Slumbering Highlands

The Slumbering Highlands make up the northern and eastern parts of the continent Sibone, and contains the entirety of the kingdom of Nefis including its capital Beskerm and the biggest trade hub in the world Kambar.

Beskerm:

Dreamscape_02 by Sarel Theron

The Aryites may claim their capital is more grand than Beskerm and maybe that is true. But, I dare them to claim they have views that are quite as breathtaking as looking up at the mountain when its forests are blanketed by mist in the early dawn light.

— Kagiso Koketso, Ambassador of Logging

Geography

The Slumbering Highlands are the highest and second most extensive mountain range systems throughout the world stretching approximately 600 miles in length and reaching heights of nearly 16,000 feet at its highest peak. The Highlands, take up a majority of the land of the country Nefis and is also where a majority of the Nefsian people live. Glacier-filled ocean borders the northern, western and eastern parts of the Slumbering Highlands that laps against the mountain's sheer cliff face. The few sections that are not cliffs are either covered in glacial ice or rocky shores that slowly incline but lead straight to the highest peaks of the mountains. The only exception to this is one single sea cave though traversing through here is treacherous for anyone meaning to do harm to the Nefsian people as the fortified port city of Kambar resides further inside the cave with the cave entrance itself rigged to collapse if needed. Dense forest covers the southern half of the mountain that leads further south to the grassy valleys and hills of Nefis' southern border.

Elven City by Thom Tenery

Fauna & Flora

Above the tree line, the alpine tundra portion of the mountains is covered in shrubs with red or pink flowers, grasses, and junipers that all grow close to the ground due to the intense wind, cold and ice they are regularly subjected to. Additionally, lichen, mosses, and cushion plants grow in places where other vegetation is absent. All of this vegetation provides ample food for the wild goats, sheep, roe deer, Ibex and elk as well as the livestock of the villages and towns nearby. The vegetation also provides nourishment for small mammals such as voles, ground squirrels, hares, pine martens, marmots, and dormouse. Of course, the large number of herbivores means there are also many carnivores found above the tree line including foxes, wolves, Nefisian Lynx, brown bears, golden eagles, and vultures.
Right below the alpine tundra, the flora begins to grow taller, transitioning from short, dense shrubs to small larch trees that get taller and taller. The further down the mountainside you go, these larches are joined by oak, beech, poplar, elm, chestnut, mountain ash, birch, and maple trees. The lower portion of the mountains is also more colorful with buttercups, cornflowers, mountain avens, bell-flowers, snow-bells, aster, gentian and many other kinds of bright wildflowers. Most of the animals found above the tree line also roam through the forests alongside snakes, deer, salamanders, bats, butterflies, beetles, moths, and a vast array of birds and rodents. Various rivers and lakes also provide this part of the region with fresh fish as well as waterfowl, aquatic or semiaquatic plants, and semiaquatic mammals and rodents such as the beaver.

Natural Resources

The dense forest covering the mountain provides the Nefsian citizens with wood that comes in a wide variety of colors and density as well as game animals they can hunt for food. Most game animals also provide feathers, hides or other resources used in the making of clothing, jewelry, and decorative items. The rivers and lakes found on the mountainside provide people with fresh water as well as fish for food and plants such as reeds used for thatching and construction. The mountains themselves provide the people with resources as they are rich in iron, gold, silver, and copper ore and a number of these mines have branched off with the discovery of amethyst, topaz, citrine and other quartz veins. Some flora, such as Arnica and some varieties of pine are also used in potions. Arnica, in particular, is used a lot in medicines made to help speed up a person's healing although the use of these potions has declined with the widespread usage of runes.

Type

Mountain Range

Location under

Sibone

Owning Organization

Beskerm Council

Related Ethnicities

• Nefisian