South Ro
The southern desert of Antonica, where the ruins of Takish-Hiz lie buried.
Overview
Drawn from southro — zone description.EQ1Community article · best available source
Southern Desert of Ro marks the southern edge of the vast and dangerous Desert of Ro. It is the home base for the orcs that have spread northward into the desert proper, and their huts literally cover the grassy region next to the moister Innothule Swamp to the south.
Dangers ------- This zone is quite dangerous, especially if you didn't reach it by travelling through the much more dangerous northern Desert of Ro, in which case it seems like safe haven in comparison. This zone is a lower level zone than the Oasis of Marr to the north, and there are far fewer Sand Giants roaming the dunes, as well as fewer madmen. There are, however, more undead running around, including frequent ghouls and the occasional dry bone skeleton. All of these will attack you on sight.
Orcs are also present in large quantities. This is great for hunting purposes, and is the next step up for many trolls and ogres from the south once they reach 6th or 7th level and can group up. The grassy region, however, is very hilly, and it's easy to stumble across a camp that you didn't know was there. Luckily, it's an easy trek to Innothule Swamp. Of note, however, that good races will likely only be bound in Freeport at the closest, and a death here is 20 minutes of real life running to reclaim your corpse.
Recently there has been an increase in the risk of travelling through this area. The undead have been more prevalent, and types of stronger undead never before seen in this part of the desert have started appearing, including stronger mummies. Also, more snakes and spiders, the most frightening of which is the Terrorantula, which I believe was named by a group of drunken Barbarians...
Benefits -------- This area is like a higher level version of North Ro, and provides some good hunting for solo's up to level 20 and groups up to level 17 or so, depending on their size. It is also generally uncrowded, and you can take out orc camps all day without much competition.
The Dervish Cutthroat camps in this area are also less frequently camped, normally, and tend to be a bit tougher than the camps to the north. With the addition of the very frequent wandering monster attack, these camps are tougher than the ones in North Ro.
The merchant camp in the middle is a good place to sell for the evil races that aren't like elsewhere. They will also sell to people that they like from the "good" races as well, although will refuse service to most.
Official Lore
2Collected official lore pieces, from in-game and out.
Bootstrutter’s Trail Guide to the Desert of Ro
Bootstrutter’s Guide to the Desert of Ro,” by Hasten Bootstrutter. Edited by Jergo Wheybringer. This book describes the changes to the old Desert of Ro to give travellers fair warning of what to expect in these hostile lands. Introduction: The Desert of Ro was previously mapped as three distinct sections: the Northern Desert of Ro, the Oasis of Marr and the S…
Read the full sourceTravel Advisory
Ak'Anon Report:: }-------------------------} Vol. 9 No. 8 ~Travel Advisory~ Travel for vacationing Gnomes is open to all areas except to the southern half of Antonica. The Trolls, one of the largest predators of Gnome kin, have invaded Southern Ro and The Rathe Mountains. Gnome travel has been restricted to the northern Gnome friendly cities.
Read the full sourceFurther sources
9Lore that mentions this in passing.
Community articles
3Fan-written encyclopedia entries — useful overviews, lower authority than the primary sources above.