Anghkor is the name used to refer to the civilisation that exists within the upper reaches of the west-Seiforhan Cloudbough forest. The Anghkorans, as they are known, are a small group of Tveirfotr who have taken to living in the middle and upper reaches of the extremely tall Cloudbough trees found in western Seiforh.
Anghkor is not a fully-fledged country in the way that most other Pretheyan polities are, and represents one of the last communities on the continent to exist outside of the framework of some form of state hierarchy. The population of Anghkor are believed to operate on a form of tribal government; being ruled over by a single chief, and having a social structure incorporating elements of both seniority and maternality.
Lifestyle
The Anghkoran people operate a pseudo-hunter-gatherer society in the treetops of the Cloudboughs. Their primary sources of food come from hunting other animals that live at high elevations in the trees, but they also derive limited amounts of comestibles from certain edible plants that can grow upon the trees' branches.
Hunting
The Anghkoran people have become extremely proficient in the use of rope slings to hunt. Owing to the lack of any metal or even stone in the treetops, slings represent the only projectile weapon that can be crafted with just wood and animal products. The projectiles commonly used in these slings are the nuts of a particular plant which grows on the upper branches of the Cloudbough. These nuts are particularly heavy and are unusually square in shape; both traits which presumably evolved to make them less susceptible to being blown off of the branches. Anghkorans will retrieve these nuts and then smooth out their edges by smashing them repeatedly against the bark of the Cloudbough's trunk, with the purpose of eventually turning them at least somewhat circular. They can then be used as ammunition for the slingshots.
These slings are used by the Anghkorans to hunt for small creatures such as squirrels, birds, and rarely larger prey like Skycats; if one can be caught unaware. Projectiles shot from a sling are susceptible to being disrupted by the high winds present near the middle and top of Cloudboughs, and shots must often be made from difficult angles; necessitating a high level of expertise in order to land hits. As well, projectiles usually cannot be retrieved after firing, so there is a need to be concise with ammunition. There is also the issue of prey being knocked off of the Cloudbough when struck with a sling. For this reason, slingers must be careful to only strike them when they will fall onto a branch, and not when they have nothing underneath them.
Agriculture
The lack of any soil atop the Cloudboughs makes most plant growth impossible. However, litter from dead leaves gradually accumulates in and on top of branches, which can provide small amounts of nutrition for certain hardy plants to grow on top of. Given the size of some Cloudbough branches, this is enough to allow certain small fruit-bearing plants to grow there. Of these, the fruits of a certain number can be eaten by humans, and the Anghkoran people have taken to using them as a supplemental part of their diet.
Additionally, large growths of moss are common in damp parts of the Cloudboughs. Some of these may also be eaten, and they are significantly more replenishable than the majority of fruit plants.
Water
Despite living between 1,500 and 4,000 metres in the air, water is remarkably easy to come by atop a Cloudbough. It can be acquired primarily in two ways: The first is in the form of puddles which naturally form in depressions among the branches, and can be safely drank from. These are great in number and refill when rain falls from a higher level down to a lower branch, but cannot be found among the tree's uppermost heights.
The second method, which is more reliable and can be performed anywhere but takes more effort, is to drill a 'tap' of sorts into one of the Cloudbough's branches. In this way, water can be extracted from the branch directly, leaking out before it makes it to the trunk. These holes are quickly closed by the tree, however; and so must be re-opened on a relatively frequent basis.
Tools
It is not possible to obtain either stone or metal at the tops of Cloudboughs, and so as such, the majority of items crafted by the Anghkoran people are made entirely of wood and other animal products. While it is possible to get by in most cases with these materials, albeit with it precluding the development of anything resembling technology, the main problem comes when attempting to craft axes. Axes are of vital importance in an environment with so much wood, and are a necessity for removing certain overly-thick branches. Saws, as well, are used for dealing with thinner ones, and are equally if not more-so important.
In order to acquire the materials required to create these tools, a small group of Anghkorans will embark on an arduous trip to the bottom of the forest once every one-to-four years, in order to trade with the people who dwell on the ground for tools. The trip can commonly take a full day to make, owing to the immense difficulty of travelling down the Cloudbough, and is made more complicated by the need to carry items for trade with them. To this end, the Anghkorans have developed a complex system of plant-fibre ladders for climbing, as well as carved out foot and handholds to aid in the climb up and down. Items are transported via pulleys, or - in the case of particularly light goods - are simply floated down to the bottom of trees on leaf parachutes and then retrieved once the climbers have made it down.
