Wildling Culture

The Wilds beyond the reach of civilization are commonly perceived as a land of monsters where few dare tread and only the strongest survive. Its inhabitants were alternatively portrayed as filthy outcasts, battle-crazed barbarians, or (especially in modern adventure fiction) as "noble savages" who have a wisdom of their own which has been lost to "civilized people". But, in truth, the Wilds have always been a refuge for many people. In the oldest times, small tribes were driven away from the fertile river valleys by stronger tribes and had to make do with whatever food they could hunt or gather in less hospitable lands. When slavery became widespread first in the nascent city-states around the Lake of Dreams, and later in the Atalan Empires, many of these slaves managed to escape civilized lands and mixed with the Wildling population just beyond the reach of the cities - and occasionally led slave uprisings when the depredations of the slave-catchers became too much to bear. During the Feudal Age, the refugee slaves were replaced by escaped serfs. As always, there were the occasional raids and reprisals by the rulers of the towns and cities, but the Wildlings could always vanish deeper into the wilderness.

It was during the rise and fall of Negroth the Doombringer when the Wildlings truly came into their own. The cities were easy targets for Negroth and his hordes, and suffered greatly under his yoke - but he could never tame the Wilds even with the worst scorched earth tactics he could devise. Wildling settlements swelled with refugees from his conquests - and became training camps for the resistance against his reign. Even as many other people had given up hope that Negroth could ever be defeated, the Wildlings never gave up the fight - and were vindicated in the end.

When the Treaty of Praxus was signed and the equality of all people was proclaimed, people in many Wildling settlements felt that they no longer needed to hide, and were put on the map as rural settlements which openly dealt with its neighbors and the cities beyond. Others, however, mistrusted this peace. Promises had been made by "civilized rulers" again and again, so why should it be different this time?