Uthgardt

The Uthgardt is a collective term used to refer to various human barbarian tribes who worship the deity Uthgar. Each tribe was named after a beast totem of Uthgar who mediated between the deity and his people.

Description
The Uthgardt were humans, often with black hair and blue eyes.

Culture
They spoke a dialect of Illuskan and were believed to be related to the Northlanders of Ruathym.

No Uthgardt would willingly cut down a living tree.

History
The Uthgardt originally consisted of Northman raiders from Ruathym, Netherese Runlathan refugees, and various others who swore fealty to Uthgar Gardolfsson. They gathered around 100 DR.

They became the Uthgardt after their leader's death from wounds suffered in battle with Gurt, Lord of the Pale Giants, in the Year of the Icy Axe, 123 DR. Individuals took up worship of the thirteen beast spirits that Uthgar had claimed to have tamed, and formed into tribes along this religious divide.

In the Year of Watchful Eyes, 705 DR, the mages of The Covenant used their magic to create an alliance between the disparate tribes of Uthgardt in order for them to stand united against coming orc and goblinoid hordes.

The mages tasked them first with hunting down and killing orc chieftains to prevent hordes forming behind them. Their first major engagement was during the Goblin Wars of the Year of Strife, 753 DR. Then, while fighting an army of ogres, orcs, and goblins in the Evermoors, the Elk tribe was almost wiped out defending Flintrock and the survivors descended into banditry. The alliance dissolved in 802 DR when it could no longer sustain the losses that it was taking.

Uthgardth Tribes

 * Black Lion
 * Black Raven
 * Blue Bear
 * Elk
 * Gray Wolf
 * Great Worm
 * Griffon
 * Red Tiger
 * Sky Pony
 * Tree Ghost
 * Thunderbeast

The Red Pony and Golden Eagle tribes vanished into the Underdark in 576 DR and were not heard from since. Most assume them to be extinct. Before their disappearance, both tribes had attended the Uthgardt Runemeet and shared the One Stone ancestral mound with the Sky Pony tribe. Residents of the Underdark however, discovered their descendants, now grimlocks, living in and around the Cavern of Cloven Heads.