The Crested Mountain, also known as the Ghost Mountain, is an amazing structure of the ancient past that is used as the home of the Lily Queen, as well as a thousand of her direct servants and tens of thousands who live in the mountain-city. Despite its name and location, it is not a mountain, but a structure of stone, metal, glass, and synth with hundreds of interior levels, winding passages, and vast interior chambers.
People who enter the Ghost Mountain place, with armed camps on either side.
Uraeyl armies are organized much like their human counterparts, with somewhat similar armor and weapons. Despite what most humans believe, uraeyl are not sadistic, bloodthirsty, or cruel. They simply prefer the taste of human meat and find it difficult (if not impossible) to see humans as intelligent, sapient creatures. To them, humans are crafty, cunning, and dangerous prey. That humans seek to establish their own society, develop their own technologies, or consider themselves on par with uraeyl is almost inconceivably ridiculous—as ridiculous as what a human herder in the Steadfast might think of the idea of her gallen suddenly forming a society and using tools and weaponry.
Not all uraeyl are hunters. They grow crops, craft goods, and write songs and poetry, among other things. It is true, however, that finding objects in uraeyl marketplaces made from human skin or bones is not uncommon, although such items grow more rare (and thus valuable) as time goes on and the uraeyl are able to kill fewer humans.
They still tend “herds” of humans in some places, and some of these herds are very old. The humans in them have lived as livestock for generations. Most have no language and certainly no tool use. Human prisoners introduced into these herds find their captive brethren to be little more than degenerate beasts.
Uraeyl have a complex relationship with the numenera. They do not fear it, per se, but they find it distasteful and have no affinity for it. They find it particularly offensive in the hands of humans, and many uraeyl believe it can “taint the meat” if used by a human.
CORAO
Corao is an old land, ruled by a line of hereditary monarchs that goes back farther than any written records. The Queen in Lilies, as she is called, rules from a palace grander than anything on either side of the Great Reach. The Crested Mountain—or, as it is sometimes called, the Ghost Mountain—is
Gallen, page 145 Uraeyl tend to refer to humans not in a controlled herd as “wild humans.”
The number of soarcraft, while large, is finite, and no one knows how to create or spawn new ones. Thus, they are a precious commodity.
The “ghost” of the current Queen in Lilies appears to be a small child that stares unnervingly at anyone addressing the queen. Arumna is a unique synth material found only in the Ghost Mountain. Cloud volii, page 226
between universes—there could be many explanations. However, many people insist that a world as old as the Earth has an overabundance of ghosts, and the mountain is a focal point for their otherworldly energies.
In addition to being the capital and residence of the monarch, the Crested Mountain is a city within the mountain- structure. The people who live here are generally supplied by soarcraft shipments, trading for the silks and textiles of woven arumna and other handicrafts and art created within the city. Gathering arumna from the walls of interior chambers is a task that occupies many residents. Although it is possible to enter and exit the Ghost Mountain through means other than the soarcraft, those paths are difficult and only occasionally used.
A massive landing platform allows for up to one hundred and thirty soarcraft to enter and rest inside at one time. A significant section of the Ghost Mountain’s populace tends to these craft or works in industries that support their maintenance or related activities. About 90,000 people dwell in the Ghost Mountain, but there is room for three times that number to live comfortably. The Queen in Lilies and the Inner Palace: The queen dwells within a special suite of chambers known as the Inner Palace, where the walls are made of layers of intertwined flowering vines, grown without sunlight thanks to the powers of specialized nano-sorcerers.
Similar to her home, the queen wears only garments made of flowering plants. She also wears the traditional Lily Crown, an immortal, living artifact that protects her in times of distress.
The relatively young queen is reticent and withdrawn, often unwilling to speak, although if pushed too far she can become enraged and violent. Most people agree that she is a terrible head of state. Few of them realize that her chief advisor,
Tialka Vermanix, is the real leader of Corao, serving as the queen’s voice in most matters. The Lily Queen is merely a figurehead who makes appearances (and only rarely does even that).
immediately sense a presence. Each visitor instantly becomes tied to an incorporeal, translucent humanoid figure. These “ghosts” follow their host, singing songs in languages no one seems to know. Some people believe that your ghost companion looks like you or has one of your personality traits, but most dismiss this, claiming that it is random. If you leave and return, the same “ghost” reappears and resumes the connection you had before.
Only humans have “ghosts” in the mountain. Proxima do not.
Although no one is certain what these “ghosts” are, there is no reason to believe that they are, in fact, the souls of the dead. Illusions, holograms, ultraterrestrials, ancient people trapped
The Queen in Lilies: level 6, any matter relating to interactions as level 4 Lily Crown: artifact; level 8; produces a cloud of choking gas in an immediate area when the wearer is truly angry or afraid; those affected cannot act while in the area (wearer is immune). Depletion: 1 in 1d20 Tialka Vermanix: level
3, all interactions and matters of administration as level 5
recovery roll. It cures diseases and rids bodies of poisons and toxins if the affliction is lower than level 8. It also has been known to grant people the ability to speak a new language, see in the dark, or forgo food. However, the pool sometimes takes away memories, causes sterility, or makes a person more vulnerable to injury. These secondary effects seem utterly random (and occur in only 10 percent of people who use the waters).
The pool is always surrounded by dozens of pilgrims, many of them diseased or injured, looking for healing. Likewise, one can find all sorts of people providing charms, souvenirs, or mystical teaching on how to get the most from the pool’s effects, all for just a few coins. Some con artists attempt to dupe ignorant pilgrims into buying passes to the pool or special items that “must” be worn to partake of the waters.
Castle Asteele: Just outside of Noreu a few miles to the north stands a series of towers collectively called Castle Asteele. The
Raveral noble family dwells here, but few people ever see them because they’re always embroiled in a personal conflict—trying to kill each other.
The castle has four towers, each built on a soaring outcropping of solid rock. These four peaks of solid stone are strange in and of themselves, because the stone can be found nowhere else in the world. In fact, some question if the foundations of the castle’s towers are stone at all. The central tower is large, composed of a number of turrets joined together with sharply pointed rooftops. The other three towers are smaller and more narrow, with even more pointed roofs. All are joined by arched bridges of stone and steel. It is on these bridges that most—but not all—of the family’s battles are fought.
The floors within the castle undulate and move, seemingly made of ropy, fibrous tendrils. The floors occasionally moan and groan with inhuman sounds. In each interior room, all doors close and lock (or open) on verbal command, if the commands are accompanied by the right
VO
At the foot of the Crested Mountain lies a town of 12,000 people known as Vo. It is a simple place, made up mainly of farmers who produce much of the food for the inhabitants of the mountain above them. Although there is a direct path between Vo and one of the ground entrances to the Ghost Mountain, the goods are often shuttled up via soarcraft.
Vo is spread out over a series of forested hills, almost more of a cluster of tiny agricultural hamlets in close proximity than a true town or city. Its leader is Mayor
Guardich Fome, a feeble old man who spends most of his days in bed.
The Broken Clock: One of Vo’s claims to fame, other than its prestigious location, is a structure of colored glass in the heart of the city near the courthall used for town meetings and other gatherings. The glass edifice, far older than Vo itself, is an intricate clock powered by moving glass disks. The device’s face always indicates the position of the sun traveling through the sky, so as to correspond with the time, but it is usually wrong. It appears to function as though the day were only 25 hours long, thus the clock’s name. All attempts to repair it have failed.
NOREU
Nine thousand people dwell in this town, although a third again as many live immediately outside it in a vast and ever- changing tent city, filled with pilgrims wishing to visit the Pool of Aasalmis.
Ostensibly, the ruler of the city is, depending on who you ask, Duke Raveral or Duchess Raveral. But as no one has seen them for years, the de facto ruler is a man taking the self-appointed title Elder Umbrele. (The role is self-appointed as well, but few question him anymore.) Umbrele is an antagonistic, violent man with little patience for the pilgrims who come to town or anyone who challenges his authority. Pool of Aasalmis: The water of this large natural pool at the center of Noreu has unique properties. Anyone who drinks it or bathes in it is healed as if he made a
Characters who become more vulnerable to injury after using the pool suffer 1 additional point of damage every time they suffer at least 1 point normally.
Elder Umbrele: level 5, attacks as level 6; Armor 2; claymore deals 10 points of damage Guardich Fome: level 2, matters of history or other lore as level 5
Raveral family member: level 6; stealth,
perception, and deception as level 7; most have special protective gear and at least one particularly deadly weapon
savage bands of braguon, who harvest poisons from the frogs that live beneath the revu trees. The braguon frequently set ambushes and traps on the roads and paths through the woods.
WELIOC
By all appearances, Welioc is a simple port town of about 10,000 people. The stone buildings are swept by cold winds off the Shavelin Sea and frequent rains and storms.
What most newcomers—and some residents—never realize is that about 75 percent of the population is possessed by incorporeal ultraterrestrial energy beings called brillimathis. The brillimathis arrived about forty years ago when someone excavated an ancient vault and opened a strange sealed flask within. The flask and its otherworldly contents were brought to Welioc, and one by one the brillimathis infected the people there. Some residents proved impossible to possess.
When a new baby is born in the city, its possessed parents bring it to the hidden underground chamber where the ancient flask is now kept. Exposure to even a tiny amount of the liquid causes the child to become a host for a brillimathis. The liquid is somehow a conduit between the worlds.
The brillimathis seem to want little more than to dwell on Earth in peace. They are content to live the lives of humans, fishing in the Shavelin Sea to eke out a tolerable existence. If their secret is threatened, however, they become violent.
The humans in the city who are not possessed suspect that something odd is going on. Some fear demons or witchcraft, while others imagine a more mundane, criminal conspiracy in Welioc. A few have stumbled closer to the truth and seek to free their fellow residents.