Neanderthals in Polesia

A northern strain of the Dawn People never encountered the serpent folk after they escaped, as they lived in climates that were fatal to their cold blooded enemies. Yet this did not mean that their lives were safe and secure. Many died due to exposure, hunger, and the great predators that stalked the northern landscape. Cave bears, saber cats, dire wolves, and terror birds were constant threats, and even the herd animals like mammoths, woolly rhinos, and giant sloths were dangerous if provoked. The Neanderthals adapted to this by becoming tough, with only the strongest surviving and passing on their strengths to the next generation. They also possessed the same cunning that was a trademark for the rest of their people, able to make weapons, clothing, and most importantly traps. For thousands of years this was enough to keep them going, but then a new enemy came and everything changed.

Humans had spread throughout the south in large migrating tribes that wandered the deserts but with resources becoming less and less many started moving north and encounters between the two races became more frequent. Neanderthals were hunters, and unlike their southern kin they had not fought in a great war for survival and knew little of battle tactics. Also humans had advanced well beyond the primitive weaponry and equipment used by the Neanderthals and so there was little contest when the two peoples contested over territory. The Neanderthals reacted to this in several ways; some joined the humans and mingled their bloodlines, others fled before the encroachment into the harsher wilds where humans were at a disadvantage.

From those who fled and kept their line pure a new breed began to rise as the orcs. There were a small few however that managed to stay more or less as they had always been, taking pains to hid themselves and their territory from the trepidation of their southern kin. Very few of these original Neanderthals exist, perhaps less than a hundred distinct tribes in Antanides. These tribes do their best to keep themselves pure and distinct, realizing rightly that they are all that is left of a dying breed. That being said, it is not unheard of for some Neanderthals to strike out on their own and travel south to see what wonders await.