Human tribe of Northern Sarvonia, stretching from the Dark Sea in the west to the borders of the Injerín elves in the Shaded Forest. They consist of various different clans/sub-tribes and are mainly well known for their extraordinary cavalary.

Image description. A Kuglimz involved in a fight with a swamp wyrm. Picture drawn by Eratin.

General. The Kuglimz are mistakenly thrown in with the Ashmarian and labeled barbarians when "civilized" people think of the humans north of the Tandala Highlands. This is a misnomer, as while people of the Kuglimz form the Ash'mari, the ten tribes do not recognize them. In fact it was the tribes that gave the name Ash'mari (Wolf Rabid) to the feared people. The fact that the Ashmari are the nearest humans to the Tandala for hundreds of miles, along with the lack of interaction between the Kuglimz and the Santharians, makes it no surprise that they would be classed with the feared Ash'mari. The Kuglimz have a deep hatred for the Ashmari, something that is reciprocated by the Ash'mari. There has been many a clan war with them.

Location. The lands of the Kuglimz stretch from the Dark Sea in the west and follows along the Luquador River to the borders of the Injerín elves in the Shaded Forest. It is roughly 900 strals in length. The furthest south the tribes range is the northern bank of the outlet of the Luquador River into the Sea of Darkness. Their lands in the East end at the Mountains of Oro and the Liben River, where the orcish kingdoms are.

Origin. The Kuglimz (lit. "Tribes") are a group of tribes that identify with each other due to historical and genealogical ties. Their heritage is a proud one, though not one that they know or associate with themselves, except in some distorted forms in their religion and myths. During the Great Sundering that occurred after the fall of Fá'áv'cál'âr the human armies split up and went their separate ways. The head of the cavalry division, Minar, led his troops and any that joined him south away from the now barren lands of Fá'áv'cál'âr. They passed between the narrow strip of land between the eastern foothills of the Prominent Mountains and the Aelyvian Sea. There they settled and soon rose the Mynian kingdom. A great capital was built at Weavermoth, the so-called City of Towers. There the Mynians thrived, until the Year of Darkness (also called the Burning Night in Northern Sarvonia at 1649 b.S.). It was then that the orcs came down and toppled the towers of Weavermoth and drove the Mynians out of their country. This is remembered in their myths of Sur'tyan and Lier'tyan the Kuglimz' chief deities. Then ten commanders, the aggrandized Vir’togz ("Great Ones") led separate groups of people in the land. These leaders settled their people in different areas, in time they would later identity with each other as a whole and become defined as different clans. They would then take their clan names from that of the Vir’tog who had led them. Till this day they live as separate clans.

Image description. View on the Kuglim territory at the western half of the Celeste Lowlands with its nine grassy hills leading up to the Celeste Mountains. Picture by Eratin.

Lifestyle/Culture. There are two separate modes of life that the Kuglimz follow, either centralized around forts and towns, or nomadic.

• Kuglimz'torik ("House Tribes")
  The centralized Kuglimz, known as Kuglimz'torik ("House Tribes") tend to live more in and around the hills of the Celeste Lowlands. The set up for a normal Kuglimz tribe of this sort is to have a fortified town or a castle, called a Lu, upon the top of a hill. The area either on the hill, or directly below it will contain the village. The village will be protected by a separate wall of wood, stone, or in some cases simply berms of earth. In the area outside of the town will be the farms, dairy, or whatever products that tribe has. Due to the small amount of hills, these tribes are packed relatively close to each other, and a small kingdom will not normally contain more than two hills and several villages. In fact half of the tribes live in this area. Due to the closeness of the space that these tribes of Kuglimz occupy there is constant feuding between them over land, bridges, and seemingly anything they can find.

• Kuglimz'ura ("Plain Tribes")
  The nomadic tribes, Kuglimz'ura ("Plain Tribes") follow their herds of wild horses, ulgaroths and sheep. They travel northwards in the summers and south in the winters. Their herds are their lives, everything is used from the animal's bones to build things or fashion into jewelry, sinew for bows, organs for containers. They do not have actual Lus or villages, but rather camps that are set up until it is time to move to new pasturage, or winter sets in. These camps are known as a Zei. They are made from timber or ulgaroth bones, and the stitched hides of whatever animals happen to die. Two of the nomadic clans live in the southwest along the coast of the Sea of Darkness, the other three share the fertile Mynian plains. Feuding breaks out quite often over pasturing rights for the animals.

The Kuglimz on a whole share a love of bright colors, they are well known in Northern Sarvonia for their dying and weaving abilities. They are especially fond of square like patterns. This is one of their key trade items with the elves and dwarves in the area. They also create fantastical gold creations; nothing to rival the beauty or complexity of the dwarves of the Prominent Mountains, but the feelings of power that the work portrays is almost amazing.

Kuglimz boys are considered men after their first kill in battle. They first join with the warriors in their twelfth year. When they do see combat and make their kill, they take the weapon of their enemy and melt it down. Iron from that weapon is then forged into a ring called a Fei’put ("Blood Ring"), which they put either in their hair or on their fingers. The sight of hair almost lost beneath iron rings, and fingers where only the tips and joints are showing are the trademarks of a seasoned warrior.

Image description. A young male of the Kuglimz'Ura clan about to toss another log of birch wood on the fire. Picture drawn by Bard Judith.

The life of the Kuglimz is filled with constant battle. From a simply family feud, to full out clan wars, there is hardly a Rarik’mystrume (battle season) that goes by without some bloodshed. The Kuglimz as a whole are exceptional cavalrymen. The way in which cavalry is used once again shows the difference between the Kuglimz’torik and the Kuglimz’ura. The Kuglimz’torik tend to use a heavy cavalry, which uses the force created by charging down the hills from their Lus to punch through their opponents. Most of these warriors use heavy axes and swords along with metal shields, and both they and their mounts are protected with chain mail. The Kuglimz’ura are fonder of the use of bows and light spears, along with short swords. They often wear leather armor sometimes with metal studs or plates attached to it. It is not often that the centralized and nomadic Kuglimz fight each other, as the Kuglimz’ura view the Celeste Lowlands as bad pasturage, and the Kuglimz’torik have little interest in the plains. They will come together in times of great distress, but this is not often and is quickly forgotten.

History. The Kuglimz do not have any records of history beyond the Burning Night, and even those times have become transformed into myth and legend. They have a rich oral tradition, filled with a tapestry of stories and heroes. Their language is simplistic and often harsh to the ear, though it apparently suits them well enough.