THE DESERT OF YAM IBN SAUD 

The Desert of Yam ibn Saud's Population
The Desert of Yam ibn Saud's population is approximately  78,120 persons.

1,564 residents are isolated or itinerant.
69,526 residents live in 100  villages.
7,030 residents live in 2 towns.

The average distance between villages is  4 miles.
The average distance between towns is 30 miles.

The Desert of Yam ibn Saud supports no Universities.

The Desert of Yam ibn Saud supports  171,864 head of livestock:  116,867 fowl (e.g. chickens, geese, ducks); and 54,997 dairy and meat animals (e.g. cows, goats, pigs, sheep).

The inhabitants of The Desert of Yam ibn Saud have been building castles for the last 400 years.  There are approximately 2 standing fortifications in the Desert of Yam ibn Saud and both are in active use, in settled areas.

Government: Monarchy (Ruled by Kaantar the Dragon in the name of Yam ibn Saud)
Capital: The Palace of Yam ibn Saud
Religions: Yam ibn Saud
Imports: None
Exports: None

The Desert of Yam ibn Saud lies to the west of Azrael and to the south of Indor.  It is the hottest desert in Inzeladun.  The heat in the desert averages 130 degrees Fahrenheit on the western end, and 117 on the eastern.  The Sandy Sea averages 94 degrees and the lands of the Barakans averages 91 degrees.  No rainfall has fallen in the past 400 years on any part of the desert.  Except for mirages, the only oasis are located in the lands of the Barakans.  The only other water sources are underground.

There are several unique features of the Desert.  The first is the Sandy Sea, a place of constant sandstorms.  Sight is limited to 2 feet, and the wind velocity is enough to pick up an armored man at times.  The sand even ripples and waves like water.  Wave height varies, but heights of 20+ feet are common (the record is 32 feet).  Leather armor will disintegrate in 12 rounds in this harsh environment.  Metal armor will disintegrate in less than two hours (+10 minutes for every magical plus of the armor).  Armored characters will take 15 hit points of damage per round.  Unprotected characters will take 40 hit points of damage per round (piercing and slashing damage).  Reflex saves must be made every round (DC 18), or characters will be swept off their feet by the waves (larger waves will increase the DC by 5 for every size increment above the character, and decrease by five for size increments smaller than the character).  Controlled flight is impossible here.  A Dispel Magic will lower the wind velocity for an hour within the confines of the spell's area.  Characters who die here are preserved forever as skeletons, and these skeletons attack people who wander into the Sandy Sea.

Another place of interest is the River Zamakh, the River of Rolling Boulders.  It is a vast river of boulders, rocks, stones, and pebbles that will crush any kind of wooden ship that would sail upon it, but is navigable by stone ships.  The stones crash against each other as they flow, like rapids.  The source of this river is unknown, even to the Lord of the Desert.  It empties into the ocean, where the stones magically turn into water.

The Palace of Yam ibn Saud is the capital of the Desert of Yam ibn Saud; it is a town with a population of 3,782 Barakans.  Little is known of this white edifice that forms the seat of power in the Desert.  Currently occupied by Kaantar the Dragon, it retains the name of Yam ibn Saud to show honor to the true ruler of the land, for the god that rules the dragon-king truly rules the realm.

The Lair of Kaantar is the location of Kaantar's original lair when Yam ibn Saud first came and challenged the dragon.  It has since been abandoned by Kaantar.  It is unknown if anything else has taken up residence in the system of underground tunnels (which, historically, was a large Atlantean city.  Kaantar burrowed tunnels in and around the buried city's buildings).

Kaantar's Warning: Kaantar's favorite battleground, where he often lured intruders so that he could easily destroy them.  It is the ruin of an ancient, ancient battlement of some sort, now heavily trapped by Kaantar.

The Tomb of Gandalf Grimbrand III:  The reputed tomb of the last emperor of Atlantis before the Cataclysm.  The Invulnerable Coat of Grimbrand is said to lie in this tomb.  Other items said to lie in this tomb are Gandalf Grimbrand's Staff of the Magi, Grindill's original sphere of annihilation, and other rare relics.

The Tower of Barite: An ancient Atlantean tower where the vampire necromancer Barite lives.

Tarshmyn: The lost city of Tarshmyn can be found here.  It is ruled by Ibnaria, a Lamia noble who had pledged loyalty to the Lord of the Desert.  The city is home to reptiles, undead, vrock, and efreet.

Graveyard of Souls: This is a very large graveyard that is 40 miles in diameter.  The undead rule here, and is the only portion of the Desert that the Lord of the Desert cannot directly control and influence.  However, the undead from the Graveyard of Souls do not wander out of it and do not seem to trouble the Lord of the Desert.  They are ruled by Barite the Vampire.

Belvaim's Lair:  Belvaim is an oriental Earth Dragon, and his lair is here.  Some believe the lost laboratories of Erbat the Fearsome are at this location.  Others believe this lair is at the opening of the famed Dungeons of Dorlas, also from the Fourth Age. It is said that a great concentration of earth energy issues from a rock crevice here, and this power is embodied in the dragon, which was set to guard the sacred site by the gods.

The Temple of Corellon Larethian:  The location of this magnificent temple is lost to history.  During the Fourth Age, it was reputed to be the most magnificent temple ever erected on the planet.

The Lost Library of Atlantis:  The largest library ever assembled during the Fourth Age.  It is believed to be somewhere in the confines of the Desert, but no one knows where.  Recent documents that have turned up since the death of Grindill indicate that a working chronomantic portal exists here, one that links directly to the Second Age, but this is, of course, unconfirmed, and even these documents do not indicate where this library exists today.

The Dungeons of Dorlas: Another lost location of the Fourth Age, these dungeons were an underground city ruled and created by a dwarven sorcerer during the third age.

The Tomb of Nargothrond: Another lost location, this one dates back to the First Age, and was sealed and buried by Grindill himself, according to Barakan legend.

The Palace of Lord Forj:  Yet another lost location, one that supposedly was built near the birthplace of Grindill.  

The Tombs of the Rom:  The rom are undead giants.  The location of these tombs is carefully guarded, for the rom do not want to be disturbed.

The Desert of Yam ibn Saud is a land of harsh reality where mere survival is difficult.  The only people that live in the desert are the Barakans.  The favored class of Barakan adventurers is the barbarian.  They respect the ability to rage into war, and warriors often paint themselves with scorpion motifs to emphasis the reckless abandon of these powerful combatants.

They raise cattle to live around the oasis that dot their portion of the Desert, and they sacrifice bulls to their gods.  Cows, however, are almost never sacrificed: they are too docile and too useful.  They provide life giving milk, and their urine is a cleansing agent, as well as a dye.  Also their blood can be drunk in small quantities without really hurting the animals.  It is considered a greater crime to kill a cow than to kill a person among some of the Barakan tribes.

When a Barakan youth is of an age, he or she undergoes a ritual where the youth is baptized in bull's blood, symbolizing the person's victory over his animal nature.

The Barakans speak a dialect of Midani, and occasionally trade with passing Khemian or Zakharan ships.

Myths
The Barakans believe the first being created by the creator god was the serpent Minia, whose head was in the sky, and whose tail was in the subterranean waters.  The god sacrificed Minia and cut its corpse into five parts, from which he formed the world.

Snakes feature in much of Barakan mythology and philosophy.  The Barakan practice of serpent fusion is an attempt to fuse within one human body the energies of two opposed principles: sexuality (the male principle) and spirituality (the female principle).  Together sexuality and spirituality make up the whole of reality.  The male principle is conceived of as a serpent which sleeps at the base of the pelvis between the genitals and the anus.  The serpent's mouth is open over the entrance to the central energy channel which is said to run from the base of the spine to the top of the head.  At the top of the head is the body's highest energy center, where the female principle resides.  The ritual of serpent fusion aims to awaken the serpent and draw it up the energy channel to the female principle, thus uniting body and spirit.  Through breath control and concentration, the serpent adept aims to generate an inner heat in order to rouse the serpent.  It is then drawn upward to the head, where it stays briefly before returning to the base of the pelvis, at which point the adept attains the desired state of bliss.

The motif of the serpent recurs in myth, art, and religion among the Barakans.  It symbolizes life, death, rebirth, sacred knowledge, and the afterlife.  Zigzagging desert snakes are seen as messengers from the underworld, and some snakes are seen as the incarnation of a departing soul.  Dancing with snakes is an ancient custom among the Barakans.

Scorpions are purely destructive in the mythology of the Barakans, and have a reputation for wanton aggressiveness.   The scorpion typifies drought, the wilderness, desolation and a dreadful scourge.  Yam ibn Saud is identified as a scorpion god among the Barakans.

Regional History

When Yam ibn Saud ascended into godhood, his new duties and concerns took a larger focus and he returned the Heart of the Desert to Kaantar the Dragon, and the blue dragon rules again in the Desert, this time in the name of Yam ibn Saud, whom he worships and serves.

Plots and Rumors

Major NPC's

Kaantar, Gargantuan Ancient Male Blue Dragon Loremaster

Barite: epic level necromancer vampire.

Belvaim: earth dragon.

Realms of Inzeladun | Azrael, the Heart of the Saudian Empire | Yam ibn Saud, Demigod of War