[center][h2][color=lightgreen]Ekon-Danna[/color][/h2][/center]
[h3]Literally: Ekon the “Patron” or “Giver” Tribe[/h3]

[i][b]Represented Colour:[/b][/i] [color=lightgreen]Light Green[/color]

[i][b]Race/Breed:[/b][/i] Sand Trolls

	[i]These trolls are so-called for their beige skins just as much as their tendency to inhabit deserts, steppes, savannas, and all manner of other arid climes. They have great endurance, are not bothered by heat or sun, and can go for many days without food or drink. They are competent builders and have created some of the oldest civilizations in the world, but compared to their other brethren they are very short of stature, comparable to humans. Average strength/speed, cunning, bad diplomacy, high reproduction, can regenerate fast.[/i]

[i][b]Capital:[/b][/i] Hunzuu (A small temporary camp)

[i][b]Ruler:[/b][/i] Malak of the Ekon Tribe

[i][b]Type of Government:[/b][/i] Tribal

	The Sand Trolls divide themselves into [i]“Tribes”[/i], nebulous groupings that vary from a dozen trolls to just under one hundred per tribe with each being self-sufficient in their lifestyle. The various tribes have followed many different paths throughout time, some of them create small camps around oasis or springs in the desert while others move with their flocks and herds through the harsh sands to survive. Blood connections means nothing to them, loyalty is earned through hard living together not through the accident of birth.

	With the coming of the [i]“Flood of Tears”[/i] many have been displaced from their lands and old lives. Tribal structure has collapsed as their Chiefs die and their Sand Shapers vanish into the night, those that remain pledge themselves to whoever can provide for their families. The Ekon tribe has flourished in this time, as they had set up camp ahead of the Flood and give a difficult choice to all that ask their aid [i]“surrender wholly to our wisdom or return to the deserts.”[/i]

	Few refuse, and the sudden surplus of people has turned the Ekon from a minor familial group of a few dozen into a sprawling camp of Sand Trolls, all connected only by their forced loyalty to Chief Malak. Survival comes to those that aid the original Ekon, those that don't are either enslaved, or sacrificed to satisfy Awa's great hunger by the Sand Shapers.

	With this influx of people, many new people and ideas have flourished. Where once the Ekon only had to think about a small group, now they have to ponder larger-scale supply problems alongside those dissatisfactions of the newly arrived and the original tribes.


[i][b]Religion: [/b][/i]

	The Ekon have a strong belief that their ancestors still inhabit this world and that death is just another step in their lives. The dead are not quite in this physical world but they do inhabit a nearby place, from there they whisper advice to their descendants and ward them from harm. So the Ekon make regular offerings to [i]“Those that walk out of sight”[/i] treating them to fine gifts and to a honoured place at the table to keep their favour.

	The three strongest of the ancestors hold a mythical place in this little pantheon of parents. Awa of the Bloodied Teeth, Kushi of the Bubbling Spring and The Great Howler Lwita guard and guide the tribe if properly venerated. For in the harshest deserts only those with ancestors strong enough to aid their descendants survive. It is even said by the Sand Shapers, the priests of the tribe, that in the quietest of nights you may be able to hear the ancestors battling the Marru the other side of the veil to keep their descendants safe.

	The Ekon tribe honours the triumvirate with sandstone pillars carved into the likeness of their ancestors masks around their camp while individual tribesfolk carve smaller statues in their huts to their ancestors. The statues of the Bloodied Teeth are places of sacrifice and arterial red that placate Awa's rage and ferocity, while the statues of Kushi always overlook the water sources to keep them pure and flowing, finally the pillars of Lwita are frequently moved as they must be on the highest dunes in sight of the tribe to scare away the Marru, bipedal jackal-like creatures that hunt both the nights and the otherworld to capture Sand Troll and feed on their flesh.


[i][b]Culture:[/b][/i]

	The Ekon tribe and its vassal tribes have developed a ... rugged approach to life. If it can't be: carried by the camels, dug out of a dust storm and survive being smashed over someone else's head then it's not going to last long amongst the rough-and-tumble of Sand Troll life.

	Despite a strictly formalised ritual for sharing water with strangers, the Sand Trolls can barely tolerate each other. Resources are amazingly scarce and valuable, and Sand Trolls have a nasty habit of surviving. They hoard what little water they can find and the precious food and would happily beat others into a stupor and bury them neck-deep in the sand dunes.

	Though the sands are harsh, and in some cases groups of Sand Trolls can go years without seeing anyone other than their tribe. As such they develop a sense of [i]“Us vs. Them”[/i] from a young age [i]“Our tribe vs Your Tribe”[/i], [i]“Family or Threat”[/i]. This mentality makes compromise and diplomacy a difficult concept as sharing and politics are usually resolved in the most underhanded manner possible, with a fight between Sand Trolls being considered successful if the other tribe has been beaten into unconsciousness and everything valuable has been stolen from them.


[i][b]Geographical Location:[/b][/i]

	Coming out of the Southern desert (the bottom of the map) the Ekon-Danna are arriving between the two mountain ranges.