Confeds are in popular imagination primitive brutish, cannabilistic humanoids who live in
the northern extremes of the Wilderlands and eat carrion. Their culture is perceived as being
barely above that of animals and
they are frequently compared unfavourably with the
Elephan Caveman. There exists an ancient treatise by the
druid Sorrel which suggests they are much misunderstood.
'Confed' is their name for themselves and is short for Confederates, citizens of an ancient
empire in the far north says Sorrel. Their myths say they fled some natural disaster and being no longer
able to build stone houses they adapted to life in the wild. Far from being the chaotic beasts
of imagination their lives are controlled by elaborate ritual both in hunting and warfare.
The popular perception is not helped by their unlovely appearance as they are extremely obese
and
hairy. The Confed tribes are controlled by priestesses who may have the pick of the men for
husbands although most choose not more than two of three. The priestesses control the rituals of
daily life and even their warfare: Sorrel reports the priestesses acting as if they
were refereeing
a sport, blowing their horns to stop a battle between tribes and counting the dead and
wounded to ascertain a winner.
Although it is true that the Confeds are cannibals it is largely because they see it as an
offensive waste to leave corpses on the battlefield. Further a tribe is expected to eat its
own casualties rather than those of its enemy. Only after 24 hours have past is it permitted
to eat the bodies of your enemies and it is considered a shameful thing for a tribe to leave
its casualties to be eaten is this way. Encounters with more civilised humans tend to go badly
because they are unaware of the Confed rituals for establishing trade. Parties in Confed lands
are therefore seen as invaders often to be driven off by the Confed mammoth cavalry which can
be a terrifying experience.
Having said this Sorrel acknowledges that the Confeds lack any kind of empathy towards
non-Confeds and find it difficult to imagine that any would not know their rituals. The tribes
even change their rituals from time to time which leads to conflict with other tribes who have
not been informed. Sorrel advises careful study of the current rituals from hiding before
making contact with them. He further believes that a degenerative disease may have played
a part in the collapse of their civilisation.