Chasind Wilder
The Chasind Wilders are those free-living tribes folk who reside in the Korcari Wilds.
Background
The Chasind are a broad spectrum of people who reside within Ferelden's borders, but they are not considered members of the nation. For centuries they co-existed with the other tribes of Ferelden prior to the creation of positions such as banns, arls, and teyrns. Many Wilders see the order being imposed upon them by such a system as something unnatural and against their beliefs. Some even see the outside world as a direct attack on their way of life. Though the Chasind have aided Ferelden's free people in fights against Tevinters and Orlesians, they have not evaded the eye of the Templars. Raids lead by the Templar Order are regularly sent out into the Korcari Wilds in an attempt to bring apostates to the Circle Tower and to kill maleficar. Due to the nature of the Wilders, it is quite common for apostates to flee into the Korcari Wilds and join one of their tribes. As Fereldens fought amongst themselves during the Ferelden Civil War, the Jrid came from the land south of the Korcari Wilds. They ravaged the Chasind land and killed those in their wake. The amount of dead Wilders is unknown, but to be honest few besides themselves care. After the Jrid were defeated, those remaining Wilder tribes returned to the Wilds only to find desolation and corruption left behind. Some have attempted to resettle the Korcari Wilds.Culture
Culture and cultural heritage
Much of Chasind culture is a mystery. From an outsider's perspective, a Chasind's life is primitive and barbaric compared to the village or city-dwellers of Ferelden. Their settlements rise above the swampy marshes on wooden stilts and many of their huts are built into the sides of trees. The winters are harsh but even still they've been able to eke out an existence using their unrivaled herbalism skills.
It's no surprise then that survival skills are highly respected amongst Wilders. Scholars have suggested that these people have designed a system of leaving behind hidden markers and signs in piles of stone and rubble. In this way, they might be able to mark trails, note places of interest, and even give warning in a way outsiders cannot understand. Interestingly, these markers look indistinguishable from a regular pile of stones.
Many tribes hold animistic beliefs, lead highly superstitious lives, and still revere a pantheon of gods that the Alamarri used to believe in more commonly. The Wilders live in small communities led by shamans. Tales of these shamans proclaim that they learned their magic from the "Witches of the Wild", a sisterhood that inspires as much terror as they do awe and gratitude even if there is no definitive proof the sisterhood exist. The tales of Faineth tell that she is the most powerful of these witches. The existence of such mages and dark sisterhoods in the Wilds has been reason for concern, but Ferelden leaders have found few solutions to dealing with Wilders.
The Chasind people see mages as guides and leaders, and thus these barbarians participate in a magocratic system. With the powers that mages wield, few Wilders would wish to challenge them. The other reason that this system is upheld is because many Wilders believe that it is through magic that the gods commune with mortals. Outsiders who join Chasind tribes are seen as such and do not hold titles or power amongst these people. The Chasind also do not fear the dead like most civilizations do, and instead cherish those who become ceaseless. They weaponize ceaseless and use them as implements to hunt and to protect their lands.
Face paint is commonly found spattered on the faces of Wilders and is believed to enhance one's beauty, as well as show status amongst others.
Exiles
"In the South, most knowledge stops at the expanse of wilderness in southern Ferelden. This is not true for the Chasind people who live in those forests, however. According to them, if one travels far enough to the south, the trees give way to 'sunless lands' that spend much of year covered in snow, and places even farther, filled with mountains of ice. As inhopsitable as this sounds, there are already people who live there. My first impression is that these were other Chasind, but I was harshly corrected on that point. Considering the Chasind word for them, Agadi, is also their word for 'exile', my suspicion is that these are groups who were expelled from the forests and have since splintered off into their own culture. Certainly bad blood lingers, and the Chasind consider the sunless lands to be dangerous and forbidden." — Exercept from In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of a Chantry Scholar by Ferdinand Genitivi
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