The Xigdat are a group of nomad peoples whose ancestral routes travel north and south along the Chiangian and Deka rivers and the steppe lands in between. The Xigdat are renowned for their leather and featherworks, and they are expert in the trapping of small birds for their colourful feathers. Their culture has many commonalities with that of the Maa-Ougbig, but relationships between the two groups are often tense as the similarities between them seem to enhance their differences. The Xigdat also frequently enter into conflict with the nomad peoples of the Changian steppe, especially where migratory routes collide.
The Xigdat live in a world of complex territorial claims, as they share territories with both sedentary and nomadic peoples and conflicts over land are common. Ironically, their most stable arrangements are not with their closest cultural cousins, the Maa-Ougbig: there, the balance lies more in preferences for different types of terrain than in any sort of treaty. The powerful Ghøwout to the north treat the Xigdat and the Maa-Ougbig alike, as a source of commerce but mainly as a nuisance, made hard to control by their seasonal movements. To the northwest, however, Xigdat tribes can depend on treaties with the small kingdoms of the Daghwa-Igdo, who facilitate their routes in exchange for trade.
