Major Tribes (w/Totem)

During 'dark ages' of Alluvius, most people were scattered in Gatherings that weren't formed by design, but by necessity. When these Gatherings, which were largely nomadic, began to settle into larger colonies people began to associate more into like minded subgroups. Each of those subgroups is what will be described here a 'Tribe' or 'Clan'.

Gatherings of the Kroatoan are not homogeneous, and often contain at least a few members of several different Tribes/Clans, although they usually have one prominently dominant Tribe/Clan that holds the most influence. Most Tribes/Clans espouse loyalty to Tribe first and Gathering second, but not all of them; being loyal to ones Tribe ahead of the Gathering one is found in has lead to some tribes being ostracized and generally not trusted " especially in numbers. e.g., one Vorch'n in a Gathering might be viewed without any ill regard, but when a second one appears, both might be viewed with greater suspicion.

Depending on where and to whom they are born, children are often raised in a mixed environment, with either one or both of their parents, and the Gathering they are born into having a say in the child's upbringing. Children have no official tribe until they reach the age of adulthood and are adopted into one, or thrust into one; often children are fostered directly into the tribe which raised them, but not all always.

Sometimes the governing body of a Tribe will determine that a child " for whatever reason " doesn't fit with the Tribe it is born into (in the case of a largely homogenous Gathering). In such a case, the child may be taken in by whatever Tribe the Gathering thinks better suits it " if any members of that Tribe are in the area. In some circumstances, the children " not really children, yet not full adults as they lack a Tribe " are given the chance to prove they do belong where they were born, or a chance to petition for an escort to the closest suitable Gathering.

Adults may change their allegiance from one Tribe to another, but the process is usually fairly involved.

The animals which Tribes choose as their totemic spirits are representative of ethical outlook of the Tribe; the way the animal interacts with the world around it, as a philosophical way of life.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Koda (Bear)

- Hailing mostly from the mountains and foothills of the north and west, the Koda are an oligarchical tribe who foster strong belief in the concept of family.

- Often patient and slow to anger, Koda brush off insults that would have others ready to kill. Pushed far enough, however, and the only way to assuage the anger of a Bear is by death " either theirs, or their foe.

- Koda can usually be found either in one of two large gatherings (in the North or the West), or travelling alone but on tribal business. Strong and silent, the Koda are often powerful warriors.

The Fenns (Wolf)

- Often congregating along the entire eastern seaboard of Alluvius, where wild expanses of forest push toward the ocean, are the patriarchal Fenns.

- Known for their discipline, and having an even greater affinity for the verdant areas than most other tribes. The Fenn have no equal when it comes to tracking or wood lore.

- The Fenn are almost always found in groups of three or more " almost never alone, unless one has been cast out for some reason. They are among the more social of the tribes, and often considered the most light-hearted.

The Ladon (Lizard)

- The Ladon are found almost exclusively in the southern reaches, and if they can help it try to never venture north; they hate the cold, and dislike anything that makes them leave their homes in the south " so if you see them somewhere else, you can be sure they have good reason.

- Sometimes found in pairs, exceedingly rarely in groups, and without any Gatherings of their own, the Ladon are almost always loners, although their other personality traits may vary greatly from one another " which probably contributes to their self imposed exclusion.

- Ladon often start out as members of other Tribes but find, for whatever reason, that they're a poor fit and so look elsewhere. When they're lucky, they find another Lizard to teach them self reliance; something the great majority of them find easier in climates which don't foster snow " which could be the reason they so dislike the cold and going north.

The Lo"Tan (Serpent)

- The Lo'Tan are known for being both decisive, and hard to read. They are governed by virtue of democratic order; each group of Serpents within a Gathering votes for a local governance, which in turn is loyal to a wider network of Tribesmen.

- They have few Gatherings of their own, perhaps no more than a half dozen, and instead usually occupy other more accepting heterogeneous Gatherings; they're usually accepted except in the most xenophobic of Gatherings, and will often display what some might call surprising levels of loyalty to the Tribes around them which make up the Gathering they reside in.

- Lo'Tan rarely accept others into their Tribe, unless one of the subjects parents was one; outsiders that are accepted frequently leave again, driven off by feelings of isolation. They also never willingly attack other Gatherings, but will always defend the Gathering they abide in from raiders who, because of this rule, will never be fellow Serpents.

Lesser Tribes (Clans, Lost Totems) The differences between what is considered a Tribe or a Clan, are the number of members and the existence of their totem. In the cases mentioned here, the Clan's Totem animals have vanished hundreds or thousands of years ago. While both Clans and their Totems are thought of as almost mythological, they do exist in pan Tribal histories, in different capacities depending on which Tribes point of view you're assuming.

The order of the Clan's mention coincides with their disappearance in oral traditions and historical texts.

The Cervin Clan (The Hart)

- The First Tribe, consisting of the first group of people to band together after the fall of the Great Dark, was also the initially largest of all the Tribes. The First Tribe was completely migratory upon it's inception, following " and in some cases protecting " the animal tribes which became it's totem, the Hart / Hind, or Deer.

- Because it's creation was based in large part on the notion of human solidarity, the Cervin were easily infiltrated early on by people of less than high morals who chose to become part of the Tribe not only for their own benefit, but for the ease with which it let them slake their predatory thirsts.

- Over time, any arable land that was come across in migration was either sown or harvested as the season permitted, and those lands became routine stops in the Tribe's cyclic migration. This lasted until some of the more charismatic figures who were tired of wandering " and sought to localize a base of power on themselves " took longer and longer to move on as the seasons passed, and eventually settled. Eventually, when the Tribe would next arrive there, they would find no available land " everything already claimed by permanent residents, now members of rival tribes.

- By the time Damon stepped forward to forge the Tribes into some semblance of an Empire, the Hart were truly Lost; although they still had significant numbers compared to the least of the Tribes, most of those who had been with them had joined other Tribes of their own volition or though some sort of inter tribal marriage (often arranged, in order to bring the Hart side of the family out of poverty or debt, with the bride's family often joining the new Tribe as well with a pledge of fealty). Their Totem, once the most plentiful land based source of meat no longer existed in numbers large enough to sustain it's people; the other Tribes had hunted it almost to extinction.

- The Hart Tribe/Clan no longer exists, except as a memory or perhaps in some strange form by someone who never joined Damon's drive towards Empire; all the rest of the Cervin Clan who had maintained their loyalty to Hart until the beginning of the Empire would find themselves marshaled under Damon's banner as the Servitors of Imperial House Tain.

The Phoenix Clan (The Firebird)

- The Phoenix were always one of the smallest and most reclusive clans, coming from a dying desert in the southern parts of the main Alluvian continent; their existence became known early on during the fall of the Great Dark " they were known as lunatics believing that their totem could bring back the 'light', if only they could summon it.

- Mythology varies in the telling, but all accounts agree that there are five to seven Followers of Firebird at any given time, no more, no less. Although the Totem itself has not been recorded seen by any currently living person, there are places that are thought to be it's nests " places where it's powerful life energy has caused plants and animals around the nests to grow wild and mutated.

- Hundreds of years before Damon consolidated his Empire, Phoenix left their home and searched the entire continent for what they thought was a ritual that would return their totem to them, and herald a change in the fortune of men. Their search took them all around the continent of Alluvius proper, the the outer edge of the Arcwall, and some say even into the Arcwall itself " though that claim can be viewed with a healthy amount of doubt. All of their search culminated with their return home to enact the ritual to bring back Firebird. It worked, to a degree. One of the sites that was thought to be it's nest exploded into fire and light " Firebird had returned. It did not, however, stay. Rising into the sky, Firebird flew east over the land, over the water " and out of sight. Those few followers, the Phoenix, soon followed until they came to the water " where they purchased passage on the largest deep sea fishing vessel the could afford, and vanished into the east.

The Storm Clan (The Dragon)

- The followers of Dragon did not form into a Tribe or Clan of their own accord; the term of Tribe was applied to them ad hoc by the other Tribes. They are the last of the fallen race that came before the Great Dark, and were much renowned in the days that the Wyrms were more active " hence the Storms other moniker, Wyrmsbane. So great was their renown that even after the Wyrms were all but extinct, the allegiance of the Storm Tribe was often sought out in times of human v. Human conquest, to add legitimacy to the 'victors'. When the Storms were active, they operated under a strict military hierarchy.

- The Storms became aware that they were being manipulated and being used to curry favour among more regular tribesmen, and so took matters into their own hands: they dissolved anything that had come even close to resembling the Tribes that existed and, rapidly but quietly, began to join other Tribes. By the time of Damon's Consolidation, the Storms had only existed as ancestors for three generations; the superstitious still claimed that some of their fellow tribesmen had Storm blood, but it was and is, impossible to prove.

- Their Totem, Dragon, was the mythological embodiment of the 'best' a being could become: physically, mentally, and magically potent beings, able to evolve, to transcend their state of being to match whatever adversity lay before them. All images left of Dragons from the time of the Great Dark depict them in battle or opposite Wyrms, and the two are all but impossible to tell apart, so much so that one is often, in modern times, confused for the other. Now all that remains of either Storm or Dragon are often misinterpreted fairy tales.

The Imperial Houses " Lifestyle Structure

The service of each member of each House was spent in a unit designated as a 'Sword'; the Swords were organized numerically, with the First being the earliest formed, and the most prestigious. The closer to First you were, the more you were considered to have good pedigree, or more often, the likelihood you would be innately talented mystically or martially. While it was possible to migrate from one Sword unit to another, it was rare, and only ever accomplished through extraordinary feats, such as bringing an entire region to heel under the Empire single handed.

In a case of art imitating life, or life imitating art, each of the four Houses consistently saw themselves literally housed in dwellings that were reflective of their societal structures. Whether a member of the First Sword, or the Sixth Sword, or so on, it was easy to determine, when arriving in an Imperial city or town that one hadn't been in before, exactly where to go to find a friendly face " or at least a comrade.

- The Arknight dwellings were often square or rectangular, single or two story dwellings with countless identical rooms and common areas; every soldier was an equal part of the machine.

- The Arkennen used their resources more sparingly, building up instead of out; they often built towers seven or more stories high, wide at the bottom and narrower at the top, mimicking the pyramid hierarchy of the mages.

- The Tain buildings were numerous, each division neat and orderly unto itself, built for a specific purpose, but connected to a number of others that were built specifically for their own purposes, in such a way that the entire system of living was as convoluted and hard to understand for someone outside the House as modern bureaucracy can be now.

- The Logos had no dwellings of their own, but sometimes secretly took over the abandoned ruins of Tribes that had existed before; they needed no buildings or structures of their own, because they secreted themselves everywhere else, amongst Citizens and Civilians alike.

The Lordly & Common Houses " The Parliament

The reign of the Empire was marked with expansion into the Inner Arc, often with little regard for those who were being conquered, or for the men and women left to govern the conquered regions, who were often given the unenviable task of forcing the Kroatoan and the Dahli to live together, often employing tactics like forced marriages, child hostages, and forced, long term indentured servitude. Nature worship, personal beliefs, and unsanctioned religions were banned; Imperially approved faith was 'installed'. In retrospect, it's unsurprising that the efforts of the Empire to unite the two peoples were effective, if not in the way the Empire had in mind.

Rather than forcing the assimilation of one group into the other, the cultures remained separate but grew together and embraced one another in common cause: dissatisfaction with the Empire, and the methods it used to govern. The true rebellion didn't begin until the First Sword, comprised mostly of higher status members of House Arknight and Arkennen, and around whom personality cults had formed over the decades from their long time spent in the field and upon the front lines of the Kroatoan conquest of the Puhra Dahli, disappeared on the front lines. After they vanished, they were officially exiled by the Empire and their capture was sought. It was, of course, too late. Damon and his Empire had recruited, trained, and motivated the source of their own downfall.

The reign of the Empire lasted a relatively short amount of time, and when it finally burned out, Damon and his followers were cast down. House Tain was shown to be heavily infiltrated by House Logos, with over fifty per cent of it's population siding with Damon. House's Arknight and Arkennen each lost at least thirty per cent of their ranks, with still more suspected to be remaining in the ranks of House Arkennen " though there was no hard evidence, for years after the Empire fell, some former members of House Arkennen remained suspect. With everything too broken, and people too paranoid, none of the earlier system could be salvaged, or no one had the will to salvage them. The people were used to military style rule and looked towards it's saviors, the First Sword and those who fought with them, especially those around whom cults of personality had formed, like the Gardener Knights.

The Lordly & Common Houses " The House of Lords

The House of Lords consists of the High Seat of every Lordly House; a Lordly House comprising the family (blood or adopted), allies (including allies who have/control lesser Houses of their own, in the wake of their betters rise to power), and any others who have sworn fealty to them. Originally most of the High Seats were members of the First Sword, heroes around who cults of personality developed and made their rise to power uncontested " except by themselves. Only the High Houses will be listed here in any detail more than name; every High House could have one or more Lesser Houses which have pledged fealty to them.

House Alexander

High House Alexander was granted lands in the south east, mostly in the Outer Arc; their nominal leader, around who the House formed, was Alain Alexander. The only surviving officer of his First Sword unit, he went on to command a group of regulars just before the fall of the Empire, and then lead them to destroy a true Wyrm which arose in the lands he'd chosen to retire his forces. Among his followers, he was awarded the moniker that the wyrm was known by, and became known as Armageddon Alexander.

House Knightfall

High House Knightfall was the first of the Houses to actually form and declare itself in open rebellion against the Empire " albeit the Empire had actually declared against the founder of House Knightfall first. One of the highest ranking officers of the First Sword was it's founder, Lord Kristoph Arknight " turned Lord Knightfall, embracing the name given to him by the commons that he had pledged to aid, when he was exiled by the Empire. Their lands occupy the North Gate of the Arcwall, falling on both the Inner and Outer Arc. Lord Knightfall found himself of ill temperament to govern, however, and when possible abdicated for increasingly longer periods of time to his uncle, Sinistrad.

House Stormgaard

High House Stormgaard was formed around the questionable leadership of Lord Brendryck Stormgaard, a man who could not begin to fathom why people followed him or what leadership qualities they found in him. After the House was formed, he shortly went into hiding, travelling numerous lands and exploring, and leaving the care of his House to his father Brendan ? and in jeopardy of being seized by his covetous older brothers, Mathias and Brant. Their holdings were far to the west, past the West Gate, and on the very edge of the coast, on the Outer Arc.

Lordly & Common Houses - House of Lords Cont.

House Phoenix

A remarkably small House for its number of members upon arriving on the shores of the Consolidation, it quickly made a name for itself in power, catapulting High House Phoenix to prominence when the former Lost Clan returned and under the direction of a High Mage named Slade Phoenix. The numbers of the mages who joined from House Phoenix on the side of the rebellion shouldn't have made as much of an impact as it did except for one thing: their exceptional power, and seemingly endless ability to endure. Although they have grown in numbers since, and their power has become more spread out, it began with not more than seven members.

House Daystrom

Virgil was a brother to Brendan, and son to Marius of the Storm Clan. He is also a man touched with tragedy: High House Daystrom earned it's place in the House of Lords through payment in blood. Everyone who held a drop of Virgil's blood before the end of the Empire was wiped out, decimated by the Empire in not just an act of brutality, but mass homicide. Men, women, children, all lost so that Damon could prove a point: it was a point apparently lost, as now the Empire is gone, but High House Daystrom has again risen. Virgil still seeks whoever betrayed him and his family, and is haunted by the rumour that the betrayer shares a familial connection with him " though obviously diluted enough to keep him alive when Daystrom was purged.

House Youngblood

Only one man could have challenged Atticus, the defacto High Mage of the Empire: Jonas Arkennen, now Jonas of High House Youngblood. Jonas was a man who always favoured the development of power that was practical far more than political power, and eschewed the High Seat he earned single handed when he struck down Damon Logos. He always kept a wide berth of the halls of influence, and preferred to study under whatever masters he could find " be they magical, martial, or academic. Though he accepted the honour of a House being formed in homage to him, he left it's dealings to his two uncles, Arcturus and Kane; the former a High Mage almost powerful enough to rival his nephew, and the latter man of mystery, always knowing too much, more than he should ? and capping off his eccentricities by wearing a black, leather mask.