Theissiesc

The Cragsworn Confederacy is a uniate of peoples colloquially known as the Keltar - a people who refused to abandon the chained creator of Man as their God, Keltaren. There are many Keltar within the world, but there is no greater unified alliance of them within the known world. They live in the place said to have once been Keltarens great seat of power, and they claim to have been descended from the mortal Sons of Keltaren, who each founded great kingdoms, whose descendants would grow into distinct nations and form a mighty confederacy within these very lands. Their ancestors are a people beset with suffering at every step of life, because of this choice. They inherited the hardships of scraping a living off the salt-blown cliffs and out of the sulfur-ridden crevices of their homeland. They brave the dangers of unstable mountains, sulfurous smoke, and a plentitude of enemies surrounding them, their lands being the only obstacle between the kingdoms and empires of the Midlands to their South and the kingdoms and clans of the Westermourn to their North. They are the remnants of these once indomitable kingdoms carved out of the harsh rock by harsher hands, who struggle on through the ages, maintaining ancient ways of life and practice.
Many more yet inhabit this inhospitable landscape largely because their ancestors were pushed into this undesirable place by other more populous human civilizations long after the Fall of Keltaren. There was little room for backwards people who desperately clung to a Dead God anywhere else within the world aside from within the bleak Cragsworn Range, and many made enemies with those who abandoned Keltaren for false and weaker Deities. And so, the many tribes who still maintained their connection to Keltaren were eventually largely forced to band together and move into the Cragsworn, where they were welcomed with outstretched arms by the current inhabitants of the land as long-lost brothers, and faithful friends in the midst of a sea of traitors and unfaithful. These tribes and clans were given a place within the Cragsworn to live, the vast Flint Hills country, and these peoples and tribes still exist within that region to this day.
Eventually, the languages of the Keltar within this region congealed into more or less one common tongue under the eroding yoke of countless ages, and they eventually began calling themselves the "Theissiesc" to differentiate themselves from other Keltar within the world.
Being descendants of Keltaren, who is also said to have fathered the Titans (the crime for which many say he was imprisoned), the Theissiesc are exceptionally tall for a race of man, on average more than 2 heads taller than the Westerlanders and living up to five times longer, though the average lifespan is much shorter than that. They possess grey-tan skin and have brown or thick black hair. They are bitter enemies with the Westerlanders and have fought the Sanctian Empire on multiple occasions. The Theissiesc, by nature, are secretive and suspicious, slow to trust any by their word, and unforgiving of wrongdoings done to them even beyond the confines of generations, yet never forget a debt owed to someone else or any blessings received from others.
The Theissiesc rarely have a year of peace, if they are not fighting off Westerlander hosts they are beating back Sanctian Crusades or pushing Scaeltiar and Varaignian raiders back into the sea; often all at the same time. They count the land on which they live as another enemy, being largely barren and stony and inhabited by stone giants, titans, trollish tribes, tritons, gremlins, Khazrid, and cliff-ghasts. Even more dangerous yet, the Theissiesc vying against Theissiesc, the Clans and Kingdoms within their lands all vying for control of land and resources, fighting bitter feudal wars within their country whenever not united against any outside threat. Aside from militant tribes of Theissiec, there reside Trollish Clans within the Cragsworn Confederacy who live much as the Theissiesc themselves do. Their chosen homeland is home to all manner of vile and savage beasts, such as Werebats, Beastbats, Wights and Ghosts, Vampire clans, packs of Craghounds, and Bullgoats just to name a few.
There is no shortage of historical excerpts proving the exceptional martial prowess of the Theissiesc, but is it any wonder? Besides their immense stature, their people have to fight for every meal provided, defend every single home they build, and inflict their will upon the very land they live on just to survive. Merely surviving for more than a century aside (a short lifespan for a Descendant of Keltaren), they are surrounded by enemies, constantly defending their lands from invaders on every single border. After this fact, they have a harsh and uncompromising deity, the Archangel Keltaren, who demands his followers live striving towards strengthening themselves, weathering any suffering silently and without complaint, and bringing justice with them everywhere, in every walk of life.