Ashken Tribe (Desertborne Humans)

Overview

The Ashken Tribe, the largest and most populous of the Desertborne, stands as a pillar of tradition, artistry, and martial strength. Unlike the rest of the Desert Tribes, the Ashken are permanent settlers, deeply rooted in the Sacred Caverns, their sprawling underground refuge. Known for their stratified social order, exceptional craftsmanship, and formidable warriors, they balance pride and artistry with a rigid hierarchy that often leaves their society divided by class and privilege.

Appearance

Ashken Desertborne exhibit the typical resilience of desert dwellers, with sun-darkened skin, wiry builds, and keen eyes accustomed to both torchlight and desert glare. Unlike other tribes, their garments are more elaborate, woven with dyes and adorned with symbols of clan and status, reflecting their strict social stratification. Nobles wear finely worked jewelry of bone, bronze, and polished desert stones, while the lower classes dress in simpler garb of woven fabrics.

Culture and Society

The Ashken are a proud and status-driven people, valuing lineage, artistry, and martial skill. Their society is strictly hierarchical, with noble clans presiding over artisans, scholars, and common workers. This stratification often deepens inequality and is maintained through their reverence for tradition and order.

The Ashken are the industrial heart of the desert tribes, home to countless workshops, smithies, and crafting halls where artisans produce weapons, tools, ornaments, and cultural artifacts of exceptional quality. Their goods form a vital part of intertribal trade.

The tribe also treasures knowledge and history: their libraries, archives, and cultural spaces safeguard centuries of desert lore, art, and memory. Many Ashken see themselves as guardians not just of their caverns but of the heritage of the Desertborne.

In some sense, the Sacred Caverns city is the capital of the Shifting Sands Desert. And the Askhen Tribe are proud of it.

Territory and Settlements

The Ashken live exclusively within the Sacred Caverns, located deep inside the Sacred Mountain. The Sacred Caverns are a massive underground city filled with glowing fungi, underground gardens, and grand halls etched with carvings of desert legends. An underground river sustains life, powering irrigation systems for vertical subterranean agriculture.

On the outside, there are few Askhen tribe places. One is the Sky-Watcher’s Perch. Perched atop the Sacred Mountain, this ancient observatory offers breathtaking views of the desert plains. Used for stargazing, astronomical study, and spiritual retreat, it is a site of wisdom and guidance. And another worth noticing could be The Hawk’s Nest, a rugged cliffside sanctuary where the Ashken breed and train desert hawks, crucial for hunting, scouting, and war communications across the harsh desert.

Resources and Sustenance

The Ashken enjoy relative abundance compared to other tribes:

  • Water: Drawn from the underground river that flows beneath the caverns.

  • Food: Sustained through vertical farming systems, subterranean fungi cultivation, and selective animal husbandry.

  • Crafts and Trade: Their artistry and craftsmanship make them the primary industrial hub of the Desertborne, exporting finely made goods, tools, and weapons.

Military

The Ashken field one of the most organized and disciplined armies among the desert tribes.

  • Infantry: Heavily armored warriors trained in tight formations.

  • Cavern Guards: Elite units trained for defense in subterranean environments.

  • Noble Champions: Warrior-nobles who fight for prestige, often wielding masterfully crafted weapons and armor.

  • Hawkmasters: Scouts and hunters who employ trained desert hawks for communication, reconnaissance, and combat support.

The Ashken prize strategy, discipline, and martial tradition, making them a formidable force within and beyond their mountainous stronghold.

Relations

  • Karkrei Tribe (Desertborne Humans):
    The Ashken maintain a respectful but distant relationship with the Karkrei, whose obsession with death and spirituality contrasts with the Ashken’s industrious pragmatism. They trade occasionally but rarely form deep ties.

  • Shishan Tribe (Desertborne Humans):
    The Shishan caravans are essential trade partners, carrying Ashken goods across the desert. Relations are strong, though the Ashken often see the Shishan as mere traders, dependent on Ashken goods for prestige.

  • Tallesdin Tribe (Sand Elves):
    The Ashken deeply value the Tallesdin’s woodcraft, as they provide the precious timber that sustains Ashken industry. Relations are strong, though at times the Ashken push for more wood than the Tallesdin consider sustainable, creating occasional disputes.

  • Indaks Tribe (Dune Dwarves):
    The Ashken and Indaks share a sense of craftsmanship and resilience, maintaining close ties. While the Indaks are less wealthy, their sunstone quarries and artifacts are beyond Ashken knowledge, making them steady allies.

  • Qarroshy Tribe (Desertborne Humans):
    There is a continuous tension between the two tribes, as the biggest military powers among Desert Tribes. The Ashken see the Qarroshy as kind of savage frontier soldiers, and the Qarroshy see the Ashken as well-off citizens without courage. They also compete with the leadership of the Desert Tribes, which the Ashken virtually holds even without official recognition, sparking some resent on the Qarroshy. Even with that, cooperation between the two tribes is necessary for both survival.

  • Other Desert Tribes:
    The Ashken are both respected and resented among the tribes. Their stability, industry, and wealth make them vital to the survival of the Desertborne, yet also create tensions. Many tribes see the Ashken as aloof and proud, removed from the true struggles of nomadic desert life. Still, their goods and leadership in the Sacred Caverns’ annual council are indispensable.

  • Khenan Raiders (Desertborne Humans):
    The Ashken regard the Raiders as criminals and parasites, a destabilizing force that undermines desert unity. Raiders are killed or captured when caught near Ashken lands.

  • Khazk Horde (Sun-Scorched Orcs):
    The Ashken consider the Horde a constant and barbaric threat and help the Qarroshy fight the orcs in times of great need.

  • Scorvian Queendom (Scorvians):
    Contact is rare, but neutral. The Ashken respect the Scorvians’ isolationism, and keep their distance due to their alien nature and scarcity of trade.

  • Sszarath Sandscale Dominion (Lizardfolk):
    Relations are respectful but cautious. The Ashken admire the Dominion’s magical mastery and survival ingenuity, but without understanding what are the Dominion's ambitions, there is fear of a bigger threat from them.

  • Green Republic (Grassborne Humans):
    The Ashken maintain trade with the Green Republic with the help of the Shishan Tribe, and also have periodic diplomatic relations with it. But they also distrust the Republic’s excess wealth and ambition. Poaching and smuggling also harm relations, making the Ashken wary of long-term ties.