Bear in mind that the humans of Grey Falls, or the Sky People, as they call themselves, are all highly unpredictable. Anything stated in this guide as a general rule for humans can and will be broken by any human at any time. Thus, do not rely on this guide for absolute truths rather, the guide will help you figure out what the humans might be up to at any given time. Second, keep in mind that humans cannot send. Their inner thoughts and emotions, therefore, are fully hidden. Unlike elves, who cannot "send" a lie, humans can lie through their teeth and appear absolutely innocent on the surface. Thus, believe only human actions, never human words. Pay special attention to actions performed when humans think no one is looking.

That said, we will proceed to observing humans as they go about their daily business

It is not without reason that we discuss the human's pursuit of rank before food, mates, or anything else, as climbing the social ladder seems to occupy the entire human day, day in and day out. Indeed, procuring food or mates seem to exist in the minds of humans only as means of improving one's rank. The tribe itself believes that its people descend directly from the first human. They believe that this, in and of itself, makes them superior to all other tribes of humans. They are tolerant of the ways of visiting travelers, and welcome them into the village, but cluck around behind their back about their strange appearance and customs. The Sky People would be quite shocked to learn that the strangers from other tribes gossip in the same way about THEM. Be that as it may, the Sky People believe that they rank above all other humans. What human tribe doesn't think it is the best?

Within the village, the humans express their rank according to the House they belong to. The Houses exist not only as categories of rank, but as physical entities as well. A member of the Chief's House lives in the same planked longhouse that the chief of the village occupies. The Houses, in order of their rank, are as follows :

Chief's House
This house is more acutely aware of rank than any other. If asked, the inhabitants could line themselves up according to rank in a matter of seconds. Among the men, the first in the House is the Chief, who leads his people. Next in rank are the chief's sons, then his brothers, then his brother's sons, then any adopted members of the house, in order of their adoption. Prowess on a hunt, or the taking of certain prize animals, can alter rank. The order is similar among the women, though a woman may lose rank to another woman with more sons, a fairer face, or greater age. The ranking of women in the chief's house is too convoluted and complex to discuss here, yet the women seem to understand it instinctively.

People from the lower houses may achieve sufficient status to join the Chief's House if they show extreme bravery against danger, possess a great deal of strength and win all wrestling matches in the summer, or seem to be full of Luck. Taking the head of an elf used to be a sure-fire way of joining the Chief's House, until it was declared taboo based on their new-found belief that the soul of a human can be reborn in the body of an elf. While people of lower houses may marry into the Chief's House, and even dwell there, they do not take on the rank. They continue to belong to their own House. Children take their mother's rank. Members of this house claim the best garden patches, closest to the village. All wear gold nugget pendants, symbols of the House.

Hunt House
This is the hunter class, and all children are taught the ways of the Hunt. Boys, of course, use spears, slings, and the bow and arrow, because they will join the Hunt on its days-long expeditions during hunting season. Girls are taught to use the sling and to set snares, so they can catch small game while they work the gardens or gather in the forest. This house supplies most of the meat for the village storehouses. Large game is butchered and most of the meat smoked for storage. Small game belongs to whoever caught it. The men of the House are in charge of dividing meat rations for all families, and are known for their fairness in doing so.

Men of this House lead the Hunt from late spring until first snows. Men of all houses hunt, but men of Hunt House are trained from birth to be Hunt leaders. They alone know the secret ways of tracking, are taught animal calls, and know which spirits to pray to for a good kill or in thanks for a kill. When the Hunt is out, and it may be out for an eight of days or more at a time, the Hunt leaders are expected to keep continual communion with the gods and the spirits to be certain no supernatural being is displeased with the actions of the hunters. The men spend a great deal of time bathing in a sacred pool and praying before each Hunt.

The women of Hunt House know the secrets of tanning and dyeing leather to make it butter-soft, and are known for driving a hard bargain for goods in exchange for their leathers. The lower houses often content themselves with poorer leather. The women are also renowned for their fancy quill-work, another secret they keep well. All members of this House wear pendants of red agate.

Salmon House
Members of this house roam the farthest, for they know the secrets of plying the river in dugout canoes. Of all the members of their tribe, only those of Salmon House are allowed to make and bless canoes. These people also fish, dive for river mussels, and tend fish weirs in the river. The large fish they catch are smoked and put away in the village store houses. Frogs, turtles, small fish, eels, and some of the mussels are eaten fresh. Mussels may also be smoked and stored. Salmon House people will guide river expeditions to other villages. The men are strong paddlers, and the women claim to be able to sing the river into submission. The Sky People particularly like to trade with tribes who live near the Vastdeep water. All members of this house wear pendants made from mussel shells.

Root House
These are the gardening people in the village. Though the men hunt, as all men do, the women learn to till the earth and urge their crops to grow. All the villagers turn to Root House for advice on when and how to plant, what prayers to say, and what is the best time of year to go out and copulate in the gardens to assure the garden's fertility and a bountiful harvest. The women also know a great deal about harvest and storage of roots, the uses of herbs for common healing, and know a good deal about fertility and aphrodisiacs. The men are considered somewhat shiftless, but lovable, and spend a good deal of their day setting traps for valuable fur-bearing animals. All members of this house wear pendants of native jade.

Forest House
With nearly the poorest of the garden plots, the people of this house must spend a good deal more time than any other foraging in the forest for food. As a result, the women of the tribe know the forest well, and guard the secrets of where one can find the most abundant food plants. The men hunt small game with blow darts, and are adept warriors, fighting with flat, paddle-shaped, obsidian-edged clubs. For elves, these are the most dangerous of humans, for they are more at home in the forest than all others, are quiet, patient, and are usually alone. They mistrust elves, and view them as competitors for the scarce resources they depend upon. Despite the tribal taboo, these humans are quite capable of killing an elf on sight and hiding the body. There is a story that belongs to this house that describes how the originator of the House was killed by mysterious spirits, which may be one other source of their grudge against elves. The Sky People look upon the people of the Forest House as being rather feral and uncanny. All members of this house wear obsidian pendants.

Tick House
So named because its people are about as welcome. Those that can't fit into any other house, for reasons of laziness, clumsiness, cruelty, or sheer stupidity end up in Tick House. Those who are born struck by the gods are taken care of by their own Houses. Those who choose to act as if they were go and live in the ramshackle Tick House. They are allowed garden plots, but of the meanest kind, and even those are seldom worked. Tick House people tend to rely on the meat and fish stored for the village, and whatever food they can easily find in the forest, and thus are hungry much of the winter, not having a harvest of roots for themselves. They look forward to famines and harsh winters, when all food is pooled, for these are the winters in which they eat more than any other. Tick House people are not allowed to mate for life until they achieve higher rank. Any children that may be born to them are taken away and raised in another House. Members of this house wear no jewelry at all.

There is one house that exists outside of any rank, whose members are more respected than the Chief's House, and that is:

Mages' House
Any child who shows a gift for being a Mage is brought to the Mages' House. Mages are any human who shows unusual artistic talents, or a talent for what the humans believe is magic. Mages may be painters, musicians, dancers, carvers, or other pleasing arts; or practitioners of the various methods humans use in attempts to predict the future, alter the weather, communicate with the dead, or speak to elves. Mages come from all ranks. Boys and girls stand nearly equal chances of joining, with girls having a slightly higher chance. Ranking within the house is loose. The oldest Shamaness is usually considered the leader. Shamans, necromancers, and other magic users are next, then the artisans, but all are respectful of one another, and spend their time pursuing their talents rather than jockeying for rank. Orphans or unwanted daughters from other houses may be given to the Mages' House to be raised there. If they show no particular talents, they stay in the house as servants, and are treated kindly.

Mages have no garden plots, and do not hunt, fish, gather, or sew. All of these things are done for them by the village. Each house is expected to contribute a certain portion of their food and other goods to the Mages. Servants in the Mage house do the cooking, sewing, and housekeeping (servants are often children given as gifts from other houses who show no talent for the craft they were born to). If a male Mage takes a mate, that mate is expected to keep him well dressed. A mated female Mage is dressed by her mate's sister or mother. Mages carry no weapons, so if an adult human absolutely must be approached, try to find a Mage, and be certain there is no guard posted nearby. A few Mages even seek to speak with "spirits," and might be safe to approach. Mages wear a quartz crystal pendant.

Foraging humans take anything edible from the forest, including mushrooms, herbs, fern roots, roots of various meadow plants and forest herbs, berries, nuts, bird and reptile eggs, and certain seeds. Oddly, they have little use for dreamberries, which they consider poisonous. Only trained necromancers use them. Hunters, of course, take anything on four legs, and many large birds. Ospreys, eagles, hummingbirds, crows, jays, owls and any white animal are forbidden to hunters, for they believe these animals may be the reincarnation of humans who wished to return to earth one more time. In their gardens, humans raise roots, squash (for the seeds), gourds (for the containers), beans, and tuft-seeds [note: not cereal grains, but something resembling amaranth or quinoa, the grains of the Incas]. They keep near-wolves ("dogs," they call them), which they consider delicious, and the Mages keep grouse or partridge in pens, to use their eggs for painting or eating, as well as feeding on the flock.

In the summer, clothing tends to be brief. Children may wear only their skin or a simple kilt on warm days. Men wear a loincloth, women wear simple dresses, consisting of two rectangles cut of doeskin, fastened together at the shoulders, and belted at the waist, leaving the sides open. These are practical garments that allow women to perform their summer work. In fall and winter, girls wear a one-piece dress that pulls on over the head. Boys wear breechclouts, leggings, and a shirt. Women wear more complex dresses or skirts and shirts, highly ornamented in the higher houses. Men wear costumes similar to those their sons wear, but with ornaments, beadwork, feather work, quill work, and painted symbols to denote rank. Humans also have a way of pounding dried cattail leaves until soft, and weaving them together with cord made from either cattail fibers or cedar bark. Rectangles woven this way may be used as cloaks, or to make summer dresses. Bird fluff or bits of fur may be spun into the cord to make this woven material fancier. These are only general descriptions of human dress. Observation will tell you that all humans like to express their individuality through their costume, and all will show variations on these themes.

Humans of a particular House usually live together in one huge lodge made from wooden planks. The houseposts of the lodge may be carved with symbols of legends, and more symbols may be painted on the house walls. The interior is divided by hanging cattail mats to partition off family hearths. If the House outgrows its lodge, another will be built next to it, and the two connected by a covered passageway.

A human child's birth isn't celebrated until several days after it is born, just to see if it decides it wants to live or not. Stillborn children, or children who die soon after birth are not named, and are buried quietly in the forest. It is believed that their souls were too shy to stay, so the infant wasn't really alive at all. Small comfort to the bereaved mother. Not giving the soul a name allows it to come back to earth more readily.

Infants that do live are blessed in a special naming ceremony, and given an amulet woven from quills. Usually a grandmother weaves the amulet, but wealthier families pay a Mage to make one. The woven pattern belongs to that child alone. Dead bodies mangled or decayed beyond recognition can be identified by such an amulet. The name and the soul of the child are woven together in the amulet so that the gods can recognize the soul after death as having lived before. No one would even think of wearing another person's amulet.

Upon reaching puberty, children must go through rites of passage to prepare them for adulthood. They must meditate alone in the forest daily for a prescribed period of time, then they must go into the forest alone for a moon and survive there, seeking visions. They must not be seen by any member of their tribe during that time, on pain of death if they are caught, or possible loss of rank if not. It is amazing how the usually acute vision of hunters will falter at this time. When it is time for their return, the whole village will sing to call them back. They go through a visionary and cleansing ceremony, which involves the use of certain mushrooms. They are treated to a grand feast, and begin a three-year apprenticeship into adulthood, after which girls are granted a garden plot and a hearth and may take a mate. Boys may join the Hunt as full-fledged hunters.

If a man is accepted into the Chief's House, he must go through the coming-of-age ritual again, only this time it lasts for three moons. For women, there is a secret ceremony which only the women of the Mages' house know about.

The dead are buried in the earth, always with their amulet on. The amulet is their means of getting into the Beautiful Valley they believe they go to after death. Without the amulet, they may be mistaken for a new soul, and be sent back to earth to be born again. It is believed that a soul that truly wants to come back to earth can do so but in a form other than human, for one last look.

The bodies of the dead are washed in the river, carefully dressed and wrapped, and the body placed in a deep grave along with all the dead person's belongings that weren't promised to someone else. Stones are piled over the body to prevent animals from digging it up and eating it.

Death may be the penalty for blasphemy or for murder. It is believed that Mages cannot be killed with a weapon unless it possesses special magic, so if a Mage is to be put to death it is done with a Death Song. Once the song is sung people pretend not to see the Mage any more and a cleansing is done, in which the Mage's possessions are burned. Since Mages do not farm, hunt, fish, or gather, they usually starve in the forest in short order. If the "soul" of the Mage does not leave the village promptly someone will quietly arrange an "accident" and drag the body out to the forest in the middle of the night.

Humans take a mate through ritual, though young humans may be found rutting in the bushes with anyone who pleases them. These humans accept this since a girl who is fertile is more valuable, and the more children she has the more rank she will have. If a girl likes a boy well enough she will give him the gift of the stone of her house which he may carry in a pouch. He is then expected to court her with gifts that show his prowess in whatever men of his house are supposed to do. This usually means gifts of small game, though pretty stones, honeycomb, bright shells, and other trinkets or sweet foods are acceptable. If the girl finds the gifts pleasing she will ask a Mage to come with them to the falls to pray over them and declare them mates. If she finds later she doesn't like him, she may cast him off at Midwinter.

Most human superstitions and ceremonies need not concern us. Those that do are those that bring humans deep into the forest.

As stated above, humans will mate for life at the Falls. There are legends connected with these falls that some young female lost her love in a hunting accident and flung herself off the falls, and her spirit is said to be seen haunting the Falls. (Is there no group of humans living near a falls that does not have such a legend?) Therefore, keep watch at the Falls for mating humans, or for young male humans who may be daring one another to spend the night at the Falls. If humans come around the Falls too often, they can be frightened away by having the tallest of the elves dress all in white and walk about near the falls, moaning piteously. A smear of deer blood on the side of the face adds to the effect, as does carrying a few fireflies in a cage for their glow, or adding a paint of glowmoss.

Be cautious of young humans in their month's exile for coming-of-age. Listen for the songs to be sung in the village when the youths are sent out and called back, usually at mid-summer. If the youths are delirious with hunger, or from nibbling certain mushrooms, it can be amusing to have several elves sit up in trees nearby, hidden, and whisper strange messages to them. Do not approach them, however. In their delirium they may try to kill, and their movements then will be particularly unpredictable.

Humans on the Hunt can be especially dangerous, not only because they are armed to the teeth, but because they will try to kill anything that moves. Our wolves are especially vulnerable. If you want to get a hunting party out of the woods quickly, listen for the Hunt leader to say some prayers, then drive some deer at them. Load them down with game, and they will return to the village. If they return to the same spot, have the wolves howl all around them. They will get the message that the spirits were kind to them ONCE, but they shouldn't press their luck. If you can manage to find one of their sacred animals, turn it loose near a hunting party. They will follow it. Small "accidents" can also be arranged. If too many "accidents" occur in one area, the humans will avoid it for awhile.

Humans, as you can see, are complex, social animals. They have certain rules, but are as liable to break them as they are to follow them. Study their superstitions closely, and use them to your advantage. And remember even humans don't trust humans!