Mount Klodor
Mount Klodor is the northwest corner of Lustria and is best known for having the Monument of Izzatal at it's summit.
The summit is roughly 5000 meters or 16,000 feet tall. The mountain is near but technically not a part of the Spine of Sotek mountain range.
On the eastern slopes of Mount Klodor are several terrace farms and the Kahoun of Klodorex which was created specifically to guard the monument of Izzatal and it's adjoining temple complex.
Towards the south of Mount Klodorex is a mountain pass in the Spine of Sotek mountain range, mostly used by large dinosaurs, occasionally used by Lizardmen or the Lizardmen's more cunning enemies.
Geography
The spiritual center of Klodorex is on the mountain top. The city’s Slann directed the carving of the mountain top into an image of Izzatal’s head. It was then plated with gold and enchanted by four Slann to anchor the ley line against further Chaos disruptions.
The monument is big enough that it’s visible from hundreds miles away on a clear day. A lot of warmbloods think the whole shiny orb on top of the mountain is solid gold, and therefore is the largest single source of gold on the planet. It’s not, but there is enough real gold in the plating that if invaders got that far and had time to scrape it all off and get away with their loot, they would certainly be rich as princes, albeit princes of small realms. If the Lizardmen could somehow communicate that their monument is only gold plated, they would probably cut the number of invaders down by half.
Below the Monument are four unorthodox temples. The temples are unorthodox because they are not pyramids. They are carved into a side of the mountain, so they didn’t need to be built into a pyramid to gain the height to use the ley lines. They are built along the ley lines evenly distributed around the Monument of Izzatal in the northeast, northwest, southwest, and southeast corners of the mountain top.
To get up to the mountain top temples, a set of stairs was carved straight up the mountain. This is the most direct route but it is very easy for the defending Lizardmen to coat large sections or the entirity of the stairs in ice in the event of an invasion.
Even without the defenses, the stairs are too steep and narrow to haul bulk supplies or a sleeping Slann up or down the mountain. A series of switchbacks criss cross the mountains western slopes. These switchbacks are defended by gate houses and traps and regular patrols.
History
The Time Before
Before the Great Catastophe, Mount Klodor and by extension Klodorex was basically an afterthought for the Old Ones. The Old Ones directed the Slann to build a small temple at the mountain top to harness the ley line if needed. The Old Ones consecrated a small number of spawning pools using the ley lines' energy and directed those spawned there to maintain the temple and then left it alone. The Lizardmen here were basically a sattelite outpost of the nearby Temple City of Spektazuma and a pit stop on the way to visit the Wellsprings of Eternity and the Pillars of Unseen Constellations. There were no Slann dwelling there older than the third generation long term, even at a time when the First and Second Generation Slann were relatively common.Great Catastrophe
The first generation Slann Izzatal never lived in the area, but he chose this intersection of ley lines to make his stand against the Daemonic hordes during the Great Catastrophe. He willingly sacrificed himself to call upon the full power of the ley line intersection to obliterate massive numbers of Daemons. The remnants of Izzatal’s army and the remnants of Klodorex’s denizens battled the remnants of the Daemons. Every original building was reduced to rubble leveled and most of the Lizardmen here were killed. The defenders barely saved the spawning pools from being irredeemably corrupted. The survivors were five Slann and roughly two dozen Skinks and a couple Sauri who would go on to become Old Ones. Three of the Slann were original caretakers of Klodorex, two of them were some of Izzatal’s lesser lieutenants. One of the new Slann, Laershin opted to stay in Klodorex and help rebuild it. The three other permanent Slann residents whre Merestar (the only one of the Third generation and their default leader), Desserex, and Name Pending.The Age of Isolation
Like everywhere else, the Slann of Klodorex focused on rebuilding. The first thing the Slann needed to do was stabilize the ley lines which were damaged both by the Daemonic attack and by Izzatal overtaxing it. They supervised the construction a monument and enchanted it to stabilize the ley lines. It was also magically warded against Chaos. After all that, the magical power at the ley line intersection was then diffused four directions into four Temple identical temples spaced evenly around the monument. The Monument is fashioned to look like the head of Izzatal (so you know, it looks like every other Slann too). The monument was plated with gold which would cause problems much later. A few Temple cities contributed new immigrants. Klodorex picked up some refugees from ruined cities and Kahoun. Their numbers also swelled as the spawning pools began producing new Lizardmen far more often than in the Time Before. While Lizardmen encountered the other races very seldom during appropriately named the Age of Isolation, Klodorex was even more isolated than most. Be it mighty Slann or lowly Skink, not one of the First of Klodorex laid eyes on a warmblood for the entire Age of Isolation. Slann are not prone to gossip or sniping but later some Slann have said that Klodorex’s double dose of isolation led to Merestar’s naivety about the Prodigal Races. Unbeknownst to the Klodorex’s denizens High Elf explorers had spotted the gold topped mountain that is the Monument of Izzatal. Dozens of High Elves tried to mount an expedition to take the gold and would have certainly been killed to the last man by Lizardmen if they got anywhere near the mountain, but they turned back and returned to their ships after suffering heavy losses to disease and wildlife in the infamous Biting Bogs. Unfortunately, the Golden Mountain as they called it was now on every Ulthuan-made map of Lustria. This happened well before the Elves’ civil war, so that meant the Elves that would go onto become the first Dark Elves also had the Golden Mountain on their maps though it would be many centuries before they gave it a second thought.The Time of the Rat and the Serpent
Quetza is where the Skaven first gathered strength in Lustria. Klodorex is pretty far from Quetza. Also the Skaven were generally interested in killing as many Lizardmen as possible and Klodorex only had a few thousand inhabitants. They were not especially interested in stealing magic or gold. That’s not to say that the Skaven never threatened Klodorex. While the biggest Skaven armies focused on attacking or poisoning the largest temple cities, Skink patrols from Klodorex ended up skirmishing with Skaven expeditionary forces on several occasions. As the greater threat of Clan Pestilens grew more and more obvious, more and Lizardmen from Klodorex volunteered to join Tehenhauin's growing army. I may write a piece about one or more of Klodorex’s army volunteers during this time, but it’s not a priority because everyone knows how it ends: Sotek wins. Most of the Slann were dismissive of Sotek’s prophecy altogether or at least thought that Sotek was overblown and should be accepted carefully. Merestar went even farther and ignored it altogether. Long fascinated with the potential of the Old Ones younger Children, Merestar read portents about events happening a world away. His thoughts and senses were almost literally a world away as he watched in awe as the lowly humans took the sign of the two-tailed comet as inspiration and scored astonishing victories against Chaos. Those who have the time and knowhow to contemplate on the inner motivations of a Slann there are two ways to look at Merestar’s action during the Time of Sotek. One theory is that Merestar was naively oblivious to the Skaven threat by ignoring it. Another theory is that Merestar was acutely aware of everything going on, and he chose to build Turochlitan while the other Slann were distracted so none of the elder Slann would stop him. Either way, when Tehenhauin was driving the Skaven out to sea far to the south, there were already humans in Turochlitan. The Slann of Klodorex attended the Great Convergence in Itza where all of Lustria’s Slann discussed what to do about the new god on the scene, but Merestar and his lieutenants barely paid any attention because their minds were on Turochlitan.The Time of Strife
All of my fluff pieces are set during the Age of Strife. I’m not sure how to write this without spoiling all my prose pieces/ I guess in broad terms. Klodorex fights many enemies during this time period, but this rarely involves massive pitched battles. Klodorex fights minor Dark elf armies often. During a localized Storm of Magic, Klodorex won a massive pitched battle against a comparably sized Dark Elf force in a battle known as the Scouring. While there were plenty of losses, this was a decisive victory for Klodorex and no organized Dark Elf force had been sent against Klodorex since. Since the Scouring the greatest single threat to Klodorex was the Vampire Lord known as Renliss who along with his sire was defeated at and repelled by the army of Klodorex at great cost, though the Slann and their Skink priests were able to magically keep him in check. The Orc and Goblin tribe known as the Burn Face Tribe of Savage Orcs has long been a thorn in the side of Klodorex but rarely did they mount a serious threat. The Burnface Tribe was decisively defeated by both Renliss' undead forces and then later by Kaitar's cleansing campaign. The Skaven have set up small secret lairs somewhat near Klodorex but their low numbers have left them more a local nuisance more than a local threat, especially after Kaitar's cleansing campaign destroyed their main lair. Not long after Kaitar's campaign, the Slanneshi sorceress known as Adrianne led the first army of Warriors of Chaos to ever threaten Klodorex. Despite receiving assistance from the vampire lord Renliss, Adriene's grand southern army of Slaanesh was completely destroyed. With the Chaos defeat, Renliss remains the sole serious threat to Klodorex though he seems reluctant to force a direct confrontation.
Type
Mountain / Hill
Location under
Included Locations
Related Tradition (Primary)
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