The Desolate South

The Desolate South is the name given to a large, geographic region in the far south of Eithlith, the vast majority of which is desert. This land is largely uninhabitable and inhospitable to life, thus giving it its name.

BIOMES:
The Desolate South has a few distinct biomes:

The Great Desert
The Great Desert lies immediately south of the rocky plains and mountains marking Virgandia's meridional border. It is a vast desert of sand, with some areas flat and dotted with rock formations, and others covered in enormous dunes.

The Grey Desert
The Grey Desert (not to be confused with the Great Desert) is a region along the Desolate South's western coast known for its relatively unique and alien landscape. Here, the colour of the sand is grey, and unlike in other parts of the Desolate South, rain is common here; the climate is much cooler, and closer to that of Mittelmark rather than the burning heat of the Great Desert. Despite this, there is no plant life here; however, the Grey Desert is frequently covered with forests of dead, blackened trees. Additionally, the ground here often emits a noxious, sulphurous smell. Alongside these dead forests, the Grey Desert is also dotted with salt lakes.

The conditions under which this environment, certainly an anomaly compared to the rest of the Desolate South, is unknown. Almost all legends and folk tales insist that this was the result of the land being laid bare and corrupted after a devestating alchemical war between the ancient Elven civilisations; the exact scientific cause is unknown, as the journey to reach the Grey Desert is fraught with danger, due to sandstorms and the unforgiving sun in the Great Desert, and storms in the Western Sea.

The Southern Mountains (placeholder name, WIP)
The _________ mountains derive their name from the Virgandian words meaning 'the edge of the world'. A large range of some of the tallest mountains in Eithlith, for many centuries these mountains were indeed believed to be the edge of the world, as a journey across was extremely dangerous, made almost impossible by the steep cliffs, heat and constant wind.