DESERT PEOPLE

The Desert People are a distinct, extreme and radical individualistic subculture of the ExoHumans in the Gamma Age. Unwilling to conform to the laws and regulations of any community but also avoiding a criminal status like the Outlaws, They have chosen a life of self-imposed exile in the Tijonara Region of Desert Side of planet VOI 700 D..

The origin of the Desert People is based on a philosophical essay with the title “The Autonomous Self: A Manifesto for Radical Individualism”. The essay was written by Ole Bjornsen, who was a passenger of the Last Frontier and died during the crashlanding of the spaceship.

It is estimated that there are about 90 Desert People.

The Desert People are staunch individualists who reject the confines of both the Communard and Individualist ideologies. Their philosophy is often described as radical autonomy, The ultimate goal for each member is not just survival but achieving a state of complete self-reliance and autonomy, materially, emotionally, and philosophically.They view the Desert Side as the ultimate test of human endurance and adaptability, a place where only the strongest can survive. As radical individualists they do not live in an tribe or community alike organization. They live more like autonomous entities which cooperate with another.

The Desert People have adapted a “partial nomadic” lifestyle, designed for mobility and maximal independence from materialism.

The way of life of the Desert People relies on the following factors:

• Individual Scavenging: Each person scavenges for their own supplies, and food gathering becomes an individual responsibility. They harvest resilient plants and hunt small, heat-adapted animals themselves.
• Water Independence: Individuals carry personal, hand-made devices for moisture extraction from the air, using materials they've found or traded discreetly.

• Individualized Medical Kits: Each member carries a personal kit of natural remedies and basic first aid. Members are trained to perform minor surgeries on themselves.
• Meditative Healing: Given their inclination toward mindfulness, they might practice forms of meditation focused on bodily awareness and self-healing.

• Jack-of-All-Trades: While specialization generally allows societies to function more efficiently, these individuals strive for a broad skill set to minimize reliance on others.
• Skill Sharing: Any new skill or useful information discovered by one is shared with the group to ensure everyone has the same opportunity for self-sufficiency.

• Individualized Underground Shelters: Each person digs their own temporary underground shelter, using a canopy for additional shade. The holes are positioned as far away from others as possible and as nearby as neccessary.
• Portable Energy: They keep their extremely limited number of solar chargers in hidden locations and only use them for essential tasks, such as emergency medical procedures. Otherwise, they have learned to live without the need for much external power.

• Autonomous Spirituality: Their spiritual practices are solitary affairs, often meditative, focused on the individual's connection to themselves rather than a higher power or the community.

• Minimalist Communication: Communication among them is sparse and usually non-verbal, with each individual respecting the others' space and autonomy.
• Decentralized Leadership: There is no defined leader or hierarchy. Each individual has equal say and is equally responsible for their own survival.

• Personal Crafts: Any form of art or leisure activity is deeply personal, perhaps carving small sculptures from materials found in their environment, for personal use or as individual expressions.

The Desert People operate in a legal gray area, strictly speaking in violation of the terms of the Peace Treaty with the Native Tribes, which restricts human habitation to designated reservations. Despite this illegality, enforcement has been lax for several reasons:

• Resource Limitations: The office of the Federal Sheriff, burdened by a scarcity of deputies, finds it impractical to allocate substantial resources to apprehending the Desert People.
• Evasion Skills: The Desert People are intimately familiar with the Desert Side's harsh terrain and are adept at evading capture, turning any enforcement attempts into complex games of hide and seek.
• Stable Population: The number of Desert People has not been increasing significantly, reducing the urgency for the Federal Confederation to intervene.
• Non-disruptive Nature: The Desert People neither engage in criminal activity nor pose any harm to the Native Tribes or to other exohuman communities, further diminishing the priority of their capture in the eyes of the Federal Confederation.

Given these factors, neither the Native Tribes nor the Federal Confederation have taken serious steps to remove the Desert People from the Desert Side. Although the Federal Sheriff initially made efforts to enforce the terms of the Peace Treaty, the complexities mentioned above have made it increasingly impractical to do so.

• Gamma Age
• Desert Side
• Tijonara Region
• Exohuman Society and Subcultures of the Gamma Age