How To Make Picts In Conan Lore

Given the lack of guides and need for proper de"pict"ions out there regarding the Picts, I thought I'd lend a hand and provide some of my keen insight on my favorite people of the Hyborian Age for aspiring artists or roleplayers out there, with this guide being useful for stuff even outside of Conan Exiles as well! I will be covering everything from their racial makeup and history, their style and designs for attire and warpaints, along with their weaponry and very limited metallurgy, and lastly how to realistically make a lore-accurate Pict in the series, while also talking about the previously bad de"pict"ions of them in various Conan media across the decades.

-Getting Started + The Picts in Conan Lore-

Just to get started, when creating or de"pict"ing this race in Conan, it's extremely important and vital to know and remember that these people are loosely related to Native Americans and notably share similar aspects to them in the original stories by Howard, but at the same time they are NOT complete stand-ins for said people, as it is noted that the Picts of the Thurian Age suffered cultural/racial separation between those on the Pictish Isles and those settling within Valusian territories of the Thurian Continent as a whole all thanks to the Great Cataclysm. Thus because of that, the Picts of the Hyborian Continent would seemingly interbreed with populations of Neanderthals there and would take on their short and stocky frames they are noted for, as well as their stone age stagnation that hadn't progressed much since their days during the Thurian Age. Whereas the Picts who managed to survive far to the west on the continent formed from the Pictish Isles would interbreed with survivors of Lemuria to gain more Asiatic-traits that the Native Americans are known for, as opposed to our own history where early pre-historic Asian populations would make it across the Bering Strait to reach the Americas which didn't happen in the Conan series. The Picts during the Hyborian Age would be slowly transitioning into the Real Life Picts that we know of from history, notably in their bodypaints and hairstyles, while their traditions/cultures and racial traits would be a holdover from their proto-Native American ancestors of the Thurian Age, with only some of it being bled out of their clans slowly due to said transitioning state between them and the later RL Picts.
The Picts are also noted to be a "white race"(whatever that means) but have darker skintones, darker than those of the Cimmerians or Hyborians yet not as dark as the peoples of the Black Kingdoms south of Stygia.

So keeping all of this in mind as a start, it's vital to remember that the Picts would still loosely share almost Native American-like aspects to them in some way(feathers, top knot or shaved ponytail haircuts, loincloths, moccasins, ect), but would also share typical "caveman" and or Neanderthal-esque aspects and attire as well(Hide clothing, bones here and there, stone age weaponry), in addition to them naturally beginning to develop early cultural traits and elements of the Picts from our own history(notably the body paints most of all), but would not be the whitewashed Picts like we've seen in other Conan-based media out there and of course the Picts would lack the facial hair of the real world Picts of history, as this would only happen FARRR after the Hyborian Age.
(With the original Conan movie de"pict"ing them as the whitewashed Picts of our own history...)

-Racial Traits of The Picts-

As I had stated above, The Picts are said to be dark-skinned yet lighter than those of the Black Kingdoms on average, they happen to possess black hair and brown or black eyes typically along with short and stocky frames which I also mentioned they would eventually gain from their early days of intermixing with Neanderthal populations of early Hyboria or late Thuria. Typically they tend to have long hair set in a pony tail with a shaved head all around or shaved on the sides, whereas some Chieftains, Shamans, or even some renegade Picts might let their hair grow out in some cases, with women of the race also having long hair on average.

Also like I had stated above, due to their separation from the Picts to the Far West and despite their connection to the later Native Americans, the Picts of Hyboria would not have Asian-like eyes with epicanthic folds notable among Native American peoples which would have to come from the Asiatic heritage, of which the Picts far away from Hyboria would eventually develop through intermixing with Lemurian Refugees who made it to this landmass as noted by Howard's original thoughts when creating his fictional history and even Mythology itself. The only things the two would hold over from one another are their dark skin and cultures, of which would differ greatly during and after the Hyborian Age mind you, with the Picts after the Hyborian Age only becoming the whitewashed Picts of our own history through intermixing with populations of Cimmerian and Vanir descent far after the age's end.

Thanks to this distinction between Howard's Picts and classic Native Americans, we are able to make them more unique and standout due to their split racial backgrounds, allowing for these Picts to grow some types of facial hair, albeit in small amounts mind you, as they haven't yet developed fully into a true "white race" however.
With these types of facial hair being uncommon but not impossible for them to have, you could even give them slimmer amounts of facial hair than these, as these jawline or chin strap facial hair types would be the most the Hyborian Picts would honestly develop thanks to their mixed bloodline.

-Examples of Attire for The Picts-

Commonly noted by Howard himself, Picts typically are known to wear loincloths, leather or copper bands, moccasins, but naturally they would wear other types of clothing of course as they are a somewhat diverse tribal culture and each tribe or clan would have different sorts of attire, mainly to represent their namesake of the clan they belong to, including bodypaint most of all to suit the occasion.

Different Clothing Types For Different Tribes

Notably among the southern tribes or clans of Picts, you might see them dressing in more loose attire and mainly just a loincloth due to their environment, including either crocodile or snake skins, or even feathers or hides depending on the clan in question to pay homage to their totem animal.
Examples of similar clothing would be like this





Whereas among the more northern tribes closer to the border of Vanaheim or the Black Mountains would naturally wear more warming clothes due to the colder climate, mainly furs and hides and the like but notably lacking in sophistication of similar clothes made by their bitter rivals the Cimmerians or even the northern Vanirmen.
Examples of similar clothing would be like this

Additional Accessories

Feathers
Often tied to some leather bands of their attire or tied into their haircuts somehow, if not to their very weapons, feathers are also a key accessory to add to a Pict's attire, with some Shamans being especially fond of exotic Ostrich feathers from the Black Kingdoms traded to their tribe among other things for resources in turn.
With some examples of what some Picts might use feathers for in their attire.




Piercings
In addition to these clothing types, Picts are also fond of piercings made of bone or stone, such as bone nose piercings or those in the ear to further decorate themselves.
Here are some examples of such piercings a Pict might have.




Skulls
Another thing to note as well, is that Picts are infamously known as a "Headhunter"-type culture and do have a fondness for skulls as well, mainly those of the Human variety but do happen to like those of the animal variety for spiritual or ceremonial purposes, including skull masks or primitive helmets made of skulls for psychological warfare purposes during times of war.

-Bodypaints/Warpaints of The Picts-

Given their name of the Picts, they are supposed to be notably painted and are said to have a wide array of different style of paints depending on both their clan and the situation at hand, with the warpaint for going to war with they Hyborian notably being a white skull design on the chest as written by Howard himself in Wolves Beyond The Border.
Naturally of course, different tribes and clans would have different styles and meanings to said bodypaint, but the most important part of all when it comes to the bodypaint of the Picts is that you must remember the body/warpaints of the Picts of our own history and use loose inspirations from examples of Native american warpaints when deciding on bodypaints for your Picts.

Here are some examples of historical Pict warpaint for reference.



And for examples of Native American warpaints for reference.




So when keeping these or similar images in mind, you can begin to figure out what kind of body paint designs we would have for these people, including even full bodypaint which were common among the historical Picts.
Most of all, it is best to remember to use a lot of "swirling lines or circles" designs when it comes to the Picts as this would technically carry over to the later eras of Picts, and to use plenty of blues and whites with their bodypaints common to said later picts but don't be afraid to experiment with other colors for variety.
Here are some designs I was able to come up with for some of the Pictish Clans as an example.
Otter Clan


Turtle Clan


Toucan Clan


Cormorant Clan


Hornbill Clan


Shark Clan


Wolf Clan


Crocodile Clan


Wildcat Clan


Panther Clan


Deer Clan


Bat Clan


Bear Clan


Boar Clan


Raven Clan


Crow Clan


Hawk Clan


Eagle Clan


Bloodbeak(Terror Bird) Clan


Alligator Clan


Lion/Sabretooth Clan


Heron Clan


Falcon Clan


Viper Clan


Lizard(Tyrannosaur) Clan


Seal Clan (Definitely Inspired by the Seal Tribe in The Eagle btw)

-Optional-

This is completely up to you, but you can even take influence from the old Conan movies, with the last one being a bit more accurate but there can be some good to be gain from the original(and bad) de"pict"ion of the Picts in the original movie, as they did just copy and paste the Picts of our own history and their typical warpaint into Conan ignorantly at the time.
Or even Age of Conan which still happens to have some of the best de"pict"ions of the Picts to this day really.

-Pictish Weaponry-

As noted in lore, the Picts are said to be fond of copper axes and bows or spears, but this can be easily expanded on reasonably by including the likes of bone and stone clubs or spears and arrow tips, warclubs, primitive shields, blowdarts, stone slingshots, warmauls, and even stone or tooth sawblades. But of course, given the eventual rise of the Picts during the Hyborian Age, Picts naturally would want to get their hands on strong weaponry of steel or iron if possible, though during this time they wouldn't be able to craft said steel or iron as they lack the knowledge or skill craft and only know how to make primitive copper alone, but some may find themselves making makeshift steel clubs or hatchets from salvage if they don't end up just salvage already existing steel or iron tools and weapons from fallen enemies or victims of their infamous raids on the Pictish Frontier.
It wouldn't be until the very end of the Hyborian Age that they would learn how to mine iron and smelt it into steel, which would give their brutal hordes the military might they'd need to conquer the western kingdoms of Hyboria during this time.


In addition to this however... Some Pictish clans are noted to have been open to trade with Hyborian civilizations from time to time, as well as having some ties to Ligurean Tribes, along with the Picts of Thuria originally working under the Valusian empire, as they had a colony along the empire's reach. All of which can result in some legendary passed down weaponry from ages past among the strongest and highest of their peoples, ancestral warclubs and blessed spears would definitely be seen as great treasures to the clans, sometimes even to go to war over them even...

While the vast majority of Picts will be nothing more than mere savages with stone age technology of stone-tipped spears and clubs, few among them MAY happen to have stolen/pillaged or traded weaponry of iron or steel if they're lucky, yet even fewer among them will happen to have some ancient or ancestral treasure from ages past passed down to them or given onto them from the clan, whether that be a gifted Brave or Chieftain, or an outsider who has been accepted by the clan in question and has greatly proven themselves to them in turn.

-View of the Picts in Hyboria/What are the Picts like-

Starting off here I'd like to mention this, as obvious as it might be by now, but the Picts in Hyboria are typically viewed as bloodthirsty warmongering savages who actively resist civilization and openly seek conflict, even with their own kind primarily, as the history of wars between the various tribes has known to keep their kind from completely banding together to culturally progress and take over the western world(which of course they later do at the dying days of the Hyborian Age). While the Picts are vicious and war-like, and openly hunt and war with outsiders within the Pictish Wilds, tribes however have been known to be able to trade even with outsiders, with some warriors even being able to be hired as gladiatorial fighters or mercenaries if they see fit, even if they are still hated and feared, and thus heavily discriminated against universally by all the Western Kingdoms.

The Picts are not quite known for their charisma, nor their intelligence or civility, as they are ruthless and savage warriors and hunters to the core, as well as skilled trackers, they are a wild and harsh people at heart and truly embody the savagery and brutality that they are known for, with even the females of their kind being just as vicious and untameable in their own right to match. Despite this fact however, the Picts are still human after all and each tribe holds their own values and traditions, realistically making some more hostile or more accepting of others than other pictish tribes, it's also because of this that some clans have set aside their blood feuds with other clans to war with invading outsiders in their territory that would dare set foot within their wildlands, especially if provoked or challenged first. Some tribes have even become desperate enough to try and escape the wilds into other lands around them such as Cimmeria's western reaches or the Westermarck and the Bossonian Marches of Aquilonia's western border, leading them to often war with the inhabitants of these lands for resources and territory after they've seemingly been pushed out of their former homelands by other tribes, though that doesn't mean they won't try to invade and take rival lands when the need for bloodshed calls for it of course.

However, the pictish tribes are not completely alone within the Pictish Wilderness, as the indigenous Ligurean people are dwell within their lands and have their own history with them, some allying with them whereas other tribes may war with them like they would with any other. While the Picts are known to have a hatred for the white-skinned races around them, the Ligureans themselves are said to be the only white race to technically exist within the Pictish Wilds without needing to fear being pushed out by the Picts, as they've shared the wilds for countless generations with each other.

-What NOT To Do When Creating A Pict & Learning From These Mistakes-

When creating a Pict, it is vital that you remain unique and creative when doing so, taking some elements of the cultures connected to them directly but not making them carbon copies of them exactly, which is where the idea of the stone age Neanderthal aspect helps here to fully make them more unique and standout from the later Picts of our own history and the eventual Lemurian-mixed Native Americans of the former Pictish Isles, as I have stated here in this guide. However to fully expand on this, I will explain a few steps NOT to do when creating or de"pict"ing the Picts in the setting based on these exact rules and facts regarding them.

White-Washed Picts/RL Picts in Conan

While the Picts would later turn in the Picts we know of in our own history, they are MUCH different during the Hyborian Age thanks to their distinctive racial traits and culture overall, as the Picts in Conan tend to be of darker skin than the Cimmerians, and it is said that the Cimmerians are also a tanned-skinned race to some capacity, but are hardly any darker than those of the typical Hyborian ilk really.
The main culprits of Picts in Conan Media typically being de"pict"ed with whiter skin are the original Conan movie with Arnold, the Conan the Adventurer cartoon show, the most recent Conan Boardgame by Monolith, and more recently Conan Exiles, with players being able to create darker or even pure white-skinned Picts given the fact that "Race" in the game literally means nothing and has no real effect on gameplay or the player character at all. Another part of this issue with white-washed Picts also has to do facial hair or light hair colors on Picts and why that can't happen, and while I'm not ENTIRELY against all facial hair or dark brown hair color for some Picts, the only types of facial hair that realistically some Picts would have range from some goatee-like or slim chinstrap beard-type facial hair, and they would really only have black hair for younger Picts and grayer/whiter hair for Elders.
This is just another symptom of placing the real world Picts into Conan that most people don't seem to get or haven't looked into the source material properly and blindly assume the two different peoples are the same thing, and of course as I've stated numerous times already in this guide with this blasphemy from the original movie being just a key part of that example...

Too Native

Probably one of the lesser issues when creating Picts but really must be pointed out, while it is true that the Picts were notably inspired by the likes of Native Americans, especially with their very backstory being linked to the Americas heavily, one must remember that the Picts of Hyboria would differ quite a bit from those who survived on the Pictish Isles and interbred with the Lemurian immigrants there. With the Lemurians mixing their Asiatic traits with the dark-skinned Picts of the Pictish Isles for generations to later create the various Native American cultures, whereas the Picts of Hyboria are considered as a "white-race" and would be somewhat lighter than the majority of most Native Americans realistically given the history and geography of Hyboria, possibly with the Pict Clans in the more northern areas possibly being even lighter with some faint traits from intermixing with stray blood of Atlanteans/Cimmerians or even Vanirmen ilk, albeit brief traces of it given these racial traits would be drowned out over the generations after mixing more and more with other Picts. But despite this however, many of the de"pict"ions of the Picts in the Marvel comics I notice tend to have the most copy pasting of Native American looks for the Picts in the series as a whole, with many of these de"pict"ions ironically enough not showing them with actual warpaint or even bodypaint in general, when the whole name for the Picts itself is to note them as being "painted".

Too Neanderthal/Orc-like

Not too sure what I can truly say about this, but de"pict"ing the Picts as roided out cavemen or neanderthals is another big no for me, while they would take after them quite a bit, they wouldn't be the exact same as them nor would they be the bootleg orcish monstrosities that the Conan Boardgame by Monolith wants to portray them as here. While possibly one of the lesser complaints of my complaints here as a whole, this must be stated as the Picts of Hyboria are supposed to be unique and differ from their 3 main influences, and are NOT supposed to look like hideous monsters devoid of humanity(with exception to unholy "hybrids" I guess...)
However, if there was one character outside of any Conan-related media that I could totally visualize as being a Pict, it would definitely be this guy Spear from Primal as a contrast...
(Makes it even more ironic that Spear is said to be a Neanderthal himself too, just needs
war/bodypaint.)

-Fix to all of these issues/What TO DO when creating a Pict-

So as it may be obvious to you now, when creating Picts, you need to visualize a caveman or half Neanderthal man that looks half Native American & half historical Pict, albeit with black or dark brown hair and darker skin compared to the fairer skin common to the Picts of our history, along with these people being somewhat shorter than your average Hyborian or Cimmerian with bulkier stout figures/builds to them. All this combined with body/warpaint influences from the real Picts of history and Native Americans, and attire reminiscent of the same Picts and Native Americans with a caveman/Neanderthal's touch to them with bone or fur/hide attachments and accessories to fulfill that, and of course the Native American feather accessories as well to fully flesh it all out. But you don't need to have it all in one sitting, try to sparse it out to make them more diverse and unique among the different Clans and the members of those Clans. You may also draw very very slim influences from Central & South American Native cultures as well such as the Aztecs, like the picture I used here with the Aztecs from Total War Medieval 2!
(However with that being said, you can't use some of the same Aztec or Mesoamerican naming themes or the jewelry or other forms of art of these cultures, as these influences would only come from the Muvian immigrants who later landed in the proto-Central and South Americas to form the early Mesoamerican cultures such as the Olmecs and Mayans that eventually inspired the creation of the later Mesoamerican cultures, and would essentially overtake the old Pictish cultures there, with very very slim elements of the old Pictish clans of those lands remaining through the generations of these cultures. If you are solely looking for Mesoamerican cultures such as the Maya or Aztecs in Hyboria that would stem from Muvian Immigrants, you should look towards the original rulers of Kosala that later migrated westward and settled in Xuchotl within the Black Kingdoms and became the Tlazitlans, but they would have no ties to the Picts at all given the geography and their different completely cultures as well.)

OPTIONAL: -Mongoose & Modiphius RPG Influences-

Probably the best way to go about learning about the Picts as a whole outside of the original stories, Mongoose and Modiphius do pretty good jobs detailing them for the most part and even I regularly use said implements as references when in regards to most Pict-related works I do.
There's is another guide on the Picts on the Conan Exiles Steam Communty Guides that explains a bit more about them as a whole, but that is more or less just copy-&-pasted bits of the parts from the Mongoose implements of the Picts, and I figured I'd make my own guide using some of the custom Pictish looks I've made for my recently completed Pictish Collection on Conan Exiles to further detail their looks and attire as a whole to help people out, along with mentioning some background lore that is vital to know when creating them in media.

-Lesson Complete!-

I hope this helps some of you out there when creating your own Picts or wondering what their deal was within the world of Conan/Hyboria. Please be sure to share your thoughts or ask any questions you may have. As well as favoriting or liking the guide if this helped you so that this can get more attention to help even more people in turn. :)

[The Black Death]

It's from a mod called "WARRIOR Mutator for Conan Exiles", it's the cannibal raider mask.

[Noble]

What's the helmet in the last photo ?

[The Black Death]

Don't forget the Longhouses. ;p

[Economic Terrorist]

Hell yeah!

We also need some wigwams and such, so we can build appropriately savage villages.

[The Black Death]

Glad I was able to give some future insight at least, still going Native American-esque suits way better than the awful historical Picts in the OG Conan Movie, so all is not completely lost there.

[Bjorn Von Steinn]

This is a whole scientific research right here, rarely can you meet such a detailed research in Steam guides section! Great job! It was also important for me to create a more lore friendly character when I decided to make a female pict warrior on Siptah back then, I remember that there was quite a difference from what the game pre made pict race character looks like (when you choose a race, game "pre creates" a basic character look for you) and the lore friendly picts being of a more Native American look. If this guide was back then, it would have been easier for sure

[The Black Death]

It's probably the darker skin with the darker eyes since they are related afterall and they are supposed to look like Native Americans somewhat anyway, just with some notable differences if you look hard enough or compare them. Usually when making my Picts I try to make them have rounder/more european eyes and make their skin a bit lighter than typical Native American skintones to show the mixed ancestry they've developed after the Thurian Age that made them stand apart from actual Native Americans. Though that being said, they are supposed to be the darkest skinned race among the borders of the Hyborian Kingdoms and north of the River Styx, so I try to not go too light unless I make them one of the Picts of the northern clans among the border of Cimmeria or Vanaheim for example.

[The Custodians of The Cosmos]

I'm no anthropologist but the picts in this guide look like Native American's to me xD (I'm uncultured I know)

[The Black Death]

That's not exactly correct, for their bodies you want darker skin, eyes and hair like Native Americans but the physical structure of a neanderthal given their short and stocky builds, and no Asiatic eyes or Epicanthic folds like Native Americans typically have.
As for warpaints you want to mix eastern North American Native designs with Celtic Warpaint
designs or hints to them mixed in.
As for weaponry they primarily have only stone age weaponry of stone, wood and bone too, but don't forget the early copper technology akin to many Native American Cultures, as copper is the only metallurgy they have any knowledge or access to until the very end of the Hyborian Age.

[The Custodians of The Cosmos]

Thanks for this guide, what I took from it was;

Physical structure like Native American's
Warpaint like Scottish Picts
Metal+bone weaponry
Be unique in the colours.