Squats

Most Squats live beyond Vimary in small communities of marauders and scavengers, although there are some on the island, existing within the rubbish of the Tribes and the Fallen. They are looked down on and discounted by the children of the Fatimas, but the Squats are strong. They often try to storm Hom in small bands during the winter, driven by hunger and envy.

The Squats are a numerous and diverse people. Their communities range in size from small extended families to multi-tribal confederations, while technologically they range from intensely primitive to surpassing the Seven Tribes. The Squats share a relatively common language, however, various dialects of Gaelish have developed in the generations since the Fall.

The Squats live brutish and often short lives. They face the weather, predators and the Z'bri without magical protection. They aren't pushovers, however; they are survivors and fighters. Competition for resources means that war is endemic amongst Squats, and these wars are slowly creating powerful alliances amongst the various tribes.

These Squats live in clans linked by loose affiliation, in and around the Eastern Hills. They are nomadic in the summer, but return to clan villages to endure winter. Having lived near the Joshuans of Mahgog for so long has allowed the Leox to maintain technology similar to that of the Tribes. Their lands are threatened by the Oneida from the south and by Boarhead from the north. Given the usual arrogant attitude of the Tribes to the Eastern Hills, these Squats consider the Tribes hostile too.

These Squats live in interrelated family groups along the Great River above Vimary. They live mostly on rafts made of reeds, and are relatively safe for most of the year. They only leave the River in winter, when they set up communal villages on a number of large islands. They have few formal structures beyond a council of the elders of various families. They trade with certain groups of Keepers for things they can't make themselves, which is anything more complex than simple metal arrowheads. Their low level of technology is an ideal complement to their simple lifestyle.

These Squats live in and around the Great Lakes and are an advanced and closely-knit confederation of different clans, divided mainly by whether they are islanders or nomadic sailors. Thanks to pollution and the depredations of the Oneida, they avoid the Onto where they can, and live only in the Thousand Isles where they must. Even the nomads avoid the eastern shore, thanks to the Oneida.

Lum and his people inhabit the plains and forests north of Griffentowne. A small nomadic clan, numbering only a few dozen, they are normally peaceful and are happy to coexist with the Seven Tribes. Lum claims that he has seen Eva in visions and they worship Her as a spirit of the Earth. They see Her, however, as being both a benevolent and evil goddess. During the cold winter she is known as Saim (taker of life) and as Beal (giver of life) during the bountiful summer. Most Evans do not appreciate the Saim aspect, but generally they do not bother the simple Luman Squats.

The Horse Squats are a loose collection of nomadic clans that migrate yearly from the southern shores of the Onto to the Great Bay far to the north of the Otter. They have no settlements, due to the presence of the Z'bri in Rhanto, and the vulnerability of the lowlands to raiding. The clans are subject to vicious internal competition between clans, and small battles are common. They rely mainly on bone and wood, but trade eagerly for metal weapons where they can get them.

Somewhere between Serfs and Squats, the Oneida are bent on conquest. They are in thrall to their mysterious Mistresses, who use Sundering to enhance their slave-warriors. The Oneida are brutal and send vast amounts of tribute south along the Hud to their homelands. Having reached a point where they are boxed in by the Leox, the Novohuron and certain Keepers, and the few Tribals who pay attention anticipate this turning into war sooner rather than later.

Living far to the north of Vimary, these Squats do not speak any language recognisable to the Tribes. They have strong links to the River of Dream, and place a great deal of importance on ritual. Each clan has a powerful guardian spirit, and the Silent Ones (called Chalk Faces by the Dahlians) live as much in the River as the Physical Orb. They live a nomadic subsistence lifestyle, making everything they need from the animals they hunt.

Over the past ten years, Boarhead has brought all the Squat clans northeast of the Black Lake under his rule. Although he is the Chieftain of his own clan, he has formed a confederation led by a council of the strongest Squat clans, supported by weaker vassal-clans. He has also formed an elite band of warriors, loyal only to him, called the Tusks. He first came to the attention of the Tribes three years ago, when his approach to them was rebuffed, and word is that he now plots war. He regularly raids the Vimary Keepers in particular, and many believe he is building up stores for a massive attack against the Leox or the Tribes soon.

Despite their lack of a Fatimal connection, Squat bands can and do call on spirits, performing ritual magic in a very different way to that the Fallen or Tribals wield Synthesis.