Uthgardt

The Uthgardt barbarians are a dark-haired and blue-eyed people. Few Uthgardt are willing to trade with civilised folk. Many are vicious raiders who pillage and destroy any caravan or homestead they come across.
Uthgardt barbarians take their name from Uthgar Gardolfsson, a great hero-chief who battled giants and conquered much of the North before ascending to godhood. In addition to revering Uthgar, each tribe venerates a totem animal spirit after which the tribe is named.
Numerous Uthgardt tribes have been vanquished over the years, and at least one tribe previously thought to be extinct has returned in force. There are currently ten known Uthgardt tribes scattered throughout the North. Each tribe claims a vast tract of wilderness as its hunting grounds-territory that often overlaps with the hunting grounds of other Uthgardt tribes as well as land claimed by civilized races, orcs, dragons, goblinoids, and other monsters. Encounters with Uthgardt barbarians can occur almost anywhere in the east, mostly in Nilfgaard, the Uthgardt Wastes, the Ashlands and Anauroch.

Culture

Culture and cultural heritage

Collectively, the Uthgardt people possess a savage disposition. Many prefer to live as raiders and pillagers, rather than cooperate with nearby settlements. Their religious and philosophical pursuits reflect their war-like nature. No Uthgardt will willingly cut down a living tree.
While the Uthgardt fear magic, they respect the powers of each tribe's shamans. They believe their other-worldly abilities originate from their deceased ancestors. They hold their dead brethren in high regard and inter them in cairns scattered across the wastes.
Each tribe maintains an ancestral mound and reveres their own totemic spirit beast, each of whom have their power taken by their god-creator, Uthgar. Uthgar is held in the highest regard, above all other deities or totemic spirits.
Some of the tribes venerate other gods, albeit to a lesser extent.
All tribes are typically known to celebrate with a day and night feast for the spring and summer equinoxes, as well as the winter solstice. These celebrations are known as the "Birthing," "Fullness," and "Darking" respectively. Around this time a tribe's shaman will also seek out guidance regarding the coming months from their respective totem.
But the autumnal equinox, on the 23rd of September, is considered the holiest of days. This is when all the tribes gather together at Beorunna's Well for a celebration they call Runemeet. On this day the tribes set policies, venerate their gods, perform marriages, mourn deaths, initiate tribesmen into shamanhood, and perform a rite of passage known as the Runehunt.

Black Lion Tribe

The Black Lion tribe prowls the border of the Shadowed Vale and Anauroch, protecting its spirit mound at Beorunna's Well (which it shares with the Red Tiger tribe). The Black Lions have been known to raid poorly defended homesteads for food and supplies during harsh winters. The great chief of the Black Lion tribe, Stellok Kolraavi, wears armour made from orc hide and has a fearsome reputation. His younger sister, Tysis Kolraavi, is a shaman and Stellok's only trusted advisor. The siblings venerate Uthgar, and they have no tolerance for diplomacy or for the trappings of civilisation.

Black Raven Tribe

The Black Ravens claim the icy foothills in Nilfgaard near Deadsnow Cove, as well as the land near the Ursa Fortress. They like to prey on caravans that travel the Glacies Mountains. Black Raven warriors often ride giant ravens into battle. The Black Ravens share their spirit mound at Raven Rock with the Grey Wolf tribe. The great chief of the Black Raven tribe is Ojin Voninsdottir, a cold, heartless woman with an orc-skull helm.

Blue Bear Tribe

The easternmost of the Uthgardt tribes, the Blue Bear tribe was thought destroyed more than a century ago. Recently, clans haunting the Mere of Dead Men have emerged and begun to spread throughout the Shadowed Vale. The Blue Bears are careful to stay hidden when traveling to and from their spirit mound at Stone Stand, preserving the myth that they are extinct. The tribe's great chief is a canny old woman named Kriga Moonmusk, who travels in a fur-draped chair carried by four tribal warriors.

Elk Tribe

The Elk tribe is an uthgardt tribe that wanders the wastes north of the Rubygold Mountains, specifically between Fog Harbour and Sarastobin. The Elk barbarians shun civilisation. Their spirit mound is a rocky tor near the cliffs called Flint Rock. The Elk tribe's great chief is Rond Vaarson, an old, battle-hardened warrior who has spilt so much blood that he no longer craves it. Younger chieftains are waiting for him to die so that they can vie for the honour of being his successor, but Rond doesn't plan on leaving this world anytime soon.

Great Worm Tribe

The Great Worm tribe has fallen under the sway of a brutal chieftain known as Wormblod. The tribe's spirit mound is located inside Great Worm Cavern, bordering Anauroch and the Ashlands. Wormblod and his tribe strike out from this cavern only occasionally to defend their territory, which include the surrounding stretches of the Rubygold mountains, and the northern reaches of the Druarwood. The Great Worms also venture into the deserts and the plains south of the Druarwood when food is scarce. Wherever he goes, Wormblod wages war and hoards any treasure he finds.

Grey Wolf Tribe

The Grey Wolf barbarians are murderous werewolves, which roam in packs with ordinary wolves. They hunt down and kill those who survive their attacks to prevent the spread of lycanthropy among non-tribe members. Grey Wolf packs (as the clans call themselves) can be found throughout the Glacies Mountains, as far south as Pumpkin Patch and the Tomb of Nihalar. Adventurers from Ace Ventura recently slew the last great chief of the Grey Wolves, Syken Nightblaze. Envir Sykensdottir has taken over her father's pack and plans to attack Breantis from the mountain passes to prove that she should be named the next great chief of the tribe.

Griffon Tribe

The great chief of the Griffon tribe, Halric Bonesnapper, is the great-grandson of Kralgar Bonesnapper, who was killed by orcs many years ago. Like his ancestor, Halric longs to wipe out the cities of the west, but his tribe has made too many enemies of late, and its numbers are dwindling. The tribe still maintains a permanent walled settlement in the Highlands called Griffon's Nest, but it's more of a guarded encampment than the welcoming trading post it once was. The tribe's spirit mound, Shining White, is south of the settlement. Some of the more jaded tribesfolk believe that the Bonesnapper clan has lost Uthgar's divine favour. Halric refutes such claims by staging bold raids. Griffon barbarians venture as far west as Salzenstadt and as far east as Ballay, and they are known to raid homesteads and ranches in the Ashlands too.

Red Tiger Tribe

The ferocious Red Tiger tribe shares the spirit mound at Beorunna's Well with the Black Lion tribe, and the two tribes are tenuous allies. Whereas the Black Lions tend to avoid settlements in the Shadowed Vale, the Red Tigers attack them often. They also prey on caravans travelling along the roads while skillfully avoiding the heavily fortified keeps built to watch over them. Recently, Red Tiger hunters have moved into the forests surrounding Ravenloft, and are even making forays into elf-controlled regions of the Uthgardt Wastes in an effort to find the Grandfather Tree and lay claim to it. Seriska Hungermaw is the tribe's great chief. She is ruthless yet cautious.

Thunderbeast Tribe

The spirit mound of the Thunderbeast tribe, a bone-strewn hill called Morgur's Mound, lies in the Ashlands. Members of the tribe have not visited the site in years, and there have been no encounters with Thunderbeast tribesfolk in what used to be their favoured hunting grounds in and around the Ashlands. Great Chief Harthulk Hornspear convinced the tribe to go into hiding, deep in the volcanic mountains.

Tree Ghost Tribe

After years of conflict with other Uthgardt tribes and the elves of the High Forest, the Tree Ghosts have declared themselves to be the protectors of the Grandfather Tree. Rarely seen, these Uthgardt share the forest with the region's native elves. Great Chief Boorvald Orcbane, true to his name, hunts orcs and frequently launches attacks against the crude orc-holds of the east. Boorvald has six sons and three daughters, each of whom was given an Oathbow from the tribe's elf neighbours as a gift of friendship. Living among the Tree Ghosts are members of various other Uthgardt tribes who found their way to the Grandfather Tree and gained some measure of enlightenment, such that they have forsaken their tribal allegiances and pledged to help the Tree Ghosts protect the tree.

Encompassed species

• Remorhaz

Related Organizations

• Blue Bear Tribe
• Elk Tribe

Related Items

• Anani Mask
• Axe of the Last Hearth