You Know When that Wet... Stuff... Falls... From Up There?

[John]

I see the desert as a completely unnatural phenomenon actually. After all before the Dragon came legend says Allanak was surrounded by trees and as we all OOCly know, the Salt Flats was most likely a vast ocean. So what happened? Defilers. Completely destroyed the Known World. Now over time it would have EVENTUALLY rain would have returned, but there are at least 3 defilers CONSTANTLY at work named the Sand Lord, Muk Utep and Tektolnes. Thanks to them and all the other defilers, the world is still constantly struggling.

That's how I've always seen it anyway

[Tlaloc]

Actually, I think it'd be more likely that glass would be created from lightning strikes. Small bits of natural glass do appear where lightning strikes sand; I've seen it. Hmm... could there be a 'forage glass' command in the future? And on failure you end up with a shard in your hand?

Yeah, 'Fulgurite' is formed when lightning strikes soil or sand. Foraging for glass would be possible, I think, but unfortunately, I'm not certain fulgerite is really useable for anything, other than looking kind of neat. However, it might be something thats added in the future, though everything I've read about the mineral says its incredibly fragile - personally, I'd love to see something where Krathi who cast in the desert create glass in the sands around them . Heres a few links about it:

http://www.menzelphoto.com/gallery/big/lightning6.htm

http://www.mountwashington.org/notebook/transcripts/1999/03/22.html

-Tlaloc

[Anarchy]

I think the water cycle does exist, but due to the heat, the rain never makes it to the ground. As for how does the water get into the cycle without a mass of water?

I would assume, it's biggest source is that there is water under the salt flats east of Allanak, as the water rises, it draws salt up with it, hence the extreme heat and salt.

Now moving onto therory number 1243556.6 -  The  mines are infact
mining the dried molten lava (Obsidian, basalt) from the side of a extinct volcano.  Moving away from all this Magic - the silt sea is in fact volcanic ash with semi-dried lava at the bottom - leading me to think that we are infact sitting in a canyon of a dried ocean. - This is the only way i can explain it without using some Magicker excuse , i dont like them i find it hard to sollow that they would destroy everything around them so they could rule...waste... - But then again, the top dog magickers are male anyway so that does explain a fair deal.  - Now the dragon confuses me a fair deal. Is it folk lore or was it real?  If it was real how can a creature like that exist, it acted like a virus it came, it sucked dry then left - a virus (serious one)  invades, then sucks until nothing is left killing the host and itself - Or is this dragon the one like the one in the movie "reign of fire"
It came, it kicked some ass, it raped the land, then went off to get some sleep waiting untill the land heals its wounds...

Ok, i have gone off topic, so i will stop, forgive the rambling of a newbie .

- Anarchy.

[Stroker]

Alright, so there is always some humidity, but I think that the Known World would still be very dry, unless, like I said, surrounded by a massive body of water. Perhaps the known world is located at the equater of the planet, and that is why it is so hot. Then the farther you go north, the cooler it would get, or south for that matter. Oh and aren't Tek and Muk war mages (not really sure about the sand lord)? Wouldn't that be a little different than a defiler? But if it is the same, then that could explain why the north is more or less hospitable to life than the south. Perhaps Muk does not draw the energy from the land, while Tek does? Thus, the south is a wasteland, and the north is happy bunny land.

[Aranel]

You know it rained so rarely in egypt that the ancients beleived that thunderstorms were the gods geb and nutt making love....As for the idea that perhappes a Volcano is what ruined the world I doubt it as volcanos normally lower the temp. of the world even big ones like the "super volcanos" there always taking about on the discovery channle as of late. The ash from that one lowered the temp of earth by 5 degrees cel. which caused a mass extinction...in all actuallity if there are trees people eiether water them or it rains roots wouldnt go that deep for the underground river idea and if there were underground rivers that close to the surface the weight of the trees or any cities over them would cause the city or froest to sink.....In short I think we all just have to deal with the fact that this is a game not based in reality other wise there wouldnt be magic or monster.
   forgive any bad spelling on my part it very late at night here and im lucky im seeing straight

[Anarchy]

Well...regarding that sinking idea...
From what i have read, all of the land above
the shield wall is lower then the land below it
so, just maybe you are onto somthing there!

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I will note something. The Known World is a scant fraction of the actual world. Why? The Imms have created something utterly realistic. Do you know that when it turns night in Allanak, it takes a few more RL minuted for it to turn dark in Tuluk? This means that they have taken into account the curvature of the world. The brief interlude between the two areas turning dark indicates that the world, in fact, is absolutely enourmous. The Known World is extremely small.

Since this is the case, I do think that it rains somewhere in the Unknown World. If it rains -anywhere- in the Unknown world, that water will find its way towards the Known World. You may or may not know what I am talking about when I say this, but there IS water on Zalanthias, and in abundance. You just generally will not live to see it.

There are places in the game where one can note the manner in which water might circulate throughout the Known World. This water comes from somewhere. You maay be sure then, that there is rain somewhere on the Unknown World.

[DrunkenSalarr]

Well...regarding that sinking idea...
From what i have read, all of the land above
the shield wall is lower then the land below it
so, just maybe you are onto somthing there!

Because I read this and it hurts my head, I will replace certain words with the correct ones:

From what i have read, all of the land North Of
the shield wall is lower then the land South Of it

On a side note, I often have my characters make references to "Up in 'Nak" and "Down in Tuluk" because of physical elevation.  It's very much the way it is in Egypt in that the elevation decreases the furthe North you go.

[Anonymous]

Nice touch, Salarr, but since its not the way I work in real life, its not the way I work in the game.

For me up is north and down is south, regardless of elevation.

[jstorrie]

The water comes from hydrogen and oxygen gas in Zalanthas' subterranean depths. The reaction is hot, which is why Zalanthas is so hot.

I win the game!

[Ghost]

Doh!  What if hydrogen is just burning down with oxygen and that is why the planet is hot?