[Blog] The Burrower Wars Part III: Life of Keres

[Havard]

Was Keres a Pict?
Of course the following quote is how I managed Picts in one of my Blackmoor campaigns, but the Picts we also mentioned in the FFC 

King Robert I of Geneva, about a millennium ago guided a great war fleet from Thonia to the lands now known as Blackmoor and took over without fighting the only meaningful settlement of the region: the whaling port of Maus. He claimed the whole region (calling it the Northern Marches) but barely stepped outside the walls of Maus, that at the time was inhabited mostly by Skandaharians and a mix of other refugees (...pirates...) from several lands. Outside Maus, the population was mostly Elves and a few, scattered Human tribes technologically at early Bronze Age (now usually called pre-Thonians and sometimes also Picts, as they used to paint their bodies with colours made with minerals or herbs).

Perhaps. 

As you say, Picts were mentioned in the FFC. It is possible they were included because Arneson was interested in British History, or because of all the Conan pastiche novels he had been reading. Or both. 

Some speculate that Picts were turned into Orcs in the later stages of the Arneson campaign. 

The way I handled Picts IMC, is that I rolled them in with the Valemen. I prefer not using real historical names for groups when I write about Blackmoor, but I still want to keep the concepts from Arneson's campaign. It is possible that a distinct Pict-like group once existed within the Valemen and might still do, or they are just the same group. Mainly I consider the Valemen the original humans of the North, living in the wilds of the region before King Robert's arrival. The Peshwa were also around, but kept mostly to the plains while Valemen were found in the woods and swamplands. 

With the story of Keres and the Burrower Wars, these events take place in a much more distant past. The humans of that time were Neanderthal-like Brute Men. They were not neceesarily stupid however, although many were corrupted by the evils living beneath the ground they walked on. But likely they were the ancestors of Picts/Valemen and likely Thonians too. 

That's how it works IMC anyway

-Havard