Outlanders

"I have seen deadly beasts look harmless as babies while they rest. I've seen rivers that flow straight down from the sky. There is much out there beyond your little part of the world if you're brave enough to peek over your mountaintops."

— Ere, young sojourner

From the Frozen Beyond

It has long been known that other peoples had survived the longcold in the lands beyond the Greatvalley's stony borders. To the clans all such individuals are considered simply to be outsiders.
There are many groups of Outlanders each with unique customs and ways they managed to survive the longcold. Just like the clans of the great valley their lives are shaped by their specific environments, the resources at their disposal, and an indomitable spirit that could not be broken by untold generations of ice and snow.
Some Outlander groups include the Bayhunts, the Grovewatchers, the Furhats, and the Snowrunners.

Valley's Reception

The clans are always eager to hear about whatever knowledge the Outlanders may carry from far and wide. Over the course of the longcold this information has been mostly unactionable as it was too dangerous to leave the valley - the Outlanders that made it were often frostbitten, sick, injured, and many did not survive for long upon their arrival. Those that did often found themselves unable to integrate into the society of the different clans struggling with language and cultural barriers.
In recent years the influx of Outlanders has increased as the longcold has begun to wane and travel has become much safer during the longer warm seasons. The information and rumors they have brought with them has also been much more useful, especially with the clans' mission to find a new home. The clans do not know what lies beyond the boundary of their home firsthand but they now have knowledge of where they could go - and where they shouldn't.
A few Outlanders over the generations were able to join clans and make a new life for themselves within the sheltered walls of the Greatvalley. This has likely happened in every clan but has happened with the Longtooth and Openarm Clans within living memory; while expected with the Openarms other clans are always surprised to find an Outlander not only living among the Longtooths but acting, dressing, and hunting like one of them.

Foreign Dangers

Generations ago an Outlander was found unconscious near the Steamworn Path and taken in by the Boilblood Clan. They cared for this injured Outlander but were only able to ease their passing.
In exchange for their act of kindness members of the Boilbloods began to fall ill, displaying symptoms similar to that of the Outlander. The disease spread through the population and many died, entire family lines were ended, but those that survived never caught the disease a second time.

A Clan Exiled

There were once six clans sheltered within the Greatvalley but one - faced with the harsh unending winter - chose to take from the other clans. Not like the Boilbloods or other clans sometimes do when conflict occurs but brutally and with no survivors.
No one was safe from the clan-that-shall-not-be-named they killed men, women, children, the elderly, and the sick. When the fruits of their raids ran dry, they turned to the victims, eating them too and earning their name.
The other clans rallied to drive them out to the last. The few that survived the conflict found themselves out in the frigid beyond. There only difference between dying at the hands of the other clans and dying out in the beyond is how long it took.

Outside Views

Generally the clans view Outlanders with a mix of curiosity and suspicion; they are simultaneously new and intriguing and an unknown entity in their midst. Each interaction is colored by previous interactions with Outlanders - or stories thereof when direct experience is lacking. The clans don't understand - or don't care to understand - that any Outlander they meet may be completely unrelated to those of previous encounters.