The Wilted Cordillera

Towering over the northeastern edge of Mordonia, the Wilted Cordillera is a rugged and jagged mountain range marked by peril, mystery, and powerful ancient legacies. Its high altitudes, unpredictable weather, and monstrous denizens make it a place few novice adventurers dare to tread. This stony expanse serves as the natural barrier between the shadowy woods of La Forêt des Secrets / The Forest of Secrets to the southwest and the gleaming expanse of the The Crystalline Tundra to the far north.
At the range’s southern foot lies Kino Pizot, a wind-swept, stone-hewn settlement carved into the mountainside. This humble town is home to a hardy population of dwarves, orcs, and beastfolk, all bound by a culture of grit, endurance, and practical magic. Formerly a mining hub in ancient days, Kino Pizot now thrives through forging, trade, and hosting adventurers who pass through before venturing deeper into the unforgiving north. It is often dubbed "The Last Hearth of the Cordillera."
Just east of Kino Pizot, balanced precariously over yawning chasms and forgotten rope bridges, lie the Temples of Rhondarr—massive stone sanctuaries once devoted to ascetic martial practice and elemental balance. The temples were abandoned generations ago after a mysterious mountain collapse, but recently they’ve become a haven for strange cultists—devotees to forgotten gods or darker forces still undiscovered. Echoes of chanting and strange lights are often seen from afar, but few who approach ever return with clear memories.
To the far southeast, nestled in Mordonia’s easternmost crags, looms the ominous Castle Dragmire. Dark and unyielding, the castle casts a grim shadow over the adjacent Dragmire Township, a quiet village that exists in uneasy harmony with the ancient estate. No one remembers the last time the castle gates opened, nor have its supposed residents—if any—been seen. The oldest among the villagers whisper that the castle was once the home of Morbidia Dragmire, the Blackmoon Witch, a sorceress whose name has become legend and warning in equal measure. It is said she bargained with ancient forces, extending her life across centuries. Whether she still walks the halls is a matter of superstition—or fact, for those bold or foolish enough to find out.
To the south of Dragmire, nestled in the blackened remnants of a volcanic chain, lies the Kragthorin Assembly—a massive warforged manufacturing complex abandoned after the Age of Pandemonium. Though its smokestacks have long gone cold, rumors have recently stirred of automata sighted marching in formation, emerging from the basalt ruins without master or directive. The Kingdom of Solania has officially labeled these rumors false—yet they have dispatched several reconnaissance teams to investigate… none of whom have returned.
North of Castle Dragmire lies the Sablepine Thicket, a frostbitten, snow-dappled forest that forms a natural bridge between the Cordillera’s final peaks and the icy plains of the Crystalline Tundra. Though eerily silent, it is said the Thicket is "watched"—its trees unnaturally still when observed, but whispering when your back is turned.
Atop one of the thicket’s northernmost hills rests an old estate known only in whispered legend: Velvet Hollow Manse. The building appears differently to each visitor—sometimes a crumbling ruin, other times pristine and lit from within—yet no account agrees on its layout or inhabitants. Whether it’s a haunted remnant of the past, a sentient place, or a thin spot between realities, no one can say. All that is certain is this: those who enter never leave the same—if they leave at all.