Stone Stand

Stone Stand

Patron deity: Malar

Inhabitants of the Stone Stand

The Stone Stand was a stone circle in the High Forest in the Silver Marches. It contained a large oak tree, grown from a cutting from the Grandfather Tree. The site was sacred to both the Tree Ghost and Blue Bear tribes.

Description

At the heart of Stone Stand stood a tall oak tree. It was encircled by two cairn rings, each surmounted by a ring of menhirs. Each menhir was evenly spaced out 10 ft (3 m) apart and capped by lintel pieces that linked the cairn rings together into two unbroken rings.
These menhir rings predated the arrival of the Uthgardt tribes and were inscribed with the symbols of many nature deities, some too obscured by age to properly make out. The known deities represented on these menhirs included Baervan Wildwanderer, Eldath, Emmantiensien, Lurue, Mielikki, Moander, Rillifane Rallathil, Shiallia, Skerrit, Silvanus, Solonor Thelandira, and Tapann.

History

It was unknown exactly how old Stone Stand was, but its use far pre-dated its discovery by the Uthgardt tribes by centuries.
In the Year of the Burning Tree, 890 DR, during one of the Blue Bear Tribe's annual Runemeets, the Grandfather Tree inexplicably burst into flames. However, the tree and forest were somehow left unharmed. Noticing the phenomenon, their shaman cut a low-hanging branch untouched by the flames. As he did so, a shadowy male figure garbed in green was said to have emerged from the branch and fled into the forest, leaving a trail of bear prints in his wake. The tribesmen followed this trail until they came to the Stone Stand. It was here that their shaman planted the cut branch of Grandfather Tree, establishing the site as their ancestral mound.
At some point, Uthgar tribesmen buried a giant relic beneath the site's central mound, the skull of a frost giant that Uthgar was said to have killed at Morgur's Mound. They believed its magic would protect the oak tree, whose roots wrapped around the skull. In reality, the skull exuded an aura of necromancy magic, causing the spirits of Uthgardt warriors to arise whenever any creature came within 30 ft (9.1 m) of the tree.
At some point, the Blue Bear tribe consecrated the site to Malar, inscribing his symbol on one of the menhirs. Following their destruction, the Tree Ghost tribe took over stewardship of the mound and worked to drive off any remnants of the Blue Bears who approached the site.

Rumors & Legends

It was believed that before her death, Tanta Hagara enchanted Uthgardt burial totems to summon dead warriors of the Blue Bear tribe to defend the Stone Stand and the hidden treasures beneath the ancestral mounds. One such totem, the Wrath of the Blue Bear, was stolen from Stone Stand and found its way into a private collection in Daggerford.