the Windshorn Highlands

the Home of Keltaren

Windshorn Theissiesc architecture is partly inspired by their dwarven allies, grand stone strongholds and humble dwellings alike. The towering, imposing architecture helped inspire later Sanctian architecture. They often chisel the entirety of their buildings straight from the stone, leaving it as part of the solid mountain from which they carved it. Like the mountains that surround them, their buildings tend to be large, grand, rough-hewn and oppressive structures, with every house built to be easily defended against both invaders and elements of nature alike. Grand cities carved on top of mountains litter the land, with only the hardiest folk living in the stone houses in the "countryside". The land is comprised of mountain ranges that resemble great rough-hewn blocks of stone of which the Flint Hills are but a tiny parody. From a distance, they look sharp and rough, but when one travels there you will find the only rough things to be found are the people who scrape a living off the land, as the elements have worn everything down to a smooth polish. There are a great many people living there, though one might not realize it from passing through. There are many cities, some of which are mostly abandoned, most of which are only partially lived in. The towns carved into the mountains are the same, some are lived in, some abandoned, most partially lived in. There are more homes carved into the mountains than there are people in the land; if some family found a place they wanted to live they simply carved a house there. If a lord found a good place to build himself a city or stronghold it was done, and many people would move with him. There is little concept of property, the mountain is the property of the Theissiesc and the Turaz'dakh, and that is it. If a household wished to move to a more desirable location, they simply set out and find an empty house within the vicinity, perform the house blessing and exorcism rites, and move in. Simple as that. The lifestyle of a Highlander could be described as semi-nomadic.
Any outsider will tell you, the life of the Theissiesc is hard, unhappy and bleak, but they have likely never been to the Highlands of the Theissiesc Nations. While this can certainly be said of the rest of the Cragsworn Confederacy, this land is the epitome of bleak and hard. Wind, rain, and thunder are the only three staunch friends of a Theissiesc Highlander it is said, for they never leave them to their fates as all others seem to do. Food is imported to the large cities and many holdfasts from other provinces as not nearly enough can be grown or obtained from this land to feed the cities - indeed, those outside of the cities barely scrape by on the scraggly moss-bushes and mushrooms that grow in the deep crevices in the mountains, and on the product of the mountain goats that also call that region home. They also get their food from the various creatures that live in the briny water at the bottom of ravines, the birds and goats that possess the temerity to make a dwelling alongside the cliff dwelling highlanders and whatever various scraggly, hardy plants that manage to find a crack or crevice to cling to - the rest they import from the Rhyossyd or from the Salt Shores, grain and fish. In return, they send caravans laden with ore, minerals, and sulfur to these respective provinces, as well as warriors when they have need, in a mutual understanding of kinship and reliance. They are given vast amounts of food and other goods needed to sustain their vast populations and in return send vast amounts of other resource shipments all over the Confederacy, but most especially to these respective provinces. They also have many brine pits and sulfur mines at the bottom of the deepest gulches and ravines where many Theissiesc youth from the highlands and also all over the confederacy work for large pay. In addition to all this, they have deep mines littering their crags from end to end, from the darkest reaches in the deep to the most barren of high peaks; for if they cannot build houses on a certain patch of rock they can at the very least mine a hole in it and see what it yields up. What holes they dig refuse to yield up either metals or minerals are easily utilized as a quarry.
The Highlands are located in the Western Cragsworn range, to their north lies both the Westermourne and the western ranges of the Titansgrave, to the west the Salt Shoresmunicipalities, the Flint Hills in the East, and to the South, Sanctia. Due to the vast mining operations in the Windshorn highlands, the warriors from here are the most heavily armed and armoured in all the Confederacy. They have no threats on any border except their Southern border, and occasionally their Northern, but that does not mean they live in peace. When they are not engaging in bloody war with the Sanctian hosts and holy warriors from the south they are looked to and relied upon to provide the armies needed to push back major invasions in other provinces when the need is dire. Most often, they fight off Varaignian invasions and incursions, relieving sieges along the coast and pushing their warriors back to the shores and into their longships. The people of the Salt Shores can normally easily fend for themselves, repelling invaders and clashing regularly with Varaignian raiders or other enemy fleets, but few powers in the world could ever stand against a whole invasion force of united Varaignians, and of those who have tried most have been utterly annihilated. The Salt Shores people simply do not possess the stopping power to halt, counter and turn back a full Varaignian invasion, but the armies out of the Windshorn Highland certainly do. One of the few warriors who can stand up to a fully armed and armored Varaignian warrior is a fully armed and armored Theissiesc Highlander. When the Varaignians come butchering their way up from the coast and through the Arpichelagos, the Highlanders come marching down from the mountains, making war across the great stone arches and bridges in the skycliffs, and fighting along the beaches. When the Westerlanders invade through the Frozen Passes of the Titansgrave and the overwhelmed Steppe Lords of the Flint Hills municipalities call for aid, the Highlands answer the call, sending hosts down from the mountains to join the fray below.

Some would say that the life of a Theissiesc Highlander is comprised of nothing but mining, scraping moss, milking goats, and killing trespassers on confederacy land. That is basically true. The Theissiesc Highlanders are a grim and dour lot, given to living life with the sole purpose of sustaining and upholding their people and raising generations strong enough to bring their people to glory in the prophesied Days of Judgement, or to have those children raise equally strong children themselves. They have little idle time or even the will to celebrate or to strive towards happiness. They know, through the generational curse, that as much as they might strive for it only as much happiness as is allotted to them will come. Celebrations come mainly twice a year, once three days before the solstice, when they throw all of their food to the wind on the cliffs and fast for three days, alongside prayer and meditation on mountaintops, in deep crevices, on cliffsides and in the deepest, most silent underground chambers. They give supplications to the Father of the Theissiesc , the Archangel Keltaren. At the end of this three day period, they perform the Ritual of Flame, branding themselves one stroke and cleansing their minds through the purifying virtue of pain. This can be seen as a universal Highlander birthday, as the strokes also serve to mark one's age. The second comes halfway through the Theissiesc year (which begins at the solstice) when they commemorate the future day when Keltaren will break his chains, and assume his old form as the Aspect of justice and deal it out harshly. It is said that on that day the Keltar will likewise cease to suffer, and that great retribution shall be dealt by their hand upon those in the world who would work evil or cause others to suffer. From that time henceforth, the People of Keltaren will take on the form as they were intended by him, no longer broken and silent, grim and sorrowful, but hard and strong, unbreakable and assured of their path, jubilant in their glory alongside other Sons of Keltaren across the globe. This is a feast day, one of the two most important to the Highlanders on the Theissiesc Calendar.

Structure

Each province within the Highlands is ruled by a Lord, who is put into power by a strange and complicated process completely between monarchy and democracy, with votes and general consensus taken, tests and trials put forth, family bloodlines examined and traced, heirs to the Lordship examined and tested, and all with the complete possibility of challenges and duels being put forth by both contestants and the public. Sometimes, an heir to a lordship is almost automatically given the Lords Throne and Sceptre, if the heir has already proven worthy and the public majority supports him or her. At other times the province goes through vigorous systems of voting and testing, if the heir is unwilling or challenged by another person. Yet more times, if the public consensus is too fractured, a simple duel will decide the trick should all methods fail.

Suffering in our nature - Glory in our future

Apotheca - the Spirit Hosts of the Highlands, and the common House Gheist
Due to the number of abandoned houses in the Highlands, and due to the tendency for the spirits of the dead to linger on within the Cragsworn, the Highlands are plagued by hosts and hosts of spirits. These are often not a threat, as they live a parody of their former lives, living in the same homes, patrolling the same peaks, and marching to the same battlefields to meet the spirits of the same foes. Hosts of spirits battle each other in the Highland, both the spirits of the Followers of Keltaren and his allies and the allied hosts that rose against him. The spirits of the enemies of the Theissiesc can be very dangerous, and fairly numerous, but the ghostly hosts of the ancestors of the Keltar generally keep the cragland passes at least mostly safe.
Sometimes, the spirits of the Old Ones become a problem, and a Highlander Stronghold finds itself defending against a ghostly enemy host. They have many methods of dealing with spirits, however, both on and off the battlefield. Such battles are fierce, but not without hope for the Highlanders who face these enemies of their long-forgotten ancestors.

Type

Geopolitical, Lordship

Alternative Names

the Highlands, Keltaren's Range

Demonym

Highlander, Theissiesc Highlander

Theissiesc Highlander warriors are very well equipped. Their mountains are seamed through with hard metal veins like rivers and lakes, and their land is rife with meteoric steel, which falls from the sky here most plentifully, unlike in other parts of the world. It is speculated that this has to do with the Geomagnetic Fields, others say the Arcane Grids and webs, yet more say both.
Theissiesc Highlanders don heavy armors of very hard and durable alloys, normally full plate armor with either full helms or halfhelms. They rarely use shields, for their superior armor renders the use of a shield a waste of effort. They do use large tower shields, however, which they utilize as portable walls on the battlefield for funneling enemy troops into choke points, countering cavalry and for holding back any force with weapons that can break Highlander armor, while they fight back with deadly piercing javelins and mortar shot. The warriors behind these shields wield long flails or long piercing halberds, but other warriors wield large two-handed maces, metal war staves, longaxes and hammers, or wide-bladed spears about a mans height, or a little less (in comparison to the height of a Theissiesc, who are taller than many).
They also make great use of heavy iron javelins, sometimes with attached chains and hooks, and most warriors will bring at least one or two. The militia rangers that prowl the mountains are a little more lightly armored, they wear half plate that is padded at the joints to make little noise and heavy cloaks and coats of black fur and leather, mainly, and are armed with firearms in addition.

Priests and seers accompany the rank and file soldiery. Their priests are deadly foes, more often than not wearing plate mail and scale mail armor just like the rest of their brethren, and just as skilled at arms as the troops around them. What makes them so powerful is the deadly energies they harness, gifted by Keltaren to his followers while he lived. This power remains in the world, and is most often harnessed by Keltaren's priests. On the battlefield, they wield blinding bolts of bright yellow-white lightning, flinging them like javelins and imbuing their weapons with this power most often, among other various abilities. Many can also rune-write these holy energies into weapons and armor and upon the life-forces of both their enemies and their allies. This blesses their lords and champions, the soldiers around them or themselves, or they can curse their enemies. They are also more than adept at dealing with spirits, fighting and banishing them, or calling upon their ancestors to fight for them. There are multiple castes of priests, all more adept or specialized in different fields, but all of them can be a potent force on the field of battle.
Seers harness not holy powers, but the power that leaks out of the broken and sundered Arcane Web above the Highlands, as well as the Geomagnetic Grid that runs through the earth. They can call up blasts of colorless energy, write arcane glyphs upon weapons and armor as well as in the air, above their enemies or allies heads, and perform all manner of feats and abilities, but there is one simple power they are most known for. They can alter space and time to some degree, making their own hosts seem to be moving and fighting faster than they truly are. They can make something seem to teleport, though the workings of this is not a true teleport as is the case in elven magic, but can be worked in ways to be even more effective. They can also create portals and the like, making their armies extremely unpredictable and dangerous; most especially in their own treacherous terrain.