The Dulath tribe known as a nomadic tribe of druids. This matriarchal society is ran by the druid, Izumi Dulath, as has been for 450 years. At her old age of 655, Izumi is a proud elf who’s druidic powers are fabled to people across the continent. Izumi takes her tribe of roughly 1,000 members through a “Grand Cycle” of the continent over the course of 100 years. This cycle was put in place by her grandmother over 1,800 years ago. The races present in this tribe are primarily elves, along with gnomes, humans, and half-elves. Because the Grand Cycles takes quite some time to complete, humans rarely get to see it through. When the matriarch’s strength begins to wane, she would select her brightest and strongest child who is nearing adulthood to succeed her. Although this process has only been done twice in the Dulath history, this fact is well known within the community. The selection is usually quite vast, as the Matriarch never marries; she will have dozens of sexual partners in order to populate her clan, as well as to be sure that when selection comes, there are more to choose from. However, Izumi wishes to keep her bloodline in charge, and therefore, only pure elven woman that she bore herself may take her place when she passes.
The Druids are the most common people found in the Dulath clan. Be them from the actual Dulath bloodline, or from druids who have been accepted as family by the matriarch herself, the elves, humans, half-elves, and gnomes who have a druidic nature seem to populate the group. These people serve as the hunter-gatherers for the clan. It times of tribal wars, the druids are also quite capable of defending themselves and their current territory. Their combat prowess should not be confused with barbarianism, as the Dulath clan is actually quite wise and intelligent.
Those born into the Dulath clan that may not possess the same intimate connection with nature may pursue other options in order to help the clan. Those who are seemingly more intelligent than the rest may opt to become wizards who’s unique abilities help the group. This could be achieved through mapping, logistics, as well as tacticians.
On the other side of the coin, if a born member of the clan does not possess the same mental capabilities as other members of the tribe, they may become warriors for the matriarch’s cause. Barbarians are quite common in this respect, though the most interesting are those who have attuned their combat prowess with that of a dragon. These people are come to be known as the Dragon Shaman. These soldiers are known for their ferociousness and unwavering resolve in combat. These few, whom already have a strong religious tie to the dragons, are trained in harnessing the power of their designated dragon. As Izumi’s and her clan’s chosen deity is both Tiamet and Bahamut, she teaches the strengths and weaknesses of each dragon aspect. The matriarch, or her council, also assigns a dragon to each dragon shaman, as well as druids who have proven themselves as powerful combatants.
Originally, there were only two families in the clan. They were the Dulath, of course, as well as the Longstriders. With the creation of the tribe, the families knew that there could only be one matriarch. After much deliberation, the Dulath family was chosen due to their superior power. From then on, the Longstriders were doomed to live in the shadow of the Dulath clan. Though the Longstriders were not weak; they possessed their own unique ability. Normally, druids may only take the shape of an animal for a limited amount of time, and this form is always the same, as it takes much time to perfect the transformation. However, the Longstriders have a unique bloodline gift that allows them to have much more control over their animal forms, including changing physical appearance, as well as being able to maintain the form, essentially, forever.
Typically, Longstriders and Dulath aren’t always friendly towards each other. Though due to his gender (as he can never ascend to power), a male black dragon shaman by the name of Charn Dulath befriended a gold druid, Oren Longstrider. Although Charn was known for his crazed combat, he always found a friend in the quiet Oren. They have faced rival tribes on the front lines together, which created a bond between the two, more than anything. Though the events that would unfold would put them even closer.
After the first 14 years of the 12th Grand Cycle, the tribe began becoming restless. Reason being was that the humans of the tribe were concerned with the way successors were designated. They felt that the humans, gnomes and half elves should be able to obtain the power of the matriarch. They also believed that a male should rise as the leader. Izumi laughed this off, as the tribe was built on the traditions that her family had formed. Even the Longstrider family agreed that the pure Dulaths should stay in charge, as their ancestors had agreed to give them reign. As time progressed, most of the human, gnome, and half-elves had abandoned the tribe, leaving the clan’s number in the low 200’s. Unshaken, Izumi continued the traditions that her family had created.
A short year later, disaster struck the Dulath Clan.
Many of those who had departed the clan had return in order to conduct ‘peace talks’ and distribution of territory in the area. However, this guise was shortly uncovered by Izumi. These people had returned as blighters and their true intentions were to dissolve the clan, and kill those who were loyal to it. They began destroying the clan’s settlement, as well as killing those who stood in their way. Realizing that her family’s legacy had been destroyed, she sent a message to all of the loyal members of the clan that they needed to split up into small groups for now, in order to preserve the tribe.
Charn and Oren were drawn to each other, and they collected two other druids and formed their escape group. With no direction on where to go, when to meet, or what should be done in the meantime, they simply ran.
