Tribes of the Hungry Mountain

Xan'dun is what the urbane Nikali of the inner mountains call them. A cute nickname for their "rural" cousins on the edges of the Ryvanwall. The Highlanders of Galacriq call them the Spear (sword-staff) People. To all others they are merely barbarians.

The Xan'dun themselves refer to each other by their specific tribal names. An infinite number of microcultures populate the Ryvanwall. Each unique, within a certain degree of variation. 

The following notes on Xan'dun culture is meant to assist players in understanding what degree of cultural interpretation is up to their whims.

1. All tribes have heroes, warriors, and shamans.
2. Most tribes do not have a god that they follow; their particular culture is based on the knowledge and rituals of their shamans.
3. A tribe does not survive without its shamans.
4. Exile is the most extreme form of punishment, beyond death. Only a shaman may Exile you, and you are Doomed.
5. All are, to some extent, nomadic. The Mountain shifts and changes.
6. Concepts such as institutions, formalized laws, and other concrete abstractions of the city are difficult to comprehend.
7. All have felt starvation and thirst at least once.
8. All have lost loved ones and tribemates.
9. Perpetual growth and gain is considered unlucky. It is best to change; all gain requires sacrifice. If not given, something else will be taken eventually.
10. They have no trouble understanding malice and desperation.
11. Conservation of food, light, warmth, and stories is extremely important. All of these have been sacrificed for.
12. Never share something you have sacrificed for with someone who does not understand the gravity of that sacrifice.
13. Sacrifice is virtue. Ignorance of this is complete immorality.
14. Truth, derived from Sacrifice, is sacred.
15. All have taken a life. All have fed and drank from this sacrifice.
16. Your tribe: born into or made, is the most important unit of social life.
17. Bonding is done so by understanding the loss and sacrifice of another; anything sacrificed for, freely given, is a most precious and personal gift.
18. Every tribe has its own unique art form. It is somewhat derived from the rituals of the shamans, but everyone in the tribe knows this art form.

Impact on gameplay:

• All players of these tribes start with a skill level 5 for climbing, pole falling, and vaulting
• They are of one of the few humans who can eat human flesh for sustenance. Proper sacrifice and ritual must be observed; if so they do not become ghouls. Exiles and those who eat without Empathy are subject to the sickness; forever cursed to hunger they are.

These are not the nomadic steppe tribes that inspired most barbarians, or the Germanic/Scandinavian cultures that have crept into modern barbarian imprints. These tribes have walked out of a dream of neolithic hunter-gatherers. 

Beyond the general themes listed above and the particular attributes of the tribe chosen by the players during character creation, other cultural aspects are entirely up to the players as they play their characters. For example, the art form may be of anything the player desires.