Uallach

Uallach is a small realm in northern Iber, a survival of the people who lived there before the Picts. Named for the greatest bardic poetess in recorded history, it is a center of bardic lore; druidic magic is strong, and its forests and glens are full of music and poetry. Its people are closest kin to Alba's Abor, sharing their light skin and dark hair, but they are nonviolent, living by simple gathering and basic farming and relying on powerful druidic magic to hold off the Picts, who would otherwise have overrun them long ago.

Bards and druids have always treated it as a sacred place of study and worship; even foreigners from Alba come to learn its lore, and elder druids from many lands retire here to spend their last days in peace teaching the young. Its government is a council of the settlements' druid leaders, the Ancient Order of the Council of Uallach, which elects one member to lead it for a year and a day. That leader represents the Council abroad and is treated almost like a monarch by foreigners, but the Council itself makes all laws and judges all criminal and civil cases.

Uallach is friendly enough to outsiders but close only to Havar in Alba, with which it shares much; its druids often attend Havar's Great Festivals. It has no love for the colony of Tara and little to do with most 'civilized' peoples, judging each visitor individually, helping the needy and turning away those whose attitudes clash with druidic ideals.

Oak groves known as Hawwa circles are scattered across the land, along with huge standing stones (Og monoliths). People live in solid stone-slab houses like those of Skara, though these would offer little shelter if the Picts ever broke the protective magic. Many beastmasters also dwell alone in the woods alongside their animal friends; in contrast to the druids they are quite militant, guarding the woods and their inhabitants against Pictish raids and other threats, and no one knows how many there are.