The First Folk are a loose society of druidic hunter-gatherers descended from the nomads who first settled in the valley millenia ago. Since Strahd’s arrival in the valley, they have split into two factions: the Forest Folk, who worship Strahd as a deity and do his bidding across the Svalich Woods; and the Mountain Folk, a reclusive people who keep to the old religion of the Ladies Three and who largely remain within the sheltered settlement of Soldav, tucked away on the slopes of Mount Ghakis.

Forest Folk

The Forest Folk are one of two groups descended from the hunter-gatherer nomads who first settled the valley. Nearly five centuries ago, when Strahd first invaded Barovia, a group of druidic elders approached him in secret with an offer. Fearful of repeating the oppression their people had once suffered under King Dostron, the elders told Strahd that they would guide him to the sacred places of the valley— the Fanes of the Ladies Three—and teach him the secrets of unlocking their power. In exchange, the elders asked for Strahd’s protection, and his promise that he would leave them in peace in a valley now flooded with blood and ghosts. Strahd agreed, and, with the aid of the druidic elders, the archmage Khazan, and arcane research taken from the Amber Temple, fashioned a profane ritual with which to claim the Fanes for his own. In desecrating these holy sites, Strahd forged an unholy connection with the leylines that lay beneath them—and so became, in a way, the land of Barovia itself.

The elders’ betrayal split the First People, causing a schism that sent dark tremors through their weakened society. Some among them—in particular, the other druids, and the caste of primal berserkers who served them—grimly agreed with the elders’ choice. The Ladies of the Fanes, they reasoned, had long since abandoned the People. The days of tooth and claw had ended; the age of steel had begun. Seeking Strahd’s protection, they believed, was the only choice left to them.

The passage of time, however, has not been kind to the elders' legacy. Set adrift from their traditions and corrupted by darkness, the modern Forest Folk are a maddened, obsessed people, wholly dedicated to Strahd as their "god." Their leader is Svarog, a mad druid who has bonded his flesh to the Gulthias Tree that grows atop Yester Hill. The Forest Folk are now otherwise largely as described in Chapter 14: Yester Hill (p. 197) and Hidden Graves (p. 198).

Recently, the Forest Folk were approached by Ludmilla Vilisevic, one of Strahd’s brides and an envoy from Baba Lysaga, the Witch of Berez. Ludmilla carried information indicating that the Keepers of the Feather, a secret society of wereravens that opposed Strahd’s rule, used the nearby Wizard of Wines Winery as one of their hideouts. With Ludmilla’s aid, the druids of the Forest Folk fashioned a way to create and command blights—the children of the Gulthias Tree—and declared war upon the winery and all its inhabitants.

Mountain Folk

When the schism of the First People began, many were horrified at Strahd’s desecration of their holy places. In seeking protection from the evils of the world, they believed, the druidic elders had destroyed the very things that their society held dear. “Faithless,” they called the Forest Folk, and named Strahd “Shadowsworn” for the darkness he wielded. Unable to resist the druids’ power, or the might of Strahd’s armies, however, these rebels found themselves outmatched: powerless and alone in a world that no longer had a place for them.

Those who denied Strahd’s rule—largely hunters, artisans, and warriors—were cast out from the druids’ circles and fled for the slopes of the Balinok Mountains. There, they founded the hidden settlement of Soldav among the crags of Mount

Ghakis. Banished from the woodlands of Barovia, they became the Mountain Folk, and set out to carve a new existence among the peaks.

Their spiritual leader, an elder storm giant named Burebis, is the sole mortal being that still remembers the old days: when the First People ruled the valley, and the Ladies of the Fanes showed them peace and prosperity. In his old age, however, Burebis’ weakened body has been swallowed up by the roots of Mount Ghakis, the embers of his spirit slowly dwindling as he awaits a sign of the Rozana’s return. For now, it is all he can do to keep Soldav hidden from Strahd and his spies, encircling the settlement with a constant cover of clouds and snow.