Spine of the World

The Spine of the World was a mountain range that stretched across the northwest region of Faerûn from the Cold Run near the Sea of Moving Ice, to the Ice Spires north of the Silver Marches.
Folks all across the lands of the Savage Frontier and the Silver Marches, particularly those in Scornubel, referred to the Spine as "the Wall". On the winter days when the white snow covered faces of the peaks met the iron-gray of the sunless winter sky, it appeared as though the peaks were holding up sky. To others, it simply marked the end of the world as they saw it.

Inhabitants

Those creatures that did inhabit the Spine were not spoken of in polite company, and their propensity to raid the lands below kept the conifer-cloaked, stag-roamed rolling foothills relatively uninhabited (as though the Savage Frontier and the Silver Marches were packed)―but it should come as no surprise that several fierce barbarian tribes inhabited these lands, traveling between summer and winter camps.

Geography

The Spine of the World mountains shielded the civilizations of the North from the freezing expanse of the Uttermost North, that comprised the Reghed Glacier[4] and the Endless Ice Sea.

Geographical Features

To many Faerûnians, the Spine of the World was simply an endless, nearly–impassable range of high, jagged, perpetually ice-covered mountains. While the western-most edge of the Spine was penetrated by a circuitous, always dangerous trade route to Icewind Dale, the rest of the range was not even approached by those without a stout heart.
Some of the mountains in this range stood over 20,000 feet (6.1 kilometers) tall, and all but the smallest were covered in snow and ice all year–round.

“Three peaks to seem as one, Behind ye the morning sun.”
— Bruenor Battlehammer reciting the first part of a dwarven song, whilst at Fourthpeak.

There were four well known sister peaks that were referred to as Firstpeak, Secondpeak, Thirdpeak, and Fourthpeak. The sister mountains were so similar in height that they seemed to form a single line.
The northern slopes of the mountains had plentiful enough trees that loggers of the Ten Towns would risk regular treks back-and-forth across the tundras. The southern slopes, located near the Druarwood and Moonwood forests, were referred to as the Lands Against the Wall.

Climate

Like much of the North, these mountains had a subarctic climate. As expected for mountains of that height, the Spine of the World experienced devastating, icy winds. As a result, the mountains experienced frequent rock slides.

Alternative Name(s)

The Wall, Barakmornolor

Type

Mountain Range

Location under

Frozenfar

Included Locations

• Hundelstone

Inhabiting Species

• Ice Troll