The second starship, [AlSahraa']or, 'the Desert' in Arabic, set sail from our solar system in 2090 with 30,000 souls aboard. Funded largely by Middle Eastern nations, it came with a more monarchical governance structure; which eventually turned into a royal family by the time the ship arrived at its destination. The ship itself was manned by a diverse crew of desert-dwelling people, the ship had a starkly different target than the previous water-planet bound vessel. Its target, a dry planet with no detected water, necessitated the packing of four times more water than Stjernevandrer. Hopes ran high for the discovery of subterranean water, hinted at by models indicating the planet had water at some point in its history.
Initial arrival, they realize that the planet is even drier than they first thought; and no subterranean water sources can be found. Only about 10% of the people go down to the surface and begin constructing settlements and trying to eke out an existence on the surface of the arid planet.
An child-prodigy from AlSahraa' comes up with an idea for tuning output of the engines of the colony ship to drill into the rock of Samūm's surface. Scientists aboard the AlSahraa' believe it won't work, but the boy proves that it will. The ship is landed and engines are removed to begin hollowing out a giant subterranean city. The city is called "The Combs" after the ancient roman catacombs. The colony ship itself is lowered into the central comb, and becomes the core of the new underground civilization. Because by now the royal family is seen as the owners of all ship resources, including the ship itself; the Combs (created by the ship's engines) becomes a defacto extension of their kingdom. As the Combs are settled, the people living there are subjects of the King.
Most of the people settled in the vast underground combs, but about 20% of the settlers scattered about the surface, mining and constructing giant solar collection arrays. The surface dwellers have similarities to some desert nomad tribes on Earth. The underground dwellers are more akin to people living in a mixed modern/historic city today such as Marrakech, Damascus or Tel Aviv. In spite of careful management of water resources, the precious liquid is the limiting factor for life on Samūm. The surface dwellers are aware of some limited water in deep gorges, but these trickles of water are barely enough to sustain a tiny population, so the only major civilization is the Combs, where water recycling facilities allow for nearly 100% water reuse.
In the decades spanning 2220 to 2240, the conflict between the inhabitants of the Combs and the surface-dwellers on Samūm escalates, driven by the scarcity of water. Tensions mounted as over the diminishing water resources transported onto the arid planet. The water crisis became a catalyst for a deepening divide between the two societies. The royal family, wishing to exercise more control over the surface dwellers, tries to enforce strict rules on the exporting of any water outside the Combs citing the inability to replenish the limited supply present in AlSahraa's holds.
In the underground city of the Combs, a culture developed around maximizing water efficiency. The inhabitants developed practices for conserving water in every aspect of life, developed sophisticated filtration and recycling systems. Every drop of water was carefully reabsorbed, and strict rationing measures were put in place. The Combs thrived as a hub of technology and innovation, with bustling marketplaces, underground farms, and tightly knit communities.
On the surface, the nomadic tribes and settlers were confronted with the harsh reality of Samūm's aridity. Despite their resilience and resourcefulness identifying the ephemeral streams of the surface, and extraction of moisture from the air in low-lying oases. There was no permanent surface water, but the scarce moisture in the air seemed to emanate from such places where water intermittently gathered. They roamed the deserts, searching for oases, mining and building such infrastructure as they could, plying the secrets of the desert. The surface settlements were often temporary, shifting as they migrated to various sites, building solar arrays for the the Combs to power their civilization and its massive drilling projects to expand the underground kingdom.
As the water scarcity worsened, clashes between the Combs and the surface-dwellers became more frequent and violent. The royal family in the Combs controlled all of the water brought from Earth, and were increasingly stingy in sharing it with the surface dwellers. Both sides realized that the survival of their respective civilizations depended on securing water access, but the surface-dwellers, without physical possession of the water reserves, had nothing to bargain with..
War was on the horizon as the two societies, those who live in the Combs and the surface-dwellers, are increasingly struggling over the remaining water. In an attempt to alleviate the water crisis, the Combs sent diplomatic envoys to the Ice Planet (Ísreikistjarna) in search of assistance.
Finally completing the terraforming of their own planet, the Water planet's ships attempted to transport giant blocks of ice to Samūm using repurposed asteroid pushers. but several ships in he convoy were hijacked. The attack was conducted using a giant net launched by a hijacker ship sent by the surface-dwellers of the desert planet. The attack happened while the ships were attempting to deorbit the ice to land at the Underground City. The intent was to capture the ice and land it instead in a place where the surface dwellers could extract the water and become water-independent again. The asteroid pushers were damaged in the attack and a dangerous emergency rescue barely saved the crews.
The destabilized craft completely lost control of its trajectory and three, along with the entire giant ice cargo, crashed violently into the underground city spaceport, destroying ships, landing craft and many residences in the upper levels of the underground city itself.
The incident intensified hostilities between the factions, further fueling the growing conflict. On one side, the royal family and the people of the Combs; on the other, the tough and resourceful surface dwellers. It seemed as though war was inevitable unless a resolution could be found to address the water scarcity issue.
The Nüüdelchid became aware of the escalating conflict on Samūm as they arrived in the planetary system in 2240. Working in complete secrecy, they deployed their asteroid harvesting robots to gather vast amounts of water, harvesting ice from nearby asteroids. Ísreikistjarna also taxed their own resources by shipping up tons of water to low orbit. Repurposing their refueling ships to carry the water, they secretly converged on Samūm.
Arriving at the desert planet, they discovered to their horror that the surface-dwellers had completely encircled the Combs and were preparing for an all-out assault on the city unless their demands were met. The underground city had responded by erecting a makeshift fortification and were also readying for a fight, from the ground, air and space. The planet's two civilizations were about to annihilate each other.
In a bold move, one of the Nüüdelchid captains piloting a water-carrier released his entire cargo of water from orbit onto the entrenched belligerents below. A torrent of rain from space drenched both camps like an unexpected summer thunderstorm. The sudden downpour confused and shocked both sides and effectively halted the imminent war; providing new context for negotiation and ultimately, an uneasy peace between the two sides through an important truce negotiated by Nüüdelchid and Ísreikistjarna delegations.