The Northern Water Tribes are culture inhabiting the Northern Polar Continent. It is the larger and more populous of the three constituent tribes of the ethnic Water Nation. The Northern Tribal Confederation is one of the two polities comprising the political Water Nation, the other being the Southern Water Tribes.

The language of the Water Tribes marks a distinction between plurals and singulars, but the common language of diplomacy and international trade generally does not. In that language, the term "Northern Water Tribe" (北方水族) is used to refer to the overall culture. Internally, though, the Northern Water Tribes consider themselves a confederation of tribes, with seventeen major tribes, and forty-one minor tribes. They do sometimes use "Northern Water Tribe" with "Tribe" in the singular form when presenting themselves as a united front to outsiders or when rhetorically building pan-tribal sentiment e.g. in political speeches about Confederation matters. Among themselves, though, they often introduce themselves by their particular tribe.

The carrying capacity of the land is limited, as tundra vegetation grows slowly and the environment can sustain only limited numbers of animals and edible plants. The population is concentrated on the coasts and rivers, where fishing and the gathering of sea vegetables is available, and in the area of warmer, wetter boreal forest in the southwest. Before the advent of trade and urbanization, and especially before the Tribes developed tools to hunt the mighty leviathan whelk and elephant-whale, the population was extremely concentrated in the boreal forest biome.

The capital of the Confederation is Agna Qel'a, a large city. There are a few other cities and large settlements, but most of the population lives as nomads in camps, or in small villages. Agriculture is limited by the very short growing season, but is practiced some in the far southwestern corner of the Confederation's territory.

Tribe is inherited from the father. Unacknowledged illegitimate children or those of unknown fathers are all considered to belong to the mother's tribe, though they are ineligible for some ceremonial roles with their tribe and are generally in a poor social position unless formally adopted by e.g. their mother's subsequent spouse. Outsider men marrying into a water tribe are generally adopted by their spouse's tribe as a prerequisite for such a union.

The Igigkaraat, Qengartaraak, Negcik, and Ayarua were the founders of the tribal confederation.

The Siqupsiqqat and Uuyurat originated from Water Tribe stock, but had long sojourns in the far north of the Earth Kingdom, where they had cultural contact with the boreal peoples of Earth Nation ethnicity and mixed with them. They eventually decided to join the Confederation when it became clear that it was going to be a successful undertaking. Today, they are still prominent in the Water Tribe's contribution to North Sea trade. They are called in the Earth Kingdom, and sometimes in international trading contexts, by the names Maozu and Banzu, respectively, which are lose translations of their endonyms.