The Following of the Broken Tusk

In this Adventure Path, you and your friends take on the roles of head scouts for the Broken Tusk following—a tight-knit community of nomadic hunter-gatherers who roam the western Realm of the Mammoth Lords. The Broken Tusk is a relatively small following, numbering only several dozen currently, but with courage and ingenuity your characters can help your fellow supporters flourish.
 
Lay of the Land:
The lands, people, and customs of northern Avistan are very different from the relatively cosmopolitan south. Basic concepts that many southerners take for granted, such as “home” or “labor,” have radically different meanings to the people of the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, where the entire natural world is one’s home and drudge work encompasses just a few hours of the day. Even words like hours and years are rarely employed among Mammoth Lord cultures, where time is typically measured in terms of available daylight and cycles of the moon. That said, Broken Tusks and others like them are familiar with popular southern concepts, though they may have skewed perceptions or inaccurate knowledge of such ideas, just as southerners often lack greater understanding of northerners’ native cultures. Though Broken Tusks are fundamentally similar to other humanoid communities in how they converse and share ideas, the following common terms are useful to know for this Adventure Path.
Banner of the Broken Tusk:
Though those who call themselves “Broken Tusks” can trace their lineage back thousands of years, the banner of the Broken Tusk itself—which symbolizes the values of its followers— is fairly new. Six generations ago, a terrible evil crawled from the earth and threatened the land. To stave off this evil, a few rebellious members of one following made a great sacrifice. The other members, feeling betrayed, took their banner with them, forcing the rebels who remained to make a new name and identity for themselves. To symbolize their perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds, the rebels called themselves the Broken Tusk.
Ethgir and Syorn:
The schism that led to the creation of the Broken Tusk marked a tragic turning point for the following. Though they persevered, the Broken Tusk now number far fewer than they did in antiquity, and their place in the world isn’t as certain as it once was. Older Broken Tusks use the word ethgir to refer to the era before the schism and syorn to designate the present period.
Following:
In the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, followings are the predominant social structure. Most followings, including the Broken Tusk, migrate across the land in tandem with the region’s native fauna and are led by strong, wise leaders called Mammoth Lords.
Kellid:
The Realm of the Mammoth Lords is populated primarily by humans of the Kellid ethnicity. Kellids are typically tall and wiry, with tanned skin and dark-brown or black hair. Though they used to range across all of Avistan, nowadays most Kellids dwell in the northernmost parts of the continent.
Mammoth Lord:
The leaders of followings are called Mammoth Lords. Typically, only the strongest and bravest members of a following can hope to attain this honored role, and only after they have proven themselves by taming and training a megafauna mount such as a woolly mammoth, saber-toothed tiger, or cave bear.
Realm of the Mammoth Lords:
Often simply called “the Realm,” this geographic region between the witch-ruled nation of Irrisen to the west and the demon-plagued Sarkoris Scar to the east lacks definable borders. The people of the Realm roam the broad span of tundra and mountains and consider the whole of the natural world their home. Though Mammoth Lord followings are the most common form of society in the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, other types of societies exist as well, such as the permanent mountain encampment called Hillcross, where many followings go to trade or negotiate treaties.
Sister Cinder:
The Broken Tusk’s patron deity is Sister Cinder, goddess of fire and wisdom. Long ago, when the world was shrouded in ash after a great cataclysm, Sister Cinder bestowed a divine light upon the Broken Tusk’s ancestors. The light enabled her followers to cut through the veil of darkness and help restore the world’s natural order, as well as to discern right from wrong. In other parts of the world, Sister Cinder is known as Sarenrae.