Roleplaying as a Pict.

For folks who want to roleplay a Pict!
I have taken what was from the RPG books and made it simple, to give an idea of each culture.

The Picts

The Picts area warlike race of barbarians, strong and shadowy, the fiercest of all the savage races of
the Hyborian Age, and, ultimately, its greatest foe. The conflicts of this campaign setting set the stage for the horrible conflagrations of the future, foreshadowing the downfall of this legendary age. From the earliest age, the Picts have haunted the world, rising and falling with its fortunes, but ever enduring, waiting for their time, their moment of glory, a moment that is not far off.

The Picts existed long before the Cataclysm that wiped out the Atlanteans and Lemurians. During that far off age, the Picts dwelled among a chain of islands far out into the Western Ocean. The Picts of that era allied themselves with the civilised peoples of the age and began to acquire the trappings of a civilised culture themselves. A small colony of Picts even left their traditional island homes to live in the southern portion of Valusia. When the Cataclysm struck, the Pictish Isles were thrust upward in a destructive convulsion which formed the mountains of a new continent, and the Picts were utterly annihilated... save for that one small colony.

The Valusian colony of Picts were blasted back into the stone age, becoming savage brutes living in caves and making weapons of flint and bone. They retained a dim recollection of their heritage as a single culture until the second cataclysm rumbled across the world, and in its wake even that was lost. All that remained was the word, ‘Pict.’ Their ancient enemies, the Atlanteans, fared even
worse than they, and regressed back into a bestial shadow of their former selves. For thousands of years the Picts slowly climbed out of their cultural quagmire of barely articulate savagery and while they never advanced further than the Stone Age technologically, they formed a new culture and identity west of the Shirki River.

The Pict’s first dealings with outsiders were with the Acheronians, who enslaved a few of their kind, but otherwise had little contact with them. Then came the Hyborians; from the north they pushed the Picts back from the Shirki River and across the Bossonian Marches, until they came to rest in what would become known as the Pictish Wilderness. This stretch of untamed timberland extended from Cimmeria and Vanaheim in the north to the Valley of Zingg in the south. To the west the Picts lived along the shore of the Western Ocean, and their eastern
border was an unnamed river at the edge of the Bossonian Marches, about 20 miles to the east of the Thunder River. For 500 years they dwelt among this lush vastness, trading and raiding, and growing resentful of their eviction from and that became a mythical promised land to them.

But as Aquilonia became hungry for more land, the Picts were again forced westward, this time being pushed beyond the Thunder River, while the land between the Thunder and what had become the Black River became the Westermarck. The Picts were outraged. War councils were held, and still the Picts did nothing, waiting, lurking, hoping. The barons of Aquilonia in their gleaming Hyborian cities, not satisfied with the strip of land between Thunder and the Marches, pushed across the river, taking the lands between the Thunder and the Black River. War drums beat through the dark forest like a quickening pulse and, led by a charismatic shaman, the Picts waged their first real war against the Hyborians, pushing the greedy Aquilonia back to the Thunder.

Now, inspired by their victory, the Picts are hungry, and their hunger will only be slaked by the conquest of the Westermarck.

The Picts of the Hyborian Age are a remarkable people, with a dark and gruesome culture, barbaric tribal markings, an unrivalled ability to live off the land, their own types of food, unique patterns of trade, a terrifying style of warfare, an ability to travel quickly and a powerful religion based around the darkest of gods, demons and spirits.

Pict names

Pictish names tend to be either Iroquois-style names or descriptive names like ‘Hawk’. Tribal names are also based on the tribal animal totems, for example, the Wolf Clan.
Akaratsi
Ateronto
Atiehwata
Aweri
Ehsa
Ennahson
Erihkowa
Ia’tehontawenriestahkhwa
Ikhsas
Ikhseronnis
Ikkerons
Ikkwenies
Iontahkwenniaientahkwa
Ioresen
Kahonweia
Kanatso
Kanenten
Kaneron
Kanon’no
Karihton
Karihton
Karontaraken
Katewentehtha
Kenakore
Kenakore
Ken’ta’ke
Kentiohkwaienton
Kentiohkwanoron
Kerennhas
Kheiatonties
Kheiatotarhoks
Kheienterhas
Khekwennires
Kheteronnes
Kienahs
Kienteres
Kienterhas
Kienterhas
Kierits
Kierits
Kiesas
Niwatahtsheroten
Ohikta
Ohna
Ohnatsha
Ohnenhsa
Ohnhoskwarha
Ohniasa
Ohniohkwa
Ohnitsha
Ohokwa
Ohosera
Ohsa
Ohsokwa
Ohtsohkoton
Okahrohsta
Okara
Okwire
Okwire
Okwire’shona
Okwitsha
Ona’ke
Onaseta
Onehta
Onekwenhsa
Onekwenhtara
Onekwenta
Onennohkara
Onenta
Onen’takwenhtentshera
Onen’ta’onwe
Onerahtase’kowa
Onerahte
Onerahtonta
Onhwentsiakaionne
Oniara
Onionsa
Ononkwis
O’nonna
Ononta
Ononwara
O’rhenionkwa
Oronhkwena
Ose
Ose’kowa
O’sora
Ostien
Othwensa
Otiohkwa
Otokenha
Otsinakwa
Otskenrha
Otskwena
Oweionkara
Owira
Raotitiohkwa
Ratiksa’okona
Ronnonkwe
Sewahiowane
Sewahiowane’onwe
Shahre’on
Skaniatarati
Ska’nionhsa
Sotar
Tarakwi
Tehatiiahsontha
Teiakiatonts
Teiakonia’tawne’eks
Tekekhas
Tekontinonniakwa
Tiawenroten
Tsiorahsa
Tsorahsa
Wahta
Wakenakerenhs
Wakientas

Culture of the Painted Devils

The mysterious Picts are a primitive people whose bloodthirsty culture engenders fear and loathing in those cultures who most often come into conflict with them, including Vanir, Cimmeria, Zingara and Hyboria. This sinister culture, however, is not well known or studied, and few outside of the Pict nations know their brutal ways and cruel customs. Their unsavoury culture is one of stone-aged tribal living, powerful chiefs and influential speakers, tribal traditions and fearlessness.

Clothing and Appearance

Clothing for a Pict is a simple affair. They favour buckskin, usually dying it black, which is a colour symbolic of war for them. The men generally wear a breech cloth and leggings, although in cooler weather they also don long-sleeve hide shirts. They also wear seamless moccasins, although the exact style and cut varies from tribe to tribe. The Picts also wear body parts from slain foes and hunted animals, such as necklaces of teeth or cloaks made from their skins. The dark Pictish women tend to wear buckskin dresses, skirts or loin-clouts, as well as soft moccasins, though some just wear a buckskin apron and body paint.

Many tribes of Picts have the hair plucked from the entire body of the warriors, save for the long pony tail called the scalping tuft, which is left so that an enemy can have it should the warrior fall in battle, for the scalp is a true trophy of victory. For some tribes, the taking of a scalp is more important than killing the foe. Trophies and ornaments indicating tribal affiliations and ranking are often woven into a Pict’s hair.

The number and manner in which feathers are worn indicate the tribe. Most feathers are worn on a head band or tied directly to their hair. Hawkmen wear three upright hawk feathers. Cormorants wear two downward cormorant feathers. Wolves wear a single eagle feather in an upright position. Eagles wear a single eagle feather in a downward position. The Turtles wear three upright eagle feathers placed near a small turtle-shell comb tied to the headband in the midst of the feathers. The Wildcats wear three eagle feathers, with two of them upright and the third tilted downward. Feathers stained scarlet indicate chieftainship. White heron feathers are considered a sign
of truce or peace and is respected by all Pict tribes for fear of offending the gods or spirits around them.

Picts in a war party wear distinctive paint on their bodies to give themselves supernatural strength and preternatural stealth, not to mention a healthy dose of luck. When going to war with the Hyborians, they paint a white skull on
their chests. In addition to war paint, Picts use body paint for a variety of reasons, including hunting. Pictish paint is difficult to remove, although it naturally fades in about four weeks. When going to war, Picts usually dress only in a loin cloth, war paint, moccasins and carry only their weapons, a leather strap (for tying captives) and provisions.

The Picts will use different styles of paint, depending on what the Pict is up to. Hunting paint is common and if a Pict not in war paint is killed, then that action is subject to retribution by the slain member’s tribe. It is extremely bad form to kill a Pict not in war paint and worse to mutilate his body. The Picts believe their bodies in the after-life resemble their bodies at death if not killed in war, so if a body is left for the vultures or mutilated, the Picts believe the dead will suffer greatly in the afterlife. There is no worse insult for a Pict or his tribe – it is akin to telling them that they will suffer eternal torment, and that they deserved it.

Picts, both male and female, also engage in the tattooing of the body. They use a sharpened bone to prick the skin, then rub in soot to create the pattern. Some tribes, especially the Alligator, insert small stones into their skin to create a pattern of raised-skin scarring. Some tribes cover their entire bodies in tattooing or ritual scarring.

Shamans decorate themselves in bear furs, many feathers, savage masks and grotesque costumes and gear. Ostrich feathers from Zingaran traders are a preferred shamanic token of power.

Tribal Organisation

The Picts have a Stone Age culture, one of the most primitive of the Hyborian Age, although they have, through contact with Hyborian civilisations, learned to work copper and tin. The Picts are experts at utilising whatever is at hand to serve whatever needs they may have.

The Picts live in menacing tribes named after totem animals. These tribes, while politically independent and with their own distinct territories with gruesome traditions and rituals, are interconnected through marriage and their own totemic tribal system. Identity within a tribe is deep-seated and complete; a Pict of the Hawk tribe has a distinct personality, which is completely different to that of a Pict of the Alligator tribe, although the common settler may see
little difference.

These tribes often believe they are descendants of the animal spirit from which they take their name or that the totem animal assisted a common ancestor in some way. The various tribes are subdivided into clans, groups of related families, which rarely co-operate and are usually at war with one another.

To the Pict, family and kinship is key to the stability of the tribe, defining the individual Pict’s rights and obligations toward others. To be a cousin, a son, a daughter, a nephew, a father or an elder defines distinct roles for the Pict. These familial roles delineate how Picts act toward one another,
depending on relationship. Those few foreigners who come to their villages for a length of time find themselves ‘adopted’, given the name of ‘brother’ or even ‘cousin’ so that are all are aware of their social position and how to act accordingly toward them. Even objects such as crops are given sibling status. In this manner, everyone who lives in a village or settlement is considered part of a body of relatives led by the most respected and powerful members.

Reputation plays an important part in Pictish society.

Without the complicated and artificial societal segregation enforced in civilised societies, the Picts tend to pay more attention to the reputation of a speaker. Those with great reputations will become chiefs and leaders simply by virtue of their notable deeds and actions. Boasting is one thing, but reputation speaks truth in the minds of the Picts, a high level of skill can make one useful to the clan or tribe, but a strong reputation is absolutely necessary if a Pict wants to command the attention and actions of others.

Chiefs, Speakers and Village Government

The tribes are led by the chiefs, speakers and councils. A chief among the Picts is not a dictator who rules the village, clan or tribe and there are many kinds of chiefs among the Picts, as a result a village likely will have several chiefs. There are civil chiefs, achievement chiefs, hereditary chiefs
and speakers.

Civil Chiefs:
Chosen for their age and wisdom, govern the village by administering justice, organising celebrations, receiving guests, allocating hunting and fishing lands and serving diplomatic functions. These chiefs could not afford to be tyrannical or incompetent, for they would lose their followers, who would leave and join another village. In addition to the chosen civil chiefs, there are ranks of achieved chiefs.

Chiefs of Merit:
Almost all Picts are born as commoners in low-ranking families, but if they perform great deeds,
some will attain the status of chiefs by merit of their achievements. Great warriors of renown may become a war chief, speakers of incredible oratory skill may be granted chief status, hunters who have distinguished themselves may be named a hunting chief. Those chieftainships granted due to achievements are non-hereditary and although the title dies with chief. Picts may earn more than one chief title.

Hereditary Chiefs:
Those whose titles are passed down to them from maternal lines, have no voting power, though they are given a small measure of additional respect due to their heritage. Hereditary chiefs control community property, are expected to provide dogs and canoes to hunting or war parties, and are responsible for village reserves for times of bad weather.

Speakers:
Chosen for their intelligence and diplomatic skills by councils and chiefs to spea for them and make announcements of their decisions. Speakers have impressive memories and are walking archives of lore and history. The women of a village, as a collective, have a speaker as do the warriors. The speakers, along with the chiefs and the village elders, who also have a voice in government by virtue of their age, regardless of sex, meet in council to make decisions. This council is responsible for local policies and decisions.

Pictish Clans

Hawk or Onayaga
Wolf
Eagle
Toucan
Cormorant
Sea-falcon
Wildcat
Turtle
Panther
Alligator
Otter
Hornbill
Raven

Tribal Traditions and Traditional Roles

Although the chiefs and councils make most decisions, many decisions have been handed down for centuries as traditions. Young women are eligible for marriage as soon as they reach puberty, but men can only marry after they master the ability to hunt, fish and can prove they can provide for a family. Many of the tribes also require a war trophy to prove the valour of the young man before he can marry. Although the puberty ritual for a girl is not terribly demanding (involving being sequestered in a certain hut for a month while covered with a blanket, then given a special head-dress to show their eligibility for marriage), the coming of age ritual for a young man is one of the simple but bloodthirsty rituals inexplicable to civilised beings Dancing and feasting precedes the rigorous and potentially deadly initiation rite for the boys. The women then mourn for the boys as the men take them into the woods and symbolically sacrifice them to the dark gods of the forest. For the next few months, the boys are subjected to horrific ordeals to test their endurance and ability to withstand torture. They are also forced to drink hallucinogenic herbal concoctions. These vile drinks practically drive the boys insane, deranging them so badly they have to be kept in wooden cages. Afterward, the surviving boys are returned to their village and their families rejoice at their resurrection with another feast and more orgiastic dancing. Any who show signs of reverting back to boyish behaviour are taken for another ritual, and few survive a second ordeal. This dire treatment is felt to better prepare the Picts for their adult life and teach them the discipline and courage necessary to hold the tribe together.

In addition to the various life-cycle rites, tradition and council establish several other tribal laws. Murder, for example, is traditionally punishable by forcing the murderer to give gifts to the deceased’s family. If a woman is murdered, most tribes have established that forty gifts, each worth a beaver robe or more in value, is necessary. If a man is murdered, then twenty or thirty gifts are necessary. Village councils set most punishments for the various crimes based on tradition. As there are few taboos among the Picts only in the rarest and gravest of circumstances is a crime punishable by death.

Premarital and extramarital sex is not taboo among most tribes. During idle hours, men and women play with each other in openly erotic ways, often darting from one grisly, skull-encrusted hut to another after dark to take whatever pleasures they see fit to take. So long as both are eligible for marriage no one is bothered. If a girl became pregnant, she becomes the wife of the father. If she does not know who the father was, she simply chooses the lover she likes best. If the pregnant girl is already married, then her husband is the father, regardless of the biological truth. Powerful warriors and chiefs might watch over their wives jealously, but lower-ranking men tend to be less possessive, allowing their wives to consort with other men, even treating such shameless behaviour as a courtesy to guests and friends. Most of these decadent liaisons take place with the husband’s consent, as then he can also do the same. However, this depraved behaviour does make proving paternity difficult, as such hereditary titles or a particular tribal privilege, are passed from the mother to her children.

Day to day life varies with the season, but a few constants exist. In general, the Picts retire early, sleeping with a block of wood, a stone or a bundle of precious items beneath their heads, pulling over dark bodies pelts for covers and placing their feet toward the fire. They greet the dawn with a ritualised but frightening prayer of thanks for another opportunity to hunt and slay. The Picts have strongly defined roles for both sexes. Men are expected to be hunters, warriors, builders, governors and diplomats. The forest is their domain. Women are expected to do the drudge work, growing crops and raising children. Save for governing, the village and the surrounding fields are the domain of the women. A senior matron, chosen for her reputation and charisma, leads the women in planting, cultivating and harvesting the food grown for the village in ritualised methods based on the principle of mutual aid. The crops the women grow are considered sisters to them. The women also gather and bring in firewood, prepare meals and allocate food resources among the village so everyone eats. Outsiders see the women as living the lives of drudges and slaves, but rarely comprehend that the labours of the women bring them credit and great honour among the Picts, valued for their contribution. Anything a Pict woman produces is hers to dispose of and, if a couple separate, these assets go with the woman. Virtually all property, save a man’s weapons and clothes, belong to the woman. The oldest woman in a Pictish hut is the head of that hut and men who marry move to their new wife’s hut. If a woman’s husband or kinsman is killed, she can demand an enemy captive in compensation, even if that starts yet another war. Women are also valued as the maintainers of society, for they raise the children. The women are mindful not to coddle a child, but they are by no means negligent. Boys are encouraged to fight other children with mock weapons and girls are slowly introduced to their own duties. As any culture not concerned with the protection of their women and children is doomed to fail, the Picts consider the continuity of their lifestyle and the existence and persistence of their women to be one and the same.

Although women strive to excel at agriculture, the men strive to become renowned huntsmen and becoming a skilled hunter is a prestigious role among the Picts, already a race of accomplished woodsmen. Going into the woods to hunt is dangerous and the Picts respect bravery. From age eight onward, a boy is free to wander off into the woods to live off the land for days at a time, often in groups of friends. When a boy kills his first deer without assistance, he is allowed to hunt with the men.

The Picts respect those who provide for the clan. The Picts bring down over 2,000 deer per year per village. Regardless of the kills, the Picts show the utmost respect for the animals they hunt. The first deer is sacrificed to birds of prey, and Picts never throw animal bones to the dogs or place skinned carcasses on the ground. Every aspect of their life is dominated by an awareness of their lush environment and every rite, ceremony and superstition emphasises a respect for their environment.

The autumn season is the Picts’ primary hunting season. Hunting parties leave the villages after the harvest and take to the woods to hunt, living in temporary and mobile camps. They do not return to the villages until the winter solstice, bringing with them smoked and dried meat they
brought down during the season. Individual hunters and hunting parties go out for short periods during the rest of the year, depending on the needs of the village. In midsummer, the Picts hunt eagles for their feathers, used for outfits and the wings for religious dances. The Picts kill the eagles by either throwing heavy stones, using bows and arrows or by tossing nets in the air.

The Horror of the Shamans

The shamans of the tribe also use captives as sacrifices to their depraved gods in atrocious ceremonies designed to terrify and awe spectators. The shamans use the captives to prove their supernatural powers to the rest of the tribe, especially if envoys or visitors from other tribes are present. Many will use captives to practice their unspeakable magic on, teaching their dreadful ways to their apprentices, both the apprentices and the rest of the tribe delight in these ghastly displays, expecting and hoping for nothing less.

Grim Tortures
Picts are particularly cruel to captives they choose not to adopt, especially male captives. The Picts are also enormously adept at torture, instigating torture ceremonies that last for days. Picts consider it an evil omen if captives do not weep and beg for mercy, so the torture of captives is exceedingly grisly and unbearably unrelenting. Many tribes start out the torture by shooting arrows or flinging axes at the prisoners, hoping merely to make them flinch. After a fun, but mild start, the Picts get nasty, using lit brands to burn the unhappy wretches a little at a time. It is not uncommon for Picts to tear out the fingernails of their victims and burn the sensitive ends of the fingers afterwards. Captives receive deep cuts and brutal, scalding burns all over their bodies. The frightful Picts scalp their
victims, leaving them alive and pouring hot tree sap or gum onto the crown of the head. They have been known to pierce their victims’ arms near the wrists with sticks, to pull out his sinews by grotesque tugs of war. Horrific amputations of limbs, tongues or fingers using flint stones are common. The breaking of bones and displacement of joints are also commonplace tortures. They often cut off the feet or burn the soles of their feet to keep captives from escaping. Both men and women participate in the torture, laughing and making fun of the victims, always hoping to break them down.

Execution at Dawn
The execution is begun by leading the captive to a scaffold outside the village. The Picts blind the captive with a burning brand, scalp him if that has not already been done, then force the victim to eat some of his own flesh. Then they either cut off his head or break it open with a club. Once the victim is dead, they open his body and distribute his internal organs to the children of the tribe. The children hang the entrails on sticks and parade them through the village. If the prisoner had been exceptionally brave or noteworthy, the young warriors of the village would roast and eat his heart to obtain some of his courage.

Even these hideous tortures do not compare to the horrors a shaman may inflict if he decides to use the victim as a ritual sacrifice to the Pictish gods.

The Talking Drums

The drum is holy to the Picts, for it represents the beating hearts of the spirits that inhabit the world and the spirit realms.The dire drums used by the Picts for communicating over long distances are carved from logs and covered with deer hide, laced and tightened with wedges. The echoing drums make different sounds that imitate speech depending on how they are struck. Tapping it with the fingers produces a different sound to slapping it with the palms, and striking it in the centre or the rim or the sides produces yet more different sounds. A troupe of drummers in the dark play with one hand and one stick, except for the lead drummer, the one with the best Perform skill. The lead drummer plays a massive bass drum with two thick sticks. He uses the aid another action to improve the overall playing.

All Picts are versed in Talking Drum as a language. They can understand the thundering beats echoing throughout their dense woodland. One discrete piece of information can be communicated as a full round action. Certain feats and abilities can allow a properly trained drummer to use the talking drum to influence others, bolster allies and evoke fear in his enemies.

[The Black Death]

Not sure if it's mentioned here, but when creating a Pict and making their appearance, it's key to make them look Neanderthal-esque given their description, and not with asian eyes like actual Native Americans. Along with them having a more caveman-like style to them in their attire over pure Native American-esque attire, and what I mean by "caveman-like style" is mostly bones and furs/hides for most of their attire along with some slim American Indian attire influences, but most people tend to think they'd be a carbon copy and I always thought that as wrong but understandable. Not to mention some keen Real World Pict influences thrown in here and there as well, body paints are the most important part of course.

[Dragonbearwizard]

not gonna lie, conan lore and races a littlebit lame while being a littlebit sick with it.

[incendito]

Awesome. I never consulted the RPG book but instinctively chose to play any Pict I rolled, not as a northern Celtic Pict but as a Native American usually specifically using Mohawk names. I had seen it mentioned somewhere in passing that Howard might have used Native Americans as his inspiration for the Picts at some stage. (Though in general I think he just settled for whatever he could call savages)

[Economic Terrorist]

You know, I always imagined the Picts as blood drinking, pelt wearing (if any), knuckle draggers who live naked in the woods.

[GDHO]

Bro I love you with every fiber of my being

[Thwarg]

The game needs more Pict related things, like the ability to start with Jhebbal Sag.

[KillThemAll]

Excellent game impossible to play due to the high number of toxic players called "hackers" who are dedicated to paying third-party applications with which to cheat, thus emptying all official servers while administrators are dedicated to ignoring what happened.
A real shame, since in the long run it is nothing more than a waste of time.

[HOUSEOFTHEVIKINGR]

HOW DO I JOIN THISS

[saph0704]

Ok, thanks

[The Victorianist]

Jhebbal Sag can easily be given with help from people or by admins for roleplay purposes.
They would never worship gods which do not benefit them such as Crom, Ymir, Set and so on.