The Whispering Highlands

Tucked between the shadowed boughs of La Forêt des Secrets / The Forest of Secrets to the west, the toxic reaches of the The Swamp of Repentanceto the south, and the jagged passes of the The Wilted Cordillera to the north, the Whispering Highlands form a windswept, hilly expanse steeped in mystery, magic, and memory. Though now sparsely inhabited, the region holds an outsized presence in Mordonia’s history and myth.
Once the proud heartland of several ancient dwarven strongholds, the Highlands were a critical theater in the First Great Mordonian Civil War, a conflict that shattered kingdoms and sundered alliances long before the rise of Solania or the flowering of Al-Zandhar. Countless battles scarred the land, and the once-bustling dwarven towns were razed in fire and magic. Today, only crumbling ruins remain—overgrown foundations, collapsed halls, and shattered roads—each one a silent monument to a forgotten past. The wind here never truly dies; it whistles and moans through broken stone and empty tunnels, giving the region its ghostly name.
The crown jewel of the region is Mount Joshua, the tallest hill among the highlands and the site of the most intact set of dwarven ruins. These halls, carved deep into the hillside, are no longer a place of dwarven kinship and craft, but of arcane curiosity and fear. Strange flickering lights are said to dance through its tunnels, and whispers—sometimes unintelligible, sometimes chillingly familiar—echo from deep within. Some claim the ruins house a weakened veil between worlds, a place where Mordonia’s reality is thinnest and other planes lean too close. Others believe something ancient and foreign has begun to stir in its depths—perhaps benevolent, perhaps not.
The proximity to La Forêt des Secrets seems to have further warped the area in recent years. Arcane researchers, treasure seekers, and rogue sorcerers are increasingly drawn to the Highlands, hoping to unearth magical artifacts or tap into the mysterious currents that leak into the land. This influx has only added to the danger, as magical mishaps and mutated wildlife now roam the hillsides.
Geographically, the Whispering Highlands serve as the vital conduit between the The Solanian Timberplains in the south and the Wilted Cordillera to the north. Trade caravans, warbands, and wayward travelers often pass through—if they dare—crossing the old dwarven roads that still wind upward into the hills, their cobblestones cracked and moss-covered.
But few linger here. Fewer still call it home. In the Whispering Highlands, the past is alive, the wind speaks in riddles, and something—watching, waiting—sleeps beneath Mount Joshua.