Kiidjin

The Kiidjin (forest people) were a settled, mountain dwelling people of the Great Isle of Region D to the north of the Kadano Complex in the Early Bronze Age.

Description
The Japonic speaking mountain dwellers live in the mountainous evergreen forests in the northern half of the island which the Kadano Complex inhabit the south of. They live in very small mostly permanent villages which usually only consist of 2-5 longhouses in which a family will live and a central bonfire. Usually each village only consisted of one or two families. Villages were usually in clusters with 5-15 in a 20 square mile area then up to 100 miles between clusters. The village clusters or tribes were usually loyal to one clan in the area which the the whole cluster is most like descended from. The clusters trade with one another and occasionally fight but in more of a blood feud style than an all out war style. They make extensive use of obsidian in the area for tools and weapons. Very skilled bow makers and hunters, they use dogs to help them hunt. When they are first introduced to the concept of domesticating animals for food by Kadano traders they find it to be extremely dishonorable and reject it. It is not until the traders make sustained contact with the tribes that they accept agriculture and begin using water buffalo as a work animal. They still reject the idea of domesticating animals for food on a moral and religious basis. Their religion is complicated and not consistent between the different tribes. It is based on sacred places in the area, ancestor worship, and strange mythological stories of the founding of the tribe by godlike heroes from which the tribe is descended. An interesting aspect of the mountain dweller religion is their use of entheogens as rites of passage. Shamans would guide adolescent boys through rituals where they would drink large amounts of alcohol or sacred brews of henbane. They would then be sent into the wilderness to create a carving or painting of their journey to share the knowledge with ancestors past and present. Also use opium poppies and alcohol as medicine. They make an alcoholic beverage from fermented rice, pomegranate, grapes, mint, and honey which is traded with the Kadano who begin producing their own verities. They also export obsidian, bows, and rare gems from the mountains.