Thane Tribes - Barbarians of the Dragon's Claw Mountains

Deep in the Dragon's Claw Mountains are a race of men known as Thanes. These barbaric tribes are a savage lot, nearly as much as the orc they battle for dominance of the mountain expanses. Descended from the same folk that originally settled the region, the Thanes have reverted from their simple origins to a society of tribal warriors and superstitious folk bound by strict laws and codes of honor and taboo.

Central to any Thane village is its Sharl which is the principle shaman and political leader of the group. Sharl's are usually not the most physically able of their people but are without exception the pinnacle of cunningness and guile. Sharl's manifest their authority over their people through the subtle use of politics and the direct manipulation of spiritual and magical power. Most Sharls have a trusted band of servants who, though they may appear as simple functionaries, are usually quite adept in the ways of the warrior, the arts of deception and subterfuge. Such functionaries are known as the Sharl's Shrae.

Second and sometimes nearly equal to the Sharl is the most potent and respected warrior among a Thane village - its Thron. The Thron is a warrior of renown, selected by his people and then subjected to a lengthy process of trials directed by the Sharl. This "approval" process is known as the Kining and it is this process which ultimately decides if a village will get the Thron of its choice. Oddly, few prospective Throns seem to fail their trials. This is due in part to a very complexbit of politics which is know to go on in secret between the Thron, his proponents and the Sharl. It is generally accepted that allowing some other Thron to rise to power within the fringe-bound villages of the Thane would be potentially disastrous.

Thanes make few distinctions between men an women, with both genders fulfilling many of the same roles in their society. Though women are expected to bear children, this is done as a functional practice. Given the tough, physically demanding life of the Thanes, their womenfolk have little difficulty in preparing for the riggers of childbirth and then recovering into a strong, ready warrior mother. Children among the Thanes are considered the children of all adults in the village and take their education and upbringing from any and every adult without exception. So open is this fostering that there are no conventions of heredity in the Thane society with each adult swearing the inheritance of their worldly possessions on their death, a declaration held sacred. Every Thane village has a strong warrior core with the adults and children protected by them as prized treasures.

Though savage and considered vulgar by most civilized people, Thane daily life is designed to enforce the necessity of strength and cunning in the day to day life. Thane warriors are known to decorate themselves with their wealth, wearing precious metals in the form of jewelry and body decoration. Exploits and moments of note in a Thane's life are often recorded through the practices of tattooing and ritual scarring, marks worn with pride and no shame (some Thane are known to tattoo themselves in quite provocative places).

A Thane village is arranged in a radial arrangement with the Sharl's large central Domu hut at the center. The Domu is part council chamber, part temple. It is here that the Sharl meets with the village elders and practices the rites of his craft. Around the Domu are several stone longhouses, each housing from 10-20 Thanes. Each longhouse is an open common room with a private chamber divided off at one end for the headman of the longhouse. The headman is that longhouse's representative to the tribal council.

A Thane village also includes several structures for specific trades and crafts - tanning huts, smoke houses, smithies, drying sheds and storage huts for various dried goods (mostly berries and roots). Around the village, providing a barrier to marauders is a thick stone-faced, log palisade with several watch towers and a signal tower along its parameter. In times of need, the flare atop the signal tower is ignited to alert the Thane of that village and other nearby settlements of that need.

In all the western peaks of the Dragons Claw's there are known to be some two dozen or so Thane tribes totaling to 4000 or more barbarians. If not for the fractured nature of these tribes, the Thanes would surely be threat to any living near them. They are however unable to unite unless presented with a common threat. There is constant conflict on local levels between the Thane tribes and the local Unman tribes.

Harrowers of The Vale - Humanoids in the Valley of Baryn

The Valley of Baryn is surrounded on all sides save the South by the lofty peaks of the Dragon's Claw Mountains. These mighty, volcanic peaks are home to dwarves, trolls, giants and all manner of ill-blooded ilk. Most notable among these, however are what are known as the Unman Tribes - savage bands of orcs, goblins and bugbears who, though native to the region have been pushed to the fringes by men and dwarves alike.

The Unman Tribes once populated the entire valley, breaking themselves into territorial bands and tribes and squabbling and warring with one another. Nobody is sure if they are originally from the isolated valley, but it seems obvious they were the first to settle there and may have been in place for several thousand years before the coming of the dwarves. Now, the Unman Tribes are cut back and reduced from their once great mastery of the valley and the mountains that coddle it.

First to combat the Unman Tribes were the dwarves, who upon finding the Dragon's Claw Mountains rich in metals, precious stones and useful minerals, drove the orcs, goblins and others as far out of the mountains as possible. After the dwarves had finished with the work of evicting the Unman Tribes, the western peaks of the Dragon's Claw Mountains were nearly devoid of any major humanoid presence. All that remained were scattered, desperate, but particularly savage bands, the rest either having been eliminated or moving into the surrounding peaks and the valley itself.

Those that moved into the surrounding peaks become the most savage and desperate, having to eke out an existence on the windy, cold cliffs and crags of the Dragon's Claws. These went on to become such noted tribes as the Grim Skull and Mangled Hand orcs as well as the Goblins of Terror Peak. Those that joined their brethren in the eastern peaks of the Dragon's Claws were forced into conflict with those tribes and clans that already made those mountains their home and either were withered to shrunken bands or joined forces with the existing bands to make even stronger bands.

Those creatures that took refuge in the thick, dark forests of the valley itself were quite successful, taking advantage of plentiful food and changing to a new above-ground existence. Such creatures became bolder, less bothered by the rays of the sun, though they never became accustomed to direct sunlight. With more food and more room to move, they were less pressured by the limited resources of their mountain brethren and grew stronger with larger tribes. These large clans, mostly goblins, were the first contacts the early human settlers would face.

The initial conflicts between the humans and the goblins were much more in favor of the goblins. Their numbers, knowledge of the area and simple-minded cunning made the goblins of such clans as Broken Tusk, Wormwood, Toadstool, and Night Wolves and Dire Moon a daunting opponent to the human settlers. If not for a strong spirit and some late assistance from the dwarves and a traveling band of elves, visiting their ancient Shrine of Imin Thiel, the struggling settlers surely would have been put down by the vicious goblins and their allies.

But the humans did survive and once more the Unman Tribes of the Valley of Baryn were reduced to the fringes, scuttling back up into the mountains and into the tunnels of the eastern peaks of the Dragon's Claws and the dark parts of the valley's forests. They are not to be forgotten however.

To this day, the Unman Tribes of the valley and the mountains make their presence known, constantly raiding and predating the people of the region be they man, dwarf, or elf. Several of the tribes are still quite strong, especially in the fringe lands of the North on the borders of the Gully Downs. In that place the orcs of the Grim Skull and Mangled Hand clans still find their numbers swelling. In the valley proper, the Wormwood and Dire Moon goblins have bolstered into two large bands, carving out a crude nomadic lifestyle, always keeping themselves two steps ahead of any rangers and wardens who might seek their undoing.