Mark Dunder
Mongoose
I have been too defensive I suppose, I have not read Bran Mac Morn or the Lost Race. The Picts may be more mutagenic than some of the other races.
If this were so, then perhaps Picts are on the up spiral and what we are seeing in the Hyborian Age, is a somewhat conflicting picture of who they really are. The influence of the Shamans may be one factor that may have kept them from progressing more rapidly, due to the bloody sacrifices they demand.
Without a clear picture, we require a ready reference to something that is more clear, that of the Native American culture. Clans may actually be the outgrowth of the Picts climb from the savage cycle they are in. Clans give strong organization and keeps family lines from interbreeding, which may have been one cause of their degeneration.
I would have two types of Picts, those out for blood for bloods sake, and those that are attempting to raise above this savage level. Consider this:
A party of PC's have heard of a Pictish camp close by a Bossonian settlement that has been raiding and making off with live captives. The party of adventurers go on the hunt and then find themselves hard pressed against these raiders. Just when the going is particularly bad, the Picts themselves are attacked and run off by a larger group of Picts. These Picts show no aggression towards the party, but are willing to aid the party in fighting the raiding Picts, whom they call "Worshippers of Snakes," or something along that line. Afterwards they will tell the party that they are heading to a gathering of Clans, to work out trade agreements and perhaps a non-aggression pact between the major Clans.
Anyway, a possible scenario.
If this were so, then perhaps Picts are on the up spiral and what we are seeing in the Hyborian Age, is a somewhat conflicting picture of who they really are. The influence of the Shamans may be one factor that may have kept them from progressing more rapidly, due to the bloody sacrifices they demand.
Without a clear picture, we require a ready reference to something that is more clear, that of the Native American culture. Clans may actually be the outgrowth of the Picts climb from the savage cycle they are in. Clans give strong organization and keeps family lines from interbreeding, which may have been one cause of their degeneration.
I would have two types of Picts, those out for blood for bloods sake, and those that are attempting to raise above this savage level. Consider this:
A party of PC's have heard of a Pictish camp close by a Bossonian settlement that has been raiding and making off with live captives. The party of adventurers go on the hunt and then find themselves hard pressed against these raiders. Just when the going is particularly bad, the Picts themselves are attacked and run off by a larger group of Picts. These Picts show no aggression towards the party, but are willing to aid the party in fighting the raiding Picts, whom they call "Worshippers of Snakes," or something along that line. Afterwards they will tell the party that they are heading to a gathering of Clans, to work out trade agreements and perhaps a non-aggression pact between the major Clans.
Anyway, a possible scenario.