Difference between revisions of "Ascarlin mountains"

Revision as of 07:16, 13 January 2008

Danger: Normal
Sub zones: great ascarlin mines, great diamond mines
Inhabitants: rock harpies, humans, earth mouths

Standing as one the highest points on the map, these majestic mountains are a great place to get a view of the surrounding lands. The Ascarlin mountains are famous for their wide variety of rocks and minerals, especially the large deposits of Ascarlin.

Ascarlin, also called dreamstone, is an extremely rare gem, immensely sought. A single ascarlin is easily worth a dozen times that a diamond of the same size, and empires have waged wars for just a handful of them. Ascarlin is a semi-translucent teal-blue stone with red veins running through it. It's incredibly beautiful and, when socketed in magical artifacts, can increase their power tenfold.

The Ascarlin mountains are legendary on some worlds, and their name is often more famous than Felarya's. They attract many people from foreign worlds and their resources are the base of power for the great city of Negav that lies at their base. The mountains are riddled with mines, tunnels and underground cities.

Despite the intense human activity inside, the exterior of the mountains is surprisingly devoid of any trace of human civilization, besides some scarces outside passageways. Few predators live there but those that do are dangerous. Rock harpies in particular pose a big threat to reckless miners, with their huge appetite and fearsome wind-based magic.

Great diamond mines

Danger: Low
Inhabitants: shadow fishes, humans

An expansive network of winding tunnels, dug by humans in the upper to mid parts of the Ascarlin mountains, and riddled wih veins of diamond. During long years, the activity of the zone decreased in favor of the more profitable Ascarlin mines, but because of a recent surge in predator activity there, many miners came back to the much safer diamond ones.

Indeed, besides some shadow fishes dwelling in the deepest parts, the tunnels are mostly void of any dangerous creatures. The main danger come from the Rock harpies that fly over the mountains and will sometimes vacuum what is inside tunnels that emerge to the surface, or attack outside structures and passageways. The entrance of the mine however, is the same than the ascarlin one : a reinforced tunnel that lead next to Negav, in an area withing the radius of protection of the Isolon eye.

Great ascarlin mines

Danger: Hazardous
Inhabitants: humans, silver succubi, fire succubi, earth elementals, night anemones, shadow fishes, glophorbias

The upper section of this immense network of tunnels is brimming with activity. Miners, Negavian guards, merchants, wizards, and adventurers from every world are gathered there, chatting, forming plans, and buying artifacts. Once your go deeper into the mines however, past the protective magical wards the place seems to be abandoned.

That's actually not the case, but only solid teams of miners dare to venture there. It's not uncommon for them to hire powerful wizards and mighty mercenaries to escort them along the way, for going this deep is very dangerous. In their frenzy to extract the precious ascarlin, the human miners have dug too deep and attracted the attention of the many strange, dangerous, and hungry creatures that dwell in these depths. Innumerable miners have fallen prey to them.

Some demonic monsters roam the deeper parts of the mine and, sometimes, a whole tunnel will suddenly turn to flesh, becoming the digestive track of an earth elemental and trapping the miners inside.

At first, the unbearable heat of the deeper tunnels was thought to be due to volcanic activity and yet there is no lava, tremors, or any other of the normal signs of it. The sweltering atmosphere may instead come from an open portal to some place of extreme heat.

• credits to XLRP for the base idea of Ascarlin mines