The first tab in your fame window lists your fame with the 4 civilisations and the 2 Higher Powers. The second tab list your guild's fame with those same entities. The third tab, the one we're going to be discussing here, shows your fame with any of the 51 tribes that inhabit the new lands.
Note that a tribe will not show up in your fame list unless you've done something to directly change your fame with them; either done a mission for them or killed one of their members with a skill low enough to get exp for the kill. But just because the fame doesn't show up, doesn't mean it's not there! You have a starting fame with every tribe based on your character's race, and if this fame is lower than -50, the tribe will attack you if you enter their camp. So be careful.
To find out your race's starting fame with a tribe, you can go to that tribe's wiki page and look in the table under 'Fame'.
Benefits of raising tribe fame
Unlike fame with the Higher Powers, which is needed to get access to certain teleport pacts, and fame with the civilisations, which is needed for citizenship as well as to take certain rites, raising tribe fame has no global benefits.
Once upon a time there were plans to have tribe fame play a crucial role in guild missions, outposts, and who knows what else? Unfortunately this was never implemented and guild tribe fame was even done away with completely. The benefits of tribe fame today are few and meagre.
- A tribe fame over -65 means you can take missions from the tribe's Welcomer, which makes it easier to gain further fame from that point on.
- A tribe fame over -50 means that the tribe's guards won't attack you the moment you step into the tribe's camp. This turns the camp from a death-trap to be avoided into a more or less safe place, as the guards will kill most aggressive creatures that come into their camp.
- A tribe fame over -30 means that the tribe's guards will also defend you from whatever is attacking you into their camp, including non-aggressive creatures that you picked a fight with. This editor's favourite use of this is to incite wars between the camp guards and the wandering patrol of another tribe. (But don't try this with a patrol of the same tribe, or they'll all turn on you.)
- A tribe fame over 0 means you can take missions from the tribe's Supplier, Overseer, Hunter and Prospector. These missions will pay dapper for their completion, plus a small gain in fame. Since there are far easier and faster ways to gain dapper however, and since the non-dapper missions give far more fame, the use of these missions is limited.
The hidden decimal
Note that there is a hidden decimal in your fame score. While your fame only shows as 20 or 21, it can be 20.31, or 20.73, etc. Most of the time a mission will not gain you a full point of fame, so it might seem like you didn't gain any fame at all. In reality, you gained perhaps 0.2 fame point, and it didn't show because you only see the full points. It's still there, however.
If your fame with a tribe is capped at -50, it is still possible to not have the tribe guards attack you on site by having exactly -50.00 fame; the maximum you can have. Your fame list doesn't show you the difference between this and -50.01, they both show as -50, so the only way to know if you have enough is to walk into the camp and see if the guards attack you.
Presumably the same goes for all the other fame thresholds, but your fame is never capped at these numbers. So it's usually best to make sure you're above the number to be sure.
Methods of raising tribe fame
The generally easiest way to get your fame up with a tribe is probably to go the tribe's camp and take missions from the welcomer, and to repeat this once per day. If your fame with the tribe is lower than -50, but not lower than -65, you can still take missions from the welcomer, but the camp guards will also attack you if you try to talk to the welcomer.
This section will discuss this and other ways to gain fame with a tribe in more detail.
Efficient ways
The tribe welcomer
The tribe welcomer is every tribe's specifically appointed person to go to if you want to raise your fame with the tribe. They reside inside the tribe camp and give missions that reward purely with a gain in fame.
- Advantages: The tribe welcomer can always be found in the tribe camp, so there's no need to look for them.
- Disadvantages: You need -65 or higher fame with the tribe to be able to take missions from the welcomer. If your fame is higher than -65 but still below -50, you can take missions from the welcomer, but the camp guards will still attack you if you enter the tribe's camp, and the ambassador is inside the camp.... Careful appliance of invulnerability and speedup will usually enable you to quickly take a mission and run out, though.
The tribe ambassador
Every tribe aligns themself with one of the Higher Powers, and thus every homin tribe has either a Kami ambassador or a Karavan ambassador in their camp. Completing missions for these ambassadors will give fame with the tribe primarily, and with the Higher Power they represent only as a secondary effect.
- Advantages: The ambassador can always be found in the tribe camp, so there's no need to look for them. Furthermore, you don't need a minimum fame with the tribe to be able to take missions from them.
- Disadvantages: You do however, need at least 0 fame with the Higher Power that the ambassador represents. So Kami aligned characters can only do this with Kami aligned tribes, and Karavan aligned characters only with Karavan aligned tribes. Neutrals who manage to get their fame with both Higher Powers above 0 can do this with all tribes, and thus have a distinct advantage here. Also, as with the welcomer, if your fame with the tribe is below -50, the camp guards will still attack you if you go into the camp to talk to the ambassador.
Wandering mission-givers: Patrollers, scouts and journeymen
Every tribe has wandering mission givers affiliated with them; usually two. These two can be either patrollers, scouts or journeymen. Patrollers are generally the best for gaining fame quickly, since they give mostly tracking and killing missions. Scouts are second-best, having a balanced assortment of missions much like welcomers. Journeymen are the worst, as they have mainly foraging and crafting missions.
- Advantages: The missions given by these wanderers have no fame requirements at all. And since they're not inside the tribe camp, you need not fear the guards.
- Disadvantages: Since these mission-givers wander the region, you have to find them first. And many are known to often wander into the far hidden corners of the region, or stand inside a pack of carnivores. Also note that, unlike hunters and prospectors, these mission-givers aren't actually members of the tribe, thus they are not identifiable from a distance by their uniform or title. You have to actually go up to them and look at their missions to see who they give fame with.
Inefficient ways
Other mission-givers: Hunter, prospector, messenger, overseer
Every tribe has several more mission-givers in addition to the ones already mentioned: A messenger and an overseer inside their camp, and a hunter and a prospector wandering the region. The missions given out by these reward you with dapper primarily, and fame secondary.
- Advantage: More mission givers means more missions to chose from.
- Why's it bad? As these mission reward you with dapper primarily, the fame gain is much smaller than for missions that don't pay dapper. So unless it's a very quick and easy mission, it's generally not worth it when your goal is to raise your fame. Also, you need at least 0 fame with the tribe to take missions from these NPCs, and if you're already at 0 there's really no benefit in raising your fame any further other than bragging rights.
Gaining fame with the tribe's allies
Many tribes are allied with one, or sometimes even two, of the 4 main civilisations. This means raising your fame with that civilisation will also raise your fame with the tribe as a secondary effect. The Green Seed for example are allied with the Matis and the Tryker, so doing missions for either of those will also raise your Green Seed fame. Note that you first have to get the Green Seed in your fame list (by changing your fame with them directly) for this secondary effect to take place.
- Advantage: Lets you gain fame without having to interact with the tribe at all.
- Why's it bad? Secondary fame effects are very small compared to primary fame effects. You'd need to gain about 10 points of Matis fame to get 1 point of Green Seed fame. This isn't really worth it if your primary goal is to raise your Green Seed fame. (Though if you also want to raise your Matis fame anyways, then it would ofcourse be worthwhile.) Also, this only works for the 21 (out of the 51) tribes that are allied with a civilisation.
Killing enemy tribes
Some tribes are at outright war with another tribe, and in this case, gaining fame with one means losing fame with the other. However, it also means losing fame with one (by killing their members) mean gaining fame with the other. For example, the Company of the Eternal Tree and the Kuild are at war, so killing Kuild members will gain you fame with the Company of the Eternal Tree. (Though only if the skill you used is low enough that you get exp for the kill.)
- Advantage: Lets you gain fame without having to do any missions at all.
- Why's it bad? Again, secondary fame effects are very small compared to primary fame effects. You'd have to lose 10 Kuild fame to gain 1 fame with the Company of the Eternal Tree. This is ofcourse not a problem for you if you don't mind getting your Kuild fame to -100, but also know that once your Kuild fame reaches -100 this method stops working. As you're at minimum Kuild fame then, killing Kuild members can't lose you any Kuild fame anymore, so won't gain you any with the Company of the Eternal Tree either. Lastly, his only works for the 13 (out of the 51) tribes that have an enemy tribe to begin with.