Western Mountains

When people from other lands think of mountains, they tend to think of tall hills, often with pointed tops and covered in snow. Such mountains exist to the east of Taebur in the Highlands of Ethpa, but mention mountains to residents of Taebur and they are much more likely to think of the Western Mountains: tall pillars of rock that rise out of the sandy, rocky hills. Some of these form high plateaus. Others have jagged tops with wide or narrow spaces between them, where a fall would provide a quick but painful death.
The Western Mountains are the most common route travellers use to enter or leave the Taebur region. The Highlands to the east have few passes, and the vast desert blocks the way to and from Egg to the north. Those coming from the south have to get around the Grand Canyon, which generally involves first travelling to the Western Mountains and then into Taebur. The Western Mountains are simply the least difficult way of entering or leaving Taebur.
However, being the least difficult does not mean the route is easy. While there are many routes, they can be somewhat maze-like with their many twists, turns, and intersections. The region experiences frequent tremors which cause rockfalls. Not only are these rockfalls dangerous to be caught in, they can remap the routes through the mountains. It's not uncommon for travellers to discover that a route they have successfully used many time in the past is now blocked and impassable, forcing people to retrace their steps and find another route.
There are many wide-open areas throughout the mountains that can provide a welcome respite from the narrow passages through the rock spires. However, these open areas can also make travellers easy to spot by the many strange creatures the live in the mountains. Carrins in particular are numerous and like to prey on travellers. The carrins like to take technological items (especially weapons) from those they kill so they can use them against their next targets.

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Fauna & Flora

Plant life in the Western Mountains is limited a few small, hardy bushes. While the region does get more rain than the desert to the north and east, it still doesn't get enough to support a thriving ecosystem. Some mosses and grasses occasionally grow along the banks of the few small rivers and streams. However, since these rivers are mostly seasonal and dry up for lengthy portions of the year, these plants tend to not survive for long.
Animal life in the region consists of lizards, including giant lazzars, and some hardy sheep and goats. Carrins and carrion birds like vultures are plentiful, along with numerous mutated creatures of various kinds, including an occasional black harvester. Nanite storms have been known to hit the mountains, but they are very rare. However, if they do hit while travellers are traversing narrow passages, it's almost impossible to escape.

Alternative Name(s)

The West, The Giants, The Rock Giants

Location under

Taebur

Related Reports (Primary)

• Session 2 Report
• Session 4 Report

Related Reports (Secondary)

• Session 3 Report

Related Historical Events

• 172 AF
  Giants in the Earth

The Giants

A common story says that the mountains were not formed by natural processes, but instead were carved by a race of giants who walked the land before the Final Wars. The mountains were originally exquisite sculptures, but the Final Wars shattered them, making them the jagged spires they are today.
Another story says the mountains are not carvings, but the petrified remains of the giants themselves. One of the terrible weapons of the Final Wars turned the giants to stone when they were gathering an army together in the region. This story has given rise to the Western Mountains often being called the Giants or the Rock Giants by people across the continent.
Some legends say there are still giants living today beneath the mountains and plateaus, where they work tirelessly to build weapons and vehicles to one day use in a war of revenge against the surface world. Most people dismiss these legends as mere stories. However, many travellers swear blind that there is something beneath the ground in the Western Mountains. They talk of hearing the rumbling of machinery underneath them as they travelled. Others speak of fellow travellers who were pulled beneath the ground before anyone could do anything to help them, perhaps taken by the giants for study and experimentation.

Panorama of sand dunes, Sahara desert by sunsinger