#saharan

Blue Moon Where I am presently there is a high quantity of Saharan Desert Sand so the image has a natural sepia tone. Saharan Full Moon

Photography by David Velez

This aside, let’s talk a little more about swords!

I was thinking about Takoubas. They’re the swords carried by some of the Saharan peoples. Inside this typology, there are other types, but they are not super standardized.

Here’s my brother’s Amazigh sword, a Telek.

An important part of Lluna’s tribal ancestry comes from Niger and Mali, from the Tuareg.

**widespread use of the sword. The oldest found is a 14th century one. But something similar or straight up identical could be used in my story.

However, in Al Andalus, everyone is highly Arabized, even if they are mostly North African and Iberian. //Still, her family retains a strong memory and kept traditions alive mainly thanks to the women (who are keepers of the alphabet, Tifinagh, and therefore of stories). But since Lluna’s paternal grandmother died, the sisters have been left without this guide, and must piece together whatever each of them managed to learn, in order to preserve it.//

So that is why I had Al Mualim, and his men, carry an Andalusi sword mainly. An early or proto-jineta (below is the typical Nasrid type, the earlier ones were also embellished, but heavier and more robust. Some could be curved for mounted combat, but most are straight). But I want to incorporate Takoubas somehow. Maybe by it being a secondary or heirloom sword for the family. Just like Baldwin (in my stories) has a heirloom one which is an earlier type (XI) with minor differences.

Below my Tuareg dagger from Niger. I gave Lluna a similar one with a dark blue sheath for self defense, which was common for medieval women. Her people love to dye things with the Indigo plant. This will be showcased in chapters soon. Like with the Tagelmust, the most important 💙 so will the alphabet :D I have been consulting my brother—Amazigh researcher specialized on the Tuareg—on Tamasheq, the Tuareg variant of the language. It has differences and I needed to form a sentence in it with the Tamasheq alphabet, that also has some differences with the northern Tifinagh so google translate doesn’t work for me lmao

•Her necklace there is an Agadez cross. My brother and I theorize a link with the Egyptian Ankh (there are many connections between the cultures). It has many meanings, but one of the associations is femininity and fertility (the triangle), which is a common theme anyway among the culture. Ironically, both my brother and dad wear one, but I have not received one yet 😐

And ah. I can’t help but spoil it; but Saladin will gift something cool to Baldwin ;)

A SHIMMERING JEWEL IN BETWEEN THE HARSH, AFRICAN-DESERT SANDS.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on camels making their way through or resting/wading in the waters at Guelta d'Archéï, "the Eden of the Sahara," north-eastern Chad/Txad, Africa. 📸: Various.

MINI-OVERVIEW: "The Guelta d’Archéï – an oasis in the Sahara desert, is probably the most famous guelta – a lower level of height ground between rocks which holds water – in the Sahara. It is a barren place located in the Ennedi Plateau, in north-eastern Chad. The reservoirs of this wetland is supported by groundwater. The guelta is a watering place for camels. and it is also inhabited by a very small number of the Nile crocodile."

-- CHARISMATIC PLANET ("Earth is a Magical Place")

A flag i created for Saharan Co-operative.