Sea of Glass

The Sea of Glass is a vast rolling desert. The rolling dunes are made up of light sand, which often blows in the harsh winds that scour the landscape. Oases are few, well marked and well defended, as they make up the only means of survival if one is crossing the desert.   The desert borders the Muldoon Bay to the North, the Gimlin Mountains to the East, and the Plains of Groff to the South. The Desert boasts both amazing sunsets and sunrises due to the fine dust of glass that is stirred by the winds. Creating a prism effect when the lighting is right.   The glass formed when Marmon expended wrath, is the most striking feature of the desert. Both beautiful and deadly, the Desert Nomads have learned to use it as a method of rapid transportation, if a dangerous one. Unlike typical glass the glass formed by the Sea of Glass actually grows. The crystalline forms grow in sheets, over the sandy landscape, giving the area its namesake. People living in the Sea of Glass have learned to wear thick eye covering, or have developed natural defenses against the blowing grains of glass.   Another notable feature is the City of Glass. Nobody knows the true origin of the city, save that it now is encased in a living sheet of glass. Empty streets, perfectly preserved leave the question of what happened to the people that lived there. The glass preserved everything, right down to cooked and uneaten meals, which remain forever suspended in time.

The glass that makes up the Sea of Glass, is its own entity. Originally created when Marmon unleashed the core of the world on the area, the vast heat turned the sands of the desert into glass. The rift also opened a gate to the plane of fire and several creatures crept forth, only to be caught in the wake of Marmon's wrath. The dying elemental entities merged with the molten glass in a strange way. The glass in the Sea of Glass, while not exactly sentient, is alive, and grows with glacial ponderance. Only the peoples that live in the Sea of Glass cause it to halt. The Sea Skimmers do slight enough damage as to not really injure the glass, but enough that repairing the damage halts the expansion into other parts of Avenaria.     The oases that dot the landscape form the only areas in the Sea that can house life. These brief respites of greenery amidst the sparkling desert are well attended and well defended by the peoples of the Sea. The oases vary in size from relatively small oases that can provide brief relief from the scorching desert, to large oases that can and do support full sized towns. These larger oases also allow some crop growth and provide forage for livestock. These larger oases are also draw the attention of creatures dangerous to the peoples of the Sea. So the people are on constant alert for any kind of incursion.   Common crops include; dates, wheat, melons, grapes, millet, Sorghum, and Coffee beans all grow at the various oases locations. Dates, grapes, and melons are more commonly found at the larger oases, while the grains are found throughout, wherever blown by the wind and wherever the scant water matches the need of the seed. The grains are most usually ground down into powder mixed with either water or goat's milk and then pounded flat to lie on hot stones where they create a type of flatbread. Coffee is often harvested and roasted daily. What little coffee gets exported sells for exorbitant prices throughout Avenaria, but in particular Linande.

Dates, melons, grapes from the various Oases are harvested and exported, although in a very limited range, due to the difficulty in getting them from harvest to areas outside the Sea of Glass.   Goats, sheep and camels are also raised in the areas where a good source of water is available. Rarely are they exported due to difficulty in shipping.

When the gods of Avenaria first created the lands, the primordial gods, Marmon, and Mardak were excluded, as they were thought to be too chaotic to be included in creation. As the gods created what they thought to be a paradise, the Primordials grew more and more jealous and enraged. When Panedithas boasted that the area was the most beautiful that could be created, Marmon grew incensed. He unleashed his fury, stating that he would forever leave his mark on their paradise. Reaching deep into the bowels of the world as it was created, his chaos boiled the to the surface in the form of massive volcanoes which spewed lava and the crystals which created the Sea of Glass. Marmon claimed his creation as the greatest of all as it would forever change as the volcanoes sporadically burst forth to the surface. The other gods horrified by this act subdued the volcanic eruptions, but not before the living crystals had taken root, forever trapping the lands beneath a Sea of Glass.