The White Mountain Goats
The Great Towers Range is home to one of the most important resources of Alven: the White Mountain goat.
This breed of goats was selected and bred by The Encrors, The Staynes to produce the fine fiber they use to produce the very soft and fine garments they traditionally wear under their leathers. When Clansmen moved into the range and settled there many centuries ago, they traded goods in exchange for a few beasts. Soon, the goats were seen grazing all across the range from the western snow-clad peaks to the eastern hills of The Riggs.
The Louves also adopted the goat as a new valuable resource.
The fiber produced by the undercoat of the goats is shipped to master weavers in the bigger trading cities of Alven. The fiber is then weaved to make the very expensive and beautiful soft cloth called Encrish, named after the people who first developed the technique The cloth is used to make garments that are very much prized in The Thane's Hall and other wealthy clansmen's keeps.
Basic Information
Anatomy
The White Mountain goat is descended from the wild goats that roam freely in the Great Towers range. Like their wilder cousins, the goats are well known to have amazing agility and balance to be able to cope with the steep slopes of the snowy peaks. They have also inherited the long hair of the wild goats, but the White goat's wool has two coats. It is the undercoat that is combed at the end of the Dark Months when the goats molt to produce the wonderful fiber so prized by the Alvenites.
Both coats are white, and the Encrors (the Staynes) have invented many different sorts of blue dyes to colour the fiber before it is woven. In Alven, the fiber is mostly coloured red or purple. There also exist different colours of yellow and dun shades.
The male White Mountain goats sport a formidable set of horns. These horns can achieve a greater weight and height than in the wild. The female horns are usually smaller. Selected breeding to encourage the quality of the fiber and the health of the animals means that, in general, the White goat has been bred to be taller and broader than the wild version of itself. Rams are notorious for being very territorial and should be approached with caution. Rams are very good at protecting the herd from predators. Their huge horns and aggressive temperament can deter but the most determined aggressor.
To protect the herd from the elements and more organized predators (such as wolves), the goatherds are 'parked' inside the huge open caves of the Staynes or the Louves. In more open countries, clansmen have built stone or wood outdoor sheds to house the beasts in winter. A well-bred goatherd is worth a lot of silver and is worth protecting.
Growth Rate & Stages
Female goats have up to two kids per year. They deliver the kids at the start of the light months. The milk they produce is often used to make huge cheese wheels that can be eaten up all throughout the year. Cheese wheels can keep for a long time in cool cellars or caves.
Most of the male kids are killed for their meat at the end of summer, and mountain people are very much adept at curing meats in rock salt and wood ash. This meat is an important food resource for the winter in the mountains. The females and young males are kept on to produce the fiber. A young goat will start producing fiber in its second year, but will only reach maturity in its fourth year.
Ecology and Habitats
Goats are only truly happy in the cold and heights of the mountains. Herds have to be moved from one pasture to another regularly as they tend to overgraze the delicate grass of the mountain meadows if left in too great a numbers in any one spot. Suntyme Herding is when the flocks are moved higher up in the valleys to graze. White Mountain goats have been imported to other mountain ranges of Alven. A few herds can be seen in The Farside Mountains much further to the north. Attempts at establishing healthy herds in the plains have failed.
Dietary Needs and Habits
Mountain goats are herbivores and will spend a lot of time grazing the green shoots of the alpine meadows. They are very tough animals that can withstand the scant resources of the Dark Months. They can go without food for a while without suffering too many sequels. They sleep and stay quiet in the cold and dark, and it seems to reduce their need for food.
The Staynes and the Louves usually feed their herd in the winter by giving them hay they cut a few months before at the height of the Light Months. As the Staynes and the Louves have a need to maximize space in the caves where they dwell, they usually press the cut grass into 'cakes' they can easily store for the winter. That technique has also been adopted by clansmen futher down the range.
Origin/Ancestry
Alven
Lifespan
15 years
Average Height
5 arms
Geographic Distribution
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