Northeastern Hroidetur Mountains
Hroidetur is a vast and inhospitable northeastern mountain range east of the Stone Crown, known for harsh terrain, goblin groups, imperial border pressure, and remote passes.
From the Chronicler's Atlas
📖 Summary
The northeastern Hroidetur Mountains are among the harshest and least hospitable regions of Ulvenor. For most of ancient history they were considered unattractive and unsuitable for broader settlement, yet they eventually became home to goblin communities, gnome mountain villages, and several unique forms of life. The whole range can be divided into four main parts: the Reker Rocks, the Nolomb Wastes, the Sharp Rocks, and the Eagle Hills. Hroidetur is only sparsely populated, but it has enormous strategic, historical, and natural importance.
Character of the Mountains
Hroidetur lies east of the dwarven Stone Crown, and for most of ancient history it was considered an inhospitable and not especially useful mountain range. The landscape is harsh, stony, partly frozen, and often poor in common flora and fauna, which long discouraged most early settlers. Even so, Hroidetur proved to hide a particular value. Some of its parts offer access to fresh water, resilient plants, naturally protected settlements, and living conditions that hard peoples can turn into an advantage. Those who survive here tend to be exceptionally capable and resilient.
Ancient Settlement and Development
In ancient times, various groups of Beta humanoids passed around Hroidetur, but few saw it as a true home. The lack of fertile soil, difficult terrain, and limited resources made the range a place where it was easier to die than to build a civilization. The turning point came after the Henstir catastrophe and during the later movements of newly emerging races. Some groups then discovered that certain parts of the mountains offered water, shelter, and enough space to survive. The oldest and most important mark was left here by the goblins, who made Hroidetur one of their earliest homeland regions.
A Landscape Without Mercy
Hroidetur is not a range of rich mines, fertile valleys, or safe trade roads. Most of its surface is sharp stone, cold clefts, steep ridges, and barren plateaus where life holds on only in its hardiest forms. This unfriendliness is exactly what made it a region most peoples avoid. It never drew dwarves the way the Stone Crown did, humans could hold only marginal watchposts here, and most travelers regard Hroidetur as a land entered only out of necessity.
Goblins, Gnomes, and Hard Life
Hroidetur is one of the few regions of Ulvenor where two very different models of survival formed side by side over the long term. Goblins built settlements here around endurance, hunting, expeditions, and the ability to live with minimal resources. Their bond to Hroidetur reaches back to the first separated tribes. Gnomes, by contrast, gained ground mainly in the southern and southeastern parts of the range, where they founded small, technically deft, and culturally distinctive settlements. In Hroidetur, the difference between goblin survival and gnome ingenuity stands out most clearly.
Dangers and Unique Nature
Although Hroidetur is generally inhospitable, it also hides places of remarkable natural beauty and unique vegetation. In some valleys, on sheltered plateaus, or near waterfalls, plant species have taken root that are almost unknown elsewhere in Ulvenor. The fauna is not numerous, but it tends to be unusually strong and dangerous. Eagles, griffins, wargs, mammoths, great spiders, and according to legend even a few of the last dragons can be found in the range, hidden in the highest and least accessible parts of the hills.
Importance for the Present World
Hroidetur was never the center of a great empire, but it repeatedly shaped the history of neighboring powers. The Reker Rocks changed how the Empire thought about war in difficult terrain and forced it to build defensive towers and a stronger border system. Today Hroidetur is seen as a land for resilient, hard, and capable inhabitants. Other peoples tend to avoid it, but for that very reason ways of life, traditions, and communities survive here that would have vanished long ago in richer and more comfortable lands.
Sub-Locations
4
Reker Rocks
A rocky borderland on the edge of the Empire, known for harsh terrain, narrow fissures, goblin ambushes, and difficult patrol routes.
The Reker Rocks lie on the border between the Empire and the western edge of Hroidetur. They are sparsely inhabited, but historically extremely important, because it was here that the Empire learned that numerical superiority and classical military organization may not be enough in difficult mountain terrain.
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Border Rocks
The Reker Rocks form a dense and hard-to-cross stone landscape full of narrow fissures, passages, and confusing corners. For a regular army, it is a deeply unpleasant space where formations are difficult to hold and direct battle is even harder to force. This quality made the Reker Rocks a natural border of the Empire. It was not a comfortable or wealthy border, but a land that can slow down or completely break anyone who does not know how to move through it.
The Battle That Changed Imperial Thinking
During a major clash with the goblins, the Empire won here, but suffered losses so high that the victory became a warning. The goblins used narrow passages, hidden routes, and guerrilla tactics that allowed them to harry, weaken, and break down a larger army. After this experience, the Empire began to reassess its position on the border. Defensive towers were built along the edge of the rocks, tasked with warning early of goblin troop movements and allowing imperial forces to fight under more favorable conditions.
Older Settlement
Before the great battle, several smaller goblin settlements existed here, and even earlier there was a gnome border expedition. None of these settlements ever created a truly flourishing life, because the Reker Rocks do not provide enough resources for larger development. Local settlements always had to rely on imports, hunting, raids, or outside support. The Reker Rocks were therefore never a land of prosperity, but a land of watches, hideouts, ambushes, and hard survival.
Nolomb Wastes
A northern wasteland of Hroidetur where some of the first goblin tribes emerged after the Henstir catastrophe.
The Nolomb Wastes earned their nickname, the Wastes of the First Goblins, after the end of the Beta humanoid period, when newly emerging races had to move even into regions they would otherwise have considered unattractive. It was here that the goblins found a surprising source of life: fresh water, waterfalls, and a landscape that allowed them to survive.
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The Wasteland That Gave Life
After the eruption of Henstir and during the climate changes that followed, the Nolomb Wastes became one of the places newly emerging races were forced to wander into. Although they seemed inhospitable, they hid surprisingly rich reserves of fresh water. The water often froze here, but several great waterfalls made it possible to obtain this precious resource even in periods when it was unavailable elsewhere. Thanks to this, the first goblin tribes could settle here.
The First Goblin Home
The goblins began their life here in a land full of danger, but also of opportunity. They had to learn to use every resource, protect their settlements, and survive where other races would quickly leave or die. After the end of the ice age, the Nolomb Wastes almost failed to live up to their name for several millennia. The landscape was livelier, full of animals and inhabitants, and became one of the oldest true homes of the goblin race.
Return of the Wasteland
Around the year -1000000, the region began to decline again. Its earlier natural beauty faded, the landscape hardened, and its richness was lost. Even so, the goblins remained here and survived into the present day. Gradually they built their own structure of settlements and ways to keep life going. They gain part of their livelihood through expeditions and part by hunting creatures that are not troubled by the barren, icy land. Nolomb thus remains a place where goblin toughness arose not only as temperament, but as necessity.
Sharp Rocks
The main body of Hroidetur, stretching from the northern marshes of Helk toward the Stone Crown.
The Sharp Rocks are the largest and most distinctive part of the Hroidetur Mountains. Their cliffs are so steep that even birds do not settle on them, yet beyond them lie hidden areas with richer flora, which made the first goblin farming villages possible.
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Heart of Hroidetur
The Sharp Rocks stretch from the Northern Marshes of Helk to the Stone Crown. They are the main axis of Hroidetur and perhaps one of the greatest natural sights in all of Ulvenor. Their walls are so steep and hard that not even birds settle on them. To most travelers, they appear as an almost impassable wall of stone, hiding a world that cannot be seen from ordinary roads.
Hidden Fertility
Beyond the harshest rocks, there are surprisingly areas with richer flora. This is not a land of great wealth, but for goblins used to living on almost nothing, these areas represented a crucial change. It was here that the first agriculture-oriented goblin villages could arise. They offered basic materials, crops, and resources needed for a more stable life, different from purely raiding or hunting-based survival.
Lack of Dwarven Interest
The Sharp Rocks were never especially interesting to the dwarves. They consist mostly of hard stone and offer no major mineral deposits worth long-term mining. In addition, the local rock formations often do not form continuous masses suited to extensive tunneling and the construction of underground halls. For dwarves, the Sharp Rocks were therefore more an obstacle than an opportunity, while goblins found in them a space that others had left behind.
Eagle Hills
Hills on the southeastern side of Hroidetur, north of the Gnome Kingdom, known for gnome villages, eagle cliffs, and mountain roads.
The Eagle Hills are the liveliest and culturally most distinctive part of Hroidetur. Unlike most of the range, they were inhabited already in the age of Alpha humanoids and later became an important space of gnome settlement. Their name comes from the eagles that nest here, from which powerful flying beasts and griffins also developed over time.
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Old Refuge
The Eagle Hills rise on the southeastern side of Hroidetur and north of the Gnome Kingdom. As one of the few parts of the range, they were more heavily inhabited already in the age of Alpha humanoids, who found a safe and relatively abundant refuge here. Villages in this area are mostly rock settlements and are far from the most advanced cities. Even so, the local settlements feel distinctive, resilient, and often almost fairy-tale-like, which is why gnomes regard them as an important cultural heritage of their predecessors.
Gnome Villages and Wars with Goblins
Gnomes founded several important mountain villages in the Eagle Hills. These settlements became part of their cultural identity and remain among the places the Gnome Kingdom carefully protects. Expansive goblins repeatedly tried to push into the Eagle Hills, however, and did conquer some parts. Thanks to technological superiority, the gnomes were able to stop them in time, so the most important towns remained a secure part of the Gnome Kingdom.
Eagles, Griffins, and Dragons
The Eagle Hills gained their name from the eagles that like to nest here. Over the ages, great raptors, flying beasts, and griffins also spread through the hills and became some of the region's strongest symbols. The oldest tales claim that dragons lived here for a long time as well. As humanoid expansion grew, however, they retreated higher and higher into the mountains, until around the year -25000000 most of them flew away completely. Only a few individuals are said to survive in the highest tiers of the hills, where only the bravest or most foolish dare to go.
Hooks for GM
Story fragments waiting for their heroes, ready for use at the game table.
Towers on the Border
One of the defensive towers near the Reker Rocks has stopped sending signals, and the border command fears that goblin warbands are gathering in the rocks again.
The Last Nest
Gnome scouts claim they saw a young dragon in the highest parts of the Eagle Hills. An expedition to confirm the report could change the balance of power across the region.
Water in Nolomb
One of the ancient water sources in the Nolomb Wastes is beginning to dry up. Goblin settlements are searching for the cause and fear that someone or something is destroying their only certainty of survival.
The Green Valley Beyond the Sharp Rocks
Beyond the inaccessible walls of the Sharp Rocks, a hidden area full of unknown plants and abandoned fields has been discovered. No one knows who once lived there or why the place disappeared.
Connections
⚑ Factions
- Empire of Magnursar
- Gnome Kingdom
- Goblin Clans of Hroidetur