Udam

Udam
Type	Enemy faction
Notable members	Ull Dah Mog Ull's Daughter Ull's Son
Status	Active (Far Cry Primal) Extinct (Currently)

The Udam, also known as Flesh Eaters, are the main antagonistic tribe of cannibalistic Neanderthals led by their chief Ull and his commander Dah that reside in the Northern Oros of Oros in Far Cry Primal. They are the main antagonistic faction in the game, preying on and killing the Wenja tribe that Takkar belongs to. They are weaker in terms of technology, but stronger and more ruthless physically then the games secondary antagonistic faction, the Izila.

Description

Udam warriors preparing to eat a fallen victim

The Udam are barbaric and cannibalistic Neanderthals who migrated from Northern Europe into Oros. They are in conflict with the Wenja and the Izila tribes for resources and territory. The Udam revere a relic called the Stone Woman; based on the Venus of Willendorf. They speak the same language as the Wenja, but with a heavy accent and more aggressive dialect. They are slowly becoming extinct due to the tribe's mass-affliction with "Skull Fires", a byproduct of their cultural habit of consuming fallen humans out of desperation, as well as through generations of inbreeding.

The cold and harsh Udam homeland

From their homeland in the snowy northern mountains, holding the Big Darwa Fort as their base of operations, the Udam have become fierce killers with a taste for human flesh. Dying out from disease and succumbing to the rarity of resources in the harsh mountainous tundra, the Udam started to move away from the comfort of their ice caverns to wreak havoc on enemy tribes. Their brutal leader, Ull, declared war on those who encroached on his land and set out to find what he believes to be a better future for his people and his children. The valley of Oros, lush and populated by vast amounts of plants and animals, is where the Udam long to inhabit, but in their violent and cannibalistic ways they have provoked the Wenja and Izila into attempting to drive them out.

Biology

Being Neanderthals, the skull and face of an Udam is noticeably different from the other tribes of Oros, possessing a prominent brow ridge and being more robust. Both males and females possess a significant amount of body hair, and have a very stocky, more archeaic appearance than other humans seen in game. Their skin is also paler, likely an adaptation to their cold homeland. Male Udam are slightly larger and have more body hair than the females. Much of their behavior is also very ape-like, as some Udam clubbers can be seen running on all fours towards their targets, or stomping the ground and yelling to intimidate rival tribes. They also yell unintelligibly sometimes and beat their chests when they see Wenja or Izila. This is not scientifically accurate of Neanderthals, which were likely psychologically and socially similar to Homo sapiens - this behaviour is likely a result of their poor health condition. The Udam thrive in colder climates, but can seemingly adapt to the warmer climate of Oros. As a result of inbreeding and cannibalism, many Udam have begun to develop a disease known as "Skull Fires", which has ravaged the population and lead to shorter life spans and the aforementioned behavioural regression and insanity. The species as a whole is threatened with extinction by the disease and conflict with other hominid tribes. They are also shown to have a general lack of intelligence or ability. Many Udam cannot speak properly as Wenja and Izila do, and speak in a very non-understandable manner, lacking clarity in their speech. A good example of this is Dah, who only speaks in third person, for example:

"Dah no want die like trapped beast."

- Dah of the Udam

Their behavior is also very barbaric and unpredictable. They seem to be a lawless people, having no established order like their rival tribes do, and they go off purely relying on brute force and barbaric behavior to terrify their enemies. They have no intelligent tactics that they employ, unlike the Wenja and Izila, and their only method of war is mindlessly pummeling and ravaging anything that gets in their way. This unpredictable and horrific behavior is obviously a result of their devestating living conditions and terrible health condition.

Warfare

The Udam are fierce and brutish warriors, often covering their skin in blood as war paint. They will relentlessly charge at their enemies, stunning them with their clubs and chipping away at their health with poison. The Udam like to prey on the Wenja tribe in particular, as they are shown to have a habit of ruthlessly attacking and stealing from the Wenja, as well as capturing and consuming members of the tribe in an attempt to gain their strength to fight off their Skull Fire disease. They also kill mammoths in order to take their skulls for the bone trees that they use to mark their territories and scare away enemies, occasionally wearing masks and armor made of these bones to protect themselves from their foe's weapons. The Udam coat their arrows and bombs with rot fumes that poison and confuse targets to gain an advantage over their rival tribes. The Udam also use these poisonous fumes to block access to their homeland and valuables. When targeted by poison, victims slowly weaken and lose their bearings. Takkar, warrior of the Wenja, and Sayla, a gatherer, discovered an antidote to the poison, rendering the Udam weak without their toxic tactics. Some Wenja also use the poison in their own equipment as the story of Far Cry Primal progresses.

The Udam are the most aggressive tribe, often found fighting the Izilla on the eastern side of Oros, and pushing their forces into the Western lands of the Wenja, and are commonly found invading the south western lands of the Izilla, and some are found hiding in Caves near Izilla encampments, most likely to be stalking them before taking the outpost's by force.

An Udam Scourge, a user of poisonous bombs

Even though the Udam despise the Wenja, they have developed a deeper hatred for the Izila fire masters, for they are more violent and more aggressive than the other two tribes, using Udam as slaves and for sacrificial purposes. Ull, chief of the Udam, has countless burns on his face from the many altercations between the two tribes.

Udam usually are found in the North and Central parts of Oros. Where they build large Bonfires to maintain reconnaissance, that also control the patrols of Udam throughout their lands, Villages to live within, camps to manage hunting missions, and the beating heart of their clans' territories - the Outpost.

Udam culture is shown to be patriarchal. All of their warriors and hunters are shown to be male. Female Udam can be found within outposts and will flee in fear when encountering danger. Their society a larger tribe with smaller clans that control and operate their own territory from their menacing outposts. If the bonfire is taken down their patrols are rarer, and Wenja patrols are far more common. The Udam patrols will stop spawning almost entirely if the Outpost is taken, and the Villages will be abandoned, with the remnants of the clan starting assemble war bands to eliminate Wenja invaders and to reclaim their Outpost. If they do succeed, they will merely live in it temporarily before the Wenja retake it and replace all of their patrols, who will be found throughout the region camping and gathering resources. Destroying their camps removes any Udam from the region completely and will cause the Wenja to Control the region. Wenja will start appearing more frequently in the region. Unlike Izila who lose their region once fully conquered, Udam still have some control that will never be diminished until their leader Ull dies. After which most retreat back to their homeland.

Conversely, when Takkar conquers Izila territory, Udam will start invading and get rid of the Izila from said territory forever. Udam will start to patrol the area and will inhabit nearby regions as well. After Batari's death, they inhabit these regions much more frequently. By capturing the Outpost you rid all caves of the Udam in the Izila territory, most likely since the Udam will leave them in the fear of being destroyed by the Wenja.

Notable Members

• Ull (Leader and War Chief)
• Dah (Commander)
• Mog (Captain)
• Ull's Daughter (Child)
• Ull's Son (Heir to the Tribe)

Units

An Udam Chieftain

• Chieftains - Clan members armed with two-handed clubs.
• Scourges - Clan members armed with toxic bombs.
• Spearmen - Clan members armed with spears.
• Archer - Clan members armed with bows and arrows.
• Hunters - Clan members armed with longbows and poison arrows.
• Slingers - Clan members armed with slingshots and rocks.
• Warriors - Clan members armed with one-handed clubs.

Gallery

Trivia

• The Udam are based on the now-extinct species Homo neanderthalensis, commonly known as Neanderthals. Their extinction story is based on how the Neanderthals went extinct after the ice age, but not before interbreeding with modern-day Homo sapiens.
• The Skull Fire that the Udam suffer from is likely a prehistoric version of Kuru, a form of transmissible spongiform encephalopathy afflicting those who consume human flesh, especially the brain. Kuru symptoms include headaches, bouts of insane laughter, and trembling.
• Their appearance in the game doesn't make sense if the game takes place 10,000 years B.C as the last Neanderthals are thought to have gone extinct 30,000 years ago. This is based on neanderthal findings however, and it is possible that isolated groups existed later than this, however no archeological or paleontological evidence of this has been found.
• When encountering a fight between them, the Udam will sometimes ignor Takkar and focus on the Izila. This suggests that the Udam hate the Izila more than the Wenja, possibly due to the formers practice of slavery and/or sacrificial practices.
• The Udam are similar to, and possibly based on, the Wendol, a cannibalistic tribe of cave people who worship a stone woman. They were from Michael Crichton's book Eaters of the Dead, and from its 1999 film adaptation The 13th Warrior.
• Udam units can be recognized from a distance by the bright-red blood body paint on them, in contrast to the white of the Wenja and the blue of the Izila.
• They are bit taller than their based species, as an average height of a Neanderthal was 5’4” (165 cm) tall. Ull and Dah is a good example of this, since they are the tallest of all Udams.
• There is one dead Udam that looks identical to Ull.