Wailing Chasm

Few places in northern Bariatok inspire such wary fascination as the Wailing Chasm, a sprawling labyrinth of caverns and rifts hidden within the region’s rocky hilllands near the Empire’s eastern border. To travelers, it is a desolate wound upon the land, a maze of stone and shadow where the wind itself seems to mourn. To the countless Goblin tribes that dwell within, however, it is sacred ground: the cradle of their gods, the heart of their fractured dominion, and the stage upon which they have fought and feasted for generations beyond memory.   Origins and Legend   The Wailing Chasm was not born of nature alone. Its creation is traced to the cataclysmic battle between the Red Prime Dragon and the Stormking , lord of the storm giants, thousands of years before the rise of men or empires. The clash of those ancient titans shattered the hills, tore open the stone, and left behind a jagged scar that stretched deep into the earth. The Red Prime perished in that battle, and it is said that his death cry echoed through the mountains for centuries thereafter.   The goblins, whose myths rarely reach beyond the stone that shelters them, tell a different story. They claim that their god split the world in two with a single scream, carving out the Chasm as a refuge for his children. Whether born of divine fury or elemental cataclysm, the result is the same, a vast underworld of echoing tunnels, bottomless pits, and caverns large enough to hold entire settlements.   The Wailing   The name “Wailing Chasm” owes itself to the eerie, ceaseless sounds that haunt its depths. To surface dwellers, it is the wind that moans through countless fissures and hollows, producing tones that shift with the season. Among the goblins, however, it is believed that the Chasm mourns for the dragons once slain there.   Long after the Red Prime’s fall, the storm giants returned to the site to experiment upon lesser dragons, binding their spirits with runes of thunder and stone. These rituals ended in ruin, and it is said the dragons’ tormented souls still linger, their eternal howls woven into the breath of the caverns themselves. Few who descend deep enough to hear the true “Wailing” ever return unchanged.   The Goblin Tribes   Over the millennia, the Chasm has become home to one of the densest concentrations of goblinkind in all of Aranath. Its twisting passages shelter dozens of tribes, each claiming dominion over narrow stretches of tunnels or isolated cavern-fortresses. Though small in stature, the goblins of the Chasm have built a surprisingly stable, if perpetually violent, society. They mine iron from the lower shafts, craft crude but effective weapons, and even trade with orc warbands that roam the northern steppes.   However, unity among goblins is fleeting. Ancient rivalries and blood feuds run deep, and alliances rarely last longer than a moon’s turn. Petty kings rise and fall, shamans proclaim new gods, and entire tribes vanish overnight in the endless cycle of raids and reprisals. This constant infighting is the chief reason the Wailing Chasm remains a local threat rather than a continental one.   Imperial Surveillance   Despite its isolation, the Empire has not ignored the Wailing Chasm. A hidden watchpost, known only to the Imperial High Command, lies within the foothills overlooking the outer canyon. Its purpose is not conquest but vigilance. Scouts stationed there are tasked with monitoring goblin activity, watching for any sign that the tribes might unite under a single warlord or prophet. Such unity, however unlikely, could threaten the border provinces and disrupt the already fragile balance in northern Bariatok.   To date, no such unification has occurred. The Chasm remains a cauldron of chaos, ruled by dozens of squabbling factions, their ambitions devoured by their own envy and mistrust.   The Realm Below   The upper reaches of the Wailing Chasm consist of narrow gorges and dry canyons, but deeper still the stone gives way to vast halls illuminated by phosphorescent fungi and rivers of subterranean mist. Some explorers speak of ancient ruins buried within, perhaps remnants of the storm giants who once used the place as a crucible for their arcane experiments. Others claim that the Red Prime’s bones still lie somewhere beneath the deepest vaults, their heat long since cooled, but their spirit still lingering in the thunder that rolls through the stone.   Whatever truth lies hidden beneath its echoing depths, the Wailing Chasm endures as one of Bariatok’s most haunting landmarks: a place where myth and stone are indistinguishable, where the past refuses to rest, and where the wailing never ceases.