Red King’s Keep

Red Drakken Territory

Red King’s Keep is a huge mountain range that goes South to the World’s End where no mortals venture. The tallest of the mountains climb up all the way to the skies and disappear above the clouds. The snowy top shine on a sunny day and strong winds make the whole place sing a quiet, melancholic lullaby.
To the East of the Keep, there begins the Forest of Greed. To the West there awaits the Tempestuous Field and the Fringe where no maps reach. Some say that never ending mist swallows everything there. To the North there is the Plaine Hills and the Great Lake.
The Keep was a beautiful sight once upon a time but now the drakkens have razed the ground and burned to area, destroying the intricate craftsmanship of the dwarves that ruled over the Keep before the Dawn of Drakkens.
The immediate area surrounding the Keep is badly burned and no plants can grow in the barren land creating difficulties for both the drakkens and mortals alike. The mountains are home only to beasts and dangerous creatures that hide in the crevices of the mountain ways keeping themselves sated with the occasional wandering mortal.
There used to be grand passages to the Keep but the drakkens destroyed the mortal ways leaving only the deadly paths for them to climb. The entrances to the mountains are partially hidden and only those who have necessary legal papers are let in.
A great fortress looks over the surrounding areas from the highest mountain. The fortress used to be a Dwarven Stronghold, said to be the last one to fall during the struggles to keep freedom, and now it is ruled by the Red King himself. He holds his court there, desecrating the memory of the just, good rulers who used to sit on the very seat he now has.
The Fortress is built from the mountain itself and is protected by almost anything by the smaller mountains and peaks surrounding it. There used to be a great amount of bridges helping mortals in their journey but the Red King had them all partly destroyed. Now they serve as a final resting place for those who have crossed him. His hung enemies sway from the brighter like gruesome banners reminding them of who rules over them, whose whims the mortals are there to serve.
Flags painted red with blood adorn the Fortress and the way to the main entrance of the Keep. Those great flags and the drakkens flying all around the mountain range keep mortals in their fearful worship. The rule of the drakkens is strong.
The Red King’s Keep has many underground cities and mines created by dwarves but the red drakkens seldom live there with lesser beings, and each other, preferring to fight over the caves and secluded tunnels. Those territorial fights have left the northern side of the mountain range badly damaged and burned. Sometimes the fights are deadly and the carcasses are left there luring vultures to pick on the bones.
The mountain range is almost completely barren, nothing living to be found near the fresh air but the deeper one goes to the caverns the more strange fungi and flora begins popping up here and there. Around those plants, the air itself seems strange. Nothing ever found there is edible and they mark the end of safe passages and the beginning of something old and strange, something incomprehensible.

Geography

A vast mountain range spanning from the southern reaches of the Forest of Greed all the way to the Fringe. In south it ends to the mystical World’s End.
The mountains are tall and have dangerous cliffs with some of the peaks shaped like large spikes. The drakkens have caused the passages to become unstable and avalanches and rockfalls are common.
To travel around the Red King’s Keep one needs to travel inside the mountains. Not many of the caverns are mapped and the chance of getting lost is high. Unused bridges are the only way from a mountain to another if one doesn’t want to dwell too deeply to the underground caverns that are said to be haunted and cause madness in those who travel them.

Fauna & Flora

The Keep is dead. Drakkens have almost completely destroyed the areas surrounding the Keep and the mountain range has never had a lot of flora. Because of that, most food needs to be imported from other parts of the Drakken Empires. 
The deeper one goes in the caverns, the stranger things one sees. Fluorescent plants and mushrooms are not the strangest thing there is if one goes deep enough. Most of these curiosities of the deep are not edible and those who eat them, either by accident or out of desperation, usually fall to their deaths shortly or have serious side effects. Some of the flora and fungi in the caverns have hallucinogenic effects and some are just plain toxic. 
The animal life is just as bare. On the mountainside lives many beasts and vultures feasting on the carcasses of drakkens battling for territory or the unfortunate mortals who wander too far from home. 
Inside the mountains isn’t any safer. There are strange monsters coming from the deep underground, the Underdark, and some beasts venture inside in search for easier hunt. Those living there need to be prepared to fight for their lives.

Natural Resources

The Red King’s Keep is famous for its gems and it is the greatest source of metals in Haveria. 
There are stories of mystical element that the dwarves of the past mined from the deep but any mentions of this substance are few. It isn’t even known if some of the stories of this fantastical substance are exaggerated or maybe even just made up.

History

Before the Dawn of Drakkens, the Keep used to have name, a true name. It has since been forgotten and not even the dwarves who hold their histories have been able to keep the mountains alive. 
When the drakkens came, the dwarves and many other small folk barricaded themselves in the Red King’s Keep trying to keep themselves free and alive. The great fortress belonging to the Dwarven kings is rumoured to be the last stronghold to fall. 
After the fall of the Red King’s Keep, the red drakkens have destroyed most of what the old dwarves created and made them forget most of their old skills in craft. Once the dwarves were legendary blacksmiths, but now they are forced labourers in the mines owned by the drakkens. 
Since the Dawn of Drakkens, the Red King has held his court in the Fortress. He has lived there for Centuries now, not slowing down or showing signs of age.

Type

Mountain Range

Included Locations

• Mines of Red