Boar Clan

The rough highlands between the canyons of the Bear and the steppes of the Elk do not easily suit either people. Bear often find the flora and fauna a bit underwhelming for their expectations, and the Elk are wary of the steeper slopes and thicker tree growth which restrict their ability to run free and feel the wind in their beards.

Where there is livable land, however, there is someone to live there. Bear who feel unmoored from the rough-and-tumble traditional life wander south and meet Elk warriors who have lost their mount-partners and are set adrift in grief and loss. Over time, occasional meetings and silent partnerships developed into quiet roving bands.

These small bands form and move along strange patterns, unknowable to most outsiders, seeking to quiet whatever pounds in their minds and hearts. The soothing rhythms of the wild, whether it be a natural valley or a sliver of mist, guide the wanderers and cloaks them in the shapes and colors of the land around them. Their preference for clothing themselves in the wilderness means they are rarely seen unless they desire to be seen.

Often, their propensity for quietude and intense, aching connection to the spirits and nature around them meant that the bands would find themselves wandering with herds or packs of wild beasts without even meaning to. Coincidences like these benefited both man and beast: men learned the paths of the highlands and the places to find food, and beast gained the benefit of clever minds and opposable thumbs in getting access to hard-to-reach morsels.

The name for the Boar comes from Wolf scouts wishing to establish a reliable accounting for the peoples of the Sjonderwold. The scouts were tracking a herd of wild pigs through the highlands and finally caught sight of them in a wooded glade. When the pigs spooked, the scouts were amazed and horrified to see half the glade turn and run with the herd.

While the Boar do not travel exclusively with wild pigs, enough of the obstinate Elk sense of humor remains in them that they started to prefer the company of hogs. In truth, it was an apt namesake: if spotted or confronted, Boar could just as easily scatter into the wilderness like the Elk, or make an abrupt, terrifying charge like the Bear. Either outcome resolves with shocking speed and unnerving silence.

The Boar are not numerous. They come from the scraps and the lost of other clans. To most of the Sjonderwold, they are folktales, used to scare travelers moving between stronghold to stronghold. Wolf jarls are generally content to let the Boar live unbothered, as the Boar have no interest in expanding beyond whatever glens in which they live and the Wolf would lose too many men digging them out.