High Vale

The High Vale is a mountainous Kingdom on the east of Anasayfa populated by the Hegklo people. It was once part of the Cetvel Empire.

Land

 The High Vale is situated between two high mountain ranges. Between is a rocky valley, full of ponds and small rivers. Poor cropland, it has proved to be good for raising sheep. With harsh winters and fleeting summers, wool has proven to be a vital resource for the people.

Origins
The origins of the Hegklo are lost to time much of their history being passed down orally. Their legends speak of having come from a distant land to the mountains with their dying god, so that their god could bury itself beneath the mountains and rocks of the High Vale, where it and they remained forever-after.

Recent History
The Hegklo have been defined by conflict. In ancient times they had been a restless part of the Cetvel Empire. Indeed, the upper part of he Vale had never really been subjected and w ith a different faith, race and complex geography, they have remained an independent people. Despite their proximity to the heart of the empire they were one of the last conquests of the Cetvel with armies of many lands needing to be brought down upon the Vale to seige their countless castles and forts, the Kurgan of the time Kurgan Harann Daklroh pledged fealty to the emperor to spare his people starvation and was from then on known by his people as Harann the Bleating Sheep and later Harann the Drowned Kurgan after several notable incidents where he was showered in a deluge of spit by his own people after attempting to make a public appearance, after Haranns death his only son Binlo the Short was deposed and killed by the first Kurgan of the Dyaus clan after which the High Vale was plunged into civil war. In the last hundred year the Vale has slowly been brought under the rule of the Dyaus clan, under one Kurgan. It was a slow process but economic power (and clever manoeuvrings) has made them the undisputed rulers of the High Vale. Still, several barons and lords dot the High Vale.

Clans of the Vale
Although the Clans of the vale are many and all have their stories to tell here are listed some notable clans.

Clan Dyaus
Clan Dyaus are the undisputed Kurgans of the High Vale a title hard earned in blood and held by cunning and strength. The Ancestral home of Clan Dyaus is Graghane Ak and the surrounding lands a land rich in fish which the Hegklo ferment. Clan Dyaus were never known as great warriors or rich men before the war that made them kings but they have always been known for a savage cunning and unbreakable determination. Their symbol is a blood red lightning bolt striking a castle, it recalls a legend of a forefather who was struck by lightning during battle and continued to slay all his enemies, plan the movements of his men and order commendations to those that fought alongside him before succumbing and bursting into flames, Graghane Ak was raised around where the lightning bolt struck despite being in a basin of land that often flooded during periods of heavy rain.

Clan Daklroh (Extinct)
The old clan of Kurgans Clan Daklroh prospered until Harlann the Drowned Kurgan chose fealty to the Cetvel Emperor over the genocide of his people and earned their eternal despise. From then on members of Clan Daklroh were disrespected and after failed attempts to recapture his honour Harlann retreated to their ancestral home of Kurgans Ak until his death from old age, his son Binlo the Short faired worse and the impassable walls of Kurgans Ak could not protect him from the treachery of those within, allowing the armies of the united clans of the High Vale to slaughter him and his family extinguishing Clan Daklroh. Daklroh is now used as a curse word meaning spoiled or worthless. Clan Daklroh symbol was a mountain base that forms into a castle at the top symbolising the ancient castle of Kurgans Ak. Kurgans Ak is the oldest castle in High Vale supposedly marking the point where the ground closed over the dead god and it is always held by the Kurgan.

Clan Grinnrel
Clan Grinnrel are one of the most powerful clans, second only to Clan Daklroh in history and Dyaus now, they have always been known for their warriors the finest of which was The Mad Kurgan or The Nameless Kurgan who reigned during the civil war, his first name was unknown as he killed his father and tore out his own tongue to prove that unlike Harlann he would never parley with his enemies, despite this he was by all accounts suprisingly charismatic leading his people on various daring raids against the then falling Cetvel Empire. The Mad Kurgan was also known for wearing the teeth of all the men he killed, not one but uniformly all of them, his every item was decorated with teeth in some way or another. The reign of the only Grinnrel Kurgan ended when after having felled a vast number of enemies he delayed a retreat to collect teeth and he and his men were slaughtered by the responding Cetvel legions. His suit of teeth covered armour and crown of wolf fangs was recovered and is still displayed above the seat of the Lord of their ancient home Mutbhal Ak. Their symbol is a raven, members of Clan Grinnrel eat ravens and other carrion birds as a way to eat the strength of the dead without stealing food from the birds themselves, the lords of Clan Grinnrel are apt to wear raven feather cloaks.

Clan Dalraus
Clan Dalraus are the most powerful clan in the Barrowlands and the wealthiest clan in the High Vale. Despite their wealth they have never achieved great station beyond the Barrowlands. Their castle of Halandale Ak is one of the most luxurious and magnificent castles in the world, a work of many generations improvement and rebuilding, it is not the largest castle in the High Vale but one of impressive craftsmanship and artistry, sometimes at the cost of actual defensiblity.

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Clan Utan
Clan Utan are a minor clan in the Upper Vale holding very poor lands just east of Kurgans Ak, nonetheless they are considered a clan of great honour famed for their adherence to the practice of becoming a Dead One. Their castle of Andlroh Ak has been held by them since time immemorial and it's walls contain hundreds of mummified Dead Ones, looking down from their alcoves at those within. Clan Utan very rarely become embroiled in internal conflicts among the Hegklo, during the Civil War they chose to close their gates and remove themselves from politics, their eventual return to pledge fealty to the ascendant Clan Dyaus is seen by many to have signalled the end of the war.

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Clan Kyip
After the death of the Mad Kurgan rumours abounded as to the circumstances of his death, some spoke of his tremendous battle prowess before finally being felled by superior numbers, others claimed he was imprisoned and tortured to death by the Cetvel nad other still spoke a tale of the Mad Kurgan being brought before a Cetvel commander who tried to force the tongueless warrior to sign a surrender document, supposedly he tore his own hand off with his teeth and died from the blood loss and stranger version of the legend spoke of his hands leaping up on their own to strangle the commander and that these undead hands haunt the Cetvel to this day. Some decades after the Mad Kurgans reign a young man travelled from the Cetvel lands claiming to be the son of the Mad Kurgan conceived in jail, he and his former prisoner mother gathered a following of many in a land that still remembered his supposed fathers power and charisma and many of whom claimed he did hold a resemblance to the man, this following grew and although petitions for him to be named the heir of Grinnrel failed he gathered enough men and wealth to raise a castle and wall around a minor settlement in the Midlands, through cunning and ferocity he and his new formed clan rose to some power in the southwestern edge of the Midlands taking as his banner two pale hands on a field of blood red.

Clan Sqraq
Before the Cetvel conquest of the High Vale the most powerful clan in the Lower Vale was Clan Sqraq, their symbol was a blood red ouroboros snake a symbol of faith in the dead god and a fearsome emblem of the ferocious Sqragdugar warriors that were many in their realm. They ruled the entire eastern Lower Vale and their power reached into the barrowlands and the Midlands. All this came to an end under the reign of Lord Hargrar "Hundred-Sons" Sqraq when the Cetvel Legions came, lead by the emperors favoured son they marched through the Lower Vale slaughtering Lower Valemen unphased until their march reached Clan Sqraqs great holding of Sqragdugar Ak. While the ferocious beserkers could not prevail against a force over ten times their size they exacted a bloody cost for the victory, over half the Imperial host was dead, chief among them the emperors son and heirs gilded carcass lay headless on the blood soaked walls of Sqragdugar Ak. The wrath of the conquering empire was great and terrible, at that time Clan Sqraq numbered in the hundreds, Hargrars nickname of "Hundred Sons" being long held at this point and having many siblings and uncles with children of their own, the empire had every one of them captured, from the residents of the castle itself to the most distantly travelled courtier and dragged into the emptied out snakepit at the base of Sqragdugar Ak, those found first were left to starve down in it's depth as the other were captured and thrown upon their corpses and then at midnight of the shortest day the castle was brought down around their heads. On the spot of the massacre the Cetvel citadel was raised, it's tall white stone towers becoming a symbol of Cetvel power for years to come. However clan Sqraq did not become extinct, six of them lived; Hirrik Hargrars distant cousin and advisor who escaped by hiding in a wine barrel headed for the Barrowlands he bided his time in the Barrowlands, protected by a minor lord over whom he had leverage, Mergeth, Hargrars cousin and master of the hunt who escaped by hiding in the woods and mountains of the Vale, Ungrengen, the clans eldest after the slaughter and a much respected if not well accomplished woman she survived by faking a death by drowning and being resuscitated after the men sent to capture her left, Ygen and Ugen two twins from a distant branch of the clan, their father disguised them and sent them away to live among the common folk, never giving up their location even under torture and finally Andlrag, Hargrars only surviving son who crawled from the wreckage of Sqragdugar Ak and was hidden in the homes of locals, only a child at the time and greivously wounded for the rest of his life. The six snakes as they came to be known in legend survived throughout the occupation, Mergeth fought as the leader of one of the many resistance bands during the time, known for her incredible cunning and tactical skill, a master of traps, Andlrag refused to ever leave the city in which his family was slain and fought in a resistance band there known for poisoning Cetvel nobles with snakes, near the end of the occupation they managed to make it impossible for the Cetvel to live outside their high walled citadel, Hirrik schemed among the lords of the Barrowlands to unite the resistance that existed there, Ygen & Ugen became the playmates of a young Grinnrel to whom they eventually revealed their true names when the resistances began to earn victories and Ungrengen hid herself away as a hermit teaching the ways of Sqragdugar to those that visited her, learning much of the resistance war from her occasional students. When the Cetvel empire was finally driven out of the High Vale all of the Six Snakes were present in the battle of the citadel, Clan Grinnrel exacted brutal vengeance on behalf of the surviving clan members, having every Cetvel noble killed with snake venom, their agonising wails filled the city for ten days and their Citadel was torn down. After the end of the war the surviving members of Clan Sqraq began to feud over who would inherit their ancestral lands each having a claim some more tenuous than others. In the end the lords were intractable and the lands had to be split, each forming a new clan taking their first names as clan names and a different colour of snake as their symbol. These Lords elect one among their number to represent them as a whole known as the Prince of Snakes, he wears a crown of six iron snakes in an ouroboros band around a cap made from the top of the Cetvel princes skull.

Clans of Ygen & Ugen
The twins of Ygen and Ugen were Clan Grinnrels favoured heirs to Clan Sqraq however each chose to bargain for relatively meager lands in return for the others accepting the split at all, they then combined these lands into a much larger grouping, controlling the eastern side of Clan Sqraqs land and a very close border with Clan Grinnrel, their inheritence system has the clan of Lady Ygen having to name a member of the Clan of Lord Ugen as their successor and vice versa. Their primary holding is Serren-Getha Ak a large Black castle that controls the longer path that an invading army must take if they try and avoid Mutbhal Ak, between Serren-Getha Ak and Mutbhal Ak are a series of white tower beacons formed from the rock of the destroyed Cetvel Citadel, these beacons reach as far as the barrowlands. They took as their symbol a black and white snake intertwined, emblazoned upon the colours of house Grinnrel, depending on which clan reigns changes which colours are more prominent, the snakes are intertwined around a pole holding aloft a skull on a sun, this symbolises the Cetvel princes head that was cut off personally by Ygen and Ugens mother and that part of the skull that was not incorporated into the crown of the Prince of Snakes is now entombed within the keystone of Serren-Getha Aks gate staring at those that approach from the south.

Clan Hirrik
When the Six snakes feuded Lord Hirrik had the weakest claim of all, an incredibly distant relative he put forth as his primary claim that he was the only one in the entire clan who had ever outdrank Hargrar. Accordingly he was granted the Clans holdings in the Barrowlands, least worthy of respect but easily the wealthiest lands available. He took as his symbol a purple snake wrapped around a wine goblet to symbolise his claim, the wine is purple with a blood red tint symbolising others claim that he had only the scantest drop of Hargrars blood. Clan Hirriks primary holding is Vergarsek Ak a moat protected fortress in the barrowlands the lands it commands brew the wine mixed with snake venom preferred in the Lower Vale and the castle is the only in the Barrowlands to have a snakepit.

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Clan Ungrengen
Lady Ungrengen held the claim of the Clans Eldest and bargained for herself heavily mountainous lands rich in strong rock, including the caves where she had become a hermit. She took a symbol of a coiled waiting gold snake on a field of mountain grey flanked by two axes on a field of river blue, this symbolises her mountainous lands and hermitage and a tale where coming upon a cult of the river god she tricked them into drowning themselves and took their axes to arm her followers on the approach to the Battle of the Citadel. Clan Ungrengens primary holding is a tall mountain castle named Umigir Ak built above the cave of Lady Ungrengens hermitage.

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Clan Mergeth
Lady Mergeth demanded the lands she and her resistance warriors had fought in and was granted them. Controlling the western border of the Sqraq lands, she took as her symbol a vine green entangled snake with a mud coloured belly on a field of darker green. Symbolising her misdirecting tactics and the more verdant land she fought and reigned in as well as her decision only to take colours that would make for acceptable camoflauge. The primary holding of Clan Mergeth is Mergeth Ak a sqaut stone fortress in a forest surrounded by a concentric series of stone reinforced wooden palisades.

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Clan Andlrag
Andlrag held the strongest claim and took the center and the ruined capital of the lands of Clan Sqraq and the right to the traditional blood red Snake symbol of Clan Sqraq but not the ouroboros pattern that was to be reserved for when Sqraq acted as a whole. Raising a new castle where two had now been torn down and destroyed in a close to exact copy of Sqragdugar Ak with one exception, a new tower was raised, outside but overlooking the walls of Sqragdugar Ak, the tower is known as the tower of screams and contains at it's peak a vast collection of Cetvel skulls and at it's base a pit stretching down deep under the earth with open air between it and the room of skulls. Lord Andlrag offered a prize to any who bring him a Cetvel found in the High Vale and any that were brought to him were bitten with agonising venom and left to die screaming at the peak of the tower their skulls never leaving, chained by their hand to the wall, many would gnaw off their own hand to hurl themselves down the pit and end the pain, and their hands hang from chains in the room of skulls ceiling. This tower is also quite defensible and regularly garrisoned.

Clan Vahl
Clan Vahl is a powerful Upper Vale clan that controls near enough the entire west of the Upper Vale and Midlands. Their primary holding is Skarsi Ak a colossal mountain fortress that is only second in size to Kurgans Ak and far greater than it when excluding that part of Kurgans Ak which is dug into it's mountain rather than built upon it. Clan Vahl are known for their dedication in studying the mysteries of the Dead God especially in their Spider Vigils. The Spider Vigil is a coming of age ceremony that is mandatory amongst Clan Vahl. In Skarsi Aks throneroom is an iron box similar to a casket used by other cultures for burial, this box is filled with a venomous breed of spider that is indigenous to Clan Vahls mountain, the venom of these spiders can be fatal but only in larger doses from multiple bites, members of Clan Vahl are expected to spend a night in vigil lying in the box before they are considered adult by their kinsman and can hold lands and wealth. The spiders do not bite unless triggered by motion, it is the stillness and intense possiblity of death that is said to forge a deeper understanding of the Dead Gods mysteries amongst the Clan. This iron box is placed above a pit, Clan Vahl are also known for placing their enemies in the box and lighting a fire in the pit a process which agitates the spiders into inducing an incredibly painful death in the victim. A famous legend of Clan Vahl speaks of a member of the clan who was named heir by her father much to the chagrin of her cruel elder brother, said brother captured his sister and sealed her into the spider box and lit a great flame beneath her, after screams and the sounds of sizzling and skittering had long finished echoing into the night and dawn had come the brother opened the box but found only his sisters hand at his throat, the process had seared her skin off but she remained unbitten, rather the spiders and their webs took the place of her ruined skin, the swarm went forth from her arm and devoured the brother down to the bone and she went on to reign as the dreaded Lady of Spiders of Clan Vahl and live for a century, her reign unchallenged.

People  They are a very pale people, ethnically similar to the Skarnal and D'Nal. Beards are common among them, usually braided and colored. Culture The Hegklo are primarily a culture of shepherds, warriors and stonemasons.

Faith and Legends
They are in many ways defined by their faith in The Dead God who's teachings and mythos instill in them a fearlessness in the face of death, a stoic acceptance of the negative and a passionate drive to improve their peoples lot, despite this they have no formal priesthood but instead pass the Dead Gods wisdom as part of their oral history. The belief in the Dead Gods ageless, genderless and nameless nature has lead to a non patriarchal culture, a fact which has put them at odds with the Cetvel Empire.

Castles
Castle building is of great significance to the Hegklo, both religiously and culturally. Any construction in the High Vale can be considered a tribute to the Dead God and stonemasonry a sacred profession. Clans compete with one another to commission castles for honour and in newer unprotected lands those that build new castles and walls can gain a new Lordship from the Kurgan whether they are previously ennobled or not.

Military
The Hegklo have a very strong warrior culture that when paired with a society that is neither matriarchal nor patriarchal leads to near enough every Hegklo being expected to have training in arms. The common Hegklo tend to favour the spear, longbow and axe and other weapons that do not require large quantities of steel and that also double as tools or can be hunted with, specialist martial orders may favour more difficult weapons to produce such as Sqragdugar favouring Katars. The scarcity of high quality steel has lead to that steel which is held being a prized commodity that is very carefully maintained and to scavenging after battle with a foreign power being near as important as the fighting of the battle itself in Hegklo training, thse practices have lead to finer arms and armour to have accumulated over time amongst the fighting men of the High Vale and for noble Hegklo clans high quality steel is common, the finest often becoming hereditary weapons of a clans Lord. Hegklo smiths are highly skilled, trained in the elaborate and difficult processes required to make weapons from the substandard ores available within the High Vale that when applied to high quality steels that have been stolen, scavenged or gifted they can produce weapons of a remarkable quality. The primary sources of high quality steel coming into the High Vale have been that stolen from the Cetvel or Marchlords in raids, that scavenged from invading Cetvel legions, that which was gifted to Cetvel collaborators during the War of Kurgans and then violently taken from them or is still wielded by their more loyal descendants and that little which is occasionally brought in by trade in the Barrowlands.

Cavalry is difficult to deploy in the rocky mountains of the High Vale and horses a rare commodity therefore tactics tend to favour anti cavalry measures rather than the difficult task of fielding a mounted division.

Art
The High Vale is rich in sources of dyes, either from insects and other wildlife or from rare mountian flowers. This combined with a culture that values prosperity on a religious level as the way to preserve spirituality has lead to the vivid banners of the clans. It has also combined with the warrior culture of endurance and making oneself closer to death to produce a painful obsession with tattooing, most Hegklo are tatooed in some way or another, near every High Clan requires it's clansmen to wear a tattoo of the clans symbol and many Hegklo feature complicated full body tattoos, each part marking important moments or symbols from their clan and personal history. Since the loss of the outer mountains of the High Vale with the rise of the Cetvel Empire the culture of tattooing has been partially replaced with scarification amongst the poorer Hegklo especially in the Lower Vale. Sqragdugar especially favour full body tattoos or scarification patterns, even amongst the wealthier Sqragdugar scarification is sometimes favoured for it's proof of the ability to endure pain. The most extreme procedure along these lines is practiced only by Sqragdugar and involves tatooing using snake venom, the snake venom blend used is a powerful irritant combined with the traditional Sqraqdugar pain immunity formula and various dyes, the effect is a combination of scarification and tattooing that also renders the area without sensation, that is assuming the process doesn't simply kill the practicioner. High Vale warriors also use temporary warpaints exclusively on the face, sometimes designed to work with the more permanent tattoos to emphasise the meaning of the specific conflict and at other times symbolise membership in a certain band or order of warriors. For Dead Ones warpaint is an important part of their rituals wearing a distinctive corpsepaint pattern.

Rank and Inheritance
There are six ranks in Hegklo society, Kurgan, Lord or Lady, Protector, Clan Eldest, High Clansman and Low Clansman.

A protector is anyone placed in command of a castle and its garrison, this applies to every such construction from Kurgans Ak to the simplest tower house.

The difference between a High Clan and  Low Clan is the holding of any single protectorship by a clan member and a Low Clan can become a High Clan by building or taking control of such a structure and then declaring themselves protector, any dispute of the right of a protectorship is settled by the Kurgan.

Every Clan whether high or low holds a special reverence to its eldest member, the Clan Eldest has the right to be consulted whenever possible of the clans activities and is responsible for keeping records of the clans history.

The Lord of Lady of a Clan is a title that only exists in High Clans, a Lord or Lady has the right to command their Clansmen and the protectorships held by them.

The Kurgan is the monarch of the High Vale, they are considered to be responsible for the protection of all the High Vales peoples and command all the Lords and Ladies of the High Clans as the Lords and Ladies command their Clansman. They also are the Lord or Lady of their clan.

Hegklo inheritance custom pays no heed to gender or age, the current bearer of a Lordship, Protectorate of Kurganship may name any member of their clan as their heir, it is however considered a dishonour and a bad omen to choose a clan member who is not in an unbroken line of Lords, for example a lord was named heir by his father and when his father died he inherited, this lord however finds all of his children deeply repellent and so names as his heir his sister who was the daughter of the Lord before him therefore no one who is not the child of this clans former Lord or Lady has inherited whereas if he chose his sisters child this would be dishonourable as his sister has never been a Lord or Lady.

Hegklo also have no concept of a bastard, a child is in line to inherit if one of their parents holds a title or property, this is the whole of the law therefore if the Kurgan were to have 5 children by 3 different partners then all 5 children would be considered of the landed parents clan and as eligible to inherit as any other.

Despite the absence of bastardry as a concept marriage remains a part of Hegklo culture as a holdover from an earlier cultural set of norms (possibly a change that came about with the Dead God), theoretically marriage has no real status with multiple marriages and children out of wedlock both being acceptable however to name a child your heir who is not the child of your spouse is a considered an insult to the spouses clan, this can put a Lord or Lady with multiple Highclansman spouses in a difficult political situation.

Regional Differences
The Hegklo can be categorised into four distinct cultural groups, they are (from north to south): The Upper Vale, the Midlands, the Lower Vale and the Barrowlands.

Upper Vale
The Hegklo of the Upper Vale are the most powerful of the groups, this is the homelands of the Kurgan and his capital. Their territories are unified under a small number of strong lords and they are considered more traditionalist than other Hegklo. The faith in The Dead God is strongest here and the faith is honoured by the many superlative stonemasons. Of all the Hegklo they are the most likely to have influence in other parts of the High Vale often having holdings further south. Although it is practised in all the realms of the High Vale the Upper Vale is the home of and holds the largest number of Dead Ones, Dead Ones are soldiers that practice various rituals of closeness to the Dead God with the goal or achieving an absolute acceptance of death, the effect of which is to enter a trance of perfect battle discipline, these trances commonly span entire weeks during which time the Dead Ones need no food or rest, the end of a trance normally comes with unconsiousness lasting several days or even a comatose state, however the end of a trance is not inevitable, there are those who have remained in a trance until they achieved self mummification, often while being fed upon by the scavenger birds of the Vale, legends abound of these mummies rising again to do the will of the Dead God on earth. The highest density of Dead Ones can be found in the lands of Clan Utan.

The Midlands
The Hegklo of the Midlands are known for an ebullient and hospitable nature and for putting a great deal of importance on hospitality, gift giving and arts, they are also known for being more literate and cunning than most Hegklo. Controlling some of the better shepherding land they are rarely impoverished but often becom embroiled in squabbles among the Midland clans, when it is stable they find they have great difficulty expanding otherwise wedged as they are between the warriors of the Lower Vale and the far more powerful lords of the Upper Vale. When the title of Kurgan came under dispute after the failed reign of Harlann the Drowned Kurgan the Clans of the Midlands were quick to follow various contenders in a grab for power, some tried to take the title themselves and some even collaborated with the Cetvel Empire in their attempts. Those clans that sought the favour of the empire were crushed and extinguished by Clan Dyaus and those lands that were not directly brought under Dyaus control were distributed among those of low station brought up to form new lordly Clans, this move expanded Clan Dyaus power and was an important step in forming the unassailable power base they currently hold.

Lower Vale
The Hegklo of the Lower Vale are warriors first, the warrior culture streak that runs through all Hegklo is strongest here and with good reason, the lands of the Lower Vale are often the worst hit by the force of invaders and define themselves as the shield of the realm. This forging into a shield has taken affect in more than just culture as the majority of the Lower Vale is controlled by just Clan Grinnrel.

The Hegklo of the Lower Vale are the home of the Sqragdugar (Snakeskins), beserker warriors dedicated to fighting external threats to the High Vale, they are so named for their unique fighting style that involves purposefully consuming the venom of certain kind of mountain snake, the effect being that they are rendered immune to pain, they wear boiled leather armour even when steel is available favouring maneuvrability, some are even known to fight barechested. They always carry two stabbing weapons (ideally katars although the blades are difficult to produce with High Vale steel and therefore rare except amongst noble Sqragdugar), one in each hand forsaking the traditional shield of most Hegklo warriors in an attempt to emulate The Dead God as he fought Ut the Great Wolf, some even going so far as to tear out their own ribs during the frenzy of battle. Before each battle they draw their weapons across a venomous and poisonous snakes coating their blades and spears in blood and poison before casting the snakes corpses out for scavengers in honour of the Dead God.

It is commonly accepted amongst the Hegklo of the Lower Vale that to consume a living thing takes it's power and strengthens the one who consumes it, in the distant past this lead to ritual cannibalism however it is now taboo as it is considered the duty of those who dwell in The High Vale to leave out their dead for scavengers so as to distract said scavengers from consuming the echo of the Dead Gods life force.

The Barrowlands
The Barrowlands are so named as the people there still bury their dead and build barrows for them unlike any other Hegklo. The people of the Barrowlands live in the southernmost mouth of the Vale, the most fertile lands and the most open to trade with the wider world, two facts that make the Barrowlanders the richest of all the Hegklo. By legend the Barrowlanders are descended from the lines of a river god worshipping people who dwelt in a region encompassing the High Vale, when they tried to deny the passage of The Dead Gods people it slew the river god, the Barrowlanders are descended from those amongst the river gods followers who chose to to follow The Dead God. All of these factors lead to a general sense of distrust from other Hegklo a common saying when dealing with Barrowlanders is that "Barrowlanders have water for blood" occasionally followed by the retort "but gold for breakfast". Despite their wealth the Barrowlanders have not been met with success when attempting to expand due to various factors one being the absence of a warrior or mystic culture ad the other being that their wealth although great within the High Vale is not sufficient outside the High Vale to bring in any great force of mercenaries, certainly not the large numbers of trained soldiers required to take High Vale castles.

Economy A poor people, due to the nature of the land and trade is uncommon. Trade inside the High Vale is widespread but rarely outside, as they are a clannish and xenophobic people. Wool is the most common export, along with lumber. Stone is high quality but far too expensive to move. Only the wealthiest lords can field horses, bred from those captured from or given by the Cetvel. Cavalry is difficult to deploy in the rocky mountains of the High Vale and tactics tend to favour anti cavalry measures rather than the difficult. The ores that can be mined in the High Vale are of a low quality making steel weapons laborious and difficult to produce and steel armour near impossible, most steel arms and armour in the High Vale have come from without and can be found mostly in the Midlands and Barrowlands and among the lands of the more powerful lords of the Upper Vale who have seized them from elsewhere in the Vale.