Smertae

The Smertae hold the lands in the North West interior, sparsely settled around loch Shin and the surrounding glens nearby. They live in ramshackle broch settlements and crude old roundhouses handed down through generations from past aeons.
The Smertea found their origin in times gone by as providers of mutton and grains from the upland pastures. They sent these goods downstream to the neighbouring broch communities in the coasts with which they held good relations. As the climate changed these areas became less arable and many of the upland communities struggled to make a good living, many were forced to leave or coalesce on the marginal areas of existing good pasture. These areas where the remaining Smertae congregated became the few and far apart broch settlements occupied by the Smertae to this day.
As they could no longer supply a surplus to trade with the clans on the coast they became eschewed. Many of the neighbouring tribes refused to marry their sons and daughters with them, thinking them a backward and primitive folk, lacking any prestige or wealth. Over a number of generations this caused incestuous practices amongst the Smertae and as a result the clansfolk are afflicted by horrible disfigurement making them an unsightly folk to behold. often they have over pronounced brows, and overbite or cleft pallet, bad constitution and twisted limbs with the tendency to be lame or unfit and lacking in strength. A high child mortality rate doesn't discourage their numbers it only seems to encourage them to try to have more children. This affliction is taken by others to be a curse of the gods only adding to the distrust and alienation by their neighbours causing harrowing rumour and exaggerated stories about their sexual practices involving beasts of burden and livestock.
Because of this isolation the Smertae are forced to raid their neighbours with varying degrees of success in order to place their hands on goods they cannot themselves provide. Although their affliction makes them feeble advisories to able men they often prey on the weak or unaware, taking away the women as the highest prize.
The druids say that in order to pacify the Smertae the neighbouring tribes need only offer their daughters hand in marriage and a meagre dowry of iron or salt but the clans are loath to give their daughters to such wretched men.
Although eschewed by their neighbours the druids still include them in their rituals and it seems the druids are the only folk the Smertae hold in any regard, Smertae lands have many venerated yew groves sacred to the druids for millennia and still a crucial part of their yearly pilgrimage. Because they control the interior trade and travel for the surrounding clans is predominantly kept to the coasts and messages are conveyed through druids as it's only safe for them to pass by that way.

Caledonia

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Type

Geopolitical, Tribe