The Sand Tribes

Calling the dunes of the Si Wong Desert their home, the Sand Tribes are as resilient as they come. Their settlements are sparse, but, where one does find them, they thrive against all odds. Sand Tribes are made up of various clans, with each clan typically forming their own settlement in the desert. Clans vary in size, with some clans being made up of hundreds of members, while other clans contain only a few dozen members. All Sand Tribes are essentially the same in their practices and customs. However, three major regions of the Si Wong Desert divide the tribes into three distinct groups: The Northwestern Tribes, The Eastern Tribes, and the Southwestern Tribes. The Northwestern Tribes are the most diverse of all the Sand Tribes and contain the most amount of clans of all the regions. Having developed good relations with the Kingdom of Ba Sing Se, the Northwestern Tribes are consequently the largest and richest in all the Si Wong Desert. Due to their abundance of resources, the Northwestern Tribes were the first to develop means to effeciently traverse the desert in order to trade their goods, creating the first Sand Sailor. The Eastern Tribes are the oldest and most traditional of all the Sand Tribes. The Eastern Tribes inhabit the harshest area of the desert, so naturally the Eastern Tribes are the smallest and poorest of the Sand Tribes. The Eastern Tribes are nearly always in conflict with each other over resouces. Eastern Sand People thus are known to be fearsome warriors. The Southwestern Tribes are the most spiritual of all the Sand Tribes and thus considered the greatest Sand Benders of the desert. Most notably, the Southwestern Tribes have access to the largest oasis in the Si Wong Desert, the Misty Palms Oasis. This oasis has caused them constant conflict, as many powers have wished to seize the oasis for themselves, including the Kingdom of Omashu and the Eastern Tribes.

As an example of how a Sand Bender would identify, Sunaret, who is from the Dark Sand Clan which is an Eastern tribe would identify as: Sunaret of Dark Sands, from the Eastern Tribes.

Type

Geopolitical, Tribe

Location

Si Wong Desert

Notable Members