Notable Characters: The Thistlefoot Tribe

[Barry_1066]

The Thistlefoot Tribe is a barbarian tribe who have recently settled in a sheltered corner of the Alishan Sands, somewhere to the southwest of Farwest City.

A curious mixture of races, this multi-cultural tribe has many a tale to tell of its history..... however, these tales were never written down so they tend to change slightly with every telling.

Many years ago in a time not so distant, there were several tribes of barbarians in the world. The Bearclaw tribe was a ferocious Human tribe who were extremely territorial, whilst the Panther Clan was a Half-Orc tribe whom, without meaning to sound repetitive, were ferocious and extremely territorial.
These two tribes distrusted the civilised world, though they both found use for a certain travelling merchant named Sunny Thistlefoot.

Sunny Thistlefoot, a halfling with a knack for conversational skills, often travelled between cities during his life as a merchant. He would buy silks from the Eastern Isles, then travel to the Elven cities and trade them whilst collecting rare wines which he would take to the Dwarves. From the Dwarves he would purchase weaponry and trade those to the Humans..... and so his circle of trade went on. Every city was his business ground, and his fortune was steadily growing.....
...All until the day he happened to wander between the warring Bearclaw and Panther tribes.
Due to the relations he had with both tribes (he had traded 'shiny things' to them on numerous occasions and walked away with a fortune in furs and meat), he discovered that the tribes actually ceased their fighting and were waiting for him and his caravan to 'get out of the way'. However, in a moment of sheer bravery (or blind stupidity) he instead started to baffle them with spurious logic. Being smarter than the average halfling, he managed to confuse the barbarians so much that they forgot their little dispute and found they agreed with him that they would be much better off as one tribe. They would be stronger and would have more land, plus they would have less enemies. It all seemed very sensible to the barbarians, which in itself was a unique experience for them.
So, content with his good deed for the day, Sunny Thistlefoot attempted to continue his journey...only to discover the barbarians blocking his exit.

And so it stands to this day. Chief Sunny Thistlefoot, the uniter of tribes, leads the relatively newly formed Thistlefoot Tribe. For many years now he has dwelled amongst them (he has to, as they refuse to let him leave) and teaches them the ways of bartering and haggling. He has even welcomed other races into his tribe. A gnomish shaman with a trend for the overly-dramatic rituals, for example, has settled with them. Also, several dwarves.

So, in short, the Thistlefoot Tribe is a multi-cultural congregation of barbarians and shamans, merchants and druids. They are maybe not as barbaric as many would assume, though clearly they are not as civilised as their chief would aspire them to be. The Thistlefoot Tribe now exists in a state of peace, though travellers beware.... A barbarian merchant who is trying to sell you a bleached bone... If they tell you they want 150gp for it, you may do well to just give them the 150gp, as you never know how restrained that individual merchants temper is (and bleached bones can hurt). Wink