They were here before the Frost, and they’ve determined to endure it.
The White Maw Clans are a loose confederation of nomadic survivors who live in The Wastes — humans, orcs, beastfolk, and others who refused to retreat to any city when the cold came, because they had nowhere to retreat to and nothing to retreat from. As soon as The Wastes were born, following the dilapidation of Cydonia’s vast farmlands into snowy dunes, the Wastes were theirs.
What Is Known
The Clans are out there. Guild expeditions encounter them. The Watch logs sightings. Travelers who make it back from deep in the Wastes have stories.
What is consistent across those stories:
- They ride Dire Wolves and Snow Camels. Bonded mounts, not just animals. Both are used interchangeably across clans regardless of their stance. The wolves are fast; the camels can survive anywhere.
- They are not a unified force. There are many clans, many leaders, no single voice. Dealing with one does not mean you have dealt with all of them.
- The clans split broadly into two paths: claw (violent, raiding) and camel (exploratory, trade-minded). Some will trade, some will raid, some will do both or neither.
- They have ancient oral traditions about the Frost — prophecies that predate the Age of Frost by generations. Whether those traditions are literally true, metaphorically useful, or simply the product of people who lived close to the cold for a long time is not clear.
- It is rumored that the White Maw clans, before the Frost, originally hailed from a far-away land of cold steppe and hills, fused with groups of tribalists that existed in the plains surrounding Cydonia — but the threads of their original source have long since changed.
Known Contacts
- Galil (“Camel Toe”) — a White Maw scouting party leader of the camel path who hosted Wyvern Division peacefully on the road west of Hearth. As a result of this encounter, a White Maw trade merchant now travels to Hearth.
Their Relationship with Hearth
Tense, complicated, and inconsistent.
The Clans did not build Hearth and do not owe it anything. Some Clan members trade at the market square. A few have settled inside the walls as permanent residents. Others see the town as a symbol of everything that went wrong — city-dwellers who brought the Frost, or at minimum failed to stop it, now huddling around a machine they did not build and cannot fully explain.
The Frostwatch tracks White Maw movements when it can. The Guild has had both successful trades and hostile encounters with different Clan groups. Following Wyvern Division’s peaceful contact with Galil, a White Maw trade merchant has begun making trips to Hearth — the first formal trade envoy from the clans.
What Is Not Known
Most of the Clans’ internal structure, beliefs, and politics are unknown to Hearth’s population. We know they are out there, and continue to survive in the Frost. What else they are, what they want, and what they know about the Wastes — that is something expeditions may discover.
See Also
- The Wastes — the region they call home
- Hearth — the town on their border
- The Guild — the organization that encounters them on expeditions
- Galil — known White Maw contact
- Dire Wolves — their favored mount
- Snow Camels — their favored mount