Many tribes and peoples inhabit the northern plains and ridges. The bone hunters who settled along the shores of the frozen sea dug deep into the frozen wasteland. A little further south live the hunters of the wasteland, inhabitants of the endless plains stretching from the icy mountains to the northern borders of Erikuria and Tir Tuaid.
The inhabitants of the wastelands, like their neighbors, live in small communities and engage in trades, the first and most important of which, of course, is hunting. Hunters are respected here, and their traditions are respected and strictly followed. Skirmishers are especially respected - experienced trackers and skilled trappers. They travel alone for long periods of time through the wastelands, setting snares, and invariably return with rich prey.
During the great hunt, skirmishers arm themselves with a bunch of darts, mount a trusty mouflon and ride in the vanguard, driving down the most important game. It is from among the skirmishers that the hunter is selected who at the right moment will blow the bugle, calling on the others to begin the race.
Skirmishers on a great hunt can always be distinguished from other horsemen, because they always wear their bronze pointed helmets. Other hunters prefer leather to bronze, but skirmishers remain true to themselves.
Nobody knows how to forge such helmets in the wastelands, and where hunters got them from is a big question. Perhaps they were brought by traders from the distant south and exchanged for furs, or perhaps they remained with the inhabitants of the wastelands from those distant times when people began their campaign against Erycuria hundreds of years ago. Then the skirmishers walked in the vanguard of the human army and were the first to step into uncharted territories, just as now they are the first to rush forward to the sound of a bronze horn.
