The Faithful

Tens of thousands of years ago, an entire society of people were driven from their ancestral homelands; it happened so long ago, no one seems to know exacly where, or how, or when, or why, it happened.
Without somewhere to call home, these people turned to the one piece of land no one seemed to want; the desert. They became nomads, wandering across the scalding hot sands in long wagon caravans, traveling at dawn and dusk and resting during the noon and midnight hours.
As they wandered through the hot desert under the blazing sun year after year, never resting in the same place twice, they became experts at handling animals, conserving water, repairing wagons, dressing for hot sunny weather, and managing caravans. They have even learned how to enter a light trance and almost walk on autopilot.
Eventually, the caravans reached the edge of the desert and located a lush and sunny grassland they could call home. They took a vote and overwhelmingly chose to stay in the desert, as they felt it had become their home, their caretaker, their birthplace, and their resting place.
These people chose to become permanent nomadic desert-dwellers. Over the following centuries, their caravans became larger and larger. Many of the caravans started to unite for mutual protection and advantage. Eventually, all the caravans united into one massive caravan. Every time it stopped to rest, an emormous city comprised of tens of thousands of white tents sprouted up in the deep desert. The Royal Family resides in a tent that is over 100 feet tall, so that the Holy Family can keep an eye on their entire flock; they can see for over 13 miles.  The Faithful called this city "Allah'kkhayma," which is the Arabic word for "God's Tent".  A group of shamans among The Faithful have taken responsibility for determining which direction the caravan should head in by communicating with Allah.
The current population is estimated to be approximately 25 million people.
The Faithful were displaced from their home, and then, when give them choice to settle down in a new home, they chose to stay permanently displaced.
Tracking them down can be a tricky endeavor.

Image generated by DeepAI. (2024). AI Image Generator. DeepAI. https://deepai.org/machine-learning-model/text2img