Wizard's Wall
The Wizard’s Wall is a vast cliff escarpment more than 500 miles in length that runs across the Crynnomar Gap between the Deepfells to the west and the Stoneheart Mountains on the east. For well over half a millennium, it has been an impenetrable barrier protecting the Northmarches of the Grand Duchy of Reme from The Haunted Steppes to the north.
Approaching the wall from the Northmarches, the land slopes gently upward, almost imperceptibly, until it suddenly drops in sheer cliffs to a base on The Haunted Steppes, as much as 1000 feet below. Along its western end at the base of the escarpment, the shallow, swampy Shadowfell Lake formed from waters that collected from the redirected Wanaheeli River. The face of the escarpment is effectively impassible, the rock of its vertical walls brittle and likely to crumble in the hands of any who might try to climb them. Attempts to pass the wall on the west are thwarted by the sharp crags and high peaks of the Deepfells, while the fortress known as Durgam’s Folly guards the only known trail through the Stonehearts at its eastern end. More than just a physical obstacle, the stony precipice holds power over the unseen as well and bars passage by dark spirits from the steppe that seek to cross into the southern lands.
After the destruction of the Caleen Colonies in The Haunted Steppes in 2947 I.R., the wall was raised through the use of ancient and powerful magics by the archmages Alycthron and Margon to block what otherwise would have been an unstoppable invasion of Reme by hordes of humanoids and shadow-walkers from the Lost Mountains far to the north.
In the long years since, Reme has kept a watch on The Haunted Steppes beyond the Wizard’s Wall. In addition to the permanent garrison at Durgam’s Folly, the Duchy of the Northmarches maintains a number of watchtowers along the top of the escarpment. Troops are regularly shifted among these watchtowers, Durgam’s Folly, and other assignments in the Northmarches, including patrols of the outskirts of the Haunted Wood and the Gryphon Hills. While some smaller towers are not always manned, the six largest host permanent contingents of soldiers charged with watching over The Plains beyond. From the west, these six towers are called Haldor’s Tower, Granite Eye, Rilla’s Watch, the Tower of the Rock, the Duchess Tower, and Coursguard.
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