Primal Instincts

Barbarians are found throughout the Thillonrian Peninsula, as well as in northern reaches of Ratik, and throughout the Hold of Stonefist. Warriors among the hillmen of the Abbor-Alz, the Olman tribesmen of the Amedio Jungle, and the nomadic tribes of the Plains of the Paynims, Rovers of the Barrens, and both Chakyik and Wegwiur nomads also are typically barbarians. Others are exiles, forced to leave their homeland under penalty of death.

Demi-human barbarians are less common than their human cousins but in dwarf society berserkers are both admired and feared while elven wild soul barbarians are revered among the Grugach of the Burneal Forest. Orc or Half-orc barbarians can originate from Iuz, the Pomarj, Bone March, the Horned Society, the Vast Swamp, and any number of wilderlands that are home to orc tribes.

As with any class of adventurer, many barbarians adventure simply to acquire treasure and fame. They may also be bored with an endless life of hunting and trapping and desiring some real excitement in their lives.

They may be curious about the ways of their civilized neighbors seeking to learn more about them. Some barbarians may even adventure seeking to improve their status among their own people, using the wealth they acquire to prove their worthiness for marriage to a prospective mate. Barbarians, as civilized men understand them, can easily be very intelligent and eloquent people; their expertise is more with nature and spirituality than with mathematics or sorcery.

Many civilized people hold barbarians in a sort of awe, secretly fascinated by their appearance, mannerisms, language, or general behavior. Some loathe barbarians for their rudeness, lack of table manners, and general filth; these are, quite obviously, stereotypes. Other men feel they can cheat the simple folk they meet or openly welcome them for the amounts of money they will spend.

In any case, barbarians are rarely interested in staying in a given place for a long time, unless they have formed close friendships with others in the area, have pressing business, or decide to retire. In the latter case, however, they often return home—a yearning to return to the wilds of his birthplace tugs at the heart of almost every barbarian at one point or another.