Sand

Sand was a substance composed of small grains of finely ground up stone and other minerals.

Natural Occurrence
Vast amounts of sand could be found in the natural world, such as the deserts of Anauroch, Zakhara, and Raurin.

Wind could drive piles of sand into piles or hills called dunes, which could cover hundreds of square feet. The strongest of winds could blow dunes large distances in only several days. Dunes always had a steeper slope on the leeward side, where collapses were common. On occasion, a change of wind mid-formation caused a blowout, a hidden hollow cavity that collapsed under weight and sucked in people and animals. A sand crust could form from mud or salt residue, creating a thin, hard surface over a patch of deep, soft sand.

Sandstorms were harmful to most creatures, as the driving particles would reduce visibility and chafe skin. Powerful enough storms could bury buildings, scour the flesh, blind the eyes, and choke the lungs. The shifting build-up of sand could even bury creatures alive, crushing and suffocating them, especially when an unstable dune collapsed in a sandslide (or was moved en-masse by a spell).

Devil dunes were massive, malevolent forms of sand that resented trespassers, animated by magical power.

Quicksand was an area of treacherous ground, usually found in marshes or deserts. In marshes it was a waterlogged, near-liquid soil or sand, while in deserts it was formed from a fine, powdery sand that flowed like water. It was very dangerous to unprepared explorers, who could easily drown in it.

Availability

 * Fine sand could be bought from Aurora's Emporium for 1 sp per 10 lb.
 * Fine sand was harvested from near Kirinwood for the glassmaking industry there.

Usages

 * Silex was a fine, pure white sand, and was widely used for all manner of industrial purposes, including the production of potions, glass and enamel.
 * Titania was a white sand used to make brilliant white enamels, but had to be processed from ilmenite.
 * Sand was mixed with lime to make mortar, used in construction.
 * Exact measures of sand was used to fill hourglasses and minuteglasses for timekeeping.
 * Hardsand was a dark, metallic sand derived from adamant, used to surface harden metal for masterwork projects, or manufacture extremely strong putty.
 * Sand could bear high concentrations of metals, such as copper, gold, iron, silver, electrum, quicksilver, and even adamant or mithral. This sand could be used to make specialized potions, dyes, and inks, or processed in large quantities to extract the metals in bulk.
 * Sand was a potential material for golem construction, in particular the sand golem.
 * Sand was one of many materials used by the Watchful Order of Magists and Protectors to fight fires in Waterdeep.
 * Zakharan artifice led to the creation of magical sands used for various tasks. These included crystallizing, thirsty, caging, rasping, mirage, obscuring, sinking, restoring, fiery, slowing, solidifying, and scintillating varieties. A similar but unrelated substance used in Zakhara was sand of truth.

Spell Components
Sand was used as a material component in many spells, many of which required no more than a pinch or handful of sand, though some demanded more complicated reagents. These included blast of sand, cleanse water, color spray, conjure sand lion, cool strength, dispel mirage, dune, dust curtain, flowstone, Leomund's secure shelter, maskstone, mirage wall, move earth, move dune, move sand, persistent image, river of sand, sandcone, sand form, sand jambiya, sand quiet, sand slumber, sand sword, sand shadow, sandstorm, sleep, statue, timewarp, traceless travel, transmute rock, and watchware.

Bedine magical traditions used sand or another elemental aspect of the desert as a component, and was known as "wind and sand magic". This included At'ar's fire, cleanse water, conjure sand lion, create water, death smoke, find water, fist of sand, flesh mirage, flying jambiya, life water, pillar of sand, sand gems, sand healing, sand jambiya, sand shadow, sand shroud, sand whisper, sand worm, sandswallow, sun stone, whispering sand, wind blade, wind compass, and wind shadow.

Creatures

 * Blue, brass, yellow, sand, and brown dragons preferred to make their homes in sandy deserts and wastelands, and were adept at burrowing through the material.
 * Sandlings and sandmen were elementals made of sand. Other earth elementals could be made of sand, but were somewhat weaker than those of soil or clay.
 * Skriaxit were air elementals also called living sandstorms, and used sandstorms to tear apart their foes.
 * Creatures such as sand fleas, sand cats, sand giants and Sand were not actually made of sand, nor was sand stew, fortunately.

Magic
In the Zakharan view of magic, many spells related to the element of earth were grouped into the province of sand. Elemental mages who specialized in sand were called sand mages.

Many spells existed that manipulated or affected sand in some way, especially from Bedine and Zakharan traditions.
 * Awaken sand gave an amount of sand animus and intelligence.
 * Black sand infused an area of sand with shadowstuff and negative energy.
 * Blast of sand sprayed a lethal blast of sand.
 * Choking sands filled a target's lungs with sand.
 * Control sand raised or lowered an area of sand.
 * Desert fist animated an area of sand into a crushing fist.
 * Dust curtain could create a small sandstorm.
 * Hissing sand caused sand to flow as directed.
 * Move dune moved a huge volume of sand.
 * Move sand moved a large volume of sand.
 * Part sand could form a passage through a mass of sand.
 * Pillar of sand raised a pillar of sand up.
 * Protection from normal missiles also extended protection against the effects of being caught in a sandstorm.
 * River of sand created a destructive river of sand.
 * Sandcone excavated a conical area of sand.
 * Sand form created a sandy simulacrum of the target.
 * Sand shroud buried an object or non-living creature in sand.
 * Sandswallow caused a large area of sand or other soft ground to collapse inward, swallowing foes.
 * Soften earth and stone could be used to turn dirt into sand.
 * Traceless travel allowed the caster and their mount to pass across sand without leaving tracks.
 * Unleash monolith could summon a huge, rampaging, sandy elemental.
 * Wall of sand created a large, temporary wall of sand.
 * Whispering sand imbued sand with the ability to store and relay a message or trigger a verbal spell.

Other

 * Memnon's presence in the Calim Desert caused the ground to break apart into fine sand, spontaneously generating dry quicksand.
 * The Lands of Intrigue were also called the "Empires of the Sands", but this was a misnomer, as only Calimshan had deserts and neither Amn nor Tethyr had any deserts to speak of.
 * The Elemental Plane of Earth contained a great deal of sand and other similar materials.