Death Moon Barbarians - These reclusive mountain dwelling humans are ruled by Druids who train dire bears as war beasts and awaken trees to guard the forests from intruders.
The men average 5', light brown skin, blue or green colored eyes, wavy black hair, muscular builds and the men grow heavy beards. Housing is thatched huts heated by an open fire, clothing is made from weaving strips of the inner bark of trees and winter outer wear from animal furs, druids and chieftains wear bear headed cloaks. Villages of 50 to 150 people are built high in forested mountain valleys along rivers and a few tribes live on the coast.
At age 12 girls have tattoos started on their lips, hands and arms and by age 15 the tattoos are complete and women are considered old enough for marriage. The tribes find outsider males with tattoos to be very amusing. Foxes, ravens and dolphins are considered bad luck to kill and are often given offerings of food at small shrines at the edges of villages.
They hunt small game and dire boars using dogs and poison tipped spears and arrows, they also hunt hibernating dire bears. If any cubs are found they are taken to the village and kept until spring and a druid performs the rite of renewal which ends with the release of all but one of the cubs several days journey away from the village (the remaining cub is trained as a war beast). Fish and wild plants gathered in the spring and summer round out their diet, coastal tribes also hunt seals and whales.
Second in status to the druids are the sorcerer swordsmith chieftains who do not roam from village to village, they are the intermediaries between the druids and the villagers.
Death Moon Druids are always neutral or neutral evil and the most powerful chieftains are multi-class druid/sorcerer Mystic Theurges.
Strangers are treated with caution and not allowed to stay overnight, because a fair number of fox yokai tricksters and crow headed tengu live in the area as well.
Anyone other than a druid killing a bear or wearing a bearskin is a capital offense, with the criminal being fed to the village warbear at the next full moon.
Their hereditary enemies to the east in the plains below are the Wolf Totem tribesmen who follow the migrating mammoth and elk herds, to the west the Broken Fang gnoll tribe and to the south the dirtmen (farmers from the city-states) who always want to settle closer and closer. Those enemies who make it into the forested valleys encounter ancient awakened trees allied with the druids.
Verger, Larbet, Sparhawk, Sedgemoor, & Selia: Loosely allied city-states of humans (80%) & hobgoblins (20%). The land is temperate grassland with sub-arctic winters with the Death Moon Mountains to the north.
Each city-state is a spartan type polis where all male children and orphans are raised in the city monasteries from the age of 8 to 15. They are taught to read & write both common and goblin, a martial art style favored by the city and local city history. Orphans can stay on to become monks themselves but others upon turning 16 must join the shugo (city guard) or the city army.
Those in the city army work on city-state owned farms, mines, stone quarries or lumber mills 11 months of the year.
For one month each year they serve in the military and then go back to their farm or mine unless called to war or recruited into one of the city's elite military orders .
Elite military orders
Brass Legion (ranger/wizard eldritch knights), Night Watch (shadowdancers), Storm Riders (dire eagle riders)
Each of the five cities competes with the others during its founding day festival, competitions include dire eagle races, martial art battles, foot races, drinking contests, and various other feats of martial prowess & strength.
Resources consist of copper, iron, sheep, cattle, and various grains, wool, lumber & stone. Silver coins are worth double their normal value in the city-states.
Adventurers from one of the city-states have knowledge (local) as a class skill, the feat improved unarmed strike for free and a strong prejudice towards the Death Moon barbarians.