Editing Acrozatarim/Gazetteer (section)

==The Sarokean Mountains==

The Sarokeans split the Drakkath from the western lands that border the Malachite Sea; a great expanse of rocky peaks, rugged valleys, plateaus and sheltering gorges.  This is no thin barrier wall; the range is wide.  In the north, it tapers off where the north-western Reaches meet the Indigo Marches; to the south, its bulky line eventually twists south-west before breaking apart into a scattering of lone peaks that pierce far into the Ascarian tundra.  Also known as the 'Wall of Sarok' or the 'Work of Sarok', whoever or whatever Sarok may have been, the Sarokean mountains are an ancient range that bear the marks of the very beginnings of the world upon their spine.

Much of the range is uncontrolled by any great polity or nation, but while it is a wild and often dangerous landscape it would be incorrect to consider it as bereft of inhabitants.  Innumerable small settlements litter the mountains, from high monasteries to small farming communities eking out an existence amidst steep terraced fields.  Many of these settlements cluster around the Trods of Grumand, the series of passes and passable valleys that wind through the range; the Trods are considered to be gifts from Grumand itself, with the claim to status as a Trod being based on particular unusual colours of rock in the passes.  Far away from the Trods, other settlements do exist; some are enclaves that desire isolation, a few whispered to be Nephian communities, while others are opportunistic prospector-towns around mines.

The mountains are littered with signs of the past.  Here and there, rises and valleys are littered with bones or the last, rusting remnants of weaponry - nameless battles fought in the Dawn War.  Several sites identified as Umbral have been located, though most appear to be utter ruins and look like they were destroyed by powerful siege weapons.  Ancient temples to forgotten Elders lie empty, the wind howling through their corridors.  A series of immense gouges in the earth, the Smoke Pits, mark where once Elder servitors tore vast amounts of minerals from the earth; some still smoke and fume, and travellers' report signs that they are inhabited even now by strange, chittering creatures.

Goblin clans are a widespread presence in the mountains, along with rare reports of giants; both goblins and giants are known to cluster around certain old Elder temple ruins in particular.  There are brooding, fuming volcanoes in several areas of the Sarokeans, and a number of lizardman tribes are known to make their homes around these fiery peaks.  Dreadspawn and other Dread Marches beasts are another problem; the Shadowfury's vanguard reached as far as the western kingdoms, and when defeated a great number of surviving creatures fled into the mountains.  Various winged beasts are known to roost in the mountains; hippogriffs, chimerae, drazhikar, wyverns and even dragons have been reported, though the latter claims are of very dubious provenance.

Trolls, however, are a real danger.  Common lore has it that trolls were created from part of the corpse of Hashrukk the Daemonflesh when the Elder was defeated; this may have been the fate of a younger species that was corrupted by the Daemonflesh carcass.  Consistent rumours mention some form of 'higher' or 'true' troll found in some extremely remote areas of the Sarokeans, the remainders of whatever civilisation became troll-kind.  Unfortunately, the debased, incredibly resilient monstrosities that are the trolls of today are also smart, smart enough to be a real threat to surrounding powers.  All three of the western kingdoms have battled trolls over the centuries, with the Great Ember War of some four centuries ago marking the greatest conflict of such a kind - one that scarred the entire region.  Scholarly taxonomy of trolls has identified four broad sub-species - fire, stone, iron and the very rare obsidian trolls - but the species in general seems highly prone to mutation and new breeds emerging.