In the Middleland, the term unintegrated tribes or unintegrated people refers euphemistically to ethnic Middlelanders who have not accepted The Mother. In other words, they are Middlelanders who are not culturally Maharans, and therefore they reject the central Middleland government as a political or religious authority.
Most of these tribes live along the western coast of The Continent, not far from Samma Valley, and still rely on volcanic soil to produce yaw. Their religions vary, as do their dialects, most of which are still mutually intelligible with Modern Southern Middlelander. A small minority within this population does ascribe to the Cult of Mahara as a religious practice, but as a rule, they do not recognize The High Priestess as the living incarnation of the Goddess, which to the central government is considered heresy.
The central Middleland government tolerates the autonomy of these tribes to varying degrees and for various political reasons, though their official stance is that these tribes are subject to the Middleland’s authority and merely have yet to “integrate” with society. Unlike other foreigners, when a member of one of these populations enters the Middleland proper and declares allegiance to The Mother, they are given instant citizenship with no other conditions. This is because Middlelander law includes a rule called “right of daughterhood” which in theory imbues all ethnic Middlelanders with citizenship automatically (including those born on foreign soil).
Origins
From the perspective of the central Middleland government, the unintegrated people first became a distinct group around 500 years prior to the events of Goda’s Slave, when The Mother abruptly called for a mass migration from Samma Valley and towards a region which would eventually become known as Suda. As the official story goes, during this time, a small number of families refused to follow and disbelieved The Mother’s prophecy of droughts and pestilence. When the prophecy came to pass, the families were forced to move further west until they collided with the ocean and could go no further.
The truth of the situation, however, is much more nuanced: The population which eventually became the unintegrated people already had a long history of cultural and religious differences with populations that lived deeper in the jungles of Samma Valley. This simply came to a head around the same time that alternative farming methods allowed Samma Valley Middlelanders to start expanding their territory further South-East and into non-volcanic environments.
While the role of The Mother already existed in various Middlelander religions prior to this, she was not a political authority and the priesthood was a loose concept. There were several figureheads with that title and various local off-shoots from the more popular proto-Middlelander folk religions, including several versions of a mystery religion called the Cult of Mahara. It was only when the Samma Valley population began to centralize and form a complex theocracy with their branch of the Cult (and when they declared their own high priestess to be the High Priestess) that the more diffused tribes on the western coasts were more explicitly othered by central Middlelanders.
In modern times, Middleland citizens view members of unintegrated populations with little respect and consider them to be violent simpletons.
Tensions With the Central Middleland Government
While the government mostly leaves these tribes alone, as they are believed to constitute less than twenty thousand individuals and are hostile to approach, there are occasional confrontations between unintegrated people and inhabitants of the Western side of Samma Valley. They pose a danger in particular to visitors of Samma Valley monastery who get lost during their travels and end up wandering to the coast.
Though it is rare, if such confrontations turn deadly, the central Middleland government will often blame Lowerlanders instead. Due to political reasons and to avoid seeming weak to rival countries, the Middleland tends to minimize the existence of these cultural minorities and their differences.
Twice a year, the Middleland government sends representatives to check in on some of the larger tribes and offer gifts of yaw.
Contact With Military and Other Cultures
Some unintegrated tribes close to the Northern parts of the coast engage in black market trade with soldiers in the military bases between Northern Samma Valley and the southern border of the Upperland. They also engage in trade with Upperland peasants in these more rural regions.
Occasionally, individual members of these tribes may wander as far north as as Gam (the most northern settlement of the Middleland) and as far east as the outskirts of the Outerland desert seeking to trade, though this is considered more dangerous. Due to Middleland law and social norms, non-Maharans have far fewer legal protections and do not benefit from the taboo against killing fellow Maharans. Outside the protection of their tribes and outside the jurisdiction of The Mother, they are essentially outlaws.
The Iron-Rope Tribe
The largest single tribe of unintegrated people (made of roughly five thousand individuals) is a distinct culture with its own religion and social norms. Middlelanders refer to these people as the Iron-Rope tribe due to their extensive iron toolmaking, including elaborate chain artwork, which is hung from trees like human-made vines and used to mark the boundaries of their territory.
In addition to being skilled blacksmiths and potters, this tribe is extremely violent. Weapons-crafting is one of their main sources of income, as they trade their wares with (especially rural) Middlelanders who are generally forbidden from having weapons without significant red tape from the central government.
In this tribe, the standard Middleland marriage structure (which is still common even in unintegrated tribes) is conspicuously absent. Instead, there is a strict social hierarchy with dominant women keeping and controlling male brides, which they “lend” to other women in return for favors or obedience. Women with particularly high levels of status may collect an entire harem of such brides, while challengers may seek to steal them. The men, who are more or less treated as property, generally prefer to go with whichever woman is most locally dominant, as she provides the best protection.