Crystalis Ravine

The crystal mountains growing from the back of the Black Fengs.

Have you been to the Mesa? Seen the dune and the rocks as cut away by the sands of time and the jaw of the mighty Bulette? Now Imagine that those rocks have been crystallized and borne to the surface from some mighty titan beneath. Forcing their way up through the mountains like some infectious disease. There, now you can imagine Crystalis.
It’s a place like none other on this plane. It’s got the monsters that lurk and roam and find the worlds a game. If ya really wanna go there, it’s gonna be a pretty pretty price. We’ve got an outfit to make and a learnings to advise.

— Records of the Lone Oak Society

One of the most popular tourist Airship routes is from Iwasunna to Eske. This has nothing to do with setting out on a exploration of the Southern Desert or Getting a good look at the Trash Mountains of Eske, no, it's all about the view on the trip. Because, you see, the straight shot between Eske and Iwasunna takes you over the Black Feng Mountains which are generally known to be vast and lifeless.

However, torn across the southern face of the largest mountains is a mountain range so alien that the mere view of it astounds and captivates those who see it. For rising from the harsh black rock of the Feng Mountains is hundreds of miles of crystal that has forced it's way up from the center of the earth. It's utterly strange and otherworldly, a place in which life works under different rules than anything that can be thought of as normal.
Something that terrifies those same airship pilots is something that's glossed over by the majority of the population. Because, every trip they take over the ravine, they can see the boundaries grow. When the Dwarven settlers started surveying the Fengs almost a thousand years before modern times, the Crystalis Ravine was smaller. Not just a little bit smaller either.
The recorded journals of surveyors describe the odd landscape as a forest. Something small, able to be seen over. Something that they could walk around in the span of less than a day. Now, barely a thousand years past, the ravine has eaten holes into the mountain and has peaks that rival the fengs themselves. The span of the ravine itself takes days to fly over at speeds that far outpace the feet that were used at the start. In another thousand the entirety of Ithungsida may be crystal.

Day 194:
We stumbled across an oddity on the farthest mountains of the Fengs here. The sands of that southern desert below us are sprinkled not far from us, but we've stumbled upon the strangest forest...
It's made of crystal. Maybe half a day's walk around, and stepping inside it produces the strangest of feelings. Like one doesn't belong. We'll spend a few days here looking at it, but then we'll move on.
Perhaps there are even stranger things to be seen in these mountains?

— Records of the Lone Oak society.

Yet this isn't something that is even acknowledged, let alone that is having preventative measures looked into. The very integrity of our world is threatened by this crystalline monstrosity. And this doesn't even account for the things that live in the crystal.

Flora and Fauna

If you think of the normal standards of Mortal Life, one could label the Ravine lifeless. That would obviously remove Elemental Life from the picture. Which, unfortunately, is something that the Crystalis Ravine has in abundance. Crystal Elementals wander the ravines, Water Elementals carve new channels in that same crystal and air beings find the chimes that ring as they pass through a delight. A number of different life-forms also find this place to be home.
Expeditional Records indicate a number of crystal adaptations such as Dragons with scales of crystal and Bulettes that shine. Things that in a just world, you just couldn't find. The expeditions into this dangerous are few, meaning that the records are often outdated and have shoddily kept information. No plantlife equivalents have been recorded, but that doesn't mean anything either.

Geography

While the Ravine is called a ravine, the truth of the matter is that such a term is sorely outdated. There are crystal peaks that reach higher than those in the entirety of the Feng Mountains and chasms that have no recorded bottoms. Perhaps it's a mountain range, or perhaps a canyon. The only thing that can be rightly said is that a definition is hard to place.

Natural Resources

It's assumed that the Ravine would be an amazing place for the export of crystal. Except that transport of the crystal is banned after a few incidents of sudden crystal expansion in other cities. Along with the danger of dealing with creatures inside that landscape, no mining company in their right mind is willing to send an expedition in.

Alternative Name(s)

Crystal Chasms, Crystal Mountains, Crystal Spreads, Darchada's Threat

Type

Canyon

Location under

Black Feng Mountains

Included Locations

• The Crystal City
• The Crystal Staircase

Owning Organization

SosIwa

Where are these quotes from?

The Lone Oak Society is a spelunking group that seeks to follow Karan's example and to find the riches and treasures buried in the caves below the earth. They are based out of the Black Feng Mountains, but also sponsor trips throughout the Feng Mountains.