Gafahraz Mountains
The Gafahraz mark the southern border of the eastern Beirhamin steppe. An extension of the mountain range known as Aktar's Children, the Gafahraz are a hard land for a hard people. A land of high mountain peaks covered with montane forest, the highest points of the Gafahraz rise up to 3 kilometers. The Beirhamin to the north do not go there, for their horses cannot eat. The Makuubi of the southwestern lakeland find nothing of value there except timber, and the Agbithans upon the more mineral-rich slopes of Aktar's Children have historically treated Gafahraz as a place of exile under their tenuous control at best.
In recent times, the near collapse of many of the dwarven realms upon Aktar's Children have ensured the independence of the mountain clans of Gafahraz, and even swelled their numbers as people have fled the dragon's grasp. While Gafahraz is often best bypassed, it does represent the shortest route between the Thaner realms of Aktar's Children and Runber.
Ecosystem
A mountain range stretching northwest to southeast, the rain that falls upon the Gafahraz drains into the Makubian lakeland to the south, and Great Bay to the north. Though growing food is difficult in this rocky land, the dwarf clans of Gafahraz subsist, on pine bark if nothing else. Isolated by distance, the relative lack of value in the region, and the difficult terrain, the Gafahraz clans carve their terrace farms into the hills and pray. Others chop the trees and sell them downriver, generally to the Makuubi.
The pine forests are home to ibex, leopards, and highland baboons among other animals. Lack of pasture available in Gafahraz restricts large-scale goatherding. The creatures of the Gafahraz are invariably adapted to cold winters, as the high inland peaks can be freezing in the winter. On the highest points of Gafahraz, snow falls upon bare mountain peaks.
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