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Marrying A Monster (The Jaiya Series, #1)
“Skymarket, as the name implies was originally a trading post founded by a group of valley dwellers, to barter with the inhabitants of Mount Snarl. The cinderblock houses are far from picturesque, and the shrine to the Mercantile Guardian Spirit is of limited historical interest. The views of Capital Valley, though picturesque, are not very different from those available in Summertown. | The real interest still lies in its bazaar, which features most of the goods produced on Mount Snarl, including butter, honey, cheese, kefir, beer, mead and various textiles. There is also illicit trafficking of Stayout’s ergot-dust; due to this and to the relatively large amount of money flowing through Skymarket, the town has a higher crime rate than the other towns on Mount Snarl. | Tourists are generally considered to be off-limits by the criminal elements of the town. This is the only town on the mountain with both a fully developed septic system and reliable, legitimate electricity.”
“Only the inhabitants call The Town by its correct name. Due to local feuds, everyone else on the mountain calls it Goatsfart. As the nickname implies, the town relies primarily on its herds of goats that graze on the upper slopes under supervision, although there is also some farming in the area. | Because the villagers are descended from a valley tribe, their wool textiles show unusual patterns that combine elements of both their ancestral valley culture and the more typical Mount Snarl aesthetics. | Their houses are also unusual: they are dome-shaped with a chimney in the center, and made of cut stones laid without mortar. The Town is unusual in preferring kefir (fermented goat’s milk) to beer or mead. Electricity is uncommon, usually pirated, and indoor plumbing is not available.”
“Barleyfields is a farming community, but after a fashion that would surprise valley dwellers. The farmers’ homes and storehouses are all clustered together in town, but their terraced fields are on the slopes above and below the town proper. | The town is friendly to tourists, with handsomely decorated stone houses, picturesque views, and a lively business in barley-derived beer, but the difficulty in working one’s own fields without trespassing on anyone else’s tends to lead to internal feuds and sometimes external ones. | The hostility towards The Town supposedly started with goatherds failing to keep their animals out of the Barleyfields crops. Barleyfields has legal but sporadic access to electricity, often interrupted by avalanches, but only a primitive sceptic system.”
“Stayout, as the name implies, is wary of outsiders. As in Barleyfields, the locals are primarily farmers of barley, with some secondary crops and supplementary animal husbandry. | The preference is for barley infected with the ergot fungus; the locals harvest it and distill it into a powerful hallucinogen. This may only be legally consumed by residents of the town, but there is an illegal trade in ergot-dust which extends all the way down to Rivertown. | Paradoxically, the town is also noted for its religious conservatism. As in The Town, electricity is rare, usually pirated, and modern plumbing is unknown.”
“Thundermouth, like Mount Snarl itself, takes its name from the weird sound the wind makes when it blows through the caves and rocks at the summit. The second largest town, and second most developed septic system on the mountain, Thundermouth includes beekeepers, goatherds, dairymen, and farmers. | The town is noted for its mead (an unusual form of alcohol in the Blue Smoke Mountains), its distinctive blue cheeses and textiles made of soft, silky wool. It has the oldest school on the mountain, and an impressive shrine to the mountain’s guardian spirit.”
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