Croag

The Croags are the civilization living within Weldbept Forest. They are human, based on a cult that splintered from Nummath after The Abandonment, and live a very basic, natural lifestyle. They speak a language of the same name, Croag.

Culture
The Croags are a people who see themselves as being symbiotic with nature. While they do not outright hate technology, they do not feel any need to develop technology and thus live a lifestyle that is incorrectly viewed as "primitive." They have few permanent buildings, no stonework, no foundaries, no metalworks of any kind. They live in animal-skin tents and often sleep outside under the trees and the stars, sometimes, strangely enough, even in the rain.

The Croags revere trees and worship the Treants, even to the Treant's protests. In fact, the Treants have long since abandoned the idea of convincing the Croags that they were not deities. The Croags will never burn live wood or cut or kill a tree except in a time of extreme need. Their fires and tents are build only from trees that have already died or branches that have already fallen. They will, however, eat the fruits of fruitbearing trees, such as apple trees that are not uncommon in Weldbept.

While they are adverse to harming trees, they are avid hunters, skilled with the use of the spear or the bow and arrow. They are careful about maintaining proper game populations in the woods and will cull animals if a population becomes too great, or cease to hunt them if a population becomes too small. They use most of what they kill, eating the meat, making clothing and tents from the skins, and making tools from the bones.

The Croags believe that the human body is a part of nature and thus don't view the body as being shameful. They have no concept of modesty and don't even understand the term when they come into contact with other cultures. Clothing is worn in Weldbept society only when it is practical, to protect from the cold of winter or from a heavy rain perhaps. Croags, both male and female however spend much of their summers naked. Nudity among the Croags was neither ceremonial or sexual, it just was. In fact, it lead to their sexuality being based far more on touch than on looks. Men and women and children would work, hunt and play comfortably in the nude among each other. The act of sex itself however, was considered the penultimate expression of love and reserved for couples in privacy. A Croag cannot fathom why an outlander would cover themselves up, especially on hot days, or display shock and embarresment at nudity.

The Croags were gender neutral, with the exception of their queen, who ruled Weldbept and was always a female. Men took as much of a role in domestic chores as much as women took roles in defense and hunting. In fact, they were surprisingly liberal for their time as their government was partially democratic, men and women were treated as equals and even homosexuality wasn't frowned upon.

Sex and sexuality is, as has already been mentioned, seen as the penultimate act of love. The Croags do not have marriage, but they do mate for life. The man or woman you have sex with for the first time is to be your mate. Because of this, Croags are very careful about who they'll have sex with. Societal pressures will push a Croag to remain with his or her partner until death. At the death of one partner, it is acceptable, but not required, to find another mate. Adultury is punished by exile out of the forest.

Crime is severely punished among Croags, they have three levels of crime, va'mukatha or crimes of greed, va'gahabra, or crimes of death, or the worst of them all, va'sheta, crimes of violation. Va'mukatha is a crime like theft. Possession, like modesty, is not a thing in a Croag's mind. In their minds, theft is to take something that the entire village uses and to keep it for yourself, or to destroy it. Va'mukatha might be punished by lashes, or worse, amputation of a hand. While amputation is uncommon, they've gone so far as to remove both hands for a repeat offender of va'mukatha on extreme occasions. So while this may be the lesser level of crime, it is still taken seriously. Va'gahabra is a crime like murder, but some murders are extreme enough to meet va'sheta. A murder in the heat of passion, a manslaughter where murder was not the intent, but the murder is still th blame for the death, is a va'gahabra crime. Killing an animal is also considered murder if the killing was done while a ban was in effect for population recovery or if the animal was not going to be eaten. Va'gahabra is punished by permenant exile from Weldbept. Adultury is also va'gahabra, as it is considered the death of love. Va'sheta is defilement and violation of nature. Such a crime is to wantonly chop down a tree, kill a Treant, to commit homicide with full intent, to rape, among other acts. One convicted of a va'sheta crime will be stripped naked, regardless of the time of year, stripped of all weaponry, and sent into the forest. They have one hour to go as far as they can and then the entire village hunts them down. A va'sheta convict almost never survives ten minutes into the hunt so much as meets the borders of Weldbept. But if they do, they are free to live their life, so long as they never return.

Government
Their government is very simple. Each village is lead by an Elder who is always a woman picked by the people of the village. The whole Croag nation is lead by a queen who is a woman picked by the villages. The queen is the final authority for the nation as the Elder is for the village. Her rule is absolute. However, if deemed against the will of the Treants or against nature, the priests and shamans can override or even remove her from power. The priests and shamans have a council, the Council of the Wayward Leaf, that in part keeps the power of the Queen in check. Village matters are handled by village priests in their own, often diverse, ways. Queenship or Elderhood is not passed on from mother to daughter. There are no princesses, the daughter of a queen is not nobility. An example, Altagora was the daughter of Queen Amarene Oakbranch, but she openly mocked the notion of being a princess or being nobility of any time, considering it to be an absurd system of government, a popular opinion among Croags.

Foreign Relations
Weldbept borders three nations: Darincedonia to the west, Anvarra to the north and east and Azalmar to the south. Seeing the Azalnarians as wholly defiled and unnatural, they maintain a strong watch to the south and simply murder any black orc who enters the forests. They offer no trade or passage to any black orc for any exception; harboring such a being is a va'sheta crime among the Croags. The Anvarrans and the Darincedonians are ill-trusted and disliked among the Croags. The Croags have a greater dislike of Darincedonians because of their desire to evangelicize the Church of the One God to all human cultures. However, they will give safe passage through Weldbept, as well as allow for limited trade among both nations so long as they follow a rigid ritual.

First, the party desiring passage through the forest (generally its Darincedonians going to Anvarra or vice-versa, though northern Anvarra borders Darincedonia, passage through Weldbept is faster in order to reach southern locations, like Sumerkund) must carry a fireblossom as they enter. This flower signifies that they are not hostile and is used for the second part of the ritual.

Second, after they meet the Croags (usually less than a mile after entering the woods) they are taken aside as a Croag shaman places the flower in a fire. The shaman then reads from the smoke to see if the group intends to cause harm to the Croags, or whether the group harbors any warlocks, witches or other unnatural magics. If so, the group is escorted out of the woods. If a black orc is among the group, the entire group is va'sheta, and will be killed. If not, the Croags will escort the group through the woods, and ensure that their laws are followed. Any broken law will be treated accordingly. Most honest merchants are given passage.