The Scaling Sands (Mars)

The scaling sands is an incredibly vast desert on mars, one that next to no Wulvar will settle. But, what has settled are Drakoids. The scaling sands are home to the Drakoids and thousands of years of history. It is home to many fearsome beasts, ancient ruins, and beautiful landmarks. Until recent history, the Scaling Sands are an area that has been isolated, and thus does not have a good reputation for outsiders.

Terrain
The scaling sands is a large desert with sands marked red from the great amount of iron in its content. There are thousands of miles of sand dunes, with the rare interruption by a cactus, mesa rock, or even a river. It is bordered by ocean on many sides, meets the ice caps on the southern border, and meets the mysterious Cassid Range to the west. It does have the Hassid Canyons, which are a massive series of mesas deemed a landmark by the people of mars.

History
The tale of the Scaling Sands begins with a bitter rivalry of two great rivals: Saikah and Eil’damhra. These two civilizations start out as mere trading towns for weary travellers of the desert. However, soon people started to settle in towns and expanding to other towns. With Eil’damhra came El Alaraw and Qamiliha. With Saikah came Al Badin and much more smaller towns settled near the Cassid Range.

This marked the age of empires, which has lasted to this day. Eil’damhra and Saikah were destined to be bitter rivals until the end of days. It started off with the poor settlement of Darazd, which was right in between Saikah and Eil’damhra. The town has been host to many skirmishes, regime changes, and wars, and has mostly never seen peace. It is the hot spot for ethnic tensions in the area.

Wars became a little too costly to move across the desert, so Saikah and Eil’damhra looked for other ways to show off their supremacy, and they found it - building grand feats of architecture. They built great monuments to showcase their power. Saikah built pyramids and statues, and Eil’damhra created massive palaces as places of worship and power. However, things went horribly wrong. In 1343 CE The Archmage Azmi al-Saeed of the distant coastal town Halab had reached his magnum opus - necromancy. He had brought the dead to life, but this turned out to be a mistake. As it turns out, undeath is rather contagious. The undead plague swept all throughout the Shifting Sands, and the War of the Cursed Sands began. It lasted for years, with the undead hordes destroying much of Drakoid civilization. There was found to be a cure - mummification, found by the Saikah researchers. They had found a way to destroy the zombies and keep corpses from rising from their graves, which involved bandages, holy ointment, and deep burials. The undead horde soon faded, and by 1400 CE, the war was finished. However, Azmi al-Saeed, now branded as the self-proclaimed God of Undeath Sutekh,  still lives in his necropolis to the north.

For the rest of history, the Drakoids spent their time rebuilding their grand civilizations, and they have mostly succeeded. The Saikah and Eil’damhra rivalry, while still existing in some form, is nowhere near the same level. The Drakoids were at peace. Atleast, until the Wulvar waged war.

The Scaling Sands were no longer isolated once the Wulvar of Arnarhvall invaded and took hostage of the city of Eil’damhra. The Drakoids came full force across the region to liberate their brethren, and the Wulvar were beaten back. And not only were the Wulvar beaten back, they were pushed back to Arnarhvall and beaten to the ground. The Drakoid mages, in their rage, levelled the entire city and stopped the war.

Since then, the Drakoids have been more open with the other Wulvar empires, even forming a worldwide rulership. They have spread their knowledge of the arcane to Wulvar, and Wulvar shared their battle strategies to Drakoids. The two societies are now one, and the Scaling Sands are simply one piece of the planet of Mars.

Population
The Shifting sands is 46% Eil’Damhra, 38% Saikah, and 12% Sandy Wulvar, and 4% other. Eil’damhra has a lot more population due to it being near more coasts and having more economic power from trade with Wulvar. In contrast, the Saikak territory is more inland, located in rare oasis. Most interesting though, are the desert variety wulvar. Hyena and Hound wulvar have had a long history of persecution in Volfhart, and many of them have moved to the Scaling sands where they both find the environment more suitable and face more equality with the Drakoids.

Culture
The shifting sands has an aesthetic that is both Arabic and Egyptian. Saikah has more egyptian styles, as they are the ones who built the many pyramids and were gold plating. Eil’damhra focuses more on arabic architecture, using those famous bulb headed towers on their buildings. Aside from that Drakoid culture is widely both spiritual and arcane-focused. They have a heavy emphasis on farming gods for fertile harvests, travelling gods for safe travels, and other typical gods such as a sun god, a death god, sand gods, etc. You will find many references to these gods throughout their culture. In addition, they have a lot of focus on arcane arts, researching both them and science greatly. Many drakoids have a high level of education. As for the cities, Drakoids prefer to build higher rather than be more spread out. They focus on towers and large buildings rather than building houses.

Drakoids are very intolerant compared to the Wulvar. They value strict hierarchy, obedience to authorities, and traditional institutions. Their society can best be described as a conservative, authoritarian mass. Social progress takes a long time to occur. A lot of comparatively outdated social norms are still in effect such as women should be housemaids only and any non-hetero sexualities are grossly illegal.

Sandy Wulvar, AKA wulvar that live on Drakoid Society because mainland wulvar won’t accept them, are treated as second class citizens in Drakoid society. They are incredibly underpaid, and don’t get nearly any of the privileges Drakoids get. They need to pay for healthcare, police regularly profile them, and they are often the targets of abuse at Drakoid hands. As a result, most Wulvar that aren’t apprentices to Drakoids are in gangs. Sandy Wulvar include all Hyena and Hound breeds, and occasionally coyotes and jackals.

Eil'damhra
Eil’damhra is the capital of the shifting sands and is where the most Wulvar live. It is a city with many sights, such as the Palace of the Queen, where the monarch of the Drakoids lives, the Shrine of the Sea, where the Drakoid people go to pray for good harvests and prosperity, and the Moraq Academy, where many scientific and arcane breakthroughs occur. It is home to Queen Safwa al-Madani, the current ruler of the Drakoid people.

Saikah
Saikah is the second largest city in the Shifting Sands, located near Lake Aqeela, the largest freshwater source in the desert. Saikah is where the Great Pyramids of Moghaddam, who was the person who first suggested them as a way to deal with the undead hordes, are located. These pyramids are massive places of worship for many gods, especially gods of the dead. It is also home to the Order of Sekhmet, a place where paladins go to worship and serve under the celestial god of war.

The Necropolis
The Necropolis is the birthplace of the undead hordes that terrorize the desert. It is where the false god Sutekh reigns, proclaiming he will be the king of all the lands. He has gained immortality by advancing the art of necromancy, turning himself into a Lich. This area is where many bold heroes meet their fates, battling the undead armies, hoping to put a stop to Sutekh’s ambitions. Unfortunately, none have succeeded. Some debates have been held about arcane bombing this area, but it has shields that protect it from most firepower. It is a fortress of death, and one that should never be entered.

Darazd
Darazd is one poor city. First being the subject to empirical tensions that kept it on its feet, then ravaged by undead armies. Darazd is practically a ghost town after so much as happened to it. It is the site of many ghosts, undead, and ruins.

Government
The Drakoid government is a strict monarchy with an emphasis on maintaining societal order. The king or queen (usually king) has absolute authority over all laws. They are usually aided by a string of advisors that inform them of current politics, new magical discoveries, crime rates, and especially any plots of treason. They harshly limit any hateful speech or messages that could undermine authorities. They also enforce laws that maintain tradition, such as drakoid women are only allowed to get jobs when not caring for any child, non-heterosexual actions get harsh fines and imprisonment, and serious crimes, such as murder or conspiracy to harm government officials, get the death penalty.

Economics
The drakoid economy is powerful, with a higher GDP per capita than most wulvar countries. This figure does not include sandy wulvar, who are often very poor.

The Scaling Sands use the D, otherwise known as the Draco. It is valued at 1,000D per 1 USD.
 * Bread - 2,000D
 * Robes - 112,00D
 * Handgun - 450,000D
 * Rifle - 650,000D
 * 50 Bullets - 100,000D
 * Apartment Rent - 1,500,000D
 * Healthcare - Free!

Technology
The technology of the Scaling Sands slightly resembles elven technology, except more of an egyptian flair. They adorn their crafts in gold and frequently do things just because it looks nice. It is all very show-off-ey. There is a lot more emphasis on luxury than what Wulvar do. They have communicators on at all times, have holographic projectors at their fingertips, and have fast, flying, self-driving vehicles that can traverse the deserts at very high speeds. But, they also have a large emphasis on spiritual artifacts and magicians gear. They have mage staves made for specific purposes, focusing crystals to focus power towards a shrine, and spellbooks to hold their libram of spells. In short, their technology focuses on quality of life, luxury, and spiritual practices, all specified to look very fancy and neat-looking.

Religion
Religion in the Scaling Sands is a big part of life. Many drakoids pray to a god of specific purpose for protection, favors, or good luck. Many cities have large shrines dedicated to gods. For example, Eil’damhra has a shrine to Isis, the goddess of fertility. Saikah has a shrine top Anubis, the god of death. Many more gods exist, such as Thoth, the god of Wisdom worshipped by many in academic arts. Most egyptian gods have counterparts in the Scaling Sands in some form. Celestial counterparts also debatably exist for most of them, with the exception of Sekhmet, who has an order of paladins in Saikah.

Arcane Arts
In The Scaling Sands, Arcane research goes hand in hand with scientific research. Science finds out what exists about the natural world, and arcane research figures out how to manipulate the world more effectively. This combination of research has allowed progress and technology to flourish in Drakoid lands. In addition, there are many different academies for different purposes. Academies of Engineering are for people who want to create new technologies. Academies of Wizardry are for people who wish to cast spells and rituals themselves, including alchemical practices. And Academies of the Gods are for people who wish to become priests to bring about blessings to the land. It is also notable that the scaling sands have a lot of arcane crystals underground that Drakoids mine for power. It is one of the largest sources of crystallized arcana in the Sol system.