So, something I learned a while back about ant/bee/eusocial insect genetics is that the workers are genetically almost identical to the queen. Like essentially sterile clones.
(I'm not sure I understood correctly but this misunderstanding gave me the idea so bear with me)
You take that concept of producing essentially clones of yourself, and mix it with the location-people blend Anaja suggested. You have a place that is also a person, and that produces mountain folk that are all essentially clones. A Mountain Folk finds a place to lay down, buries itself into a tunnel or cave or wherever, and grows into... let's call it a factory because I don't have a better idea and am sleepy. The factory then produces Mountain Folk nearly identical to the original, and they fulfill certain roles. Mountain Folk produced by a factory are loyal to it and to its continued function, and will act in its defense and for its well being like ants defending their hive.
"But Half, how would you get different kinds of mountain folk?!"
Simple: Autocthon created multiple types of Mountain Folk. Someone mentioned different castes earlier, play into that a bit.
You get two factories to exchange their Folk, and when a new mountain folk type arrives, it is integrated into the factory, and it produces the new kind, and occasionally mixes the kinds together to produce a new one. The two Folk that are in the factory begin to merge, sharing a consciousness. (ETA: Come to think of it the different folk could act like districts within a city, producing their own kind of folk but also their own sort of architecture... you could have one district of purple crystalline humanoids and another of elfin glass artisans, and between you might have a mix of the two a la a color gradient? I need to sleep...)
If this idea sounds similar to a metropolis that's because it's meant to echo it, at least a little bit. It's like an early protoype.
On its own this isn't enough and I know that. But I think it's a start.
