Sand Dancers

Founding date: Quake -6000ish?

The Sand Dancers are a group of nomadic desert tribes located in the Shivering Sands, the largest desert in Palidovas. They are devoted to the sand dragons, large molten sand breathing predators in the region, following the creatures around to sustain their way of life. They are very family oriented, matrilocal and typically a very open culture. The main flow of Amberglass comes through their hands. Currently, they are being taken advantage of by more and more expeditions from the Durok Fiefdoms and face unknown threats from the north in the form of Waterfall Keep.

## History

### Origins

A long time ago, the Sand Dancers lived in the grasslands and forests just to the north of the desert, using the mountains for protection. Over time, the desert expanded and slowly took over their home. While great diggers, they couldn’t pass through the jagged mountains as their original range was destroyed. Those confident enough were determined to face the desert head on, though very few survive the journey back to civilization, lost in the deserts. They slowly adapted to the warmth, focusing on smaller family groups and collecting water, but never entered the sand out of fear of the sand dragons that often moved closer and closer to their homelands. Remnants of their clay homes can still be found scattered in these archways.

For a long time, they lived in fear of fellow tribes, often competing to the death for water. This part of their history is largely unknown, but that is not because there was no documentation. In fact even in these darker times, the tribes shared a common script and a tradition of oral storytelling. But all information about who they were before they followed the dragons was struck from their history because they believed their culture to be reborn. The rest of that past was too dark or too irrelevant to matter anymore.

After a long chain of skirmishes and living in fear of the sand dragons of the desert, and after studying the dragons, a few realized the these strong dangerous creatures weren’t just random and wandering aimlessly, but were following herds of animals. The Sand Dancers couldn’t track these beasts, but something about the dragons allowed them to easy find their prey. Despite the absurdity of the following these beasts around, the few hunter groups that risked this often came back with plenty of food, slowly convincing their tribe that this was a good idea.

Of course, just as often, the dragons attacked and killed members of hunting parties, but no one could deny the bountiful food these deadly ventures brought. The tribes convened a truce, meeting to discuss the great bounty that was just out of reach, that these dragons could be their salvation. Over time, they developed means of walking that lessened the dragons mistaking them for a herd of prey and began to choose individual dragons for each tribe. They also developed a way of imprinting their family scent on the dragons to identify with an individual creature. It was initially an attempt to ride the beasts, but eventually simply a way to prove who they were and that they meant no harm and would actually protect the dragons. Sand dragon intelligence is still largely unknown, but the beasts seem able to identify individuals.

Even before this, they were originally hunter-gather groups from the rivers to the east, following herds to the forest that once existed south of the mountains.

### Famous/infamous people/figures

Decrypter

There are legends of a giant sand dragon, larger than all of the others, who is responsible for the desert expanding.

### Politics/Social Structure

Tribes are loosely matrilocal families. This means that the children of a married couple will stay with the mother’s side of the family. Tribes are organized through the family tree, with a married pair heading the tribe. The children of this family, and their children's’ children stay with this head family. Females typically play a more important role in raising their children, while males play slightly less of a role. Often, married couples will live apart, since their parents are members of separate tribes. They will visit often when their tribes routes overlap or come close, but the males play a larger role raising nieces and nephews than their own children.

Males and females are mostly considered equal, though there is an emphasis on a strong leading pair and on fertility. In the case of the death of one of the leading married pair, if it is the male, the female is often encouraged to remarry and expand the family. If it is the male, the group typically defaults to choosing a new lead couple, though no members are forced to leave.

The married pair that leads the tribe is in charge and has final say, but their methods and how strictly they command varies from tribe to tribe, as there is no defined guidelines for management of a tribe. Shamans are typically close advisers to the lead pair and often their opinion is valued very highly and respected by even the lead pair.

### Legal system

Governing laws can change with the tribe and with the ruling couple of a tribe. However, there are a few that stand overall.

1. Family comes first
2. Water should be preserved at all costs.
3. Murder, theft, adultery, kidnapping, assault, and other means of violence against another individual will result in the aggressor serving time as a Forgotten.
4. Forgotten must serve for their assigned time as servants to those who they wronged. They revoke their name and rank until time is over and may not hunt or commune with the dragons.
	1. Forgotten who break their sentence will be given more time of service and in very rare cases, repeated breaking of their sentence would result in permanent service and confinement, but typically not banishment.
5. Banishment must be self-inflicted, but is never permanent. Anyone is welcome to return to the family.

The act of keeping criminal offenders as temporary slaves has always existed for the Sand Dancers. As a group that values family ties, crime is not tolerated and typically very low, since everyone is treated as equal and is well looked after. Most crime tends to be petty, acts of disrespect or acted on in the heat of the moment. As such, family keeps each other close, resolving to help those who have broken the law instead of sending them away. Repeat offenders often get longer sentences, occasionally for life, but are never banished.

#### Slavery

Slavery and the owning of someone who has not wronged you, especially the permanent owning of them, is considered morally wrong. They have no desire to force their culture on individuals, and are very civil to those who wish to leave or join. Slaves can find freedom and in most cases safety and family among the Sand Dancers.

### Foreign Relations

Generally, they are very welcoming of visitors, seeing it their purpose to aid any travelers and welcome any visitors, though they are expected to help in tasks around the camp. Sand Dancers trade valuable Amberglass for resources that help aid water conservation and for other materials and minerals for their shamans. They will attack any who try to hunt their dragons.

#### Storm Born

The Storm Born only recently emerged to trade from their hazardous homeland. They have encountered some tribes seeking trade, but not every tribe has seen them or heard about their emergence, so knowledge varies. Sand Dancers have folktales about the people of the storm, those who have lost their way long ago and gotten stuck there, which colors their interactions with a sort of mystery and hidden fear and confusion. The colder manner of the Storm Born is very off putting, since the Sand Dancers have a focus on family and closeness that is at odds with the storm dwellers. Not much is know about them though it is rumored they have a pact with the spirits of lightning.

#### Whitrin

The Whitrin are considered very shifty by the Sand Dancers with their secretive nature. As both groups are family oriented and nomadic, so they tend to be more understanding and tolerant of each. They have a shared respect for these common values and the Sand Dancers often consider the Whitrin long lost brothers. Interactions with the Whitrin vary slightly from tribe to tribe and each tribe typically only sends a few members to meet with at a time, meaning it is very difficult for those who have never seen the river to understand how the Whitrin ride water and what ships are. This has lead to some tall tales and misconceptions about the mysterious “Water Riders,” as the Sand Dancers call them. Every now and then, a new tribe member will accompany the typical group as an apprentice so that they can learn how to interact and trade.

Amberglass is the main resource the tribes trade and they in return will take some cloth, water and waterskins, dyes/paints, and some other magical materials.

#### Durok Fiefdoms

Up to this point, interaction with Durok has been limited, but more and more expeditions searching for Amberglass have entered the Shivering Sands. Most look down on the Sand Dancers and are either outright rude or will violently try to enslave a tribe. The tribes are slowly learning that their typical method of welcoming travelers and guiding them is more likely to be taken advantage of and get them captured or killed. However, as they typically only send news by word of mouth through scouts or family visits, news travels slowly. The Sand Dancers violently refuse to be “civilized” by the fiefdoms. Occasionally, expeditions exhibit actually interest and consideration for the nomads, seeking to understand instead.

#### Cina

Since the Sand Dancers frown upon fighting for enjoyment or against family, they greatly dislike the Cina. Typically, they avoid that corner of the desert and the mountains there, but this is not always possible depending on where their dragon travels. Raiding parties from the Cina will occasionally terrorize nearby tribes, so the Sand Dancers readily fight any aggressive Cina they encounter. Some Sand Dancers who enjoy fighting and violence will either completely join the Cina or will stay will them temporarily to get their fix. Since the nomads are very open, they allow members to leave and re-join the tribe at will, not questioning anything they do outside of the tribe (though many frown upon those who don’t discuss what they were up to to at least one other tribe member).

#### Waterfall Keep

The Sand Dancers don’t really know about the existence of this group. What they do know is that when tribes travel too close to the mountains north of the desert, scouts, members of hunting parties, or even tribe members moving with the main group, will go missing. This is attributed to angry spirits of the Mountains, children of Uncle Earth whisking away people for some dark magic. Search parties either return empty handed or missing a few people or maybe never return. This has been occurring for a while now, so most tribes know about the danger and they all do their best to not travel so far north in that area. However, people still seem to go missing.

### Warfare

Tribes typically fight with bows and arrows, long spears, bludgeons, shorts spears and other throwing weapons. Metal working has progress to some extent, using the heat of Amberglass to help shape materials, but metal isn’t very common, so only small tools and points are crafted with metal. Arrowheads and spear points might be metal, but they may just as well be made out of bone if metal is scarce and needed for other tools. Hand to hand combat is very common and all children are taught how to fight with their hands so they can defend themselves against other Dovasi or threats in the wild. All tribe members are fighters, but not all are extensively trained with weapons unless they wish to be, thus ensuring that all can defend themselves in a fight. Those who seek more combat or wish to learn more typically visit or join the Cina, or will become adventurers or mercenaries for hire.

Tribes don’t fight each other lightly, but they will over water supplies, if no agreement to share can be reached or is one tribe steals water from another or when two sand dragons with dedicated tribes come into conflict. These typically lead to contests of strength, duels or mock skirmishes, serving as ways for tribes to train in combat. They don’t see the need to kill each so most inter-tribe warfare consists of hand to hand combat, which can still be very dangerous, but less likely to be deadly. It is more of a show of strength, a competition than a desire to kill.

Occasionally, Sand Dancers will lie in wait to ambush another party, typically Cina raiders or caravans. This is a similar technique to how they hunt with the dragons. They will camouflage and lightly buy themselves in the sands and wait for their prey to move close before jumping out of the sand to attack. They prefer surprise and guerrilla tactics to direct combat.

## Customs

### General Behavior

The Sand Dancers are broken up into separate tribes, each which dedicate themselves to the protection of and following a single sand dragon.

Amberglass is an essential heat source of the tribes. They will collect small fragments of Amberglass and use it to heat blankets or tents depending on the size. Larger Amberglass shards are treated with ritualistic respect. As markers for a particular dragon’s annual route through the desert, tribes use the shards as markers to build their temporary camps around. Tribes will stand the shard on it’s side so that it forms a column in the desert and then group their tents around it, those of more importance having tents closer to the pillar. Because large pillars can retrain residual heat for a couple years at most, and the dragons are creatures of habit, there are often groups of pillars in the same areas.

Clothing consists of lots of thin layers of cloth robes. Various tribes use different colors of dye to identify themselves, but often the base color is a sort of natural pale white. They also use the leather from their prey to make gloves and other protective gear. They go barefoot for better purchase and will often dig out parts of the sand to help protect their tents.

Bathing is almost unheard of, as water is too important to waste on cleaning and must be saved for drinking. Most Sand Dancers never bath. However, they will often scrub themselves with sand or will boil a handful of water inside of a tent to create a sauna.

Korry are small animals used to help with tasks around camp. Found in nearby grasslands, and sometimes found exploring the desert, korry are often caught and tamed, trained to be companion animals to scouts since they are very alert and have great senses. While they are sometimes considered pets, they are always work animals, some for scouts, some help with gathering food and supplies, and some serve as protectors.

### Intrapersonal

Each tribe is a family, often with fathers and aunts and other relatives in other tribes. While the elders of a tribe are not the leading group, they are often respected for their knowledge and experiences, helping to train those younger than them. Children are taught to be respectful of anyone who can teach them and they greatly value education and the mastery of a skill.

Stories from older more experienced members of the tribe is one of the most important ways of conveying cultural values and history, along with the carvings on some of the Amberglass pillars. It is also a valuable form of entertainment.

### Courting

As Dancers marry a member of another tribe, courting rituals are fairly non-existent. Tribes only get together out of chance so younger individuals will take advantage of this by sleeping with anyone whenever they can get. This leads to a very casual sex life within the tribes, made more so by sex not being a very private act, with no places to go in a desert. Ultimately, only the mated pair can stay monogamous, with the rest of the tribe members either pairing with anyone or doing their best to stay this way. The consent of both parties is very important and constitute as assault otherwise, which is against the law.

### Ceremonies

An individual’s coming of age is also celebrated at these times of communion. Those who wish to be considered adults must be brave enough to perform their own sand dance as close to the dragon as they wish. The dragons often find these movements of interest for some reason and seem to watch the performers.

Funerals are not celebratory events, nor are they extremely somber. While the loss of a loved one is sad and can be tough to these close knit groups, the Sand Dancers do not believe the body to be important without the soul or spirit. In death, they believe the soul or spirit leaves the body and joins the the stars as another shard of light, distant relatives of their dragons. Because conservation is very important to them as well as their sand dragon brethren, the bodies of the dead are fed to the tribe’s sand dragon. The very close family of the deceased accompany the next hunting party, bringing the body with them and leaving it with the dragon once it has caught its first meal.

Weddings in Sand Dancer culture are not like typical weddings and have very little ceremony. Courting pairs are not required to dedicate themselves to each other, but if they do wish to, they declare this dedication by XXX.

The selection of a Shaman is another important event within a tribe. Every child, after they see their second Blood Moon, is tested for magical abilities. This test is conducted with the Imbuing of Amberglass, as it is a common material here.

### Education

Children are often conceived around the same time to ensure they have others of their age to be raised with. Children are raised in their family groups and are often grouped together, with female relatives taking turns at feeding and caring for the children. Females are still expected to contribute to hunting and scouting and other activities despite also raising children. Education is passed down through doing, with younger children learning handcrafts such as sewing, weaving, leather working, and carving from the elders of the tribe. They learn to fight through friendly hand-to-hand competitions among themselves with the interjections of older more experienced members. When they come of age, they are taken on hunting trips, initially to observe, but eventually to take part. Tribe members can pursue whichever purposes they wish so long as they find an older member to be their mentor. This ensures they are always contributing and are not just another mouth to feed.

Each member is encouraged to master one skill, be it hunting, Krauja, cooking, scouting, fighting, crafting or more.

The Sand Dancers don’t have a separate language, but they do speak a strange dialect and are often hard for other cultures to understand. All children are taught to read and write a little, but only artists, craftsmen, traders, and shaman further reading and writing skills to fluency.

### Art

Two major art forms are Amberglass carving and sand dancing, the art they are named for. Amberglass carving has various forms, though typically it is used to carve messages or symbols or patterns into family shards, sometimes these pieces are sold to traders. True artists are allowed to leave their mark on the larger shards throughout the desert and often these carvings tell stories through symbols and can be used to track a tribes route, as stories were often broke up from shard to shard. In some instances, blood is used to make certain sections of carvings glow. This has both an artistic value and makes them easier to find.

Sand dancing is the practice of using sticks to leave large patterns in the sand. This is usually done by an individual without and planning and can often be of any image or pattern. While many foreigners find awe in the creation of this art, the Sand Dancers find true inspiration in the decay of these patterns as the wind ripples through and slowly dissolves the pattern,

Painting is also a common art form, typically done on tents, clothing, and other surfaces.

### Values

Conservation: The Sand Dancers value water and take great pains to conserve and store water throughout the desert.

Family Ties: Family is one of the most important values of the Sand Dancers. Be it direct relation of close ties to another, the care and support of others is what makes the tribe and each individual stronger through each other.

Life is sacred: The deserts are a very harsh climate to survive in, but they are very family oriented and seek to preserve life where they can.This sentiment also extends to internal conflicts between tribe members and of course, the natural world around them.

Mobility: In such a harsh climate, the ability to get to scarce resources quickly is very important. Speed is a valued trait in individuals, as much of their traveling is done by foot.

Flexibility: Tribes members are expected to be able to fulfill any role as needed in the tribe, guard, scout, hunter, gatherer, caretaker, livestock manager, craftsman and so on. While mastery of a single skill is encouraged, those who cannot aid in any and every way are less useful.

## Resources

### Currency

They have no refined system of currency, and will barter between tribes. When trading with outsiders, they have come to understand Amberglass is valued. They don’t quite understand how valuable Amberglass is, but they use it as their main trade resource. They have also traded information for supplies, though this is less common, since they tend to be very open people.

### Food

They do keep small animals for various resources including milk, meat, hair, and horns, but they subsist on hunting the Linik, the same as the sand dragons, though other small desert creatures are hunted and eaten as well. They are one of the few areas that cook most of their food, as Amberglass is one of the only sources of heat and is common in the desert. Amberglass is carefully ground into a salt-like substance called “Amber Salt” to use with cooking. This process is not very complicated, but very dangerous. Meat is cooked by either laying a chunk on a plank of Amberglass to sear, or sprinkled with Amber Salt and then dropped in a small amount of water to boil.

Wild grasses are often ground into a grainy flour light substance mixed with milk to make a dough. This can be eaten both uncooked and cooked. The uncooked version is called pudge. The cooked version, after being set on a plank of Amberglass to fry, is called pye. Pye that has been backed longer tends to dry out, but will last much longer.

The corrigans produce a fibrous grass on their backs that can be ground into flour, but it is also used for fabrics and rope.

Some sort of cactus like plant for most of water reserves?

### Magical Products Used

Amberglass, produced by the sand dragons that roam their territory is the primary magical resource they use.

### Products

Amberglass is their primary trade material, though they do not produce it, they do break it down into manageable sizes or grind it into Amber Salt. They don’t make any other resources intended only as trade, but they will often trade clothing, weapons, or other artifacts for what they need.

### Architecture

As nomads, they have no constant form of buildings. They do have very low lying tents that are typically pie shaped, though can be fully round and are very portable. The poles are made with bones or scavenged logs, while the fabric and ropes are crafted from leather, desert grasses and animal hair with floor mats made from thick weaving of the desert grasses. Typically tents are very small, make for about 2-3 people. Leather sleeping bags and blankets lined with fur keep them warm at night, along with the pieces of amber glass they carry with them.

They do move the Amberglass pillars made by sand dragons however, standing them up as posts, but they do not permanently build with them. Tents are oriented around Amberglass pillars point ends toward the pillar and rounded ends away, forming a circle with the pillar at their center and each tent a piece of the pie.

Other than this, some corrigan saddles are constructed with tent structures attached to them.

### Transportation

Tribes travel by foot to help lessen their being mistaken by the sand dragons as prey and typically a ways behind the dragon. They travel in scattered groups, being sure to spread out their steps and practice moving in zigzags. They can be seen to ride slithering corrigans, as these creatures leave little to no vibration and feed by filtering sand.

### The Storm

There are a lot of stories of those too independent, adventurous Sand Dancers who explored the wastelands and got trapped in the storm, never seen or heard from again. These are typically scary bedtime stories from the past, since there are a group of people who have adapted to live within the storm and can move into and out of it.

### Hunting and Gathering

Hunting parties are typically lead by either the head male or female pair, but never both at the same time. While the main tribe stays behind the dragon, hunting parties extend farther forward or alongside the dragons, flanking the herds. They wait for the dragon to make it’s move, typically in the early morning a few days apart, but sometimes more frequently if there is a mated pair of dragons. Their sand colored clothing helps them to blend in and they may also partially bury themselves while waiting to ambush their prey. They break up into smaller teams of two or three to pick off multiple animals to bring back to the tribe.

## Natural threats

### Animals/plants

Although most tribes have a bond with a certain beast and the species as a whole has become accustomed to the interaction of the Sand Dancers, sand dragons without a tribe may attack hunters, or other tribes, though typically this is due to the dragon starving or being in conflict with another dragon and lashing out. Careless scouts and hunters who attract attention to themselves may also be attacked.

Certain poisonous plants?

### Environmental

Sandstorms: While not common, sandstorms occur suddenly and fiercely,

Separation from the tribe: Any who get separated from the tribe, unless a shaman, are often hard pressed to find their tribe or any other in the vast desert. This can happen to young children and even scouts.

Dehydration: Water is very uncommon and some tribes do run low on this resource, leading to dehydration of some members or the entire tribe.

### Supernatural

Spirits of the Mountains

Notable Disease

XXX

## Science/technology

The Sand Dancers are not particularly technologically advanced. They have very limited access to metal and therefore most of their weapons are made of wood and bone. They specialize in projectile weapons and typically used in hunting.

Clothing and other fabric materials are typically hand gathered, designed, and crafted.

Advancements/inventions [optional]

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### Clothing

They wear multi-layered robes, consisting of light handmade fabric to keep warm and protect their bodies from the sand. More and more cloth is traded for with the Whitrin, but most Dancers make their own clothing. Everyone is taught to weave, sew, or knit, but each tribe typically has a dedicated clothing maker or two. Headgear is a heavy cowl that is gathered around their shoulders and part can be used as a hood for further warmth or to conceal themselves. The color of clothing is very washed out and drab, whites and creams that match well with the sand and aiding in ambushes and hunting. Painting patterns on clothing is common.

They do not wear shoes, instead traveling barefoot. While this is mostly for economical and agility reasons, enabling them to stay light on their feet and enabling them to dig more easily, they also believe they are tied more closely to the earth.

## Religion

Sand Dancers follow a belief system called Dykumism. It is believed that goal of life is to reach enlightenment, and while enlightenment involves prayer and dedication to the gods, there are infinite paths to reach it through everyday actions. If one dedicates themselves to their job and their tribe and the spirits, they can reach enlightenment. Of all the creatures in the world, only the Dovasi and the sand dragons can reach enlightenment. In this way, sand dragons are considered their brothers.

## Magic

Magic, especially Auka, is not commonly used. This is mostly because fighting is considered intolerable and spilling blood for any reason, even one’s own, is frowned upon as a waste of water. They are more than happy with their inherent ability to heal quickly. This typically means that Sand Dancers live an average of a few years longer due to their lack of manipulating their bodies. Krauja, however, while also uncommon, is considered more acceptable. Kraujars are trained as Shamans and are essential for each tribe as they enable the tribe to follow their dragons through the desert.

Outwardly, shamans are mostly a mystery to even the tribes people themselves and are considered to read something in the sand or the air to track the dragons. They often travel with hunting parties or go on scouting missions. In secret, the shamans try their best to learn all they can about the dragons and even ignore typical tribe rivals to share information. They want to be able to communicate with the dragons, who seem to use some combinations of scent and body movement to talk to each other. They also seek to understand the social structure of the dragons and where they came from (confirming or undermining the mythology surrounding the beasts). To do this, shamans become as close as they can to the creatures, some attempting to ride them, others simply attempting to befriend the beasts.

## Geography

### Location

They live almost exclusively in the large harsh southern desert, Shivering Sands. Their loose territory can be seen here.

### Geographic features

Due to the colder climate of the planet, during the day, temperatures don’t rise above 55 degrees Fahrenheit, with average temperatures around 35 degrees due to elevation is below sea level. It’s a very dry climate, since the mountains to the north block most rain and clouds, and the storm to the east tends to block any rainfall from that direction. The desert is roughly XXX square miles, with wasteland to the south and west with a large persistent storm and a gradual shift to grassland and forest to the east and north west, mountains to the north and east. There is a decent amount of wind that shifts the sand dunes and sand storms are possible. To the north, there are remnants of the arches and strange canyons from the northern mountain range. These are very eroded due to the sands and can be very fragile.