Chronicles of Sha'Lazar

Sha’Lazar, the continent surrounded by a Great Ocean called the “al Imn’afen Moheet”, still has challenges with fresh water with the majority of the land mass covered by deserts or volcanic lava fields.

With the ocean water being extremely salty and not potable for humans and many animals, coupled with the continent's deserts covering almost three-fourths of the continent, with exception of the Canas Region, and only the Hanasim Mountain Range to feed lake and fresh water rivers one lake and two smaller rivers, the lack of fresh water sources has always been a huge concern for all leaders through the millennia.

By the grace of the Gods, there were places spattered across the Acacus and the Hanasim called Oases, that were fed by underground streams, and natural catch-basins; large underground caverns where water was stored, fed by deeper water streams. The stone-bed layer of the planet’s crust acted as filters for the pure water. The fertile river valleys, and delta, supplied with water from the Rivers, or mountain ranges, are examples of a type of large oasis… at 22,000 square kilometers, it might be the largest oasis in the world.

Communities have traditionally planted strong trees, such as palms, around the perimeter of oases to keep the desert sands from their delicate crops and water. They vary in size from a cluster of date palms around a well, or a spring, to a city and its irrigated cropland. Dates, cotton, olives, figs, citrus fruits, wheat, and corn (maize) are common oasis crops. In some oasis settlements, these wells might be centuries old and might have been diligently maintained for generations to preserve access to their life-giving water.

On the island of Red Hamada, fresh water was prolific due to great ocean storms. Moreover, the Hamadan people had become very protective of their water source. But, being on an island, offered them safety from invasions; thus fresh water became a profitable export and eventually a monopoly.

But on the isolated island of Mis’aru, the larger island of Sha‘Lazar, deserts covered only three-fifths of the island, while two rivers, Nahr Akem, and one lake, Lake Syria in the north, both fed by the Gharib Mountain Range, and Nahr al Du’at, in the south, that split the desert into north and south. Rivers that flow through the deserts providing permanent sources of water for a large, elongated oasis.

But, the air of the Mis’aruan Deserts was usually extremely hot and dry during the day. However, at night, when the air cooled, some moisture would develop. This moisture would then be carried by leeward winds across the surface of the desert.

Thus, mandated by the First Empress over 500 years ago, Imperial engineers had to control the deserts. After many failures, and more executions, the Royal Engineers finally invented a device they called “Masyadat Alriyah” (wind traps), which would essentially wind-gage, or funnel, the moist winds into traps that would capture this air, and so, thru thin material operated by wheels and cogs, and after it condensed, the moisture could be extracted from it. However, it would take almost 400 years to refine the process as an efficient source of water.

However, Royal Engineers had surmised that the water reclaimed from this system would not be enough, and that a self-sustaining precipitation system would need to exist. As a result, the Engineers began a plantation drive across the upper and lower deserts. Then when Mis’aruan spies in the Rash’ani courts notified the Empress of the discovered catch-basins in underground caverns of the vast deserts of the continent.

Eventually, the discovered catch-basins in Mis’aru, were reformed by Royal Engineers into a large underground facility, storing water reclaimed by “Masyadat Alriyah”. Water storage, effectively indefinitely with little loss, provided a valuable asset to the Mis’aruan people, and even enhanced the export of water to compete on the world market with the Hamadan monopoly, lowering the price of a valued commodity.