Frostwind Clans
The Frostwind clans originally starts as individual groups of centaur clans that eventually bonded together to help each other deal with the Rift threats and survival in the Northern Reaches of Ithirion. Overtime, the clans welcomed more members of other races, and eventually settled into having a permenant home town in Barrok Est.
These clans still wander the frozen Reaches indivudually for most of the year, only gathering in Barrok Est during the depths of Winter when the weather is at its worst.
Structure
Each Clan has its own leader who leads their group along with being their representative in the Frostwind Council. The attitude of these leaders depend on the clan and its way of survivng in the Reaches. A clan who reside near hostile borders may tend to elect a war leader, while a group who roam near an enchanted lake may elect a shaman or druid to represent them.
Official gatherings are held annually at winter, although approximately every 4 years when a celestial event fills the northern skies with dancing lights. During the regular gatherings, plans for uniting and dividing resources for the various tribe members are decided along with major decisions around warfare or disasters that may have happened since the last gatherings. During Celestial Gatherings, the atmosphere is more celabratory in nature with stored resources being shared for all in a great revel.
Emergency Meetings can also be held when needed, each leader having a magical flare that can be used to call the other tribal leaders in for the meetings. These are usually used for war time or natural disasters which require relief or external aid.
Culture
Each tribe may have their own culture due to racial and location differences. However, most tribes are united by the unity they have forged with the other Tribes. Survival is tough in the Frozen lands, so having other tribes that can be called upon in terms of needs is a large part of what make their culture so welcoming.
Due to this, most tribes are welcoming of visiting tribe members who are visiting and share their resources and homes with them. When it comes to outsiders who are not within the Frostwind Tribe, each Tribe may treat them differently. Some Tribes welcome them as if they were tribe members themselves and they could join permenantly if wanted, whereas other tribes may exclude strangers due to wanting to save their resources for the Tribe itself.
Music and Stories are also a key pillar of the Clan's Unity with tribes each having a number of Skalds who share their words and stories by travelling between tribes to learn more of their world. These shared stories and histories also allow the tribes to bond more over shared history such as the Slaying of the great Wyrm Ixthilix which has about 6 different varients depending which tribe you ask.
For the Centaur who make up the majority of the clans, they have specific roles in the clan for men and women. The male centaur are more slender and nimble like caribou while the female centaur are stocky and muscular like bison. This causes them to assign hunting tasks to the women of the clan while men perform foraging for flora based sustinance.
These gender divides also display in what the centaur wear. Women fashion the trophies from their hunts into pelt shawls, fanged necklaces and similar, while men use fruits, nuts and vegetation to create dyes in which they use to create decorative body paint across their bodies. It can be expected while migrating for the women to carry the bulk of equiptment or pull large sleds, while men will scout the paths to find the safest routes for a travelling caravan to cross.
Assets
One of the strengths the clans hold is how tightly they hold their craftmen and women in regards. Every child coming of age is expected to learn one form of craft, even the hunters and gatherers. Usually this ties in with their role in the tribe, a hunter will commonly practise leather craft while a gatherer will practise creating pigments from gathered plants. This knowledge is passed down from generation to generation and with the tradition has come knowledge and skill that can compete and sometimes even be suprior to the craftwork from Velinshad or Yalverway.
Worship
Most members of the Frostwind clan respect and pay worship to the Queen of Ice, Lady Anyara. They believe this prayer and worship to her keeps the worst of the ice and blizzards at bay, any intense storms are a test sent by her to proove their worth.
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