you mentioned wanting to see andean-style settings where altitude matters more than cardinal directions in fantasy--are there any media recs and/or references you could give for research purposes?
Ooh. Any media? Not really; it's not something I've ever seen before in stories, despite having a ton of potential for some really fun worldbuilding and settings!
As for references, the term for this organization of the world is "verticality" and the economic/cultural organization theoretical model based on it the "vertical archipelago" that emphasizes the distinction in the ecozones of different altitudes, though it's been ten years since I took the Andean Archaeology class where I learned about this so unfortunately I can't actually recall the specific sources.
