The Desert Dwellers of Carceri
Within the third layer of Carceri, The Desert of Demise, life flourishes in a twisted sense. Inside the massive hourglass containing the desert that is known as the third layer of Carceri, unnamed and unwanted souls gather and drift. Drawing from their surroundings and the minds of the insane convicts within Carceri, these spirits devised a visual semblance composed of patterned desert clothing covering the arms, legs, and head. Through the slit for their eyes, only darkness can be seen at first, but due to their chameleon-like nature, the dwellers most often take on the image of the deceased loved ones of any nearby convicts or adventures traveling through Carceri. In short, the reason these souls dwell in Carceri is that they are as trapped as the condemned there. Due to Carceri's nature, any wayward souls that wander into the Desert of Demise have almost no chance to escape, and so they instead survive and manifest themselves in whatever way they can.
Culture
Major language groups and dialects
When a desert Dweller chooses an individual to become through memory, they learn and are able to speak all languages known by that individual until they either choose a different form to take on or the keeper of those memories leaves the Desert of Demise.
Shared customary codes and values
When they decide to take on the form of someone who has died in the past, the Desert Dwellers take on all characters of that individual as seen from the memories of whom they originated from. For example, if an adventurer traveling through the Desert of demise lost their grandmother at a young age, but remembered her as a caring yet stubborn individual, the desert Dweller that takes the form of that grandmother will become as caring yet stubborn as those memories. For this reason, almost all desert Dwellers are friendly towards travelers or even half-mad convicts roaming the wastelands.
Common Dress code
While exploring the Desert of Demise, the Desert Dwellers draw from convicts' envisionment of their surroundings rather than their memories of loved ones, causing them to wear clothes suitable to desert terrain and conditions. Most often, this consists of full patterned coverings wrapped around the head, limbs, and body, leaving just a slit for the eyes of the wearer.
Art & Architecture
The homes of the desert dwellers are specially designed to be able to survive and thrive in the ever-flipping landscape of the Desert of Demise. Because the massive hourglass and therefore entire landscape of the desert is flipped on its head every 24 hours, the Desert Dweller's homes are chained to the foundation of the Hourglass, causing them to hang when the world is flipped. The dwellings themselves are spherical and have identical furniture and design on both the sealing and the floor. inverted rope bridges connect the homes, hanging upright when the entire hourglass is inverted.
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