Montagnards

Montagnards are an ethnic group which originates from the Pyrenees Mountains in Europe. They arrived en-masse to Oceanyka in the 19th century under the patronage of the British, which desperately needed European settlers to colonise Australia, and the French, which never really liked them in the first place. Due to their natural acclimatisation to the Pyrenees' rough conditions, they were settled at the Great Dividing Range. It was here that they discovered the ruins of the Do-Kharak, the great Dow empire of old. When word spread back home that a great empire spanning the length of the continent and the depth of the Underdown had once lived there, and that the Dow's ancient descriptions shared many similarities to their own people, the Montagnards began a great migration from Europe into Oceanyka, believing it to be their destined mission to restore the glory that their "ancestors" had once possessed.

In the mid-1960s, about a million Montagnards inhabit the Great Dividing Range, mostly within Bastions, great cities partly reclaimed from the Dow's works and partly of their own construction. The Bastions extend throughout the mountains and below, reaching into the uppermost layer of the Underdown in some cases. Most of these city-states are part of the Confederated Bastions, an important polity owing to its natural defences, extremely developed mining sector and growing industrialisation.

The typical Montagnard man is about 1.5 metres tall, with not much sexual dimorphism. They are renowned for their beard and ample body hair, as well as their developed musculature and thick bones. Montagnard culture stresses tradition and family, but also inventiveness. Most are devout followers of the Catholic Church. To cross a Montagnard is a death sentence, for they are known to hold grudges for a very long time; some of these can grow into family feuds or even inter-city-state conflicts over an issue that occurred decades ago. Finally, and despite living in the most alcoholic continent in Earth by a long margin, Montagnards are known as heavy drinkers who enjoy the company of their kin and strangers alike.