=====The Barls or Barlfolk=====

The Barls or Barlfolk come from a group of tribes from the far North East, quite some distance from the Reach, who are known as the Northmen.  These men are slightly taller, fairer and more likely to be blonde or red-headed than the [[kumbrith_men|Kumbrith]].  Only a few of the more adventurous Barls learn the Common Tongue, and instead have kept using their ancestral Barlish language.  After a war between the Northmen and the [[chaos_empire|Empire of Chao]]s in the 2nd century BN, the Barlish tribe left their homeland and migrated to the present site of [[barlburg|Barlburg]] and founded their current homeland. Culturally the Barls do not follow the standardized customs of the Kumbrith, but hold to a tribal based structure with traditional non-written laws that include blood-price, feuds and the like, arbitrated at tribal assemblies.  They also, by and large reject Chaotic and Lawful religious ideas, holding to the Neutral gods and time-held customs.  They were among the last Neutrals to join the [[druidic_network|Druidic Network]], relying strictly on hereditary temple priests until only about 8 centuries ago.