Blackrock Mountains

Some cataclysm of the ancient past brought forth a cluster of volcanoes spewing molten stone and metal to form the tall and forbidding Blackrock Mountains. Though the volcanoes have been dormant now for thousands of years, the rock thrust up by the eruptions and the volcanic glass left behind form massive mountains and jagged cliffs that are difficult to traverse or explore. Millenia of erosion and earthquakes have softened the mountains some, but their imposing glassy rock stretches thousands of feet upward in ragged lines with strange, twisting valleys and passes winding through and around the larger peaks. Travel through the mountains, even on well-known passes, is unforgiving and dangerous, particularly for those unskilled in such adventures. The Blackrock Mountains sit in the midst of a number of human kingdoms and partially divide the Kingdom of Foere from its prior possessions: the Kingdom of the North Heath, the Kingdom of Vast, and the Principality of Olduvar.
Only the hardiest of plants find purchase in small pockets of sandy soil collecting in the gaps and valleys amid the Blackrocks. These few plants support a menagerie of creatures that are as tough and unforgiving as the mountains themselves. Dragons are drawn to the metals and gemstones hidden in the rocks and regularly come into conflict over small caves and lairs. Several clans of hearty stone giants make their home in some of the safer valleys, and storm giants are drawn to the area around the ruins of Tiro’en.
The dwarves of the Iron Kingdom of Dorriden call these forbidding mountains home and claim the entire range as their own, but they delve into the depths of the mountains seeking precious metals and gems beneath the surface and generally protect only the passes to and from Iron Hall. The rest of the mountains are left to themselves and defended only if threatened by a foreign army. Even giants are tolerated and left alone so long as they do not harry the trade caravans moving in and out of Iron Hall.
Tribes of goblins are known to haunt some areas of these mountains, though they keep far from any dwarven settlements or mines. Orcs were driven from the mountains during a dwarven campaign against dragons at the birth of the Iron Kingdom and can be found only in isolated family units that flee at the possibility of conflict. Rarer creatures have been sighted but most intelligent creatures stay far from any dwarven trade paths or activities.

Type

Mountain / Hill