Cover Art by Jason Pedersen
To celebrate the release of Tribe of the Snow Tiger, I’m going to gear the questions toward making your own tribe. It’s rather simple for Windemere because you need a totem, a culture focus (honor, survival, loyalty, conquest, etc.), and a specific terrain. Usually a chosen species too, but I’m not going to push that one. You can make that optional if you want. Bonus question at the end for my own interest and kind of off-topic:
- What would your barbarian tribe’s totem animal be and why?
- What would be the most important aspect/focus to your tribe’s way of life and why?
- What kind of land would you claim?
To help, I’m going to answer for Timoran except for the ‘why’ parts:
Snow Tiger, Honor and loyalty, and lower mountains.
Bonus Question:
- Is there a topic you want me to tackle on this blog?
I’m sliding back into the weekly topic system that I had a year ago to give myself a little more focus on stuff. So I wanted to see if anybody out there wanted me to talk about anything specific. Yes, I know this question tends to not go anywhere on this blog, but I figure I should ask.
Legends of Windemere 
Raven, learning, high moorland… Why? Because there is this ancient site I know…
Good luck with that last question, Charles… I have enough trouble thinking what I need to write for my own 😉
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Thanks. Funny that you mention ravens since I’m working on a sequel to my Raven’s Hold story. 🙂 Though they’re more of a dark omen in this setting.
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Let’s take that as a good omen though 😉
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At least in reality. 🙂
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Yep 🙂
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I choose a wolverine, because they are no nonsense survivors. I think my tribe would be survival oriented. Wolverines are suited for timbered mountains, and alpine country. I think you should call the shots on your blog. Mine goes everywhere, but the radio spot has become consistent. I can do consistency when it suits me.
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Wolverines are always a good choice. I think I have a tribe of dwarven barbarians who use it. That made sense to me, but it comes off as a little too easy.
The hard thing with calling the shots on blog topics is that I’ve done so much. I guess an issue with the question is also that I might be asked to repeat myself. This tends to be a hail mary move.
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I can see the risk. You never know what you’ll get asked. I wouldn’t want to post about erotica or romance as an example.
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True. Though I do have the right to simply say no. Gotta have some limits.
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Agreed.
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What would your barbarian tribe’s totem animal be and why? I would have to choose the Mountain Lion. Strength, stealth, and speed
What would be the most important aspect/focus to your tribe’s way of life and why? I think we would focus on hunting skills. This would allow us to become more efficient in food procurement.
What kind of land would you claim? We would want the forests and pastures where plenty of game can be found. We would want the pastures so that we could raise vegetables as well.
You could continue to write about the society of barbarians. Since each species has barbarians maybe a compare and contrast kind of post.
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That’s a rather nice tribe. Seems very domestic for barbarians too, so I could see it being a very friendly people. I’ll think about the barbarians. These topics are going to come long after Snow Tiger will be out. Thinking July/August. Might have to start promoting the next book by then.
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True enough.
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Timber wolf, Family and duty, Woodlands. I’m more a lone wolf, but I’m always looking for a pack to join. 🙂
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Interesting how that works. Makes me think of Wolverine who goes solo a lot, but still has a loyalty to the X-Men.
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1. Defo the wolf. Loyalty, strength and stubborn persistence 🙂
2. Death before betrayal, All for one and one for all. It is simply the motos I aspire to, so I would look for that in a clan.
3. A forest, of course. It has that special vibe, one that says you can seclude and be alone, but are you ever? 🙂
Bonus:
Write about Pizza!
I know this does not sound like a serious suggestion. I guess what I am trying to say is try to write about something mundane, woven through Windemere? As usual, I doubt I am of much help 😦
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Powerful mottos and they make sense for a wolf. I think a lot of people gravitate towards forests too. Though I’m not sure why.
Not sure what you mean by mundane. I covered a lot over the years, so it’s hard to categorize stuff like that.
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Something along the line of maybe Menu? Each loved characters or popular characters preffered foods, secret Windemere recipes (that can actually be cooked in real life too, to make it double fun!)
Like you say yourself, you did a lot of stuff, so its hard to give you a good suggestion.
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I’ll see what I can do. The recipes that work in real life is giving me far too much culinary credit.
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From the previous food stuff you shared, I’d say otherwise, but I do remember we have similar taste buds habits too 😀
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The thing is that I didn’t make those recipes. I can cook, but I can’t do much without a previous recipe.
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I say make one, with Windemere ingredients, and then just find the equivalent ingredients. I can try and help with this. Can I, for example, make a Nyx-Kebob? 😀
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That would probably just be well-cooked chicken with a spicy sauce. Honestly, I don’t know if I’d have the time for something like this. Especially for blog posts.
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I don’t see Nyx as chicken, I always imagined she would eat veal 😛
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Nope. For no other reason than the real Nyx is extremely against veal. That’s baby cow, right?
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Yes, I did not mean that though! I meant the other one, which I never know how to say in English. It isn’t a baby lamb either….
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Its the baby goat, but I can’t find the correct English word for it.
I always mix these up! Nevertheless, I am a carnivorous bastard! XD
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Never had goat, which I don’t think is very common around here. It’s mostly chicken, beef, pork, and fish. The thing is that a lot of people, at least in this country, aren’t fans of eating baby anything. Haven’t really considered if it would be common in Windemere.
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Yeah, I get that. It is like that in Turkey also. My husband was appalled that we eat baby everything here in Serbia. And you get used to it. I really hated the meat at Turkey, it just felt so bitter
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Never had Turkish food. What kind of meat is it?
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It is normal meat, except that they practice safe killing ofcourse (sounds crap still :/), and they only kill older animals, never babies. It makes the meat have a more strong, bitter taste. I think its the best way to describe it. It reminds me of the contrast between taste of chicken and forest animals, like boar meat for example. They also for example eat sheep, which is something that is way uncommon in Serbia, so I find the taste weird, and the meat too scarce and bony, again, too strong of a taste.
I said before I am carnivore, but truth be told I mostly eat chicken. Even the young animals they eat here are distasteful to me, I don’t like the smell of the meat, the texture and the taste.
I do however know how to prepare different kinds of meat and enjoy preparing it for others.
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It almost sounds like Kosher meat. Though instead of safe, they say with as little pain and suffering as possible. I think Kosher sticks to older animals too. Not really sure about the reasons and exacts. Is there a different spice/flavoring method done with the meat that tastes ‘weird’?
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Oh yes, spices are a factor too! For example, in Turkey, they use a lot of Cumin on all meats that are not chicken, while in Serbia we don’t. Opposite is with Rosemary for example. We also do not have the culture of marinading meat, whilst Turks excel at this. Due to the fact older meat has a more strong flavour, they use more spices, while we here mostly, in most cuisines stick to salt and pepper, and garlic to season everything while it is cooking.
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I do marinating for some meats if the recipe calls for it. Don’t use much in the way of cumin. Think my family sticks to a more basic or Italian spice palette.
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Yes, I would say mine too. We only ever used Cumin for one dish and it was the “Hunter’s steak”.
I hardly marinate, because I tried it a few times, and I always had to keep watch on the fridge so someone from the house just doesn’t take the meat and fry it, because they are sick of waiting 😀
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I think I use it for a peanut sauce recipe and that’s it. Haven’t made it in a while, so I don’t remember. Never thought someone would grow impatient and grab the meat to cook early. Then again, I marinate overnight when everyone is asleep.
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My tribes totem is the wolf
My tribe is about family, honouring the earth and protecting our young.
Our land is the deep forests and the dark places where no others tred.
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Very cool. Thanks. Seems we have a few people in the same tribe. 🙂
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1. What would your barbarian tribe’s totem animal be and why?
Probably the cheetah, since they’re very fast. My tribe would be known for speed.
2. What would be the most important aspect/focus to your tribe’s way of life and why?
Fairness and equality. No one is considered more important than the other. Even the leaders are servants of all.
3. What kind of land would you claim?
The plains. My people like to zip around on land.
So glad to be back online after being off for weeks!
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1. You don’t see the speed animals used that often for barbarians. Tends to be the cunning or strong predators.
2. That sounds like it would work well for a rough wilderness. Means nobody would have more than they need. To be honest, I wonder how easy it is to maintain such a system. One greedy, charismatic person could cause a lot of trouble. Also, what would the benefit of being leader be if you’re a servant to everyone? Would such a position even be needed?
Welcome back to the Internet. 🙂
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I figured that. I wanted to be different. 🙂 And I’ve seen egalitarianism work where you have designated leaders, who still lead, but have a servant mindset. Meaning, what they do is for the good of all. And when called upon for advice, they give it, without thinking, “I’m too good to be bothered with you right now.” But that might not work for a barbarian society perhaps. I like to think outside of the box. 🙂
Thank you. Remember you said you felt this was a cursed year? It’s been difficult on my end too. Hope things are better for you.
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The thing with such a system is you need the right mentality in the right position. That works as long as you have leaders that are willing to be in the servant mindset. Yet, it does have a drawback that when situations require decisive leadership. After being the submissive in most situations, the leader would have a hard time pushing a dominant mindset because the people will think their ideas are the right ones. Perhaps a dominant leader with lower ranking nobles that have the servant mentality would work a little better because you have access to both leadership types?
The year is just horrible. Wish we could skip it.
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Good thinking. This leadership style definitely has drawbacks in certain cultures.
I really hope things get better!
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Me too. Seems to be that kind of year.
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