Vikings and germanic tribes are overused. What are other good inspirations for barbarians?

Japan

Iberian tribes pre Roman conquest

M*xicans.

Pre roman Italics
Inuit people
Polynesians
Abbos
Head hunters from Indochina
Proto-indeuropeans
Samis

vikings and germanic but actually making them norse with norse attitudes and culture and not just skyrim-people

What are some good books on Scandinavian culture and mithology?

The Irish.
Any time period, really.

Greeks

Mongols
Kindergarten kids
Mexicans
Antifa
Zulu
Hillbillies
Elves
Pathfinder players
40kids

Seems like you can find barbarians all over the worlds, so why bother with making them a distinct people. Some fighters fight like soldiers or knights in armour, others take off their clothes and fight like barbarians.

Non Golden-Age Muslims

This.

The Eddas.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edda

In Post-Apo setting American / USSR troops make good barbarians.

>"fight like barbarians"
What exactly do you mean by this?

Are you perhaps refering to the barbarous persian splendid military tradition of fielding great cavalry supported by spearmen and bowmen? Or are you talking about the military drill and engineering feats of the roman legions? Both were barbarians. None of them fought nude.
>But muh gaesatae
Those were proto-french, and as such are naturally devious. Don't slander 99,9% of the world just because the french act like frenchmen.

What? No, not at all. I'm not slandering any nation. I mean to say that it is a personal choice to fight in the style of a barbarian, with one's inner rage and so on and so forth. That you can find singular barbarians in any place. If you are looking for them in the Roman empire... probably in the circus, I guess.

The generic horde of angry men who makes outlandish solo feats in combat as they take on a small circle of disciplined rabble and cuts them all down effortlessly.

How about Carolinians for inspiration?
A fierce, tall and fanatically religious people with long hair and sometimes fancy moustaces who through a combination of brilliant military tacticts and leadership manages to crush forces well beyond their own small numbers.

In fact most feared 'barborous' people tended to be either military more technological advanced or just fiercer than their 'civilized' enemies.

Ah, you mean any sort of atleast semi-professional soldiery then.

What the fuck are you talking about mate? Using your inner rage in any capacity beyond the standard motivation is just a one way ticket to a earlier grave as it comes at the detriment of your martial provess. It might look scary to scream and shout like a nerdraging comiccon-participant but the endresult is just that you get that many more missiles coming your way, especially if your the only one doing it. It's martial prowess that wins the day.

The Huns have a good claim to being the best barbarians ever. Fearsome appearance, savage custom, and, at their peak, an unstoppable army. They were also quite effective at assimilating other barbarian tribes into theirs, which made them an unprecedented threat to Rome who had previously tried to play tribes off against each other.

>In fact most feared 'barborous' people tended to be either military more technological advanced or just fiercer than their 'civilized' enemies.
Gr8 b8 m8, but in case you're serious the key word there is "feared", not "barborous". There were plenty barbarians who weren't very good at war, you just haven't heard of them.

I don't know any that isnt in norwegian...
there are some translations though:
amazon.co.uk/Vikings-at-War-Kim-Hjardar-ebook/dp/B06VVQHMGG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503509200&sr=8-1&keywords=vikings at war

I goddamn love these faces

in what way were swedes "barbarous" in the 17th century? They'd be christian for like 500 years and were drilled to hell and back.

He's implying that "barborous" is just a label that Romans, etc. applied to peoples that could beat them in war, so as to demonise them.

well he's obviously a fucking cunt that understands what OP wants yet he has to besserwisser at every available turn, so fuck him.

Try some Icelandic Sagas. Especially:

Egil's Saga - life, adventures and poetry of a fuckhueg Viking, raiding, duelling and getting into trouble with several kings. He also is the god-father of Icelandic poetry.

Saga of People of Laxdael - story of five generations of family life and family feuds (including the bloody ones) of Icelandic settlers

Gisli's Saga - storu of an outlaw on the run from vengeful enemies, culminating in a 1 vs 30 last stand

>Not nominating the mongols as the best barbarians ever.
The huns are basically the inferior prototype (with albeit kickass lassos) whereas the mongols were the perfected model.

>Gr8 b8 m8, but in case you're serious the key word there is "feared", not "barborous". There were plenty barbarians who weren't very good at war, you just haven't heard of them.
Which is exactly my point.
The only reason barbarians are thought of as being great warriors is because it's mostly a useless term. A barbarian is just another word for foreigner. In fact, IIRC the spartans didn't even use the term as they instead relied on the fully adequate word foreigner.
The greeks were barbarians to the persians and the persians were barbarians to the greeks.
The only reason the romans didn't think of the greeks as barbarians was because they were massive hellenophiles. The greeks meanwhile thought of the romans as barbarians.

You seem to be on the wrong board.
Veeky Forums is that way.

>Murder, arson, jaywalking

Still kek'd

Barbarian =/= pagan.
Also military drill is not exclusive to civilised peoples. Nomadic peoples, some of the most uncivilised and savage individual you could come across in history tended to be incredibly well drilled militarily speaking. As such they were often sought out as mercenaries.

Swedes were quite backwards in the times, especially if you compared them to the cultural hegemon that was France. Their geographical location made them naturally a part of the periphery. As people here seem to conflate barbarian with being culturally backwards/uncivilised they fit as good as any other suggestion.

>He's implying that "barborous" is just a label that Romans, etc. applied to peoples that could beat them in war, so as to demonise them.
What? No, that's not what I've been saying at all. I've clearly stated that being a barbarian is equivalent to being a foreigner.

> he has to besserwisser at every available turn
I believe the correct term is Messerschmitt.

African-Americans, Berbers, Touaregs, Pashtuns, Inuits, Picts, Tongas, Dogos

>zulus
masai
but also
spartans
black friday shoppers

African tribes.
I made a lizardfolk barbarian from a tribe based around the Zulu people. It was pretty enjoyable.

>a small circle of disciplined rabble and cuts them all down effortlessly.
you mean the disciplined rabble cuts the barbarians down effortlessly don't you?
Because that's what happens in actual war.

OP is looking for historical inspiration for savage peoples living beyond the reaches of civilisation. Hopefully you can contain your AKTHUALLYs enough to see how 17th-18th century Swedes don't exactly fit the bill.

>mongols
I understand the sentiment, but they'd been mentioned several times before and are somewhat anachronistic to the classical Greco-Roman era we think of as the context for concept of barbarians.

anglo detected

Slavs
Americans
Blacks
Irish
Italians
Mexicans

But Sweden fits the bill quite brilliantly if you just leave your comfortzone for one second. Sweden during its time of Great Power is pretty much the equivalent to the Roman Empire's german confederations. Both were "at the gates" while simultaneously remaining in the periphery. I'd argue that the Swedes can be viewed as even more savage since the germans just sought to carve out their own little part of Rome while the swedes actually sought to crush and reshape catholic society as the legend of the "Lion from the North" told that it would result in the second coming of Christ.

>the classical Greco-Roman era we think of as the context for concept of barbarians
That claim is just completely wrong. The stereotypic concept of a barbarian isn't limited to that era. It's relevant to any epoch besides, arguably, the one we are currently living in. As long as there has been a sedentary cvilisation there has been the barbarian other.
Even if we were to stick to the period you're refering to I see no reason why one cannot take take inspiration from others. I brought up the carolians because they would make an interesting twist on the stereotype while ironically being closer to the true "barbarian".

>Football Hooligans
Is no one else going to point that this has been done already?

Explain the difference instead of being a passive aggressive psuedointellectual

Goths

That dress in a weird mixture of mall goth and germanic goth.

Slavs.
The notqite white horde of rapists, horse archers and sabre wielding savages who remain prone to bloodshed despite thousands of years of sedetary life.

Scytians make excellent stereotypical barbarians.
>In some tribes a women couldn't get married untill she had slained three enemy combatants.
>Gold and alchohol loving nomads.
>Fancy-ass hats and clothes.
>Oh and according to Herodotus they were pretty metal:
(1/2)

64.In what concerns war, their customs are the following.
The Scythian soldier drinks the blood of the first
man he overthrows in battle. Whatever number he slays,
he cuts off all their heads, and carries them to the king;
since he is thus entitled to a share of the booty, whereto
he forfeits all claim if he does not produce a head. In
order to strip the skull of its covering, he makes a cut
round the head above the ears, and, laying hold of the
scalp, shakes the skull out; then with the rib of an ox he
scrapes the scalp clean of flesh, and softening it by rubbing
between the hands, uses it thenceforth as a napkin.
The Scyth is proud of these scalps, and hangs them from
his bridle-rein; the greater the number of such napkins
that a man can show, the more highly is he esteemed
among them. Many make themselves cloaks, like the
sheepskins of our peasants, by sewing a quantity of these
scalps together. Others flay the right arms of their dead
enemies, and make of the skin, which is stripped off with
the nails hanging to it, a covering for their quivers. Now
the skin of a man is thick and glossy, and would in whiteness
surpass almost all other hides. Some even flay the
entire body of their enemy, and, stretching it upon a
frame, carry it about with them wherever they ride. Such
are the Scythian customs with respect to scalps and skins.
(2/3)

65. The skulls of their enemies, not indeed of all, but
of those whom they most detest, they treat as follows.
Having sawn off the portion below the eyebrows, and
cleaned out the inside, they cover the outside with leather.
When a man is poor, this is all that he does; but if he is
rich, he also lines the inside with gold: in either case the
skull is used as a drinking cup. They do the same with
the skulls of their own kith and kin if they have been at
feud with them, and have vanquished them in the presence
of the king. When strangers whom they deem of
any account come to visit them, these skulls are handed
round, and the host tells how that these were his relations
who made war upon him, and how that he got the
better of them; all this being looked upon as proof of
bravery.
(3/3)

I dont believe any of this is true, but I love the idea.
For a game I mean, not in real life.

Medeival slavs are kinda underused

He also claimed that they also conquered the middle east and held it for about 20 years untill they got too drunk at a banquet.
Herodotus is fun!

I think the persians kind of corroborated that one.
The scythians did kill their king and a banquet was involved...

That's just because there's no discernable difference between a modern and a medieval one.

If you're talking about the Medes I think that it was the Assyrians who killed their king.
The scythians just took advantage of the unstable situation IIRC.

There a camp would be established, well stocked with wines and spirits, with which the barbarians were unfamiliar. And it would be guarded by a handful, as Cyrus led his army away to the planned battlefield. But, in truth, the army would march a short ways and await the inevitable attack on the camp by the horsemen. Then, after a suitable time had passed for them to be well intoxicated, Cyrus would fall upon them and thus win the day.

And so it fell out. The drunken Massagetae-Scythians were overwhelmed, losing a third of their number in minutes with most of the rest captured, including Tomyris’ son. Upon hearing of the debacle, Tomyris dispatched a herald to announce that, since he had been captured “by trickery not in the battle of strengths,” her son was to be released. Cyrus refused, and now-sober Spargapises committed suicide (although Herodotus doesn’t provide any details on this). The enraged mother gathered her horse-archers and allies, and gave battle. According to the old Greek’s account...

“The following, as I understand, was the manner of it: First, the two armies stood apart and shot their arrows at each other; then, when their quivers were empty, they closed and fought hand-to-hand with lances and daggers; and thus they continued fighting for a length of time, neither choosing to give ground. At length the Scythians prevailed. The greater part of the army of the Persians was destroyed and Cyrus himself fell, after reigning nine and twenty years. Search was made among the slain by order of the queen for the body of Cyrus. When it was found, she dipped the head of Cyrus into blood and thus insulted the corpse, ‘I live and have conquered you in fight, and yet by you am I ruined, for you took my son with guile; but thus I make good my threat, and give you your fill of blood.’ Of the many different accounts which are given of the death of Cyrus, this which I have followed appears to me most worthy of credit.”

Sea Peoples

Ah my bad. You were talking about Tomyris and the death of Cyrus. I thought that you were refering to the other banquet Herodotus mentions.

Thracians
Arabs
Turks
Slavs
Huns
Hungarians
Franks

Basically anyone who isn't and imperial citizen

Lots of banquets to keep track of.
Hope I didnt come off as an ass, but I couldnt fit all the quoting i wanted and smalltalk.

No worries mate. Especially considering my rampant autism earlier in the thread.

The thumb looked like a Viking Illithid. You failed to deliver OP. Now I'm sad.

slavic specialty was marshland skirmishes with poisoned arrows

eventually nobody wanted to contest marshlands and left them there until they were christianized

completely true

Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, or History of the Northern Peoples, or A Description of the Northern Peoples. Penned by a guy named Olaus Magnus. It's a very exhaustive treatise of who the Nordic peoples are, how they live, what their lands are like, and then there's some stuff about giants or whatever.

The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway
omacl.org/Heimskringla/

A guy in my group is playing an Aarakocra barbarian, specifically a bare-faced go-away bird (pic related)

>During the wars the Commonwealth lost approximately one third of its population as well as its status as a great power.[7] According to Professor Andrzej Rottermund, manager of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the destruction of Poland in the deluge was more extensive than the destruction of the country in World War II. As Rottermund claims, Swedish invaders robbed the Commonwealth of its most important riches, and most of the stolen items never returned to Poland.[8] Warsaw, the capital of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, was completely destroyed by the Swedes, and out of a pre-war population of 20,000, only 2,000 remained in the city after the war.[9] According to the 2012 Polish estimates, financial losses of Poland are estimated at 4 billion zlotys. Swedish invaders completely destroyed 188 cities and towns, 81 castles, and 136 churches in Poland.[10]

Lots of Germans were practically genocided by the eternal Swede too

Shut up and take your swedish drink.
No we're not giving back the Silver Bible.

and Thracians

+

>Kindergarten kids

So much this, holy fucking shit, the most trivial shit can cause a mob on the playground.

>the eternal Swede
Well, see, I think the blame might be a bit more spread out than so, what with how pretty much every fighting force bogged down in Central Europe around the Thirty Years' War made considerable use of local mercenaries. So, a lot of those Germans were probably killed by other Germans.

>Iyrians
>Thracians
>Slavs
>Balts
>Iberians

what that text is referring to is not the 30 year's war, but the wars of Karl X, and the so called Polish Deluge.

Western Europeans

Eastern Europeans, Scottish and Fat people.

>barbarians are overused
>what non-barbarians work as barbarian standins
Have you tried avoiding something as overused as barbarians in your game?

Moonshiners.

Celts are underused even though they were the de facto barbarians for Rome

GW Orks became ridiculously boring to me once I realized their odd speech patterns just meant they talked in a fucking cockney accent.

Seriously, Veeky Forums, I've met history majors that aren't boring-as-fuck, I don't know why Veeky Forums's armchair historians are all dull killjoys.

>pic
/d/ pls

>The guy on the left
He's trying to lift his future amazon waifu off her horse and drag her home. Clearly that dude has his priorities straight.

So little of the Dacians survives that there's not a lot for DMs to build on.

This. Read up on the celts and you find a marvellous people.

>Clytus I'm booored.
>Have you tried doing something new?
>Don't be dull!

I prefer crab people.

Atleast we have their aesthetic and Zalmoxis cult.
Add some not!Tracians and nomads and you have an interesting tripple alliance of peoples.

Slavs
Iberians
Philistines

Herodotus on Zalmoxis:
93. ...the Getae are the bravest of the Thracians and the most just. 94. They believe they are immortal forever living in the following sense: they think they do not die and that the one who dies joins Zalmoxis, a divine being; some call this same divine being Gebeleizis. Every four years, they send a messenger to Zalmoxis, who is chosen by chance. They ask him to tell Zalmoxis what they want on that occasion. The mission is performed in the following way: men standing there for that purpose hold three spears; other people take the one who is sent to Zalmoxis by his hands and feet and fling him in the air on the spears. If he dies pierced, they think that the divinity is going to help them; if he does not die, it is he who is accused and they declare that he is a bad person. And, after he has been charged, they send another one. The messenger is told the requests while he is still alive. The same Thracians, on other occasions, when he thunders and lightens, shoot with arrows up in the air against the sky and menace the divinity because they think there is no god other than their own.

Use the Romans as barbarians, that's what they were to the Greeks.

Made a lizardmen templeguard themed barbarian once, took all the mesoamerian staples like blood sacrifice and eating the hearts of your enemies to gain their strength. Was pretty fun.

Tatars
Scots
Mongols
Native American
Aztec or Maya
Zulu
Babylon (enkidu)

You could also go for hermit harnessing his or hers inner rage.

They'll just out-autist you if you try to bring that up again.