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Moonset Hills

Rootbound Crags;
a jungle of Old World Bones

Framing San Francillieth's eastern coastlands are the bent and crooked tablelands of the Moonset Hills. Seemingly carved from the earth moon itself, these sharp plateus and overgrown ridges seemingly call back to the Nerathi Imperium glorious vistas - had they not fallen into ruin. Now they remain fossilized in odd, hollowed out shapes - with natural coves, unnatural geometric shapes, and seemingly carved from the ivory white of moonstone. Leaving behind rugged terrain that stares out over the calm waters of the Midnight Sea, as if painting a picture.

 

The surrounding ridges shelter several small valleys where tribals or scavanger cartels attempt to make a living; as small groves dot the area, with the occasional burial mound, watchtowers, and other old ruins of the Imperium. The remaining uplands are steep and sharp, with jagged escarpments forming sprawling, hilly plateaus. Yet despite its almost idealic apperance, the people of San Francillieth tell stories about the Dark Drake of the Moonset, sinister reptiles that leads a pack of other evil drakes that can peck a tribe of 100 strong to death. The hills also occasionally play host to terrors that wander out of either the Darish De'Cour Riverlands and the Harken Wilds - including vyppers, Arachnomorphs, Elven bandits in search of slaves, and other monstrosities looking for new prey.

Ecosystem

Ruins of the Horned Tower

Older ruins from the Nerathi Imperium: a long scenic waterfall which has massive stone masks carved behind the water sheet. Some believe that powerful spirits reside in and around it. The waterfall cascades into a great ivory labyrinth that sinks deep into the earth - and may well hoard great relics of the Imperium.  

Dungeon of the Sleeping Titan

Older ruins from the Nerathi Imperium - where some claim it is an an ever-expanding structure situated on the battlefield where it is said that battalion of Battleminds brought low an Eldritch Machine. Row upon row of skulls, all taken from the Eldritch Machines's fallen enemies, fill depressions set into the stone tower. Two skulls hold places of special prominence: the original human skulls of Yemesem and Aron - two Battleminds who participated in Elidyr's Folly. The Eldritch Machines skeletal soldiers continue to build the tower as part of it's plan to rid the Dragondown Coast of evil and receive the gods' blessings.  

Pits of the Fang

An impossibly jutting outcrop, surrounded by elephant bones. Some pilgrims attempt to make it through the treacherous tablelands to worship at the base of this odd development. But those that return warn of a entire hive of Vyppers that have taken up resident within the ivory jungle surrounding it.  

The Laughing Path

A treacherous path amid the Moonset Hills. Arched outcroppings of basalt stone, some are disturbingly similar to plants and creatures within having turned to stone. Some tribals claim that the the condition is infectious.  

The Twisting Halls

Ages ago, a group of Goliaths built a grand temple in a cave of a hill south of the land that will become San Francillieth one day, dedicated to four gods of good and law. In the deep recesses of the temple, the Goliaths guarded a dark secret: a hidden shrine to the a powerful and profrane spirirt. The gods of good cursed the temple and its corrupt priests, and eventually it fell into disuse and ruin. Over time, monsters made their lairs in the shelter of its stone halls. It is said a great Dracolizards, called the Iron Storm, is currently the most powerful inhabitant of the halls.

Fauna & Flora

This jurassic frontier is host to many exotic and dangerous flora and fauna - the Moonset Hills shares much of the same fauna as the Nentir Vale. The far more rare Therizinosaurus and Thundercalls can be found here - haunting the cleanwater pools and geometric alcoves. Veo, called by some dire pangolins, stay in the tallest geometric outcroppings - only coming down to feed on Arachnomorphs that skirt the boundaries of the Nentir Vale and the Moonset Hills.
Candle Rose, Golden Pines, Sharpeye Twig, and Steelwood Sap can be harvested in abundance here. Less ambious scavanager cartels or some local tribals make a living trading these with San Francillieth or among themselves in rare geths together. Some areas of the Moonset hills are completely covered in Sylvan Bandage - a blood red moss - casting a crimson shade across entire swathes of the tablelands.
Not all things stalking the Moonset Hills are passive. Vyppers are notoriously dangerous along the northern ranges of the Moonset Hills - due to its humid nature, being filled with primitive plants overgrowing everything. The ecosystem is tainted by things like lakes of green fluids and giant cobwebs.
Type
Highlands

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