This page is currently incomplete, and will be added to over time
Name
The Kindred Desert
General Description
While most outsiders see the Kindred Desert as being under the purview of Tespajet, the expansive and often hostile desert is largely uncontrolled. Tespajet in practice only exerts control over the mining/harvesting operations that exist in various parts of the desert, leaving much of the remaining parts to nomadic clans that call the desert their home.
What an outsider knows about it
There are seven clans that traverse the desert, one for each color of the rainbow, named in the corresponding color that the sand commonly is in their region.
What a local knows about it
Many city folk in their youth will travel with a desert clan for some time (though, to many, it’s kind of treated like a rebellious phase) and it’s not entirely uncommon for a desert traveler to “retire” to the city (though there are plenty dyed-in-the-wool desert folk that see this as a weakness/cop-out). The desert folk are not nearly as reclusive as an outsider may imagine.
Many parts of the desert were part of the ocean in prehistoric times. This sand is perfect for glassmaking and allowed Tespajet to become renowned for its glass/crystal. Deep in the desert one may stumble upon the bones of great ancient sea beasts that once inhabited the long drained body of water.
For the desert folk, clan designation is a very nebulous thing, and ultimately only tells others where they lived most of their lives or where they feel most at home. A particular clan is not a group of people from specific families, or even with similar beliefs, but rather a group of people that reside in the region that is most known for that particular color of sand. When you claim membership to a particular clan, you tell others that you know that place better than those who are not of that clan: you know the best routes through it, where the oases are, where to find food and shelter. Blood and oaths are not required for membership, only proven knowledge, and even then many will not claim knowledge of particular parts of a region if they feel their knowledge may be incomplete. While each region comes with its own stories and Vaki, they are highly specific to the region, and not something one clan would dispute or disbelieve of another.
Notable locations
Notable people
Common Costuming
Tespajet and the Kindred Desert that surrounds it are a place of color, though for the most common way this is translated to clothing is to have bright, deeply toned overgarments and then off-white or much paler clothes underneath. While those in the city wear certain colors by preference or the current fashion, for the desert folk, color tells others what part of the desert they are most familiar with; even the most knowledgeable person of one clan will seek out a member of a differing clan if they are passing through. A person with knowledge of various regions will wear the colors of those lands in accordance to how well they know them. It’s not uncommon to see people wearing one primary color with accents of others, though the younger and less weathered a person looks, the more skeptical others will be of their multicolored clothes, especially if the colors worn are of equal prominence.
While those of the desert also wear loose and flowing garments like the city folk, their clothes skew closer to utility, with undergarments more effective at protecting against sand, and hoods and scarves made of more durable fabric to better resist wind and sun. Beaded details are as popular as they are in the city, though many prefer to use glass or stone that’s the color of their clan.