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The Geology of the Storm Mountains


Joerg

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And now something completely unrelated - an essay dating from 2011 which I apparently never posted in a way that google became aware of it. I did adapt the name of the governor of Heortland, though not the title.

 

 

An Analysis of the origin and nature of the Storm Mountains.

 

Duchamp Collectanea DC:1615.JSq.12-5

 

Duchamp, Truth/Stasis/Dark 1615

 

My Liege, King Orengerin of Heortland,

 

and my esteemed colleague, Flindil Lambscraper, Royal Librarian,

 

I humbly submit these results of my research on the mountains our glorious Founder Hendrik made famous in his fight against the minions of Gbaji. This analysis combines research in written accounts, transcripts of oral tradition of the native populace, and reports on field work.

 

May St. Lhankor Mhy, Patron of Sages, bless this document with his Light of Truth, and shrivel those who profane it!

 

Jereginos Steelquill, Senior Teacher at the Aeolian College of Duchamp

 

Geology:

 

The Storm Mountains comprise actually several chains of mountains of different origin. The oldest parts come from the seeds Larnste scattered around Dragon Pass when he met the dragons at their nesting ground, just off the slope of the Spike. They were made of the cold earth of the earliest age of the Earth. The rock from this period is of a light grey with occasional spots and inclusions of darker material, and viewed thoroughly will show small crystallites intergrated with each other. Estimated period of origin is the Earth Age, still before the Green Age.

 

The next oldest rock found here comes from Vestkarthan's invasion to the earth, which rose the Vent and the other volcanoes along the south of the Holy Country. Vestkarthan's children spread into the east as far as the Wens of Corflu, and into the north as far as the Quivin Mountains. Some say that the Three Step Isles in the farther south were raised as mountains in this time. In the centre of this rising stood the Vent in Caladraland, and like the Vent these mountains show obsidian, basalteous rock, and layered ash and lava deposits. These rocks were scorched by the deep fire and generally have a darker colour than the rest. Estimated period of origin is the late Green Age, when this son of Aether invaded Earth.

 

However, most of the mountains were raised in the later Golden Age. When Umath was born and pushed apart Earth and Sky, the Waters invaded the surface of Earth. Raging Sea had separated Genertela from the Spike, and Faralinthor covered large parts of Esrola's land and neighbouring territory. After Umath had chanced upon the lovers and had slain Faralinthor, the waters in this region retreated to what now is Mirrorsea Bay, then hiding-place of Choralinthor. However, the intimate relationship between Esrola and Faralinthor had left its traces on the surface now again in contact with Air: chalky sediments, the ground bones of the children of Molakka, covered wide parts of the land. These sediments formed a white rock, sometimes permeated with darker bands of red, black or green, which Tarban the Plow showed to be remnants of conflicts between various deities in his treatise on the White Cliffs of Heortland (Lylket Knowledge Temple #103.573.A, copied as Duchamp Collectanea DC:878.Lyl:TtP.35-3).

 

The rising of the Storm Mountains occured in two steps. The first was the famous incident when Larnste had left the Spike to oversee Yelm's stewardship of the world, and found it wanting, for a chaos thing had wormed its way into the world and nested there. In his anger, Larnste stamped on it with his foot, which caused the depression known as the Footprint. Even though the thing bit the Greater God of the Celestial Court, its underground lair was smashed and its tunnels collapsed. From the force of the stamping the earth folded up. However, the thing remained, and only by the force of Vestkarthan's spear, found left lying where Vestkarthan had entered the Earth in the huge Obsidian mountain southeast of the tip of the Skyreach Mountains, which later was flattened by Argan Argar and made into the Shadow Plateau, and pierced the thing writhing inside the debris. Vestkarthan had been tricked by Eurmal into his favourite weapon, the mighty spear of deep fire, in a drunken wager, and was trapped therein, unable to escape until returning to his chosen home. Exultantly, Vestkarthan burst forth from his underground home, spewing out molten earth, rocks, and a huge pall of ash and dust. Kolat was angered at this pollution of his realm and summoned Bingista, the Good Wind, who blew this cloud back to where it originated, and covered the slime of chaos. As a result, the forest there was petrified. However, part of the dust still fell on the ground, and is found by miners just above the chalk layers left by Faralinthor.

 

The folds made by the stamp of Larnste now are the two outer chains of mountains, creases of chalky limestone, light grey on the surface, but white in the interior. Sometimes the petrified bones of dragonkind can be found there, buried before this incident, and highly priced by the Inhuman King who is said even to have taught draconic magic in exchange for good specimen of these. Other findings can include giant seashells and even the occasional giant pearl, like the six used for the councillors' thrones in the City of Wonders.

 

The final raising of the Storm Mountains was effected at Orlanth's commands by his half brothers, sons of of Kero Fin and Vestkarthan, in gratitude for the aid Orlanth had given to Quivin, one of their number, against the rage of Vadrus. Orlanth wanted to please his mountain mother by reestablishing her connections towards the Spike, and the mountains reached far into the Raging Sea. The sons of Vestkarthan, always the workers, brought up all the buried rock in praise of their and Orlanth's mother, so that all kinds of rock can be found in this middle, and highest, range of the mountains. However, their handicraft was no mettle against the occasional rage of the storm gods. Once Storm Bull wrestled with the chief of them, and twisted off his head. The twisted remains of his body form Stormwalk Mountain, in the southern part of the range.

 

During the Storm Age and Darkness these peaks were battered by battles, and the debris rolled off to form the foothills. Large boulders dot this region, and treacherously smooth grassy slopes reveal themselves as piles of rubble gliding of the real slope, sometimes causing rockslides if trespassed. Another large amount of these peaks was carried onto the plains when Inora commanded her icy minions to fight the chaos oozing from the hole the imploding Spike had left. Their glaciers carried or pushed down finely ground material which forms the clay hills of the flat plateau. The scraping of the ice tongues still marks the upper valleys, and they retreated only in a series of battles, still discernible by the morraine ridges they left in the landscape. The vast amounts of water melting off the beaten glaciers cut the deep gorges of the five rivers into the plateau, and spread wide fans of muddy soil into Choralinthor's hiding place, still visible when the Blue Streak has plunged downwards. The upper riverbeds sometimes have ore deposits inside their gravel: silvery remains of the love between Esrola and Faralinthor, coppery fragments of the bones of the earth, mixtures of tin and lead from Argan Argar's attempts to conquer these mountains, where he lost several sons, minuscule fragments of crystallized gods' blood, splattered up there in unceasing fights, mostly too small to hold powers except as component for alchemists' potions. In some places deep wells yield pitch and tar, remnants of Murthdryas children covered by shells of Molakka's offspring, used for lighting and building. A few sulfurous and mineral springs give witness of the ongoing fight of Faralinthor's scattered fragments with Vestkarthan and his children who imprisoned the dismembered god.

 

The interior of these mountains has remained largely untouched by the children of Mostal. In the Age of Gbaji once they invaded circular tunnels opening from these mountains, and found them unoccupied, until they were ambushed by either minions of Krarsht from the Footprint or troll guards from the Troll Woods, and were either eaten or forced to flee. The Iron Vrok did not repeat this attempt. For this reason the treasures of the earth supposedly still are there to be found by enterprising miners. The royal silver mines, founded during King Hendrik's Exile among the mountain tribes, give ample proof for this. Further to the north, the Kitori run mines crewed by hordes of worker and food trollkin which literally eat their way into the mountains. Their ore can sometimes be traded from Argan Argar traders, but a considerable part of the yield is used to outfit the Silver Spears, an elite unit of dark troll and trollkin spearmen trained to fight the magical monsters of the Foulblood Woods. The tarnishing powers of Tien require constant replacement of this metal, which has proven its effectivity against some chaotic features.

 

 

I append copies of the reports of Tarban the Plow on the White Cliffs, DC:878.Lyl:TtP.35-3, Arinstor Yellowbeard the Taxman's evaluation of the silver mines of the Martofsaetan, DC:1607.AYb.7-12, a letter from Mikhil Baron, private Gray Sage from Alda-Chur, on a dating method based on fossiles in and of limestone, archived as DC:L,1614.AC:MB.1-1, an excerpt of an alleged partial copy of Zzabur's Blue Book, a gift to the Duchamp College by King Hendrik the Fourth after his conquest of Refuge, DC:1254.Ref:Zz.22537-1269, an expertise by Scholar Wyrm on some fossils found near the Martof Headwaters before trading them to the Inhuman King, DC:1492.SW:134-5, interviews Korlmarl the Listener led with various inhabitants of the Mountains, DC:1595.KtL:24-13-*22.

 

Not included, since ready to your perusal at the Royal Library, were Agricola's 13 books on the art of mining and the creatures of the Deep, the Flintnail Dialogues by Herendikos of Pavis, "The Junior Alchemists' Guide" by the infamous Delecti of Remakerela, Baranwolf's misguided treatise on metals and crystals, and Stein Meadcalfe's "Metallurgy" quoting an obscure Loskalmi dabbler in metallurgy. The "Annotations to Agricola" by Daran Bonehunter will give valuable cross-indexing to further treatises on this subject.

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Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

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15 hours ago, Joerg said:

"Annotations to Agricola"

Love it. Poor Baranwolf! I need to respond with something more detailed about the fate of old Stone (finally found a few credible reports of Mostali colonies eradicated Since Time) and Dawn Age runic systems but for now, this "Agricola" person is evidently a polite pseudonym for Black Arkat, the Farmer. He is a black god like the soils of the Felster valley.

singer sing me a given

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4 hours ago, scott-martin said:

Love it. Poor Baranwolf! I need to respond with something more detailed about the fate of old Stone (finally found a few credible reports of Mostali colonies eradicated Since Time) and Dawn Age runic systems but for now, this "Agricola" person is evidently a polite pseudonym for Black Arkat, the Farmer. He is a black god like the soils of the Felster valley.

Actually, I didn't find a good transcription for the historical (16th century) author Georg Agricola who produced a 13 volume standard tome on mining, covering all manner of aspects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgius_Agricola

His books are illustrated with great woodcuts of the various apparati used for the various steps of mining. Links should be available from the wikipedia article.

Telling how it is excessive verbis

 

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