“ When creating nations or cultures that reside in your desert regions, consider pulling inspiration from the Berbers or Bedouins, rather than the easily-mishandled Iranian/Persian/Arab convention”
“ Orcs record their deeds through symbolic mutilation, scarring and tattoo. Perhaps creating the medium of skin as art, which humans followed later. Perhaps tattoos remind the elves of orcs and make them angry...”
“ You receive a vision of a rooftop 'somewhere close by', where a rare moss grows; in the vision, you know the moss is suitable for greatly enhancing the effects of certain types of potions. Now go and find that rooftop. Don't fall off. (Of course, rooftop runners *will* be taken for miscreants by the local City Watch....)”