Haha, thank you

Out of all the forest methods I've tried, this one was the one that I liked the most. I have everything on layers, so could increase the opacity.

And yes, the desert is incredibly out of place, and it's one of the greater mysteries for any players involved in the world (from a game/story perspective) could try and find out. The easiest and quickest explanation is an ancient magical experiment gone wrong, which left the entire region barren. There's a great ruin at the centre of the desert.