Once great forests defied the desert sands, but when the elven empire fell the clerics who maintained the irrigation systems vanished and sand covered the woods. Now only scrub oak remains clinging to the down-wind sides of the dunes.

Or so the common folk believe.

The scrub oak shrubs which poke their tips out of the sand are actually the branches of ancient forest giants buried in the sand, and elves have delved burrows using their roots as support beams and hollow trunks as access to the surface.

These villages thrive in the most hostile parts of the desert, and wandering elves use them as refuges from sun and storm. An enemy wandering into such a place will find itself suddenly surrounded by elves who emerge from the sand. Very few are the survivors of such encounters. Most folk simply assume the elves make good use of their camels and their sand- colored tents to evade and hide from foes, and that the desert is a dangerous place for anyone.