The Mountains of Misery

The Montes Infelices ("Mountains of Misery") within Darkon itself are one of the land's six regions, that in particular of south eastern and south central Darkon with Sidnar and Delagia found just beyond its northern limit and Corvia found just within its northwestern limit. The surrounding regions are the Forest of Shadows to the west, the Boglands to the northwest, and the Vale of Tears to the north, and the Mistlands to the northeast and east. The region passed into the control of Beryl Silvertress, based in Corvia, during the absence of Azalin Rex.

The Montes Infelices, however, have long shaped life across the northeastern Core. Being rugged and trackless, they stood as a nigh impenetrable barrier dividing eastern Darkon from the rest of the eastern Core. Lying at their heart, was the utterly inhospitable and scoured land of Arak. Their claws reach to this day into Tepest. A loner among these mountains has claimed Keening for itself. Their foothills constitute a jagged, broken badland that stretches far west across Darkon. The southern foothills, the Forgotten Hills, tower over the plains of Nova Vaasa. The Vuchar River in Darkon and the Sydligdnar in Nova Vaasa are their most celebrated children.

Two mountains, Mount Nirka to the northwest and Mount Nyid to the southest, stand at heart of the Montes Infelices, anchoring the rest. The pair are immense, sprawling volcanoes, which in 750 BC, at the very moment of the Requiem, rumbled back to life from presumed extinction. They used to stand side by side, but they appear to have grown apart. Mount Nirka soars to a height of 7960 ft, easily surpassing Mount Baratak. Mount Nyid soars to 9530 ft, only Bluetspur's Mount Grysl and Mount Makab rivalling it for the title of the highest peak in the Land of Mists. But of course Bluetspur and its mountains vanished in 740 BC as part of the Great Upheaval. The lesser peaks and then the foothills radiate out from Mounts Nirka and Nyid.

Mount Nyid is the source of the Dnar River. Mount Nirka is the source of the Amnis Lacrimarum ("River of Tears"), which traverses Keening before joining the Corvus River well to the west in Darkon. The foothills to its northeast are the source of the Khourx River and the Foaming River. The foothills to the west are a source of the Corvus River. And the Forgotten Hills, the foothills to the south, are the Source of the Trished River. The Dnar and the Trished are sources of the Sydligdnar and the others are sources of the Vuchar River.

The Montes Infelices were born with the land of Arak. The Forgotten Hills backed by Mounts Nirka and Nyid appeared on the northern frontier of Barovia in 575 BC. Darkon formed on Arak's northern frontier a year later. Mount Nyid stood at the heart of Arak and Mount Nirka guarded its northern frontier with Darkon. A road snaked through the mountains, terminating in the south at the eastern end of the Old Svalich Road in Barovia and terminating in the north at the Tempe Road just west of Tempe Falls in Darkon. A road also ran to Sidnar in Darkon. By 682 BC, if not earlier, contact with Barovia was lost, for Nova Vaasa formed on the southern frontier of Arak. The Nightmare Lands became Arak's eastern neighbour in 683 BC, forming along the eastern limit of the eastern foothills. And finally in 691 BC, Tepest became their south western neighbour, forming along the southwestern limit of the southwestern foothills.

All life across the face of Arak was eradicated in 588 BC by a sandstorm without precedent in an event recorded as the Scourge of Arak. In its wake dwarves and gnomes from Darkon came in search of lost kin. Looters and treasure seekers came too. Those who tarried long risked being carried off in night by fey said to dwell in a kingdom hidden far beneath the surface. As the flow of visitors to Arak shrank, one's risk of disappearing with out a trace grew. Until it became accepted wisdom in Darkon and later in Nova Vaasa and Tepest that anyone who dared the hours of the night in their unwanted neighbour, would end up entombed without a trace beneath its stone.

In 740 BC, as part of the Great Upheaval, the land of Arak ceased to be and its territory was annexed to Darkon, a fact of which precious few were initially aware. But the consequences could not go unnoticed for long. Desperate men discovered that to spend the night in the Montes Infelices was dangerous but no longer tantamount to suicide. Individuals who returned told tales of having been beset by things other than fey. Shadow fey incursions into the countryside beyond the frontiers of their former home all but ceased, which did the Tepestani no good at all for the most trustworthy fracture from the Shadow Rift proved to be in Tepest. A fracture from the Shadow Rift does reach into the Montes Infelices, but it is very well guarded. Consequently, the reputation of the Mountains of Misery for being haunted by the fey was gradually eclipsed by a reputation for being haunted by the dead. The bravest of dwarven and gnomish miners return to the heart of the mountains. Darkon could begin work on the Strigos Road which, when completed, will join the East Timori Road at Liara in Nova Vaasa to the Argenteus Road and the Tempe Road just east of Tempe Falls. The new road follows, in significant part, the course of the old destroyed in 588 BC. And the Forgotten Hills, in particular, became a hideout for intrepid or desperate bandits, arguably making the northern frontier of Nova Vaasa a more dangerous place, especially along the East Timori Road and the Vaughn Dnar River from the Tepestani frontier to the Trished River and even beyond.

Even a century and a half after the Scourge of Arak, the heart of the Montes Infelices remained a blasted, rocky wasteland, devoid of trees. At lower elevations tenacious grasses, spike plants, and low shrubs were making inroads. The situation was probably better in the foothills, particularly towards untouched neighbouring lands. As for fauna mundane and monstrous, it consisted chiefly of vast swarms of bats, spiders of all sizes, and ettercaps. In the years since the annexation by Darkon, the flora will not have improved much. And the fauna, particularly monstrous fauna, has probably grown worse.

Creatures abiding in these mountains and their foothills include goblins, kobolds, darklings, and broken ones.

Gold, silver, and gems are mined from Montes Infelices. And such mining constitutes the principle economic activity in the region. The dwarven settlement of Tempe Falls lies towards the middle of the western foothills on the Tempe River. The gnomish of Mayvin lies at the western edge of the western foothills on the Corvus River, above Corvia.

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Ravenloft Third Edition Domains of Dread Requiem: The Grim Harvest - Necropolis Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume II
		Ravenloft Third Edition - pp31,116 Domains of Dread p34 TSR JAM 1999 - p38 Requiem: The Grim Harvest - Necropolis - p6 Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume II - p11
		Requiem: The Grim Harvest - Poster Map Ravenloft Gazetteer Volume II - p12
		Montes Infelices Montes Infelices, The The Montes Infelices Mountains of Misery Mountains of Misery, The The, Mountains of Misery