These rugged uplands have earned their name from the hundreds of tombs and burial grounds from a bygone era that pervade these hills.
The border between the Domain of Greyhawk and Duchy of Urnst lies in the Cairn Hills, rugged uplands dotted with hundreds of tombs and burial grounds, the remnants of a bygone era. Most crypts were explored long ago, the wealth excavated from them accounting for the first "treasure boom" that thrust a trading post named Greyhawk into urban greatness. The hills are home to thousands of gnomes, halflings, dwarves, and humans, some of the latter group as bandits and troublemakers. The region's major products are wool and fine gems, especially rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. Greyhawk controls much of this area now; part of the southern hill country once owned by the Duchy of Urnst was ceded to Greyhawk in 584 CY, an illadvised decision in the best light. Treasure hunters continue to explore the hills in search of any number of lost tombs and cairns, particularly the legendary fifth Star Cairn, so named because sages expect its alignment with four known tombs traces a star pattern, and the bizarre Silver Metal Cairn, where metal tools of unknown origin and use are said to have been found.
The Cairn Hills are generally regarded as a northern spur of the Abbor-Alz, stretching north to the Nyr Dyv (as is obvious). Their character becomes increasingly differentiated from the Abbor Alz the farther north one travels, becoming less sharply undulating and lower. The hills are granitic and contain large quartz deposits and important resources, although the surface soil is usually shallow and of poor fertility. The northernmost promontory of the hills, beyond the mouth of the Selintan, yields fine gems, especially rubies and emeralds and a few diamonds. The Free City is happy to allow the gnomes of Grossettgrottell and the outlying smaller mines exclusive control over mining them, given gnomish skills. The gnomes prize this, and protect their terrain jealously. As one travels east along the Midbay of the Nyr Dyv, these gem deposits rapidly diminish and the hills here have poor mineral wealth; farther south, jade and amethyst can be found. However, in this area are found many of the legendary burial sites which give the Cairn Hills their name. These are the ancient treasure troves that provided such a vital source of revenue in Greyhawk‘s wild, early days before trade brought the coffers of the city its present largesse.
The large majority of these cairns were plundered of their wealth long ago; as places for adventure, they were surpassingly dangerous and strange. The cairns were of many types, some so alien that sages mutter about people from other worlds creating them; some are pyramidal, others polyhedral and complex in design. Others were simpler, little more than barrow mounds. From these cairns, famed and fabled adventurers of legend pillaged great wealth and unique magics. Great ingots of precious metal, rare superhard steels, planar tomes and traveling devices, and much else were brought back to the Free City, together with tales of hideous deaths and monstrous guardians. The treasures were as sought after as the origins of the cairns were unknown, surely earlier than recorded Oerth history. Some of the empty cairns, long looted, have since been settled by monsters, some of the few humanoids left in the hills, and perhaps more sinister creeping evils. Many of the old sites were so wholly pillaged that they are nothing more than open-air ruins.
To the south, where the Cairn Hills approach the Abbor-Alz, there are a handful of gnomish gem mines, fairly widely scattered, and more dwarves and hillsmen. The easternmost fringes of the hills have three important corundum mines that remain part of the lands of the Duchy of Urnst. The Cairn Hills contain some mediocre metal ore deposits, mostly iron and copper. These are concentrated in the hills southwest of Midbay, where there are three important mining towns, and to the south around the Abbor-Alz. There are also two silver mines of note, at the Sourlode complex and the dwarven citadel of Karakast.
Races and Groupings
Gnomes
In all, there are some 6,000 gnomes in the Cairn Hills. The greatest concentration of them is found in the northernmost hills west of the Selintan, where they mine gems. The settlement of Grossettgrottell is their major community.
Gnomes in the Cairn Hills always dwell underground. Typically, gnomish settlements are on the borders of the hills, within 20-30 miles of the edge of the hill range: however, they may excavate mines well beyond this limit and there are exceptions, especially in the old Urnst lands. Smaller settlements are scattered widely through the whole range of hills.
Cairn Hills gnomes are generally friendly, industrious folk. They are happy with the rule of the Free City. Those in the expanded domain, previously administered by Urnst, have welcomed the new Greyhawk presence. This is because of the strong clan affiliations with their brethren who have always lived in Greyhawk-controlled lands, and because the rulers of Greyhawk have always taken pains to make the gnomes feel protected and their concerns heard. Greyhawk militiamen are always under orders to consider gnomish interests a first priority in the Cairns, and squads of militia frequently include a gnome scout, nighttime look-out, and adviser.
Tithes and taxes imposed on the gnomes are relatively low, and are lower than those imposed by Urnst. All this doesnot mean that the gnomes are overly trusting or overly friendlv folk with those they do not know. They are perfectly aware that there has been a war, that Iuz is rising across the Nyr Dyv, and many have heard of the Scarlet Brotherhood. They are thus cautious in dealings with adventurers, especially humans.
A group of successful gnomish miners
The large majority of the halflings of the Cairn Hills dwells along the southern shores of Midbay and the northern fringes of the hills abutting this area. The relative poverty of the hills here, in terms of mineral resources, is the major reason that everyone else has been happy to allow the halflings to settle. While the shores of Midbay are too shallow for Nyr Dyv boat traffic, the halflings dwelling there have been able to make good use of their skills with light leather and bark canoes. They have fished Midbay’s waters very successfully.
The major settlement of Elmshire has some 3,800 halflings dwelling there, and another 1,000 are scattered among the northern hills (mostly within 20 miles of the Nyr Dyv). The halflings of the Cairns are peaceful folk. Their own militias are fairly ragged units, and they avoid conflict when they can. Halflings generally like to spend part of their lives in Greyhawk itself, but not usually for longer than it takes to make their fortune, or to find out the hard way they’re not going to. Halfling communities always have an elected ruler, typically a mayor or sheriff. Family ties are strong, and communities are often insular. While halflings met outside their own lands may often be thieves, there is little thievery, crime, or drunkenness in the halflings’ own realms. One point of note is that halflings are almost all highly suspicious of the Rhennee and regard them as evil until proven otherwise. They avoid trade with them.
Dwarves
The dwarven population of the Cairn Hills is small, perhaps no more than 1,200 in total. They are virtually all found in the southern hills abutting the Abbor-Alz. Clan distinctions are weak within each large community (at Greysmere and Karakast since the total population is small, the dwarves band together and minimize clan distinctions.
Cairn Hills dwarves are notoriously insular. They have little regard for Greyhawk or Urnst, feeling themselves fully capable of self-defense, and refusing point-blank to pay any taxes or tribute. To them, humans should be grateful that the dwarves even take any of their ores and metals to the squalid human cities for sale.
The dwarves also have their own sense of history, which is very long in the telling and quite unconcerned with the human states of the Flanaess. The Atlas entry for Karakast gives a notable example of this “parallel history” of the dwarves of the Cairns.
Another reflection of dwarven insularity is their usual settlement pattern. Over threequarters of the Cairn dwarves are found in their two heavily-fortified settlements: Karakast and Greysmere. Since humanoids and monsters don’t exactly throng the hills, this is a measure of dwarven reclusiveness rather than an index of the threats they face. Dwarves prefer that other races not approach their citadels, too!
Hillsmen
Around2,500 simple hillsmen scratch a living in the Cairn Hills. They are usually dwellers in very small villages, where many of their dwellings may be little more than tents. They are most commonly found in the northeast Cairns and the central southern lands bordering on the Mistmarsh. Some of the latter hunt and trap game around the fringes of the Mistlake and harvest swamp hay and reeds for building materials, fuel, and fodder. For the most part, they survive on galda fruit, livestock herding (sheep and goats), deer and pig hunting, and a little fishing in the hill streams.
Hillsmen are poor people, used to a hard way of life. They are fearful of oursiders and try to evade contact with them, although they do rarely trade in small market villages on the flanks of the hills over in the Duchy of Urnst, trading livestock for utensils, woven cloth, and other basics. Hillsmen are excellent trackers (75% chance for Tracking proficiency) and also have proficiencies such as Weather Sense and Direction Sense.
Bandits
There are no more than a score groups of bandits in the Cairn Hills, simply because there isn’t much for them to make off with – the hillsmen are too poor, the dwarves too secluded in their citadels, the gnomes too numerous and strong. Bandits can really make any kind of a living only by ambushing trade caravans in the hills, and these tend to be well-protected. The bandits are likewise well aware of the growing presence of the Greyhawk militia.
All of this means that there aren’t many bandits around, but those who exist are smart, cunning, and well-prepared, perhaps the most renowned of which is Barlieu Clarreth and his band. Adventurers will not often encounter bandits, but when they do, the encounter should be a stiff challenge for them. Bandits like taking on adventurers, since such targets offer good weapons and armor, the possibility of magical items, and maybe even a ransom.
Humanoids
Orcs , hobgoblins, and goblins may all be found in the Cairn Hills, although they are rare indeed north of the Mistlake, where determined gnomes have played a major role in hunting them down and killing them. The caves around the Abbor-Alz mountains are their major retreats, and they compete here with dwarves for living space. The goblinoid races are less aggressive than usual, given their small numbers (which are not exactly known), and they always retreat to their lairs by day, emerging only at night to forage for whatever they can get. Goblins in particular are poorly armed and have very low morale, since the other goblinoid races regard them as a soft target and often hunt them at night. The only important exception to this general picture is the orcish citadel of Harrgrek and Kukulend.
Fauna and Flora of the Cairn Hills
In brief, the hills drain water swiftly so that few lakes are present, although there are a few streams that flow most of the year round. The pattern of plant life follows the course of waterways to a great extent, but the dirt of the hillsides is populated only by tough grasses and a rare bush struggling for survival. Alpine plants with hard leaves cling to the surfaces of less exposed hillsides. Along stream beds, larger bushes and a few trees, mostly evergreens, can be found. A few galda trees manage to survive in such places.
Smaller fauna here include mice, other small rodents, and the grey hawks that eat them and gave the Free City its name. Very rarely, a roc will be seen among its much smaller cousins. Larger mammals of note include wild pigs in the lower valleys, hunted by hillsmen, and a species of grass-eating deer, hunted for its tender, sweet meat.
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