>>5831577>Any relevant information about pre-war Gilicia that Bonetto would know that might help with the diplomatic approach, besides their knives? Stereotypes/traits of the region and its inhabitants, anything else they're known for in Vitelia etc.Gilicia is a rather rural province, save for a few clusters of cities in its south, the most populous of which that holds over 20% of the province's population is centered around the provincial capital of Fons Lacrimea, the Well of Tears- which is near a group of moutains that spews forth enough groundwater to source a lake and a river beyond, its name coming from a regional folk tale, where Gilicia's three patron saints calmed a furious volcano- though there are many variations on this tale, and the Fons Lacrimea area, while having some vulcanism, has never been recorded as having an eruption, a caldera topping the biggest mountain being the sole indication of an ancient eruption.
Gilicians are exclusively hillmen as well, and notably, edge out Mountainfolk wherever they may be, because Gilicians are well known for being extremely religious, and what some might consider fanaticism is normal in Gilicia- so their support for the Cathedra has traditionally been far stronger than their support for any empire or kingdom. Anywhere else in Vitelia they're seen as a kooky, as their superstitions and devotion are on average a level higher than most, and they don't like leaving their home, so they're extra wary anywhere else- this caution and anxiety ending up being what most think Gilicians behave like all the time, which isn't particularly true if one lives amongst them in their own lands.
As mentioned before, their knives notably don't have a point to them, and any tool not meant to be a weapon has its point filed off or bent. Gilicians take conflict very seriously, and while they're normally adverse to fighting, if they are either sufficiently provoked or believe they have no other choice, they don't back down unless a side either cannot fight any more, or flees. Lying face down on the ground is the usual posture of defeat- averting your eyes from an enemy is taken as an implicit gesture of giving up.
Besides their oddities, while the Gilician province doesn't have the agricultural output of Lindiva, it isn't a poor province rather than a sparsely populated one, as outside of its cluster of cities, its people usually make their livings ranching, hunting and trapping, logging, or near the mountains, digging into the rock for silver and copper amongst other things. There's little in the way of industry even within the larger settlements, as cottage artisans make the majority of just about anything- even if the exports from extraction are often funded by interior companies.
In short, they're a difficult and reclusive people, most well regarded for being stalwart and sturdy, a good source of scouts and rangers. They also made up a large proportion of troops deployed near their home territory.
