Hick

The Hick people are the native inhabitants of the island kingdom of Senera. Their identity has largely been subsumed by the modern nation of Senera, but vestiges of their culture can still be found in the form of various mystic and religious practices that have been integrated in the local branches of major religions such as the Church of the Divine Masochist.

In the 1270s AI, there had been a movement to revive the Hick identity and culture, particularly by an anti-monarchist group named the Hickland for Hicks. King Karlin III of Senera was also interested in reintroducing Hickic identity into the Crown, reestablishing ancient rites and traditions that were banned in the 500s AI.

Recent scholarship in the new field of Hickic studies used linguistic evidence to relate the Seneran Hick languages to substrates of present-day Northern Apgarian languages and some their more isolated dialects.

Hick Etymology

The term Hick is an exonym, derived from the derogatory Kalassarian word hiccus, which meant local or native, with connotations of being uncivilized and barbaric. The ethnic people of Senera referred to themselves collectively as the Ma’al, which simply meant the people. Due to the preeminence of the Kalassarians however, and the inaccessibility of scholarship on the topic, the term Hick came to be used even by the succeeding generations of the island’s inhabitants. The country refers to its inhabitants as Senerans at present, from the Kalassarian name for the island, Seneria.

Hick Tribes

Magarisok

The Magarisok tribe is a small tribe who lived in the islet presently called Surrey-on-the-Brams. Despite the relatively small size of the tribe, they were well known for the accuracy of the divinations of their Malthrenok, or Tide Diviners. Even diviners from other tribes are said to defer to their divinations, if theirs are in contradiction with those of the Magarisok.

Mamalthrekok

Mabrisgralok

Maasamgralok

The Maasamgralok, literally People-Beneath-the-Mountain were one of the most populous tribes in pre-Kalassarian Senera. They were found in scattered patches in the present-day Western Lowlands, with their main settlement near what is now Malterford. They are credited with the construction of a number of wells that can still be found in the region today.

They would be one of the first tribes to befriend the Elves who have crossed the Realm Bridge to escape the Draco-Giant Wars. They allowed the Plains Elves to settle in their lands, and in return, the Elves shared the use of nature magic to supplement their already significant agricultural practices. As proof of their friendship, the elves gave them the Elven Boon of the Emerald Shield of Spring. This boon allowed the Maasamgralok to protect themselves from the elements, and to grow their crops in a more reliable manner.

They were the only tribe that refused to wage war against the Elves, and provided many of the elves with shelter before they were able to return to the Feywild.

Mathrantor’al

The Mathrantor’al tribe, or People of the Sacred Mountain, were a tribe that lived in the present-day Ranterg Mountains. They were thought to have been the direct descendants of the Branrum’al—the People of the Distant Past—who had travelled across the sea to settle upon the island of Senera.

Although technically one tribe has no ascendancy over any other, the Mathrantor’al tribe were in a privileged position as the caretakers of one of the most sacred sites in ancient Seneran animism.

The Mathrantor’al tribe accepted thece friendship of the High Elves, as the spirits of the mountain had a special affinity for them. In exchange, the High Elves gave them the Elven Boon of the Topaz Sword of Summer.

The Greater Tribe

A surviving poem, The Giant of Inespell, mentions the existence of a Greater Tribe mator’al, is thought to be a coalition of the tribes that fought against a powerful tribe called the eldalok who had arrived on the island on something called the eldegralen asadimris. The term eldegralen asadimris is a matter of active scholarship at the moment. Scholars translated the phrase as “The Bridge to the Eldal Lands”, which many interpret as some kind of ship, or a fleet of ships coming from across the sea. No evidence of the existence of such as ship exists however.