Inhabitants and Settlements
by WingofCootHiakrai: As described in the Hollow World Set, the Hiakrai "occupy cliffside caves and caverns" on Hiak-lor, near the nesting places of the giant eagles (hiak) they domesticate. These caves are located in the lower slopes of the western spurs of the central mountain range and its forested foothills, on the southwest portion of Hiak-lor. They are usually between 1,500 and 4,000 feet elevation (relative to the Great Cataract).
However, while the description of Hiakrai as cave dwellers is an accurate generalization -- the great majority of Hiakrai live in caves at least some of the time -- it is not true of all of the population all of the time. There are also five villages near the mouths / cataracts of rivers and streams, downslope from the cave areas. However, while the villages are more or less permanent as locations, very few Hiakrai individuals live their entire lives in them (the main exception being a few clerics, midwives, and other specialists). It is common for young children to be raised in these villages; usually the mother lives there permanently with the children while the father visits at times, spending the rest of his time on hunts and with the eagles in the heights. (Arrangements may of course be different if the mother is a hunter/warrior herself. Also, there are always some hunters/warriors in and around the village. Hiak-lor is relatively safe, but not completely so.) Given the equable climate of Hiak-lor's low elevations, there are also long periods where no shelter is really required; some Hiakrai spend many sleeps in the wilds, away from both the cave areas and the villages.
Hiakrai splinter groups / Galai
The Hiakrai were not always eagle-riders; this culture developed in the Hollow World, between about 2500 and 2000 BC. Their ancestors were semi-nomadic Neolithic hunters who lived in valleys in what is now the Kogolor Dwarflands, and before that, in valleys around the borders of the mountains of Rockhome and its surroundings on the Outer World. This tribe was not originally called Hiakrai (as that name derives from the hiak giant eagle) - they were the Galai; and the tribe still exists under that name in the Neathar lands of northern Iciria.
On Hiak-lor, some of them have returned to the earlier way of life, in the lush valleys east of the mountain spine (especially the Inner Valley); abandoning the eagles and cliffs, they hunt and gather in this extremely productive, almost seasonless environment and fish in the rivers. These are divided into dozens of bands, each of less than 150 individuals; some of these have returned to using the tribal name Galai (others call themselves Hiak-galai, or Galai of Hiak-lor).
Werehawks: The Werehawks occupy one small town (Great Mews, population 1000) and five villages (the largest of which is Pinion Springs, population 600), as well as some homesteads relatively close to the villages, in the valley of the Pinion River in northeast Hiak-lor. Their total population is about 3,500.
In their last generation on the Outer World, during the Silver Purge, the Werehawks became extremely secretive and hypercautious in an attempt to avoid their hunters. While there are no werehunters on Hiak-lor, the Spell of Preservation perpetuates much of this behavior even in an environment where the threat no longer exists. While the Hiakrai would probably consider werehawks to be blessed beings to be emulated rather than monsters to be eradicated, the werehawks are still extremely careful not to reveal their lycanthropic nature - always changing shape under cover, where they could not be observed by a flying eagle-rider. To the eyes of a Hiakrai hunter circling overhead, they are just a few villages - with hawks abundant in the area, yes, but all of Hiak-lor abounds with bird life.
Faeries: A small culture of faeries (the Master Set types, not PC1 fairies), numbering no more than 1,000, inhabits the highest peaks of Hiak-lor and the clouds that perpetually swirl around them. They are generally hidden by the clouds, and are not well known to the Hiakrai or werehawks, though occasional encounters occur.