A thousand years ago, the Drifting Sands was known by another name: Al-Maraj. It was a magnificent kingdom, whose beauty belied the fact it was ruled by the Emperor Scorpius, a terrifying creature, with no sense of decency, morality, or kindness about him at all.

Inscriptions inside the ruined tombs of Al-Maraj, often refer to Scorpius as the God-Emperor, while his enemies called him the Daemon of the Sands. The truth is that he was neither God nor Daemon, simply a creature of the desert, as harsh as the burning sun, and as relentless as the searing winds of his birthplace. He would delight in tearing both friend and foe limb from limb, and to displease him in any way would result in a long and painful death from the sting in his tail.

Many thought Scorpius dead after his failed invasion of the Bright Forest in the 253rd year of his tyrannical reign, but in truth, he was quite alive, captured by Queen Titania, and confined for a thousand years.

Recent turmoil in the Bright Forest, however, saw him break free, and he has headed back to his former Kingdom in the Drifting Sands.