The Vakken, also known by the exonym "people of the woods" by their Sturgian neighbors, are a people native to the northern edges of Calradia. They live in the Chertyg Mountains and the Ircara wilds, and maybe even as far east as Mount Iltan, though that isn’t confirmed.
They speak their own language, and have their own distinct culture and religion that predate the Sturgian hegemony in the region. Their religion is polytheistic, and likely some form of naturism, as the oak trees near Omor are described as a holy site for the Vakken where they worshipped their gods and ancestors.
They have historically played an important part of the fur trade, though new Sturgian settlers have driven the Vakken out of some of their traditional lands.
The term "Vakken" may be the name for multiple distinct yet related people. The Vanni are also described with the exonym of "woodspeople", and dwell in the same area. In the legend of the founding of Balgard, the Vakken are described to be multiple local tribes, though the nature of their relation is vague.
The name "forest people" or "people of the woods" is more commonly used when describing the people in the Icara wilds, and may be relatively distinct from the Vakken and Vanni of the east. There is also a known clan that goes by the name "Forest People" that live in the deep forests of the Icara wilds by swidden agriculture. They would seem to be related to the Vakken in both name and aversion to direct rulership of the Sturgian Boyars. However, it might be difficult to reconcile their slash-and-burn form of agriculture with the oak woods around Omor being proclaimed as a holy site for the Vakken.