Temple Stairs

The Temple Stairs are built on the base of Mount Klodor and lead all the way from the bottom of the western slopes of the mountain to the temple complex on top.
The stairs are roughly carved and fairly steep, but it's still generally easier than any other way up the mountain short of flying.
The stairs are narrow and are barely wide enough for a single Kroxigor to ascend. Generally supplies need to be ferried up the mountain by different means.

Defenses

The stairs are patrolled regularly.
At periodic intervals, the stairs pass under stone brick guard houses complete with murder holes. These guard houses are usually only manned at the lower levels unless the local Lizardmen are on high alert.

In theory, a group of invaders could use the stairs to ascend the mountain and then exit the stairs to go around the guard houses and re-ascend the stairs after walking around the guard houses. The skinks who built the guard houses foresaw so they built the guard houses in the most rugged and impassable areas of the mountain to which they added booby traps and patrol more heavily than the rest of the mountain.

The defensive trump card is magical. In the event of an emergency, a Skink Priest in the temple Complex can perform a ritual to ice over a large section of the stairs to prevent outsiders from using it. A group of Skink priests or a single Slann can ice over the entire stairway at once.

History

As Klodorex rebuilt itself in the wake of the Great Cataclysm, the Lizardmen had to get workers and supplies up and down the mountain. They initially relied on mountaineering, than on a series of switchback trails.
They started carving stairs on the lower level only about 1500 years after the Great Cataclysm and didn't finish the stairway for several centuries.
The guard houses and other defenses were added piecemeal over the centuries in response to slowly escalating threats posed by outsiders.

Tourism

Slann usually fly their palanquins up the mountain. Lesser First have to take the stairs, switchbacks, or go mountaineering.
Many First in Klodorex (and a few oddballs in foreign temple cities) opt to make pilgrimage hikes to the Monument of Izzatal at the top of Mount Klodor.
High ranking skinks usually take the stairs, as do many First on business, but generally holy pilgrims/tourists are encouraged to go mountaineering as proof of their devotion.

Founding Date

-3300 (approximate)

Type

Architectural Element, Entrance / Entryway

Parent Location

Mount Klodor