Silt Sea

Overview
The Silt Sea is a minor realm drifting near the surface of the Nether Realms; only the utter lack of value has kept a more powerful Realm's ruler from devouring it. Yet, despite this, it grows, slowly, absorbing cast-off detritus and ejecta from other minor Realms, the ruler of the Realm reshaping them to his artistic vision. It is a strange land, utterly barren and dry, yet amazingly beautiful in ways that awe and inspire those rare souls who can withstand the harsh conditions.
History
There are a great many other realms beyond the mortal world; the foul depths of the nether realms, the glories of the celestial realms, the alien strangeness of the outer realms, and much more. A state of flux grips them all, albeit on a time scale that escapes nearly all the mortal races. Smaller realms are consumed by larger ones, and larger ones split apart or bud off new ones. Such it is that the Silt Sea was born, a fragment calved off by accident, masterless and crumbling until a displaced elemental came and claimed it for himself.
Originally, an arid waste that had broken from a lesser Celestial Realm, touched with traces of desolate beauty, it was still hospitable enough when Masos, an outcast earth elemental who saw beauty only in the minerals of the world, happened across it in his wandering among the Realms.
It took little effort for the elemental to lay hold on the vacant Realm and stabilize it, ensuring that it would not crumble away into the empty void between Realms; he was enchanted by the hints of beauty hidden in the landscape, and with his new mastery over it he bent his will to reshaping it to bring forth the wonders of his mind's vision.
Now, the Realm is known as the Silt Sea; an ocean of fine silt, shifting and heaving with the barren moon and fiery sun in the heavens, broken in many places by islands of stone that have been polished and sculpted by dust-laden winds into a harsh, dry work of art lovely enough to steal the breath.
Locations
The Pillars of Dawn - Five immense pillars rising from the silt on the eastern 'edge' of the Realm, these elegantly shaped spires tower over all the other locations, and can be seen from anywhere within the Sea itself. Translucent, shot through with minerals of countless colors, these pillars are elegant works of art at any time, but it is at the moment of dawn that their true beauty is unveiled; the pale rays of light refract through each pillar, lighting it up from within in a dizzying display. Some particularly artistic souls will find themselves frenzied by the display, the display of dancing color and light setting their minds aflame with fantastic visions that beg to be made real.
The Sunken Palace - The home of the Realm's ruler, the Sunken Palace is shaped from a low island in the center of the Realm; bands of vividly colorful stone slash across the walls, polished to a smooth shine by countless years of the tides of the silt sea. The lower two-thirds of the palace are subsumed beneath the surface, choked in smothering dust; it is down here that Masos worked on his smaller masterpieces, using the ebb and flow of the strange tide to shape and polish the rough form of his creations.
Rainbow Bay - While much of the Silt Sea is little more than variations of brown, grey, and white, the large hollow known as Rainbow Bay is a marvel; minerals eroded from the shores of the bay have stained the silt with a brilliant array of colorful bands, a mineral rainbow resting atop the sea. Some of these strange bands are said to have abilities to influence certain kinds of magic.
Siltfalls - One of the strangest sights in the Realm, the Siltfalls are just what the name suggests: a ceaseless outpouring of the fine silt that comprises the sea, welling up by some unknown process within one moderately large outcropping of stone. The perpetual haze in the air is much thicker around the isle most days, masking much of the strange majesty of tons of silt whispering over the stone edge and hissing into the sea below.
Howling Gorge - A single island with an immense cleft down the middle, Howling Gorge is so named for the eerily musical howls and moans made when the dust-laden winds of the Realm sweep over and through it. Some hear exquisite music amid the gusting wails of sound; others hear voices babbling just a little too quietly to make out, tinged with the sound of madness. Some of the greatest musicians in the Celestial Realm have visited this place, girded against the harsh conditions, hoping to hear an inspiration for their next great work. Most leave disappointed, hearing nothing but atonal howls. A few leave with the seeds of their magnum opus. A few others leave with the sounds of madness resounding in their minds, never to make music again.
Kraken's Rest - One of the more curious oddities of the Realm, Kraken's Rest is a smooth dome of ivory hue thrusting up from the sands; the immense skull of an ancient kraken, somehow come to rest in the false sea of the Realm, the bone slowly polished to a gleaming smoothness. Submerged beneath the silt are the creature's other bones, massive pillars of ivory that could, if fetched from the depths, fetch a fantastic price for those capable of doing so. Of course, disturbing the creature's remains might rouse it's spirit, lulled to serenity by the ceaseless and deadly beauty around it.
Bleached Height - The second-highest landmark in the Realm, after the Pillars of Dawn, the Bleached Height is a pillar of milky quartz jutting from the powdery surface like an angular bone fragment. Polished for long ages, the distinct shock of white against the tan sky makes it the perfect landmark for triangulation. More curious are the hollows within the pillar, a winding network of human-sized tunnels within the milky structure that have no apparent cause, leading to dust-free hollows well below the surface of the sea as well as to the very peak of the pillar; were mortals to wish to dwell in the Realm, this place seems entirely too perfect for the task, once outfitted with sources of food and water.
Winter's Demise - The only place in the Realm where water does not boil away into the dry air, this ever-melting tower of ice is the remnant of an incursion by Soreen the Frostfell countless years ago. In a short but brutal war to conquer the Silt Sea and subsume it into the icy wastes of the Gloom, Soreen brought the formidable wrath of winter to bear, but was ultimately undone by the parched conditions, his servants dwindling away even as they sought to remake the Realm in his name. Winter's Demise is the only source of water in the entire expanse of the Silt Sea, and as such those rare creatures which are trapped here tend to flock to it, clinging desperately to the slick edges.
Fauna
Atrociously few creatures are capable of dwelling in the bone-dry depths of this Realm; those few that do are near-elemental creatures of rock and silt that dwell amid the islands of polished stone thrusting up from the powdery ocean.
Mathal - Silt 'demons' born of the Realm under the rule of Masos, these strange entities are as much elemental as they are demon, attuned to the pure essence of earth that their master so adores. Unlike most demon entities, which require a mortal soul in order to be shaped, the Mathal are spontaneously born of the plane's raw materials, their form depending on which region birthed them. Eerie eel-like creatures of compacted silt swim the sea, while creatures reminiscent of spiders and scorpions clamber about the islands to survey and help perfect the work of their master. Generally unconcerned with mortals, the two quickest ways to garner their attention are to either damage some piece of the landscape - an act which draws their furious wrath - or to begin sculpting a loose fragment, which will draw one or two of the creatures, brimming with curiosity.
Sibats - Creatures born of the high winds and the perpetual silt haze, a sibat is little more than a light mineral skeleton enwrapped by layers of dusty cobwebs that soars though the hazy skies on filmy wings. Young sibats are a drab tan color, nearly invisible in the sky, while older ones often begin to accumulate a dominant color as their forms collect specific minerals. Sibats of vibrant reds, blues, and greens are not unknown, while rarer ones may gather pure black or white, or even transparent and glittering motes that make them flash and sparkle in the washed-out sunlight.
Mallires - Strangely plantlike creatures, the mallires resemble a curious mixture of crab and flower, with six stony limbs that allow it to slowly pick along any surface, merged with a beautiful and intricate bloom of mica sheets that radiate like improbably flower petals from a dark central body. The creature is photosynthetic, drawing energy from the sunlight striking the mica sheets as well as slowly scraping away the rough stone upon the walk for nourishment.
Oscan - Symbiotic with the mallires, the oscan are spiderlike creatures that feed on the edges of the mica blooms of the mallires, shaping the sheets to herd the slow-moving mallire toward 'stronger' areas of light. The oscan itself shapes these areas of light, spinning intricate complexes of towers and silicate webs that serve to focus the wan light of the sun to better nourish the mallires guided beneath them.
Properties
-Waterless: The whole of the Silt Sea is a land without any trace of water or life reliant upon such. Visitors to the Realm who are unprotected will find that their water supplies and their own bodily moisture quickly dissipate into the ultra-dry air, potentially leading to death by dehydration within a few hours.
-Nether Realm: Selfish energy runs strongly within the Gloom, weakening those of a more altruistic nature and entities from the Celestial Realms, while amplifying the malevolent impulses of those already so inclined.
-Elemental Affinity: The Silt Sea is a place of Earth over all else; as such, spells affiliated with earth are highly augmented, while other elemental spells are diminished in power.
-Artistry: The Realm nearly reaches Celestial status, simply by virtue of the artistic nature that courses through it. Those with artistic inclinations will find themselves vividly inspired by the harsh beauty of the Realm, and spells and other effects that strike artistic inspiration will be amplified accordingly, while effects that hinder beauty and inspiration will be diminished.