The Convergent Wanderers: Cultural Profile

Introduction:
    The earliest people to inhabit the Great Convergence are a group of humans collectively known as the Convergent Wanderers. They are a nomadic people who hunt and gather in the swamps and scrubs of the Great Convergence, as well as the group which the gnomes of today are descended from. Despite being driven out of most of their ancestral lands, there are still several parts of gnome country set aside for the wanderers by treaty, and the easternmost reaches of the Great Convergence have never been very appealing for other peoples to settle, so the region has been recognized as Wanderer Lands by the rest of the world. The Convergent Wanderers, for their part, see political boundaries as meaningless and themselves as many small groups rather than a single people. The one unifying factor is that all Convergent Wanderers come to the southernmost point of the Wanderer’s Peninsula in Gnome Country for a massive festival on the Winter Solstice, known as the Winter Solstice Festival. At this festival, the Wanderers pay their respects to their ancestors, the spirits of the Great Convergence, and throw one of the wildest parties on the planet. While this event is certainly enjoyable, it also holds a great deal of cultural and religious value for the Convergent Wanderers and is an integral part of their yearly wanderings.

Magic and Technology:
    The vast majority of Convergent Wanderers live in what settled people would consider abject poverty. They do not have personal homes, their only possessions are those they can carry themselves, and their only access to metal tools and enchanted items is through occasional trading with the settled peoples of the Great Convergence. The Wanderers, by contrast, prefer to live this way and see the settled folk as slaves to their governments and the material possessions they keep. While they certainly see the benefits of more advanced technology, the Convergent Wanderers tend to believe that what they have is adequate and anything more would get in the way of their wandering.
    Magic, like technology, is something that most Convergent Wanderers seem to have little interest in outside of how it can help them in their day to day life. Wanderers rarely stay in any place long enough to learn spellcasting or enchanting, although most Wanderers have a solid understanding of the inherent magical properties of the plants and animals around them, along with how to use them to their own benefit. Channeling is also somewhat common among the Convergent Wanderers, with the spirits of the Great Convergence offering each person a unique magical power provided they never sleep in the same place twice, they only eat food that they hunted or gathered themselves, and they participate in the Winter Solstice Festival each winter solstice. Most of the Wanderers do not ever try to follow this lifestyle, but those who do often become important members of their tribes who are able to deal with problems in ways that no one else can. These powers usually grant some level of command or influence over different plants, animals, and minerals, but sometimes the spirits give someone a truly powerful magic ability that allows them to accomplish almost any goal. Oddly, Convergent Wanderers experience a higher rate of individuals with inherent magical powers than other communities. The reason why is unknown, but the individuals born with these powers are usually given special status within their tribe. These individuals are seen as gifts from the spirits of the Great Convergence to the families in which these children are born, usually seen as a reward for maintaining their traditional lifestyle despite adversity. In actuality, the phenomenon is completely random and has nothing to do with spirits or lifestyle.

Society:
    The Convergent Wanderers are divided into a multitude of small, mobile groups. Each group, usually made up of a small group of related families, wanders the Great Convergence as they wish through the year, with the exception of the Winter Solstice, when everyone is usually at the Winter Solstice Festival. These groups tend to maintain their own unique traditions and distinguish themselves from each other with all sorts of decorations and clothing. Some of these articles of clothing can get quite elaborate, although there is a limit to this since the clothing must be portable and somewhat functional. Most groups try to stay out of each other's ways the rest of the year, not wanting to overburden any of the resources that they rely on, but sometimes they are forced to share space through circumstance. Usually this goes fairly well, with the groups doing their best to cooperate and share, but sometimes this is not the case. For any number of reasons, ranging from the personal to the pragmatic, groups will come into conflict and fight each other. While this is relatively rare, most groups of Convergent Wanderers keep an oral history of dozens of conflicts with other groups over the millennia, although there are often several generations between each one. All conflicts are put on hold for the Winter Solstice Festival, however, and are rarely resumed afterwards.

Religion:
    Convergent Wanderers follow a shamanistic tradition where one member of each group, the priest, is responsible for communing with the spirits of the Great Convergence on behalf of the larger group, maintaining the oral history of the group, and making the necessary sacrifices to the local spirits in each place they camp. Priests also tend to act as the moral leaders of their groups, using their connection to the local spirits to let the rest of the group know what kinds of behavior will appease the spirits. Not everyone listens to the priests, but those who do tend to find that the landscape is just a bit more welcoming and easy to traverse. Luckily for the Convergent Wanderers and their way of life, the spirits of the Great Convergence tend to value independence, living in harmony with nature, and supporting one’s friends and family. While this is not really seen as a religious mandate to continue living the same lifestyle, it does help many Wanderers feel content in their desire to live outside of settled civilization. Overall, the Convergent Wanderers live cosmically neutral lives and accept their place in the cycle of reincarnation that comes with the neutral alignment. Their religion, much like the rest of their culture, seems to be content with where they are and what they’re doing, and that makes the Convergent Wanderers quite happy.