Caliveri

The Caliveri Massif was Indratera's most dense and second-highest mountain range (only the Kaserini beat them in height and span). They defined the Horn region, and were a constant looming reminder of nature's superiority during the ebb and flow of human history in the region. The region was also home to a notably unique indigenous ethnic group who shunned outsider influences, known as the Caliverans, who spoke the Eucalia language and had a rich culture centred around yak herding. 
== The Mountains ==
=== Geology and Hydrology ===
The Caliveri mountains themselves, known in Eucalia as the Euphenisia Caliveri, They occupied the eastern side of the Horn, their foothills and main massif stretching about 800km from SW to NE. The tallest and broadest peak was Mount Regulus, named for the first Emperor (or in Eucalia known as Vatsthrei), standing 9.3km tall with a distinctive broad summit. Two other notable peaks were Mount Eyrie (Phthei) and Mount Silver (Tsei), the second and third highest mountains in the range. The massif was primarily composed of granite and schist, with limestone deposits in the lower valleys. The area was formed at a convergence plate boundary hundreds of millions of years ago (giving it jagged peaks and deep craggy valleys), and is home to a lot of seismic activity and several dormant volcanos. Despite the warmth at its foothills, the massif supports several large glaciers due to its peak altitudes, which provide the surrounding foothills with freshwater. To the north of the mountains lay a massive ex-glacial valley, the St. Verehia River Valley, which the mountain's geology and hydrology contributed to long ago.
=== Ecology ===
Their montane zones were warm like the surrounding continent and contained rich diverse forests of oak, beech, and maple, as well as numerous flower meadows and berry bushes; but as one went through the subalpine to the alpine zones, temperatures dropped drastically and snow was guaranteed. Vegetation thinned to grasses and conifers, and then merely a few hardy xerophytic shrubs. The Caliveri experienced damp winters and dry summers, but lots of snowmelt in the valleys led to plentiful freshwater glacial lakes and rich green pastures at these altitudes. These lakes and their outflow rivers were some of the highest-altitude bodies of water upon Indratera. Wildlife in the mountains included alpine goats, antelopes, brown wolves, and climbing mustelids by the cliffs; mountain buffalo, yaks, and brown bears in the valleys; eagles and condors up high; and okapi, apes, and alpacas in the foothills. 
=== History ===
The massif provided both an obstacle and a fortress for numerous conflicts throughout pre-Euluskan and Euluskan history in the region due to its impassable yet fruitful terrain. Armies have fended off foes a hundred times their number using the terrain to their advantage and left forts here and there; during the Wars of Euluskan Unification between -32 and 0, this happened a few times. Incredibly famous towns and cities like Abavale, Vristhim, Forta Morna, and Inith all lay in the foothills or the mountain's shadow, and owed some measure of their flora, fauna, and hydrology to the mountains' influence. These towns and others nearby were rich in mining, agriculture, and tourism. 
== The Caliveran People ==
=== Population and Genetics ===
The Caliverans, also known as Eucalians, were a unique race of reclusive indigenous people who inhabited the mountains. Their endonym for themselves was the Eucalia khanoi /ɛfkalɪa xanoɪ/, the "Mountain People". They had ruddy or swarthy greyish skin tones, possibly evolved for camouflage. They were muscular, with little body hair, and thick choppy dark head hair which grew fast; they tended to braid it or use it for strings. Many of them had either muddy greenish, pale green, or umber-orange pupils. They stood generally taller and leaner than the average Euluskan, with the average adult height being about 180cm. Eucalians phylogenetically were of the Incognitae sp. genus of sentient peoples, which also included the Fulxan 'Sky People' - separated by many thousands of miles, they were two curious isolates of isolated, reclusive indigenous surface peoples not belonging to the Euluskans or Rakkimarensis genuses that made up 99% of all sentient people.
=== Lifestyle ===
The Eucalians were nomadic yak-herders who were very reclusive to outsiders. They travelled in small clan subunits of about 20-50 individuals with herds of about 5x as many yaks as people. The Eucalians used yaks for transport and as pack animals, and reared them for milk, superhard cheese ('Vassika'), meat, and hide, as well as handicrafts made of wool, leather, tails, fur, ivory, hooves, horns, and bones. In short, they were a resourceful people and these animals gave them all they needed. Eucalians supplemented this with a hunter-gatherer lifestyle of animals in the foothills - they would spend the winters lower down the mountains and the summers higher up when it was more agreeable. During winters they hunted other game like deer, elk, bears, beavers, and okapis - thick fuzzy beaver fur, wolf-pelts, and striped okapi rump-hide were valued for aesthetics and warmth alike. Cloth was tanned and worn, or had the pigment beaten from it - then it was dyed using weldflower or turmeric to make a dull mustard-yellow for clothing. Shoes consisted of layers of leather underfoot with hobnails, then the feet were wrapped in deerskin.
Caliverans also clad their wooden shields in rawhide, wrapped their body using pounded deerskin wraps, adorned their knees and elbows with yak fur crowns, and often wore animal-pelts with the heads semi-intact to intimidate their foes. They traded for the metal of their weaponry and tools, and they used tools and mineral/plant dyes to etch and engrave their shields. Weaponry consisted of shepherd's crooks with spikes (the longer, the more useful, generally); as well as kukri-style hooked long knives which inspired the Euluskan culture's iconic sword, the Volxa. 
In times of war, warriors used cinnabar ash to paint their bodies red, the toxins within which were believed to also heighten their senses and send them into a frenzy. They used stripes of cinnabar and lines/dots of white chalk to create dazzling visuals to startle and stun their foes, as well as baring their teeth and flaring their eyes and nostrils when attacking. Eucalian culture was matriarchal, with a retired elder woman leading her clan, and other elders holding the highest stations. Young men were expected to shepherd and mind the herds, whilst young women were expected to hunt, catch stragglers, and guard against predators. Both were expected to fight in times of war. A young person was considered an adult in Eucalian culture when they could lift and move a slain adult yak (to be skinned and harvested) - which weighed about 200-300kg, really showing the strength of these people!
== The Eucalia Language ==
The Caliveran people spoke the Eucalia language /ɛfkaˈlɪa/, which was closely related to Euluska, but had developed isolated for tens of millennia. It was relatively conserved and still had a lot of recognisable Old Euluska characteristics, but also innovated with more complex consonant clusters and simpler vowels than Euluska. Eucalia did not distinguish phoneme length, and most vowels tended to be more slow, even, and open. Its grammar bore strong similarities to Euluska, but conserved a feature found in Old Euluska - that being that noun cases were not proclitics (i.e. Eucalian noun cases remained unattached). It retained Euluska's SOV structure and penultimate syllable stress. 
This table below show the sounds present in the Eucalia language at either end of the dialect continuum. The lowlands register is more similar to Euluska. There are examples at the end. 
Grapheme 	Phoneme IPA - Highlands 	Phoneme IPA - Lowlands
Vowels 	Vowels 	Vowels
O 	o 	ɔ
A 	a 	a
E 	e 	ɛ
I 	i 	ɪ
U 	u (but also /f/ sometimes when following a vowel) 	u (but also /f/ sometimes when following a vowel)
Semivowels 	Semivowels 	Semivowels
H (alone) 	yi̯ 	i~h
Y 	yi̯ (word-initial), i~j (word-medial or final) 	yi̯ (word-initial), i~j (word-medial or final)
Consonants 	Consonants 	Consonants
S 	s 	s
T 	t 	t
C 	c~k 	k
R 	ɾ 	ɾ
L 	l 	l
N 	n 	n
V 	v 	v
K 	k 	k
P 	p 	p
M 	m 	m
D 	d 	
X 	x 	h
W 	w 	w
B 	v 	β
G 	ɣ 	g
TH 	tʰ 	θ
KH 	x~χ 	x~χ
TS 	t͡s 	t͡s
PH 	pʰ 	f~ɸ
CS 	k͡s 	k͡s
Example Sentences (with broad phonemic transcription)	Example Sentences (with broad phonemic transcription) 	Example Sentences (with broad phonemic transcription)
Euluska 	Txa Verehia aleukago. Txa ñareizza Kaliverike orella. 	t͡ʃa vɛɾɛxɪʌ alɛβkaɣɔ t͡ʃa ŋaɾɛɪt͡sʌ kalɪvɛɾɪkɛ ɔɾɛʎʌ
Eucalia 	Csa Verekhia alephogos. Csa yakhreitsos ce Caliveri aretho.	k͡sa veɾexia aleɸoɣos k͡sa yi̯axɾeit͡sos ke kaliveɾi aɾeθo
English 	My name is Verehia. I live in a village by the Caliveri. 	My name is Verehia. I live in a village by the Caliveri.
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