One thing to keep in mind is that every tribe also has members living outside of the tribal lands. Most of those people permanently reside in the cities – Boldhome, Jonstown, Swenstown, and Wilmskirk – and might have for generations. They are nonetheless members of their tribes.
For example, in Boldhome an approximate breakdown is as follows:
Tribe Population in Boldhome
- Aranwyth 350
- Balkoth 200
- Balmyr 350
- Cinsina 500
- Colymar 550
- Culbrea 550
- Dinacoli 150
- Dundealos 250
- Kheldon 900
- Kultain 150
- Lismelder 100
- Locaem 200
- Malani 300
- Sambarri 350
- Telmori 450
- Torkani 300
- Alone 200
- Aldachur 350
- Other 300
So you can see than the Kheldon actually have almost a 20% of their total numbers in Boldhome – 900 in the city and 4000 in their tribal lands.This is why the tribal manors are so important – they are places where tribemembers can go to resolve disputes with other tribal members and where they can get support in any dispute that might need to go to the Prince.
So you can also imagine at tribal assemblies, you get all these urban kinfolk showing up. With their connections, fancy clothes, and all that.
Thus in Boldhome, the Kheldon tribe are the most numerous and powerful tribe within the city. A distant second are the Culbrea and Colymar tribes, and third place is the Cinsina. Fourth place are actually the Telmori.Everyone else is small potatoes. And periodically people have to be reminded that the Lismelder are a tribe (“the who?”).
So if your adventurer is a member of the Colymar tribe, there’s a good chance she has kin in Boldhome. And not just a few, the average Colymar clan would have 46 members in Boldhome.
Telmori still exist as a tribe. Whether Sartar’s Peace can be reconstituted now that there is a new Prince is another question. The Telmori have not been enrolled as Kallyr’s royal bodyguard – the massacre of the Maboder and other Telmori depredations plus Jomes Wulf and the brutal reprisals against the Telmori are a lot to just sweep under the rug.
Aha, you might say – that only totals up to 6500 people. But you have already said there are 10,000 humans in Boldhome!Well, 3500 people in Boldhome, more than a third, aren’t Sartarite. About 2000 come from the Holy Country – say 700 from Esrolia, 1000 from Heortland, and 300 from the rest (probably mainly Caladraland). And another 1500 come from elsewhere – Grazelands, Prax, and Tarsh mainly.
There are also 1000 members of the Elder Races in Boldhome. The largest group are trolls – 675, although 300 are trollkin. There are also 200 elves in the city. And just outside the city in the mountains are 2000 dragonewts.
Remember that existing tribal numbers don’t factor in urban populations. The numbers represent the population within the tribal boundaries. So the 4000 Lismelder within the tribal boundaries likely includes a few hundred non-Lismelder spouses and guests. But I have zero interest in going down to that level of detail at this point.
We know of the Tribal Halls in Boldhome…Are there also “Clan Halls” for the most represented clans? No, these things get handled at a tribal level. Clans are first and foremost kinship groups, while tribes are hierarchical political institutions comprised of several large kinship groups.You might have areas or activities in a city controlled by a clan – I could certainly see the Black Rock monopolising certain things in Boldhome or the Frithan or Goodhaven in Jonstown.
Where do urban Telmori go or what do they do on Wildday? They stay in their tribal cave.
