Meeris Tent-town

This is our Middle Eastern-themed tent town.

 

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Table of Contents:

  1. Wadi al-Meeris; Introduction and Vocabulary
  2. Dimensions & Layout
  3. Structures
  4. Novels Excerpt
  5. Overall & Attire
  6. Views
  7. 2020 Update
  8. 2024 March/+

 

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Wadi al-Meeris; Introduction and Vocabulary:

Meeris is the name of one of the three residential complexes in Inisfree’s civilian-access desert, the other two residential areas here being the White Conex ‘Hood and the Ridge-line Building Chain.  Meeris is fashioned after a luxurious Bedouin tent town, and looks a bit like an extra large gypsy caravan or field circus.  Its full name (including “Wadi”) comes from the Arabic word for a waterway that is sometimes dry/empty (though no water flows at this one in Inisfree).

wa·di
/ˈwädē/
noun
noun: wadi; plural noun: wadis; noun: wady; plural noun: wadies
  1. (in certain Arabic-speaking countries) a valley, ravine, or channel that is dry except in the rainy season.
Origin

(Many places in Arabia / the Middle East have “Wadi” as part of their name because it made sense for people to set up camp where they knew there would eventually be flowing surface water –which was usually also where there was always at least an underground river they could dig a well to tap into.)

 

“Meeris” was instinctively chosen pre-2011 as this neighborhood’s name.  It turns out (later learned in 2022) that it is a real word; it is Latin for one variation of “meō” which, among other things, can mean “I go along/pass/traverse.”.

 

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Dimensions & Layout:

This Inisfreean neighborhood measures 1,122′ x 858′; 962,676 square feet.  Floor-space is based on each tent and other structure in this neighborhood, some having multiple stories of the same floor-space, and some having greatly varied floor-space per story, such as observation balconies near conical tops.  All tents here are spread out by several feet at least.

 

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Structures:

There are hundreds of tents in Meeris, several large enough for hundreds of people to gather in and around, and a number of Arabian-style mansions, a few of which include both lofts and basements.  There is also covered (shaded) parking for the dune buggies and other off-roading, desert-worthy vehicles which are often used for pleasure cruises around this Inisfreean desert, as well as for jamborees.  The only other structures here are semi-permanent torch-based light-posts.

 

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Novels Excerpt:

A tent-town called Meeris was their first stop. It included many tents, large and small, most of them larger than tipis and even yurts. Some were multiple-storied, complete with internal floors, balconies, doors, and walls. Torches were nestled down into the sand on bamboo-like poles. Arabian rugs, as welcome mats, and sheets for shade were arranged neatly across the town.

For hundreds of feet across all four of the tent-town’s sides, those many tents, each placed at even intervals amongst the rest, stood firm, their openings tied back just as well, not flapping in the breeze. Inisfreeans there mingled with the many Djinn visiting and residing in that part of Inisfree. Those who noticed Lucifera and Auz approaching got up to bow or shake their hands. One Djinn spoke of more of her kind who would like to meet her; they lived in one of the cliff-dwelling neighborhoods; in Inisfree’s main canyon.

Two Djinn in Meeris demonstrated a few of their powers on a small scale; they made the breeze shift, and the sands take on various forms. Solidifying the form Lucifera felt most impressed by, they handed it to her as a completed pebble-like object; it was as hard as if it had been a rock for ages. Not a single grain fell off, all having been fused together by the Djinn’s will.

(And this now makes me wonder if the pebble that lady atop Petra handed me… had been formed by her Djinn powers.  Her eyes said it all…  I am glad I sensed her good nature and bowed to her, thanking her in the local language.)

 

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Overall & Attire:

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Views:

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2020 Update:

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2024 March/+:

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