Disavow yourself of the idea that those tribesmen are savages and primitives. Do you think they are merely unaware of the advances of civilization in this world? Nay, they have chosen the life they live. There is more to their creed than bloodshed and rapine, I can assure you. Their fury is simply all they would share with outsiders.

— from the public address of Lexnol III of Ratik, before the signing of the Seal of Marner

The Northern Alliance

In 560 CY, nonhuman tribes from the Rakers and Blemu Hills struck into Bone March, subjugating the land in 563 and slaying its leaders. Lexnol III of Ratik, a skilled leader and tactician, realized that he was now isolated, and no succor would be forthcoming from the south or the court of Overking Ivid V. He approached the lords of Djekul, who had grown less wary of the proud Aerdi in the intervening years and were even grudgingly respectful. With the Fruztii, Lexnol forged the Seal of Marner, the symbol of what would be come to be known as the Northern Alliance. 

The Seal of Marner is a symbolic parchment stored in the Baronial Vaults that is endorsed and blessed by the gods of both Ratik and Fruztii. The superstitious Frost Barbarians place great store in its continued safety, as for years prior to the alliance they were subject, directly or indirectly, to their Snow Barbarian cousins. It was not until the reign of the current king's father that they began to emerge from the Schnai's yoke, with the alliance truly giving them greater influence in the region.

The alliance has also allowed Ratik to become fully independent of the Great Kingdom and given them the might to both hammer the orcs and gnolls of Bone March and dissuade an invasion from North Province. This has caused much consternation in Bone March (and among the Baron of Ratik's political enemies in Rauxes). The tribes of the Bone March are still smarting from the drubbing they received from the combined Ratik-Fruztii armies, causing many to believe that the evil leaders of the humanoids will soon determine that the northern alliance must be dissolved.