The existence of each individual Alpazkigz community or tribe centers around the worship of at least one adult alp, such as the High Alp which is pictured. Such alps, in turn, live on at least a part-time basis amongst their communities of worshippers.
The Alperkin is a woodland region defined by a loose confederacy which exists between the nomadic bands of practitioners of the Alpazkigz Religion, which centers around the extensive consumption of the crop known as Noctic-Rabrev, and the worship of the vampiric alps who inhabit the wild shores of northwestern Lake Morovia.
History
Origin
Timeline
Date
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Event
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Significance
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TBA PSSC (04.VII.1661) |
Caputian travelers report tales of mimic vampires. |
Caputian travelers seeking to settle along the northern shores of Lake Morovia report the presence of elf-worshipping mimic vampires in the region. These reports prompt investigations by the Caputian military and New Zimian War League.
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Culture
Overview of Values
Value Type
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Value
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Value Summary
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Strongly Upheld
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Moderately Upheld
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Loosely Upheld
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Not upheld
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Social Values
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Societal Well-Being
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Social Capital
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Economic Values
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Corruption
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Migration
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Science and Technology
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Religious Values
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Security
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Ethical Values and Norms
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Political Culture
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Demography
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Overview of Customs
Custom Type
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Custom
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Custom Summary
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Very Important
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Moderately Important
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Slightly Important
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Not Important
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Architecture
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The Yurt
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Well suited to the nomadic lifestyle of the region's people, yurts are central to Alperkin architecture.
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X
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The Yurt-Story
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Using local hieroglyphics, individual Alperkin families are known to record their histories on the walls of their own yurts. The histories of communities may be recorded on yurts owned by local chieftains or shamans. In addition to such histories, the walls of yurts owned by local shamans are often inscribed with he names of significant patron alps. It is believed that alps may reside in any yurt inscribed with their name. The walls of the residence of the Heavenlet, in the Alpazkigz, tell the entire history of the Alperkin region and its people.
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Alpazkigz
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Described by outsiders as "a tent city within a tent," the Alpazkigz is a massive, completely enclosed city of palatial yurts which, as the home of the Heavenlet, serves as the capital of the region of Alperkin. Like all other Alperkin communities, the Alpazkigz is not a permanent settlement. Rather, the complex is constructed in the period surrounding the Cricket-Rise Festival, and is de-constructed following the Cricket-Fall Festival. In the weeks surrounding the Silence, the entire city is relocated to a different part of the Alperkin region.
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Calendar
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The Liturgical Calendar.
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The Alperkin Calendar is divided into four distinct seasons. The first of these is the season of Winter-to-Spring. The second is Spring-to-Summer. The fourth is Summer-to-Fall. The fourth is Fall-to-Winter. Each of these seasons is defined by its own respective holiday.
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Winter-to-Spring: Cricket Rise Festival
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The holiday which defines the Winter-to-Spring season is the Cricket-Rise Festival, which commemorates the re-emergence of the crickets from their winter-time dormancy. This holiday is celebrated during the first full moon following the year's first notes of the nocturnal cricket song.
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Spring-to-Summer: The Cicada Song Festival
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The Cicada Song Festival coincides with the first new moon following the first occurrence of the cicada song, which takes place near the Summer solstice. This is the most important of the Alperkin festivals, insofar as it marks the beginning of the year's annual migration for most of the region's tribes.
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Summer-to-Fall: The Cricket Fall Festival
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The Cricket Fall Festival takes place during the first full moon following the final occurrence of the cricket song. A dark celebration which commemorates the dead, it is reported that certain Cricket Fall rituals include necromancy and cannibalism.
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Fall-to-Winter: The Silence
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The Silence is a festival which coincides with the winter solstice. A somber festival, which stands in stark contrast to the boisterous and highly sexualized Cicada Song Festival, rituals and ceremonies associated with the Silence are intended to promote introspective meditation.
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Fashion
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Diet
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Noctic-Rabrev Leaves
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Most practitioners of the Alperkin religion are known to consume Noctic-Rabrev leaves such that they are able to maintain the euphoric bloodlust which is associated with Noctic Vampirism, without developing any symptoms of the disease which may eventually lead to death. Some radical practitioners of the religion, however, continue to consume the leaves even after developing lesions and necrosis, often consuming extremely large quantities up until the moment of death.
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Jasmine Rice
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Owing to how well it grows in the swamplands of Lake Morovia, brown rice is the most prominent staple of the Alperkin diet. Among the most popular meals which are eaten by the Alperkin people is a combination of rice and shrimp, seasoned to a greater or lesser extent with Noctic-Rabrev.
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Atteran Purple Algae
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The purple algae which covers large portions of the Lake Morovian wetlands during the Summer can be eaten raw, or dehydrated. The nutritional benefits of this algae, especially when eaten fresh, help to counteract many of the negative symptoms associated with Noctic Vampirism.
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Shrimp
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Abundant in the shallow, briny waters of Lake Morovia, shrimp provides the main source of protein for the inhabitants of the Alperkin region.
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Swamp Shark Soup
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Although they are widely revered by the practitioners of the Alperkin religion, the Atteran River Shark is often hunted for its meat, which is incorporated into a popular local dish known as Swamp Shark Soup. Regarded as being extremely nutritious, this dish involves boiling shark flesh, along with rice, and occasionally shrimp, in water rich in purple algae. Swamp Shark Soup is a common ritual meal, and is frequently consumed during major religious festivals.
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Family Life
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Social Life
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Individual Life
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Religion
Beliefs
Belief Type
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Belief
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Belief Summary
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Strongly Believed
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Moderately Believed
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Weakly Believed
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Not Believed
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Theology
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Alp-Worship
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The Alperkin Religion centers around the worship of the vampiric elves known as alps, who have inhabited the shores of Lake Morovia since before the beginnings of human settlement in the region. Believed to be close relatives of the Vae for which the city of Vaeringheim is named, there are - according to the Alperkin Religion - two types of alps which may be worshiped: High Alps, and Dark Alps.
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High Alps
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High Alps are those alps who are worshiped by the tribes of the Alperkin region. Such alps are often public figures, who interact on a regular basis in human society. The most important of these is an ancient, horned High Alp named Tar.
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Dark Alps
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Dark Alps are those alps which are not widely worshiped by any major Alperkin tribes. Such alps do not tend to interact with humans, save for whatever few rural worshipers they might enjoy, preferring instead to remain as much as possible in the shadows of nature.
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Half-Alps
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The term Half-Alp is used to refer to any individual who is conceived as a result of a sexual relationship between an alp father and a human mother, or who is conceived by two human parents who are infected with Noctic-Vampirism. Half-Alps are revered in Alperkin society, and often serve as political and social leaders within tribal communities.
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Alperkin ("Mimics")
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Colloquially referred to as Mimics, the Alperkin are a regional, religious community of humans and hominids who in order to emulate their alp-gods, engage in the extensive ritual consumption of the leaves of the Noctic-Rabrev.
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Scripture
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Eschatology
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The Tar-Creep
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"The Tar-Creep" refers to the idea that in the end of days, all of Lake Morovia, and perhaps the entire Valley of Haifa, will be flooded by an uninhabitable sea of tar. As evidence of this belief, which is similar to the Bassarid belief in the "Mother of the World Fungus," practitioners point to the average annual increase in the size of the tar-pits for which the northwestern shores of Lake Morovia are widely known.
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X
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Tar Funerals
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On the basis of their belief in the concept of Tar-Creep, practitioners of the Alperkin religion are regarded for their unique funeral customs, which involve submerging the corpses of the dead in sacred tar-pits. Certain individual tar-pits in the Alperkin region, for this reason, are believed to be filled with hundreds to thousands of human corpses.
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Practices
Practice Type
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Practice
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Practice Summary
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Extensively Practiced
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Moderately Practiced
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Loosely Practiced
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Not Practiced
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Sacraments
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The Blood-Share
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The main event of the annual Cricket-Fall Festival, the Blood-Share is a term used to describe a series of bizarre and gruesome rituals in which the vampiric practitioners of the Alperkin religion share blood, saliva, and other bodily fluids with one another, in an effort to induce intense dreams and nighttime visions. This ritual is intended to promote contact with the dead and the gods of the dead.
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The Gorge and The Hunt
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The Gorge refers to the three-week period prior to the beginning of the annual Cicada-Song Festival, in which practitioners of the Alperkin Religion increase their consumption of Noctic-Rabrev leaves by as much as three times. This dietary ritual is a precursor to the Hunt, in which practitioners of the religion hunt, and drink the blood, of non-practitioners. Both the Gorge and the Hunt serve to commemorate the Vengeance of Tar, which was first outlined in reports by the Caputian Reconnaissance Mission of 1661-1662 AN.
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The Blood-Let
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The Blood-Let is a ritual which marks the beginning of the Cricket-Rise Festival, which is defined by practices involving extreme self-mutilation, and blood-letting. Such rituals are regarded as purifying and redeeming, and are intended to prepare practitioners of the religion for the coming year.
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Symbols
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The Chamois
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The Chamois is regarded within the Alperkin Religion, due to its apparent high tolerance for the extremely potent psycho-active properties of the leaves of the Noctic-Rabrev
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X
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The Harpy
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Owing to the influence of the Bassarid Religions of Lake Morovia, the Harpy is revered within the Alperkin religion, on the basis of a myth which holds that the first vampire was born when a harpy mated with a chamois.
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The Goat-Headed Harpy
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The Goat-Headed Harpy is the symbol of the first vampire to inhabit the shores of Lake Morovia, who was born to a harpy mother who mated with a god in the form of a chamois.
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Religious Paraphernalia
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Tarnkappe
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Made from silk produced by the Tarn-Legs, an unusual type of spider which is native to central Keltia, the Tarnkappe is a hat which is believed to imbue its wearer with the power of invisibility. The Tarnkappe, with this in mind, is often worn by practitioners during certain religious festivals such as the Gorge and the Hunt.
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Thyrsus
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The thyrsus in the Alperkin religion is a symbol of devotion to Tar, the most revered of the High Alps.
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Test
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Test
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Government
Practice Type
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Practice
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Practice Summary
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Extensively Practiced
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Moderately Practiced
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Loosely Practiced
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Not Practiced
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Political Organization
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TBA
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TBA
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X
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Political Divisions
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Caputian Alperkin
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Around 72% of the Alperkin region is claimed by the Kingdom of Caputia, which settled the region in 37.66 PSSC in a haphazard and unsuccessful effort to stifle Bassarid influence in Lake Morovia. The people of Caputian-occupied Alperkin, though not explicitly opposed to the foreign presence in the region, remain loyal to the Alpazkigz, and to the Heavenlet. Some, however, reject both the Alpazkigz as well as the Caputian regional authority, in favor of a shadowy group known as the Odiforae, which is believed to have connections to corrupt criminal elements within the Anti-Noctic League
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Independent Alperkin
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Representing around 28% of all Alperkin lands, Independent Alperkin is notably the home of the Alpazkigz, and of the Heavenlet who governs the Alperkin nation.
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Foreign Affairs
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TBA
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TBA
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X
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Law and Order
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TBA
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TBA
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Geography
Climate and Topography of Alperkin
Climate V
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Elevation >
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Sea Level
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Coastal Plains
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High Plains
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Highlands
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Mountains
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Dwa
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-
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X
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X
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Dsd
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-
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X
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X
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