[hider=Saamala][B]Name[/B]: 

	Saamalasailet (collective), Saamala (colloquial collective), Saami (singular).

[B]Brief description[/B]: 

	The Saamala are nomadic people, preferring to stay near coasts, rivers and dense forests for their needs. They revere the natural world.

[B]Main deity[/B]: 

	The Saamala revere all things natural. Whether animal or plant, all aspects of nature are revered as the deity of these people. Hunting is accepted, and encouraged, but disrespect shown during this process is extremely offensive to these people. For example, hunting an animal without using every part of it is considered wasteful and disrespectful, and it is thought among them that this will bring down the wrath of that animal in the future, or that it will not allow itself to be hunted. The forest and the sea are of particular reverence to these people.

[B]Government[/B]: 

	There is no 'government' among the Saamala, but ancestor worship is prevalent, and the wisdom and experience of the elders is respected and often heeded. As such, the elders operate as a [I]de facto[/I] leadership in the sense that they are considered to know best, but do not hold 'official' authority.

[B]Inhabited area and settlements[/B]: 

	The Saamala live primarily in boreal forest. Large rivers, some running for thousands of kilometres, are used as the highways of these people. Boreal trees are used to make canoes to traverse these rivers, and flint from coastal areas is used for tools. The trees, rivers and all other aspects of the geography are revered by these people, and very little scarring by humanity can be seen (I.e no mass deforestation, etc.). The Saamala are somewhat nomadic. 

They move during certain seasons so that their animals can feed on fresh growth, and so that they can take advantage of seasonal food (I.e rivers are more useful in the spring and summer because they are not frozen). Therefore, these people can be seen on rivers and coastal areas far more frequently during warmer months, and in land during the winter where herds of animals are more likely to be found.

Their settlements are an assortment of huts and shelters made of wooden frames and covered in animal hides sewn together to make a protective covering. Long-term settlements are constructed of wooden frames and covered with thatching made of branches and earth for insulation.

[B]Story[/B]:

	The Saamala have little in the way of a mythological or divine story regarding their origin. They do not believe they are the sole inheritors of the land, or that a deity gave them possession of the wild, but simply believe they are one part of a large orchestra that makes up the living world, which is what plays a significant part in their shamanistic religion. 

By nature of the climate, dangerous wildlife and unforgiving lifestyle, the boreal forests have always been relatively scarcely populated, and as such the Saamala are not a people that number very hugely, but they are a people who respect the nature of the cold climate and understand that co-operation is preferable to conflict, and this mentality lead to the formation of a [I]de facto[/I] tribe from an assortment of individual families over time. 

The result of their formation means that the Saamala are more of an ethnic group inhabiting the northern boreal forests, rather than a political entity that another tribe or individual could hope to deal with as a whole.

[B]Warriors[/B]: 

	War is not a typical pursuit of the Saamala. Those who prefer fishing are familiar with frog-spears and the like, those who hunt are familiar with bows and spears, and so forth, and so the people are not unskilled with weapons, but very rarely will they take the lives of people. This is only done in defence.

[B]Important people[/B]: TBA as story progresses.[/hider]