Imprisoned in Sand

The Sha tribe is a people who make their home in different parts of the desert. They do not wander because they are naturally fond of freedom, but because other tribes have driven them out and left them with nowhere to settle. Their people spend their entire lives traveling across the desert. When someone dies, they cast the body into the shifting sands or leave it where it lies to rot.

Some say the Sha tribe was shunned because of an ancient myth.

Legend has it that the ancestor of the Sha tribe was an incomparable beauty. She possessed an incredible power: she could change the weather, heal the sick, and drive away fierce beasts. Wherever she went, everyone bowed to welcome her.

Though cities and oases dotted the desert, there was only one kingdom, called Langya. Its ruler loved jade ornaments so much that he named the kingdom after them.

One day, the ruler of Langya summoned the woman out of curiosity. The two fell in love and became husband and wife. But the ruler of Langya was no wise king. He loved grand construction projects that were all show and no substance. And though she had become queen, she did nothing to stop him, caring only for her own safety. At last, this angered Heaven, which destroyed Langya and banished the woman's descendants, declaring that anyone who took them in would invite disaster.

After Langya fell, heroes rose in every land, each seeking to unite the kingdoms. One war followed another, and the people suffered endlessly. At last, a hundred years later, the realm was divided between the kingdoms of Canghong and Sixiao. They agreed to send no more troops against each other, bringing an end to the long years of war.

After a century in exile, the woman's descendants emerged from the war in numbers several times greater than before, for reasons no one could explain, and became a sizable tribe.

No one knows why, but from that time on, they have wandered without a home.