Tuesday 1 March 2011

Map of the Galmearan freelands, detailing the tribes as defined by the Kreyicians

"Freelands map"

"This dreadful map is one I copied at Dyn Cwmroch in Kreyic, on the eve of invasion, whilst negotiating and inebriating a Kreyic lord.  It has been compiled by both the military magicians of Kreyic using remote sensing and by hostile spies on the ground. as such the tribal divisions are questionable, being based on visual cues and military interactions only.  It is, however horrifyingly accurate given these limitations.  I fear for the future of the Galmearans even more than I did.

It shows the extent to which semi-peaceful co-opting of land by Kreyic in the south has already occurred. Squared town icons are non-Galmearan, doubly squared if walled. Galmearan bases are dots if un-walled, dots with circles if walled and dots with tents if only seasonally occupied. Three dots indicate a ruin.  Only land marked with vegetation or mountains is that considered by her neighbors to be unclaimed by an official nation."



Tribes as defined by Kreyic and their location



The Naya Towwan Mountains (north to south)

The Water Chariot Tribes
(These island dwelling tribes where named after their use of dolphin pulled hide boats.  They interact closely with dolphins in much the same way other Galmearans interact with deer. Somehow, despite the seasonally frozen waters they posses the ability to swim amongst the pack ice. They are a distinct sub-race of Galmearan, the same as the Whale Singer Tribes.)

The Mauljajodd Tribes
(These tribes share ancestry both of the Galmearan Water tribes and Dwarven rebels who fled the Dwarvish Empire over 1000 years ago.  They are the only people I know of to have this interesting mix of ancestry.  They live in shallow natural caves and are astoundingly hardy, especially by Galmearan standards. Most Dwarves and many Galmearans think of them as mystics and visit their oracles. The name derives from the Dwarvish surface Kroltz "Maul Jaðod" meaning "Death Bay")

The Whale Singer Tribes
(These tribes are true mystics of the element of water, from an ancient ancestry that can be traced back across all the migrations of the Galmearan people.  They sing to Whales, including to an ancient Mage in the body of a grey whale who forwent the Magish transition to human form, preferring to stick to that of the larger water realm.)
- The Temple of the Water
(This temple is the latest incarnation of this place, a truly Galmearan affair, woven into the natural fabric of the coast of its island.  Galmearan priest/esses are often seen floating out at sea.  There is also an occasional colony of Mer-people, that rarest of the Magish races, who visit as part of their seasonal migrations.)

The Tribes of Centaurs
(Little is known about these nomadic tribes.  Are they truly a tribe of Galmearan-esk Deer-Centaurs, as the Dwarvish mercenaries reported to Kreyic, or was it a trick of the light?)

The Griffin Riding Tribes
(There are certainly Nobel Griffins breeding here, big enough to bare aloft Galmearans.  They have been reported doing this by Dwarvish spies, but how wide-spread this practice is is unknown. This area is one of very few on the globe where the Nobel Griffin lives.)
- Abooiana
(Being primarily fish eaters the colony of Nobel Griffins and Galmearans nest here together by a large lake, high up in nest dwellings constructed on conifers growing out of cliff faces with creeper walk ropes interconnecting them.)
- Biyiyihya
(This appears to be a smaller, even less accessible version of Abooiana.)

The Cursed Tribes
(So named after their apparent ability to resist all Dwarvish advancement into the mountains. It is known that any undertaking by the Dwarves of the nearby Nordvall goes unaccountably wrong in this area, especially after Galmearans of the Cursed Tribes have been spotted.  Rumors abound that the mountain range is home of that true native life-form of the earth, the living mountains, and inexplicably on this occasion their silicon hive-minds have sided with the Galmearans against the Dwarvish city-states of the Nordvall, Ceamol and Kahn. Certainly the area was once Dwarvish, and the remnants of their ancient empire can still be seen in places - but when the very rock has turned against you no Dwarve can dwell...  It is truly a cursed land.  

The Cursed Tribes have a strong tradition of walking - a long walk is thought to be able to cure all ailments of the mind, and most of the body.  They even have medical practitioners called 'Walkers' who will walk with the afflicted.  The last part of any cure, the walk home or back to the tribe, is always conducted alone - the 'Walker' always takes a separate path.)
- Shard
(A well fortified natural pillar of rock, with shallow caves peppering its flanks like woodworm holes. There are lots of goats about.)
- Keld
(An ancient imperial administrative surface fort used to wage terror and thus control the surface farms and 'wood mines' in the time of the empire.  The upper levels of Keld now serve the Galmearan shamans and warriors of the Cursed Tribes.  They use the fort as a meeting place to learn the ways of their tribes.  Keld still stands on the path of a long imperial tunnel through the mountain range, though the maps of how to use it safely are usually thought to have been long lost.  There is, however, a rumor that Ok's western rebels of the mountain called "the Draran" in The Raheeni still retain this knowledge. The network of surface passes in the mountains around Keld are still maintained by the 'Walkers', albeit in a much narrower and less even form than previously. Many Dwarvish would-be raiders and salvagers have met their deaths in landslides trying to use these apparently sure paths.  In local Dwarvish folklore Keld is the home of Make - the goat daemon of mine collapse.) 


Frayan (north to south)

The Witch Tribes 
(Most of the reports from this area talked of the tribes doing inexplicable things. Since they where unexplainable the spies deduced it must be linked to religious activity of some sort, and as they where known not to have a state or capital city or any other administrative paraphernalia loved by priests they where therefore deemed to be practitioners of witchcraft.  And several of the spies did appear to become possessed and absconded to the other side.)
- The Temple of Fire
(Built in and around an active volcano in a marshland prone to summer fires and random explosive gas events the pilgrims who come here to learn of this element go naked except for a dark paint made of animal fat and soot. They usually have no hair.)

The Wild Tribes 
(This fearsome group of nomads ware oiled skins in winter and moss leg wrappings in winter and have feathers in their hair.  Some have been observed riding giant bog deer - an exceptionally rare species, though most ride elk.  They hunt with otters and are well versed in bow-craft and the use of bolas and the sling. When in combat they come clad in a seemingly impenetrable armor.  How it is manufactured is unknown - but it appears magically strong and light, and slightly flexible.  An area best avoided by the maliciously motivated.)

The Whispering Grass Tribes
(This apparently peaceable group of families living on the long-grassed mosaic of lakes and islands that are the Frayan marshlands dress head to foot in fawn coloured leather. They have short curly hair (unusually for the Galmearans) and lead a seasonal life of secrecy hunting wild water fowl and fish.  They appear to hibernate through the winter in grass globes constructed just before the first snowfall.  In the summer they dwell in small conical tents)  
- Moot
(This is a summer meeting place, by a vast goose colony, where the abundance of eggs and white meat allow a festival to occur. On one occasion the Kreyician spies did observe it being broken up by a marauding party of bears.  Instead of fighting them or scaring them off the people simply took to the water in skin boats and waited until the bears went, some two days later.  The festivities where then resumed.)

The Daemon Tribes
(Only one Kreyician spy returned from this area, and he was mad.)
- Inishamayan
(Amongst his incoherent babalings the spy mentioned dances carried out on this island. To quote him "There they hungry are, WATCH OUT! Dancing like the cranes, their beaks - oh their beaks - They called the island Inishamayan I tell you!  Inishamayan - don't go near if you value you pizzle! AND WATCH FOR THE EYES!!  Oh the eyes!  Tall as houses. Oh the eyes... Slender they are, red and black and white and the colour of flesh...  All up and down and no sideways, like lines of rain in the grass. That daemon island, those dancers, KEEP AWAY, cant keep away, stay BACK, I CANT!! ohhh ohhh...  Breasts like eggshell, nipples like flame. OH THE EYES!!!  Watch for the eyes my friend - the cranes will eat them as you stare like onions - and your lolling leching tongue - peck peck peck PECK!!! AGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!  I swam away I swam away I was hungry I wanted the bulrush roots so I swam but the burning beaks followed me they stilted followering yab yab ligaaaa!....
Is that a duck pie?  Yum.")


The Clay-god Tribes
("These tribes appear to worship clay idols that they build around the marsh.  They are usually formless and hollow, fired from the inside without expertise. The clever among them occasionally build small temples around the mightiest of them, though most are allowed to weather outside back to the soil. They constantly seem to be in search of new gods as the ones they have do not appear satisfactory.  They are thus considered a particularly unintelligent and stupidly focused set of tribes. simple military tactics should deal with them swiftly" - Kreyician spy report. I happen to know from personal experience that these "clay-gods" are in fact chimneys from winter hibernation huts.  Structurally they only last one season, so the huts are ceremonially burnt and the crumbling chimneys are abandoned each year, when a new area with fresh driftwood fuel is moved to in the subsequent winter.  They are in fact more intelligent than most Galmearans in their management of resources.  Almost none die in winter.  Their Gods are not their chimneys (they are animists, so their chimneys do have spirits) instead being part of the most common Galmearan pantheon, that with the family of Earth, Sun, Water, Greenwood and Fire at its head.)


Cochnai 

The Civilized Tribes
- Nanda
- Cimbowli
- Ilmolio
- Aataifohegil
- A'Eatabooa
- Pirooahie
- Bwenan I'Sowin


Shenambi Forest (north to south)

The Fish Eater Tribes
- Burilis

The Red Axe Tribes
- Naratacea


The Cloud Weaver Tribes


Estoadai Grasses

The Blue Axe Tribes
- Eianae
- Olkie


The Raheeni (The Inertia)

The Tented Tribes
- Shelaada

The Noble Tribes
- Lismad
- Lowea

The Sluttish Tribes
- MaBrae Staa

(Ok's Western Rebles - isolated Dwarvish Hive
- The Draran)


The Vay Mountains (north to south)

The Tall Tribes 

The Dark Path Tribes
- Thiow Thiow
- Chiooriss

The Canny Tribes
- Agwan
- Deer Avon


The Wild Wood

The Deep Tribes
- Greenwood Temple

The Tribes of Death



The Higher Grasses (north to south)

Nomadic Tribes

The Daemon Music Tribes
- Uradeur
- Earth Temple / Temple of the Deep Earth
- The Colmarsh
- Dihrlarm


Mwnnwdd Abeata Hills 

The Weapon-maker Tribes
- Old Red
- Old Black


The Middle Grasses

The Incense Tribes
-Matalean


The Eastern Forests

(Blackbeard's Eastern Rebles
- Urikjolt

The Featherheads
- Tamdrey


Hobdowns

No permanent tribes
- Teash Traiding Camp


Shi Hills

The Tribes of the Cities of the Skies 
- Minx


The Dark Woods

The Leafbright Tribes
- Gaeib


Marrin Hills (east to west)

Tribes of Spears 
- Felt
Shining Tribes


Drisghol Hills (east to west)

The Many Coloured Tribes
- Grange Mass
Man-mother Tribes


Lliddydram Woods

The Invisible Tribes
- Ambara


Vayrean Hills

The Weak Tribes
Deep Oak (north to south)

The Hiding Ones
- Moss 

The Tribes of Many Arrows

The Tree-hut Tribes
- Ameahga
- The Last House


The Lower Grasses

Ceolarai Forest (north to south)

Gypsy Tribes

Bandit Tribes
- Ealosai

The Faceless Tribes


The Cortez Mountains

The Far Away Tribes



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