AT A GLANCE: This barren wasteland
dominates the north, a huge mass of
steppeland, rocky wastes, and true desert
that runs from the Uttermost North
almost to the Lake of Dragons.

ELMINSTER'S NOTES: The Great Desert
was not always so huge, and has
grown remarkably in the recent millenia,
driving men, goblins, and other
evil creatures further south into the
lands of men. Many human and elvish
kingdoms were swallowed by the
wastes, and their ruins remain buried
beneath the sands. (See above for the
extent of the desert in the Year of the
Tusk, 1200 years ago.)

    The area of the Greast Desert is in fact
a collection of different types of deserts,
and includes the hot sandy wastes
similar to the Dust Desert of Raurin,
rocky badlands with very sparse scrubs
and no avail. water, basins filled
with salt flats and prickly cacti, wind-swept
sandstone mountains carved by
wind into bizarre shapes and icy wastes in the north
which would rival those of Vaasa. In
general, it is as inhospitable a place as
can be found on the surface of Toril.

    Science, such as it is, does not explain
the reason for the advancing desert,
and great magical or godlike powers
may be involved. On the positive side,
the encroaching desert has forced
trade south through the bottleneck the
wastes create, into the realms of Cormyr,
Sembia, and the Dales, making
these regions the wealthier for the loss
of such great cities as Orolin.