The Azure Ridge

The Azure ridge gets its name from its equally named long mountain range. The peaks of the mountains are permanently covered in snow and shrouded in clouds. once a year, during Midsunnar, no cloud hangs over the mountain and the chain can be witnessed in all its glory.    The valleys and beaches of the land are no less impressive. with its slightly warmer temperatures than the mountains themselves, the valleys are covered in dense pine forests, a wide array of beautiful but deadly beasts roam its lands and the smell of cured meats, burned pine wood and gentle river streams, trail between the many towns and cities.   The Beaches are long and uninhabited, with the odd fishing ports as an exception. Hardly a seafaring nation, the dwarves have kept the size and progress of their ports limited to the necessary size for trade with the other Houses. Seeing as these beaches are both beautiful and unused, they are often the ideal place for tourists and travellers to set up camp, for both a day or a longer period of time, although it tends to get a bit tricky when the local wildlife migrates towards the beaches from time to time.   To the south, The Southern Strait is kept under close watch as per the orders of House Thassyran, and The Closing Bluff serves as both a first line of defence and a buffer in case of imminent war.

Snowy mountaintops with scarce amount of very tough and durable wildlife and hardly any flora.   Pine tree forest hills and valleys, Teeming with large and dangerous wildlife and natural resources.   Lush, untapped palm tree beaches with small but sometimes deadly wildlife.

The mountains are always cold and almost always snowy. the fauna and flora are unaffected by the seasons.   The Hills have the largest fluctuation in temperature and seasonal changes. Most wildlife hibernates during the winter or migrates to the beaches. the pine trees stay steady but most other fauna dies down in fall but comes back in Bloom.     The beaches have a drop in temperature during Frostfall. most aerial wildlife migrates to The Typhoon Islands and the remaining wildlife tends to be of the insectoid kind, which simply burrows, or migrates up the hills and also hibernates.

Nowhere else can you find such a diverse set of wildlife as on The Ridge. most types of large game meat and top range bred meat is exported from here.   The high amount of pine wood also makes it the largest exporter of high end luxury woods.    Ofcourse the highest income is generated by the gifts the mountain itself has to offer. The Azure Ridge has no equal when i come to export of gems, jewelry, weaponry and high end stone carvings or construction stones.

One of the Largest Continents of The True Isles, and definitely the wealthiest in resources, The Azure Ridge has always been a coveted zone. Since the dawn of The First Races, the land has always been under the control of the Dwarves, although, at times, heavily contested. The first 100 or so years of its discovery, the dwarven clans fought amongst themselves for dominion of The Ridge. It was a hard and bloody time in dwarven history, until Murra'Dhun Greymutter, united the clans and formed House Greymutter, the first ruling house of the Ridge with a council, containing a leader of each of the fighting clans. Since that time, the dwarves have lived mostly united and with brief and weak rebellions, few and far between. However the other Races were less kind. due to the vast amount of natural resources in and around the mountains, The Ridge was an area of high interest. every few decades, a rivalling clan would attempt to sow unrest and political turmoil within the region in hopes of making a democratic claim to the land, or simply attempt to attack and overthrow its ruling class.   Luckily, dwarves are not so easily defeated. untrusting of outsiders in their land by nature, the political plans of the foreigners never had much luck. And trying to fight a dwarf in its own mountain, is like casting a fireball at a Red dragon! Hah! a few 100 years ago however, Morason Greymutter, The current Tender of The Grey, had made an alliance with House Thassyran of the Violet Hold, assuring both houses would no longer be at each other's throats and join forces in the rule of the land. The dwarves would remain the solitary political force within the region of The Azure Ridge, and would receive a 50% share of the new True Tax Agreement they would enforce. The Elves of House Thassyran would recieve governing power of the lands that would be part of the True Tax Agreement and also their 50% share. The two houses also agreed to come to each others aid if the other deemed it necessary. seeing as they were the two largest forces within The True Isles, the plan worked as a charm and most of the ruling clans and houses signed the Agreement without any resistance.   The Houses of The Southern Strait, However, did resist, but were met with a force they could not withstand. Since then, House Greymutter and Thassyran have been close allies and have also created and maintained The Soul Trade and Realignment Enterprice, and the Dwarves have been assigned to keep a watchful eye on the lands to the south, Raising The Closing Bluff as a first line of defence and a staging point for any and all required military strong arming in The Southern Strait.

Most tourists are either Travelling merchants, adventurers in search of a challange, spiritual connaisseurs or dwarves on vacation. very rarely are these lands visited as luxury tourism or as a vaction by anything other than dwarves.