The lowest of Ektau's mountain ranges, the Mantle Peaks are also the most hospitable to habitation. The high mountain valleys are greatly inferior to the rich lowlands, but they still provide crops enough to sustain a large population of goblinoid tribes, and what farming and mountain pasturage doesn't provide, raiding does. Orcs dwell in the higher reaches of the peaks, while bugbear tribes skulk around the hills in company with goblin raider bands. The Xianese army is constantly busy in the peaks, putting down raiding tribes in unnumbered small skirmishes before- or after- they can plunder the prosperous villages in the lowlands.
The army regularly makes noises about wiping out all the goblins in the peaks, but the Mandarins of Xian have never looked with much favor on the enterprise. It would require an enormous expenditure of blood to root all the tribes out of their holes and heights. By the time the work was done, the western tribes of the Godbarrows would be able to roll east against only token resistance. For the present, the best solution is agreed to be one of containment, fending off the goblin tribes when they grow too bold and sending adventurers to strike against deeper, more inaccessible bands.
A few small tribal groups of humans can occasionally be found in the Mantle Peak hill-country. Some are the remnants of villages that have been wiped out by goblin raiders, and others are descendants of hillfolk who've taken shelter there since shortly after the arrival of the refugee fleet. The bugbear tribes are a constant danger to these hardy survivors, and most tribes disintegrate within a generation or two under the strain of such competition. A very few have the magical power or martial prowess sufficient to survive their rough neighbors, however, and the skill of hillman rangers and savage warriors is proverbial.