Location from The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
A vast desert that forged the hardest warriors in the world — the Aiel survived here for three thousand years, and the Waste made them what they are.
The Aiel Waste is the crucible that created the Aiel — a people whose entire culture is built around survival in conditions that would kill anyone else. Water-sharing is the most sacred bond. Combat skills are developed from childhood. Ji'e'toh — the honor code — provides the social structure that holds everything together. The Waste wasn't always desert — in the Age of Legends it was fertile land. The Breaking turned it into wasteland, and the Aiel adapted rather than leaving because they were told to guard something (Rhuidean) and they never forgot the duty, even after they forgot what they were guarding.
Endless sand, scorching sun, and stone formations carved by wind into alien shapes. Water is precious and every oasis is a strategic resource. The landscape is beautiful in its severity — red rock canyons, crystalline desert nights, and dawns that paint the sand in impossible colors. It's also lethal to anyone who doesn't know how to read it.
Also known as: the Aiel Waste, the Waste, the Three-fold Land