Indian Tribes

I thought I'd write a bit of factual info about the Indian Tribes that existed during the 1870's in the Weird West , most of the info below is true, extracted from several books, and some is not so true - based on info found in Deadlands sourcebooks. The aim is simply to provide a bit more background for your campaigns on these diverse and interesting peoples, in here you'll find a bit about the origins of the Indian, a region by region breakdown of the tribes, how the Reckoning affected these tribes, the new Indian territories, languages of the Native Indians, as well as some new traditional weapons for all you "Old Ways" types...take a look!

Origins of the Native Americans

50 millenia ago the continent of North America was believed to be devoid of human life, meaning that the Native American peoples must trace their ancestory back to another continent - Asia. With the Ice Age a land bridge was formed between Siberia and Alaska, allowing a gateway into America from Indonesia, Tibet, and Asia. The humans of these lands made their way East, to the new land, after following their food herds of Caribou and Mammoth. This migration occured between 40,000 and 10,000 BC, according to archeologists. The migration stopped around 8000BC as the glacier retreated, submeriging the land bridge and trapping the newcomers in North America. Some headed southwards to warmer lands, others stayed in the cold climes of Northern Canada and became the Eskimos. By 6000BC all parts of the continents of North and South Americas had been infiltrated by the settlers and slowly cultures began to form and different civilisations arose - the Eskimos, the Aztecs, the Plains Indians, and the Apaches all have their unique differences in the Weird West, but once upon a time they were all the same people

This is just one theory of course. Others argue that Native Americans have always lived in North America and were never of Asian descent. You decide which theory to go along with but my money's on the first.

• Tribes by Area. For more detailed info on the Natives by region try going here

• Indian Languages The North American Indians had more than one hundred different languages to their name. In the Weird West, however, they've merged these into a few common languages to make things easier on themselves. Read about them here

  Note - Pinnacle have since included rules for languages in their Indian sourcebook Ghost Dancers

• Indian Weapons. Tomahawks and bows aren't the only things that Indian braves arm themselves with in the Weird West. For more on Indian weapons browse through here

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