Demonym: Oursteads (plu.) Ourstead (sing.)

Location: Split Mountains / Central-Eastern Atalav

Approximate population and pop. trends:

The Main settlement is a Mid-sized community of around 600 inhabitants, though many often come and go between nearby homesteads and other smaller villages. Surrounding areas and towns will have between 100-300 individuals before they begin to splinter off once more.

Architectural style:

The harsh landscape of their mountains has lead to most minodae structures being made of primarily stone exteriors with wood furnishings. Wool and furs are often commodities that are prized in efforts to maintain warmth and add some level of comfort to some of the rougher areas, but they are not by any means needed within the minodae lifestyle. Dried and woven grasses work just as well both for comfort and for decorations. Textiles, hanging beads and windchimes and carved and painted wood sculptures are examples of furnishings and added character to buildings and homes.

Conflict level/rate of danger:

5/10
- Natural Disasters: Rockslides and Tremors are not uncommon, though most structures are built to withstand them.
- Low inside societal conflict level; Minodae are naturally peaceful individuals, however conflicts between them, though few and far between, can be dangerous.
- Political landscape: Minodae are not ones for structured politics. Everyone works together and disagreements are often handled directly and quickly.
- Outside hostility/not travel friendly; While tight knit and friendly amongst themselves, Minodae are naturally cautions of outsiders, and can be aggressive when they feel threatened. They have however been known to take in and help lost individuals when in need.
- Many areas of the mountains are considered uninhabitable without intervention from the settling Minodae.

Most common jobs:

Farmers - Crops and Harvests are one of the foundations of Minodae society.
Builders - Keeping their largely stone structures maintained with the ever-present risks of collapse and rockslides.
Shepherds - Tending to wool-producing animals to keep them fed and safe while also getting resources for their homes.
Weavers, Carvers, artisans - Minodae work with a purpose, and art and expression keeps a culture thriving. From textiles to baskets, to wooden sculptures and painted pottery.

Current status

Ourstead and the large majority of the Split Mountains is inhabited solely by minodae. Local faunids are aware of the presence of minodae but do not interact with them. Minodae are secretive and cautious of outsiders. Female individuals ushering their calves out of view of prying cervine eyes, while bulls will charge and maim in response to a single wrong step.

Every year the population grows, some Coming of Age Festivals consisting of two to three dozen individuals. This inevitably has led to some minodae wandering farther than their grand-sires would approve of and never returning. For some minodae find the comfortable lifestyle of the cervine Faunid to be preferable. All information regarding Ourstead has come from these individuals who choose to tell their story.

Infamy and Reputation

Yearly Harvest Festival

The most important festival of the year, many minodae make the trip back to the Main Settlement to celebrate the middle of the Harvest season. Most individuals bring their own crops or produced goods to share and trade among the community. As this is an annual tradition, it has become the main way the Minodae track theirs years and age. Everyone celebrates their birth and life during the Harvest Festival. Without the success of the harvest, none would be alive to see the next one.

Older individuals will speak upon the success of their community and how others have assisted in what ways. It is a large celebration of the species as a family and community. Thanks is given to The Creator (Herne) for another thriving year and offerings are ceremoniously gifted to bless the next year.

Coming of Age Festival

Right before the start of the the growing season, young adult minodae are sent off to find their place within the mountains. These individuals will either settle in another town to fill up any desired niches or find a spot of land where crops cannot grow and to work it into life, in order to give back to their mountain home. Occasionally, this will result in "child-villages". The new communities considered as offspring to Ourstead.

The young minodae are given provisions and keepsakes of their homes to keep their families and cultural life thriving. Nothing is as important to these newly blossoming minodae as keeping their history and species alive and strong.

History and mythos

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Religious Practices

The story of Herne and the creation of Faunids varies within the Ourstead community compared to that in Hernlak. More research is required.