The Walwin Mountains
Separating the Borial peninsula from the rest of Ediacara are the dry and hot Walwin mountain range. While not as tall as the Torverns to the north, the Walwins are just as wild and dangerous; if the dangerously high day time temperatures don’t get you, the fickle fey that wander the mountains are never far off, and the ever angry elementals of earth, air, and fire are always looking for a fight.
There are also the winds of unstable nature magic that float through the valleys and over the parched peaks of the mountains, warping reality by their very nature, and giving birth to a myriad of monsters both benign and vicious.
Unlike the northern Torvern Range, very few people call the Walwins home. Those who do, only live here long enough to mine the rich ores that run throughout the range, and then to ship them down to the plains of Zetrea; all in the hope of making a better life for themselves.
Major Settlements
San Toratos
The only town of any real size in the mountains is San Toratos. It is from here that most of the ore that is mined from the range is sent east to the plains along the regions only railway.
The few citizens who call San Toratos home eke out a meager living either supplying goods and services to the hearty (or foolish) souls who are heading deeper into the mountains, or in service of the railroad.
Population: ~2,500
Shimmerstone Mine
The Shimmerstone mine is the largest mining operation in the Walwins and is owned and operated by the far-reaching Mineral Venture Company.
With a population rivaling that of San Toratos, it should come as no surprise then that any services you would find in a town can be found here: shops, inns, smiths, and even a standing militia.
Unlike San Toratos, the railway does not extend to the mine and has helped to create a highly lucrative and dangerous cottage industry of porters, and those who support their efforts to get the ore from the Shimmerstone mine to market.
Population: ~2,100
Landmarks & Points of Interest
Obelisk of the Forgotten One
A staggeringly tall spire of rusted metal that is said to be dedicated to a god that the world has long since forgotten. While no pilgrims make the journey to praise a god here anymore, thrill seekers and adventurers have taken their place, all of them sure the rumours and stories they have heard about this ancient site are true.
The Zarlem Erg
Covering the whole of the continent’s highest and largest plateau is the sad sea known as the Zarlem Erg. Very few hard facts are known about the interior of the erg, just as very few rumours and myths exist to draw the attention of explorers and adventures to this sea of sand.
The lack of interest as well as the difficulty in reaching the erg, has left it little more than a natural curiosity.
The Oridon Gate
Standing fifty tall and built into a natural stone arch is the ornate Oridon Gate. For millennia this gateway to the Borial peninsula has stood closed, cutting off the nations of the fae from the rest of the continent, but with the Seventh Sovereign came to power and re-established ties with the nations to the north, the gate was opened for the first time in recorded history.
Ecology
This is but a small selection of the more interesting animals, monsters, and elementals that can be found roaming the dry peaks and parched valleys of the Walwin Mountains.
Hysterin and her Flock
Hysterin, the harpy matriarch and her vicious daughters are a menace that stalk large sections of the Walwins, with their hunting grounds growing ever larger year after year.
A few half-hearted attempts have been made to deal with this threat, but all of them have yet to stop the vile monsters from spreading their unique kind of beautiful terror further, and further throughout the range.
Dust Devils
These elementals are a mix of elemental air and earth that take the form of a violent whirlwind of dust and stone. Dust Devils float across the higher peaks and highlands of the range, scouring the land as they do, and searching for anything to destroy and blow away.
It is easy to see the tracks the elementals make as they sand down the land they travel over, and it is advised to go in the opposite direction unless you too want to be sanded down.
Megapede
Giant arthropods that can reach lengths of eighty foot or more are known as megapedes, and these gargantuan bugs are one of the Walwin’s most dangerous predators. Living in labyrinthine burrows that stretch for miles and miles under the range, these beasts strike without warning from beneath the ground, pulling their prey down into their burrows.
It is recommended to not follow a megapede into its burrow, because few in any individuals who do rarely come back.
Couatl
While concrete evidence of these colourful winged serpents is rare, the number of legends, myths, rumours, and stories from the Walwins make their existence hard to ignore.
The origins of the couatls are a mystery, and the how and why they came to (perhaps) call these mountains home is just as mysterious. What is known, as far as such things can be known, is that these winged serpents appear to only a select few, and almost always in moments of clarity or despair.