Many don’t think twice about the tiny grains of sand that make up the great deserts of the world, but each grain tells a story. A mountain may have once stood proudly, taller than the dunes that have taken its place. Wind slowly crumbles its face into stones and the stones are crushed into sand under the feet of migrating herds. That is the way of the desert, where time turns all things to sand. The Arashi way is to stand taller and prouder than any mountain and withstand time itself. With their fists, the Arashi have become the ones who turn stone into sand. In the desert, only the strongest survive.

The arid landscape used to be scattered with disorganized tribes that constantly squabbled and fought with each other. However, as the desert dictates, those with enough strength take what they want—among them, one warlord wanted all the tribes for her own. Trampling over lesser clans, the strongest formed the Arashi League. While the League still maintains the individuality of its many tribes, they all answer to the fiercest warrior among them: the one who snaps bones like twigs, snatches arrows out of mid-air with bare hands, and has completed all of the sacred rites of passage.

While infighting still occurs on occasion, they are quickly resolved by bouts of sparring or other challenges, many of which end in the death of one or more parties. Still, fights are carefully considered, as all Arashi are measured by the tales of their rites. Some spend months wandering the desert with no provisions, enduring the bites of dozens of venomous snakes. They are purposefully taunted, and they directly challenge and defeat other powerful members in duels. Collectively, though, the Arashi are tired of fighting their own.

The desert, a place that once dominated the lives of its inhabitants, has now been tamed by the Arashi League. With nothing but time on their hands and dust in their boots, the lands outside of their arid home now pose another way to prove their strength. With each savage League ruler, the Arashi are emboldened to take on this new challenge, a new way to prove that they are the fittest and the only ones worthy to survive.