Oudinae

The Oudinae

The Oudinae are a group of barbarians living in the jungle close to the Grenzland of the Rhendorian Empire. Savage warriors, they are mostly busy with fighting each other for what little they own and produce. Sometimes, when a chieftain of particular skill rises, he may unite the disparate tribes and lead them in a grand invasion against the Empire, which oftentimes devastates the Grenzland and strikes deep into the heartland of the Empire. As they mostly keep to themselves and do not care much for outsiders, little is known about their customs and culture. What little is known mostly comes from prisoners taken during invasions, which managed to escape.

The way of the Oudinae

The Oudinae are tribal in nature, their tribes rarely growing larger than one hundred. Different from most tribal cultures, they put great emphasis on the history of the tribe. To lose its tradition or see it wiped out is the worst thing an Oudinae could imagine. To ensure that there always is someone left to take up the mantle of the chieftain and his warriors, all children are trained to hunt and kill as soon as they can walk. Conflicts between different tribes are savage, most times leaving the majority of the adult population of one tribe dead. As such, it is no rarity to find a tribe composed almost entirely by children, clinging to an ancient legacy.
The neverending conflict between the different tribes is only one aspect of their warlike culture. Every youth must go through a right of passage, where one must kill either a large predator or a fighter of a hostile tribe. While it is not important how the youth in question killed the enemy, most tribes respect the open fight more than the cunning trap. The latter is especially unpopular, as it reminds many of the treacherous jungle which endangers them every day.
A peculiar specialty of the Oudinae is their civilizational progress and composition. They have not advanced since the Rhendorian Empire has started to observe them. Some may steal from the Empire and wear these stolen goods but never has anyone seen them forge weapons or armor themselves. The only exceptions are the barbarian excursions, where the barbarians appear that live in the deepest part of the jungle. These wear strange bronze armor and wield weapons that are the product of competent smiths. It is not known how they obtain these, as practically none of them are captured alive and those who are, rather die than speak.
Their composition is peculiar, as the Oudinae are not one race. There are humans, elves, dwarfs, gnomes, goblins, and many others that are part of them. As of yet, no answer could be found how so many different races came together to form uncivilized hordes that occasionally attack their more civilized neighbors in suicidal attacks.

The Tribes

While outsiders may think that all tribes are similar in nature, there are in fact great differences between them.

The Grenzländer

The tribes that roam the outskirts of the jungle and are closest to the Grenzland are called Grenzländer. These tribes are slightly more advanced than their feral counterparts. They wear the stolen armor and weapons from the Empire, stolen by their many raids on the Grenzland. Due to their skirmishes with the Grenztruppen, the imperial force responsible to defend the Grenzland, they have developed basic tactics and their leaders have started to hand back and direct the battle from a distance.
The Grenzländer are the only known barbarian group that occasionally form tribes or raiding parties of more than one hundred. Under the command of a particularly cunning or charismatic chieftain, these will be formed to be more effective when attacking the Grenzland. While these groups regularly collapse when the chieftain dies, it sometimes survives. In one case a chieftain managed to unite several tribes and was able to unite over a thousand people under his command. In an attempt to solidify his gains, he tried to settle them down in the outskirts of the jungle and remodel them into a more civilized society. He even approached the governor of the Grenzland to negotiate peace to ensure their continued survival, safe from the punitive expeditions of the Grenztruppen.
Initial negotiations were successful when an army of the bronze tribes descended upon this tribe and wiped them out. The few survivors that managed to flee to the Grenzland were accepted there but died in short succession without being able to tell what really happened. Ever since this failure what little attempt at progress could be found in the Grenzländer has disappeared. Scholars theorize that the destruction of the most promising attempt at civilizing has scared them and proven an effective deterrent.
Grenzländer are most often subject to punitive expeditions, which culls their numbers to reduce the danger to the imperial citizens in the area. While these battles are brutal, both sides have developed a strong respect for each other, as they are impressed by the martial prowess and bravery displayed on both sides. Even the routine slaughter of tribes by the Grenztruppen does not phase the Grenzländer. It is similar to what happens when they fight each other and as the Grenztruppen work with cold efficiency and attempt to reduce unnecessary cruelty, they are sometimes even the lesser evil.
During the barbarian invasions, the Grenzländer take on the role of scouts and skirmish parties. Due to their intimate knowledge with the area and better understanding of local customs than most, they are capable. Unlike most other barbarians the Grenzländer are willing to surrender if their situation is terrible enough and some have even integrated into imperial society. Albeit that they never speak of their past.

The Feral Tribes

The area deeper into the jungle is inhabited by the feral tribes. As opposed to the Grenzländer they do not have access to civilized weapons and mostly use stone weapons, as well as slingshots. They overcome this inferiority be sheer ferocity and wildness. Some punitive expeditions who ventured too deep into the jungle were ambushed by a smaller number of feral tribesmen, which decimated them by using the terrain to their advantage and never backing down. In most cases, only one or two would return to the Grenzland, probably meant as a deterrent from future expeditions. This has worked, as no expeditions even attempt to venture further into the jungle.
The only other things known about the tribes is based on the account of several imperial soldiers, who were kept as prisoners by the feral tribes. They told of an incredibly war-loving society. A tribe would be lead by its strongest fighter. To determine this the members of the tribe would compete in ritualistic duels, where they would fight each other without weapons. Only surrender or death would be enough to end the duel. Raids on other tribes are commonplace and apparently, the warriors measure the number of enemies they killed by removing a tooth from the victim and putting them onto a necklace. If someone killed the warrior the necklace would be given their descendant, who would wear it in important ceremonies, like the induction of a child into the circle of adults. Some warriors of proud lineages apparently wore dozens of necklaces, each holding more than ten teeth.
Unlike the Grenzländer, the feral tribes almost never form groups larger than one hundred and often even have trouble to keep that size up. This is caused by the hostile nature of the jungle and the lack of a rich target that could be raided together.
During barbarian invasions, the feral tribes make up the shock troops of the invasion, throwing themselves at the enemy with little care for their own life. If observations in the past were correct, entire tribes were wiped out during battles in the past, as barbarians cared little for their shock troops. Their attacks often times put a strain on the defending soldiers, as the tribes attack them almost nacked, running over those who stumbled and attack in their entirety. Children as young as six may charge the defenders, as it is their tribe currently attacking.

The Demonspawn

While the tribes may know their religious leaders by a different name, they are only known as Demonspawn by the citizens of the Grenzland. Both the priests of the barbarians and their only mages, they apparently serve as negotiators and ralliers for other tribes. To see one of them in close proximity to the Grenzland is viewed as a bad omen, as they always function as leaders of a barbarian invasion. Their magic is strong but unrefined and in the eyes of the war mages of the Grenztruppen, they are no better than charlatans. Despite this bad reputation, a Demonspawn is able to rip apart entire units by himself.
Those who are particularly blessed by their gods show physical alterations. No matter their race, they may grow additional limbs, grow in size or develop scaly skin. Elves, in particular, seem to be cursed to grow a second head.
The tribal structure of the Demonspawn remains a mystery to the civilized worlds. Any prisoners that came into contact with them vanished, likely victim to the blood sacrifices they are rumored to carry out. When a punitive expedition came upon a camp of Demonspawn they sometimes found scrolls of paper, which were covered with lists and strange symbols that apparently constitute the written language of the barbarians. None of the scrolls could ever be brought back to the Grenzland, as it was always ambushed and massacred. Only in two cases could someone escape the wrathful Demonspawn.
Despite little concrete information on their tribal behavior, the Grenzland, and by extension, the Empire is filled with many legends of their horrid deeds. It is told that Demonspawn sacrifice prisoners to their gods, using their own when they cannot get their hands on any prisoners. Due to their position as priests, it is apparently forbidden to attack them or even endanger them, giving them free rein over the barbarians. Other than mystified blood sacrifices multiple prisoners have reported, that those who were inducted into the ranks of the Demonspawn had to kill an enemy in combat and eat his heart. How much of these brutal legends is the truth cannot be answered, but the general consensus is that the barbarians are beings of savage ferocity and their priests are the epitome of evil and senseless war and slaughter.
During barbarian invasions, the few Demonspawns that accompany the barbarians function as leaders and work tirelessly to keep up the moral. They will only engage in direct combat if they deem it absolutely necessary. They will not, under any circumstance, surrender. If caught in an ambush, when their death is certain, they will rather overload themselves with magic to kill as many enemies as possible. Why they are so extremely dedicated could not be figured out yet.

The Bronze Tribes

The bronze tribes are the most mysterious of the barbarians. They probably live in the center of the jungle, a place that was not visited by anyone other than the barbarians. Due to their recluse nature, they only appear during barbarian invasions. There, they serve as heavy infantry and are the true danger of any invasion. Unlike the other tribes, they fight in tight formations and are able to use military tactics to a level unknown by most barbarians. They are lead by chieftains who are both decent warriors and able to understand the greater picture of war. They coordinate with each other and sometimes launch attacks including several thousand barbarians at once.
An equally great danger comes from their weapons and armor. Despite nothing in their behavior indicates that they are any more civilized than the other tribes, they wield equipment that was forged inside the jungle. No scholar could come up with a theory explaining this occurrence in a sensible manner.
Their men form the iron fist of any invasion, which must be crushed for the invasion to stop. As they are ruthless and wipe out villages to be certain that no-one is left behind to attack their rear, this is guaranteed to happen in a massive battle. The bronze tribes taking part in it are normally annihilated, as they refuse to retreat and are inferior to regular imperial troops. The latter is especially true when the imperial army begins to use artillery and massed range fire.

The Lost

Both the appearance of a demonspawn close to the Grenzland, as well as the appearance of the bronze tribes is viewed as the sign of impending doom, both being the harbinger of an impending invasion. All those fears are nothing when compared to the discovery of a Lost.
Only two of the nineteen barbarian invasions were lead by a Lost. Both were able to devastate the Grenzland within a week and went on to bring ruin to the entire east of the empire. In both cases, they could only be stopped with incredible losses on the side of the Rhendorian Empire, which was able to finally crush both invasions before the gates of Kalfen.
The Lost are unique in the known world. Four meters in height, they resemble a snake that has grown legs and arms, as well as an additional pair of eyes. The two seen were mages of almost omnipotent power, able to call down storms of meteors and conjuring tornados on command. While their strength seemed to weaken when moving further from the jungle, it takes several hundred kilometers for them being weakened enough to be on the level of an archmage. In their presence there is no such thing as independent thought, at least as far barbarians are concerned. Non-barbarians in its presence are not affected by their apparent mind control powers. Both of the Lost had taken imperial prisoners as slaves, mostly to interrogate them about the empire.
Both times the slaves were freed after the destruction of the Lost and their barbarian host. They both times revealed fascinating information. Firstly, Lost despise the barbarians and did their best to keep them away from the prisoners. Secondly, the Lost were not hostile towards the prisoners. Its interrogations could be compared to a pleasant teatime chat, only that the other side had the power to blast your head away with a simple movement of their finger. Thirdly, the Lost did not know who they were or where they came from. The only thing they could remember was that it was their duty to lead the barbarians to victory and to crush anything in their past. It did not pursue these goals with any sort of malice, but only in the way that appeared most efficient.
This information, as well as the lack of knowledge concerning their origin, has made them one of the great mysteries of the jungle. Some scholars believe that they are incarnations of the barbarians hatred and anger, which personify the worst about them. Others claim that the Lost are amalgamations of barbarians sacrificed in heinous rituals. Whatever the case may be, no certainty can be established until someone takes it upon themselves and explores the heart of the jungle.

Barbarian Invasions

Barbarians are not limited to the jungle east of the Rhendorian Empire. Many places in the known world hold some kind of barbarian. It is, however, one of the few places where barbarians pose an existential threat to the nations. During barbarian invasions, all tribes of the jungle will unite in purpose and attempt to bury the empire in a flood of bodies and blood.
The success of these incursions varies greatly. Of the nineteen recorded in the history of the empire, six were stopped in the Grenzland, mostly because they were weak or faced a particularly genius governor. Three were stopped before they reached the wealthy east of the empire, stopped by an imperial army that was dispatched on time. Five were able to ransack a small part of the east before imperial reinforcements were able to beat them back. Two more moved directly onto the capital Kalfen, which they attempted to siege. While leaving a corridor of destruction in their wake, these were not as destructive as most, mostly because they were destroyed in one battle before the capital. One invasion chose to ransack the east, causing great destruction before being reigned in by imperial forces.
The last two were lead by Lost and caused widespread destruction and panic, laying waste to the east and coming close to breaking Kalfen and destroying the empire.
The invasions seem to be a prominent part of Oudinae culture and almost any survivor and prisoner was exposed to stories by the barbarians, commemorating their invasions and eagerly waiting to repeat them.