Xen’drik, Q’barra, Droaam, the tundras or deserts of Sarlona – there are lots of uncivilized regions a character could come from. This is an easy few, but there are definitely other options.
Berserker is an easy choice for the typical half-orc barbarian, but Totem is equally logical for someone who follows the ways of the Gatekeepers. The Shadow Marches. The Marches are split into the largely civilized clans and the more savage tribes, and you could definitely have a tribal warrior who follows a barbaric path.And the Zealot path could actually be an interesting one for a warrior of the Children of Winter – not actually worshipping a god, but channeling the power of life itself in their pursuit of undead and others who violate the natural order. The Totem path is an easy match for any of the Eldeen sects, but I could see Storm Herald or Berserker working just as well. I’ll talk more about shifters in general below. You could definitely find barbarian champions protecting the roving tribes of the Towering Woods. Barbarians are often presented as a primal path, which is entirely in keeping with the Druidic sects of the Eldeen Reaches.
The Ghaash’kala certainly have paladins and clerics, but Xanathar’s Zealot path for the barbarian is a way to combine these two things together. Traditionally this is a case where I’d say “You don’t have to take the barbarian class to be a barbarian” when I played a Ghaash’kala half-orc, he was a straight-up paladin. The Ghaash’kala. The orcs of the Demon Wastes use the power of the Silver Flame to fight the Lords of Dust and the Carrion Tribes.Strangely, you could also justify the Zealot path with necrotic damage… with the argument that even though you are drawing on the POWER of an Overlord, you don’t revere them. If your rage has such a supernatural element, it makes a good justification for Xanathar’s Storm Herald path. You could be bound to Rak Tulkhesh, and that connection still gives you power in battle… even as you oppose his plans. An interesting possibility here is that your “Rage” could actually be drawing on the power of your Overlord.
Perhaps you were going to be sacrificed because you have the potential to shift the Prophecy in a way that harms the Lords of Dust – and now you seek to discover how to bring that destiny about. The simple answer is the Drizzt approach: you had a revelation that now sets you in opposition to your ancestors and their demonic patrons. For a PC, the main question is why you broke with your tribe and left the Wastes. The people of the Demon Wastes are savage killers bound to fiendish Overlords. But I can also see a pint-sized Berserker, or a Totem Warrior with the totems renamed… the Eagle becomes the Glidewing, the Wolf becomes the Clawfoot, the Bear can be the Threehorn.
This Dragonshard calls out the fact that “ The Talenta druid believes that her ancestors are all around her, affecting every aspect of life“… which makes Xanathar’s Path of the Ancestral Guardian an easy option for a Talenta halfling.