“ When creating nations or cultures that reside in your desert regions, consider pulling inspiration from the Berbers or Bedouins, rather than the easily-mishandled Iranian/Persian/Arab convention”
“ Among the assortment of organized criminals who live in the great city, few command greater fear the Moonbeard Order.
They of course do not call themselves that, but have earned the moniker from their fashion of dying their large beards with lye to produce a distinctive crescent shape running from earlobe to earlobe. This is meant as a taunt for their enemies, for it clearly outlines their throats.
They also wear garb similar to the northern tribesman, carefully tooled leather and showing multiple, colourful glyphs.
They are feared due to the intense discipline that their group maintains, due to their origins as a warrior-sect.
They serve as paid thugs, enforcers and assassins within the city, with the client simply ordering a service from the organization, not hiring an individual. Apart from making the request and providing payment in full in advance, the order completes the assignment themselves.
Their order has many moles through the organizations of the city, and more than a couple of nobles. As such, no organized move has been made against them since their chief activity is directed against other members of the crime world. It is said that their services have been useful for those in power as well, further protecting them from persecution.
Their religion holds that their time in this world is vanishingly brief, and largely unimportant except as training for the Great Battle.
The order is very utilitarian with weapons choice - they simply use the tool needed for the occasion, though not without having trained extensively with it beforehand. Daggers, garrottes, swords, bows, battle axes, polearms, wagons, even siege engines have been used to carry out their contracts.”
“ A flower possibly in the plains or maybe all over that is always tilted towards a certain place. Sunflowers. Could possibly follow the sun or could be forever facing a certain position because of something that happened, either the air forcing it that way and it staying, the fire was so strong that the flowers faced away from it. It could be that in one spot a large fire was made or a fire war where many fire elementals were destroyed by the True Gods and radiating out from that point all of this flower is facing away from it so no matter where you are you always know where this place is by seeing which way the flower is facing away from.”