Plainsmen (Backgrounds)
Plainsmen
These individuals are those that rarely spend time around the settlements, regardless of their caste. Completing the Rite of Ranging will ensure that they are tasked with more onerous and distant roles, and the bounties that come with this responsibility.
Messenger
There are many clans in this land, all of whom must be ready to compete for land and herds. Scouts are charged with keeping track of clan store-pits, tracking other clans, and finding safe passages in times of extreme weather. These folk tend to be the primary means of communication with outsiders, usually through shouts and jeers rather than calculated diplomacy.
Warriors from an off-shoot of the depraved and despicable Taboti Clan had followed you through the mountains, no doubt hoping to learn from you the location of your clan’s winter fruit and root silos. They did not know the land as well as you, nor did they think you had already spotted them.
Through rocky ravines, winding passes, and across perilous edges you led them. You had already delivered a message on behalf of the elders to an allied clan, and so you had no need to rush.
By the time they understood that you were leading them on a wild and useless pursuit, the winter snows already assailed them. When the summer came you plucked from their thawing bones whatever treasures they had stolen from those less skilled than you.
Shepherd
Shepherds are valued and important members of any pastoral society. They watch over the herds, keeping away predators and bandits. They are also known to be highly superstitious folk, likely driven by long periods of isolation with naught but giant beetles to converse with and sing to.
You managed to drive off the last of the wolves; a few flaming sling bullets within their proximity always does the trick. But you discovered that the wolves were mere scavengers.
In the night, a band of outlaws had pushed one mother beetle into the ravine and had burnt straight through its softer under-chitin into the blubbery meat beneath. They seemed to have only harvested enough to feed themselves for a few days at best before they heard your approach and left without even removing the driving dagger buried in the beetle’s flank.
You sang a song of mourning for the fallen beast and offered up its flesh to the Jackal Prince. As you sang, the rest of the herd gathered in mourning and to comfort your guilt.
You kept a few chunks of chitin and ground them down into shot for your sling. You swore an oath that you would avenge the dishonour against these bandits.