Legend of the Iron Mountain
The Power of the Iron Mountain is a myth surrounding the Iron Mountain, a location on the recontacted world Meridian anda subject of myths among the planet's human cultures. The Iron Mountain itself was a large arcology-pyramid structure built in a mountain range by the Keepers as a manufacturing center and home for the raising of the first generations of humans which they settled on the planet.
The central myth around the Iron Mountain is one of a place of evil mystery and power stemming from its use as the Keepers' primary base of operations. (Other Keeper ruins have similar myths.) The largest cultural group on the planet, the Arztillan Empire (at a technology level similar to Old Terra's ancient Greece or Rome), was founded when the hero Arztillus overthrew the Keepers in a rebellion after learning their secrets. The Iron Mountain thus became a wicked place, the throne-seat for the powers behind their former subjugation and a hoard of forbidden secrets and evil tools. (A depiction of this revolt was seen by the Meridian Expedition on a fresco outside Lord Leon's palace, and part of it may have consisted of Arztillus revealing the Keepers were not gods but instead mere men as evidenced by Kadelius' reaction upon seeing Norla.)
These myths of evil were not entirely without basis in fact. Similar to the Whispering Isle, the Iron Mountain was equipped with a technological defense system, probably lasers and/or missiles, which would target and fire upon any craft attempting to approach. (The presence of a large desert separating it from Meridian's inhabited regions discouraged attempts to access it by traveling over land. At least one relic volor was known to have been shot down when attempting to reach it, according to Captain Prex.
The Iron Mountain was eventually destroyed when the surviving Keeper Norla nuked it from orbit in an attempt to kill the Meridian Expedition. The myths, presumably, will live on for longer.
The central myth around the Iron Mountain is one of a place of evil mystery and power stemming from its use as the Keepers' primary base of operations. (Other Keeper ruins have similar myths.) The largest cultural group on the planet, the Arztillan Empire (at a technology level similar to Old Terra's ancient Greece or Rome), was founded when the hero Arztillus overthrew the Keepers in a rebellion after learning their secrets. The Iron Mountain thus became a wicked place, the throne-seat for the powers behind their former subjugation and a hoard of forbidden secrets and evil tools. (A depiction of this revolt was seen by the Meridian Expedition on a fresco outside Lord Leon's palace, and part of it may have consisted of Arztillus revealing the Keepers were not gods but instead mere men as evidenced by Kadelius' reaction upon seeing Norla.)
These myths of evil were not entirely without basis in fact. Similar to the Whispering Isle, the Iron Mountain was equipped with a technological defense system, probably lasers and/or missiles, which would target and fire upon any craft attempting to approach. (The presence of a large desert separating it from Meridian's inhabited regions discouraged attempts to access it by traveling over land. At least one relic volor was known to have been shot down when attempting to reach it, according to Captain Prex.
The Iron Mountain was eventually destroyed when the surviving Keeper Norla nuked it from orbit in an attempt to kill the Meridian Expedition. The myths, presumably, will live on for longer.
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