Mount Aelthir

Rising from the jagged spine that is the Greywilds Range, Mount Aelthir dominates the skyline of Var Thalloth - the epicenter of the Riftfall Cataclysm. Only fifteen days a year is it possible to see the summit of this peak that is such a geographical marvel, as it is a mystery that has eluded scholars, explorers, and would-be plunderers for centuries. No maps chart its passes reliably and no sanctioned expedition has returned with verifiable proof of what lies beyond the storms.

According to ancient texts, many of them contradictory, Aelthir did not exist before the Riftfall Cataclysm which has made some refer to it as a "realm anchor" or "planepillar", a point with unusually high cross-realm activity and natural disasters. Legends passed down by the cliff-dwelling tribes claim the peak is the remnant of Ishthara, the Titan of Earth who reached up to help Calador Nythris seal the Kael Rift on the fields below. It is said that it is her anguish and her dreams that fuel the endless storms of the Mount and the Greywilds.

What fuels much of the fascination and fear surrounding Mount Aelthir is not just the weather, but the persistent rumors of unreached civilizations within its folds. Lost societies that are said to possess pre-Celestial Age knowledge, unbroken magical lineages and vast vaults of relics preserved untouched by the cataclysms and sunderings that has plagued the surface of Avaleen. Some within the Aeos Reserve believe that one such society, the Aurelians, retreated to Mount Aelthir after the Cataclysm and sealed themselves away, abandoning the outside world to its chaos.

Attempts to breach the peak are met by resistance, not just from nature but from unseen and elusive assailants. Survivors speak of shadow walkers and winged humanoid birds that drive off scouting parties and mimic human voices in inhuman cadences that cause madness and all sorts of hallucinatory conditions.

These shapes are said to speak in an unrecorded language of jagged syllables and clicks, often described as half-spell, half-animal. Are they remnants of ancient defenders warped by time or magic? Are they just an elusive species content to remain apart and isolated? No matter what, even dragons are known to avoid the storms of Mount Aelthir though none will explain why.

Among the ranks of the Cerrion Assembly, there is a growing belief that Mount Aelthir may sit atop a sealed rift to a hitherto unknown realm.

Whether Mount Aelthir is a prison, a sanctuary, or something far stranger, one truth remains: it does not wish to be found. Yet its allure remains irresistible to those who seek its treasures and secrets.