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The Halaghi are a race of humans from the western region of the Dragonspire Mountains, known to them as Halagh. They are short, stocky people, often with long shaggy hair (adult males always have beards). The Halaghi have no form of organized religion and do not know anything about any sort of magic, but have developed steam-powered machinery. Steam pumped through a network of piping provides the denizens of Halagh's icy cavern communes with heating, as well as powering the contraptions they utilize in day to day life.
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Society
Halaghi society has no hierarchy, though the caverns are overseen by a council of Buroks-In-Answering. Any resident of Halaghi who is thirty years of age or older can be elected to Burok, and those who are maintain a seat on the council for some months until the next council rotation. The majority of Halaghi are laborers, Be it working on the pipe network, farming lichen, or piloting dirigibles. Those over sixteen years old are considered adults and are expected to work. Elderly can retire at sixty if they choose, but many decline to do so.
For more information on Halaghi occupations, see Halaghi Buroks and Factures.
Technology
Steam is the focus of the Halaghi's technological innovations. Automated machinery produces the clothing, furniture, and food that Halaghi use in daily life. The Halaghi's method of transportation between the mountain peaks is the dirigible, which consists of a large gasbag with a gondola suspended underneath, propelled by an engine. The goatnatcher is the device used by Halaghi to capture mountain goats for food.
Fashion
The fashion of the Halaghi is mostly utilitarian. Mountain goat fur and hide are used for clothing, and with no dye to color them, the colors are limited. Clothes are made heavy to withstand the mountain climate, covering all of a Halaghi's body except the face. Goggles, originally designed to prevent snowblindness, are worn by many Halaghi when venturing outdoors. Pipefitters and dirigible pilots tend to wear bulkier goggles because of the additional occupational hazards in their jobs.
Regarding the Wildlands and Beyond
Halagh has no standing army, and really no need for one. The dwelling caverns of the Halagh are in the higher peaks of a mountain range that sees nigh-constant snowfall. Isolated from the outside world in the snowy precipice, it has been said that during the lighter snowfall in the lower regions, one can just make out the contours of a walled city far to the south. Some dirigible expeditions venture out into the Wildlands and beyond; the few that return tell tales of monstrous green men without hair that tore their fellow explorers apart. At the end of 626 ATA in Fastheld, a Halaghi dirigible crashed at Lightholder Crossroads, creating quite a stir. There has since not been any other contact between the two cultures.
Interactions with Native Flora and Fauna
In the hostile environs of the mountains, the Halagh are accompanied by few native species. The main plantlife on the mountains is lichen, which is farmed in caverns by the Halaghi. The mountain goats that populate the area are used by the Halaghi for food, clothing, and furniture, but they are also sources of food for the carnivorous pardcat. Flocks of tarms congregate on the rocky cliffs, which also contain the burrows of mings. Apelike squatches roam the lower regions of the mountains, but do not attack unless provoked (though it takes little to provoke them). Giant hairy spiders called spindelsteppers have been domesticated by the Halaghi to use as mounts for scaling more vertical terrain.