The Sword

The Sword was one of the three major regions of Anauroch. It was the hot, sandy region most thought of when someone mentioned the Great Desert.

Etymology
The term "the Sword" was coined by sages because of the violent Bedine tribes known to live there.

Geography
The Sword was the southernmost and largest of the three subdivisions of Anauroch. It stretched from the Lonely Moor in the west to the Border Forest in the east. To the north was the Plain of Standing Stones. The Sword also bordered Evereska in the west and the kingdom of Cormyr in the south at the Goblin Marches. To the east were the Stonelands and the Desertsmouth Mountains.

The area was covered in sand dunes, which was what had given the whole desert the name the "Great Sand Sea." Four types of sand dunes could be found in the Sword: transverse "waves", longitudinal "troughs", barchan dunes, and star dunes. It had a few "sand mountains", or draa, that were over one hundred feet (30 meters) high, but these were relatively rare. Dunes would often collapse in slides of sand with loud booms.

The Sword also contained rocky pinnacles and small ridges of piled, weathered rock. Water was sometimes found deep below these ridges.

Some parts of the Sword contained flat salt plains instead of dunes.

Occasionally, springs from a mountain would form a stream through the desert. The water would carve a gulch before drying up. Similarly, dried up ponds fed by such springs would form "dead waters", or mamlahah, flat-bottomed valleys of cracked clay.

The weather in the Sword varied drastically by time of day and time of year. In the summer, during the day, it was scorching hot, but at night, the temperatures could drop to freezing chills. It was common for a summer to see no rain at all. The winters were as harsh and cold as elsewhere in the North.

Heat shimmer and mirages were all to common on the Sands.

Ancient tunnels below the sands connected such places as Evereska, Tethyamar, and the Stonelands. Most merchants from the east entered the desert through the Raudilauth valley The Zhentarim had established several trade routes through the Sword.

Flora and Fauna
The Sword had much life within it, despite its harsh conditions, including many plants, insects, birds, and animals, which tended to burrow under the dunes. Snakes, lizards, birds of prey that hunted at night, and desert bats made homes in the rocky ridges. Many wyverns also lived in the Sword.

Camels were tended by the Bedine, being fed by hidden oasis pastures.

Thorny shrubs often were often able to survive on rocky ridges, and their presence hinted at water sources below the surface in such places. In gulches formed by rare streams, ghaf trees and qassis bushes would form canopies and shade for animals, such as doves and quail. Acacia trees often grew around mamlahah.

Reputation
The Sword was the part of Anauroch most people thought about and cared about. It had great strategic importance as a route across the desert, and most of the ruins of the fallen empire of Netheril hid beneath its sands, making it a tempting place for adventure- and treasure-seekers.

Few, however, survived such journeys into the desert&mdash;or under it. Some creature or creatures below the surface terrorized any making use of the tunnels and ancient paths below the sands, and on the surface, one had to content with both the harsh environment and the savage Bedine tribes.

Inhabitants
The Bedine called this region home, as did the lesser-known D'tarig people. With the exception of some oases, few places in the desert could support permanent residency, so the inhabitants had to live a nomadic life.

Dragons also laired in the Sword, as did lamia and laertis.