The Stone People are a short and sturdy folk. They are four to five feet tall with 150 to 200 lbs, in a stocky build.
*The men are traditionally bearded, with a braid originally expressed a clan affiliation, but now which temple they are associated with.
*The females are out numbered by males nearly two to one. That has shifted from a nearly five to one ratio from before.
They were born of the stones of the mountains, and are children of the World. They gain their strength from the stones of the World. Before The Truth, they worshiped the spirits of Stone, Soil, and Mountains. They lived in lodges dug into the Earth, where clans (groups of related families) lived together. The Lodge is much like the Norse GreatHouse, one large place where everyone gathered and lived. The few cities were merely several clan lodges linked together by tunnels. The worship of spirits was a haphazard affair where the clan eldest officiated.
Because they bound themselves to the rocks and soil in addition to the world, the Stone People were poor in spirit, fertility, and life. They were bound by traditions that kept them bound to the rocks and soil, instead of the Truth.
The Voice was born into this world. He heard the will of The Truth. The Truth is the Spirit of the World, manifest as the physical planet, one of the great spirits worshiped nominally by Stone People before the revelation. The Truth whispered the truth of how people should live to The Voice. The Voice brought the Truth to the StonePeople. Though made stubborn and misled by the spirits of stones and metals, eventually The StonePeople found The Truth.
They are now a living part of the world, not trying to be one with the Stone, Metals, and Mountains. While the StonePeople draw their strength from the touchable world (Stone, Soil, Metal), they are much more. The StonePeople changed their geologic lodges and traditional ways. They became part of the circle, spent more time above ground... in the light... gathering food. Their homes were in the ground (two level homes, one subterranian level and one surface level).
Eventually they crowded the Mountains and moved to the Hills. Eventually The Truth set them free enough, they they had the strength to leave the Hills and spread into the flat lands. To keep their mountainous strength, they built large stone temples to The Truth. As they were filled with The Truth and prospered, they would explore the lands... looking for a new holy site (site of power or tactical importance).. and build a new central temple and a town grew up around it.
This process continued. The Stone People expanded in number. They expanded their territory, building new temples (and related towns).
As they expanded, they encountered a few sporatic Wild Ones. While looking for Wild Ones, They encountered The Green people. The Green People were at war with the Wild Ones. The Stone People were overjoyed to find a new peoples. And they worshiped an Earth Spirit, akin to The Truth.
The Stone People were better warriors than the Wild Ones. They had been fighting off animals (and those who did not believe in The Truth) while the Green People had only co-existed with animals and had just learned to fight against the Wild Ones. They helped drive the Wild Ones off.
In gratitude, the Green People gave the Stone People the flat grassy spaces between their large forests. They would serve as a buffer between the Green People and the Wild Ones, though they did not tell the Stone People that.
But the Stone People knew. They eventually wanted to have temples in "gatherings" (Green People Cities) near the edges of the Forests. It was, to make the Stone People comfortable when they visited their Green Friends. It was also their payment for stopping Wild One "invasions".
The Green People's magic began to weaken. Eventually they realized the cause: The Temples of The Truth. The Stone People began to force their "friends" in those edge "gatherings" to follow The Truth. It was a matter of time before they would simply invade.
The time came. Forests burned. The Green People retreated to other forests a ways away from their homes and the Stone People. The Stone Folk followed slowly. The Green and Wild People began an alliance. Together they might stop the avalanche of Stone People.