Mahauta
Also known as the Shrike, the Mahauta ("butchers" in a language of the great desert to the south of Tunis, singular "Mahauci") are a nomadic species of sapient near-humans native to the great desert and the Pearl Sea. They have avian characteristics, with bird-like heads and clawed feet and hands. Their bodies are covered in black and white feathers, and they move with quick, jerky movements. They cannot fly, but are light and strong and so can leap long distances. They have excellent balance and eyesight.
They can speak human languages with a strange, trilling accent - but their native language is a series of pipping calls and warbling notes. They are highly-skilled "singers" in this language, and can communicate complex ideas in a very short space of time. Culturally, they use their language to tell long stories about their history, people, mythology - but also stories which they have learned and added to their repertoire from other sources. When different Mahauta meet, they exchange stories and spread them further - each adding his own distinctive style to the retelling.
The Mahauta worship the goddess of the Harvest in her aspect of the Impaler or the Queen of Thorns. They are savage killers and hunters, tracking prey (especially the Great Sandworms) across the desert and impaling their (sometimes still-living) bodies on spikes, stakes or a kind of trophy rack they wear on their backs. They carry many knives and other bladed weapons, and will hunt for the thrill of it and to offer to the goddess, even when not hungry or it is unnecessary. According to Etruscan folklore, the Laniidae (as they call them, meaning "butchers") gave the practice of crucifixion to the Etruscans as a means of execution and torture. The Etruscans, in general, regard them as mythological - but well-travelled merchants and legionaries know better ...
As a beast of burden and a riding animal, the Mahauta make use of the Notstrich (pl. Notstriches) - a large, flightless bird similar to an ostrich but which is carnivorous and has a raptor-like head.
The Mahauta live and travel in small groups, but gather together in larger meetings including religious ceremonies where they sacrifice multiple creatures or people to the goddess and build a vast representation of her as a feminine figure studded with spikes, each bearing its unfortunate impaled victim.
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