Hernaut Mountains

The Hernaut Mountains are the largest mountain range in the continent of Kereba, and they are possessed of the widest range of biomes in the region. From the fertile valleys to the harsh mountaintops, the Hernaut Peaks are home to nature in all its faces, from peaceful and harmonious to red in tooth and claw. Of course, the fat Beros and the complacent Omers would take pride in the diversity of their environment, safe as they are from the harshest reaches of the mountains. They get to sit comfortable in the valley where the soil is fertile and the rains are good, and not have to brave harsh mountain winds or poor soil with only a few stable crops. Such are the grumblings of those in the mountains. From a more objective point of view, the Hernaut Mountains do possess a dizzying variety of environments. The valleys are fertile, the mountain peaks are harsh, as is standard. But the mountain reaches are by no means the most hostile in all of Kereba, and the Esclarmondeans have proven that it is possible to eke out a living here. The soil in the mountains harbors strong reserves of magic, which helps to enhance plant growth, and may also be a factor in the famously long lives of the Esclarmondean people. The magic is strongest in the highest reaches too, and Esclarmonde is the only village high up enough to benefit from it. This means, of course, that the Hernaut Peaks have been variously contested ground throughout the ages. Often the valleys have been the subject of wars over the appealing territory the conqueror stood to gain. This was seen most recently in the colonization of the Hernaut Peaks by the Gheisigian Empire, by proxy through the Children of Solnos. Ostensibly to spread the worship of Solnos to the ancestor-worshiping savages in the region, the prospect of more land and people to feed their growing territories was just as attractive, if not more so. Over time, both colonizers and colonized chose compromise over war. That was a lifetime ago. Recently, however, this has begun to change. Back in Gheisigis, the Emperor Zenith is dead, and the new Emperor Zenith knows his throne is far less secure than his father's. If the Empire was decaying before, the rot seems to be quickening its pace. As a truly devoted Child of Solnos unlike his father before him, the Emperor is eager to complete the re-education of the savages in the Hernaut Mountains and bring them into the fold of the Children. As such, more missionaries and bureaucrats have been sent to the mountains. And as old wounds are opened and tensions rise again, an army may well be sent next.

Type

Mountain Range

Included Locations