Ohlai Steppe
The Ohlai Steppe is a land of paths that refuse to settle. Where other regions bear scars of what happened, Ohlai bears the weight of what almost did. Resonance here manifests as possibility given substance, allowing abandoned choices, unrealized futures, and diverging destinies to take physical form. Travelers often describe the Steppe as a place that watches them decide.
Ohlai does not repeat time like Sunlash, nor preserve memory like Thirasil. Instead, it pressures choice. Every journey across the Steppe becomes a negotiation between intent and outcome, and every traveler leaves behind a trail of unchosen selves that sometimes linger long enough to be encountered.
Geography
The Steppe spans immense open plains broken by salt flats, low mesas, and dry river scars that fill only during rare resonance tides. Grasslands ripple like water during deepglow as moonlight from Tasserin and Cassanda refracts through mirage haze, making distance unreliable.
Certain features only exist at specific times or for specific travelers. Wells appear where they are needed and vanish once used. Valleys open only to those who hesitate. The Glass Horizon, a band of reflective terrain, marks where resonance density causes futures to overlap visibly.
People & Culture
Ohlai cultures are defined by motion and choice.
Humans: Path-speakers, traders, and negotiators who memorize routes and their variants.
Fauns: Wind-readers and spiritual guides attuned to resonance shifts.
Halflings: Caravan scouts and mirage-mappers.
Earthkin: Stone-markers anchoring temporary landmarks.
Orcs: Oath-guardians enforcing safe passage along sworn routes.
Names are often temporary, changing after significant life decisions. Lineage matters less than which paths one has walked and which were refused.
Hazards & Manifest Phenomena
The Steppe’s dangers are subtle and existential:
Mirage Cities: Settlements formed from collective belief in roads not taken.
Divergent Paths: Routes that split travelers into different outcomes.
Fate Storms: Weather systems carrying fragments of unrealized futures.
Griefglass Shardsands: Crystalline dunes formed from abandoned hopes.
Choice Echoes: Manifestations of alternate selves.
Vanishing Wells: Water sources that disappear after use.
Horizon Collapse: Sudden loss of spatial continuity.
Economy & Exchange
Ohlai trades in information, guidance, and possibility. Path-maps, fate-charms, griefglass shards, and recorded decision-tales are more valuable than coin. Caravans often hire Ohlai guides not for speed, but for arriving at the right destination.
Fauna of the Ohlai Steppe
Horizon Antelope: Animals that split into multiple directions when startled.
Saltwind Serpents: Burrowing predators that follow choice resonance.
Mirage Hawks: Birds that appear where travelers expect them.
Glassmane Bisons: Herd-beasts with griefglass-veined horns.
Echo Runners: Creatures that exist half a step ahead of reality.
Choice, Path, and Becoming
In the Ohlai Steppe, identity is conditional. The land does not ask who you are. It asks who you might have been, and whether you are willing to walk past them. To cross Ohlai is to learn that some paths are dangerous not because they kill you, but because they show you what you chose to leave behind.