A lot of my desert-dwelling cultures in THE WINGED WARRIOR are based on our own Earth cultures as a base, most notably the Berbers.
According to Wikipedia, Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Maghreb. The Maghreb is located in the western part of the current Arab world, comprising western and central North Africa, including Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia and the disputed territory of Western Sahara. As of 2018, The Maghreb had a population over 100 million people.
The Berbers main connections are identified by their usage of Berber languages, most of them mutually unintelligible, which are part of the Afroasiatic language family. They are indigenous to the Maghreb region of North Africa, where they live in scattered communities across parts of Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and to a lesser extent Tunisia, Mauritania, northern Mali and northern Niger.
The Amazigh people are the indigenous inhabitants of North Africa with a history that stretches back over 5,000 years. The term “Berber” was historically used by outsiders (mainly Greeks and Romans, you know, those pesky invaders), but the people themselves prefer the term “Amazigh,” meaning “free people” or “noble people.”
The Amazigh are not homogenous and made up of various tribes spread across the Maghreb region. In Morocco, their population makes up a significant portion of the country’s demographic, and their cultural influence is deeply woven into the nation’s traditions, art, music, and way of life. (primemorrocotours.com)
