Blue Desert / Avatar

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The image above is a drawing/character design panel I made for the made the main character Keyik.

Before we begin: I created a desert living Na'vi tribe and when they communicate you'll hear terms coming from a multitude of cultures. In some unique terms and traditions they have you'll find direct and indirect nods to Lokota, Turkic, Mongolian, and Inuit tribe cultures. The desert they live in is a mix of the American south west (New Mexico, Arizona), the Gobi, and the Karakum Desert.

Vocab: The Kum'Pyyada - Dessert living Na'vi, name derived from Turkmen words (Kum - Sand) and (Pyada - Walker)

Tüýli - A desert mouse, 1-2 ft long

Altan'am - The Kum'Pyyada tribes companions, a mix of desert/spiny lizard, scorpion, and snake dragon like-creatures, communicate with vibrations and use echolocation, 40-70 ft long

Tuulai - туулай, "Rabbit"

Bir'adam - Large, bison-like animals, 7-9 feet tall, docile, grass feeding animals.

*The Na'vi are NOT my creation, they are James Cameron's but I have created this tribe and its characters, all other characters are James Cameron's.

In this all characters are 3 years older than they were in Way of Water (Loak - 17, Kiri - 17.. etc..)

The night sky is a blue dome of lapis that engulfs the horizon, dunes of gathered sand and minerals wedged in the hardened red clay glitter against the bright glow of the stars. The world grows more quiet than ever, a crunch a mile away echoes like a cannon blast and the squeal of a Tüýli stretches miles over the darkened desert.

The sand below my feet rumbles, the loose sand slips and I almost tumble to the cooled grains. I spoke with Chuluuna earlier and he had promised a herd of migrating horned antelope although I doubted him now. Tufts of grass had been razored to the crumbly earth and small droppings littered the sand but my watchful eyes saw no antelope. I pressed my foot into the sand, tapping the cool surface three times, and with a heavy grunt from my throat I let my annoyance be known to Chuluuna.

"I can't sense any life around us, are you sure of what Chuluuna has spoke?" I felt ashamed that my companion had let down my hunters and I's wish for a fulfilling meal. I hoped that our hunt had not been in vain and Chuluuna had been mistaken.

'I did not speak falsely, I saw them, the antelope with my own eyes." Chuluuna's cries rippled through the sand and his prickly head emerged from the golden earth. The red of his four globed eyes shone brightly against the navy night sky, his orange speckled frills lay flat against his leathered neck with embarrassment. If Altan'am could blush he would be a scorching red cole.

Six studded heads rose above the surface with sand rippling around their necks, they spoke amongst each other and to their Na'vi companions. Altan'am are very good at hunting and I hardly ever find myself disappointed in one's navigation but I had let my people go several weeks without meat and a hearty fill of animal, a herd of horned antelope, was what I needed to keep my people healthy.

"Find as many Tüýli as possible, with luck we'll find an antelope herd soon, but for tonight, we'll settle for mouse."

My warriors settle on the backs of their Altan'am and disappear into night shaded dunes. Chuluuna was silent by my side, his head at the height of my hip, his soft exhales filling the quiet night.

"I know you meant well my brother but please let's not waste another night." I pulled myself down to the sand and pressed my forehead to Chuluuna's scaly skin. He brought his neck to cuddle mine and softly grunted so that I felt the vibration against my skin. He was saying sorry to me.