Many centuries before the current cartographers made maps the northern part of the mainland Canelux continent was a very cool and often frosty place. The original name for it was Tusara Plains instead of the Harena Wasteland. There was a ritual where the tribes all over the plains would offer up sacrifices or offerings to the God Sardon Tiger-Iron. He was a fierce deity who ruled over his homeland with an iron thumb.
One particular year the tribes failed to appease him as he had gotten spoiled with the glorious offerings they had always given him. He sucked the coldness from the lands and in its place was scorching hot temperatures. The grass began to brown and it only rained maybe a few times a year. The tribes all but abandoned the place moving south.
Slowly as the time passed the quartz sand expanded over the grounds. Near the climate regions where it was still cold people would notice how easily it shifted from freezing to scorching. The wrath of a god was something that could only be reversed by another. However, life moved on and no god went out of their way to save the lands. The desert sprawled and eventually, two gods came and went. This explains why there are two bountiful cities in the region.
Their names were forgotten in time and eventually, these places became known as miracles. Races and cultures made these places their homes and somehow life lived on. Nature always found a way even in the harshest of climates, magic or otherwise.
Written for the book "Ancient Lore of Revaliir" by Head Alchemist of Healing and Alchemy Academy in Sularia
More on Sardon: https://revaliir.net/wiki/lore/global_almanac/deities/sardon-tiger-iron-lord-destruction-and-bringer-tor/