Ok, so I'd like to express my gratitude for those of you who have stuck with me this long. I'm also sorry that you'll be staying in hiatus, OoP.
I would wish that there were more going on in this game. I had a LOT of applications, who just all never showed, usually during the end of character creation. I guess that's the internet for you.
I'll see if I can give you a slightly more direct story hook to work on, to get you all started into the desert. I warn you that there WILL be conflicting interests, and making them not conflict... well, it'll require some fiddling. My usual tool for this is... well, a more threatening enemy, that you'll have to face together, even though you might normally not end up as allies.