Amru's Rest

Reaching high into the clouds above the northern region of Aianis, Amru's Rest serves as the home and base of power to the Karsurinesti, a group of two hundred elves who ascended to godhood following the death of Amru at the hands of the Mekkarans. The peak of the mountain breaches the edge of the material plane into the celestial planes, allowing the Karsurinesti to act as intermediaries between the extraplanar gods and the gods and mortals of Riathalu. Deep underneath the mountain, the remains of Amru are interred in a sarcophagus made of polished malachite and trimmed with gold. Every fifty years, the Karsurinesti must return to Amru's rest and meditate to replenish their divine power. For thousands of years, the Karsurinesti have ruled Aianis from Amru's Rest, and the elves--and even some humans--who reside there make frequent pilgrimages up the mountain to make offerings to the living gods as thanks for their patronage.

Geography

The slopes of Amru's Rest are only moderately steep, making for a steady, albeit lengthy climb to the sanctuary built into the mountain under the peak. The mountain and valleys beneath, like most of Aianis, are home to lustrous forests teeming with life. Like most modern elves, the Aianesti hold respect for the wilderness and prefer to avoid altering it extensively. In the southeastern base of the mountain, there is a large quarry of malachite, which the Karsurinesti once contracted a dwarven guild to mine for the construction of Amru's tomb. Plentiful rivers flow down from the mountain's peak and many slopes, providing for much of the continent's plant life and settlements.

Localized Phenomena

The peak of Amru's Rest reaches into the celestial planes, allowing the Karsurinesti to easily summon whole armies of celestial warriors to protect Aianis should the need arise. The rivers that flow from the peak originate from these planes, and are touched by their radiance. Throughout Aianis, where the rivers are diluted by their many tributaries, this simply means that the water is inordinately clean and even deliberate attempts to pollute it are arduous and short-lasting. The water at the source, however, is said to dramatically extend the life of anyone who drinks from or bathes in it.

Fauna & Flora

Many forests grow along the mountains slopes, with rich fruit feeding plentiful and healthy wildlife. In the millennia following the Mekkaran invasion, great numbers of rust monsters have wandered free and formed a stable breeding population. While rangers in the service of the Karsurinesti have mostly been able to keep them away from the roads, anyone who strays into the wilderness had best carry decent nonmetal weapons.

Natural Resources

The woods on the slopes of Amru's Rest are bountiful, but largely untouched. The southeast base of the mountain has a large deposit of malachite. After the completion of Amru's tomb, the malachite here has only been used in the crafting of holy symbols for clerics of the Karsurinesti. Due to the blessed water running down the mountain, much of its soil is very rich, and many farming communities thrive in its lower parts.

History

In the waning days of the titan rebellions during the Primal Age, the few remaining rebels gathered at a mountain toward the north of the continent that the elves would later name "Aianis" in a last attempt to maintain their unity against the gods. Working together, they dug into the earth and piled it onto the mountain until reached into the heavens to show the gods that they, too, were mighty creators. This final act of defiance did the titans little good, as the elder gods simply converged on their base and crushed them. When the titans were scattered and banished to the abyss, the gods left their mountain intact as a token reminder of their failed rebellion. It would remain largely undisturbed by divines and mortals for thousands of years. When elven settlers first colonized the continent of Aianis during the Founding Age, they were astounded by the shear size of the great mountain that reached high above the clouds, visible from anywhere but the southernmost regions of the continent. Having never seen or heard of a mountain so big before, they simply named it "The Great Mountain," or in their tongue, Ar'silath. Ar'silath would be the subject of the elves' curiosity for millennia to come. As kingdoms formed at the mountain's base, all manner of competitions were held on it, from hunting expeditions to simply climbing the mountain until one could go no further and returning with a sample of earth or water from the highest point one reached. All these competitions had in common was that they required athletes to train for years and were typically very dangerous. Due to Ar'silath's sheer size, it was possible for several nations to hold their competitions at the same time without the athletes ever crossing paths. After several thousand years, the Aianesti elves found themselves in a similar predicament to the long forgotten titans who made the mountain. When the Mekkarans were finished laying the Tane Empire and the land of the giants to waste, setting up a firm base of power in Sarenaith, they turned their eyes to Aianis. Learning from the past and from Tanish elves who'd fought the Mekkarans before, the Aianesti kingdoms fought the superiorly equipped Mekkarans using ambush, traps, and by outmaneuvering them, yet still found themselves losing ground. With a combination of raw power and adaptability, the Mekkarans forced the elves back to the base of Ar'silath. The timely arrival of Amru, the Aerister god of hunting and council, gave the elves hope as he descended from the sky and started destroying the armored warriors with shots from his mighty bow. With the aid of the divine, it seemed the destroyers would finally be halted, but after days of fighting, the Mekkarans managed to overwhelm Amru, wearing him down until he could no longer stand, and by some blasphemous means, striking him dead. Before that day, no god had ever fallen by a mortal's hand, and the spirit of nearly every defending elf was utterly crushed by this unthinkable twist of events. It seemed they, too, would make their final stand on the great mountain. Not all elves lost hope, however, as a handful of Amru's clerics could still feel his essence within the world. They began grasping for it, hoping that perhaps some part of the god was still alive, enough for them to at least still draw spells. What they ended up accomplishing was far greater. Collaborating with various wizards and sorcerers, Amru's clerics found a way to siphon his powers and bestow themselves with a minor level of divinity. This power was gifted to the most talented mages, clerics, and hunters, the latter of which consisted of many athletes who had been up and down Ar'silath's slopes many times. These elves combined their new divinity with superior knowledge of Ar'silath's terrain to continue their guerilla war against the Mekkarans, slowly bringing the fight to a stalemate. Victory did not come until these ascended gods, who would come to be known as the Karsurinesti, moved on from merely enhancing their mortal skills and began to put their newfound powers of creation to the test. Under the leadership of Venrond, one of the last Tanish wizards, the Karsurinesti built a laboratory hidden in a cave deep inside the mountain and performed endless experiments to develop something that could turn the tide against the Mekkarans, once and for all. Through a combination of arcane and alchemical mutations with selective breeding, they managed to create a creature that directly attacked the Mekkarans' greatest strength, their nigh-impervious armor. This creature possessed long antennae that caused rapid tarnishing in any metal they touched, and was bred with an insatiable hunger for the resulting piles of rust. These rust monsters were bred as quickly as possible and sent to the front lines, where the Mekkarans finally met their match. With their magic weapons and armor crumbling before them, the invaders lost their holdings in Aianis one by one before being forced into a full retreat. Though the lands across Aianis had been scorched and cities leveled, the elves stood victorious for the first time in over three hundred years. With the Mekkarans humbled and gods all across the world turning against them for fear of sharing Amru's fate, the Aianesti and their new gods focused their efforts on rebuilding. A dwarven mining guild from Sarenaith was contacted and hired to build a tomb for Amru. Being told the tomb needed to be majestic to properly honor a divine being, the dwarves found an unusually large quarry of malachite at the base of the mountain and mined it. After digging deep into Ar'silath with the help of elven magic, the architects used malachite bricks to build a large and elaborate tomb centered around a grand sarcophagus, also made of malachite and trimmed with gold, where Amru is now interred. From then on, Ar'silath became known as "Amru's Rest." The Karsurinesti have since built great halls toward the peak of Amru's Rest, from where they serve as the governing body for all of Aianis. Like the malachite-patterned garments these ascended gods are required to wear, their location directly above Amru's remains is a constant reminder to avoid growing to proud, as even gods can die. The athletic competitions once held on the mountain have all but ceased, as common consensus holds that this would be the same as walking over Amru's grave. Though some dispute this, arguing that Amru would want to see the elves living joyous lives thanks to his sacrifice, most journey's up Amru's Rest today are solemn pilgrimages made in honor of the old gods and the new, and instead of trekking upon untamed wilderness, they walk along smooth brick roads.

Tourism

Every year, thousands of elves around Aianis and across the sea visit Amru's rest to pay respects to the slain god. Many shrines exist upon the roads, as well as gates to regulate travelers. Offerings can be made at any shrine along the way, but only those placed at the highest temples will be brought to Amru's tomb and placed by his sarcophagus. Locals who feel it is still appropriate to hold feasts and competitions on the slopes of Amru's rest will often invite such pilgrims to join in their festivities. However, while the mountain once held races to the top peak and grand hunts along its slopes, controversy over the idea of merrymaking on the grave of a god has reduced these activities to modest feasts around campfires placed some distance between the roads, with storytellers and flute players providing entertainment.  The spot on the mountain where Amru drew his last breath, as well as other notable sites of Mekkaran devastation, has deliberately been left barren to commemorate the fallen god. A memorial--a meager stack of bricks to represent Amru's association with civilization, but left colorless to fit its grim background--was placed in the middle of this patch of land, with a handful of weapons and pieces of armor belonging to slain elven soldiers leaned against it. These weapons and armor have been magically preserved in hopes of maintaining a visual reminder of those who gave their lives defending Aianis.

Alternative Name(s)

Ar'silath, Huntsman's Headstone, Godsgrave, Plane's Peak

Type

Mountain / Hill