On the Highlanders

The mountains of the Doon plateau are starkly beautiful and impressively hostile to human habitation. The plateau itself has a median altitude of seven thousand feet, and more than a hundred peaks exceeding twenty thousand. It is ringed by the Shey Avail (lit: God's Wall), which is in some places a cliff and in others a steep bluff. On the side facing the Ashirai Empire the Avail averages four thousand feet tall. It gains in steepness from a relatively flat base to achieve near verticality for the last five hundred to a thousand feet. Ashirak herself resides in the river valley of the Lyrn, though river cleft would be a better description. There are few routes up and down the Avail other than at Ashirak, and this has given that city its position as the gateway to the highlands.

It is important to note that the vast preponderance of evidence supports the descent migration theory, that people migrated downwards from the mountains. They maintained much of their social structure, but the clan unit of the highlands gave way to the smaller family unit of the lowlanders. This was likely the largest difference between the people, as their languages were merely accented dialects.

The Doon Mountains were bitterly cold year round. Summer was denoted as the period when the ground thawed out enough to be planted. Only a single harvest could be completed a year, and the low quantity of alpine grains produced served as a powerful limit on population growth.

Society naturally organized into clans, frequently of fifty to a hundred people, with a median number of sixty. In the median clan, there would be roughly ten married couples of child-rearing age. At any given time there would be about thirty children, defined as those under the age of puberty. Infant mortality was close to thirty percent, and as many as ten percent of those who survived their first year would perish from sickness or starvation before reaching procreative age. Childbirth was also incredibly dangerous, with infection and bloodloss accounting for many adult women. Thus elderly women were far less common than elderly men.

An elaborate series of taboos and social pressures evolved to prohibit inbreeding. Psychological inhibitions against sexual attraction to clan members were encouraged. This resulted in profound stigma against marrying inside the clan. Courtship took place at clan convocations or on trading expeditions, and the youth would usually accompany the adults when one visited another clan. Suitable matches were determined by children with adult supervision. Since procreation was the most important part of any wedding, a marriage based on affection between the prospective couple was highly desired. But since clans lived in close quarters, the adults were given veto power over all arrangements.

Both grooms and brides were exchanged equally. Typically both clans would offer a gift for the resulting couple to live with that clan, with the poorer or smaller clan accepting. Gifts of food were the norm, but as the mining subculture grew, iron and later steel implements became common as well. In many cases children would be trained in specific skills from a young age to increase their social value. A young man with blacksmithing experience or a young woman with extensive medical experience could command a vastly greater marriage price, and result in great gains to the clan.