Bloomshepherds

The origins of the Bloomshepherds are shrouded in the fog of half-forgotten oral history, but thought to date back to the earliest days of the Descent, before the time of counted years. They were the herders, the gardeners, a druidic clan brought below with the rest of surface civilization. Naturally, they brought their charges with them: flowers, herbs, cattle.
But soon, they learned of their folly. Beyond the light of the Unseen Sun, their flowers would not grow. And removed from the meadows and pastures of the surface, their cattle could not feed. Faced with this crisis, the surface shepherds were forced to turn to another path. Hybridization.
From the cattle: mobility and the means to seek food, to live without waiting for light. From the plants: the means to set roots, to bear fruit upon their backs, to draw nourishment from the dark earth. From these lost rites came the Mooshroom, the Moobloom. Plants with the spirit and temperament of livestock, echoing the shape of what came before.
But for this, they say, came a curse. Who laid it depends on the storyteller: a nature god offended by their trespass, a spirit of the herds they extinguished, an ancient fey who dwelled in their uprooted gardens. But the nature of the curse remains the same. They say:

All the Underground shall be your enemy. Your twisted flock will be too slow to flee, too simple to guide themselves, and too tempting to be overlooked. And if the nameless creatures of the deep catch you, they will kill you.

But first, note the Bloomshepheds, they must be caught.
And so they wander through the twisting depths, along secret paths, taking their herds to and fro. The people of Sanctuary see them in the first week of each month, selling the fruit of their furtive labor in exchange for those few resources they cannot gather themselves. But the Bloomshepherds always leave again, back into the reaches, to play their slow game of cat-and-mouse in the lightless abyss. For a herd must wander, they say, and shepherds must lead them.

Founding Date

Before Year 0

Type

Geopolitical, Nomadic tribe