the main mass by the World Pillar Mountains (also known as Wu Pi Te Shao in Kara-Tur). The Zakharan pantheon consists of several cultures, like the culture of Enlightenment and more savage deities, such as Ragarra. Waters around Zakhara are bountiful with pirates and corsairs who charge traders tolls to cross "their" seas, such traders willingly pay these exorbitant fees as Zakhara's exotic trading goods tend to be well worth the price back in Faerûn. Occasionally the pirates decide to completely cut off Zakhara from Faerûn. The land is full of secretive cities, unwelcoming to travellers, huge deserts, lush oases and powerful genies who meddle in the affairs of humans frequently. The continent is ruled by a theocracy headed by the Grand Caliph, and tales tell of demon-infested cities and godless sorcerers (like the genie-binding Sha'irs) wielding strange magic. Powerful magic and great warriors of every like are to be found in Zakhara. Zakharans are firmly convinced they are more civilized than the rest of the world and treat "barbarians" accordingly. The capital city of Zakhara is Huzuz, the "City of Delights". In the view of Myles Balfe, the Fantasy "Orient" of Zakhara has been designed as a new and exotic counter-realm for players to experience, contrasting with more common settings depicted as "a moralized neo-medieval Europe". It is presented "as a chaotic, alien space". In some depictions Balfe sees the Arabic-style cities of the continent connected to erotic ideas of the harem and the "Arabian courtesan", tropes from Orientalist fiction. In his view the ruling Grand Caliph - "the symbolic figurehead of the entire Land of Fate" - is depicted as impotent to protect his own harem, so that he and his land are dependent on western-style heroic characters to save them. Other features Tears of Selûne The Tears of Selûne are a pack of asteroids trailing Abeir-Toril's moon, Selûne. Wu Pi Te Shao Known as the World Pillar Mountains in Faerûn or Wu Pi Te Shao in Kara-Tur, the "Roof of the World" is the largest mountain range in the fictional fantasy world of Toril. It is inhabited by evil Yak-men and separates Zakhara from the rest of the supercontinent. Yal-TengriYal-Tengri (also known as The Great Ice Sea) is Toril's equivalent of the Arctic Ocean. It is barely known at all. In the ancient time, the major city on its shore was Winterkeep, it is now the trade