[@Briza]
[@Dr Catfish]
[@Cleverbird]

Here is the Baccum tab, while we work on the other civs.


[hider=Baccum]Little is known about the Baccum. They are a private civilization that little have the desire to interact with. Among the other civilizations they present themselves nearly naked, covered in tattoos and with their wiry, animalistic muscles decorated with purposeful scarring. Often rumors appear about cannibalism and other barbaric acts in their often untouched lands, their representatives are uneager to dispel the rumors. From the outside they seem an unintelligent people of hunting and infighting, but others speculate it is simply a facade, a grand illusion to keep the others at bay, and if this is true, it has worked. 

Those who do know the secrets of the Baccum know that it is indeed a farce. While outwardly the people seem dangerous and unattractive to be near, in truth it is simply to be left alone. Baccum people own a very rich and diverse culture based around spiritualism, shamanism and dreams, and are willing to do anything to protect it from the tampering of the outside, a dangerous mixture they had endured too many times by the hands of the Kothar. 


The Baccumese are organized into separate tribes only linked together by a common culture, and these tribes are then separated into two categories, nomadic and settled. The settled Baccumese tribes tend to live in cliffside adobe homes stacked on top of each other in the arid badlands. This type of settlement in which the homes are only accessible by ladders make them perfect protection against invaders and the violent wildlife alike. 

Some examples of the terrible beasts often found in the badlands include bizarre monsters that have escaped the brimlands, as well as native beasts such as the feared gorrak, a scaly pack animal that is best described as an reptilian emu bearing three snake like heads packed with deadly venom that causes a terrible sickness and ultimately death.

The nomadic Baccumese tribes focus on moving quickly to follow the prey that they hunt while avoiding the creatures that hunt them. They use quickly disassembled yurts made of wooden beams and the hides of their kills. To transport their supplies, the Baccumese have domesticated a local beast of burden, the Quallin. A Quallin is a large four legged mammal with bristle, almost hedgehog like fur and a long slim face, equipped with a tactile trunk the length and strength of a grown man’s arm. A grown quallin is about as tall as an adult human, and about two and a half meters long, not including their spiny tail which runs about another half meter. The Baccumese sattle the animal by putting tanned hides on their back and sides, as to pat down the bristled defenses of the beast. Quallin are remarked as tough, strong animals and require very little upkeep due to their natural adaptation to the badlands and survive on grains and fruit. 

All Baccumese tribes are united by their culture, which is a rich heritage of shamanism, as well as isolationism from other cultures. They regularly tattoo and scar themselves to give their warriors a grotesque appearance as to cause discomfort among outsiders, and emphasize fear of the unknown as their greatest weapon on intruders. 

Their tribes are small, and tend to be governed by the elders of each family, as well as the dedicated spiritual leader, the Shaman. The shaman’s role is to ensure every member of the tribe is healthy, both physically, mentally and spiritually. To do this the Shaman utilizes herbs for both medicine and hallucinogenic drugs. 

Drugs are often used by the shaman to bring patients into a dream state, or to consult the dream gods. The reasoning behind this is the fundamental belief in the significance of dreams and the subconscious. Dreams are listened to with great care by the shaman, who is often found hearing the dreams of the tribe as well as their own. Often dreams are used as means of decision among the tribal leaders or are consulted in times of trouble.

The shaman has learned through the stories of those before them the meanings of different objects in each dream, and is the sole authority on deciphering them and the words of the dream gods. 

Each tribe has their own rendition of the dream gods, with some even being remarkable ancestors of the tribe long ago, but almost all of them appear as the animals or object that represents them in dreams. Some notable figures are Teccum, the desert snake, figure of misfortune and trickery, Kalpii, the secretary-bird, enemy of Teccum and figure of protection and wellbeing, Lymnu the Hippo, figure of harvest and famine, and Uiyo, the white Scorpion, the figure of death and the afterlife. 

In regards to death, the Baccumese treat it with great respect and perform massive rituals and ceremonies for their deceased, in hopes that Uiyo will find the deceased suitable enough to bring the dead’s dream soul back to the dreamlands to rest and wait for rebirth.

Recently, a cult of blood magic users have attempted to infiltrate the deep set spirituality of the Baccumese, and with mixed results. While some more desperate tribes bend to the idea of the Cult of Mara, others find it grotesque and disrespectful, some even going so far to describe it as a terrible evil akin to what is birthed under the Brimlands. The emergence has caused intense conflict among the very traditional people that are the Baccumese.
   
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