Stonemount - The Eye of the North

In the far north, where the mountains claw at the heavens and ancient glaciers descend from the frozen peaks, there stands a city of stone, iron, and fire.

Stonemount.

To the people of E'al Talas, it is a frontier city—a harsh and industrious place where fortunes are made beneath smoke-filled skies and the clang of forge and machine. Its people are as rugged as the land they inhabit, and its factories produce wonders of engineering unmatched in much of the known world.

But Stonemount was never founded merely for industry.

It was founded to watch.

Two centuries ago, a band of adventurers journeyed into the northern wilderness and discovered something that should have remained forgotten. What they found was so terrible that they abandoned the life of wandering and settled upon the mountainside.

There, they built a city.

They raised walls.

They forged weapons.

They established a government.

And eventually, they built the Vigil.

Officially, the Vigil is a magnificent dam of stone and metal, its ancient gears and mechanisms harnessing the waters of the crater lake to power Stonemount's mills, forges, and factories.

But the people of Stonemount know that the Vigil is more than a dam.

It is a watchtower disguised as a machine.

Six great towers surround the lake, each connected to the city's systems and facing the dark waters and the ancient tower upon the island of Shadowstone.

And every tower watches.

For something lies beyond the northern mountains.

Something the founders saw.

Something the founders feared.

Something the founders swore would never reach the south.

The knowledge of that threat has faded with every generation.

The people remember the founders.

They remember the city.

They remember the Vigil.

But they have forgotten why it was built.

Even the ruling families, descendants of the original founders, possess only fragments of the truth. The highest offices of Stonemount still carry the old traditions, but few now understand the meaning behind them.

The Thane's ancient oath remains:

I am the eyes and ears of the north.
The Vigil is mine to bear.

The words are spoken at every succession.

Few understand what they truly swear to guard against.

The Mountain Beneath the Mountain

Stonemount was built within the caldera of an ancient supervolcano, around a lake fed by glaciers from the northern peaks.

At the centre of that lake stands Shadowstone.

And upon Shadowstone stands the Dark Tower.

No record tells who built it.

No known civilization claims it.

It existed before Stonemount.

Before the founders.

Before written history.

Some legends attribute the tower to the archmage Avenal, who once lived there with his wife, Elenia. Avenal's experiments into the strange magical properties of Stonemount's minerals ultimately ended in disaster, and whatever happened within the tower claimed Elenia's life.

Avenal disappeared.

The truth disappeared with him.

The people named the lake the Tears of Elenia, though older records call it by another name:

Skymirror.

But the oldest mysteries of Stonemount may lie deeper still.

For beneath the city, beneath the lake, beneath the mountain itself, there are things that predate the memory of mankind.

The northern mountains are not merely mountains.

The oldest legends say they were born from the fallen body of Mhelcar, the Ice Serpent, one of the primordial Titans who fought during the Great War.

Few in Stonemount know this.

Fewer believe it.

And perhaps that is exactly as the city was intended.

The Eye of the North

Stonemount has grown rich.

Its factories have become the finest producers of war machines in E'al Talas. Its guilds have flourished. Its founding houses have transformed a forgotten frontier settlement into a city of industry and influence.

Yet the old purpose remains.

The Glacier Guard watches the northern passes.

The Peak Guard patrols the mountains.

The Vigil watches the lake.

And the six towers watch the horizon.

The city believes it is defending itself against monsters, raiders, rival cities, and the dangers of the wilderness.

But these are only the threats that can be seen.

Beyond the Ice Peaks, something stirs.

Abyssal creatures have begun appearing where they should not be.

Strange activity has been reported in Shadowstone.

Old symbols have resurfaced.

And whispers speak of movements beyond the northern frontier.

The founders called it the Threat.

They left no complete record of what they saw.

Only warnings.

Only preparations.

Only the Vigil.

And so Stonemount continues to watch.

For two hundred years, the city has stood as the Eye of the North.

But eyes do more than watch.

Eventually...

they must see what is coming.