Ruyen Tribe (Desertborne Humans)

Overview

The Ruyen Tribe are Desertborne nomads unlike any other, for their home lies where the desert meets the sea. Dwelling along the Endless Beach, they are renowned for their exceptional fishing skills and mastery of the coast’s shifting sands. Unlike most tribes who look to the dunes, the Ruyen draw their livelihood from the azure waters, carrying their small boats inland where they double as both transport and housing. This unique seafaring existence marks them as both desert-dwellers and ocean wanderers, bridging two harsh worlds.

Appearance

Like other Desertborne humans, the Ruyen are adapted to the heat, their bronzed skin and salt-weathered features reflecting their bond with the coast. They favor light fabrics woven from coastal plants, dyed in hues of blue and white to mirror the sea and sky. Many wear fishbone ornaments or shells, a mark of status among them.

Culture and Society

The Ruyen are a deeply communal people, with families clustered around shared fishing boats and portable sea-camps. Their songs and stories speak of the meeting of sea and desert, a sacred union of two eternal forces. Unlike other tribes, they rely less on trade or raiding, as the sea provides much of their sustenance. However, they are known for unique goods: sea food and goods, shells, and intricate netting, which they exchange with inland tribes. They also provide unique materials they scavenge in the Shipwreck Bay from sunken vessels that the sea have brought up from distant places.

Territory and Camps

They live and roam The Endless Beach, a vast, ever-shifting coastline where the sands and waves battle endlessly, making it impossible to establish stable ports. The Ruyen travel along its length, setting temporary camps and launching their fishing boats where the tides allow.

Along the large coast they build Water Hunters, ingenious wood-and-fabric devices that rise like sails against the sea wind, capturing precious moisture for the tribe. These shimmering structures are vital to Ruyen survival, granting them fresh water in an otherwise dry and salty land.

Resources and Sustenance

The sea is their lifeblood, providing fish, shellfish, and seaweed as staples of their diet. The Ruyen also gather the unique materials that scavenge in the Shipwreck Bay, a valuable good for trade. Their Water Hunters ensure fresh drinking water, while their boats serve as mobile homes and storage. Unlike most desert tribes, they rarely hunt inland, instead depending on the bounty of the waves.

Military

The Ruyen are not aggressive by nature, but their warriors are skilled skirmishers. They wield harpoons, nets, and curved bone blades, fighting with the fluidity of the sea. Though not a major military force, their knowledge of tides and coastal terrain makes them unpredictable and dangerous enemies when provoked.

Relations

Qarroshy Tribe (Desertborne Humans):
The Qarroshy trade with the Ruyen often, as the Ruyen can provide food supplies with regularity. The Ruyen treat the Qarroshy with gratefulness for their fight protecting the frontier agains the sun-scorched orcs.

Shishan Tribe (Desertborne Humans):
The strongest ties are with the Shishan, as the two tribes share a deep trading partnership. Shishan caravans often carry Ruyen goods inland, exchanging desert staples in return.

Indaks Tribe (Dune Dwarves):
Relations are functional, and even if the Indaks are really reclusive, the scavenged materials that the Ruyen can provide are of great value for the Indaks artisans. The Ruyen also trade their fish and sea goods for crafted tools and sunstone trinkets when encounters occur.

Other Desert Tribes:
The Ruyen maintain generally positive relations with the inland tribes, as their fish, salt, and shells and scavenged materials are highly valued in trade. However, some tribes view them as aloof or strange, since they dwell by the sea rather than the desert’s heart.

Khenan Raiders (Desertborne Humans):
The Ruyen loathe the Khenan Raiders, who sometimes ambush their coastal camps for supplies. When possible, the Ruyen retaliate fiercely, dragging raiders into the waves to meet a watery end.

Green Republic (Grassborne Humans):
Sea trade varely exists, as the waters are treacherous. Time to time some Ruyen boats reach the fringes of the Green Republic’s coasts, exchanging goods with the scarce fishermans from the Green Republic. They are regarded with curiosity by the Grassborne, but not fully trusted.

Khazk Horde (Sun-Scorched Orcs):
The Orcish Reaches are really close to the Endless Beach, but the two territories are separated by the Grak's Maw, which makes a deadly frontier and a security barrier for the Ruyen against orcish raids. That's why contact between the two are nonexistent.

Other Races and Factions:
As a small tribe living in a peculiar place, the Ruyen are mostly unknown to outsiders beyond their neighbours and the Desert Tribes.