Shurrock

Shurrock rises in stepped mountains and broken escarpments where whitewater cuts anvil-shaped gorges and thunder walks the peaks. Rivers occasionally pour into the shared sky between layers—the Midrun—as “skyfalls,” bead into mist, and resume as hanging streams hammered into the opposite world. Tetherways—rope bridges, iron ladders, wind-cranes—lace cliff to cliff; most are oath-maintained by the communities on either end. Beneath it all run underways of basalt tubes and old diggings; in thaw they fill with blue-white ice fog that numbs in heartbeats. Weather is blunt but readable: brutal when you cut corners, generous when you prepare.  

Notable Locations

The Granite Loom

Dwarf and gnome holds chiseled into a single spur ridge. Ore is woven with stress-laminating craft; tools forged here are famed for not failing when it matters.  

Anvil Rivers

A chain of hammermills along whitewater where prototypes are field-proved. Each week one design “graduates” and earns the right to be made anywhere in Bytopia.  

Stormstairs

A thousand-switchback stair renewed each year by volunteers. Walk every riser in a day and the paths seem kinder to your feet for a season.  

Stone Choir

Wind-sung caverns whose overtones shift when the rock is under strain; locals listen for collapse the way sailors listen for surf.  

Trestletown

A latticework village of tram towers at the lip of the Midrun, dispatching loads up and down. Disputes are settled by the Three-Rope Rule: two ropes must vote to carry the third’s load.  

Hearthroad to Krigala

A rugged portal chain to the Beastlands used by wardens and drovers; game-treaties are etched on the oath-stones of each wayhouse.  

Deepkeep and the Land of Recovery

Caves of convalescence where broken crews mend, and a ranger-stead that lends hands and gear with no questions asked, repayment is paid forward on the next rescue.  

Travel and Access

Shurrock trades in grit. Traders float raw loads up to the Midrun in stitched hot-air tarps and let gravity carry them gently down to Dothion, using Tram-town gates. Guild-held portals short-cut the worst weather, for a toll, while Trestletown’s cranes and balloons are the people’s answer. Wayhouses post oath-stone terms, and rope-tram tickets are stamped with the names of the hands who strung the line. Beyond Bytopia, oath-posed portals link to Krigala (game-roads and warden pacts), to the Plane of Earth (deep quarries and underways), and to select holds in Nidavelir where forging lore is traded.   It is also possible to venture to Seven hells if done properly  

Inhabitants

Petitioners are rangers, miners, drovers, wardens, line-bosses, and sheriffs—trail-lean, callused, and quietly proud. They do not keep the plane’s boons if they abandon comrades in clear need; Shurrock remembers.   Celestial, allies keep the passes: hound archons roadwarden the tetherways; cervidal and leonal guardinals advise steads on herds and seasons; avorals scout the stormlines; earth-touched Agathions (badger, ram, ibex) tend the underways. It is also to find many Angels here with few Azatas.   Air sentinels, gentle djinn-like guides of the high caves, shepherd caravans to lee-shelter when the weather turns. The adamantine dragon Mercialla circles as a bright, silent ward—guardian of “all good things that endure.”  

Mortal guests are common

Dwarrow and gnome crews prove Dothion designs on the anvil rivers; Halfling teamsters, human engineers, and Elven wardens cross-season to learn rigging, husbandry, and rope-law.

Reciprocity Squalls

Refuse reasonable aid that wouldn’t endanger you, and a dry storm dogs your steps—gusts, greased footing, and lightning that keeps you honest, until you make it right.  

Landslide Fronts

Scree whispers before it runs; those who heed the land move lightly, those who rush go down with it.  

Thunderlight Reveals

In storms, a sheet-flash outlines true anchor points and hidden fissures for anyone looking to help.  

Blue-White Ice Fog

Underways frost with a breath that steals motion; warmth and teamwork unfreeze the trapped.  

Midrun Vertigo

First steps into the zero-G belt test trust as much as balance; the sky will catch a leap made to help another.  

The land favors fieldcraft

Spells and rites that steady feet, anchor lines, map safe routes, and share endurance (endure elements, protection from energy such as cold/wind, stone/wood shape, spider climb, move earth, find the path, feather fall, communal protections) tend to take clean and last a touch longer when used for the caravan or the community.  

Sloth and coercion falter

Magic that tempts dereliction of duty, compels a watch to abandon post, or exploits the fresh dead meets headwinds or simply fails unless turned to save lives.  

Boons of the road

After a day helping others over hard ground, travelers often find Trailblazer’s Stride, the first snare of rough terrain seems to ease underfoot. Crews hand-fasted by rope earn a quiet Handfast Luck that pulls someone back from a slip once a day. Fairly settle a passage or water dispute and the air takes the heat out of voices, Right-of-Way in action.