Windcliff Amazons

A.K.A.: "Windcliff Riders"; "Riders of the Steppes"

Distinctive Characteristics: Short height, bright skin, resistance to cold weather and a great natural affinity for equines.

Cultural Traits: A strongly (semi-)nomadic lifestyle spreads this people in several sparsely populated rival clans, typically distinguished amongst themselves by the colour of their hair and horses. They also have their own diverging branch of the Amazon Religion, worshiping Nephele, the Goddess of Horses, as their main deity.

The cold northern Steppes of Windcliff are quite the inhospitable environment to live in. Only the toughest animals survive in the harsh tundra climate, and the same can be said about the stubborn women who insist in making such a place their home.

The barren soil and scarceness of nearly all natural resources aside from grass itself makes the Windcliff Amazons unable to permanently settle down in most of the region, relying a lot on keeping their herds constantly on the move to feed their animals. The main and most important source of food, warmth and muscle power that keeps the clans alive is their livestock, so they will defend it no matter the cost.

Therefore, the sheep, the cattle and the goats from their herds are very precious to them. Though the most precious of all things for any Windcliff Amazon is always her horse, the trusty steed who she bonds with in such a deep level that they gallop through the endless steppes like a single living creature.

For the Windcliff Amazons, horses are sacred creatures, treated just like people and even bearing rights similar to their riders. Even the local religion revolves around equitation, with their main worship being not directed to Hera the All-Mother, but to Nephelle the Goddess of Horses instead.