Janni

There are people in all places, no matter how harsh. Even the depths of the Aljanni Desert is no exception to this. For the people there, the shifting dunes are their home, and the open sky their only companion. Some would call them fools. They call themselves Janni.

Structure

The Janni are divided into tribes that are independent of one another. Each tribe wanders where it wills in search of the food and water they need to survive. Within those tribes the eldest serves as a guide, determining the tribe's movements and arranging marriages.
All tribes gather once a year at a location determined the previous year. This location, and the time of the meeting is a secret strictly kept among Janni. Outsiders are simply not allowed there. This gathering is for little more than the sharing of news and the performance of weddings.

History

The history of the Janni began with their namesake: the true jann. According to their stories passed down through the millenia, the jann are the descendents of all other genie races. Their forebears wanted to live in peace, so they retreated to the Material Plane together.
They settled in the Aljanni Desert and kept moving, so as to keep ahead of their kin. Over time, they gained a connection to the elemental natures of their fellow genies, but lost the awesome power they once wielded. Mostly cut off from the Elemental Planes, they lost their immortality and began to feel the decay of time for the first time.
After generations, humanity was brought into the harsh desert to serve as slaves for the decadent lamia. Even the terrible powers of those creatures was not enough to prevent their slaves from escaping. Many fled into the desert, only to die from lack of water, or attacks by the deadly beasts of the desert sands.
The jann, though, took pity on these lost folk. They showed them how to find food, the locations that hid precious, life-saving water, and gave them every other skill they needed to survive. Lacking a culture of their own, these people took up the ways of their saviors, and started calling themselves Janni.
Since then, the walkers of the dunes have kept to themselves. Thousands of years have come and gone, and the Janni still live their lives as they always have.

Demography and Population

The average Janni tribe is made up of 40 to 60 individuals, painstakingly kept at as close to a 50/50 ratio of males and females as possible. At first glance, all Janni appear to be human, but this is not the case. Roughly 1 in 4 tribes are actually made up of jann, the genies of all elements.

Foreign Relations

Janni live by a very strict code known as the Code of the Shifting Sands. This code is mostly unknown to outsiders, and determines every action they take during the course of their entire lives, especially how they interact with those outsiders.
The Code states that they should do no harm to others that have done no harm to them. This means they are mostly peaceful in their dealings with others. However, if one of their tribes comes to harm, the Janni's response is swift and violent. They will stop at nothing to see such an offender punished.
The Janni tribes are also required to take in those they find in need in the desert. Such individuals are often found near dead of thirst, and so are taken and nursed back to health. A tribe will even go many days out of their way to see a needy traveler escorted back to civilization.
They are far less forgiving when it comes to one of their own leaving a tribe, however. When one leaves, such a person is never spoken of again, as though they never existed at all. They could be dying in the desert, and a tribe would simply pass them by. This is unbelievably rare, due to the Janni sense of duty.

Trade & Transport

The Janni live in simple caravans, constantly moving throughout the desert. These camps are made up of little more than tents and camels. They travel mostly from oasis to oasis, and as such there are very few who know the desert better than they do.
They do trade with outsiders, mostly using gems. They pick them from the desert sands and trade them to the people of the cities. Instead of coins that they have no use for, they trade for things such as cloth and metalworks they can't make for themselves.

Type

Social, Group

Demonym

Janni

Government System

Gerontocracy

Economic System

Barter system

Location

Aljanni Desert