New Waw, Saharan Oasis

CHARACTERS

Ababa: a member of the Council of Nobles

Aggulli: a sage and leader

Ahallum the Hero: the tribe’s warrior

Amasis the Younger: a noble elder

Asaruf: a noble elder

Diviner or Soothsayer: the leader’s confidant

Ejabbaran: noble elder, sage

Emmamma: a noble elder, eventually the oldest man in the tribe and its venerable elder

Enigmatic Stranger: Wantahet or one of his avatars

Excavator: a stranger who travels with the tribe and digs his “tent” in the belly of the earth

Imaswan Wandarran: spokesman for the Council of Nobles

Leader: a poet in love with a female poet but condemned to lead a Tuareg tribe

Lover of Stones: the tribe’s master builder

Virgin, Tomb Maiden, Temple Maiden, Priestess: the Leader’s posthumous bride and his medium

Wantahet: a figure from Tuareg folklore