So, what would it take for a group of people to survive, nomadic/hunter-gatherer style, far outside the towns?
Would the darkness twist them? Would they be lice-ridden and starving, or hardy and resourceful? Would they be hated by normal society, or heralded?
I’d say they’d be something like the Wildlings from A Song of Ice and Fire.
They’d live without formal rules, only a set of guideline and freedom. Through this freedom they’d be hardier than a standard town dweller to be able to match (or evade) the darkness that exists beyond the walls of town. I feel that normal society would fear them, putting them in the category along with the dwellers of darkness, for only evil, twisted, and scary things live out beyond the walls of town.
You-know-nothing-wise.