Desert of Serpents

Though the whole realm is named for the vast desert at its heart, there's a few noteworthy differences as one travels around. In the north, the edges of the Disjoined Duchies drift and shift with their incessant fighting. This is dry grassland, with a few oases that get replenished by the yearly flooding of the Hydra River. If you travel south along the river from this inland delta, the enchanting city of Stheno rises like a mirage out of the desert. Built on a meander of the Hydra so it is surrounded on all sides by water, the yuan-ti metropolis is a cultured and theocratic place to stay. But you must turn westward before too long, up and down over the snaking dunes until you reach the more hospitable foothills of the Shield Mountains. Halfling towns are common here, farming vegetables and staying out of trouble. Caravans wander through on the way to the southern coast, where they trade halfling food with passing sailors. This coastal area has dense jungles and sandy beaches, and it's easiest to travel by boat from one small port to the next. The sailors and villagers tend to be local gnomes or humans, but the occasional ship from Teosinte does follow this route as well.

There is a monsoon cycle from the southeast that usually pours enough rain to feed the rivers running north. Life flourishes along these rivers in the flood season.

The Desert of Serpents and some of its southern jungles are home to a few endemic creatures known as dinosaurs. The yuan-ti have domesticated flying beasts and some of the more placid herbivores, but for the most part dinosaurs roam free, occasionally becoming a menace to a caravan or smaller town.