Sorrows The Sorrows are a living in the Zion Canyon area in 2281 . Overview . The Sorrows are a friendly tribe , and are particularly unique as they do not have a warrior - based culture , but rather a hunting - based culture . Their rite of passage reflects this ; it involves a young Sorrow hunting and killing a yao guai and fashioning a yao guai gauntlet from its paw . It seems they also raise normal , since many friendly geckos can be seen in their camp . The Sorrows have until recently exclusively worshiped a spirit known as " The Father in the Cave , " but Daniel has been trying to convert them to Mormonism as of late , and has experienced some success due to the parallels between the two religions . For example , the Sorrows now believe that the Father ' s holy bride ( ) and holy son ( ) were given unto the world to save it . They dwelt in the caverns of the mountains , caverns which can still be seen today . The people sinned against Him ( ) and were punished with the End That Came in Fire ( or the " " ) and the loss of the holy tongue ( English ) , and that only the New Canaan ites were spared . Daniel is apparently unaware of his failure to get his message across clearly . History . The Sorrows ' history is closely tied to their religion . The original Sorrows were a group of children , the eldest born no earlier than 2109 . They spoke English and were literate , and had escaped a place known only as " The School . " Nothing is known about this place , save that the children would scare each other with tales of " The Principal . " Less than a year after the children arrived in Zion , notes and gifts began to appear from seemingly nowhere . At first , story books , and later medical books and weapon manuals replaced them - the sort of thing that would help the children survive the post - apocalyptic world . All the notes were signed " the Father . " Some contained practical advice , others provided spiritual guidance , advising them to read and learn , be kind and modest , to protect one another and fight only those who posed threats to them , and telling them that Zion was the Father ' s gift to them , as an apology for the sorrows of their lives and the sorrows of the Great War . Eventually , the gifts became fewer and far between , and one day one final note was discovered . It contained a personal message for each individual member of the group , an assurance that their kind natures had pleased the Father , and a message that the Father would step back from their lives , but keep a silent vigil . Most of the group ' s later history is unknown , but it is known that at some point they began calling themselves the Sorrows , and attempted to search the caves in the region for traces of the Father . After their scouts disappeared , it seemed clear to them that individuals seeking out the Father would be taken from them , and so they began marking any pre - War buildings or tech with a white hand mark , declaring them taboo ( off - limits ) . This practice has also been adopted by other local tribes , meaning that much of Zion has remained more or less the same as it was the day the bombs dropped , until the arrival of the New Canaan ites and the White Legs . Language . The language spoken by the Sorrows , like that of the Dead Horses , is a combination of Res and a language spoken by tourists who were visiting Res when the bombs dropped . It seems to be a combination of broken English , German , Spanish , and hints of Japanese , and thus is most pertinently described as a . Notes . According to Joshua Graham and Waking Cloud , the signature weapon of the Sorrows is the yao guai gauntlet . Appearances . The Sorrows appear only in the " " , " Honest Hearts " .