Nepwayoro

The Nepwayoro are a people group found mainly in the Menayana Marshes, a stretch of land which sits between the foothills of the Skytooth Plateau and the various lakes of Menayana. While not sitting quite as low as the lakes, the marshes are often flooded during the rainy season, and consequentially are botha difficult place to live and a difficult place to invade. The Nepwayoro are probably the only population group to ever manage it, and even they retain large traces of the ancient indigenous people which live within the marshes.
The Nepwayoro were originally composed of a myriad of different Abakhethiwe groups, which, during the Great Migration period, found themselves trapped by stronger tribes. Crossing the hills which would eventually become home to the Khru'whiana (an Abakhethiwe subgroup), they would be forced to enter the swamp as they were pushed out of the more fertile lakeside lands by their rivals. These groups would slowly penetrate the interior of the swampland, as one after another forced their way in and became trapped. Despite the varying ancestries of the Nepwayoro, their Abakhethiwe ancestry has given them a common ground, further reinforced by the baseline of the native culture which once dominated the region. Perhaps unsurpisingly, the further northwest one travels, the more native blood the inhabitants possess. Due to these natives being rather short of stature (unfounded and impossible claims have been made they were actually halflings) this is represented in a gradual decrease in average height among the peoples, with the northwesterners standing around the height of a dwarf. Their cultural differences from other groups and their short stature have left them isolated, and they are often raided by the neighboring people groups for slaves. Since the orcish conquest of the Baamorun, it has become common for orcish canoe raids to strike lakeside parts of the marsh during the wet season, causing even more issues.
The Nepwayoro can be subdivided into a seemingly infinitely small number of separate groups based on their tribal allegiance, but in general can be grouped into three main divisions: the northern, central, and southern. Since they do not recognize these differences, there are no native names for them. The northern Nepwayoro, as noted above are the shortest, and possess the most indigenous blood. They can be found from the southern borders of Ilraeus and stretching north along the western side of the nearby lakes. The northern Nepwayoro are noted for their sophisticated songs and dances, which in modern tiems have taken a practical purpose of warnings about orcish raiders. The north is the least dense swampland, but this does not mean it is easily traversed. In contrast, the thickest swamps are in the central region, which is very long, thin, and low-sitting. During the wet season, several of the lakes become connected, leaving little land not covered in swamp vegetation. The central Nepwayoro have adapted, generally living in canoes and traversing the network of streams and pools while hunting. Despite this, they have struggled against orcish raids, as well as those from the south. The southern Nepwayoro have, for many years, prospered by slaving, and selling these slaves to the neighboring Khru'whiana. Over time, they have become closer to the Abakhethiwe once more, adopting the local religions, but nonetheless have retained their own culture and the features that mark them as distinctly Nepwayoro. Although they have long been active in slaving, the southerners are often enslaved themselves.