Little Dune

The Dune Sea of Lark'Hal has one unique, very popular sport: sand seal racing. And throughout its history, there is none more popular than Little Dune – the smallest, roundest, and arguably least sand-dynamic sand seal to ever join the professional league... and win the heart of the whole Dune Sea.

Erhi, "Queen of the Dunes"

A sand seal, of course, cannot become a champion without a companion racer. For Little Dune, that companion was Erhi. Raised among the Bhediya, Erhi was no stranger to multiple modes of travel across the Dune Sea, but she quickly became enamored with sand seal racing when visiting the Heart of the Desert. Incredibly free-spirited and competitive, Erhi rose through the ranks of sand seal racers and was the youngest to ever join the professional sand seal racing league. She debuted alongside Little Dune and the duo won multiple competitions, including the presitgious race through the Sea of Moving Art, sponsored by the Royal Genasi families. Her career was unfortunately cut short by a leg injury and, due to his temperment and attachment, Little Dune's career ended as well.

The Small, but Speedy Little Dune

  Born with very few prospects, Little Dune spent the first year of life with pure rolly-polly energy, content to laze and roll about the dunes. His seemingly permanent laxadazical attitude made him an unappealing candidate for most established sand seal racers, but by luck, fortune, or perhaps fate, Erhi took a chance on Little Dune. Sometimes, all a sand seal needs to turn their life around is a single humanoid that they don't want to disappoint. With only a year of training under his belt, Little Dune debuted and, against all bets and odds, managed to finish in the middle of the pack. Overnight, this small, but determined sand seal become a local fan-favorite.
  Little Dune's first victory sky-rocketed the little sand seal into the spotlight. By all accounts, Little Dune shouldn't have been beating the larger, stronger, and more experienced racing sand seals. For what he lacked in size and strength, Little Dune made up for in heart. Announcers who had the joy of witnessing Little Dune and Erhi race often remarked on how the duo was perfectly in sync – two hearts beating as one. The peak of Little Dune's success came when he and Erhi won the Sea of Moving Art race, a particularly challenging course as the terrain constantly changes as the sea barfs up masterpieces before consuming others. His popularity was so expansive and his success so undeniable, that Little Dune remains the only sand seal to be welcomed into the throne room of the Royal Genasi Palace (where he promptly took a nap).
  Unfortunately, Little Dune's career ended during the race of his greatest success. Erhi became caught in a sudden sand whirlpool while racing through the Sea of Moving Art. Her board shattered and the ropes connecting Erhi to Little Dune's harness snapped. Little Dune abandoned the race to save his racing companion, pulling her out of the Dune Sea, though not without injury. Unwilling to race with another companion, Little Dune retired from racing alongside Erhi. He spent the next few decades of his life delighting tourists and caravans as the leader of Erhi's five sand-seal sled team. And, in his final decade, he retired to Lark'Heléz, where he enjoyed watching his water-bound brethren from his sandy perch.
 

The Legacy of Little Dune

  Little Dune was – and remains – a pivotal member of the sand seal racing community. It was Little Dune's story that finally motivated the Lark'Hal Institute of Magic and the Arts to open a sand seal racing program. New facilites were built outside the walls of the Heart of the Desert to accomodate the program. A prominent statue featuring Little Dune and Erhi stands proudly beneath the sun that Little Dune enjoyed basking in.