Cloud Mountains

The Cloud Mountains (Itarakoské: Nicémél Cémtudvane) are a group of mountain ranges, which form the main part of the north-south barrier within the Empire.

Names
While the Tarakasane know these mountains as the Cloud Mountains, the people of Hashuru who live on its south side - and for whom it posed a formidable defence against northern invasions - instead called it Neseten Akhmit, the 'Cloud Walls' or 'Cloud Ramparts'.

Geography
Arising in the region known as the Red Plain, with the Tarakél city of Nagusa on its north, the Cloud Mountains run generally east-west, all the way to the northwest of Lake Condova, where it joins with the Chive Mountains. While some consider the Chive Mountains to be a separate range, others consider it to be simply a branch of the Cloud Mountains; if the latter definition is adopted, the Cloud Mountains then form a northward arc, with its southeastern end meeting the Storm Mountains, forming the narrow Plain of Ibnaya which is the main connection between the north and the land of Ansa in the south.

The area known as the Cloud Mountains is actually a series of interconnected mountain ranges, separated by deep valleys and cloaked in forest. Besides the main branch running west towards Condova, there are also ridges stretching both to its north and south; one such ridge forms the Bramble Mountains, which runs near and parallel to the Meidorién, and forms the 'southern peaks' so often referenced in the poetry of Meiron.

The western portion of the range contains its highest peaks. These include Mount Kusekhta, around 4,252 metres, and Mount Nasuna, which is around 3,835 metres in height. Farther east the range slowly diminishes in height until its eastern terminus, at the juncture with the Storm Mountains; here stand peaks such as Broken Sword Peak, around 2,185 metres in height.

The Mountains also mark the boundary between the watersheds of the Meidorién to its north, and the Ansarién to its south. Given the prevailing winds, a majority of its waters flow south towards the Ansarién; during the southern rainy season of monsoon rains and storms in late spring through summer, the Cloud Mountains form a barrier which creates heavy precipitation into its south flowing rivers, and eventually into the Ansarién. It is this pulse of rain, which may coincide with the coming of snowmelt from the upper reaches of the Ansarién, that swells Condova and Thukdova every year.

Flora and Fauna
The Cloud Mountains and its side ridges are well known in medicinal traditions as a place for procuring herbs and tonics. Poems from the earliest period of Tarakél history speak of the southern mountains as containing 'a hundred cures every hundred paces'.

Some of the herbs which the Cloud Mountains are known for include

Inhabitants
Being a formidable barrier to human movement from either the south or north, the Cloud Mountains are home to many cultures distinct from both the Tarakasane to their north, and the Hashurukasane who live to their south. Besides having distinct cultures and langauges from their plains neighbours, many of them are also linguistically distinct from each other, though such varieties are often overlooked by foreign observers.

Since the early Omé Dynasty, when these mountain folk were said to have descended from their homes to help the Omé overthrow the Guha Dynasty, and had their dominion over the mountains confirmed in return, they have been known poetically as the Nicémkasane, or Cloudfolk. In more common usage, however, they are often known as Chestnut-folk, since the great forests of chestnut provide much of their staple diet.