A ruined fortress or temple at the southern extent of the Kunagi Hills, where the ridges flatten into the desert plain. The distinctive skull-shaped rock formation that gives it its name is visible for miles across the flat terrain.
Sandskull predates Atriik's founding by unknown centuries. The architecture shares some features with Urk Noulgas in the Wyrm Teeth—suggesting a connection to the ancient wyrm-keepers who once controlled the giant sand wurms of the Kunagi. However, no direct link has been established, and the ruins' true purpose remains unknown.
The Skull
The rock formation is natural—or mostly natural. Erosion has carved eye sockets, nasal cavity, and a gaping jaw into the sandstone bluff. But the symmetry is too perfect, the features too defined. Most scholars believe the original shape was natural, then enhanced by ancient hands for reasons lost to time.
The skull faces east, into the rising sun and the desert beyond. At dawn, light streams through the eye sockets in a way that seems designed rather than accidental.
The Ruins
Built into and around the skull formation, the ruins include:
- The Cranium Chambers: Rooms carved into the skull's interior, accessible through the eye sockets and a concealed entrance in the jaw
- The Processional Way: A sand-choked avenue leading from the skull toward the desert, lined with broken pillars
- The Ossuary Cellars: Underground chambers beneath the main structure, partially flooded with sand, containing what may be burial niches
Treasure hunters have explored Sandskull repeatedly over the centuries. Surface valuables were stripped long ago. The deeper chambers remain largely unexplored—those who venture too far into the Ossuary Cellars tend not to return, or return changed in ways they refuse to discuss.
Current State
Sandskull is too remote for permanent occupation but too interesting to ignore. Atriik considers it technically within Shinii's territory, but no one bothers to enforce that claim. Expeditions mount from Shinii every few years; traders passing through the Kunagi Hills sometimes camp in the skull's shade, though most prefer to keep their distance.
Something watches from the deeper chambers. The treasure hunters who return know this. They don't go back.