Kir-Si-Zesh - Foggy Desert

The Foggy Desert is an inhospitable region in the midwest of Idaka. There, it serves as a natural barrier between the two countries of Akhadi in the south and Kana-Ameth in the north of the continent. It covers an area of approximately 493 km², and many travelers try to avoid crossing it, as, in addition to the sulfurous fumes and thick fog, numerous other dangers lurk. At least, that's what some who have traveled the desert claim. However, many of these may be carefully spread rumors to keep the Kir-Si-Zesh shrouded in secrecy.

There are no precise measurements of the desert. Syrta Khîm is one of the few researchers who has studied the region on one of her travels. In one of her diaries, she speculates that the landscape is surrounded by several dense and less dense rings of varying white to dark yellow mists, which are constantly moving and assume different dimensions. This makes the creation of topographical maps very difficult.

Humidity is approximately 60 to 80%, with an average temperature of 25°C. In higher elevations, dew settles on plants in the morning hours. Light drizzle may occur in lower elevations.

The plants are mainly herbaceous, lichen-like Tillandsias, and thin-skinned cacti that have adapted to the dim light. They have developed thin, large leaves and grow slowly. They are able to filter the sulfur content from the air and absorb the remaining water from the fog or dew. This also seems to contribute to the less foul-smelling air than in other sulfide-rich areas of the continent. Plants at the edges of the fog rings react significantly faster to the varying sulfur concentrations than plants that are permanently exposed to higher or lower sulfide concentrations in one of the central fog regions.   Among the animals that live in the fog desert, a distinction is made between so-called sulfur breathers and filterers. Breathers depend on sulfur and would not survive without it. They live primarily in the thicker fog zones. Sulfur filterers, on the other hand, inhale the sulfur and excrete it through additional sulfide glands, which, depending on the species, are located between the nose and forehead. These animals can move between the rings but live primarily in the thinner fog rings. In addition, some animals have developed special physical defense mechanisms to avoid sulfur burns. These include thick shells or skin, glass eyelids to protect the eyes, or a kind of protective film or bubble around the body.

Despite the region's dense fog and impassable terrain, people settled here after the great Flood in the 3rd millennium BCE, and over the decades they have adapted to the environment. The Idangi disparagingly call them Kir-Za (fog rats). They are smaller in stature than their relatives outside the fog. Their eyes and ears are atrophied, and their faces bear small, holey indentations, which they conceal by wearing masks and cloths.

They are a rather close-knit culture that is suspicious of outsiders. They live primarily in the rings of the less dense fog and, due to its constantly changing extent, are predominantly nomadic. On the outer edge of the fog, there are a few small villages where the nomads trade or offer desert tours. However, travelers should always be on their guard and not trust them blindly.

Mist storms are not uncommon in the Mist Desert. They occur when sulfurous clouds drift over the misty vapors of the landscape and come into contact with them. The resulting physical and chemical forces cause bright yellow, mostly harmless flashes of lightning to discharge, accompanied by a siren-like rumble of thunder. This poses a particular danger to lost travelers who fall in love with the song of the storms and thus never find their way out of the desert.

Another phenomenon is sulfur ghosts, which appear out of nowhere, especially at dusk. While some believe these are the spores of the sulfur fungus, which appear more densely in the evening, others believe they are the ghosts of people who died in the foggy desert of non-natural causes and who want to lure travelers to their own deaths with their hauntings.