To add to the ongoing discussion (anyone want to edit a single overview document?), and naturally unofficial, here are the clans I've developed over the years for the Tovtaros tribe of the Far Place, circa. 1625. A version of this article appeared in Questlines 1.
No tribe more acutely embodies the contradictions and tensions of the Far Place than the Tovtaros. Their tribal lands encompass both rich farming and grazing lands in Jaskors Hold and wild and sodden upland gallt bordering on Ginijji. Traditionally followers of Orlanth, the tribe now has a majority of Yelmalian worshippers, and a substantial number of converts to both Ironfist's Big Wind and the Lunar Way. The old traditions are collapsing, and the way ahead is troubled and unclear.
Proud of their Far Walker ancestry, the Tovtaros have inherited the stubborn independence and resolute determination of the first settlers. They struggle for survival against harsh elemental forces, the festering Chaos out of Snakepipe, enigmatic dragonewts, and the Dark Men who watch from the shadows. Their human foes, however, are less clearly defined. When religious tensions flare, enemies might be your closest kin. Every bloodline in the tribe has lost sons and daughters, fathers and mothers to kinstrife, and many spirits still cry out for blood vengeance. The clans are divided against each other.
The tribal king of the Tovtaros is Conla Brightshield, from the Yelmalian Cordali clan. By most reckonings he is a good king, having brought a measure of stability to the tribe after the kinstrife and slaughter following the Righteous Wind. Pressured by Harvar Ironfist, Conla is moving against the remaining Orlanthi clans one by one, attempting to replace their traditional Lightbringer's Rings with clan councils based on the Solar model.
The gods of the Tovtaros include Ernalda, Yelmalio, Orlanth, Barntar, Odayla, and (in the uplands) Elmal. The hero-cults of the Animal Twins and Taros Ridgeleaper are also popular.
An ancestral heroquest much attained by hunters of the tribe provides the ability to move across snow-covered ground without leaving tracks. Successful questers tattoo their feet, and move about barefoot even in the depths of winter. This provides the nickname by which the upland Tovtaros clans are known to the outside world: the Bluefoot Orlanthi.
The tribal founder of the Tovtaros is Tovar the Hungry, the second son of Taros Ridgeleaper. Tovar founded the ancestral stead of Piddledown in 1372. Piddledown lies within a small hill fort some three kilometres south of Ironspike. (For unknown reasons, most of the Youf hill forts in the north were built in pairs, a large open site (such as Ironspike), and a nearby, smaller, easily defended site (Piddledown Heights).
THE TRESDARNI CLAN (SUGGESTED PC BASE) The Tresdarni are commonly known as the 'Snakepipe Dancers' or by their totemic name, the 'White Bear' clan. Their lands encompass Jaskors Hold south of Ironspike, the western gors to the boundary of Snakepipe Hollow, and the northern and western reaches of the Lost Man Hills. (See the Trollpack map).
The clan founder is Orla Deep Mind, who led her clan in migration and
apportioned land like a king. Her ancestral stead is Godi Gors, founded in
1417. Other steads include Long Run, Three Beacons, Young Lagerwater and
Sentry Stead.
The flooded stead of the original Lagerwater (See the TarosKarla founding
story, QL1)) is sacred to the Uplanders, strongly associated with both
Taros Ridgeleaper and the Animal Twins. Because of this, the Tresdarni are
first in ritual and ceremony, but in other matters are overshadowed by the
hostile Yelmalian Cordali clan.
Traditionally an Orlanthi hunting, herding and marsh-farming clan, a substantial minority of the clan now live in Ironspike itself.
The major bloodlines of the Tresdarni are the Valdor (Twin Birches), Heldarni (Windspear) and Kinlini (Sacred River).
Clan Chieftain is Orlstein Bluecloud, a priest of Orlanth Thunderous. Notables include the air tracker Karim One-Eye, Broddi Clapsaddle, an aging Humakti heroquester, the tribal lawspeaker Kierston Two-Worlds (who openly cohabits with a Lunar trader-priest!) and the immortal though elusive shaman Cloudstrider.
The Tresdarni maintain close links of blood and marriage with the Orlarnii.
THE ORLARNII CLAN The Orlarnii encompass the High Fens, the eastern reaches of Jaskors Hold north of Ironspike, Godhurt and the Sheep of Luck Hills. Theoretically their lands extend north through Uz hunting lands to the Cholanti River, though no steads have been cut there. Amads Trail marks the boundary with the Amad Tribe.
The Orlarnii are primarily wild hunters and trappers, little involved in tribal affairs.
Clan founder is Densesros the Blade, who was Tovar's weapon thane. The ancestral stead is Beardance. Other steads include Finnabair's Gift, MammothSeen Ridge, Pricklefish, Many Boar, High Razor, Nutrich Edge, Ice Gors and Lava Guard.
THE DANLARNI CLAN The Danlarni occupy the lands north-west of Jaskors Hold, and west to Ginijji. Their territory is bounded by the Giant's Walk in the north west. Clan founder is Lanolf UzFriend, and his ancestral stead is HorseRun Falls. Other steads include Shadowdeep, UzDark, Rawcook Pool, Tovtaros Tor, TurtleSnap and the 'lost stead' of Ginunga's Gap.
THE CORDALI CLAN The largest and richest of the Tovtaros clans, the power of the Cordali has grown considerably during the reign of Harvar Ironfist. It is a Yelmalian solar clan, and often at odds with its fellow tribesfolk. Its territory includes the southeast corner of Jaskors Hold, the southwest reaches of Sheep of Luck, the rich northern slopes of the Valley of the Chalk Man (a claim violently contested by a rival Vantaros clan), and Gamla's Leap.
Clan founder was Yelam Lackland, who performed a series of quests to obtain land from the Orlarnii. This initial friendship between the clans has become a bitter rivalry. The ancestral stead is now the Elder Kukbirds Nest, as the original TrueSun Stead was destroyed and desecrated in 1612. Other steads include sacred Piddledown, Kinwood, Younger Kukbird, Stenchmud, Killwater, Sunwatch and Cofar's Rest.
Conla BrightShield, the tribal king of the Tovtaros, is a Cordali clan chieftain. He resides at Piddledown Stead.
THE PRIDERNI CLAN One of the original clans, driven to extinction in a clan war with the Cordali in the 1580s, and now 'revived' to accept the large number of refugees and exiles streaming into the wilderness from Sartar, Prax and Tarsh. The clan's original founder was Harla Day of Life, but her shrine is no longer maintained. Two steads, Godi Gallt and Lady's Pleasure, have been granted the clan in exchange for oaths of fealty to the Orlarnii. Many also live in Ironspike itself.
To be accepted into the clan, one must have dwelt within the region for three years, be "honest, noble and free", and swear to uphold the traditions of the Far Walkers.
WALLED PALISADES AND WATER STEADS The communal steads of the Bluefoot Orlanthi are the centre of their culture and society; at once farm, village, hunting camp and fort. Heavily defended and self-sufficient, they typify a people who have said again and again to the outside world, "You have nothing that we want".
These steads are large by Sartarite and Tarsh standards. The ever-present threat of Chaos out of Ginijji forced the first Far Walkers to build defensive palisades large enough to shelter their herds, flocks and families. Later, hunting clans not so dependant upon cattle began to construct equally well-defended 'water steads' (crannogs) amidst the upland marshes. These two very different types of stead are often constructed in close proximity.
A typical upland stead supports 80 to 150 adults. It will comprise members of three or four bloodlines, with duties, rights and labour organised along kinship lines. Within the steads, most property is communal, as are the sleeping and hospitality arrangements. Families seek privacy in bloodline or cult lodges, and count their private wealth in cattle and milking sheep.
If you have trouble viewing the following table, copy to a word processing document and change to a monotype font such as Courier.
THE TOVTAROS TRIBE c.1624
Clan Population Totem % % % %
Name Solar Orlanthi Lunar Other
Orlarnii 850 Calling Thunder / 40 30 15 15
Ice Wind
Tresdarni 900* White Bear / 35 45 10 10
Snakepipe Dancers
Danlarni 750 Thunderhead 25 60 00 15
Cordali 1500** Sun Horse 60 20 15 05
Priderni 350*** "Exiles" / 15 60 20 05
GoodTrail
*plus an additional 150 resident in Ironspike
Cheers
John
"There was a muddy centre before we breathed. There was a myth before the myth began, Venerable and articulate and complete.
From this the poem springs: that we live in a place That is not our own and, much more, not ourselves, And hard it is in spite of blazoned days."
Wallace Stevens. "Notes Towards A Supreme Fiction"
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