Ahasa is still traditionally called “The Peak of the Sky” in government documents, and it’s not hard to see why. This ancient, hard-to-reach mountaintop nation is known for both its height and beauty- but also its secretive chilliness towards outsiders, its seemingly violent culture, and a history of bloodshed.

Outsiders: It’s not that Ahasa will not adopt outsiders. It’s simply that you essentially have to be adopted into an Ahasan clan, or at least sponsored by one, in order to be trusted. If you’re unwilling to be adopted into a clan, well then, you clearly aren’t trustworthy, "ground-walker". Recently, among certain younger Ahasans, there has been a movement to allow more outsiders into the country and to set up their own families, an idea that is subject to great debate. However, even the younger Ahasans will probably attack someone who doesn’t adapt to Ahasan lifestyles upon entering their borders.

Medicine: Ahasa has groves of extremely rare medicinal herbs. As of the current moment, a single clan made up mostly of the Togetic and Chansey lines controls those herbs and mushrooms. However, the value of these herbs leads to a constant debate: should they be allowed to sell them? When is the severity of a wound enough to risk the drop in supply? Should outsiders even know these herbs exist? As of the current moment, in fact, the answer to that last question is “no”— adoptive Ahasans are the closest things to outsiders who are allowed to know. But in this day and age, how long will that last?

Violence: This one tends to be more controversial when placing an Ahasan outside of Ahasa or an outsider in Ahasa. Ahasans solve problems by fighting that most people just... don't. They're known for hunting in "uncivilized" ways, and scars are just seen as a sign of age. Minor arguments are settled by fights that often look extremely violent to outsiders, but are essentially playfighting to Ahasa. The result only brings a lot more conflict between Ahasans and outsiders than is necessary.

Dragon Types: Here's the odd thing: Ahasans trust ghosts more than most countries. After all, ghosts can contain wisdom of the past wars, and are pretty survivable in general. Dragons, on the other hand— you can't trust dragons. Dragons are almost always associated in Ahasa with danger and death. Killing a feral dragon is seen as a badge of honor in some cases, but mostly, they're terrifying beasts that have to be kept out of the city. Even dragons who are model citizens are likely to end up being shunned without either living grandparents to back them up or many years of proving that no, they aren't going to kill the entire city. If you're a "land-walker" and a dragon... well. Good luck with that... Altaria is the exception to this general rule of dragons being seen as feral monsters. Actually, Altaria tend to be highly respected for their strong dragon-fighting abilities and their kind natures.

Ahasa sits at the top of a tall mountain range, in an area where oxygen is thinner and paths are treacherous. The territory is covered in old, stone buildings, often built halfway into the mountains themselves, and clan compounds are often built within a series of tunnels beneath the rock. The nation is linked together by long bridges- often almost treacherously narrow. Around the mountains, there are clear streams and steep waterfalls. Within them, rare herbs and mushrooms are suspected to grow. None of the nation is far below halfway down the mountainsides, and where the nation ends, there are horrifying cliff faces and dangerous staircases, maze-like entrapments for any outsider who tries to enter the nation without help from an Ahasan. Around the mountains, there are scar marks from long-ago battles.

There is a reason Ahasa is so unforgiving, however. The high-up nation was created so high to avoid the particularly vicious ferals of the area. The area is plagued by feral dragon-types and psuedo-legendaries- who, luckily, cannot adapt like slightly more civilized Pokemon can to a lack of oxygen as well, and cannot get past the high defenses the nation has slowly built. In addition, most of the Ahasan people were driven to the mountaintops by a long-ago war against "ground-walkers", and purposefully built their nations and cities to confound people who aren't used to living there.

The interior of the caves that many Ahasan buildings secretly are tend to be much easier to breathe in than the mostly above cloud-level Ahasan streets. Some of the most important Pokemon in Ahasa are those with weather-related abilities, in fact, that help maintain this state. That being said, for non-Ahasans, it's still wise to bring a few slip seeds as though one was traveling underwater, as the oxygen level still tends to give outsiders bad headaches. So does the height, for that matter- the amount of walking over narrow bridges for a long distance over unforgiving heights means that Pokemon who hate heights need not show.

Ahasa is largely populated by smaller Pokemon, with Pokemon larger than, say, Lucario tending to be uncommon. Larger Pokemon all almost exclusively have to have the power of flight to survive in Ahasa, as larger Pokemon would be otherwise trapped within their own clan compounds otherwise- large Pokemon can't easily cross the bridges of Ahasa. That's why they're built that way. Ahasans tend to grow somewhat smaller and leaner than their "land-walker" counterparts, and are almost all born with a higher tolerance for oxygen deprivation. That being said, Ahasans tend to get pretty sick when they climb down the mountains for the first few times, due to being completely unused to the higher oxygen levels and higher air pressure.

As far as type distributions go, Ahasa tends to have a lot of flying and normal types, along with several steel-types and a lot of fairy types. Pokemon of any type, of course, are possible. Outsiders are often surprised to find that Ahasans are largely not traditional mountain Pokemon, though- in fact, rock-types are extremely rare. This is related to Ahasan history, since Ahasans were driven to the tops of the mountains first by another nation that once existed at the bases, and then by the dragons that threatened them once they were there. Dragon-types are also rare, mostly due to their mistreatment within Ahasa. However, Altaria is the exception to this.

Ahasa is a culture shaped by its history. The original families of Ahasa were driven to the mountains in order to protect themselves from a prideful and, in Ahasan lore, wicked clan of "land-walkers", all of whom were larger and stronger than the small original Ahasans. Fleeing to the mountains, the Ahasans used the natural treachery of the mountain range to fend off their attackers. Higher and higher they climbed, picking off their attackers as they went. When they reached midway, however, the dragons attacked. Desperate, the Ahasans climbed both through the mountains and ever higher, until they reached a sheer cliff. The flying Ahasans lent the others their wings and lifted them to a defensible position, from where they managed to beat back their remaining attackers. Then, the founder of Ahasa, a brave Sylveon, sacrificed themselves by stealing an enemy's z-crystal to open caverns, destroying themselves and the crystal in the process. The Ahasans would live. They could not go back down the mountain, however. The ground-lands were dangerous still, and the Pokemon who lived there untrustworthy. Instead, they resolved to take the tops of the mountain range as their home, claiming the Peak of the Sky for themselves.

As a result of Ahasa's origins, Ahasa remains an insular community to this day, only accepting outsiders that have been directly adopted into their secrets. They'll gladly adopt outsiders, but only if they accept that, from that day on, they must be Ahasan, and follow Ahasan tradition. Ahasa remains a harsh land, and as such, tradition and careful action is considered highly important. Breaking tradition can end lives in their mountain homes. As such, Ahasa is also highly traditional, to the point that it rarely uses the item technology that outsiders have invented. After all, if nothing else, Ahasa is defensible. No one, in the entire history of Ahasa, has ever managed to successfully invade, and it will stay that way if the Ahasans can help it.

Ahasan life revolves around clan, battle, and survival. One's first duty is to their "Greater Clan", or, in other words, the entirety of Ahasa. It's rare, however, that something comes up that requires on to act on one's duty to the "Greater Clan". Instead, a Pokemon's duty is first to their clan. A clan is not entirely related to each other, and tends to be made up of two or three extended families. The clans often get mixed up as well, as clans will adopt children from each other, or even adults, fluidly. Any true Ahasan has a clan, though, and each clan has a role in making sure their members stay in line. The leaders of any given clan tend to be the oldest female still of fighting age and her chosen advisors, though clans have slight leeway to decide how they are lead on their own. The most notable clans are the clan in charge of the healing caverns, the clan in charge of making sure inside the caverns and homes of Ahasa remain in decent living conditions, and the clan in charge of handling what little agriculture can be done on the mountains.

Ahasans tend to do a lot of battling, and are often considered "war-like" by outsiders. Ahasans would say it is simply being prepared. Most arguments are solved by fighting it out, albeit in a somewhat ritualistic manner. The offended gets the first attack, then the next person gets the next attack, etc. Weaponry is seen as a sign of dishonor in fights such as this. Play-fighting is also extremely common, and attacking each other is seen as a sign of greeting like a handshake, as well as a sign of respect. A single attack is seen as "I see you are strong enough to take this and respect your strength". Ahasans often have to train themselves out of this habit if they decide to move down the mountain. Warriors are given great respect and importance indeed. Almost all clans have warriors of their own, and their leaders tend to be warriors themselves. This is both due to the difficulty of agriculture in the mountains (and therefore the requirement that food be hunted down) and the constant threat of the powerful ferals in the area. Scars are seen on all Ahasans as a sign someone has grown older. Someone without any scars, to an Ahasan, is still an infant.

However, above all the ritual, there is one last cultural rule of Ahasa: survival before all. If circumstances suggest danger, Ahasans close rank around each other and force each other to survive. It's considered the first duty of every Ahasan to close ranks and live in the face of disaster, so that Ahasa will survive for centuries to come.

Ahasa is generally governed by clan, with each clan self-governing from within. Each clan, as a result, tends to have slightly different rules, typically befitting of the role their clan plays. (For example, a clan that does a lot of bridge-building tends to have different rules than a clan that is exclusively made of hunters.) Clans tend to decide among themselves for important decisions, normally en masse, occasionally through battle. When decisions effect the entire "Greater Clan", the clan leaders gather among themselves to make a decision before offering any dissenters the opportunity to prove their point by fighting them. If the clan heads lose, it normal means there's such a large number of dissenters or such a vehement disagreement to the idea that it would have never worked, and it's back to the drawing board. In an emergency, however, the head of the clan most capable of dealing with the emergency gets executive power.

Laws in Ahasa tend to be unforgiving. Most felonies have a death sentence, and many have the penalty of being thrown from their clan- just as much a death sentence. Being clanless makes a Pokemon untrustworthy in Ahasan eyes, after all, and one is forced to court a new clan or risk misstepping and having no clan to back you, no access to Ahasan medicines or secrets or laws, and only basic care- if you're lucky.

Ahasa is a very, very recent member of the MNSP. However, as it currently stands, the Ahasan ambassador is required to be a strong warrior in order to get through the appointment process, which requires each clan head to agree on their worth as a representative. They cannot also be a clan head, as letting a clan head go that far from Ahasa is considered to tactically dangerous.

None so far!