The Prism Pillar of the Howling Vale
The prism pillar of the Howling Vale is generally regarded as the only reason people visit this particular stretch of frozen, rocky wasteland. It rises from the center of the valley -- which looks like a stone bowl -- with only a slight taper, ending abruptly about thirteen feet above the ground. The entire structure is only around eighteen inches in diameter at the base, and the oddly cubic top is around fifteen inches on a side.
The rock that shades to clarity is unusual, but not uncommon. Rose granite is flecked with blue and purple; the shading into clarity begins with the pink and white flecks, which begin to fade into transparency about nine feet from the ground. Quartz extends points throughout the runelands, though the shape and the way an obviously different stone melds into the quartz are certainly unique. The real significance of the Prism Pillar -- the reason anyone goes to the Howling Vale at all -- lies on the night of three full moons in conjunction. The pillar catches and refracts the light, projecting colors and shapes on the surrounding rocks (or, often, snow) -- the entire valley is often lit with the moonlit reflections. Many of the nearby peoples have come to interpret these projections as omens for the coming time, through the next conjunction.
The journey to the pillar is a difficult one. The valley is ringed by mountains, and passes are scarce. The entire area is inhospitable to visitors, with little to forage and few edible animals -- scavengers are the main fauna of the area, and there are passing few of those.
It's said that the prism pillar has predicted the rise and fall of entire civilizations, and has even hinted at the end of the world entire, though there is no record of this prediction. The pillar demands a price for its accuracy -- though it will show its omens of the future to everyone, those who are able to interpret them most accurately often pay in blood. Since the gods were slain, some four dozen corpses have appeared atop the pillar at the time of conjunction without any indication of how they came to be there. The Imperatori (and, it is said, the gods before them) have tried to decry the prism pillar, and to destroy it when that didn't work. The region has been beset with earthquakes, windstorms, even a stampede (though what may have stampeded is not clear). It has been struck with lightning and divine fire. Thus far, no attempts have been successful.
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