Mt Rante
Mt Rante
This is the largest mountain on Lecbes rising to some 15,360ft in height above sea level. It has a single cone at the peak inside which is a volcanic caldera and it has a circumference of around 60-80 miles. The snow is permanent above 13,000ft and the tree line from the jungle stops at 10,000ft.
The mountain has a series of caves on the NW side just above the tree line and these are known as Caves of Marahani. Little is known about them but since they are above The Yureii Woods they are avoided by the few who are known to walk above the tree line on Mt Rante which is mainly holy men who undertake a journey to get here and absorb the beauty of the island.
The jungle of Lecbes is uniform around the mountain except in the NW where ridges from the mountain cut an area of jungle away from the main jungle and it changed the nature of the jungle to more of woods. The temperatures there are less than half on the island (down around 10-15 degrees at best at full noon) and such that it is an area thought to be haunted and unnatural. This area of woods in the NW is called the Yureii woods.
Caves of Marahani
These are hundreds of little caves and several dozen larger caves amongst the rocks on the mountain.
Notable caves are;
- The Hitona Cave
One of the caves here is a sacred cave, lost to the current common knowledge of all but the tribal shamans who will all travel here at least once in their first 2 years of shaman-hood.
This cave is known as the Hitona cave and its entrance is hidden inside a larger cave known as the Cave of Ryu. The Hitona cave stretches some 90m in length and in the centre of the cave is a stalactite upon which balances an ancient piece of wood and the cave ceiling above is made of pure crystal through which the rays of sun are reflected upon the wood.
Shamans come here to plant a monument of them and their tribe before spending at least 77 days meditating while standing one-legged on the wood. Shamans who are worthy survive this trial and each day water drips from the mountain into a stone bowl (formed out of the rock at the back of the cave) and animals walk up to the cave to give their life as sustenance for the worthy shaman. Unworthy shaman fall down and their bones can be found around the stalactite.
After climbing up a flight of stone steps inside the Cave of Ryu, travellers can see stone monuments to the left and right of the entrance. Each of these monuments, which are reminiscent of gravestones, is actually an artifact built by specific tribes on Lecbes (and a few from other nearby islands) dedicated to the worship of the island's goddess Rante. These monuments show the power and influence of each of these tribes and a shrine in the central front position before the steps to the actual cave starts is the plain Hitana Shrine (Hitana was the name of the high king who ruled the island around 2000years pre-Penjari), and the shrine has a very simple form that is pleasing to the eye.
The Yureii Woods
Legends tell of demons, ghosts, forest creatures, strange beings and goblins haunting the woods, and in the distant past it was one of many places families abandoned the very young and the very old to appease the dark gods.
