Maiko's Note
While the Empire logs them as “nomadic subjects,” I’ve run enough pattern analyses to know better. Their movements aren’t random — they’re celestial. Just like the starlight chants they sing at night, they follow an orbit older than the Empire’s memory.
Keith once called them smugglers with style. I’d call them survival artists. They don't just endure the desert; they conduct it — with windbound beasts, soul-drinks, and a language that turns sand into poetry.
The Subrim Komándan thinks they bow to the Empire. But when I zoom out and overlay a thousand caravan routes... I see a different shape. A hidden constellation.
They’re not under the Empire.
They’re around it.
The People of the Sand
Shindjal: Kosuklani
Faction:
Kosuklani, Imperi kou Hanjelani
"Where the wind draws lines in the sand, they follow. Where the cliffs rise to meet the sky, they soar."
1. Overview
The Kosuklani are the resilient desert-dwellers of southern Shawadjàn. Known for their deep reverence of the sun goddess Daninsha and mastery of the sky-beast Shadunar, they traverse the harsh salt flats and rocky dunes of Kosudjan with ease. Though technically under Imperial control, the Kosuklani live by their own rules, guided by clan loyalty and the shifting winds of freedom. Their value to the Empire lies in their salt, their skill as scouts, and their unrivaled knowledge of the desert - but what the Empire sees as service, the Kosuklani view as calculated cooperation. Their independence remains fiercely guarded, hidden in secret trade routes and sacred oases far from Imperial roads.
2. Origins
The Kosuklani descend from desert-bound survivors of the Theseus era, those who moved southward into the sun-scorched Kosudjan. While they are officially part of the Imperi kòu Hanjelani, their integration is pragmatic, not loyal. They maintain cultural independence through their own laws, traditions, and secret trade routes across the dunes.
3. Culture
Kosuklani culture is fluid, mobile, and deeply spiritual. They travel between cliffside strongholds, salt flats, and sacred oases, all while honoring the wind and the sun through ritual. Music, starlight chants, and the trance-like art of breath-matching form the heart of communal life.
Among their most sacred rites is the Ritual of the Naked Sun (Daninsha deran), performed at dawn atop the Cliffs of Walanar. There, Windbinders and priestesses greet the rising sun bare-bodied, believing that only uncovered mashuli (breasts, “mother-body”) can receive the pure breath of Daninsha without filter or shame. To the Kosuklani, the bare body is not lewd — it is holy, a mirror of the sun's radiance and a vessel of truth.
"To bare the body is to bare the soul," say the elders, and nudity in ritual is seen as a gesture of reverence, strength, and connection to the divine mother of light. This practice is especially revered among women, who see it as a reaffirmation of life, fertility, and the generational flame passed from sun to womb.
Riders of the airborne Shadunar, they are famed for their elite Windbinders - warriors who bond with their beasts through neural alignment and ritual breath control. On the ground, caravans are led by Kosuhedjun, the massive scaled beasts bred to endure scorching winds and carry heavy salt loads.
Though they appear nomadic, they are structured: family units form caravan-clans, and elders interpret the wind and sun cycles for guidance.
4. Role in the World
To the Empire, the Kosuklani are miners, guides, and skyriders - useful, exotic, and dangerous.They mine salt from ancient sea beds in the burning plains of southern Madun, exporting blocks of mineral wealth in exchange for imperial coin and grudging tolerance. They also produce glass and import medicinal as well as prohibited plants from the Endulani. But not all routes lead to the Empire. Some vanish into smoke - smuggler paths, known only to trusted clans. Their knowledge of terrain, weather, and the wind rivers in the sky makes them unmatched guides. But woe to the outsider who misreads desert hospitality.
5. Language & Terminology
“Daninsha deran” is more than a phrase — it is a Kosuklani invocation of truth, laid bare. Spoken in wonder or disbelief, it honors both the goddess and the vulnerability of the self.
When said in ritual, it marks the moment when veils are dropped — literally and metaphorically. It might be uttered when a secret is revealed, when a body is uncovered before a sacred flight, or when something impossible appears in the desert heat.
Kosuk = sand
Kosuklani = people of the sand
Shadunar = sky beast (from awashadun walanar)
Kosuhedjun = “sand cart” (desert caravan mount, pictured)
Sulborol = “soul-strength” – a potent herbal stimulant used during long flights or rituals
Hanjeran = the future
6. Notable Places & Figures
The Salt Courts of Kosuhedj - the sun-bleached trade hubs where salt is weighed and blessings are given to travelers
The Cliffs of Walanar - sacred launch cliffs for the Shadunar
Eshalèn Daran - elder Windbinder known as “She Who Breathes the Sun”
7. Lore Snippets & Anecdotes
“A Kosuklani never draws a map - he draws breath.”
Some say Kosuklani caravans vanish into cracked canyons with more gold than they ever left with.
Before flight, a Windbinder will kneel beside her Shadunar, eyes closed, matching breaths until both hearts beat as one.
Maiko's Note
While the Empire logs them as “nomadic subjects,” I’ve run enough pattern analyses to know better. Their movements aren’t random — they’re celestial. Just like the starlight chants they sing at night, they follow an orbit older than the Empire’s memory.
Keith once called them smugglers with style. I’d call them survival artists. They don't just endure the desert; they conduct it — with windbound beasts, soul-drinks, and a language that turns sand into poetry.
The Subrim Komándan thinks they bow to the Empire. But when I zoom out and overlay a thousand caravan routes... I see a different shape. A hidden constellation.
They’re not under the Empire.
They’re around it.
