Thawcaps

The Thawcaps are capped with ice and snow all year round, except for the central spires. Deep in the heart of the mountains, magma flows and crawls. Once home to a Dwarven Hold now lost to the volcanic heart of the mountains, the Thawcaps haven't erupted yet. At times, part of the mountainside will crack and release a sluggish flow of liquid rock that hardens, building up the sides of the mountain gradually. The sides of the mountains are prone to thin splits and cracks that shimmer with heat, the stink of brimstone spewing into the air and drifting on the wind.

Geography

The Thawcaps are located to the eastern side of Bukhisal and were predominately the reason for the establishment of Floetown to enable ocean travel to cross from either side of the mountain range to the other. To the east of the northern mountains, a river springs up and flows down towards the coast, which quickly narrows as it approaches The Siltroots. At the north, the mountains continue to rise up at the coast, as if half of the mountain range had been simply cut away.

Fauna & Flora

Certain plants which normally develop best near deserts or in badlands survive with ease along the base of the central mountains, while further away from these central spires more localised plants take over. Grazing animals venture towards the mountains to crop the scraggy plants along the nearby hills; within the mountains, rumours often abound of what might be left alive inside the Hold, but until an entry is gained nothing is confirmed.

Natural Resources

The volcanic deposits that form are sometimes cracked apart; not only are there occasional deposits of gemstones or geodes in the material, but it also provides a source of obsidian to shape and craft into rare weaponry. Even rarer, perhaps once in a millennium, a Dwarven relic of power and legend will be disgorged within the lava spill, buried under the magma until it is found again.

History

The Thawcaps has always been a dominating presence in Bukhisal, with any volcanic activity last recorded now thousands of years into the past. They were influential enough that many of the established roads and settlements had to be constructed with these mountains connected through Floetown or by shallow-bellied barges that travelled to Hagcove. The Dwarven Hold that once was populated here had been established as a deep mining location, plumbing to the Underdark at the time in the search for ores and gems.
Since the cataclysm, however, its become a cause for concern. With the steadily more common spurts and leaks of magma from the mountainside, many fear that the volcanic forces within are beginning to overcome the rock, and that the long-dormant volcano will one day wake again.

Tourism

While some brave travellers do attempt to near the mountains, they do so in order to find an entrance. The Dwarven Hold is assumed to be ruined, but it was never proven to have happened, the entrance buried and lost as the stone around it twisted and moved. The possibility of what remains inside proves a powerful motivation, despite the danger that the terrain poses.

Type

Mountain Range

Location under

Bukhisal