Avvar: Holds, Villages and Tribes/Clans

Holds and Villages
The known Holds of the Avvar are: Rifthold (located between Orzammar and Haven), Valehold (found near the Hinterlands and Honnleath) and Stonehold (located close to Orzammar and Jade). The location of Frosthold is unknown to most Avvar, only shaman can find it, unless an Avvar is led there by someone from the Frosthold tribes.

Holds are the Avvar equivalent of cities. They have stores of food and needful items, they have a forge and blacksmiths, they are the most permanent of Avvar settlements and always have people in them, no less than 50 but they can hold the population of all the surrounding villages. The Hold's leaders are the Elders and the prominent non mage chieftains, the Thane of villages wield power here too. The Elders tend to keep balance and peace between Thanes. No blood is to be shed between tribes in a Hold.

The villages of a Hold are satellites surrounding it, no more than three days from the Hold. They are tribes in their own right and have village Thanes but they are transient and move between settlements. Thus the tribes are all O Rifthold or whatever Hold they are closest to, but the name of the villages reflect their semi-permanent status. For instance - "àrach deiseach O Rifthold r' ar steud-shruth" is in the common tongue "the village south of Rifthold by the stream". Their names derive from the environment, so "the village by the large waterfall" or "the village in the cleft with the big rock that looks like a bear" are the names of these villages.

Moving between villages and Holds
The weather and supplies as well as war with other tribes and the lowlanders contribute to the semi-settled status of Avvar tribes. They have villages they move between but when they are threatened or need food and better shelter they move into the Hold. Thus there is fluid movement throughout the Frostbacks, no one really owns anything and the composition of villages changes depending on need. For instance, the central hut in any village belongs to the shaman, not to an individual but the role. There will be a Thane's Hut as well, belonging to no individual Thane but used by whichever tribal Thane occupies the settlement at that time.

The Avvar will defend their supplies and area when they are settled in it, trading between villages but most trade goes through the Hold due to long standing conflicts and the Avvar's tendency to argue with each other over the most mundane things.

Tribes or Clans
"For CoT we tend towards calling them tribes, but the use of Clan may be used, especially for those who reside primarily in the Holds."

The Avvar consist of many small "tribes" all of which have Thanes (chieftains). Each tribe belongs to a Hold, though there are some who live between Holds (thus do not permanently belong to a "Hold" though any tribe can attach itself to another Hold, such is the fluid nature of the Avvar) and wander between them too. Most tribes settle in and around a Hold. Rifthold has at least twenty tribes attached to it (each tribe having between 50 and 300 members), but one must understand that the nature of the Avvar is fluid, therefore an Avvar name only includes the name of the Hold they were born to, they are free to travel between Holds and tribes though. The fractious nature of the Avvar means that some tribes are less hospitable and welcoming than others. Generally, it is in the Tribes best interests to stay relatively close to a Hold, so few constantly migrate up and down the Frostbacks but stay in the general region of a Hold thus those born to the tribes are, for example, "O Rifthold" - of the Rifthold Tribes. Those not affiliated with a Hold bear the name of their tribe instead.