The Motionless Heights
Stillness Embodied
"The safest region within the Adept Threat Range, The Motionless Heights, is more dangerous because of the environment rather than the fauna. In addition to all the usual perils of high-altitude travel, the monsters here have defied science and rendered weather patterns inert. Anyone climbing the Heights must contend not only with the Flying-element monsters that roost in the cliffs, but with the slickness of the entire range - a single misstep or misplaced hold has sent many people to their doom as they were unused to how humid they are. The beasts here have spent the past three centuries turning the Heights into a mad domain, and it is recommended that this area be avoided due to the lack of resources."
- Bestiarum Vocabulum
Geography
The Motionless Heights are the longest mountain range in Zamzara, at over 200 miles long. It is located north of Green Gullet and the Foggy Mire, south of Yeoja's Brush and the Red Burning Valley, and west of Carvanha's Channel. While not the tallest range, it is certainly the steepest: almost the entire length is composed of layers of vertical, nearly flat granite walls that are sun-weathered and cracked, a nightmare to traverse. There are few peaks in the Heights, as many have disappeared in the last few centuries only to be replaced by rolling plateaus where monsters have devoured the world - these areas are arguably more dangerous than the cliffs. There are two sources of water that should not exist: The Frostbitten Falls in the west and the Triad Springs in the east. Both have monsters that voraciously defend their watering holes, different types at each location.
Warm, wet air gets blown in from the ocean to the south, often forming into rain clouds on the side of the range facing Green Gullet. Oddly enough, travelers who return swear that neither rain nor snow ever fell no matter how dark and threatening the sky grew - and stranger still, not a breeze blows through these mountains. Despite this, much of the range is covered in ice, with frostbitten trees and shrubs scattered throughout, and there is a constant frosty dew as a result of the high humidity. There are no historical records of this phenomenon that are dated before the beginning of the Age of Darkness: Monsters must be behind it, but no one knows how. It is assumed to be a form of weather control, but to continually do it over such a large area would be no small feat.
Fauna & Flora
The Motionless Heights has two documented entrances to The Nashya, but it is guaranteed that more are hidden within the plateaus. Scholars who have survived the ascent return with tales of monsters engaged in maintenance of the area - some would return to the same spot at the same time every day in order to flatten the rock, cover the area in frost, and water the plants. This has baffled them: Why stop the weather, only to work the land to achieve similar results? Could the monsters be victims of the weather phenomenon? Is it part of some greater plan?
There are few plants growing in the cliffs that form most of the Heights, but the plateaus are different. Grass-element monsters capable of resisting the cold patrol the area, planting and caring for the frozen groves they leave in their wake. It is theorized that these monsters are somehow capable of keeping plants alive without any need for water. The plants they raise are native to the area - pine trees, short shrubs, and slow-growing flowers. They have also been spotted skirmishing with Water-element monsters at the Frostbitten Falls and Triad Springs over territory and water access: it is almost a dance as the Grass monsters blitz the area to give their comrades time to drink and the Water monsters fall into formation in practiced response, driving their enemies away, but rarely killing them.
Natural Resources
The granite that dominates most of The Motionless Heights is often used in construction and masonry for its resilience and ease of shaping. Almost all of it is collected at the base of the range, as few people are willing to scale the walls for any reason. In addition to quarries, there are a couple of mines along the edge of the range which hungrily spiral into the earth for valuable minerals such as iron and copper - but not too hungrily, lest some poor fool uncover a tunnel connecting to a Nashyan passage. The plateaus themselves have little to offer beyond plant life - plant life that can be found on mountains that aren't places where weather stops existing.
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