The Warnaka Mountains

Introduction
The Warnaka mountains have the Styrash name úarna'cáey meaning hill and mountain. Prehaps the best translation is hilly mountain. Some elves think that this name comes from comparison of this range with the nearby Tandala highlands which consists of far higher peaks and is virutally unpassable.The Tandala mountains dwarf the Warnaka mountains and perhaps lending them their name. This chain dominates the Northern Peak. The bear peaks are composed primarily of Uruyant, and where it is exposed the mountains shimmer and reflect all the colours around them. The landscape that they imposed is jagged, and cut by deep ravines and valley. Few species live in the mountains, though the southern foot hills share much vegetation with the Bolder forest, which it neighbours.

Description
The Warnaka mountains are niether the longest, nor the highest in Santharia. But they are certainly dominating, to pass the chain on one of the many passes that traverse it is a challenge indeed. Much of the Mountain range is characterised by very deep ravines, and some of the passes simply end in sheer vertical drops.

The looming, jagged, grey peaks dominate the landscape of the Northwestern Santharia, boarded in its southern foothills by the Bolder forest. Often the summits are well shrouded in cloud, giving them a austere, sometimes meanacing dignity. On sunny days however, the peaks, covered in altitude loving plants in the southern part of the range, or sometime snow, are quite the most beautiful site, especially when viewed from the sea or the island of Narvos. Exposed peaks shimmer and relfect all the colours of the day, due to their predominant Uruyant composition. The Mountain chain extends all the way up the Northern Peak, an unrelenting march northward. In between the depth of the mountains of the southern range are ideyllic hidden valleys, often containing deep lakes created by snow melt waters and streams that drain the high peaks of the bountiful precipitation they recieve. Further north, no signs of vegetation however were visible on the mountainsides and the valleys and gulches were cluttered with a jumble of rocks and debris.

Location
The Southern foothills of the Warnaka moutains, boardered by the Bolder forest, petrude into the the province of Vardynn, but most of the range is to be found in the province of Nemeran. To the east is the town of Ishmarin, and extend all the way up the Northern Peak Penisular. To the west of these summits one can see the Isle of Narvos. From the Wanarka heights the Santharian dwellers can glimpse the Northern continent that they are seperated from by the practically impassable Tandala highlands.

Climate
Once into the peaks of the range the weather is usually very wet, as the height of the peaks encourages rainfall, creating a rain shadow over the neighbouring Bolder forest. The peaks are often shrouded in cloud, and fog is, therefore, very common, and the altitude combined with this moisture makes for a very cold bleak enviroment indeed. The Mountains are know for being stormy also well know for the huge storms that brew over their crowns. Thunder storms are common and electic, lightning forks cutting around the mountain tops. However, the valleys within the range, while still rather wet, are well sheltered from most of these elements, and so are often rather warmer than one would expect at this latitude.

People
Few people live in the mountains. One islolate community of elves lives in a southern valley, not far from the fringes of the Bolder Forest. The rest of the mountain range would be deserted if not for miners who visit in the more habital summer months to harvest Uruyant. In the far north of the range, one will find the only other permenant residents. The Other Circle, a small community of mages who are led by the wizard of the White Tower, and indeed live within its bounds, a strange building, with many branches situated in the most Northerly Valley.

Flora
Very little lives in the mountain peaks. A few hardy, altitude loving plants, the Yrom and the Halim to name two. Much of the peaks are exposed and unplanted. The valleys, especially in the southern part of the range, share much of their flora with the neighbouring Bolder forest. Candlebushes are one of the most common species to be found here.

Fauna
The mountain peaks are fairly unhospitable to animal life. Only Steppe deer has the adaptations nessesary to survive and can be found grazing on the Yrom, but mostly the slopes are populated by insects. The mountains are prime habitat, so it is said, for the Great Drakes, and lesser drakes are often found in the Northerly edges of the range.

Resources
Much of the Northern range is rich in Uruyant, the hardest known mineral in the world. Almost the whole of the northern Warnaka mountains are made up of this material. The rough climate of the north has in all likelihood eroded the outer, sedimentary strata of the mountains, leaving only their uruyantine core. The same process is responsible for the formation of the uruyantine arches which are today one of the distinct landmarks of the northern territories. Such arches are clearly visible in the Sea around the Northern Peak, and make the stretch of water between the mainland and Narvos particularly trecherous. As the dressing of uruyant is all but impossible, spezimen which are of the size to serve as pieces of jewellery are highly prized in the southern parts of the country.

History
ca. 1650 b.S. Caeins Sacrifices Maengolth atop the Warnaka mountians.

Caein, youngest son of the Erpheronian sovereign, promised the adamant-dragon Ol'dem'brey to kill his father himself to free his people again from the suppression of the dragons. As Caein himself longed for the power of the Erpheronian sovereign he had no remorses to sacrifice Maengolth on an altar at the tops of the Warnaka, hoping to receive praise of his people and to become sovereign himself. But after finishing the ritual the enraged Ol'dem'brey destroyed Caein too in front of his people as he returned from the altar with bloody hands. The burning Caein, head held high, should later on become sign of the Erpheronian tribe (shown in the tribe's coat of arms), representing the unceasable will to power as well as the divine punishment for human arrogance. After the death of their leaders the Erpheronian tribe awaited the further assaults of the dragons defenceless.

Date? Sevran seeks out the wizard in the white tower to appeal for help against his Father, Saban Blackcloak.

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Edited by: Wren at: 6/15/02 3:16:42 pm