Imperial Policy on Mountainous Regions

Whilst the founding of the Empire of Turelion was undoubtedly rooted, at least in part, on the basis of acquiring more land whose resources and produce could be reaped for the ultimate benefit of Turelion, Machestaro I never intended that the entirety of Kelbonnar should come under Imperial rule.
Land that was deemed to be economically unviable was only brought under the auspices of the Empire if it was deemed to be strategically necessary, and whilst this definition stretched to vast tracts of land, such as the Kaldara, the Jem’Hal desert, the Destra Wetlands and the Toaya Peke to name just a few, it was not extended to the vast majority of mountainous regions.
Machestaro I quickly judged that the amount of military presence and infrastructure needed to effectively keep any of the five major mountain ranges fully under Imperial control would add years onto his campaign of conquest, and that any garrisons attempting to keep order across a mountainous region would be a constant drain on resources, a drain so serious it could threaten to bankrupt the Empire entirely.
So instead of viewing any mountain ranges that his troops came across as a potential threat that needed to be dominated, Machestaro instead judged them as a solution to the problem of how to deal with peoples who were deemed too problematic to be successfully assimilated into the Empire. Countless people and tribes were driven from their lands into mountainous regions across Kelbonnar, so that their lands could become forfeit to the Emperor of Turelion and Kelbonnar and so that their potential to be a thorn in the Empire’s side was neutralised. This Imperial policy was most widely and brutally enacted in the area now designated as Norgantho Province, where hundreds of thousands of nomadic peoples were driven off their lands into the Spiny Mountains, where their ancestors still dwell and are now known as the Exiled Tribes.
To this day, mountainous areas are deemed as being outside Imperial or Provincial jurisdiction, but Imperial policy on the issue has been flexible to accommodate the needs of the Imperial and Provincial economic machines. The Empire of Turelion have founded settlements based in mountainous regions, but such settlements have been founded for very particular reasons, and great pains are taken to ensure that they are protected from the wild peoples and creatures that dwell around them. Orthax’s Peak for example provides a vital Firewing link between the provinces of Euristan, whilst Kazskmal in Minid Province, and many other mining towns like it provide vital resources that can only be found and extracted in mountainous regions.
Whilst Machestaro’s initial strategic decision, upheld by Emperors  ever since, has produced some benefits for the Empire of Turelion, over the years it has also become an increasing problem that is now starting to raise eyebrows not only in Provincial circles, but amongst members of the Imperial Court as well. The combination of leaving mountainous areas ungoverned whilst also driving undesirable peoples into the regions has created a hotbed of resistance to the Empire that is now incredibly hard to root out. Some of this resistance simply takes the form of bandits using the mountains as safe refuges or tribes descending from them to raid and pillage periodically, but organisations such as the Renegade Houses and Nova Norgantho are increasingly using mountain ranges to house hidden bases from which they attempt to spread discontent and anti-Imperial sentiments across Kelbonnar.
For the moment, nothing has come to a head sufficiently enough to prod the Imperial machine into dealing with the problem, and there is a reluctance amongst the present Imperial Family to so publicly declare that one of the founding doctrines of the Empire, set down by Machestaro I himself isn’t working. However, all those high up within the Imperial establishment know that one day soon, something will have to be done.