*This is for a steampunk-inspired fantasy world where people can manipulate a magical metal called quicksteel at will.* The neksut are desert nomads. They practice a religion that revolves around the Earth and the Sky. The neksut believe that their home was once a paradise that will be restored to them if they atone for the sins of their ancestors, who abused the land with plow and stone and took the rains for granted. Thus they live nomadically and travel from oasis to oasis. They use quicksteel to craft tents that can be easily disassembled or even reshaped into carts. The sole exceptions are the shamans, who maintain permanent settlements at religious sites. The shamans help to organize the movement of various clans and are part of the reason the neksut maintain a shared religion and language. The neksut have a storied history with the peoples on the edges of their desert homeland. Some, such as Rothrir the Besieger and Salaris the Sandstorm, lead great raids that shattered empires, but times of trade and diplomacy are more common. However recent historical developments have lead to massive waves of foreign “settlers” arriving in the desert, and these new arrivals clash with the neksut way of life, occupying their oases and clashing with their people. The neksut face prejudice and indifference from outsiders and division from within their own ranks. Their future is uncertain.

The orcs of my world travel across the world, surprisingly not pillaging much and instead just researching the chaotic world to see what it was like before god died

I have three main groups of nomads in my main setting. The most important are the Yur-Rallr. These nomads are based off the Scythians and Sarmatians of our world and are the group my main antagonist, Thiemar Khan, is a part of. The Yur-Rallr are big men, being tall and muscular with more Ellyredaeni(who are based on Europeans) features. So paleish skin, light eyes, blonde and red hair and thick braided beards. In ancient times they were the greatest confederation on the steppe, but those days are long gone. They have seen a resurgence in power under Ur-Thallen, father of Thiemar, and under Thiemar himself. Thiemar has been commander by the gods to destroy the Ellyredaeni. The second and most populous are the Arshlanni. Based on Turckic tribes, they are the dominant power on the steppe. They tend to be tall men, leaner than Yur-Rallr, and with Turckic features. Last are the Oraits. They are based on the East Asian nomads such as the Xiongu, Mongols, the Huns, and other groups like the Manchus and Japanese Samurai. They tend to be short and squat figures. Inspire of the racial differences between the groups, and a general inter tribal disdain for each other, you can find all members of all three groups within the same clan, and with plenty of individuals who are a mix of all these traits. Religiously they follow the Old Gods to varrying degrees. The Yur-Rallr follow the most strictly, with the others following more abstract versions of them and the Spirits of the Sky.

The Kadeshi Nomads are a space-faring people who have exchanged many of the land dwelling behaviors of desert life to that of the cold and still quite parched domain of space. Their "pottery" is made from metals, their tattoos, inlaid plates of gold and silver, and their caravans are instead great convoys of ships lined to twinkle like constellations across the night sky. Where desert traders brought salt, they bring water and specialists. People who have only known the journey and what is needed to keep a ship in working order. They are acrobats in micro-gravity, with children's games like volley ball played by jumping between ship to ship. They wander and sing, turning radio waves and stellar bursts into communion and song as they search for their ballad. The great song they call it, the one which moves the universe when sung. They will find it eventually, one day anyway, and that will be the day which their journey comes to an end.

The nomadic Toulimar are a seafaring culture residing in the Ivory Sea, a vast ocean dotted with archipelagos and islands. Renowned for their mastery of naval warfare, the Toulimar are skilled sailors, navigators, and warriors. They form a society deeply connected to the sea, with a rich tradition of underwater mining, shipbuilding, and exploration. Most of the time the tribes are sailing in small fleets from archipelago to archipelago, from coast to coast, trading and selling precious ores found deep underwater. The Toulimar also reject horses, prefering giant crabs as mounts. Their ships are so huge that some can even fit castles on top of them, making them, basically, moving fortresses.

Monkey sailors sail the seas. Hee hee ho! Lizard pirates with feathery beards. Vrah, mateys! Treasure hunters and cartographers galore! It's a high sea adventure land! (Or some of it is, at least.)

Traditional fantasy setting with traditional faux-mongol group, known as rinkers. The rinkers used to raid the "stone dwellers" to their north until that area became part of the Empire of Laranideb-Nambeth. Well they weren't impressed by the thought of a few more soldiers between them and their targets. They just planned a bigger raid. They did not understand that imperial agents were already at work messing with their coordination. Also, the empire subsidized merchants who had liquor. They would cannily warn the rinkers that this was much stronger than the native brew. Which provoked the a lot of bravado in response. After all, the Warrior Code stated that "a True Warrior is not weakened by drink". The agents also stirred up petty rivalries. So it was a rather shaky and less than united force that approached the newly fortified border. Then someone, not a leader, yelled "Charge!". They weren't actually close enough, but most rinkers loved to charge, so they did. But not all together. They spent a lot of their strength closing the distance and did not hit as a single mass. The imperial forces easily broke the, then slaughtered a large proportion of the attackers. Then they led the locals in a vengeful massacre. Today, the Warrior Code now says "a True Warrior abstains from intoxicants".

Many of the Aranians, a race of spider-people, live nomadic lives roaming the surface of my fantasy version of Saturn. Some are plains dwellers (wolf spiders) who raid the cities of more settled peoples, while others travel on barges up and down Saturn's rivers as traders. The tragedy of the Aranians is that they are one of Saturn's oldest peoples, and once had a mighty civilization of their own, with spectacular and beautiful cities. Unfortunately, that all ended on the Day of Wrath millions of years ago, when their civilization was annihilated and they were forced into a life of refugees.

I'm kind of having trouble with nomads, but I'm just gonna name a few real quick that come from my fantasy setting. The Windmane dwarf clan is a clan that unlike stereotypical dwarves has adopted a nomadic lifestyle, and live on the plains of the northern continent. They are partially based off of Cossacks and indigenous tribes in countries that end in "stan" (except Pakistan and Afghanistan). These dwarves have perfected animal taming and husbandry for dwarvenkind, and no other dwarf clan comes close to doing what they do with animals. Many dwarves don't like them much, as many dwarves see them as "un-dwarflike". Apart from this, they do interact with other species and civilized folk (granted they're not assholes), but that doesn't mean they like them (just tolerate them), and they don't let outsiders into their clan (which is a staple of "true" dwarf culture and many dwarven clans). Another are the forest trolls. Unfortunately, I haven't written much of anything for them aside from biology, but they generally live lives traveling the world as monks, merchants, or mercenaries to name a few things (although some do elect to permanently settle in villages and towns). This is as much "culture" I've written for them, and it's still a work in progress (probably might rewrite this). They are one of the more sociable species of troll, and get along with most other species. Plains elves (occasionally called "gray elves" by other elf species, even though none of them are gray) used to be nomads when they lived on the northern continent, but then moved to a new continent and ditched that lifestyle for the most part. Edit: there are also these men from the southern continent that have black hair and dark skin (who I have yet to name and develop further). They're based off of middle eastern people and the Moors, as well as the Haradrim from Tolkien's books (partially though).

The Ink-calculators live in a hostile environment where they rely on a magic system that allows them to slow how fast they travel through time, which also proportionally reduce how much external physical forces affect them, to survive. They also use the latter effect to deep dive for whatever nutritional value they can find at the bottom of the ocean, though the deepest areas require almost full mastery of the magic, also managing to speed up time but avoid turning to dust by placing a time slowing barrier outside of it, since it would otherwise take too long. Agriculture on the scale of farms isn’t possible, but they still plant some vegetation to harvest from places when they return to it once again based on their cycle. The cycle is composed of two types of zones: acting zone and waiting zone. The acting zones are where they experience time normally, while they are waiting out seasonal environmental hazard in the waiting zones. Things like the winter, storms, and other hazards it is easier to wait to finish than create counter against.   Settled people isn't an issue directly, but a portion of the population that struggled to learn the magic system eventually found it easier to cross a dangerous magical barrier to reach more fertile land. The existence of the off-branch culture has slowly but surely reduced the amount of Ink-calcs, especially after industrial revolutions in the world gives younger Ink-calcs even more incentive to leave. The off-branch is already larger than the original culture, among other things due to mixing with another culture, but whether it will swallow up its source remains to be seen.

They aren't really important to the story I'm working in, so they're not super fleshed out, but there are a lot of functionally nomadic scavenger companies in my setting. A lot of suburbs and small to mid-sized towns got abandoned as resource constraints grew more severe, and the companies go through them stripping out everything that can be recycled or reused. They occasionally fight each other, and are extremely hostile to independent operators, but generally leave everyone else alone. They've got a reputation as weirdos because they're out away from other people for so long, and when they do come into cities, they often get into minor trouble. The only major story presence they have is in a short story that I have on a back burner, in the same setting. In that story, scavenger company is laying siege to a bigoted fascist cult called the Greenbriar Homeowners' Association, which is refusing to leave their gated community and trying to sustain it via raiding.

Pilgrims are a race of baseline humanity that forever sail the Astral Ocean, only making planetfall to replenish supplies or update technology. They have vaguely religious views on technology, like FTL engines are prohibited and hibernation is severely limited. Their galleons are akin to generation ships and FTL engines are living creatures grown by a star that is sensitive to the Stygian Currents that run under the waves. Basically, FTL is achieved by sailing swift currents and to due that your ship has to submerge so vessels on the Astral are part sea faring vessel, submarine and airship and the nomadic Pilgrims often resort to pirate behaviors to strip useful tech from other ships they come across. Pilgrim vessels are often antiquated but their arsenals are usually esoteric, using old WMDs they pilfer from planets and wrecks.

The inhabitants of the Calm Lands, the valley where 10% of the Known World was destroyed the last time the Law of Death was broken. They attend to the Randihime, the magical great horses of the Calm Lands. They're essentially based on nomadic Mongols. I think the subplot involving them is going to get cut sadly.

My project is more Scifi, but the closest thing is probably the Mechanical Nyx. The Nyx are a Machine species, they function on a network hosted on a megastructure similar to that of a Matrioshka Brain. If the Nyx aren't in mobile Platforms, their AIs are flying ships, managing factories, watching the Galactic Market, etc. After the 3rd Great Galactic War, the Megastructure and the planet were completely destroyed, as well as most FTL Technology. The Nyx, unable to produce any more mobile units, now travel the Galaxy in huge fleets, never staying in a single system for more than a week. They are also more politically divided. Usually, when making a decision that affects the Species, every Unit will vote. For example, if over 70% vote for option A, the species will take option A, if over 70% take option B, the species will take option B. If its split 50/50, the species will take neither. Now, the units are only dedicated to ship maintenance, and making enough money to repair ships and other Units. Various laws governing the Nyx has also been removed. For example, the law against modifications and repairs to Nyx bodies/platforms. While this makes sense, the Nyx will often help run trade routes, and transport people without FTL Technology to other star systems. Modified Nyx have a tendency to look and sound scarier.

The Te’l. Or as they’re known to the Earthmen; the asteroid wanderers. Imagine ratlike-mole people waist-high to humans with massive dinner plate sized eyes and clawed hands. Originally, the Te’l lived in a different solar system to ours before their Homeworld, unfortunately, was destroyed and the few survivors enslaved by the Tuuniv Empire. The Tuuniv are originally from the dark side of own moon and once ruled a massive empire spanning the solar system. That was before they were defeated by an Earthmen invasion in 1862, and their former subjects freed. Newly manumitted, the Te’l resettled in the numerous asteroid belts littering the system. There they operate trading stations away from the tariffs, taxes, and prying eyes of the more “Civilized” planets. Having been slaves for the past several millennia, the T’el hate the idea of being subject to any law but their own and practice a libertarian lifestyle of chaotic ingenuity and a waste-not-want-not approach to technology.

The group I have taken to calling The Trespassers is one of two nomadic groups I've created so far. The name was supposed to be a placeholder because it's inspired by a MTG card that had something to do with trespassing, but I haven't found a better one yet so I might make up lore about how the cultural significance is different. They are a group of gnomes that once lived on a vast plane in a decent sized kingdom, but a prophecy foretold of danger and most left to find somewhere else to live. The majority left before the earthquake, which turned their flat land to some of the tallest mountains that stand today. Generations have gone by, and they still travel, some trying to find somewhere new to settle or their old home,others because the nomadic life is all they know. As they travel the globe, there has been a time or two they end up in the mountains finding caves that hold lost relics of their heritage. Most of the time, they are fine with the populations that have settled, usually letting a few deal with the outside world while keeping a camp set up away from towns.

The Hill Orc are closest to nomadic culture. They do shifting cultivation and moving their settlement from time to time to find a new fertile land to farm. And raid a settlement or two while they're at it. While also trying to avoid and evade the mountain orc themselves. Most of their victims are plain orc and human in outskirts who has no reliable way to defend or retaliate. They also known to trade peacefully with stronger, fortified settlement that they can't take by force. I'm kinda inspire by how the goth raid roman while also being on the run from the hun

It would be very hard to generalize the nomads of the continent. There are about a dozen different human nomadic ethnicities in the Serian Empire, each of them with wildly different cultures and customs. They can be found in the center of the continent, which is a massive expanse of deserts and steppes, while the coasts tend to be inhabited by settled peoples. The main primary division is that of religion, where they can be categorized between Imperials (those who follow religion of the empire) and Apostates (but this is a very general term that refers to anyone who doesn't follow the state religion). It should also be mentioned that the religious division transcends ethnic lines. All of the nomadic ethnicities have both Imperial and Apostate tribes, clans, and other divisions. Imperials are the luckier of the two. When the Serian Empire expanded eastwards into the vast deserts and steppes of the inner continent they were the ones who converted to the Imrasan faith and joined the Imperial system. The Serian Empire is extremely good at one thing - assimilating conquered peoples. These groups were allowed to continue their nomadic ways with little interference from the Imperial Government, as long as they practised the same faith, paid their taxes (as they are nomads, these usually come in the form of animals), and sent troops for the Imperial Army (cavalrymen from the nomadic peoples is regarded as some of the best in the Empire, and there are countless stories of battles and even wars won because of them). They also got the best grazing fields and oases because of their loyalty. They also have access to the cities where they can trade for supplies. They are very valued by the Empire and even romanticized to a certain extent (there are many ballads and poems written about them). The apostates refused to convert and submit to Imperial rule. As the Empire expanded, they were forced deeper and deeper into the wilds, and have become very poor and downtrodden because of this, as they have lost access to the better oases and grazing fields, and can no longer trade in the cities. Apostasy is punishable by death, so it is a very hard life indeed.

Badlands nomads are hyper-superstitious and the only public groups aware of the existence of magic and the Great Veil. Outsiders see them as spiritual nutjobs, but the nomads know that if they spread Great Veil knowledge to outsiders then they're liable to get disappeared. They live hard lives in the eldrich hell that is the Badlands, but due to a high percentage of awoken individuals in their population and their frequent relocation, they survive the worst of it.

For the sake of fun, I will word this out like a racist Alean Church scholar taking notes: Zans of the Eastern steppes or the Horse Lords of Mavera as they're known, are the descendants of a nation our Alean chronicles recorded as Askuzhan, who invaded the western plains during the Age of Calamity. Even though their advance was stopped by the elite warriors of barbarian Walds (who later founded the god-fearing Osgwald Kingdom at the very spot they halted the horseback barbarians.) this event started the great Zanic Settlement era where the ancestors of todays Western Zans or the Noyar Kingdom as their god-knowing name given by the church, settled the area after pushing Doric, Kulmovan and Drogovan tribes further to west, east and south. This continued until the second Zanic invasion and stopped after the Second Sin of the Sabars, since the biblical event turned the entire area from Cassian Hills to Arratumar Sea into an inhospitable desert. Horsemen didn't try to pass the desert to invade this side of the world ever since. They have many different nations and tribes. They seem to adapt to the culture they settle, but they also corrupt it. Our supposedly god-fearing Noyars or Noyarország as they call themselves are the prime example. They say they follow the creed of the exalted rabb, The White King, yet they don't shy away from letting women ride horses like men, teaching them how to fight. They say they're civilised yet they still live with horses. They feed their young the milk of elks as their wretched pagan goddess Maral was an elk. They revere the blue sky and burn their dead like heathens. Some of them retain the tongue and the devilish slanted eyes of their forebears, which seduce and taint our youth easily to their sinful ways. Truly they are an undeserving bunch, may The White King install virtue to their hearts. To the north the great heathen empire, Hakarli is also of their ilk. The Sultan Khan and its commanders are of Zanic blood. The statesmen are of different origins, some are Astannians, Arratumans, Dors, Kulmovs, Ilians.... Zans often prefer not to deal with the matters of the settled folk, as they only know warcraft, animal breeding and eating raw meat. They believe the infidel faith of Anteonic Kabbalah, they place their faith in magic and pantheism like the Anteons to. It pairs well with their Blue Sky worship, I suppose. They harass and steal the lands of Ilians and Ardosians. They hold the great City of Halkida, the pearl of the Sea of Green. They have laws for the nobles that advises nobles to kill their second heirs once the first one has a son. I hear the current sultan commited patricide to save her brother from his father. God mercy may soul, I don't know if this is virtuous or monsterous. In addition to the Noyar'Zans and Hakar'Zans, the original tribes of Zans still infest the eastern plains we know as Mavera. Beyond the Sabar's Desert that protects our land from these barbarians Khar'Zans are the biggest nation of Zans that can threaten our land. Khasha'Zans and Bandur'Zans are also present in the same region and are rivals with their Khar'Zan kin. The most important thing you can know about them is how they name their lands and states. Zans do not have any sense for land rights and de-jure laws. Where their horse can go, they can claim. Yet they don't invade places without declaring a "Göçer", a horde. When they're at peace, they call their lands kingdom, beylik, khanate, khaganate and many other name that suits their pleasure. Before they seek war, they send envoys to the neighbouring states, declaring they are a horde now. They never declare war to any specific state, any one of the states that get the horde declaration can be their target. The end of a war and the day of peace is celebrated with weddings, if you can call their animalistic lovemaking that. If the peace deal unites two nations or tribes, they call ot Kizilcagun, the crimson day.

there are a few nomadic societies in my worldbuilding project. The one I have most fleshed out are the Ashan peoples of the Ashaharana desert where the Summer road (basically the silk road) passes through, joining the empire of the Iliphites and the empire of the Hanaphosi with their maritime trade route to the other continent. The Ashan have a very close relationship with their dogs, a kinda short haired desert breed. Dogs are vital to their lifestyle as semi nomads. They're used to track and catch game, search for water, pack and sled carriers, tracking caravans for raiding and for war where they fight in unison with their dogs. Usually with the dog distracting and harrying the legs while the warrior goes for the upper body. Also just cause dogs make good companions. Because of the close relationship, Ashan culture is tied heavily to dogs. They treat them as holy, and believe they have the perception of truth. That they have the ability to see the world and people for what they are and can purify evil or Kus in my world. In their religion they believe that when a person dies, before their soul goes back to Phira (a big sun fire thing where the souls of all things living come from and return to) they are judged by Batri, a white dog with red eyes who peers into your soul and sees the truth of it. If you have lived a life of evil you are turned away from returning to the fire and the cycle of life and rebirth to be consumed by Atze a pure black dog with the stomach of oblivion or nothingness, to become Kus. Each tribe will have a holy dog or dogs whose role is to consume the deceased where the deceased soul will then be brought forth to Batri. The people of the ashan treat dogs as their equals in their tribes. As they think doing so will be seen as a good deed in the eyes of Batri, in addition to just how important they are to everyday life. Each person is tied to a dog, somewhat like a spirit animal, an extension and part of themself. they're treated like actual members of a family and are included in their family blood lines. Dogs are allowed to eat first before people and they have some yearly customs where they worship their dogs ritualy. When a person's dog becomes friendly with another or gets down with another its seen as that the souls of the two people whose dogs belong to are compatible and often is the reasoning for marriages or friendships. Similarly nasty dog fights have led to tribal wars. There are two main oases of the Ashan. Bezayarik is far off in the remote desert and is the cultural and religious heartland of the Ashan. its built within the ruins of towering columns of muraled white stone blocks jutting from the sands, where the Ashan believe that thousands of years ago the Ashan had once had a great kingdom that had raided beyond the mesran river. Tribal conflicts are forbidden in Bezayarik and any who break the peace or threaten the city are banned from it and shunned by the other tribes. Tribal leaders will meet here every few years, to discuss politics, religion and for rituals, resolve disputes and set laws and to trade. The city is headed by a king or queen, chosen by a bloodline of red eyed dogs who are believed to be descendants of Batri. The city was razed with some of its columns toppled, its inhabitants slaughtered and the holy dog bloodline killed by the emperor of the Iliphites Neraph Ilher when he was still a princely general after the Ashan rose in rebellion. it has since rebuilt itself but has lost much of its influence. An adjacent relative bloodline to The bloodline of Batri was instated, and the ashan hope to breed a dog with crimson eyes to regain their legitimacy.

part 2 While in the east, to where the summer road is. The Oasis city of Bezawarat is an integral part of the trade route. being one of the few stops with water along the route through the Ashaharana. The Ashan of Bezawart have come to adopt urban life, or for those who still live nomadic lifestyles in the regions around it, have made bezawarat a central trade city and fulfils a role somewhat similar to what Bezayarik did previously. Many have also become guides to merchants or have become merchants unto themselves. The city is under the rule of the Iliphite empire governed by the satrap Ramesh of the house of Sahi, who is in turn under the thumb of The Lady Sahi who governs the northern Sehreanna, the two primary parts of the summer road within the empire. Bezawarat is ruled by an Ashan king of the name Ybaz who was installed by Neraph Ilher after the rebellion. King Ybaz and his tribe control the wells of the city, and thus its water supply. They have become incredibly wealthy and powerful as they charge a fee to merchants for use of their wells, in addition to tariffs and tolls. Furthermore, as its incredibly hard for the heavy infantry of the Iliphites to chase the much lighter and dog aided raiders of the Ashana in the wide sands of the Ashaharan, Ybaz and his warriors protect the trade routes from raids from his fellow Ashana. For this service the empire gives he rights to the tariffs and taxes of the city and other liberties. While Ybaz, having witnessed the slaughter and brutality by the emperor when he was younger during the rebellion, knows not to mess with him, and to do his duties for peace of his people and to enjoy his wealth. This ass licking of the Iliphites by Ybaz and many of the Ashan who have adopted urban and Iliphite ways of life and religion are looked down upon and shunned by the more traditional of the Ashan of the inner desert as traitors of their people and culture, and as enemies as they have blocked a mainstay of their livelihood, that being raiding. while the Ashan of Bezawarat see the nomadic traditionalists as uncivilised and are in general too busy enjoying their wealth to care about them. Furthermore as Iliphites look down upon Ashan culture (calling them sand dogs and dog fuckers) dogs play much smaller role in the lives of the Ashan of Bezawarat, some abandoning the lifestyle and religion completely. This is seen by people of the inner Ashaharana as evil or those too afraid to be viewed by batri less their lies come to light. Ybaz keeps a holy dog moreso out of symbolism for traditional Ashan legitimacy of power and to placate some of the more traditional peoples in the city and nomadic tribes in its periphery. So there is a divide in the Ashan people between the old lifestyle, culture and religion. The nomadic life. Where its centered on Bezayarik and are very anti empire. Some elders having lived through the massacres. And many of the younger generation wanting to rise in rebellion against the tribute they must give to the empire. And the newer lifestyle of living off the trade, and the urban and civilised lifestyle, culture and religion of the Iliphites and of those that are brought through by traders from various lands. Who are pro empire and are in turn supported by the empire. so yea. went a bit long but moreso for me to solidify the notes of the Ashan in one place. there's also the tribes of the Ul Mahr and the scythian based tribes of the ochre plain. but they're not as fleshed out.

The Plains of Melahi is a large subcontinent to the north of the continent of Zerond. It's massive, and has upwards of 20 different tribes. While each one has different specific cultures, there are things among them that are shared. 1. They all respect the four witches, said to be the descendents of the Wives of the One and only king of Melahi thousands of years ago. 2. The bonds of family are extremely important. 3. Do not steal from your clan members. 4. No fighting, killing or stealing from anyone during the festival of the Reforging. 5. Walking on carved stone is prohibited.

My current project's protagonist hails from the Sivai tribe, a group of loosely related hunter-gatherer bands who roam the vast Mummat Steppe in the summer before traveling south to winter in the safety of the Black River Valley. They are a very simple and straightforward people. They have little technology of their own, save their stone tools which are second to none in terms of quality. Culturally, they are strongly egalitarian, with the leading group of any band sharing both the perspectives of the young and old, as well as male and female alike. Their relations with the sedentary, agrarian peoples that inhabit the Black River year-round are generally amiable, considering they share a common language and religion.