Shadow Hold

A shattered mountain rising from the midst of decay; a heart of darkness, the primordial birthplace of evil. The Shadow Hold contains within its bowels a vast horrific well of cosmic insanity; a blighted, fallowed womb from which eldritch monsters and nightmarish horrors emerge. What little is known of its existence dates back to the earliest beginnings of civilization, perhaps even further.

There exist myths and tales of its creation; scarce whispers that tell of an ancient war, eons before the dawn of man. One so devastating it tore the world asunder and ripped the heavens in twain. If the myths are to be believed, in the waning days of the conflict, it is said a divine star tore across the sky; fracturing the heart of the eastern continent. And it is said that from the ashes and cinders, rose the manifestation of all worldly sin.

But in truth, no one knows anything except for the destruction it has wrought upon this world. The root of all evil; A malevolent, festering tumor of unholy energies, spewing monstrosities and corruption, both malignant and vile.

Geography

A barren, hollowed mountain deep within the Dead Forest, none could mistake the Shadow Hold for anything else but evil incarnate. It is whispered that an ancient explosion decimated the area, tearing ravines into its northwestern edge. From deep within the cavity comes a mysterious unworldly glow, emanating from the cavernous depths that reach into the heart of the world. Like the forest that surrounds it, the Shadow Hold is suffocated by ashen clouds of miasmic rot, shrouding the region in an impassable darkness. The jagged spikes protruding from the mountain’s weathered face make the region aggressively hostile to inhabit and traverse, assuming the monsters don’t kill you first.

Architecture

Despite the hardest expeditionary efforts of several factions, any assault or siege mounted upon the Shadow Hold is swiftly slaughtered and swallowed before the first charge can be ordered or even the first foundation laid. Akin to a corpse in a coffin, those that try are dead before they can hammer the first nail.

Technology, Wealth, & RICE

The enigma that is the Shadow Hold has piqued the interest of more than a few scholars over the many eons of its existence; with its unknowability and terror finding its way into many several stories and philosophies both ancient and modern. Philosophers have been known to use the supposed mountain as a symbol for death, time and the unknown, using it to reflect and contemplate upon the nature of curiosity, mortality and inevitability.

But in regard to its physical, less hypothetical study, little of the Shadow Hold’s properties have been confirmed as of yet. The braver of the curious never return; however, some have been able to find vague and cryptic anecdotal and written evidence. Each unreliable account describes a sensation as if time and space were shifting and folding in on itself when standing in its proximity. A feeling as though reality were tearing itself apart and being remade, the magnitude of which is described to worsen as one approaches the mountain.

Though the Shadow Hold remains shrouded in mystery, there have been multiple hypotheses that the mountain contains an extra dimensional rift that expunges vast quantities of quantum energy; capable of manipulating the fabric of reality. Many proposals to harness this exotic resource have been put forth, all of which have been shot down purely based on their absurd and hazardous nature.

History

The Shadow Hold was not always a monument of darkness residing over the Dead Forest. The first domino in this hellish sequence of events began centuries ago, during the ancient war of Cier between the Somnians and Seraphists. As a last ditch, the Somnians fired a weapon that missed mark, landing in the mountain ranges of south-eastern Cier. This failed weapon lay dormant in the mountainside for centuries before it brewed into a problem for the local Kaihonese. It’s fallout caused major ecological changes, causing the landscape around to warp, eventually turning into the Dead Forest. Monsters of pure darkness and shadow spewed from the dimensional tear, causing havoc to the southern territories of the Kaihon Empire, causing its inhabitants to retreat north back towards the capital.

None are exempt from the consequence of sin, nor the folly conflict; not even self-proclaimed gods. The obscure scraps of myths and tales regard the ancient Seraph Somniatic war with varied praise and condemnation. But what cannot be denied is how this conflict has marred the face of Cier. Little is known of how the Shadow Hold came to be, the academically inclined hypothesising it was the result of a Somniam weapon tearing a rift into the fabric of reality itself. Regardless however, the mountain stands as an eternal, ominous monument to the consequence of hubris and desperation. A malignant tumor that has ruined kingdoms and given rise to pestilent expanse that is the Dead Forest.