Some Beastmen still call these ruins their home, but there is no hope that it will flourish once again in the future. Others have begun to wander along the edge of the Rift, towards the heart of Tyria. In order to survive, they raid settlements and burn forests to build equipment and camps. Each amongst the Beastmen has their own reason for this great migration. Some hope to find a new home, while others seek to understand the cause of the rift. There are others who have become accustomed to raiding and violence, and take any opportunity to destroy the homes of others, just as their own homes were destroyed.
How will you guide your tribe?
History
Wild Savannah
South of Tyria, a vast savannah has been inhabited by wildlife since the beginning of time. This was a wild land, with no civilization in sight.
The Sacred Tree
At the centre of the largest watering hole of the land, a giant lush tree provided shade and food, and from its roots, a magical substance seeped into its fruit.
Waking Life
Over many generations, the animals that ate the fruit of this tree slowly became sentient. A number of tribes emerged, based on the animals that they originated from; Ndoli, Waheni, Hapari, Ndwari, and other minor tribes. Initially, the tribes fought amongst themselves, but slowly they learned to co-exist and formed a confederacy of closely knit tribes. These different species lived in symbiosis with each other and nature, developing a rich culture of philosophy, poetry, and arts.
Time of Prosperity
The Beastmen built a great civilization in the savannah, constructing a great capital city around the Holy Tree, and a network of smaller cities around it, which expanded out through the grasslands and connected the watering holes around it. For centuries, the Beastmen tribes lived lives of peace and prosperity in the Savannah.
The Holy City
At the centre of Beastmen society, a great city was built around the sacred tree, which served as their capital, and which was the pride of the Beastmen.
Swallowed Up
When the Rift opened, it hit the Beastmen the hardest, cracking open right through their network of cities and destroying almost everything.
City of Tears
The only thing that remains are the ruins of the holy city, with the dried out remains of the sacred tree, and its once crystalline waters now turned black. Some Beastmen still call these ruins their home, but there is no hope that it will flourish once again in the future.
Timeline
- 4538 BR - Sacred Tree Awakens the Minds of the Beastmen
- 2524 BR - Creation of the Confederacy of Beastmen Tribes
- 2210 BR - Foundation of the Holy City
- 0 - Destruction of the Holy Tree
- 2 AR - Wanders Start to Raid Beyond Savannah
Society
The Beastmen are split into little orphan tribes, having to decide if they want to be the guardians of ruins or wander into the unknown, and how much of their former ideals they are willing to forego in order to survive and thrive again. Many Beastmen now wander up the rift towards the heart of Tyria, looking for a new home. In order to survive, they raid settlements and burn down forests to build their iron equipment and camps.
The Tribes
Several species of Beastmen exist, such as the Ndoli, Waheni, Hapari, Ndwari, and Kemba,. They have bonded over generations and learned to work together, each species bringing its strengths. Now that they are reduced to smaller refugee bands, this balance has been harder to maintain. Some bands lack one or several species, which means they can’t rely on Hapari for scouting or on Ndoli for hunting. Some groups are dominated by a single tribe, enforcing their will over others. Most Beastmen view these bands with contempt as failures who have abandoned the wisdom of their people.
A Divided People
The surviving bands of Beastmen are often qualified as either ‘Keepers’ or ‘Wanderers’. The Keepers are those who remain on the former Beastmen territory, trying to maintain the temples, protect the ruins and uphold the traditions. They must face a lack of resources and frequent conflict. Some of it comes from looters looking for valuable artefacts, but a lot of the clashes are with Rift Daemons, since the Rift is an open chasm through most of the Savannah and the Daemons are pushing outwards more and more.
The Wanderers are those who left the Savannah, either pushed away by starvation and violence, or making a deliberate choice to leave their old society behind and try to build something new. Either way, they must learn to adapt to new environments and find a way to secure a place for themselves in territories that are often already claimed by another faction.
Sometimes, bands of Wanderers end up finding a permanent territory to settle, but this is the exception rather than the norm.
A Hard Life
Whether they are Keepers or Wanderers, all Beastmen have suffered one notable transformation. Where their old civilisation was very peaceful, focused on fine craftsmanship, communion with nature and developing one’s intellect, the trauma of the Rift forced them to become warriors. Coupled with the destruction of most of their infrastructure and environment, this has turned them into fierce fighters, wielding crude, heavy metal weapons. They can no longer take years to slowly grow a tree into the required shape; now they chop down forests and pollute rivers with their forges. Most of them do not relish this, and it pains them to do so. But softness has become an unaffordable luxury for them.
Rule by Consent
A Beastmen tribe does not have a single leader. Their way of life was guided by a religion centred around the Sacred Tree and the associated Gods (believed to be the ancestors of each species) and their Shamans are still the main moral authority of a tribe, as the Beastmen’s beliefs still hold sway over most of them. Warrior chiefs, those that preside over fighting and hunting, now have more influence than before since conflict is more prevalent. Each species represented in a tribe also has one or several representatives that will speak for their kind during debates, every night around the fire. Consensus is important to the Beastmen, but now it also varies a lot by tribes. Some groups have essentially become warbands submitted to their leaders, while others have rallied around a visionary shaman. In these desperate times, anything is possible and the old structures are weakened.
Natural Nomads
Even in the heyday of their cities, Beastmen cultivated a link with the natural world, and frequently made long treks and hunting trips. This has allowed them to survive the fall of their cities, as they fell back on a nomadic lifestyle they never completely forgot. Some Wanderers seek the wildest possible places, eager to simply exist in nature, hunting and sleeping and forgetting their pain. Others hope to find somewhere to rebuild cities and revive their old civilisations. Many wish only to survive, working as mercenaries, poachers or bandits, not thinking much ahead of their next meal. Some Keepers roam the old ruins, ambushing daemons and looters, cursing those who turned tail and ran away. Others among the Keepers are exploring the ruins and trying to find the right artefacts to revive the Sacred Tree, which they believe is the key to their rebirth.
The Rift
The Beastmen know the Opening of the Great Rift as the Devouring; often spoken of as a time when their Sacred Tree and many of their cities were consumed by the earth itself. The Daemons that emerged from the Rift, along with earthquakes and fire, consumed much of their former civilisation, leaving little more than wastes behind them. This was a time of untold devastation, where most Beastmen were forced to flee from what had been their home for countless generations.
Some areas of the rift hide beneath the surface, causing houses to slowly sink and sometimes even causing hunting parties to sink below the sand. Conflict still rages between Daemons and the remaining Beastmen.
The Beastmen now refer to the fissures left behind as the Deep Maw. While some have chosen to stay to rebuild, others now trek along the Maw, seeking the source of the Devouring which destroyed their ancient home.
Language
Beastmen share a common language, developed over their thousands of years together in the wild Savannah. Over this time, many distinctions between the tribes and their different dialects have faded.
Much like members of the Human Empire, Beastmen have both a first name given at birth and a familial surname. Their first name is generally gender netural, with only a handful of particularly names considered male or female, usually due to association with a particular bearer.
Many surnames derive from the names of old settlements, now long destroyed; this means that one may find the same surname between the various species of Beastmen, not due to shared blood bonds but still reflecting a deep and old connection between their ancestors who lived and hunted together.
Example Names
[Rivanza] [Tumvasiya] - [Personal Name] [Surname]
- Rivanza Tumvasiya
- Ndesekwa Subaluwa
- Keganza Nzembaweni
- Zitebo Lemberawa
- Sipenda Dumakasi
Note that characters are usually referred to by their first name (in italics).
Trivia
Proverbs
- From the ground to the Tree, to the water, to the mother, to me.
- The wise do not fear the fury within themselves. They learn to direct.
- Our ways have been stolen from us, and we have been uprooted along with our Tree.
- The Tree lives, so long as our children keep it in their songs and in their hearts.
- Our homes, our Tree and our way of life were all swallowed during the Devouring. All that remains to us now is our sense of loss and anger.
