Riverfolk (Arkaji)

The Riverfolk have fished the waters and hunted the banks of the Stoneheart River for centuries, though their origin before entering the record of Bard’s Gate around 3036 I.R. during the year of the Hard Cold remains a mystery. Before then, they were virtually unknown in the city and only sporadically commented on in the city’s annals as boatfolk who plied the Stoneheart under the forest eaves. The Riverfolk speak their own language of Kra, and some speak intelligible Common as well.
Known among their own folk as the Arkaji, the Riverfolk live primarily within the Stoneheart Forest, in the eastern stretches of the central swamp, in particular. Their talent for handling shallow-draft watercraft in the swamps and upon the river is peerless. As a result, a large number of the Riverfolk can be found in Bard’s Gate or upon the river waters in service to the city at any given time, and even into the lower Stoneheart Mountains and as far down the Great Amrin River as Eastgate. However, the Riverfolk avoid leaving the confines of the riverbanks for the open sea, but none has ever said what it is they fear.
The Riverfolk have pale pinkish skin tones prone to sunburn and freckling, eyes ranging from deep blue to pale, nearly colorless, and bristly and curly hair and beards (or thick sideburns at least) ranging in color from auburn to black with many going stone gray at an early age. They claim to be descended from the Arcadians of the ancient mountain kingdom of Arcady and take their name for themselves as a corruption of that long-lost people, but their language of Kra bears no resemblance to the Khemitian that was spoken by the folk of Aka Bakar’s kingdom. Some few scholars speculate that they may indeed be a last offshoot of some Hyperborean strain, and indeed their language does contain many parallels with old High Boros. Despite some superficial similarities, they do not appear to be in any way related to the Gaeleen of the Borderland Provinces.