The Mist Mountains

The Mist Mountains
''All the ambition and greed in the world is meaningless without community. Our brothers, sisters, neighbors and cousins are as important to us as our on skin. We wish only to dwell here on our forested mountain peaks and make a simple life for ourselves, away from the material world.''

Summary
The Mist Mountains is the name of a very small nation of halflings living isolated lives in their mountain homeland, far removed from the struggles of the rest of the world. They do not interfere with other nations, and have never gone to war. Community harmony is the primary concern of this tiny nation.

Geography
The nation is located in the damp, cool-to-temperate forests of the lush Mist Mountain area on the western edge of the Haas Mountain range. The Haas Mountains form a ring around the scorched Shara-Noc Desert, but the Mist Mountains, since they form a rain wall to block precipitation headed east-ward across the land, are very damp, fairly warm for their altitude, and are usually covered in a misty veil year-round.

The Mist Mountains are not particularly tall, or steep, and unlike the rockier peaks of the Haas or Kharos ranges, are covered in a dense layer of lush vegetation Evergreen pines, spruces, and birches grow thick in the rich, damp mountain soil, and a carpet of moss covers most of the ground of the forests. There are no major rivers, but mountain streams can be found everywhere, and shallow pools dot the countryside.

Racial Distribution
The population of the nation is almost entirely Ikiro Halflings, a branch of the Halfling family not known for roguish behavior, but rather steadfast determination and devotion to their community. While non-halfling visitors are allowed, and even encouraged if they are well behaved, most other races never feel totally at home within these incredibly tight-knit halfling communities, and so usually move along eventually. There are small populations of Sidhe Elves who migrate in and out of the mountain range throughout the year, and the halflings and elves have a long-standing friendly relationship, born out of both mutual respect, and lack of interest in each other.

Solitary Redcaps from the Forests of Ashtar which is right on the border of the Mist Mountains, often travel through this land as well, but are sternly warned by the halflings to be on good behavior, and large groups of Redcaps are not tolerated at all. There are also some smaller human communities, made up of men originally from the surface of the Kharos Mountains, or Daegon (the human-controlled region between Garmond and Ashtar). These communities sometimes clash with the Ikiro, as the humans do not usually respect the sovereignty of the halfling nation.

History
During the great Barbarian Horde Era, all the halflings currently living in the Mainland came together from a distant halfling homeland in the far east, in a great migration that lasted a few years. The halflings today do not remember much about their ancient home, aside from its name ("Smallhome") and that they were chased out by a war between Orcs and Men. Their loathing of war and politics stems from this displacement to this day.

Of the halflings that arrived in this time, roughly 1/3rd moved into the Forests of Ashtar, while the rest dispersed themselves in the southern lands now call The Footlands and also into the Faerie Northeast corner. They avoided the rampaging barbarian hordes with great care, but the Redcaps of Ashtar turned out to be untrustworthy neighbors. Rumors of entire villages of halflings being wiped out by ravenous Unseelie fae prompted the Ikiro halflings to head northeast, into the mostly-uninhabited Mist Mountains, while the rest of the halflings in Ashtar either moved south, or were ultimately wiped out.

During the era of the Parthian Empire, the "Brass Crown" claimed ownership of the Mist Mountains, and set up a few outposts there. For their part, the halflings regarded their new human "lords" with a mixture of amusement and disinterest. Partha had no intention of bothering with the halflings, they just wanted to secure some outposts deep into the Fae East as they moved to push the fae forces back deeper and deeper away from the human-controlled west. Eventually the empire pulled the outposts back for more pressing matters and the halflings celebrated their "independence" with about as much interest and flare as one celebrates "Wednesday". The nation of the Mist Mountains officially organized itself around this time, mostly due to diplomatic pressings from the Mur-ain of Northpoint, who are one of the few nations to regularly send ambassadors into the halfling mountain home.

Politics & National Relations
The Mist Mountain halflings maintain cordial relations with the fae of Northpoint, and cooler relations with the Arachnids of the Kharos Mountains, who, from across the great valley that separates them, have pushed their boundaries more and more to the east and south-east, towards Northpoint and the Mist Mountains. The halflings have always been wary of the Redcaps of Ashtar, and continue to be so. Likewise, they are vary of the Kharzhak dwarves of New Kharsis, as that clan of dwarves briefly considered taking up residence within the Mist Mountains upon their expulsion from their ancestral homes under the Kharos Mountains.

Beyond these simple relations, the Mist Mountain halflings do not politically interact much with the rest of the nations.

Culture & Customs
The halflings of this land live cohesive, socialistic lives, devoted to supporting their communities. Their villages range from 10 to 200 individuals, and they do not view food or land as private property. Clothing, tools, family relics, and personal effects are owned by individuals (or families) but no one is allowed to jealously possess any patch of land, or orchard, or fishing stream. Each ikiro provides some good or service for their entire village, from crude blacksmithing (they usually prefer to trade for metal items) to farming (mostly succulent vines) to fishing. The town leaders supervise the distribution of the food & services, but usually at a distance. Virtually all Ikiro halflings in this land are naturally self-less, and enjoy supporting their neighbors. As such, travelers in this land have no trouble at all receiving basic supplies, usually for free, but find their gold coins fairly worthless when trying to purchase more valuable items. Only those halflings whom have familial connections to the small merchant class that barters with the neighboring Mur-ain, Garmonder humans, or Red-caps have any need for gold itself.

Within Ikiro villages, the majority of the dwelling structures will be built directly into the middle-level branches of the massive spruce and pine evergreen trees that cover the slopes of the Mist Mountains. Ground-level farms are the exception to this rule, but otherwise its quite unusual for family homes, meeting halls, and governmental structures to be found less than 30-40 feet into the tree canopy. Elaborate rope bridges, sometimes made up of living vines, connect houses in neighboring trees, and virtually all Ikiro families have one or more "secret" hidden shelters they can escape to very quickly to avoid detection from armies passing through on the ground (not that this is a common occurrence now, but was so during the days of the Parthian Empire).

Many ikiro halfings are vegetarian, living on mountain corn, onions, pears, and succulent watery vines. The principle staple food is "turisha", which is a pasty dough made from ground acorns and pine nuts, shaped into disks and grilled. The other citizens of the range hunt and trap game such as mountain goat, kinnaco (large rodents), beaver, squirrel, and rock bear.

The Halflings of the Mist Mountains have a much lower standard of "moral" behavior when it comes to carnal matters, and this is illustrated by their "Lover's Day" or "Shnekt L'valla" holiday in mid-fall. On this day, each adult ikiro (married or not) is allowed to opportunity to couple with another willing ikiro. It is considered bad luck to refuse such a request from a reasonably attractive companion, so the day is spent with the children loose in the forests, and amorous halflings dashing from house to house, looking for mates. Husbands and wives traditionally spend the day apart, so as not to be too offended by the other's actions. The following morning, each family holds a large breakfast, and this meal serves as a bridge back to the normal order of the land. Children born in the late spring (conceived during the holiday) are referred to as "Haidn Ghal," which translates as "Many Fathers," and these youngsters are expected to be expert tricksters and lovers.

Weaving is a prominent skill among the halflings of the Mist Mountains, and their baskets, ropes, quilts, and tapestries are sought by many other lands. Also, they practice the art of tree climbing, and have raised this task to the level of a national sport, with each village sending their best climber to a national festival and competition in the early summer months of the year. The winner of this competition is granted a prize of a goat or two, along with an extra week or two without normal chores and duties in their home village.

It is a tradition of the military to ride into combat on the backs of the large mountain goats that live in the area. These goats are tamed from birth, and often serve as pack animals in rocky areas. Horses and mules are very rare in the area, so these goats are often seen pulling plows or carts. However, the sight of an ikiro warrior charging down an almost vertical slope on the back of a mad, bellowing war-goat can send shock through the enemy ranks, and the halfings can launch sling bullets from far away using these goats to avoid horse-back pursuit. Furthermore, these goats are specially trained to (slowly) climb up into the tree-trunk houses and structures of the Ikiro when needed, and can do so without any visible footholds in the tree that a human or dwarf might even be able to detect.

The peaceful inhabitants of the Mist Mts have a wide pantheon they hold sacred, but there is no fanaticism or state approved religion in the region. Myshara is the patron goddess of mothers and wisdom, with midwives and healers following her teachings, while Telgalid her son, is the god of adventure and bravery. Pashimon is the god of thieves, but is not evil, and is considered only mischievous or a trickster at worst. Kyrnsh is the goddess of beauty, loyalty and the home, and is the caretaker of all orphan children, while her aloof uncle is Wyshum god of monks, books and study. The only evil god is Flagg the Black, a malicious force who is not worshipped but still respected by the people. He is often called Old Crowfoot and can sometimes be seen as a crippled black crow of enormous proportion, hopping on the doorstep of someone about to receive bad news or bad luck.