The Heat: Weather is hot (mid-90s / 35 C) and very dry below a cloudless blue sky - yet public fountains of clear fresh running water appear everywhere.
The Smells: City air smells of perfumes, pungent cooking kebabs, and specific spices (wild thyme, sumac, cumin, cardamom, nutmeg).
Lots Of People: Streets are busy with humans, elves, and orcs in fashionable clothes (robes, loose pants and shirts, head wraps and scarves, sandals) that reflect abundance and comfort in the heat. More rarely seen are tieflings, dragonborn, minotaur, and other humanoids.
The Sounds: At all hours can be heard the sounds of barking merchants offering goods, donkeys and other pack animals being led through streets, singing bards, laughing children, ringing bells, and chanted prayers to all the Prime Deities.
Desert Blooms: Beautiful tall palms mixed with some kind of exotic pink-flowering tree are found on almost every corner. Some districts have rows of fig trees growing right along the streets.
The Buildings: The magnificent Cerulean Palace rises up in the center of the city, it's soaring towers visible from all quarters. More mundane architecture is mostly two-story stone structures covered with veneers of the local dun/yellow clay, but signature narrow towers are common features anchoring one part of most buildings. Windows and skylights are fitted with extremely clear high-quality glass panes.
In The Skies: Occasionally galleon-sized merchant skyships and even sorcerous individuals are glimpsed magically flying above, each heading to or from lands beyond the surrounding desert.
