminals to the vast desert
• 5,000 years ago- The goat and sheep herders of the Ashmount Range to the west of the Sea of Dust first arrive in their mountainous home and begin exiling outcasts and criminals to the vast desert
• 4,800 years ago- The first generation to call themselves Dusterinos is born, taking on the label as they recognize that they have developed a distinct culture and way of life from their two source groups
• 4,300 years ago- Clive the Great begins the first unifying war after generations of violent conflict between the various Dusterino towns and villages, which were permanently inhabited at the time
• 4,250 years ago- After Clive the Great dies with only a single oasis outside of his unified Dusterino Kingdom, his son, Giles the Finisher, takes command and captures the town, unifying all Dusterinos under the rulership of a single king
• 4,000 years ago- Dusterism, the belief in and worship of the collective consciousness of all of the grains of sand in the Sea of Dust, referred to as Ol’ Dusty, begins as the result of the efforts of a woman named Stella, who claims to be the first and only prophet of Ol’ Dusty
• 3,670 years ago- After centuries of persecution and hardship, the towns and villages which have adopted Dusterism are allowed to secede from the Dusterino Kingdom by King Billy the Tolerant
• 3,500 years ago- Dusterino settlements which have adopted Dusterism join together into the Dusterist Union
• 2,400 years ago- After nearly a millennium of decline, the Dusterino Kingdom fractures into many smaller kingdoms as Jesse the Protuberant dies without an heir and no one seems interested in taking over more than a small chunk of the desert for them and their extended family
• 2,000 years ago- A woman named Starla, claiming to be the reincarnation of Stella, the prophet of Ol’ Dusty, calls for the expansion of the Dusterist Union, beginning the second unifying war
• 1,900 years ago- All Dusterino settlements have been conquered or coerced into joining the Dusterist Union and all Dusterinos have been converted to Dusterism
• 1,430 years ago- A radical sect of Dusterinos who follow an anti-magic, anti-technology interpretation of the two prophets’ teachings starts to gain popularity all across the Sea of Dust, although they remain a minority in most communities
• 1,000 years ago- The radical sect of Dusterists has become the dominant form of Dusterism in half of Dusterino settlements, with a significant minority following them in other towns and villages, leading to a civil war over which sect should be dominant in the Dusterist Union government
• 980 years ago- The civil war ends with the radicals in control of the Sea of Dust and almost all Dusterinos start to follow their version of Dusterism
• 500 years ago- After centuries of decreasing reliance on magic and technology, as well as a general rise in nomadism among the general population, the Dusterist Union votes to dissolve itself, leaving behind no successor state, in favor of letting each family of Dusterinos fend for themselves as they believe Ol’ Dusty desires
• 330 years ago- Very few Dusterinos now live in the settlements year-round, most of them having taken up the practice of wandering the desert during the wet season as per the teachings of radical Dusterism, and those who stay behind are the very old and the very young
• 100 years ago- First Empire merchants start to visit Dusterino settlements during the dry season, accepting payments in cactus water, sold as a health drink in the First Empire, in exchange for exotic foods and supplies
• 30 years ago- Several Dusterino settlements ban all outsiders, believing that merchants and outsiders have brought a decadent lifestyle to the Sea of Dust which is making Dusterinos soft and unsuited to the desert
• 5 years ago- A woman named Serena, claiming to be the reincarnation of the prophets Stella and Starla, starts to gain a following by saying that Dusterinos ought to live a more settled, less restrictive life and that Ol’ Dusty has no issue with people taking advantage of the comforts of magic and technology

Major Factions
Dusterinos
    The Dusterinos are the largest group of people in the Sea of Dust, having lived there for thousands of years. While their way of life and culture has changed over time, the Dusterinos have always maintained small settlements around the few oases and natural springs and there has always been some portion of their population which prefer to live a nomadic lifestyle out in the desert. For the last 500 years, each Dusterino town has been self-governing, with small family groups dispersing during the wet season to wander the desert and handle their conflicts however they see fit. The result is a highly dispersed and decentralized society where only the very young and old stay in settlements year-round. Lately, a radical movement has gained popularity in a few small communities which preaches a sedentary, modern lifestyle as the logical way to live when groups like the First Empire Merchants are able to provide a consistent level of comfort for all.

The Prophet’s Followers
    Serena, a woman who claims to be the third reincarnation of the prophet of Ol’ Dusty, Stella, has gathered a small group of followers in some of the most remote towns and villages of the Sea of Dust who believe the annual wanderings of their people are unnecessary and that Ol’ Dusty wishes for his followers to take advantage of the comforts available to them. In particular, Serena’s followers are living in their settlements year-round and trading with the First Empire Merchants for useful technology and magic, both of which are considered taboo in contemporary Dusterism, which almost all other groups of Dusterinos follow. Those who follow Serena’s teachings are barely tolerated by other Dusterinos, but some have been disowned by their families and publicly mocked for their defiance of social norms. While this discrimination has not escalated to violence yet, there are many among Serena’s followers who believe it is only a matter of time until someone decides to change that.

Convergent Wanderer Exiles
    For thousands of years, the Convergent Wanderers have been exiling those whose behavior is so abhorrent that they have no idea how to punish them to the great desert to the north of their homeland. Through ancient custom, no Convergent Wanderer enters these lands unless exiled, although the existence of the Dusterino culture which their exiles helped create is well-known at this point. Knowing this, many of the Wanderers form small communities of other exiles in order to help each other assimilate into Dusterino culture and learn the ways of the desert. With the annual season of wandering, many of these exiles tend to feel right at home in their new communities.

Ashmount Herder Exiles
    For thousands of years, the Ashmount Herders have been exiling those convicted of treachery against their kin to the Sea of Dust. The herders are generally aware of the culture this practice has helped create in the desert, although they are generally dismissive of the culture made of exiles and criminals. Regardless, the exiles, the only Ashmount Herders allowed to enter even the fringes of the desert, frequently find themselves taken in by small groups of other exiles who teach them the ways of the Dusterinos and desert survival. Many of these exiles find difficulty adjusting to their new way of life, used to getting everything they need from livestock which are hard to come by in the desert.

First Empire Merchants
    While not official diplomats of the First Empire, it is common for the First Emperor to grant trade licenses with new frontiers well before sending the Diplomatic Corps. Given the decentralized nature of the Dusterinos, this has been the status quo for First Imperial relations with the area for almost a century. Merchants and explorers have been doing their best, in the meantime, to try to find some good or ware that they can trade for and extract from the region. For now, they have settled on going through the villages during the dry, settled season and buying up as much cactus water, a product harvested from any sufficiently large cactus in the desert, as they can to sell as a health drink back in the First Empire. This has been difficult due to the culture of asceticism which dominates the Dusterinos. Seeing an opportunity in Serena the prophet’s movement, the merchants have been supporting her with good deals on products in exchange for a year-round, steady supply of cactus water. Should it come to it, these merchants would most likely help fund or even manufacture a revolution in religious thought and even a third unifying war, something which would grab the First Emperor’s attention and maybe even result in the diplomats establishing an embassy.