Tribe

"The lesson will be taught in due time, Aloy. Until then, we wait."

This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.

A tribe refers to a society of families or communities who share distinct cultural ties, usually inhabiting a defined territory or region. Human societies in the Horizon series are referred to as tribes.

The cultures, economies, religions, and governments of the tribes vary widely. While some tribes are more loose-knit, such as the Nora, Oseram and Banuk, others have more developed and complex systems of government, such as the Carja and Quen. Some tribes rule large swaths of land, akin to a nation or a small country, such as the Tenakth, while others rule smaller areas of land, such as the Utaru.

History[]

Following the events of the Faro Plague, all biological life, including humanity, was eradicated. Foreseeing this unavoidable extinction, part of Project Zero Dawn involved the eventual repopulation of Earth, with the ELEUTHIA subordinate function in charge of restoring humanity. Human zygotes were stored cryogenically in cradle facilities, with the APOLLO subordinate function intended to educate them on humanity's past once the new humans reached kindergarten age. However, Ted Faro's purging of the APOLLO function left the new humans without any knowledge of the former civilizations.

Once born and the food supplies in the cradles were depleted,^[1] the new humans were forced out in their teens to survive on their own.^[2] They were able to survive, thrive and spread out, and by the start of the fourth millennium, many tribes had formed in various areas across the world.

While tribal populations have never been confirmed, it appears that the tribes on the continent that was once North America currently total under 25,000 people each and under one million total. When Aloy learned that Faro Automated Solutions had over 25,000 employees, she notes that this number of people is bigger than people in a tribe,^[3]^{[quote 1]} indicating that the tribes known to her at the time (the Nora, Carja and Oseram, and potentially the Banuk, Utaru and Tenakth depending on what quests have been completed) have populations below 25,000. Additionally, the final report of Project Slipstream (which was later used for the Ascension) revealed that if launched, it could contaminate a radius of up to a thousand miles at lethal levels^[4] of radiation, which if launched in the Burning Shores could easily impact all known tribal territories on the continent. Aloy notes that this would impact thousands of people,^[5]^{[quote 2]} and also notes that HEPHAESTUS kills thousands every year with its machines,^[6] further indicating that the collective population of all the known tribes on the continent doesn't reach one million.

Tribes[]

The Nora[]

The Nora are the direct descendants of the people released from ELEUTHIA-9, remaining in the lands surrounding the cradle, dubbing them the Sacred Lands, and over the generations, came to see the door to the facility as a goddess named All-Mother.

Due to multiple attacks, the Nora tribe is teetering on extinction,^[7] with most of the tribe currently residing within All-Mother Mountain for safety.^[8]

The Carja[]

Breaking off from the Nora centuries ago, the Carja are descendants of Araman and the people who followed him after he discovered books in an Old World ruin, one which he called the Leaves of the Old Ones. Driven out by their fellow tribespeople who saw the Leaves as a curse, they made their way west, settling in the lands that would come to be known as the Sundom.^[9]

The Shadow Carja[]

The Carja-in-Shadow, or more commonly known as the Shadow Carja, splintered off from the rest of the Carja as a result of Prince Avad's apparent murder of Sun-King Jiran, taking the monarchy for himself. As Jiran announced that Itamen would succeed him as Sun-King, those who remained faithful to Jiran escaped to Sunfall with the now Sun-King Itamen, dividing the tribe in half.^[10]

After the fall of most their leaders and soldiers during the Battle of the Alight, the majority of Shadow Carja have reintegrated with the Carja^[11] or broke into smaller groups and wandered on to find a new way of life.^[12]^[13]^[14]

The Banuk[]

Banukai and her followers, also descendants of people born within ELEUTHIA-9,^[15] headed north of the facility to escape the Ravenous Tribe. Once she fell defending her people, the surviving members named their tribe in her honor.^[16]

According to a Banuk story, the White Teeth werak was the first to find and settle in Ban-Ur while searching for a homeland. The story claims that they became trapped against a glacier by a snowstorm for four days and nights, but once the snowstorm cleared, they followed a Tallneck to the land they named Ban-Ur.^[17]

The Oseram[]

While it's unknown how the Oseram came to be, it is known that they are also descended from the people born within ELEUTHIA-9.^[15] They settled in the land northwest of their cradle of origin, known as the Claim.

The Utaru[]

While it's unknown how the Utaru came to be, it is known that they are also descended from the people born within ELEUTHIA-9.^[15] The first Utaru came from the east to the lands that they would name Plainsong, discovering it from the top of the Promontory.^[18]

The Tenakth[]

While it's unknown how the Tenakth came to be, it is known that they are also descended from the people born within ELEUTHIA-9.^[15] The first Tenakth claimed the Memorial Grove as their own, forming their culture and society around the Visions in the ruins. splitting into three clans: the Desert Clan, the Lowland Clan, and the Sky Clan.

The Quen[]

Unlike the other main tribes, the Quen are the only tribe that aren't known to be descended from the people born within ELEUTHIA-9, living somewhere west of the Great Ocean (the New World name for the Pacific Ocean). Their society formed around the discovery of Focuses early in their history, allowing them to advance much faster than the tribes in what was once North America.

Other tribes[]

Sylens has mentioned that they live in a world of vanished tribes,^[10] indicating that many tribes have gone extinct by the time of Horizon Zero Dawn.

The Ravenous Tribe[]

Main article: Ravenous Tribe

Tribe south of the Sundom[]

Main article: Southern Tribe

Tribes in Brin's visions[]

After receiving a vision from drinking Thunderjaw Blood, Brain mentioned that he saw hunters of many tribes gone and yet to come.^[19]

Tribes in the Great Delta[]

Alva has mentioned that tribes other than the Quen live in the Great Delta, and that they wish harm upon the Quen.^[20]

Supposed tribes in the Forbidden West[]

Historically, the Forbidden West has been a mysterious land to the Carja, having vague reports of four tribes living there delivered by people who returned from the Forbidden West, telling Considerate Udain about what they encountered before dying from their injuries, who went onto write a book about these stories.^[21] However, no sign of these tribes listed below can be found in Horizon Forbidden West, with Fashav noting that most things in Udain's book are pure fantasy.^[22] Interestingly, none of these tribes appear be the two confirmed tribes in the Forbidden West: the Utaru and Tenakth.

The supposed tribes reported include:

A tribe made up of drinkers of machine blood, with their lips and tongues stained and their teeth replaced with metal.^[21] Brin notes that this tribe appears to have disappeared without a trace.^[19]
A tribe made up of youths as pale as ash, all wearing the same faces, who hunt silently and tirelessly in the night.^[21]
A tribe, seen only from afar, whose folk busied themselves digging deep pits in the sand only to fill them in again for unknowable reasons.^[21]
A tribe seen on the waters of the Great Ocean, riding thin dark boats.^[21]^{[note 1]}

Trivia[]

While Far Zenith are not a tribe in the conventional sense, they are referred to as such by Zo^[23] and Varl.^[24]

References[]

↑ E9B1 Incident Log C
↑ Description of ELEUTHIA in Horizon Forbidden West.
↑ Maker's End (Quest)
↑ Project Slipstream: Final Report
↑ As mentioned by Aloy during The Stars in Their Eyes.
↑ As mentioned by Aloy during Death's Door.
↑ As mentioned by Lansra during The Heart of the Nora.
↑ As mentioned by Teersa after completing The Heart of the Nora.
↑ Founding Of Meridian
↑ ^10.0 ^10.1 As mentioned by Sylens during The Mountain That Fell.
↑ As mentioned by Uthid during The Point of the Lance.
↑ The Twilight Path
↑ Shadow from the Past
↑ Shadow in the West
↑ ^15.0 ^15.1 ^15.2 ^15.3 Horizon GAIA Cast | Episode 4 - Exploring the Tribes, 2:58
↑ As heard in Banukai's story.
↑ As mentioned by Ikrie during The Survivor.
↑ The Promontory (quest)
↑ ^19.0 ^19.1 As mentioned by Brin during Acquired Taste.
↑ As mentioned by Alva during Seeds of the Past.
↑ ^21.0 ^21.1 ^21.2 ^21.3 ^21.4 The Forbidden West
↑ Tide's Reach (datapoint)
↑ As mentioned by Zo during a conversation in the Base.
↑ As mentioned by Varl during a conversation in the Base.

Notes[]

↑ This tribe is definitively not the Quen, as these reports were read by Fashav as a child, noted in the datapoint he left in Tide's Reach, dating the reports of this tribe to many years before the Quen arrived.

Quotes[]

↑ "25,000 people? That's bigger than a tribe."
-Aloy, Maker's End
↑ "Londra's worse than the other Zeniths. Willing to irradiate thousands so long as he survives."
-Aloy, The Stars in Their Eyes