The Mountains of Misery
The Montes Infelices ("Mountains of Misery") shape life throughout the northeastern Core and beyond. Being rugged and trackless, they long stood as a nigh impeneterable barrier dividing eastern Darkon from the rest of the eastern Core. No land in the Core was perhaps less hospitable than Arak, lying at the heart of the Montes Infelices. A loner among these mountains seems to have claimed Keening for itself. The northern and western foothills constitute a jagged, broken badland that stretches far north and far west across Darkon. The southern foothills, the Forgotten Hills, tower over the plains of Nova Vaasa. Their claws reaching into Tepest. The Vuchar River in Darkon and the Sydligdnar ("South Dnar River") in Nova Vaasa are their most noteworthy children.
At their heart, the Mountains of Misery are anchored to the southeast by Mount Nyid and to the northwest by Mount Nirka. The pair are immense, sprawling volcanos which in 750 BC, at the 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 Mountains of Misery, both the lesser peaks and the foothills, radiate out from Mounts Nyid and Nirka.
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 Mountains of Misery were born with the land of Arak. The Forgotten Hills and Mounts Nirka and Nyid beyond them 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 western neighbour, forming along the western limit of the western 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 perhaps only its darklord, Azalin Rex, was initially aware. But the consequences could not go unnoticed for long. Desperate men discovered that to spend the night in the Mountains of Misery 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 Mountains of Misery, 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 Mountains of Misery 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 their frontier with living 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 the mountains and foothills include goblins, kobolds, darklings, and broken ones.
Gold, silver, and gems are mined and such mining is the primary activity. The dwarven settlement is Tempe Falls. The gnomish one is Mayvin.
WIKISEED FROM CATALOGUE : Lair of Beryl Silvertress(Please edit freely, then remove this note and WIKISEED label)
Locations in the Mountains of Misery
Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue
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Ravenloft Third Edition |
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Ravenloft Third Edition - pp31,116 | |
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Requiem: The Grim Harvest - Poster Map | |
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Montes Infelices |
