Tribes

*This article pertains to an area of the game which is currently **in development**. The information presented here is incomplete, and will be updated as more information becomes publicly available.*

The **Tribes** of Elyria are the twelve major racial and geopolitical groups that make up the Children of Mann. Each is native to a particular biome or group of biomes, and has its own distinct culture and racial traits.

There will be **eight tribes** on the starting continent **at launch**: Brudvir, Dras, Hrothi, Janoa, Kypiq, Neran, To'resk, The Waerd. Four additional playable tribes will be accessible after ocean travel is researched and their continents have been discovered: Erishé, Mydarri, Owem, Yoru. It's important to note that even though there will be one continent at launch, all continents are being built and defined before launch and will be in-game just not accessible at launch.

## Comparison

Apart from the aspects shown in more detail on this page (thougn still summarized), tribes all have distinct:

* **History:** Unique historical experiences for each tribe.
* **Culture:** From a unique history brings a unique culture, like language and religion.
* **Sociology:** Specific social conventions like professions, levels of government, and political advancement.
* **World Relations:** Whether other tribes are friend or foe.

### Culture

Cultural benefits are specific to tribal heritage. When your character has offspring, you pick what culture you want to teach the child. Cultural specific aspects apply to all families of all cultures. It's how you determine which cultural and religious benefits you want to pass to your children.

## Characteristics

There are a number of aspects that are characteristic for the physical and mental abilities of the individuals in the tribes. This section presents most of them in a summarized way. More detailed descriptions can be found in the separate pages for each tribe.

### Overview

The table presented below provides an overview of the following specific aspects for each tribe:

* **Biology:** Physical appearance and state.
* **Environment:** The biome a tribe is usually found in.
* **Attributes:**The tribe specific physical and mental advantages and disadvatages when compared to the "average Elyrian".

***Click here to show the full overview table.***

***Click here to collapse the full overview table.***

## Societal Themes

Each tribe in Elyria has socio-cultural focus on two major **societal themes**. These relate to how they view and interact with the world. In other words, each tribe has a primary and secondary theme that guides them in defining their values, goals, social behavior, culture, and motivation.

Four distinguishable themes are defined. These are: Gladiatorial, Political, Commercial, and Civic.

**Gladiatorial Primary Focus**

Focus on Combat and exploration. Best suited for physical domination and survival.

* Janoa: Gladiatorial/Political
* Owem: Gladiatorial/Civic
* Brudvir: Gladiatorial/Commercial

**Political Primary Focus**

Focus on information exchange and gossip.Those mostly involved in travel or inter-tribe communication.

* Neran: Political/Gladiatorial
* To'resk: Political/Civic
* Erishé: Polticial/Commercial

**Civic Primary Focus**

Focus on settlement building. Those that have a particularly difficult native biome, or have an unusual housing model, and thus have more reason to focus on settlement building.

* Yoru: Civic/Gladiatorial
* Waerd: Civic/Political
* Dras: Civic/Commercial \*

**Commercial Primary Focus**

Focus on money - primarily through free-market trade and crafting. Have an affinity for crafting or long-distance travel (merchants).

* Hrothi: Commercial/Gladiatorial
* Mydarri: Commercial/Polticial
* Kypiq: Commercial/Civic \*\*

*\*The Dras tend to trade a decent amount in the south, but beyond that, their ability to work with jet, bog iron, ivory, and others - has made them capable crafters.*
*\*\*Kypiq don't travel a lot, but they are amazing crafters - specifically tinkerers. Kypiq need to compensate for their small size, so they do so with invention and ingenuity. Like tree houses.*

## Relationships

The diagram to the left shows the general disposition between the twelve Tribes; tribes that are traditionally friendly or allied are connected with a blue line, while tribes that are traditionally hostile or rivals are connected with a red line. Each tribe is also labeled with its primary religion.

## Playstyle Considerations

For players who wish to weigh their options playing a character of one of the **starting tribes**, Caspian shared some brief insights in the considerations to take into account when making your choice before selecting a soul for your character.

These considerations are presented in the table below and may be expanded upon as mechanics, characteristics and common insights evolve. These considerations are also included on the pages for each of the starting tribes.

*HOLD: It is unknown if players will ever be able to select characters descending from other tribes than the original starting tribes!*

***Click here to show the full playstyle considerations table.***

 Dras | "Acceptance and Beauty. The Dras are perhaps the most miss-represented of the tribes. On the outside they are often seen as ghoulish, ugly, and emaciated. Even the "healthier" of them pale in comparison to the Neran or To'resk in beauty. But, the Dras are all about finding the beauty in non-visual things. They find beauty in song, simplicity, effort, bravery, and perseverance.
The Dras are the epitome of the idea that when the world gives you lemons, make lemonade. In spite of their persecution, and being outcast, they insist on finding the silver lining in all things. They understand the nature of the world better than anyone. They do not feel cheated by their circumstances, but view each challenge or difficulty as something to be overcome.
While external beauty is not something they aim for, and as such they often use substitute materials than what might be used by the other tribes, they are still more than capable of creating beautiful tools and fine arts.
Because of their past experiences with the To'resk and Janoa, they are among the best at reading people. They are often called upon by the other tribes to serve as adjudicators, counselors, and trusted advisors. They are wise, calm, collected, and typically not prone to hot tempers.
 Hrothi | "The Hrothi are an organized clan with an inherent caste and social hierarchy. They value age, wisdom, and the beauty of the eternal. Play the Hrothi if you want to play with a group of organized people who have a very focused, driven purpose. The Hrothi take their role as Shield of Virtue seriously, if they don't entirely know why, so also play Hrothi if you enjoy RP'ing a decent amount. Above all though, the Hrothi are a defensive, stalwart tribe. So if you want to play a defensive, stable, solid tribe, that tends to keep to their own but feels they have a purpose, go for it.
 Janoa | "Bravery and Strength. The Janoa value the hunt and physical prowess over all things. They seek only to evolve into the best martial versions of themselves. Seeking to attain enlightenment through combat, none of the tribes are as dangerous in one-on-one combat as the Janoa. But the Janoa also value tradition, ceremony, and status within their tribe. Often going to dangerous lengths to increase their position in the tribe. On the flipside, while they value tradition, ceremony, and strength, they have very little positive to say about the other aspects of a person's life, and while the Dras are perhaps the most accepting of others, the Janoa are the least. Put simply, personal goals, strength, and ambition is of the highest importance.
 Kypiq | "Inventive. They say necessity is the mother of invention. Nothing is more true than with the Kypiq. Their diminutive size makes them easy targets for most other tribes and animals while on the ground. So the Kypiq will typically stick to the trees as much as possible when in their own biomes. At the same time, they use inventions as a way to offset their disadvantages. If man evolved because of our use of tools, then arguably the Kypiq are the most evolved of all of mann-kind.
At the same time, when they are on the ground they rely on stealth, subterfuge, and trickery to make themselves seem more dangerous or less obvious. Both approaches work.
 Neran | "Diversity. The Neran are the most adaptive, which allows them to exist in virtually all temperature regions. They span from the Lower Montane Forest in the sub-arctic, cool temperate, all the way to the Grasslands and Shrublands in the sub-tropical. They are the jack of all trades and the masters of none. Play the Neran if you want mounted combat, animal taming and breeding, and focus on a broad set of crafting and other skills. They are the Riders of Rohan and the Dunedain.
 To'resk | "Society, Courtliness, and Comfort. The To'resk are the "Nerans of the south," however their different religion and role in the Godswars have put them down a different path. They interact with and act as traders, brokers, and merchants with all of the southern tribes, as well as several of the northern tribes. They are among the most skillful in social skills and value wealth and mercantilism. Because trading and deals are so much a part of their culture, they value honesty and integrity perhaps more than other tribe. As a result, they both deal harshly with criminals, and have also become the masters of telling the truth without telling the whole truth.
But that is not all there is to the To'resk. Like the Neran, they have many skills, but unlike the Neran, the To'resk have a more divided society. At one end are the aristocrats and courtiers, while on the other end there's the rice farmers, fishers, and sailors. But this division of culture also provides some of the best opportunity to rise up through the ranks.
Play the To'resk if you want to be heavily involved in the Dance of Dynasties, want to rise up through the ranks to build a noble house, or want to play a sailor, merchant, or trader.
 The Waerd | "Community and obligation. The Waerd value their community in a way none of the other tribes do. The Waerd see their strength as an open collective, relying on everyone to make their society better. They work toward their utopia, while at the same time trying to do the Will of the Queen.
From a gameplay standpoint, the Waerd are skillful in many things, both intellectual as well as martial, and are great information gatherers. In their own biomes they fill virtually every role, while out in the other biomes they act as craftspeople on loan, information brokers, spies, and even assassins. Their major weakness is that they are hampered on the battlefield. The mechanics typically associated with pitched battles and group combat doesn't work on a battlefield for the Waerd. As a result, they are both less effective on a battlefield, and also in greater danger than the other tribes.
Play Waerd if you want to build a community utopia, and work together with other players towards and idealist community. Play Waerd if you want to be an assassin, merchant, information broker, spy, etc.
Do not play Waerd if you are a solo player, prefer to just quest all day, and are looking for pitched battles."

***Click here to collapse the full playstyle considerations table.***

## References

1. ↑ Vye, The Game Garden Grows, 9 April 2017
2. ↑ Caspian, Tribes Q&A II, 20 June 2017
3. ↑ Vye, What Seams to Be, 29 June 2017
4. ↑ Caspian, CoE Discord tag ##11.14.2017#Various Topics#, 14 November 2017
5. ↑ Caspian, A Tale of Twelve Tribes, 31 May 2017
6. ↑ Serpentius, CoE Discord tag ##01.13.2019#NPCs/AI/Death/Exposition/Culture#, 13 January 2019
7. ↑ Caspian, Tribes: Brudvir, 8 June 2017
8. ↑ Caspian, Tribes: Dras, 18 June 2017
9. ↑ Caspian, Tribes: Hrothi, 7 June 2017
10. ↑ Caspian, Tribes: Janoa, 18 June 2017
11. ↑ Caspian, Tribes: Kypiq, 17 June 2017
12. ↑ Caspian, Tribes: Neran, 1 June 2017
13. ↑ Caspian, Tribes: To'resk, 9 July 2017
14. ↑ Caspian, Tribes: The Waerd, 10 July 2017
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Caspian, CoE Discord tag ##3.26.2018#Tribe Themes continued#, 26 March 2018
16. ↑ Caspian, CoE Discord tag ##10.20.2018#Tribe play styles#, 20 October 2018