The Eldercrown Mountains

The icebound mountains that crest the northern reaches of Kyme, sealing away the dreadful wintry wastes of the Rimehold.

Geography

The eastern range north of the Steamstone is marked by geothermal activity and numerous dwarven mines and settlements. The encroaching ice of the Rimehold is diminished by the dwarven ability to exploit the elemental phenomena of the Steamstone, allowing their civilization to persist in spite of the insurmountable cold. The western range north of the Vespered Timberlands, are far harsher and icebound at all times, save the Season of Fire. The lycan settlements in the mountains either retreat deep into ancient dens or follow many others in their pack southward past the permafrost.

Dymfont Peak. The grand mountain shaped by the mineral geysers that formed beneath, it now serves as a grand testament to the enduring craft of the dwarves with the iron city of Dymkrag built within.

The Rimefloe Glacier. A massive glacier of pure elemental waters that spans hundreds of miles across the mountain range, as it feeds the headwaters of the Ryme River. The glacier is seen as source of sacred waters by many peoples, as there is both remarkable clarity and innate magical properties.

Roads and Landmarks

Azurend Peak. A mountains to the distant east of the Rimefloe, translucent blue glacial ice streaks down the mountain granting the peak its name and making it a site of pilgrimage. At the mountaintop a great shrine to Saphra the Moonspirit lay, an icy cave where the northern moon Saph-Luna's radiance illuminates and hallows the space.

The Guiding Hearths. Hewn into the eastern range of the mountains these hot springs were created by the dwarven people as a respite from the biting cold so they might continue to travel to and from settlements no matter the Elemental Season.

The Sunderwill Pass. The contiguous mountain passes that are carved as a road that leads north to Kepthearth at the very edge of the Rimehold.

The Wyr Cairns. The standing stones that are seeded throughout the western range of the region. The stones set by the ancient lycan packs to mark the boundaries between the lands of the living and the dead.

Settlements

Kepthearth. A dwarven vassaldom deep in the Eldercrown's glacial caverns, the northernmost settlement on Kyme. The settlement is ruled in absentia by the renown Clan Sunderwill whose patriarch had been a founding member of the Arkyme. The stewardship falling to Clan Frostforge, who guide the people in enduring the malevolent and wasting cold of the Rimehold.

Oleddgrod. To the west of Dymkrag this small dwarven vassaldom is home to warriors of unrivaled ferocity. Ruled for centuries by Clan Rageheart they are known for their harsh battle disciplines, using the searing heat of the Steamstone and the biting cold of the Rimehold to test themselves to the limit of what can be endured.

Sali'sha. The nomadic village of a deeply druidic tribe of water eleman. They serve as guardians of the Rimefloe Glacier, having settled atop the ice, they brook no threat to this sacred elemental source. They claim the Lasting One, the god of all elemental power, has chosen them to protect the glacier and to watch over the Rimehold.

Yrostok. A human settlement set into the highest peaks of the Eldercrowns overlooking the Steamstone. The people that dwell in this place are often known as White Watchers, they are rumored to be the only people to range into the Rimehold.

Ruins and Subterrane

Below the Eldercrown Mountains lies the frigid abyss of the Hiemal. Fed by the Rimehold, those who enter into the mountain caverns seeking shelter find them colder and deadlier than the most ferocious of blizzards that tear across the range. Few known ruins are held within the peaks, though most are dwarven enclaves that failed to endure the harsh environment.

Eh'osskahlind. A draconic ruin just east of the Rimefloe Glacier, this settlement was once a great center of power and feared by the dwarven people. Like a scar upon the mountainside, the city fell to the fury of the dwarves. Stories of its downfall tell of the price the dwarven people chose to exact upon its populace, as many clans took not only the hides of dragons, but the draconic as well.

Hiskoard. The ruined palace city of a silver Dragon King that wreathed the city in a perpetual blizzard. A massive complex of frozen halls, having been ravaged by the lycans at the end of the Age of Fire, frozen corpses of the draconic line the halls, forever frozen in their dying moments.

The Mines of Myden. A long abandoned dwarven venture to tunnel underneath the Rimehold. Horrific tales still abound as to what was uncovered by this delve into the unknown. They tell of a city unlike any seen before, of blinding silvery white. While others tell of a creature beyond imagining frozen in the ice. Others tell more still that the ice itself is alive and a malignant presence in the world.