The Desert Nomads are an ad hoc group of nomadic people who have made an art form of raiding the richly laden caravans that traverse through the Plains of Mists. The Desert Nomads are people who live a nomadic lifestyle following the caravan routes, much like scavengers and predatory animals follow the migration routes of their prey. Many of the Desert Nomads are people who have accidentally found themselves in the Plains of Mists, a few brave souls sought to make their name and living there, others found it their only means of escape. This is because the Plain of Mists straddles many dimensions at once and its dimensional barriers are extremely thin or don’t exist at all. Generally people are not even aware that they have entered the Plans of Mists until it is too late. Some Desert Nomads are escaped slaves from the trade caravans themselves or the fortress cities. There are also outcasts from the fortress cities, having been banished to the harshness & certain death in the Plains of Mists, but these individuals either by luck or sheer determination survived. This survival usually depended on some passing caravan taking them in, either as an act of kindness or most likely just capturing them as another slave. A few lucky ones may have come across some helpful Desert Nomads, who accepted them in their tribe and taught them how to survive in the Plains of Mists.

Desert Nomads are some of the best and most feared fighters in the Megaverse and are highly sought after. The Warlock Marines is one of the few military forces that comes close to the martial skills of the Desert Nomads, and as such is admired and respected by the Desert Nomads. In return the Warlock Marines accept the Desert Nomads corps as one of their most formidable and respected elite arms, part yet separate from the Warlock Marines. For Game Purposes: Treat these corps of Desert Nomads in the Warlock Marines as mercenaries, but they are not treated as mercenaries in the Three Galaxies but subject to the same laws and norms as the Warlock Marines.

Desert Nomads are one of the few raiders who regularly successfully foray into Centre, their usual targets are the Manors or the various markets, but sometimes it is Phaseworld itself. Many Desert Nomads have been caught, their fate determined by who caught them, many other times they have escaped with many riches from Phaseworld. Splynn and other dimensional cities across the Megaverse are also some of their favourite targets. The Desert Nomads don’t always attack caravans just because they feel like it; they are usually hired by merchants to hurt their rivals. Some merchants pay them off. Naruni Enterprises may hire them to hit a splugorth lord’s caravan, while another trader may hire them to hit the goods of Naruni Enterprises. Rival fortress cities who are at war with each other, will hire Desert Nomads to harass and sack each other’s cities.

Even though the Desert Nomads are made up of many races & hues, they see themselves as one. They will aid others of their kind if they are able to against an outsider especially if the intruder is a threat to them all. Usually Desert Nomads are rivals of each other, feuds are common place and some have been running for generations. Many a caravan has escaped unharmed, when feuding Desert Nomads have converged upon it and rather than attack the caravan, the Desert Nomads fought themselves, settling old scores.

There are many other raiders, bandits and highwayman, call them what you may on the Plains of Mists, but the ones who are called Desert Nomads see the Plains of Mist as their homeland and usually wear a veil, whether men or women. Some of them may well be from the old Middle Eastern nations of Earth, in fact the Plain of Mists & another few dimensions have been moved onto the Arabian Peninsula when this Age of Magic erupted a few centuries ago. This also happened in the past two ages of magic of Earth. The Arabian Peninsula may well be larger than the whole of Eurasia put together or even bigger, no one has come close to fully traversing the great deserts or the different dimensions that now make up the Middle East. The landscape of the Plains of Mist is an endless desert, dotted with rest stops, nomadic camps and trails of large caravan trains heading in all directions abruptly punctuated by the great rival fortress cities. The Plains of Mist are an eerie reflection of the Rifts Arabian peninsula. It is hard to differentiate the two as the Plains of Mists caravans leave the Plains of Mist to head towards Palestine, the Empty Quarter and the Red Sea Ports or to New Oasis. Whichever caravan route is taken will most likely lead to eager customers in any number of Towers of the desert.

New Oasis is rumoured to be a venture by the Pleasure Empire from the Three Galaxies. The Desert Nomads also strike the Towers of Rifts Arabia. One of the reasons Desert Nomads are known as the Sand Wraiths by the inhabitants of the Towers is because they seem to appear and vanish as if from nowhere. This could be because Desert Nomads are so well versed with the Plains of Mist and know every exit and entrance points to it. They simply wait for an opportune portal to open and use it to their advantage for a lightening smash and grab raid on whatever Tower happened to be unfortunate enough to have a random rift linked to the Plains of Mist open close to it.

There are countless others who pose are present danger to those who venture into or call the Plains of Mist their home. They include many different species, from predatory animals through to demons. Demon Hordes of China stalk the Plains of Mists, either in search of escaped humans, who use the Plains of Mist as an escape route or to travel safely through demon infested China. The Splugorth and other bosses of the various markets try to slow down caravans trying to reach their markets, so that they may capitalise on the sale of a hot commodity that just happens to be in short supply in the market when the demand by a fortunate coincidence is most high.

One way used to increase the various markets profit margins, is for merchants to hire mercenaries and bodyguards from the markets to protect their caravans through the Plains of Mist. Thereby raising extra revenue for the Splugorth Lords and other bosses or the goods don’t arrive in one piece at the market, if they do at all. This usually means that a particular merchandise becomes classified as rare, and the prices skyrocket. When this happens always at the last minute the Splugorth or other market bosses always manage to receive a last minute supply of the item (usually from the raiders who stole it from the caravan at their behest) or just happen to have it in stock in one of their warehouses.

The great strength of the Desert Nomads is their Ebony horses. They display a ferocity in fighting that is unmatched and have a never say die attitude. Suct is their reputation that it is said that if you hear their deathcry close up, then it is already too late and you are already defeated but just don't know it. Desert nomads also love Qanass (falconry) and are likely to have trained hunting falcons, as well as hunting dogs they refer to as the Noble ones (Saluki breed of dogs). The Desert clans and tribes are likely to have herds of horses and camels and any other number of dimensional beasts and critters for food and their livelihood. Arena and pit beasts that they rear are one of their major sources of income, as these are used to barter and trade between various tribes, and when dealing with merchants and the Towers.

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