Sea Peoples

The Sea Peoples are a loose league of seafaring nomad tribes whose ships wander the waters and coasts of Mediterranea and northern Gondwana. Their origins are uncertain: some say they descend from First Age Atlantean colonists, others that they are the final remnant of an old civilization wiped out by the Great Cataclysm. Second Age scholars tend to dismiss these claims, but the Sea Peoples do appear to be a mixed race; as with the first Atlanteans, most are tall and dark-skinned, yet their hair varies widely in color and texture.

They have long wanted a homeland and always been refused one. The Tharshi, the Hesperians and the Atlanteans all bar them from their lands, and Hyperborea's Vanir and Alba's Ska often attack their ships on sight, mainly to carry off their women, who are considered very beautiful. Only the Cymbrian corsairs have offered help, and only in return for their allegiance, which the Sea Peoples have so far refused.

Lacking a home, they sometimes hire themselves out as soldiers or sailors. Their warriors are respected, skilled with short bow, javelin and spear, and usually wear leather armor. They own many ships, mostly small and medium sailing craft, but never use them for mercenary work. Tribes of 50 to 300 people with 1 to 6 vessels may be met anywhere in the Mediterranean region; there may be as many as fifty tribes, but seldom do more than a dozen gather at once except in times of trouble. Many uninhabited Mediterranean islets serve them as supply stops and havens.