Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #241

Settlements and Sites of the Four City-States #241 

August 30th, 2023 

• Number: 241 

• Name:  Deep Dive on a Site of Interest: The Borderlands – Part 3 

• Location: Southernmost Ulu Maug between wastes and desert 

• Population (approx.): 283 

• Brief: Between the western wastes of the Mu Onno Desert and the eastern edge of the Borderlands, the great Salistin Ridge erupts from the sands and rises into the air. Centuries ago, the diviners of the Fesea Nomads (#173) discovered an aquifer below the ridge. Wells were drilled by hand, slave and magic, allowing a town of terraces to grow across the face of the Salistin. Isolated by distance and environment, it is home to wanderers, from the west or east, who have ended their nomadic ways for a sedentary lifestyle (by choice or need). Alone in the desert, Salistin avoided most direct effects of Ta’arna’s fall but can be cut off by sandstorms from the dunes or windstorms out of the wastes. 

• Families of the Salistin Vaeg own or claim one or more terraces and the connected rooms within the stone. Many years have passed since the first terrace was carved and now the stone is covered with curved protrusions and the ridge riddled with tunnels, wide and small. The entire area bustles with activity, the air filled with smell and sound. 

• Tazzitas 'Taz', 30, female Wosen, is a Master Gardener of the ridges of Salistin. She is petite and has short red hair she wears as a bob. Her aquamarine eyes shine with happiness as she looks at plants. Taz has tattoos of various plants and herbs covering most of her body. She loves brown or green dresses, usually with colorful flowers on them. Taz has a wand that helps plants grow. She dances and sings to her plants, and they grow very well for her. 

• Taz grows vegetables and herbs on many terraces that make up this area. She has arranged a barter system with the elders of the decks. She provides them with fresh produce and herbs, and they give her the other necessities of life. A few women and one or two men are interested in learning how to garden, so Taz is teaching classes on gardening twice a week. 

• Taz lives with two roommates in a small room off one of the interior tunnels. The three of them have become fast friends and support each other in all they do. Eliyra, 111, an Elf woman with a playful nature, and Eograce, 75, a male Halfling, are her friends and new family. Taz's real family died in a fierce windstorm when Taz was young. Another Wosen family adopted her and taught her how to garden. 

• Geography: Salistin is a hard week’s travel southeast of Heliostat Citadel (#69) or the same distance southwest of (#31). The terraces of Salistin cover several hundred yards on either side of the ridge, the prized aquifer being in the depths of the underearth below the surface. Each side features four or five stacked levels of terraces, each level about 20 feet above the one below. Paths ascend the ridges to several entryways, terraces whose entrances to the underearth can easily be barred or in some cases the entire terrace can be detached from the ridge to crash down the slope to the desert floor. The semi-circular platforms are of similar sizes (about 15 feet across and 20 feet deep) but wildly different uses (patios, gardens, orchards, animal pens, laundries, etc.). Most have canopies or shells that can cover the platforms when the winds rise and sandstorms approach.