Minotaurs

Menacing traders and settlements around the Horned Peaks, living in small clans that roam among the passes and valleys within the mountain range, Minotaurs are a frequent threat to travelers and others across the Southern Wastes. Inter-clan relations are frequently fractious, which tends to prevent any organized aggression involving large numbers of minotaurs. Their inherent strength and craftiness means that they could be a significant force in the The Southlands if they were ever united under a banner, but that has yet to happen in the centuries since the Dragonscourge.

Hardy, Crafty, Rowdy

Minotaur culture, such as it is, is built around small units which they refer to as clans. Clans are often built upon family lines, whether through blood or through choice. Clan identification takes the form of braided cords of leather, hair, or fiber. Both the pattern of braids and color choices can indicate where the wearer's loyalties lay. These braids are most often worn entwined with a minotaur's own hair (they tend towards being shaggy thanks to their chilly mountain homes) but are also often worn dangling from a neckpiece or draped over a shield.
The minotaurs of the Horned Peaks have a strong crafting tradition. Working with leather from prey, fiber from harvested plants, and the iron for which the Horned Peaks are well known, most minotaurs will carry weapons and armor that they have made themselves or that have been handed down through a lineage. Clan braid patterns will frequently be worked into their crafts as well, marking an item's history.
The clans themselves definitely operate very much like families - little hierarchy except that of mutual respect - and rivalries between clans are frequent. Personal rivalries can range from good-natured to hostile depending on the personalities involved. While inter-clan wars are rare, there is still a level of distrust and pride that tends to keep the clans insular rather than working together for wider goals.

Raiders of the Southlands

Outside of hunting and harvesting plants around the foothills of the Horned Peaks, the main source of the minotaurs' living supplies comes from raiding. There are caravans that travel across the Southern Wastes to Mina'Satie Bay, and minotaur clans will frequently organize raids upon them. The raids are a common enough occurrence that those caravans will often have a significant escort; Southport, upon the coast, has a population of adventurers making good gold from such work.

The minotaurs will generally operate in a hit-and-run fashion, striking at night or under cover of dust storms, taking a wagon or two, and retreating. A clan raid will usually be made up of a half-dozen minotaurs, usually with a spellcaster capable of calling up a dust storm or icy gusts. More than one caravan has experienced extremely strange weather as prelude to an attack.
Minotaur clans will also occasionally range into the Korth'an Forest, sometimes to harvest wood, sometimes to try to raid forest settlements. Sentries from the Korth'an Conclave will generally leave the former alone but have little problem repelling raiders as the minotaurs are not well-suited to the thick forests.

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