>>5023794I'm gonna call them the Gemi (g-m would be the root for snow in their language, and e-i means an inhabitant or patient of something). They inhabit the Peqšiebat (q is an alveolar click /!/, by the way) Mountain Range, which splits the continent of Gamatiag (named because explorers first countered Gemi in the north and adopted their name, Gamtagi, for the continent) in half, the eastern side being a very low-lying plain and the western side consisting of a desert and a coastal swamp. The Gemi have little basis for agriculture, and cannot eat plant matter in large quantities, anyway. Some people breed animals for their meat up there, but most will hunt on their own. The Gemi are split into two subgroups, the North Tribes and the South Tribe.
The largely centralized South Peqšiebat Tribe, which has effective trade with the western and eastern neighbors. However, they don't haggle for scraps; they have an effective mining sector, which extracts rare Philosophite (like Philosopher's Stone, and is vital for having a mastery in the Magical Arts, since it's one of the few things aura and other fantastic energies are stored in), silver, gold, iron, copper, aluminum and other minerals. The South Peqšiebat languages are closely related, but cover a huge stretch of mountain chain (about 2000 km/1240 mi). Most of these languages are click languages, with one or two clicks, though a few have as many as 20. Usually, anybody from the east will usually go through the Peqšiebat Mountains, through one of the many low valleys so they don't get frostbite. Gemi merchants will give them certain goods they can use to pass the awful desert that lies to the east, or maybe Philosophite and other rare stuff, for money or occasionally goods that would be prized as artifacts. The South Peqšiebat is ruled by a king, which usually rules for 100 years, since that's the average Gemi lifespan.
