Mount. Witch

 
Mount. Witch is not a place you'd want to go to. I've been living here with everyone for a couple of years now, it's my home, but that doesn't make it not dangerous. We have to constantly upkeep the wards to protect us and winters are still something I'd rather not deal with.
Yaro
 

Natural Disaster-prone

Volcanoes

The supervolcano portion of Mount. Witch has been dormant for thousands of years. However, the volcanic portion of the mountain has been active for just as long. Darkness - Bil from Kald’s core Climate & Weather burbles up and escapes through the many vents that remain from the previous eruption that created the mountain. These eruptions shoot debris of chilling shadow, ice and rock into the air many times the height of the mountain itself. This creates constant weather of ice storms all around the mountain. It is said that the gloom of Mount. Witch is forever. Scientists, believe Mount. Witch will erupt within the next millennium.

Where there aren't eruptions, there are craters with crystalline structures jutting out. These crystals are slow eruptions that form from ice and rock, slowly growing over time as the shadow from below pushes them up. The structures are formed also from the shadow, forcing the elements and chemicals in the area to make the organized structures they would. This means that the crystals erupting from cracks change from area to area, some being enormous aurora-colored pentagonal prisms and others hexagonal steps of an onyx gradient. The smell of these pools too is typically astringent as whatever air would be there is pushed out from the rock and away from the area. This also creates low-pressure zones.  
 

Mountain Range

The volcano of Mount. Witch has traveled across the land, creating the Akua mountains. These mountains are key to civilized life on the western side of Kald. They too block the killer winds from the north, keeping the icy sheet that permeates the land away and allowing for the massive jungles and forests of Whidry to thrive. The water that does make over has created two of the three great lakes.  
The rocks are terrible to climb, a simply awful hiking experience. I've not been too particularly fond of the cold, but there is something exciting about the dangers and risks it poses. That was how I saw it in my youth, I was fairly dense when it came to the true nature of the world. If I had a choice now, I would only return with proper provisions. And a crew. And an escape plan. I am no longer one of the fools who have a bucket-list goal to travel along the spine of the Akua mountains, an ending goal of reaching the crater summit of Mount. Witch. No, not me anymore...  
 
 

Watershed

All of the precipitation that blows in from the north-west gets blocked by Mount. Witch and the Akua mountains ranges. This creates an icy side of the mountain, where the proximity to the sky fire melts the very tip of the mountain. This runoff spilled into primary rivers, the Heron Bay and the Ahsho River. The bay is the first collection of water, an elderly body made shallow by time rearrangement of what is fast. The new river, which is worse and more ferocious than even the mighty Rot Saegri cuts the West Ahsho and East Ahsho mountains.

Less ferocious water runs to the northeast, a predominant structure found by the name of the Nair Maav. Here many creatures make their home. Only one civilized area is brave or stupid enough to try and make a purchase within the maw, the -\Waja.  
 

Desert

Rain and water do not make it to the south-eastern part of the mountain. A desert has formed there along with mighty chasms the people of Raehyr have mostly laid claim to. These chasms are created from a combination of ancient volcanic activity, the crystal long either exploded away or fell back into the earth. The dryness of the land keeps them formed, frozen walls of the chasms resistant to collapse. And finally, the land that keeps plant life from creating fractures is generated by the land's unique creature, the Sohpes. All of these combined have ensured the chasms, a natural wonder, remain. 

The other part of the desert, the tundra to the west of the chasms, is cold in a way only the northwesternmost part of the world experiences. But differing from there, there is little to no precipitation, leading to a barren wasteland.  
 

Wicked Creatures

Due to the aforementioned constant volcanic activity, the placement of the mountain to the northwest, and the proximity to the northern ocean, Mount. Witch is in a constant state of frost and cold. Brutal winters and even icy summers lead to the land being mostly inhospitable to life, or so would people assume. Like the rest of the world, inhabitants across Ulinta being a primary example, life will find a way. To combat the harsh nature of Mount. Witch and the surrounding area, so too does life need to be taught.

Violence begets violence and the harsh climate is home to terrifying creatures such as the Venigao and Oonox. Not many rela live in the mountains. Those who are dumb enough to do so often meet grisly ends from the hungry wildlife surrounding them finding a way to get their nutrients. If that does not get them, they will succumb to a more than freezing winter they could not have been prepared for, or a snowstorm creating tornadoes, or just a simple eruption of crystals from below their floorboards.

Not all creatures who call Mount. Witch home are so desperately violent. Some are just desperate, case and point the Wendigo. Creatures assumed to be so evil that the venigao got their name from a mistranslation and assumption of a violent creature of ice and horns. However, they are like the Urie who live underground, safe from the weather and hungry creatures, a peaceful life where food is scarce. Speaking of the urie, they are completely contrary to the norm, creatures who live in small tribes and would rather cuddle for warmth than fight one another (at least those who are not in the same tribe).

One final creature worth mentioning is one of myth and legend, only suggested to live in the mountains. The religion of the area Chora, suggests that these ancient beings may have at least once roamed the areas, gaining deific status in the eyes of primitives. And what's worse, as it is the best word that could describe it, are the giant skeletal remains of a suggested Daich'chrain to the north-west. These bones, despite being enormous, are in a hostile and remote enough area that investigation of them is not oft held, thus leading to hearsay on the current existence of the Daich'chrain of Mount. Witch.
Show spoiler
One more artifact giving credence to their at least once existence is the Heart of Keva kept secreted away in Almut'alatl

Comments

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Jan 7, 2025 07:20

Diverse and interesting terrain and mythos associated with it.

Jan 21, 2025 19:50

Thank you!

Kriltch, arcanities not included.
Jan 25, 2025 16:21 by Haly the Moonlight Bard

Thorough and descriptive! Thanks for sharing!

Haly, the Moonlight Bard

Rhapsody by Moonlight , a daily email worldbuilding newsletter.

Jan 26, 2025 20:24

Thank you!

Kriltch, arcanities not included.