Material Culture
Basic materials: Stone, Wood, Bone+Horn, Skins, Hair+Wool, Clay, and Plant Fibre.
(Looks like I can level up one material or pick a new one. I feel like picking a new one.)
One additional material: Glass
(I think I have to talk about the examples for each material, so I will. This feels a tiny bit unclear as to what exactly to do here.)
- Stone: In the mountains, the stone is easy to work with and everyone has a wide variety of tools. There are a few individuals that have a lot of stoneworking skill and there are some basic stone structures for housing and storage.
- Wood: Most wood items are furniture rather than housing.
- Bone+Horn: These materials are often turned into cooking implements or jewelry-like accessories if the hunt is particularly astounding.
- Skins: Animal skins are turned into suncloaks for day to day travel.
- Hair+Wool: Some comfort clothing and other decor. Weaving becomes a sign of status.
- Clay: Cookware and dishes for eating. Clay is tied to the earth, so burial rites make use with clay coverings and decorated cairns.
- Plant Fibers: Backpacks and hats for sun protection and travelling
- Glass: Jewelry becomes more status-giving, and elevating food onto refined glass instead of base clay becomes the norm.
Architecture
The common architecture of this culture becomes igloo-like stone dwellings, sometimes with dug basements. Travel dwellings are pod-like sleeping bag cocoons made made of animal hides and hung in trees for safety.
Occasions
- Migration of herd animals: When the food animals they largely subsist on go to migrate just before the winter, there is a celebration to send off the animals to be fruitful, so they come back with more numbers to sustain the people. It is taboo to slaughter one of these animals at this time and people fast part of the time in recognition of the reduced food.
- The middle of the rainy season: At this point, some areas of the valley see a lot of flooding, so folk retreat to cave dwellings for a few weeks. A few people go back and forth to ensure the main houses are fine, but the sudden rising water can catch people unawares, and everyone watches out for easily-lost children who can't swim.
(I rolled for these. I wanted numbers so I didn't have to count out of laziness)
Virtue
Cunning is highly valued as nature can be unpredictable and knowing how to get out of a random, desperate situation in the mountains at night is the height of coolness. Many people tell tall-tale stories of increasingly unlikely situations and it is something of a game to outwit a storyteller.
Values
Ecology is highly valued so society knows its place in the larger ecosystem. Animals are not hunted to the last numbers, plants are cultivated, things are kept in balance between prey and predator.
Did I do this right? I just brainstormed and made stuff up. :)