Salam Alaikum, stranger. Thank you for showing interest for our history. *bows gently*
Yes, you've never heard of us before, as we are the loose confederation of small, but proud tribes. We dwell at dry remote corners of Crete, far from any civilization, far from schools, factories, banks and hospitals. But we are also far from crime, filth and especially far from eyes of greedy politicians. Our hearts remained pure. We really do hate to stay on open. Carabineros really do hate to patrol in our neighborhood. Many of them never returned. We, of course, have nothing to do with that. Deep desert is a bad place to be.
We respect the nature and everybody else able to respect us back. We never start the fight, but we never start the peace either. We appreciate life more than anything else, more than water, but not more than dignity. Life on sand taught us that. We live at the very dangerous place Any of us can die any of time. No big deal, we just bring next Tuareg to fill up. But what can fill up one's lost honor? Deep uncharted deserts are the home of many ancient creatures that live under the sand, unchanged for eons. Giant carnivore creatures, all the children of The Creator, same like us. They are true rulers of the planet. And they have their rules, The Creator's rules. So we live in our dark caves and we walk the sand only in search for food or... when we gather Artifacts. I'll mention this later again, with more details.
And in the name of the peace on Crete, we recognize Council Of Elders and obey Corsair Laws.
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Our history
We originate from Hispania sleeper ship, stranger. Like any other Corsair. That's where our hate towards houses originate as well. All know they sabotaged the ship, just no one managed to prove it yet. However... *sigh* our homes on Earth were at south coasts of Mediterranean sea, long before it was drained out. Deep dry wastelands were nothing new to our people either. We couldn't even think of living at humid muddy Malta, with all toxic vapors poisoning our souls. We set course to Omicron Gamma, as real men. We landed our shuttles far from semi-arid places, where those weak Hispanos and Greeks went. Their company, loud jokes and drinking habits we couldn't miss less. Let them find some fertile soil and grow their stinky food. Jasmine tea was lost behind on Earth anyway. *sighs* But, they weren't lucky... We heard terrible stories about what happened to them. Brother eating his passed away brother in order to live another day, mother eating her newborn child... All that might be just evil rumors, but certainly had a huge impact on Corsair reputation. We were proud to not be a part of that. We were starving and we gave our dead to the sand, where creatures couldn't find them. And surprisingly - we got Artifacts in return.
Deep desert was populated with many creatures, so we had to dig very deep to make proper graves for our dead. Sand took them with some kind of gratitude, giving us those shiny Artifacts time to time. Some of the shiny trinkets were still active and somehow useful in filtering drops of water from the dry Cretan air. With a help from Tears of Allah, we even managed to put active ones together and get more powerful installations. We even manufactured some parts by our own. That's how we got massive air filters and armored desert suites - the milestone of our survival on Crete. We shared knowledge to our other tribes and Tuareg population started to grow slowly from that point. Some even had many children, Gods bless them. So... we started to think about serving our revenge to houses - a bit late and cold. But, cold is not a bad thing on Crete. Not at all.
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Finding our religion
Thank you for listening so far, stranger. Here's how we had one God and how we had to embrace Buddha's teachings.
Our old religion flourished over dunes and oases. It was teaching us how to survive with just a bit of food, or water. But when we arrived to Crete, we had - none. Not a bit. Not a drop. Numerous fast-based rituals were teaching us how not to eat for a month. But after a month, there was another month. And another. Months turned to years. We lost so many people. We didn't bring any new child to the world for so long time. But, we were lucky. Times like that are times of prophets. Our religion had one already, but another came just in time. We can't recall her name. So, she was remembered as just Prophet. She taught us how to meditate. She showed us how to reach another reality, a place just behind this one. At that place we didn't have any use for food. We struggled, but we lived to see another day. And another. And next one. So, after being sure it all works, Prophet wrote her ways down. She gave us Holy Scripts and we had a strength to distribute them from a tribe to tribe.
Ones that survived were purified. Our bodies were free of toxins and our minds were cleared by meditations. We got up and started to work, instead of just laying down and waiting for merciful death. We changed our approach to Artifacts and even made some of them work. Simple ones could just give light to our caves, others were able to warn us of sandstorms. Sophisticated Artifacts we couldn't open, so we treasured them to our Holy Places. Than Prophet had one of her visionary dreams, she went to the desert with a shovel and returned next month. She had our first Tear of Allah in her hands. Then she had the deepest meditation ever. After a week we were sure she was dead, but no one had the courage to say it loud. Eight day she opened her eyes. She told us to bring her some Artifacts and with her Tear of Allah she made them work. We had many old Artifacts under control now. We managed to filter more water and even grow crops. We managed to domesticate some desert animals. We had renewable sources of food. We started to grow in people. We started smiling again. We started doing some other nice things too. Luckiest ones even had children! Prophet herself brought two strong sons to the world. And then she walked to the desert. No one saw her ever since. We did what we could: keep living our lives by the wisdom of Buddhislam. Prophet's sons never stopped looking at the horizon, like their mother could show up for dinner.
Young boys were a lot like their mother. They were spreading new ideas of Buddhislam. They saved so many lives and showed our people many new ways of using Artifacts. They were carrying their Tear of Allah wherever they went. There was a rumor they could become invisible at will, in a case of danger. They were blessed with long lives and many children. Their holy offspring we called Imams.
We believe Prophet still lives somewhere in the deepest desert and only luckiest ones met Her and came back to talk about it. Her children... we see them sometimes flying over dunes when we meditate too long.
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Cold Revenge and Artifacts monopoly
Cretans weren't blessed by space faring ships, so we were waiting more than 400 years for that. Tuareg people still celebrate The Day of Cold Revenge when Daumann exploratory expedition, headed by Franz Schulman, stumbled into the system. They were just a bunch of scientists mapping the far reaches of the Walker Nebula, but they were first outsiders we saw in almost a half millennium. They left safety of their mothership named Schiller and land in the middle of the Sea of Sand. What a wrong place to spend a night. It was us who slaughtered that Daumann expedition. We simply sneaked to their camp before giant worms did and we silently backstabbed them one by one. We still keep some of their skulls on our holy places, deep in our caves. Franz Schulman we kept as a hostage. Unfortunately, Cretan families demanded him and after short conflict - we had to hand him over. They traded him for Schiller research ship. Families got space born. In just 50 years they started to build their own ships. But knowledge they didn't share with us. We remained sand dwellers. Well, ok... we didn't share Artifact knowledge with them. Tears of Allah remained hidden from their greedy eyes.
That changed in the sixth century, when an enterprising freelancer named Jim Brown made his way to Omicron Gamma. He brought various Consumer Goods to trade, but Families could offer nothing in return. He was smart like a weasel and his crew was armed to the teeth, so standard "negotiation methods" couldn't help. So he turned to us and we offered Artifacts. We didn't know their true value. We traded a lot for little. But, next year he came again. We gained much better price this time. We got some extra knowledge this time, blueprints, all kinds of software... you know... things. Of course, Families heard of that, they explored nearby systems and discovered huge floating excavation Artifact sites. They never obtained skills of activating them, so they simply gather them in huge amounts and sell to the first customer. Artifacts became Corsair main, but cheap business. Sadly... we lost our monopoly.
Tuareg today
We got obsolete, stranger. We feel just sorrow in our hearts. We paid our freedom too much. Losing Artifacts monopoly took our future. And we are digging on the wrong place. All the Artifacts we collected in eight centuries had fallen from the skies. Some got damaged and we couldn't activate them. But look at this very interesting fact: we are gathering them for more than 800 years and they still are there waiting on the sand. It means there are new ones dropping from somewhere. There must be some huge and rich motherlode, floating at some uncharted part of Omicrons. But how to reach it? We have no ships...
We are doomed to stay grounded, aren't we? In the meantime we made many breakthroughs is separating and activating Artifacts. Every piece has multiple functions. Families used them to design better guns, like Del Cid class fighter guns and turrets. We used them for making our armored desert suites. They are equipped with thousands of micro filters providing body water not being lost during our outdoor activities. Filters are working at 99.99% efficiency, providing unlimited stay outdoor, without a single drop of water. And we perfected sneaking and close combat skills beyond any other known human. Brawls over water, livestock, or women are common among Tuareg, that's why our suites are armored. Some of our young are space marines in Families service, just for a fun (and some spoil of course).
Every Tuareg is a weapon. Give him/her a tiny dagger and good shadow and he/she will make a hell anywhere. Yes, Tuareg women are formidable warriors, able to fight like any grown man. It's not about strength, it's about skill with sharp blades. We have just 2 ranks: Tuareg (any person trained to fight) and Imam (religious and combat leader). And there's me too, the humble teller of the story of Tuareg. *nods*
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Reaching stars
Gods, give us the strength. Patience we have already. We are collecting Artifacts to our holy treasury, all tribes, all over the Crete, for more than 200 years now. All tribes, just one goal: buy a ship. Our ship. And not just some random ship. It must have weapons. It must be fast, for times when weapons can't help. It must be able to store Artifacts. And it must have the powerful scanner, to search and evade our enemies. And it must be sturdy, to bring us back home. Space is our future and our destiny. We must reach it before some idiot does it, someone who can't see the true value of Artifacts, someone who even can't see if it's active or not. So we keep collecting. Three or four pieces per a day, every tribe, every day. Until we have enough, or we fade away.
Our scouts searched all around Crete and we know what we might need. We will name that ship Tahrir and it will be the symbol of our rise to stars.
Gods... give us just a bit more strength. Patience we have already...
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Our zeal - our Law
We, the Tuareg, are straight people that put a pride in front of any other thing. But, in order to be proud, we must survive first. For this reasons, Holy Scripts for us are the way of life, the philosophy and the Code of Laws. We also obey the actual Corsair Imperial Laws and fortunately, it doesn't interfere with our Laws. They even bound us together. For the Latin and Greek population, who barely know us, we are simply some weird pilgrims in search of an identity. But in fact... we hope to save them one day and convince them to embrace real beliefs. So there is our Laws addition to Imperial Laws, Sahib:
1. Meditation fast: the most important teaching of Buddhislam. Also mentioned as The Lifesaver in our books. Each Tuareg devotes a month per a year to the fast combined with deep meditation until reaching the next level of the Enlightenment. Each Tuareg can have an own way to meditate. While some simply walk to the desert to set firmly on some dune, others are purifying their souls in a holy desert hunt, using their blades like frenzy. But one thing all have in common: they can carry only one bottle of water there.
2. Belief in Angels: these celestial beings called Angels work tirelessly to administer the Heaven Kingdom in full obedience. The Angels surround us at all times and each has a duty: some must help a dying soul to find a way, some might tempting us, some will record our words and deeds. During extremely deep meditations and heat, some Sand People are able to see these supreme beings.
3. Belief in Prophets Ways: Tuareg believe that Gods can communicate their guidance only through the human mouth. Once in a while, they send Prophets down to our planet. The harder life gets, the easier to get a Prophet. We know for just two of them, but we are open to new ones. False prophets are to be punished by a Thousand Deaths.
4. Belief in Revealed Books of Gods: Gods revealed their wisdom and instructions through Books written down by Prophets. Our first Book was well guarded at Hispania sleeper ship, but it was lost during the crash - under very suspicious circumstances. Several brief investigations point to Latin nations that currently populate swamps on Malta. Our other Book, however, was written by our last Prophet and is guarded deep under the sand. Only Imams are allowed to touch it.
5. Daily meditation: One meditation replaces one meal. Thank to Gods every time in case you have food on your table and don't need to meditate instead of having a meal. The need for food disappears over time, in case meditation was done right.
6. The Zakah: it's our Holy Charity. We do recognize that all wealth is a blessing from Gods and certain obligations are required in return. Every Tuareg must help the poor and needy, or his immortal soul will remain tightened down when he dies. Rich ones must help more than others.
7. Spreading Religion: Our Zeal is to cherish and spread Buddhislam in a gentle way. Let others listen and open their hearts willingly to our ways. We also believe that those who sabotaged our slipper ship must die by our blade, or their inheritors at least.
Those are our laws. They shaped our life for centuries and they will for centuries to come.
We, the Sand People, hereby state our moral Codes. Our Codes of conduct are giving us eternal enlightenment. We are investing our entire life in training our body and soul, following the ways of our Prophet. It's up to each Tuareg to engage his honor in respecting and applying those moral laws to his conduct. Only gods can witness him and will be the judges. So... this is the matter of free will.
a) Do not take from another Tuareg what is not given to you,
b) Do not do sensual misconduct,
c) Do not tell what is not truth,
d) Do not use fermented drinks that cause heedlessness,
e) Do not eat at the wrong time (the right times are after sunrise, at noon and before sunset),
f) Do not stay at luxurious* places for sitting or sleeping and overindulging in sleep.
* The Prophet's Way doesn't discourage gathering material treasures as long as another Tuareg is not abused and as long as Zakah is respected.