Shimmering Flats

For the post-Cataclysm version, see Shimmering Deep.

The Shimmering Flats

The Shimmering Flats was a large stretch of salt flats^[1]^[2] at the southeastern end of Thousand Needles, on the border with Tanaris. The area was an open expanse devoid of any vegetation and home to various varieties of, among other things, basilisks, scorpids, turtles, and vultures. The area was a dried lakebed, as evidenced by the wrecked sailing vessel in the northern part.

The flatness of the area made it especially desirable for goblins and gnomes, who had set up the Mirage Raceway and constantly competed against each other to see who could build the fastest racing machine. Their inventions were frequently unstable, and the area was littered with the wreckage and parts of countless failed gizmos, as well as numerous craters.

A group of dwarven archaeologists was attacked by a Horde raiding party led by Moktar Krin,^[3] but they all were driven out of the Rustmaul Dig Site in the southwest when they inadvertently dug into a subterranean silithid hive.

The Cataclysm flooded the Shimmering Flats, along with all of Thousand Needles, turning it into a lake called the Shimmering Deep. With the submerging of the Raceway, Fizzle and Pozzik built Fizzle and Pozzik's Speedbarge.

Some time after the Cataclysm, Murky dived here and found stone houses, and over a hundred "metal cars", as well as a crystal shard of Aramar Thorne's compass.^[4]

In the RPG

This section contains information from the Warcraft RPG which is considered non-canon.

Thanks to goblin prospecting, the large salt flat known as The Scorched Basin was actually a rich source of oil. The goblins had ventured to the basin in great numbers to collect and refine the 'black gold'. The otherwise amiable goblins were not very hospitable in this region and maintained guards to ensure no one stole their claim.^[5]

Trivia

The area must have already been a lake before it flooded (due to the fact of the boat) and seems to have a long river through Thousand Needles and Feralas and emptied into the Veiled Sea.
The Shimmering Flats appeared to be based on the Bonneville Flats in Utah, or Arizona's flats, many of which are test sites for rocket cars and airplanes.

Battle.net map

This section concerns content related to Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos or its expansion The Frozen Throne.

As vicious as they are lovely harpies once moved on the sands of the Scorched Basin vying with the centaur and Razormanes for resources. The tileset is called "Barrens".