The highland clans live predominately in the large mountain ranges across Caledonia. Their physical remoteness has resulted in an insular lifestyle and a certain level of independence that some can view as arrogance. They are self reliant, and often have little concern for those they view as lowlanders. The threat of attack from tribal species and indiginous monsters has resulted in clans that are warlike yet extremely loyal to each other. Often needing to call to arms all old enough to bear weapons, they are capable of defeating sizable forces that attempt to invade their homelands. This is achieved through hit and run tactics and a knowlege of their mountain environment. The average family is larger than that of the lowland clans, allowing better defence and concentration of skills. Being suspicious of outsiders, they rarely trade beyond their borders, cattle being the exception and even then usually through the medium of drovers.
The hill clans share several of the same characteristics as the highland
clans. The more accessable terain and increased availability of arable land
has created some differences though. Clan settlements tend to be slightly
closer together, and this has allowed a higher level of specialisation. It
is easier for one man to trade his skills as a craftsman for example, when
there are more people within easy travelling distance.
Also a call to arms can result in a larger response force in the neccessary
timescale, and so there is a higher percentage of males amongst the warband.
Older children, mothers and the elderly are not so essential to victory, instead
providing auxillary services to the warriors. The better access means more
external trade, and this allows more access to new ideas and current news.
This has several benefits, but can also result in an erosion of some clan
traditions and concepts. The combat abilities and loyalty of these clans makes
them ideal soldiers, and they make up the bulk of Caledonia's armies.
The lowland clans have a much greater level of exposure to new concepts and ideas, more clansfolk enter into mixed unions with other clans or even other species than the hill and highland folk. The productive lands allow for greater specialisation in crops, and much of their produce is sold to the towns. Coin rather than barter is the dominant method of procurement, and several lowland clans can be classed as rich. Villages are more common than elsewhere, and many clansmen follow a fixed profession, buying their food and selling their craft. Trade is widespread, as is the influx of visitors, traders, tinkers and scribes. All providing services that the clansmen can take advantage of. Many lowlanders become specialists in the more unusual of human activities, and this provides Caledonia with men and women capable of dealing with almost any problem that faces the country. There is a tendancy for the majority of the clans to place less emphasis on combat and warfare, but individuals with the time and money to practice can often reach high levels of mastery in various martial techniques.
The townsfolk usually consists of lowland clansmen with a smaller percentage coming from the hill clans. There are also many peoples from other lands, indeed some come from other plains of exsistence. This makes the town dwellers the most sophisticated in terms of current trends and ideals. They have the highest levels of specialisation in Caledonia, and produce many of the most recent advancements in military and economic theory. There are drawbacks however, thievery, perversion and fraud being relatively common amongst the lower elements of these societies, clan traditions and highland values replaced with less rigid moral codes, more law enforcement and more constrictive legislation, less personal freedom and a greater need to compromise are all part of the price they must pay to live there.
Footnote.
Although most of the Island clans and moorland clans are not as big, they
are similar in make up to the hill clans, though they usually live in smaller
communities. Some are more like the lowland folk, and some are so isolated
that little is known about them, indeed many of these clans, particularly
the moorland ones, have little concept of the country they live in, nor of
the current rulers. The sea provides a great deal of the islanders with food,
trade and occupation, many of them forming the backbone of the Queens' navies,
though the relative safety of the inland families produces less warriors and
more craftsmen than those living along the coasts. It is rumoured that some
of the smaller isolated moorland clans indulge in strange rituals and practices,
that would shock the most widely travelled cosmopolitan.
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