Crescent Mountains and the White Plateau

A never ending winter, the plateau is defined by the white, blue, and silver tones of ice. The White Plateau is in the far northwest of the Isles where creatures do not travel, for nothing grows here and the harsh cold winds never cease. Beneath snow is but more white, the ground a rough pumice-like stone drained of all color. The outer edge, a harsh cliff to the ocean beneath, makes access to the waters below impossible. The mountains themselves have scant plant life to survive on, covered mostly in deadly glaciers and a snow bank covering the western slopes due to the winds. The eastern slopes of the mountains have some richness still to them, protected by the evergreens from the Fern Leaf Forest. What little plant life remains grows under patches of snow until reaching the edge of the glaciers.

The creatures who live in the Plateau are nearly all one of the Banished. Many live as close as possible to the edge, along the border watched by guards separating them from Luna Valley and the south of the Isles. Here the Banished have built a walled home for their community to protect from the harsh winds and sometimes even harsher creatures, for some are Banished for crimes that make them undesirable even for survival in such a desolate place. Many who reside in the walled encampments hope to work towards reentry to Greater Mycorzha and an easier life once again, but some choose to stay having found themselves a new life here. Stranger still are those who choose to live in the mountains and plateau simply because they find things a little easier when left to themselves, and it is one of the few places on the Isles that will guarantee you will not be disturbed by pesky things like neighbors or "making friends".

Survival here unlike the rest of the Isles depends on daily hard and often intense work. Without rich soil to grow on or warm weather safe from frost any food here either comes through trade on the Black Market, difficult foraging treks to the mountain range for minimal plant life, or from the painstakingly built and cared for greenhouses in the Banished encampments. If you don't work, you don't eat, plain as that.

Dialect

Rough and fast-paced speech blends with the many different accents, slang, and grammar from the Banished who come from all over the Isles. Words often twisting together sound almost like slurred speech. Insults are a friendly greeting, and coded phrases are used to discuss things like the Black Market or other questionable behaviors.

Spirituality

The Banished are placed here at the judgement of the Speakers of the Isles at the Cove City Temple. After first trying volunteer service or other methods of teaching one becomes Banished only when the Speakers determine one has failed to uphold community. As such the judgement of the Isles is ever present here, both cursed and revered as a potential savior from the desolate wastes.

Art

Crude depictions of plants that are now nothing but a memory spatter various tools and surfaces in no particular order or fashion. Occasionally vulgar drawings are scratched into the surfaces of snow or buildings and then quickly scratched out leaving scuffs along surfaces looking worn.

Holidays

With no way to mark the seasons here the 4 holidays are still celebrated, but haphazardly and sometimes many times a year. The Banished may declare a particularly good plant harvest in the greenhouse cause for a Lumeanar feast, while a lucky acquirement of resources might justify that day as Arda and in need of a bonfire to warm the soul.

Common Activities and Interests

Work defines life here from sun up to sun down and there is little time for hobbies. The Banished get by singing songs or playing short simple games made with random objects like rocks.