Kwaungmo

The Kwaungmo is a mountainous region to the north of the core Venswood, where it lies flanked by the **Toba Expanse**. Its glaciers form the starting point of many rivers, including the great river Ord. The southern Mitahkat Valleys formed by these rivers were inhabited by an even spread of **Wildchoir** peoples, while the large northern Aainkaain Plateau was mostly inhabited by **Hjen**. The region was famed for its clothing, tapestries, metallurgy, dairy, and for the many monasteries dedicated to the **Weave** that lined its mountain tops.

## **Geography**

### **The Valleys of the Mitahkat**

The Mitahkat Valleys in the southern Kwaungmo were by far its most cosmopolitan region, being settled by a relatively even spread of the races of the Wildchoir. The rivers forming these valleys didn't provide enough room for farmers to feed all its people, but they made for easy trade with the rest of the Wildchoir, as almost all valleys could be reached by boat, and those that couldn't, could be reached by caravan. As a result, the valleys imported a lot of their food, while exporting clothing, river boats, pottery, and metalwork. The region was notable for its silk, as the Mitahkat is the only part of the Kwaungmo warm enough to properly keep silkworms.

The majority of large settlements in the Kwaungmo were in these valleys, and a lot of power was held by their manufacturing guilds. Typically the Speakers representing these areas were elected by the people, or by representatives of the guilds, although some cities were plagued with corruption, being ruled in truth by crime bosses that maintained their grip through smuggling.

The people of the Mitahkat held the mountain monasteries in high regard, and many traveled to them for spiritual guidance. Seers would rarely live among the people of the Mitahkat and unlike certain other regions of the Kwaungmo they maintained a fierce sense of secularism. Those few students of the Weave that favoured life in the valleys over the monasteries could grasp great influence quickly, but while Seers were quick to rise to prominence and influence, they too were quick to fall due to the high standards imposed upon them.

The Mitahkat people had a mixed view of those living on the Aainkaain plateau. Many pitied them for living lives bereft of many of the luxuries they could afford themselves, and many idolised their lifestyle as one allowing more space for introspection further away from all the business of city living. Many a poem has been written extolling the virtues of Aainkaain life by people that had never actually ventured north into the plateau.

### **The Many Mountains**

On the edges of the Kwaungmo and flanking its many valleys lie some of the largest known mountains. A great deal of these hosted monasteries, with their Seekers looking to isolate themselves from most of the world by settling its highest peaks. Many of these monasteries relied on donations, both from pilgrims and the nearby people, and on weaving, mostly of tapestries, to afford themselves food and worked goods. The tapestries these monasteries produced were famed for their religious significance, and the majority of them depicted important events, exalted virtues and recurring themes of the Weave.

While most monasteries performed ritual chants in attempts to recapture the Verse, a notable minority conducted their matters in complete silence. These silent monasteries believed the Verse need not be spoken, but is instead best heard on the whispers of the wind, in the chirping of the birds, and in the calm reflections of the sleeping mind.

### **The Aainkaain Plateau**

The northern Kwaungmo is dominated by a single large plateau which takes up much of its landmass, known as the Aainkaain. While its edges are suited for the production of barley, most of it is too arid and cold to grow crops. Its inner territories were inhabited almost exclusively by nomadic groups of Hjen. Unlike the nomads of the Toba Expanse, these groups traveled on foot alongside their beasts of burden, moving around with the seasons to ensure their herds remained well fed.

The animals most commonly held within these herds were goats, sheep, yaks, llamas and alpacas. The people of the plateau developed many ways to ensure they kept a consistent food stockpile throughout the year. A great deal of milk produced in the summer was turned into butter and cheese for the colder months, and during the summer many animals were fattened up for slaughter in the early winter. This lifestyle also lent itself to the invention of chhaang, an alcoholic beverage much like beer, but notable in that most of its fermentation takes place without water, making it much easier to transport.

The people living in the Aainkaain core largely depended on the trade of wool, meat, dairy and clothing to acquire grains and tools. This trade ensured they maintained a close connection across the plateau, and both with the Mitahkat and those living on the Toba Expanse.

These nomadic groups lacked much in the way of established hierarchy, remaining small enough to police themselves, and for all their members to come together should they slight one another. Nonetheless, at times representatives were deemed useful enough for them to elect their own Speakers, although their role was much closer to that of a diplomat than a leader.
Most of the Seers on the Aainkaain Plateau traveled along with the merchant caravans, or acted as merchants themselves. They were not part of any group, but instead traveled between them, singing the ancient tales and teaching lessons where needed. As such, these Seers were vital in maintaining the oral history of the Kwaungmo, something made all the more important by the general difficulty of acquiring tattoos in this cold and isolated climate. Many Hjen resorted to depicting their personal histories in their clothing and their tents instead.
There's many theories about why the plateau was predominantly settled by Hjen. Many believed it had to do with the pastoralist lifestyle its harsher areas required, as there are few parts of an animal that Hjen can not make use of. This lended itself to a specific cuisine which was made to utilise as much of the animal as possible in ways that other races might find harder to stomach.

Nearing the edges of the plateau the land is less arid, and one would progressively see more and more of the other races around, even if Hjen remained the majority. At the edges, some of the highest mountains of the Kwaungmo lie, and here the blanket of snow from these peaks melts into rivers, not all of which are headed for the valleys below. The streams that remain here provide enough water for the growth of barley, which lead to a much less restrictive diet than that of the Aainkaain core. This part of the Aainkaain even sported a few cities, although few could really compare in size to those of the Mitahkat.

Even with these differences between the inner and outer regions of the plateau, the attitudes of the Aainkaain were almost universal among its people. They saw themselves as separate from much of the Wildchoir, yet they considered the people of the Mitahkat Valleys and the Toba Expanse to be close allies and kin, without whom their lives would be much harsher.

## **Holidays**

Karakamat was the most important holiday of the Kwaungmo, traditionally taking place in the month of **Hearth**. It is a celebration of kinship and a testament to survival, where people feast on meat, dairy, and buttered pastries, typically paired with chhaang. It is considered very undignified to refuse people hospitality on the night of Karakamat, and the wealthy families of the Mitahkat Valleys would try to outdo each other by hosting the grandest public banquet of their city, as not doing so would result in a grave loss of face. Groups that usually traveled separately through the Aainkaain Plateau would often meet for Karakamat, which for them often doubled as a time of trade, courtship and marriage.

## **History**

### The Age of Myth

There are many stories about the settlement of the Kwaungmo, but the two most popular by far are these:

The Tahat is a tale seen in many tapestries, although it includes a few other versions as well. It says that after their arrival in the Venswood, a group of Hjen sought a land that would be uniquely suited for them. It stories many encounters with different figures who halted them in their travels, each teaching them a lesson. Each resulted in a new tattoo and some in new traveling companions. Rather than finding a land that only they could master, they became the masters of themselves. When they finally arrived in the Kwaungmo, all was united under one vision and understanding of the world.

Even if this mythical age of peace and prosperity was real, it did not last. The monasteries and cities of the Kwaungmo fell into infighting over who was more correct, leaving them fractured, only recovering their unity of purpose when the Verse arrived to unite them into the Wildchoir.

The Yaijung is a much different tale. It tells of how the native people of the Kwaungmo once hid themselves, taking on forms like those of rivers, trees, clouds, rocks and animals. When a curious few ventured out and discovered other people, they were persuaded to drop their guises so they could find common ground. Some scholars believe this to be the first contact Hjen ever had with the wider world, although this is widely disputed and many believe this tale is entirely metaphorical. Others theorise this is an alteration on a much older tale, and it actually refers to the original homeland of the Hjen, if there even is such a thing.

Some of the Kihai that lived in the region instead believed that these natives separated into three groups. Those that completely discarded their guise, becoming Hjen. Those that saw their guise as a part of them, becoming Kihai. And those that completely discarded all but their guise, becoming the **Moju**.

### The Age of Prophecy

The Verse brought with it a truth which the people of the Kwaungmo already knew, even if they had at times preffered to forget it. It reminded them that they needed each other to survive. Trade was oft not just vital for living a good life, but for living at all. As such, when merchants first spread the Verse across the Kwaungmo, its people readily accepted it. While not all monasteries were equally quick to adopt the Weave, none could resist this change, for it was truly for the better of the Kwaungmo peoples.

Many differences remained between the Aainkaain and the Mitahkat, and especially the Toba Expanse beyond, but their kinship had been rekindled in a way that would last until the Kwaungmo was finally lost to the undead.