When a whale is ready to die of old age, is sick or, in some extreme cases, voluntarily wants to die, they leave the pod behind and travel on their own to the desert in a solitary journey, where they gently lay on the warm sand and let their thoughts fade away into an endless sleep. They go away from the pod because whale falls can attract predators and scavengers that may risk the rest of the family, and if the whale was sick, it may spread into other whales. The reason why they go to the desert remains unknown.

The inert bodies of these whales end the cycle of life and feeds the sand, creating an ecosystem in the desert. Depending on how remote the whale fall is, different desert creatures will gather around this new oasis in search of shelter, food and water. If it's remote enough, the whale fall may last for decades until it's fully depleted of resources. First with big creatures and scavengers that feed on the flesh, and then smaller creatures that take everything they can.

Even though whale falls are usually separated a few dozens of kilometers from each other, there are creatures specialized in whale falls that will migrate from one to another when resources are low. Even some nomad humanoid tribes base their survival around them, not only getting food and water from the whales but also sturdy materials from the bones for buildings and tools, in which they base their economy as these bones are precious items among merchants. They see these events as gifts from the gods.

The high temperatures and the low humidity may play a key role in the preservation of the flesh through the years, although it surely has something to do with their magic properties as well. The nomad tribes know how to make use of that dried meat and secure the oasis from other predators, specially when monsters are attracted by the smell when the whales explode after being bloated by internal decomposition gases.