Shengotha Plateau

The Stoneheart Ice Plateau is one of the highest and coldest spots in central Akados. Within the plateau, a massive glacier of ice covers more than 60,000 square miles to a depth estimated at as much as 500 feet. Surrounding the plateau, which lies at an elevation of roughly 9,000 feet, is rugged, trackless mountain, with towering peaks reaching up to 12,000 feet or more. The only means of access to the plateau, other than crossing the mountains, is via a narrow pass on the southwest, but that is now filled by the cursed Ice Flow, and is a route best avoided by the sane.
Toward the southern end of the glacier, bathed in an unholy glow, is the Ice Palace of Perfidium.
Despite the enormity of the glacier and the entirely barren wasteland that now fills the plateau, not long ago this was a fertile and hospitable place. Before 3035 I.R., this was known as the Shengotha Plateau. Despite the altitude, winters were chilly yet not oppressive, while summers were brief and warm. This was the ancient homeland of the dwarven Clan Krazzadak. They had built four strategically positioned strongholds known as the Four Siblings about the plateau to defend the clan’s lands against human migration, orc and goblinoid invasions, and their dwarven rivals. Yet these fortresses paled in comparison to the splendor of their capital city of Bryn Tuk Thull which they raised on a small hill in the middle of the plateau, and which shined brighter than any other star in the dwarven heavens. Gold, silver, rubies, and other precious metals and gemstones poured into the cosmopolitan metropolis from the mining operations in the nearby mountains. At its zenith, the Shengotha Plateau was known as the Stoneheart’s Precious Jewel. And then one day, everything Clan Krazzadak accomplished came to a sudden and calamitous ruin.
No one can say whether the dwarves excavated something not meant to be found deep beneath the earth or committed some other transgression. It is said that a great wizard imbued with nearly godlike powers cursed the homeland of Clan Krazzadak. An unrelenting storm of snows struck, and within days an unnatural glacier entombed Bryn Tuk Thull, the Four Siblings, and the rest of the high plateau beneath hundreds of feet of compressed ice and snow. The dwarves had no choice but to flee (most heading to their nearby citadel of Abad Durhai), leaving their cities and much within them behind. They were soon replaced by frost giants, winter wolves, gelid beetles, and other creatures of cold who found the new climate of the plateau to their liking. A tribe of barbegazi (ice gnomes) also arrived. They established a strong niche atop the glacier and burrowed tunnels into the abscesses within the now-frozen world.
Surviving members of Clan Krazzadak periodically venture back to the Ice Plateau seeking to reclaim some of its lost glory. Undoubtedly, many great treasures of the dwarves remain entombed under the ice. In addition, Thull XII, the last king of Shengotha, was lost along with members of his household and personal guard when the ice covered the plateau. Though now more than 500 years have passed, some wonder whether some of those dwarves or their descendants might yet live somewhere in the Stoneheart Ice Plateau.

Alternative Name(s)

Stoneheart Plateau