Desert Ashigo

Anatomy

Desert ashigos are the subspecies of ashigos that have adapted to live in the cruel environment of Cashew Desert. They spilt from grassland ashigos many generations ago as their anatomy is completely different from them, they are the largest ashigo compared to the other ashigos, they are typically muscular and lean and are capable of running long distances in a short amount of time.

Like aqua ashigos, Desert ashigos are omnivores but what makes them different from the aqua ashigos is their extremely strong stomach acid that can digest almost anything a desert ashigo wants. They are seen using their strong powerful jaws to crush bones, small trees, break exoskeletons of bugs and spilt cactus in half. They are also scavengers and aren't bothered on hunting at all.
They have a thin layer of fur and thick skin to prevent water loss, They have four hooves instead of the grasslands two, this helps them to climb and run for longer. They tend to have more stamina than other ashigos

Desert ashigos, like aqua ashigos, can pull back their ears and completely shut them off, this is to prevent sand from getting inside them during sandstorms. They have excellent hearing and sense of smell. Their noses are upturned and are typically grown into a horn on the front of their face. ( if you want an irl example of this; Hognose snake ) this helps help to prevent them from getting sand inside their nose during a sandstorm.

They have a third hoof on their front legs that are mostly useless when ashigos are feral however when they are anthro it becomes a thumb. Desert ashigos are crepuscular, meaning they are the most active during the evening and night, this is to avoid the hottest part of the day.

Environment

Desert ashigos are native to the cashew desert, they are wanderers by nature, and they rarely form permanent homes but when they do they would typically carve out their homes in the strange claw rocks that are found in the cashew desert, decorating them with small bones and making beds out of scrapped fur and fabric.

There are small sleeping holes all over the desert that wandering desert ashigo will sleep in during midday. A lot of these holes were dug out a long time but sometimes they are dug out nowadays, desert ashigos would dig them out using their horns and hooves to carve out holes at the base of the claw rocks. Inside them is a tight space with either straw or scrapped fabrics to cushion from the sharp uncut rocks.

It is known by most desert ashigos that there is a couple of oasis in the cashew desert but the exact locations of them are unknown as very few maps of the cashew desert have been made and the desert ashigos who live there dislike visitors.

The Oasis towns are dangerous, they are full of aggressive and violent ashigos who will attack any ashigo who isn't a part of their group. little is known about how their group works exactly. Some desert ashigos think it is a large group of ashigos who have full control of all of the oasis in the Cashew desert for selfish reasons and are run by a single ashigo while others think that they are all separate groups who got the same idea to be protective of the water. These groups are known to dislike Storm's wake and have launched attacks on the city multiple times.

Desert ashigos may not always get along with one other but the one thing they all share in common is their strong belief in Alma, they would pray to Alma for luck and protection from the sandstorms.