The Beast

There exists in Pretheya a wandering village, spoken about in myths and legends all across the continent. So rarely seen that many think it nothing more than a story, it is very much real, and is home to a community of individuals known as the Stiga.
Stiga village is a settlement built on top of a large creature from the old world. No one knows what species it is, and the creature is presumed to be the last of its kind upon Pretheya. Its body consists of four large, pillar-like legs covered in stones, which lead up to a torso the size of a hill. Its underbelly is covered in rocky protrusions, and its sides are littered with dangling vines and roots. Its back is covered in what could be either grass or moss, and upon it are built a little over a dozen ramshackle houses comprised of wood and mud. It is within these that the Stiga dwell, a nomadic group of people who live and work upon the creature's back.
The creature is known to the Stiga as simply the Beast. They make their homes upon its body, and in return, keep it safe from any humans or other creatures that might seek to harm it. The vast majority of wild animals that would threaten the humans are incapable of reaching them while they are high up on the Beast's back, while inversely, the kind of cunning creatures that would be able to pose a threat to it are deterred by the number of people that travel with it. In this way, the Beast and the humans achieve a symbiotic relationship.
The Stiga provide for themselves by trade most prominently. Owing to the fact that their way of life sees them travelling from place to place, they often come into possession of goods sold in one region that are difficult to obtain in others, and so buy them up and stockpile them in order to sell them elsewhere. To this end, they have built a network of platforms around the edges of the Beast's torso, and upon those crafted ramshackle warehouses, in which they carefully secure trade goods with copious amounts of string, and cover the floor with padding in the event that something does go wrong.
It is said that the Beast has roamed the world since the days of the Ormr, and the Stiga themselves do not remember how they came to live upon its back. The great creature lives presently within the region of Vaeoule, and will over the course of a generation make the pilgrimmage from there to as far as Ressengia in search of food. The Stiga cannot direct the Beast, and instead simply follow it wherever it pleases. When it stops to graze, it eats entire trees whole, stripping patches of forest to nothing over the course of several weeks before deciding to move on. While it is stationary, the Stiga will descend from its back by rope ladders fastened around its legs, and make their way to the ground to trade with nearby villages, selling their stockpiled wares and buying supplies to keep them going while they must remain on top of the beast.