Other Clans

In *Ride Like the Wind*, you share the valley with other clans—not only fellow Riders, but Wheels, who disdain your culture although they share most of your gods, and Rams, who worship an opposing pantheon.

There will always be 10 Rider clans, 5 Wheel clans, and 7 Ram clans in each game, but their names, descriptions, and locations are randomized, with certain restrictions—for example, the Rams are always across the river from the Wheels and Riders, but the Pure Horse Clan will not always hold the same territory. The Rider and Wheel clans are known when you start play; the Rams appear after a little while.

The descriptions aren't just flavor—the clan known for raiding really does raid more often and have more warriors, and the clan known for shamans will never have a pious (devoted to the gods) chieftain. The game also tracks clan wealth, and clans noted to be rich in food, goods, herds and horses really do start with more of these things and increase them more rapidly than other clans.

There are more descriptions (and many more names!) than there are clans. So, for example, three of the Rider clan descriptions will go unused in each playthrough. However, some descriptions (for example, the Pure Horse Clan) will always appear.

In *Lights Going Out*, clans work much the same, though Rams instead of Riders are now your cultural brethren. Other than the special Deleskaring clan, you and the other Ram clans in the valley all belong to the Berenethtelli tribe. Riders are considered foreigners, but closely related ones due to your shared history back in the days before Beren. Wheels, however, are stranger and more foreign than ever.

## Riders

The culture to which the player clan belongs. There are always ten Rider clans besides your own in the valley, and all have their lands north of the Black Eel river.

## Hyalorings

A Hyaloring village in the Black Eel Valley

### Other Gods

 Nyalda,
 Hyalor,
 Gamari,
 Busenari,
 Dostal,
 Ekarna,
 Erissa,
 Inilla,
 Osara,
 Pela,
 Relandar,
 Uryarda,
 Zarlen

### Descriptions

#### Ride Like the Wind

The description for Rider clans in *Ride Like the Wind* are as follows:

* Known for following Pure Horse practices.
	+ The chief of this clan is always pious (Pure Horse ways are basically a religious movement) and always male.
	+ They start with twice as many horses as other Riders, and their horse herds grow twice as fast.
	+ On the other hand, they have no cows or goats.
	+ They raid often, and have more warriors.
	+ The Pure Horse Clan has their own page on this wiki.
* Known for their reliance on raiding
	+ The chieftain of this time is never cautious.
	+ This clan raids you more often, has more warriors, and has heavier patrols than the average clan (meaning it's harder for you to sneak up on them).
* Known for avoiding conflict.
	+ The chieftain of this clan is never daring.
	+ This clan raids you less often. When they do, they like to parley. And they have relatively few warriors.
* Known for erratic chieftains.
	+ The chieftains of this clan will always skew to one extreme in terms of personality—no matter the trait asked about, the answer is never "sometimes one and sometimes the other".
	+ In battle, this clan will not parley. Their preferred options are "fight cautiously" and "berserk attack".
* Known for their many shamans.
	+ The chieftain of this clan is never pious (since piety is defined as reverence for the gods, and this clan focuses on spirits instead).
	+ This clan has stronger magic.
	+ At one point, they hold a special spirit rite to increase their magic. A Raven trickster in your clan will want to smear dung on their spirit stones in order to steal that magic for your clan. (This can work, but is risky.)
* Known for their wealth.
	+ This clan has more goods, food, and herds.
* Known for their lush fields.
	+ This clan has more food than average.
* Known for their poverty.
	+ This clan has fewer goods and smaller herds than average.
* Known for their aggressive pursuit of trade.
	+ This clan has extra goods.
* Known for their fondness for exploring.
	+ The chieftain of this clan is never cautious.
	+ They maintain the only temple to Zarlen in the Black Eel Valley.
* Known for their large herds.
	+ This clan has more herds (cows and goats) than average. (Their horse herds are not larger than those of other Riders.)
* Known for hunting prowess.

#### Lights Going Out

*Lights Going Out* adds the following:

* Known for hiring Uroxi war bands.

* Profaners of the dead.

### Names

* Amber
* Arrowstone
* Blackspear
* Blue Crest
* Brighteyes
* Brilliant Hoof
* Burnpeak
* Eyes of Gold
* Fireflower
* Flame Singer
* Flint Heart
* Four Drum
* Gold Milk
* Greenrock
* Grey Wing
* Gryphon
* High Stallion
* Honey Mane
* Jade Colt
* Old Eagle
* Red Feather
* Ruby Gate
* Seven Stars
* Shining Blossom
* Sky Racer
* Starshine
* Sun Bow
* Tricorn
* Twinsong
* White Fox
* Yellowhill
* Zar Hawk

*Lights Going Out* adds:

* Blazing Run

## Wheels

Though the Wheels, or Samnali, are cousins to the Riders, the two seldom get on well. There are five Wheel clans, usually with one or two on the south of the Black Eel River and the rest to its north with the Riders.

## Samnali

A Samnali village in the Black Eel Valley

### Other Gods

Samnal,
 Nyalda,
 Gamari,
 Busenari,
 Dostal,
 Erildar,
 Inilla,
 Relandar,
 Rogoros,
 Zarlen

### Descriptions

#### Ride Like the Wind

The description for Wheel clans in *Ride Like the Wind* are as follows:

* Known for their close descent from Elmal.
	+ This clan's chieftain is never impious.
	+ This clan has stronger magic than average.
	+ The hero Autronos is the son of this clan's chieftain, and is born during the game. Your clan may hear of his exploits.
* Known for their hawks.
	+ In the course of the game, this clan will acquire a treasure called the Watchful Hawk from Yelm's brother Dayzatar. This treasure makes it harder for raiders to sneak up on them. It cannot be stolen/looted from them.
* Known for unusual beadwork.
	+ This clan has more goods than average.
	+ Eventually they catch the eye of the king of Naztalvan, who pays even more for their beadwork than it is in fact worth.
* Known for their large herds.
	+ This clan has larger herds than average.
	+ They may offer forty cows later in exchange for twenty cows now. They usually follow through on the deal, but not always.
* Known for being the last to leave Nivorah.
	+ The chief of this clan is never daring.
	+ In battle, this clan likes to parley.
	+ They will at one point in the game hold a rite against darkness; if you donate ten cows you might share in its benefit, or not.
* Known for being extraordinarily haughty.

#### Lights Goint Out

*Lights Going Out* adds the following:

* Known for being extraordinarily rude.

* Known for their rigid adherence to tradition.

* Known for their caution

* Known for vowing to pierce the choking clouds.

* Known for supporting Berenstead when its own clans didn't.

* Founded the Wheel Kingdom.

* Profaners of the dead.

Some of the descriptions from *Ride Like the Wind* also always go unused in this game.

### Names

* Ar-Tarima
* Aryash-Tev
* Char-Orisa
* Chov-Ashda
* Dar-Shama
* Er-Charkar
* Ku-Rander
* Lo-Arish
* Mor-Kagin
* Nar-Onon
* Oro-Tagin
* Paral-Un
* Sa-Gorin
* Tor-Ashda
* Varn-Rash
* Yu-Mergin

*Lights Going Out* adds:

* Ya-Zaran

## Rams

The Rams, or Vingkotlings, are traditional foes to both the Riders and the Wheels, and worship a completely different pantheon. They are all located on the south side of the Black Eel River,and a few are actually on the other side of the Oslira from the player clan.

## Vingkotlings

A Vingkotling village in the Black Eel Valley

### Other Gods

 Ernalda,
 Chalana Arroy,
 Issaries,
 Lhankor Mhy,
 Uralda

### Descriptions

#### Ride Like the Wind

The description for Ram clans in *Ride Like the Wind* are as follows:

* Known for strong magic.
	+ This clan does indeed have more Clan Magic, as well as more magic dedicated to Ritual.
* Known for their powers of thunder.
	+ The chief of this clan is never impious—probably because his clan owe their thunder powers to Orlanth.
* Known for their wealth.
	+ This clan has more goods and food than average (but not larger herds).
* Known for their many cows.
	+ This clan does indeed have larger herds than average.
* Known for black-fleeced sheep.
	+ This clan has a bit of a rivalry with the one known for white-fleeced sheep.
* Known for white-fleeced sheep.
	+ This clan has a bit of a rivalry with the one known for black-fleeced sheep.
* Known for throwing axes in combat.
	+ This clan gets war magic from a wooden man named Duref.
* Known for hurling javelins in combat.
	+ This clan earns a javelin war blessing from Orlanth himself.

#### Lights Goint Out

*Lights Going Out* adds the following:

* Known for still growing acceptable barley.

* Known for eating rocks when hunger strikes.

* Known for worshiping Valind Winter-King.

* Known for giving up on kings when Vinglanth died.

* Known for being the first clan to join Beren's fight.

* Known for maintaining the Healthy Cow Secret.

* Known for keeping slaves.

* Known for harboring outlaws.

* Profaners of the dead.

* Known for tending the Arrowbush.
	+ This description will always belong to the Deleskarings.

Some of the descriptions from *Ride Like the Wind* also always go unused in this game.

### Names

* Andayling
* Barmering
* Erthaling
* Genadari
* Irnathi
* Jernelthi
* Kastwalting
* Kestangi
* Lastraling
* Orlmarth
* Ornolsting
* Orvisi
* Porganosi
* Soranding
* Urkarning
* Varleving
* Walakering
* Zethmaring

*Lights Going Out* adds:

* Deleskaring (fixed clan)
* Hulmafing

## Special Clans

There are a few "special" clans in each game, which can overlap with the others above.

### Ride Like the Wind

* The Ram Killers: A Rider clan whose ancestors adopted the last survivor of Elempur, now known for their unrelated hatred of Ram People. They will become hostile to you if you are too friendly with Rams.

* The Pure Horse Clan: A Rider clan that herds no animal other than horses and is the only Rider clan to keep slaves. Always appear.

* The Dara Happan Hating Clan: A clan whose ancestral enemies are the Dara Happans.

* The Water Hating Clan: A clan that hates Water People. They menace the Weeders from time to time.

* The Daughters of Vingkot Clan: One Ram clan will eventually become known for having  three powerful sorceresses who are said to be the daughters of Vingkot, one of whom is the mother of Redalda .

* The Hillfort Clan: One of the Ram clans will control a hillfort. This can be the same as the Daughters of Vingkot clan.

The clan destroyed in the skyfall is chosen at random, but the special clans (with the exception of the hillfort clan) are safe, as is the clan of Beren the Swift.

### Lights Going Out

* The Deleskarings: The one Ram clan in the valley that is not a part of your tribe. Their name is set.

* The Skull Clan: One of your neighbours may also become worshipers of the Chaos god Vivamort. If so, they'll be the Skull Clan.

You may also find that another clan declares themselves your rivals—and that, if they give it up, another will likely take their place.

## Others

The Wandering Riders: You may also encounter a clan of wandering Riders, who either have yet to find a good place to settle or have decided to become permanent nomads. This clan only appears in the relevant event, and do not have ongoing relationships with your clan as the others do; you cannot form an alliance or a feud with them, for example. They will never be the Ram Killers.

They have a separate pool of possible names:

* Dark Seers
* Horizon Seekers
* Zarleni

Your Father Clan—the Rider clan from which yours split immediately before the game—also appears occaisionally.

About you father clan, the Clan Circle has the following to say:

* "Our story tent and theirs match exactly, diverging only at the point where we split from them. The two tents house the same ancestors."