In the northernmost reaches of Albion lies Ness-Aukirk, a land of jagged mountains, storm-lashed coasts, and wind-swept moors. Winters here are long and brutal, and the soil yields little. Its people do not live gently; they endure, or they perish.
The clans of Scoti call Ness-Aukirk their home. Fierce, proud, and unyielding, they are known across Albion as raiders and warriors. To the southern duchies they are barbarians — painted, fur-clad marauders who descend in warbands to burn, plunder, and vanish back into the highlands. Yet to themselves, they are guardians of their land, bound to their ancestors and the spirits of the wild.
The Scoti live by clan loyalty — bloodlines and oaths to chiefs and war-leaders.
Raiding is both survival and tradition: southern wealth fuels their winters, and each raid adds to clan glory.
They keep the old faith, mingling druidic rites with ancestor worship, fire festivals, and offerings to mountain and sea.
Each clan carries a totem beast — wolf, stag, raven, or bear — said to guide them in battle.
The Scoti favor swift, brutal warfare:
Shield walls broken by sudden charges.
Ambushes in misted glens and narrow passes.
Longships raiding the southern coasts.
Many wield axes, spears, and great claymores; some daub themselves with woad and fight half-naked, to terrify their foes.
Though painted as savages, the Scoti hold deep mysticism. Their seers (known as Ban-sidhe or Skywatchers) read the stars and storms, claiming to hear the voices of gods and ancestors. Some say Scoti shamans wield power rivaling the druids of Wodehallow — though wilder, bloodier, and tied to the land’s violence.
To the southern duchies, Ness-Aukirk is a scourge, a lawless frontier of raiders and rebels.
To the Scoti, the south are weaklings who claim lands never theirs, soft lords fattened on stolen earth.
Yet even among Scoti, not all clans agree: some dream of peace, trade, and kinship; others thirst only for blood and conquest.
Ness-Aukirk is both barrier and crucible — where Albion’s most desperate wars are fought, and its fiercest warriors born.