Balur Mountains

The Balur Mountains - aka the Balurs or The Balur Mountain Range

These Mountains form a natural barrier that sequesters the harsh plains of Xulamet from the rest of the Empire and these cold peaks and highlands further insulate from the unnatural heat of the Venztenquin Jungle to the East and the Plains of Heat to the west. The climate of the Balurs varies drastically throughout its full length, mostly due to its diverse elevations. Many of the peaks in the range are dormant or dead volcanoes, although their volatile activity in the distant past gave Balurs one of its names as 'The Jaws of Obsidian'.

Running across the middle of the Empire, the Balur Mountains are home to some of the richest mineral veins in all of the Empire. Most attempts at mining are plagued by evil giants and their kin, who consider the Balur to be an ancestral homeland, sacred to their kind. Ruins of giant-sized tombs and long fallen palaces bear testament to this theory, as does the profusion of ancient creatures and dire beasts.

It is only the truly brave, stupid, knowledgeable or unlucky who venture off the trails through these mountains as the risks rise every mile away from what can loosely be called the civilisation of the trails. It is well known that a family of Dragons of unmatched age and ferocity doze somewhere beneath the Balurs guarding many a trove of ancient treasure. The dread beasts haven't been seen (not reported and lived to tell the tale) for a century or more (if they still live) but if mighty magic once more engulfs the region then they are certain to stir once more.

There were several passes in days gone by that enabled reasonably efficient passage between Palmirna in the West and Castle Montfychet in the East but almost all of these are destroyed or lost now. The last low pass going east to west was lost in 778wk when the great quake of 78 happened which caused huge shifts in the area covering the paths. There are 2 high passes which allow passage but at a slow rate although if you'd dare travel the high passes you'd likely make it to your destination.

There is the Nord pass which goes north from Castle Montfychet to the city of Bareryat near Khatty Pass and this is a middle elevation pass, passable almost every year unless nature has other plans.

There is a last middle pass the Sud Pass which enables passage to Lake Fajr and the fertile Antolle Valley area deep in the southern Balur Mountains.

Specific Mountains within the Mountain Ranges

Blyz Mtn

This is a smouldering volcano, with fiery red lava that seeps out of lava domes at the bottom of the caldera, and at various lava tubes around the mountain. Huge amounts of toxic sulphurous gases and heat exist in pockets on the mountain.

Bryn Pinnacle

This mountain and Bryn Vale which opens up north of it is the site of a battle between dwarves of Bryn and the giants to the east, long ago. Bryn and the dwarves he led are buried in a hidden crypt somewhere within the mountain that bears his name, but none have found even a clue of its existence in centuries. Many still venture here every few years in search of Bryn's Golden Axe, which has grown mythical in proportion, but none can find anything other than death here.

Cyhoth Mtn

In the Balur Mountains, atop the nearest peak west of the Three Witches is a place known for the death of ancients and which is sometimes called 'Dragons Dirge'. Now for some unknown reason, according to legend many aged and ailing dragons come here to die and they typically perish in a suicidal dive onto the sharp pinnacle. Their bones litter the utmost slopes. Up there among their skeletal remains may lay the treasures they once bore: even loose gems and coins once glued to dragon bellies by means of ancient dragon-hide oils and ointments. The Dirge's almost vertical lower faces are treacherous and crumbling, and the mountain is almost impossible to climb, so most of the treasure remains unclaimed. The mountain rises to 12,888ft and then at the top rises a lone spire some 100ft at the base which rises 1,112 to end in a sharp spire with a shear outer-face.

Flagrant Peak

This is a tepui, a solid magma plug left over from a long dead volcano, with a flat top. Its steep flanks and unassailable appearance have made it the home of the gods. It is about 10,000ft high and has trees growing at the top.

Screaming Rocks

This area of rocks high atop a 5,000ft mtn has a large number of dome (puss boil) shaped rocks protruding from the earth, although they are natural parts of the mtn. The tribes who inhabited the area many years ago believed that ghost fires flickered at the top of the domes. In particular they heard unexplained creaking and groaning, which some learned people attribute to the rock's night-time contraction after being heated by the sun during the day. The screaming can be heard for miles on a clear and still night. The myriad of legends associated with this mountain are: It's revered by native tribes as a holy portal to other worlds, anyone spending the night on the rock becomes invisible, a priest fled to the rock pursued by native tribes, disappeared, and returned to tell a mystic tale of falling into a cavern and being swallowed by the rock, encountering many spirits in the tunnels, eventually to be spit out two days later, haunted by spirits of warriors of a now-extinct tribe who were slaughtered at Enchanted Rock by a rival tribe, haunted by a local princess who threw herself off the rock after witnessing the slaughter of her people, alleged sacrifices at the rock by many tribes, believed to be a lost silver mine, or a lost legendary goldmine, bad fortune and death will befall anyone who climbs the rock with bad intent, footprint indentations on the rock of a local chief who sacrificed his daughter for power and is now condemned to walk the Rock forever, woman's screams at night are of an old woman who took refuge on the Rock after escaping a kidnapping by drug addled locals bent on killing her.