Sky Mountain

Sky Mountain

The centre of the world, Sky Mountain stretches from the Deep Earth up to beyond the Sky itself. The Sun used to live above Sky Mountain before he began his journeys to and from the Underworld but now he visits Sky Mountain every day, hovering around its peak for a couple of hours at noon.

Sky Mountain itself is hot, hotter than any other mountain in the world. At its feet, the rock is warm to the touch, although its foothills stretch for many miles. As you move closer to the Sky Mountain itself, the rocks become warmer and warmer until the first sheer cliffs are met. At this point, Sky Mountain is hot to the touch, not hot enough to be painful or to burn, but as hot as a bowl of soup. Anyone climbing Sky Mountain will realise that the lower cliffs are all about the same temperature and there is no real difference at the top. At the top of the First Cliffs is a plateau that surrounds the pillar of Sky Mountain. This varies in width from a couple of hundred meters at its smallest to several miles at its widest. On this plateau live strange and unusual creatures. The first of the Sky Giants can be found here, great humanoids seemingly made of crystal, they guard Sky Mountain from invaders. They are friendly and warm to the touch but will slay anyone who attempts to climb any higher. Goblins live here, but they are not the normal goblins of the woods or mountains. These are ascetic mystics who sit and contemplate the surrounding world from their vantage point. These Sky Goblins also farm the hardy plants that live on Sky Plateau but they do not eat meat, except the corpses of intruders fed to them by the Sky Giants.

Above Sky Plateau, Sky Mountain becomes noticeably hotter and after climbing a mile or so, the rocks are burning hot and painful to the touch. Anyone trying to hold his or her flesh against these rocks will be burned. There are caves in this rock but these offer no respite as they are hotter deeper within the caves. These caves are the home of Sky Giants, Griffins and other creatures of the sky. Deeper within still can be found rivers of fire, the remnants of the Sky's ascent from the Underworld to the summit of Sky Mountain. Further up Sky Mountain are a series of scars where the first Dragon attacked Sky Mountain. From here fire falls in a firefall to the cliffs below, almost certain death for anyone caught beneath, except for the hardy Sky Giants who shower beneath these firefalls to burn away their impurities.

As you climb further higher you reach realms that no mortal can survive. The rocks here are hot enough to boil water and any moisture falling here evaporates immediately. This is a very dry area and any visitor must bring any water that they wish to drink. Above this is the Cloud Realm where the lowliest servants of the Sky God gather to hear his words. Here are permanent cloud formations, some are insubstantial but some provide platforms for small Cities that float around Sky Mountain. Here live Storm elementals and priests of the Storm and Cloud Gods. They serve the Sky God and send weather from Sky Mountain across the world. They send rain, clouds and hot winds to scour the world and can call cold winds from the world's end to cool the world down. Sometimes these clouds can rain, but the rain falling on the Sky Mountain hisses and screams as it immediately evaporates. Here are steam clouds, geysers and other strange effects and powerful magicians have been known to breathe these magical vapours and see visions of past, present and future things.

Even further above the Cloud Realm is the Burning Plateau. This is named for the fires that spring sporadically from the rocks. Nobody knows what burns there, for there is no vegetation here. Some say they burn the very air itself. In any case, these fires cannot be extinguished although many have tried. In one quarter of the Burning Plateau is Demon Mount. This is a section of Sky Mountain that was torn from the side by a powerful demon in the Gods' War. It is a jagged peak, razor sharp and cold to the touch. Within Demon Mount can be found many demons, remnants of the demon horde that attacked Sky Mountain. Even though they are regularly attacked, more demons appear from the mountain to plague the surrounding plateau.

Above the Burning Plateau is a great climb, almost vertical in many places and sheer as if the rocks themselves have melted and fused together. Here, the rocks are so hot that some metals melt with its touch. Lead and silver cannot survive here and flow in great pools of molten metal. The air itself is hot and most people find it difficult to breathe.

Finally anyone brave or strong enough to climb further meets Sky Foot, a great overhang that surrounds Sky Mountain and supports the Sky itself. Above Sky Foot is the Sky God's Palace, Sun Rest, Moon Port and the various Sky Bridges that connect Sky Mountain with the Sky itself. These are inhabited by Immortals, Heroes, Demigods and the Gods themselves and only the foolhardiest or most worthy mortals travel here.