Oreiad

Dwelling atop The Mountain Peaks, statuesque and cold, the Oreiad are an aloof people of a vast, ancient empire established in the frigid tundras of northern Ticonderos and spanning across the peaks and ridgelines of the continent’s imposing mountain ranges. They consider themselves above the petty squabbles of the Dragonscarred and The Dragonlands they hail from and have relatively little to no interaction with, and thus no judgment on, the Dhogem of The Deeps. Their empire is vast, secure, and self-contained, so they keep, for the most part, to themselves; however, as loathe as they would be to admit it to anyone, the actions of the Dragonlord have left their scars on the Empire as well.
Much of Oreiad society is held together by an odd sort of competition between the pious and what the Oreiad call the Manshrioi, a word that translates literally to “exempt,” and a type of ritualist that specializes in claiming the power of the gods for themselves. What the Dragonscarred might see as heresy and witchcraft, the Oreiad see as their people asserting dominance and indeed providence over deific entities that would otherwise control their destinies. While the pious pray to their gods, these prayers are more often entreaties to be spared some harm or tragedy or to be given permission or good fortune in the pursuit of some endeavor. The pious represent the everyday Oreiad, unblessed with magical birthright (or who lack the daring, skill, and/or wits to claim such power), who even if they may revere some of the more kind or gentle deities, see themselves as at their pantheon’s mercy. Meanwhile, it is at least believed and hoped, that the Manshrioi need not bend to the will of untouchable and unknowable gods. These Manshrioi are afforded a celebrity status and make up most of Oreiad governing while their family members often occupy roles of bureaucracy.
But there's a darker, sadder side to very long lives of the pious. Oreiad can live for hundreds of years, perhaps for thousands, aging at a small fraction of the rate humans do, and with the way their society is set up there can be tremendous pressure on Oreiad, especially as they get older and older, to either become Manshrioi or to aid their family through what is called Ga Xhofu, or The Blessing. The Blessing is why Oreiad of the pious caste older than their early 130s are exceedingly rare, as the idea is that, at such an age, if one still has not obtained or been granted any magical gifts, even if their family might not think so, society portrays such an individual as a burden. The Blessing is a sort of ritual suicide and a stepping aside, a way to, through an individual Oreiad's death to potentially assist later generations in becoming Manshrioi themselves. The pious thus covet artifacts of their deceased, phials preserving dried fingers, bundles of ancient hair, especially of those who have committed Ga Xhofu, in the hopes that through the spiritual power of their ancestors, they may awaken magical abilities to challenge the gods.