Desert Walker

Desert Walker refers to a tribe of people that live in the Izur Desert which resides South of the town of Conduin and the forest surrounding it.

Lifestyle
The Desert Walkers refer to themselves as Izarins, taking the name from the elder name of the Izur regions. They travel often, growing naturally resistant to the sandstorms of their homeland. They lead a nomadic habit, forming small communities or groups that travel together.

Outsiders do not enter the Izur Desert often, as doing so is a great risk. The only haven from the deadly storms is the only Izarin city Sakom, home of most of their ancient culture and the only permanent home of the Desert Walkers. Most of the traveling communities have their own economy, leadership and government that belongs to their group and members enter and leave freely. Usually when two groups meet in the desert members leave to travel with the new group, not staying with any group long.

The Izarins are an honourable group, settling most disputes with armed combat and shunning thieves, liars or cheaters from their group. They follow their word closely, protecting their family name to the death if something threatens it. The Izarins remain relatively peaceful within their ranks, as most disputes are settled honourably and quickly with battle being the deciding factor.

Religion
The Desert Walkers worship two Gods primarily, one which is viewed as their protector and creator, while the other is worshipped in secret as he is considered the creator of chaos, decay and death. The God that most follow is called, by the Izarins, Huro. Huro is the creator of the sun, storms and the power that comes with it. He grants his most trusted followers with his powers and has granted the Izarin culture the ability to imbue their weapons with his lightning touch.

Because of this the Izarins are deadly in combat as not many forces are able to deal with their weapons blessed with electricity. Huro also blesses the Desert Walkers with a natural resistance to fire, as they have become accustomed to the heat of his sun. It was because of this that when the news of The Pit being opened a few of them traveled North, believing they were the ones right for defeating the demon being summoned there.

An interesting note in the Izarin culture is that the spirit of a human runs through the blood, and when one of their strong passes they believe that Huro transfers the power of that human into another living human, whether they be in the desert or not to continue the deceased's legacy.

The being that some of the Izarins worship in secret is known, to them, only by Zae. He is said to be the being that controls the chaos within Izur, corrupted the peaceful Izarins to become violent and savage, turning the culture in on itself. As some traveled to shut The Pit, others traveled to follow on the rumours of possibly summoning Zae in the depths of The Pit, allowing him to become powerful enough to kill Huro and worship in secret no more.

Champions of the Desert Walkers
One of the most notable champions of the Izarin culture was Izard, who was said to be gifted with the blood of Huro himself. Izard led the Desert Walkers in many successful fights against their enemies of the desert. When he heard of The Pit opening and the possibility of Zae breaking free, Izard traveled to The Pit himself, even at his old age, in an attempt to stop the Izarin chaos God.

After Izard never returned another Desert Walker by the name of Izzan head to The Pit to not only attempt to continue the fight against Zae, but to find out about the status of their hero.

It is common practice for a champion of the Izarins to take on the name of their desert. It is such that names like Izard and Izzan are not their actual names, but merely looked upon as titles granted by Huro and his blessings. It works the same for champions of Zae, they usually take the prefix of 'Za-' in their new titles to show their allegiance to the evil God.

Enemies of the Desert Walkers
Locust Eaters are the primary enemy of the Desert Walkers, their conflicts dating back to the days of elder Izarins. The Locust Eaters do not worship Zae, but instead have their own insect God that they worship. The Izarin believe this God to be merely a demon, holding no power over Huro. Most of the conflict between the two comes from the Locust Eaters' thirst for bloodshed and control over the Izur Desert. Constant attacks have been pushed against Sakom by the Locust Eaters, but their weakness to lightning always caused their forces to fall back.

Ibawa are a group of nomads, like the Izarin, but are more hostile and will constantly attack anyone who travels through the desert. It's because of this they are in constant conflict with the Izarin, mostly due to different ideals and defense of their land.