Mount Hold's Bane
When you feel that you've given all you can in your life, that there's nothing more to offer to the world, or that you just wish to end it all, break ground at Hold's Bane. Leave your mark upon the largest tombstone in the world.
Dominating Mordrekain's southwestern corner, the gargantuan mountain known as Hold's Bane looms on the horizon. The treeline of the peak is abnormally low, leaving it a barren, stony spear driving straight into the sky. On particularly clear days, the very tip can even be seen from some parts of Stirge and Duwallen. As is only natural, inhabitants of the Underkingdom have long since coveted the real estate the mountain represents, and dozens upon dozens of attempts to carve a hold into it have been made. True to its name, not a single one has succeeded. Whether through accident, death, or sudden habitation by hostile creatures, each and every time a new hold is begun within its borders, the process is halted and the half-started efforts are left as a testament to their failure.
No one is entirely sure why the mountain seems to be so thoroughly cursed. Some suspect it might be the domain of some isolated god, who wishes to remain alone. Others wonder if there might be an unknown species already living along its peaks, hiding their existence from the world and working against anything that might lead to their discovery. Whatever the case, every few decades another company tries their hand at breaking Hold's Bane, only to leave another false entrance to an abandoned hold somewhere on its face.
Fauna & Flora
Much of the life that has thus far been discovered on and within the mountain seem to have evolved with an extreme level of heat in mind, counteracting the frigid environment around them by simply overpowering it with heat. Lesser phoenixes, surface-dwelling variants of the volcano beetle, and the like roam the craggy hillsides, clearing away snow to eat the greenery - not to mention the various critters it attracts - found underneath. When the snowfall gets especially heavy and populations of these creatures grow particularly large, it's not uncommon for minor floods to occur around the base of the mountain as the melted precipitation pours down into the valleys below.
The Secret Residents of Hold's Bane
Unbeknownst to all but a very limited few, there resides a species of intelligent life along the upper reaches of the inhospitable mountain. Crafted from what appears to be the stones themselves and imbued with a very literal inner fire, these so-called 'Terrakin' are the children of the mountain, caring for it and its secrets. While they are almost never the actual cause of the failures of the various holds that have met their end over the centuries, every once in a while they will be called upon to act in their home's defense, with a surprising amount of stealth and secrecy considering their composition.
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