#imaginary worlds

Far below the golden lands of Aurínellir, within the dream-tangled morass of the Deep Abyss, the Screaming Dunes lie at the heart of the Realm of Dust. Taking up the entirety of a single titanic cavern, dunes of arcane sand slowly churn like waves at sea, whipped along by hurricane force winds. Sandstorms- fast enough to shred steel and flense flesh from bone- roil in predictable patterns through the cavern, each successive storm changing the dunes forever. However, life in the Abyss is nothing if not adaptable. The aethapirs, masters of engineering and light magic, have forged aetheric flotillas of light-powered ships, sailing above the blazing heats of the sands, forever evading the storms. Though these fleets often fall prey to monstrous wyverns which nest in the gloom of the cavern's roof, the aethapirs see such adversity as nothing less than a divine challenge- to survive in a place as inhospitable as the Screaming Dunes is to find spiritual peace. The Fire Trolls, formed from the volcanic blood of Firequeen Volsfyrsamar, have also found a home in the dunes, hunting the titanic beasts that dwell beneath the sands. In Fire Troll culture, after all, an individual's value is measured in the trophies of the beasts the individual has hunted- and so it is that glory hunters flock to hunt the deadly sand sharks and bore worms of the Dunes. Rumours abound that something more than mere sword-toothed monsters dwell beneath the sand. Fleeting sightings of stoneworks spotted in the shadowed nadirs of the tallest dunes arouse curiosity across the Abyss, as storytellers speak of forgotten vestiges of an era of light and abundance. Even now, in this time of prophecy, there are many who brave the Dunes in search of fabled treasure, heeding not the warnings of the skybound aethapirs- to disturb what lies beneath the sands is to invite doom on all...