Death Mountains

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  1.   1.  Description
  2.   2.  Landmarks
    1.   2.1  Cape Breton Highlands
    2.   2.2  Mount Alusia
    3.   2.3  Ashen Mountain
    4.   2.4  'Souls Passage
    5.   2.5  Enigma Peak
    6.   2.6  Conquest Bluff
  3.   3.  History
  4.   4.  Notes
Credit rgibbo3@Flickr

General

Territory The Blacklands
Major Waterways
Size ?? sq km / ?? sq mi

Roleplay!

IC Forum · Region Topic

1.  Description

The once-proud mountains were shorn bald by the fire, with entire forests falling to ruin and their debris rolling downhill. In the lowlands and valleys, a lush young forest thrives: aspen, white birch, jack pine, and lodgepole pine have all thrived in the sunlight. At higher elevations, large tracts of land are rocky and barren, with only tough shrubs clinging to the stone.

In September 2020, over the course of several days, these mountains gradually sank into the sea!

2.  Landmarks

2.1  Cape Breton Highlands

The former provincal park comprises much of the Death Mountains area. Notable for its cliffs and mountainous formations even in the time of humanity, its vegetation and much of its life was burned following the 2008 fires. The Highlands were particularly affected by the fire, as they were situated close to its start -- but life is steadily returning to much of the area.

2.2  Mount Alusia

Mount Alusia, the northernmost and smallest of the Death Mountains, appears far larger than it is. Its top is rounded and battered, shorn down by glacial movement thousands of years ago. A few tors decorate the top and sides of the mountain, odd lumps sticking out from the once-burned surface of Mount Alusia. Most of Mount Alusia's surrounding area is made up of smaller sister hills, rolling gently northwestward until they reach the Northumberland Strait. These hills are covered with rocky outcroppings, rounded erratics and thousands of smaller pebbles. Where before Mount Alusia and her smaller surrounding hillocks once supported a thin crop of pines, only small weeds grow. Goldenrod has colonized much of the mountain, growing fervently after the fire. Some blueberries have begun colonizing the bottomlands of the mountain, but they are small and stunted plants.

2.3  Ashen Mountain

Ashen Mountain, far larger than its northern counterpart, is shorter yet than its southerly neighbor the Conquest Bluff. A long and low shape hunkers in the death Mountains, its roundedness accentuated by the lack of tree coverage. Several rounded tors decorate this mountain, adding to its similarity with Mount Alusia. Unique to Ashen Mountain is the network of caves that spans its innards, running deep and almost to its core.

  • Hellfire Hollow
    On the mountainside a small cave entrance leads into a den system, originally claimed by Jaded Shadows and later used by Inferni. The first room in the cave is also the largest, with a ceiling reaching up to 25 feet (8 meters) in height. A large quartz growth hunkers in one of the main cavern’s furthest corners. This cave system is vast, leading to many rooms of varying sizes.
  • The Stargazing Rock
    Set atop a steep incline on the northwestern face of the mountain, the Stargazing Stone is almost level with the former treeline. Though the trees have since burned, the rock still provides a spectacular view of the stars overhead -- and, more recently, since the fires swept away the mountain's forest cover -- the beach, bay, and ocean far below.

2.4  'Souls Passage

The old passage between the mountains still exists: a low valley with sharp, steep cliffs on either side. However, what was once a sure and safe passage through the mountains has become treacherous. The reason for its existence has resurfaced since the fire; no longer a dry bed, the streams coursing down from Enigma Peak wind their way to the ocean through the ‘Souls Passage as they have in the past. The river’s flow constricted, it becomes a deep, fast current in the passage. Sucking mud and unseen rocks, jagged and sharp, litter the bed of the passage -- and all of that with the current pulling in water that deepens to mid-thigh on the average Luperci.

2.5  Enigma Peak

Much as its northern counterpart Mount Alusia, Enigma Peak is short and stubby. Underground caves snake through Enigma Peak, much like Ashen Mountain to the north, but these caves are not inhabitable. Instead, lakes mark this mountain and fill its caves. Their runoff seeps through the mountain to exit as a stream in the Devil’s Shoreline area. Since the fire, one of the lakes on the mountain’s surface has been bared, while the reservoir once seated near its base has dried up. The surface of this lake is jagged and rocky, evidence of some kind of collapse or explosion. Despite this, some plant life has begun to sprout here. Resilient Paper Birch saplings line the edges of this lake, promising to cover the mountain again someday.

  • Area 93
    The former military base may give clues as to Enigma Peak's lake -- and, perhaps, some of the spread of the fire. Where there was once a military base, with downed planes and vehicles, metallic buildings and strongly-built bunkers, only a crater remains. The surrounding soil is black, perhaps evidence of a long-burning fire or simply the leftover grit and grime of humanity. Where much of Enigma Peak has begun to bloom again, the area directly around Area 93 is still baren and bare.

2.6  Conquest Bluff

Conquest Bluff is an anomaly amongst the otherwise low and rounded Death Mountains. Tall and proud, with as jagged and foreboding a peak as can be found in the ancient upper Appalacians, Conquest Bluff stands alone. Some might say the surrounding Death Mountains are merely the foothills of Conquest Bluff. Though well-scarred by fire, the Bluff's regrowth has been aided by a stream that trickles down from a new spring -- perhaps exposed by the fire, or a later landslide. All along this stream, life blooms. Though only small Paper Birch saplings and Fireweed are found here, it is a seam of green along an otherwise charcoal and ash colored land.

3.  History

  • Ashen Mountain was the area taken over by Jaded Shadows in the first territories of Bleeding Souls.
  • Inferni claimed a piece of this territory, using the caverns as a residence, between November 2017 and August 2018.
  • In September 2020, over the course of several days, these mountains gradually sank into the sea!

4.  Notes

  • LOL ZELDA REFERENCE