Otesium

The valley of the River Eridanus is home to the Otesi, a primitive hunter-gatherer people who claim Sidhe blood. Their vaguely defined land touches Palasgea, Vir, Saturnia, Draconea and the Mediterranean Sea. Fair of hair and skin, which may support their claim of mixed human and nymph descent, they think more like the Sidhe than most humans and are happy to live at peace with the natural world.

They collect olives, figs, grapes and berries of every sort, hunt for food and wander the valley in extended families with no permanent homes. Each group is independent, though most are related, and is led by its oldest living member; age is honored above everything, and the whole tribe heeds its eldest. The Otesi are very long-lived, often passing a hundred, and age slowly, though for all their talk of nymph ancestry they are most likely not immortal or ever-young.

They make tools of stone, wood and bone and clothing and tents of fur and hide. They hunt with spears, helped by tame dogs that track and chase game. In their rare battles, usually against raiders out of Vir or Draconea, they fight with spears, stone maces and hurled stones, with their dogs trained to fight beside them. Proud of their spearwork, they have never adopted sling or bow.

Outsiders seldom come. The Otesi are more at ease with nymphs, satyrs and similar beings than most humans are. Tharshi traders visited generations ago, found nothing worth buying and left quickly, so although the land lies near the trade routes, foreign contact is now limited to occasional Vir tribesmen, usually out adventuring. The nymphs of Saturnia, who drive out other humans, are on good terms with them.