Yerkvoryak Mayrer
Τιρξωυαξ Μαϊρερ
A key marker on the Salemesian border, the Yerkovyak Mayrer (Twin Mothers) mountains mark the entrance to the pass of Tenestrian Pass, and the current border between Nimeara and the united Cantons of Salemesia. It has served as such since the conclusion of the conquest of the Western reaches. Long before then however, it held significant cultural cache as some of the most prominent mountains within the view of the Nimaeran capital of Stelara.
The Yerkovyak Mayrer are at the borders of one of the largest mountain passes through the Odric Mountains, and one of the only passes that remains reliably passable throughout the whole year though some harsher winters do make the pass difficult to cross. This makes it one of the most important trade routes in Southwestern Galisea, seeing tens of thousands of transient merchants passing through the mountains even though the mountains are bereft of permanent inhabitants.
Geography
The Yerkovyak Mayrer consists of two mountains and the pass between them. These mountains are enormous, both standing over 5,000 meters above sea level, and well above nearly all mountains in the nearby area. Between them lies the Yerkovyak Mayrer pass, which still lies at an impressive 3,515 meters at its highest point. The footprint of the two mountains and the pass is roughly 1,500 square kilometers in area making it a sizable, but far from exceptional mountainous area, though exact measurements are difficult given the position of the mountains in the heart of the Odric Range.
Ecosystem
Being a rather high elevation location, the Yerkovyak Mayrer is subject to adverse conditions that make the mountains much colder and more hostile than the surrounding lowlands, and even other parts of the Odric Mountains. As a result much of the Twin Mothers consists of Odric tundra, bare rock, or near the summits of the mountains, glaciers. Thanks in large part to the sheer surface of most of the mountains however, barren rock is the dominant biome, with comparatively little glacier formation compared to many of the neighboring mountains.
Ecosystem Cycles
The Yerkovyak Maryer have a seasonal cycle consisting of two seasons the winter, and the summer. During the seven summer months, the Twin Mothers are relatively safe to pass with the snow cover of the mountain receding to the mountain's glaciers. The five winter months mark a shift, with the freezing weather and frequent snowstorms the pass becomes quite difficult to navigate, though during the harshest parts of winter, the pass remains navigable, if barely making it fairly unique for mountain passes in that region. Winter avalanches are frequently, but largely slide down the less sheer slopes, keeping the pass relatively clear even during catastrophic events.
Localized Phenomena
The Yerkovyak Mayrer have a unique property in that the pass between the mountains inexplicably remain relatively clear in the harshest conditions. Though this does not make the pass easy navigating, it can always be passed at least be experienced travelers no matter the time of year. It is debated whether this is a function of the near sheer surfaces of the pass facing mountain slopes, or if there is a supernatural origin to these phenomenon, or perhaps that both explanations are, in part, true.
Fauna & Flora
The Yerkovak Mayrer is home to the usual flora and fauna of high mountains, many grasses, shrubs, and hardy animals capable of handling the rough terrain and severe climate call the Twin Mothers their home. As recently as fifty years ago, a par of twin White Dragons, Torix and Hashala used to call the mountains home, though an adventuring party killed both of the Dragons.
History
The Yerkovyak Mayrer has a long history with the settled peoples, being within eyesight of most early settlements of the Nimaeran people. The mountains then, became an important cultural symbol, being seen as an embodiment of the lost Twin Gods of pre-Ashevite Nimaeran religions, as Ashevitism spread through the region in the era following the War of Frozen Scales, the Twin Gods faded into folklore, being replaced with the Twin Mothers, who assumed a similar folkloric role, and many of the same symbols including the mountains which were well within sight of Stelara.
As trade between the communities of Nimaera, and the various city states that comprised the pre-Imperial Salemisian and Halish areas began to develop, the pass between the Twin Mothers took on a significant economic and geopolitical importance as well as a cultural one, as a major passage through the otherwise difficult to traverse western Odric Mountains, the Twin Mothers became the defacto boundary between the two cultures, though the actual border would be located at the Yerkovyak Mayrer Tower at the far end of the pass until the conquest of the Western Reaches by the Aeillan Empire.
In recent years, the pass between the Twin Mothers has become a vital commercial artery from Aeilla to Völgeberg, as it has, become one of the few safe routes through western Galisea that does not involve traveling through Terruk or Aarumite land. However, as the Terruk state begins to stabilize this commercial viability has also decreased, as traveling through the Terruk-Mal is significantly easier than that through trecherous mountains.
Alternative Name(s)
The Twin Mothers
Type
Mountain Pass
Location under
Contested By
