Skye

The Ska of Skye are the same race as the Skara and were once one nation with them, until quarrels led Skye to go its own way. Skye takes up Alba's northwest coast beside Skara, Havar and Aboric. Unlike Skara it has plenty of woodland, so the Ska build in ordinary timber rather than slate, bother with neither sewers nor streets, and do build ships, being thoroughly at home on the water.

Originally hunter-gatherers, the Ska long ago learned seaborne piracy from the Cymbrians. Their raiders bring home extra food and luxuries, including metal goods looted from ships and coastal villages, and most Ska own some metal weapon or armor, won in battle or inherited from a lucky ancestor. They prefer longbows and battleaxes, using polished stone when metal is unavailable.

The Ska claim several offshore islands and often fight Cymbrian corsairs over them, for the two groups, alike as they are, are bitter rivals. The Ska have no allies at all, and their thin numbers make them more a nuisance than a real danger to northern trade. Their settlements are Uig and Oa. Uig, the larger, is home to the Corsair Chief of Skye and to a 90-foot natural stone pillar honoring the Old God Og. Many think it holds magical power, but the Ska, who avoid all religion, keep away from it, and some claim a Black Druid cult lives there and uses the monolith in dark rites.