Kith (Kyth, Baersarks, Northmen) (updated 2004/05/09)

  Arngrim Wyrmskrol    Brotherhood of the Shield    Druids    Drunes (Kith of the Wendigo)    Kith Names    Kornunnos (Kith Berserkers)    Ulfhedinn (Kith wolf-souls)    gallery: Kith 

Kith are rarest and grimmest of warriors feared the world over for their inhuman strength, savage tempers, and complete lack of fear. Kith cling fiercely to life in the lands of the midnight sun, which they call Hrivlyggdor. The cold mountains, tundra, forests and rivers of the north are teeming with wildlife for the hunt. The arctic weather alone can kill, but they must also share this land with foes such as the dreadful ice Wyrms. Even the Baal fear the Kith and their savage tempers.

Kith are often depicted as murderous savages naked or clad in animal skins, berserk and howling into battle, immune to weapons, and often appearing more like animals than men. However, that concept reflects not ordinary Kith warriors, but a description of a special group of fighters known as baersark or berserkers.

Regions

Kith wander the forests and plains all over Ambar, with the largest concentrations are in Dorthonien, Hrivlyggdor, and the Rochir Plains.

Personality

The Kith are a mysterious people, for their origins are lost in the meanders of a mythology in which legends and historical facts live together and mingle. The ancestors of all the human peoples of Ambar, these men continue to lead a primitive existence. Kith follow the old ways of the beasts and live in small tribes instead of great cities, scoffing at civilization, for cities make one soft and corrupt. Kornun and other totem spirits teach that honor comes from making oneself and ones allies strong, such as survival in the wilderness and a life of warfare. Kith clans, called Kithocs, dwell in the harshest conditions wherever possible, either building lodges near sources of danger or living as nomads and seeking out new challenges.

Kith respect only survival, valiant deeds, and glory in battle. Wealth means little to them, except trophies for which they have paid the "blood price" by taking them by force. This drives the Kith to resolve disputes with the blade, seek out wars, or raid the fat cities. Kith consider it manly and proper to devastate homes, cut down cattle, rifle everything and take away vast hauls of booty, burn to the ground houses they had sacked, and butcher men and women indiscriminately. The taking of heads is also a Kith tradition, both for the honor which such a collection brings its owner, but given Ambar's past this is also as a way to ensure that one's foes are still dead.

Kith have a particular form of martial training in heroic feats known as the Kles, which demonstrate extraordinary capabilities in strength and dexterity. The method of training is simply to repeatedly attempt them until one learns how to focus sufficient strength and skill. Examples of the feats include the "Spurt of Speed", the "Stroke of Precision" (which involved cutting a button from a shirt with a broadsword without cutting the shirt or the man wearing it), the "Apple-Feat" (juggling nine with never more than one in the hand), the "Breath-Feat" (holding a metal apple in the air by blowing it aloft), the "Heroic Salmon Leap", the "Leap Over the Poisoned Stroke", the "Feat of the Sword-Edge", and many more. Only heroes are able to learn these feats, often facing such tests as being buried to the waist and fending off spears thrown at the testee by several other warriors, or being chased through the woods by a band of fighters and not disturbing even a single hair in an elaborate coiffure. In many cases the feats were spoken of as having been learned through supernatural means, or imparted by the Druids.

Kith are a very boisterous and loud people, greeting each other with great (and sometimes even painful) enthusiasm. However, the roar of Kith in a tavern is nothing compared to their presence of Kith berserker, known as the Kornunnos. Raised by Druids and put through particularly rigorous Kles trials, these savages work themselves into furies of rage before they wade into battle, and continue to fight right even after death. Legends speak of Kith berserks who fought against impossible odds covering the battlefield with heaps of carcasses and mounds of severed heads. A wise commander does not try to control them, but simply lets them go...

Physical Description

Kith appear overall as the largest and most brutish of all northmen, standing around six to seven feet tall. They usually have exaggerated or jutting Neanderthal facial features and unkempt, dark hair. Many Kith look half-animal, or only half-man, but all are exceptionally strong, and move with animal-like grace and agility. Disdaining proper clothing, Kith wear the hides and fur of beasts that roam the steppes and forests. They adorn their hirsute bodies with woad, paints and tattoos, especially during times of war, and some even dye their hair in wild colors. Many Kith wear bone jewelry from fallen foes.

Relations

Kith are well disposed to get along with most creatures, but hate the dread frost Wyrms that roam the icy north, whom the Kith hunt and slay on sight. One Kith prophesy tells of the coming of the Ard'Rhi, the champion king who will unite their tribes and lead them to a final battle against the ice Wyrms.

Kith are more disposed toward raiding the outlying villages or hiring out as mercenaries than earning an honest living. On the other hand, they also slay a large number of ogres and beasts that would normally pillage the same cities. In some territories, Kith are looked upon as holy men, touched by the gods, but everyone grants them a respectful, if not fearful distance. With their ferocious tempers and brutish manners they are seldom welcome in cities. They have little to offer to city-dwellers except service as mercenaries or laborers.

Lands

Most Kith hail from the cold northern mountains and forests, but many Kithocs have roamed to southern climes. Some Kithoc lead a nomadic lifestyle, either migrating with the animals they hunt, or simply seeking glorious battle. Wandering Kithocs claim no lands, but demand passage through any lands they travel, often raiding as they go and in general cutting a swath of violent upheaval. During this journey, Kith live in nomadic camps of extended families called Kithocs. Every Kithoc is ruled by its strongest and most cunning warrior, called the Kith Lord. When two Kithocs meet, they will surely fight unless there is a greater threat nearby. It is best to approach Kith (and especially Kithocs) with extreme caution.

Rarely do Kith form towns, and even then they are generally little more than lodges, greathalls, and Caer-Dun forts from logs and stone. Such These Kith often build a smithy and fashion iron weapons and armor.

Religion

Kith follow the Old Faith, led in religious matters mainly by their Druids assisted by a few Hichana. The Druids often hold power and respect that exceeds the Kithoc chieftain because they represent the masculine, violent half of the totem spirits that bring up on the berserker madness. In Kith culture, the Hichana have no leadership authority. They act as assistants to the Druids in thier secret rites and play an important role in pacifying and caring for berserk Kornunnos after battle. Without the Hichana to soothe the berserkers their furies would likely cause them irreparable harm.

While the Rochir also follow this "Old Faith", they are led by a circle of Hichana rather than Druids. This has led to a decline of berserkers in favor of more balanced, wise warriors.

History

The Kith are the ancestors of all human peoples on Ambar, yet they maintain a primitive existence not far above the animals. The Druids are the keepers of their history, passing down stories and Ogham writings to successive generations of wise men. Legends say that the Kith are the descendants of Jotuns, ogres, or even wild beasts.

Language

Kith once spoke the tongues of beasts, and it is said that their Druids still do. Most Kith speak the Northman common tongue with a growling, rumbling accent like a beast. Some instead speak the Dwur tongue. Kith are highly superstitious about writing other than the mystical Oghams of the Druids. They are forbidden to read or write even the Ogham, and will usually destroy any other writings they find. This is likely a tradition that started from a Druidic command to destroy any evil Glyphs of the Old Ones found on ancient stones.

Equipment

Kith are extremely primitive, often wearing furs and carving weapons made from wood, flint, and sharpened bone. The most ancient of Kith wielded flint axes, and such weapons are still used in ceremonies or given as honorable gifts. Their nomadic lifestyle and lack of respect for other folk have kept them centuries behind other folk. Rarely do Kith dwell in cities and build weapons from iron, although they will seek trade or conquest to obtain greatswords or other large weapons of iron. Kith rarely wear armor, for they feel it separates them from their totem spirits.

Hunting is a highly regarded and dangerous activity, for Kith only hunt the most deadly of beasts, such as auroch, snow beasts, great cats, and ice Wyrms. While Wyrm hunting is the most honorable, ice Wyrm hunting is the most profitable because all sorts of tools can be crafted from bits of dead Ice Wyrm. The bones and scales these great beasts are as light and strong as steel, and can be carved in scrimshaw or Oghams of the Druids. The Kith make strong, waterproof bows from ice Wyrm horn, sinew, and hair. Light, strong shields, helms, and collars can be crafted from scales. Many Kithocs have heirloom swords carved from ice Wyrm bone and inscribed with Oghams of the Druids that bless the warrior. Ice Wyrm tusks make boisterous daggers or drinking horns, while ice Wyrm bladders make strong, light, unpiercable sacks. Ice Wyrm manes make cloaks and boots that can keep the wearer warm in even the coldest of winters. All the rest is fed to the dogs or boiled down into lamp oil.

Adventurers

Their ferocity and inclination to wander make the Kith natural adventurers. Kith living among other humans are typically manual laborers, skilled animal trainers, or brutal thugs. Frequently shunned from polite company, Kith often find acceptance and friendship among adventurers, many of who are fellow wanderers and outsiders.

Quotes

Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Live free, die well!

If it sloshes, there isn't enough.

If you don't enter the lion's den, you will never capture the lion.

Pleasant to me the whistle of my thirst-maddened axe.

Lo, there do I see my father.
Lo, there do I see my mother, my sisters and my brothers.
Lo, there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning.
Lo, they do call to me. They bid me take my place on Asgard
In the halls of Valhalla, Where the brave may live forever.
-The 13th Warrior

Arngrim Wyrmskrol

The warrior known as Arngrim hails from the cold wastes of the north, a frigid region of lofty pines, majestic mountains, deep gorges and incredible icefalls. The only human inhabitants able to survive in the arctic climate are the Kith ice barbarian clans. Most ice barbarian clans have an ice shaman who is responsible for the health and well being of the tribe. [ more... ]

Brotherhood of the Shield

The main order of knighthood for the town-dwelling Kith, headquartered in Midgaard. The Brotherhood exists primarily to fight Goblyns, but its members are respected as defenders of the people.

Druids

The Druids are Kith priests and priestesses of the earth mother Danu. This is an ancient religion that predates most human history. The Druids have close ties to the Istari of Alornea, who taught them the fundamentals of law many centuries past. The law was a blending of Ithil'Rhi and Alornean law, then adapted to the Kith tribal law and mythos.

Druids preside over matters of law, tradition, and spirituality for the Kithocs. They also prescribe and preside over ritual sacrifices, blessings, and other ancient (and often brutal) traditions of the Kith.

The Drunes are a dark offshoot of Druids who worship Crom Cruach, the worm god.

Drunes (Kith of the Wendigo) (updated 2004/01/21)

The Kith of southern Hrivlyggdor have dedicated themselves to the eradication of the hated Baal and their Wyrms. They are darker of skin and dress than their northern cousins, perhaps due to trials and tests involving fire. [ more... ]

Kith Names

The following is a list of traditional Kith names, although some Kith more closely allied with Dwur have been known to take Dwur names.

Male names

Abboid, Adaidh, Adair, Adam, Adhamh, Aeneas, Aengus, Aherin, Ahern, Aherne, Aibhne, Aidan, Aiden, Aidin, Aidon, Aidyn, Ailbhe, Ailde, Ailean, Ailen, Aili, Ailig, Ailigean, Ailill, Ailin, Ailpein, Aindrea, Aindreas, Ainmire, Airdsgainne, Airleas, Airril, Alai, Alan, Alasdair, Alastair, Alastar, Alaster, Alban, Albert, Aleel, Alexander, Alistair, Alistaire, Alister, Allan, Allen, Allister, Allyn, Aloysius, Alphin, Alpin, Alroy, Alva, Amalgith, Ambros, Ambrose, Amergin, Amhalghaidh, Anamcha, Anamka, Anaslis, Angaidh, Angus, Anla, Anndra, Anraoi, Anthony, Anvirry, Aodh, Aodhagan, Aodhan, Aodhhan, Aoibhe, Aoidhean, Aonghais, Aonghas, Aonghasan, Aonghus, Ardal, Argyle, Arlen, Armadal, Arnold, Arregaithel, Art, Artagan, Artair, Arter, Artgal, Arthur, Artur, Athairne, Athdar, Athdara, Audy, Aulay, Auliffe, Avartack, Aveny, Avna, Awley, Awliff, [ more... ]

Kornunnos (Kith Berserkers) (updated 2004/05/12)

Kith are often depicted as murderous savages naked or clad in animal skins, berserk and howling into battle, immune to weapons, and often appearing more like animals than men. Berserks are described as leaping about before battle, or pacing like a caged animal, or biting upon their shields. However, that concept reflects not ordinary Kith warriors, but a description of a special group of fighters known as berserkers or Kornunnos, the chosen of "Kornun, the Horned God". [ more... ]

Ulfhedinn (Kith wolf-souls) (updated 2004/05/12)

Kith legends say that the battle madness of some rare heroes pleases Kornun to the extent that he fills them with the spirit of a beast. The warrior grows to enormous size and transforms into a half beast. The Druids teach that this is the Ulfhedinn--holy wolf-spirit--of Kornun. The Drunes believe that this is also a manifestation of the Wendigo. [ more... ]

gallery: Kith

  Kith Bard    Kith Bard    Kith Berserker    Kith Berserker    Kith Berserker    Kith Berserker    Kith Berserker    Kith Berserker    Kith Berserker    Kith Berserker    Kith Berserker    Kith Berserker    Kith Berserker    Kith Berserker    Kith Druid    Kith Druid    Kith Druid    Kith Druid    Kith Druid