S02E03: The Black Desert - Could You Survive? - TRANSCRIPT

Welcome back to another episode! I hope you've been doing well since the last time you were here.

Today I want to delve into one of the main settings in The Pirates of Sissa, which is the Black Desert. The book begins in the Black Desert, and it ends in the Black Desert - which, you might come to see, is quite poetic in its own way. I'm going to talk today a bit about the setting itself, what the climate is like, its importance as a region, and mention a few creatures that live there. I won't go into everything there is to know - because I want to keep some of that to myself until you can learn about it in the books and short stories I write - but I think this episode will cover a large chunk of the general info that there is to know about the Black Desert. So, let's get started!

 

As the name suggests, the Black Desert is a vast desert of… black sand. Temperatures can rise quite high during the day, and for most of the day, if you were to walk on the sand barefoot, you would probably suffer mild burns on your feet - so you want to make sure you have a good pair of shoes, and probably want to make sure you're covering your skin to protect it in this hotbed. There isn't a lot of rain at all, although there is a groundwater source that is exploited and would otherwise make exploration and travel through the desert otherwise impossible.

Geographically speaking, or locationally speaking, The Black Desert also separates the Empire of Sissa from the Kingdom of Valgus, a powerful force in the region that is on very bad terms with Sissa and has been for quite some time. Other kingdoms and empires whose borders are shared with the Black Desert include the Empire of Belvatria, which is the main setting of The Fall of the Black Masks, and Mamlakat Al-Abraj, a fledgling kingdom that seems to have been built overnight.

So, as you can tell by now, the Black Desert is a very hostile environment for humans - and really any kind of creature - but its location makes it an area through which various strategic trading routes cross, linking empires and kingdoms throughout the continent of Qarra. So, while it is dangerous to cross the Black Desert, it is a region that is often crossed by travelers and merchants, and these trade routes are very important to all who are linked by them and all who benefit indirectly from them.

Now, here's a little visual for you that I really enjoy imagining:
The Black Desert stretches out in the north to the shores of Qarra, and meets with the ocean in a magnificent sight, black against the most beautiful, rich aquatic blue. There, there lies a small fishing town.

I just love the idea of that bright blue contrasting against the dark black, and since there are actual coasts on earth that have dark sand, I did definitely draw some inspiration from them to make it so that the Black Desert just reaches straight out to the ocean on at least one front.

Now let's move on to the creatures that live in this very dangerous place. Since the Desert is such a hostile environment, living within its sands is extremely difficult and unsustainable. No plant grows in the desert, despite obvious proof of water as I've already mentioned, and there are many wells to be found along the trade routes. Currently, only two species of creatures can survive in this barren wasteland: the sorranids and the kahlaqrabs.

Sorranids are these slug-shaped creatures with tough leathery skin. They're pretty small and harmless, and are able to sustain themselves on the minerals and sand in the Black Desert. Kahlaqrabs, on the other hand, are deadly predators that look vaguely like a cross between a spider and a scorpion. I've also been studying the anatomy of such animals as the cambroraster and the aegirocassis benmoulai to gain inspiration for the kahlaqrab anatomy. What you really need to know, though, is that the kahlaqrabs are pretty big, and decidedly not so harmless. We'll talk about each one of those - the kahlaqrabs and the sorranids - in their own dedicated episodes, which I am very excited about because a lot of work and worldbuilding went into these creatures, and they do play an important role in the story both indirectly and directly.

I should also note that these two creatures weren't always the only life forms that could survive the Black Desert's harsh environment. There used to be one other creature that called this desert home - the desert gazelle. Unfortunately, however, this creature became extinct centuries ago, and its legendary horns - the only thing known to break a kahlarqab's shell - are so rare, they are almost mythical.

Finally, we come to the people. The inhabitants of the Black Desert. And I know what you're thinking. Wait a minute, that doesn't make sense! You just said that no creatures can survive in the desert! Well, yes. But also no. I want to remind you that the Qorsan-Sissan conflict has resulted in the forced displacement of almost all of the Qorsan population, and it is into this hot, lethal desert that the Qorsan were expelled. It was here that they were forced to set up their homes, living in constant terror of the kahlaqrabs and the Sissans, and the all-consuming fear that a lack of food and other supplies would just spell the end of them as a people.

The Black Desert that we are introduced to as readers is a dangerous place for merchants to travel through not just because of the kahlaqrabs, who attach mercilessly when given the chance, but also because the Qorsan's desperate search for food and supplies leads them to commit theft on trades caravans that are crossing the desert. This practice was more easily overlooked in past decades, but the Qorsan's numbers have been rising again. Those who have adapted to life in the Black Desert and survived have had their own children, and those children have now grown and are, in turn, having their own. As you might remember form the intro, this is a decades-long conflict, so this has been going on for quite some time by the time we as readers get involved in the story, and so it has definitely reached into further generations.

So, merchants traveling through the desert now have to deal with the concern of just how much of their goods are lost to theft, and of course that is certainly not good for business. As a result, this has been brought up to the highest level of government, especially for some trade routes that are particularly more prone to theft, and you can learn more about those in the books themselves. The consequences are pretty harsh, and play a role in how the story unfolds as well.

So, as you can see, there are many issues in the Black Desert, and the interesting thing you'll find is that many are man-made. For example, as I mentioned before, the extinction of the desert gazelle, which was really the only animal capable of killing the kahlaqrab, was a result of foolishly extensive hunting by humans and poachers, who wanted to profit from these magnificent creatures and cared very little for the harm they were doing to the ecosystem that they were essentially unbalancing. The legendary King Ustura tried to set things right by incentivizing hunters to hunt kahlaqrabs, but his struggle ultimately ended in disaster. You can learn more about his prosperous kingdom, which once was located in the Black Desert, by reading my short story, The Legend of the Five-Thousand Shells, which is linked in the episode description.

And that's that! That's all I have for today's episode! How do you like the Black Desert? Do you think you could survive a few hours or a few days in this region of Qarra? Think you'd like to travel there to find out? Well, it's your lucky day, my friends, because you can! You can listen to Episode 14 of Season 1, called A Walk Through The Black Desert. I take you through the Black Desert on our way back to civilization. On the way, though, you meet up with a particularly nasty creature. Will you survive the encounter? Find out by listening to the episode, which I'll also link in the description!

Thank you so much for tuning in for today's episode! If you haven't already, make sure to check out my blog or connect with me on my social media! All the links can be found in the episode description. You can also check out my eerie suspense novella Apartment, which is currently out on ebook and is also linked below. You can also find the link to my digital workbook for writers called 101 Writing Prompts, which is a completely paperless PDF workbook that you can fill out directly on your computer and save. It's packed with some great writing prompts for you, and it's a great way to not only improve your craft but also unleash your creativity and explore topics and genres you might not be very experienced with.

Have an awesome week. Until next time!