Formatting code for DuradhMal
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>>{{image url="http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z62/ZamahLand/Wiki/DuradhMal.jpg"}}>>====__**Duradh Mal**__====
Ages past, the southern tip of the Irontooths was dominated by the Baozite fortress of Ang'duradh, the eastern equal and rival to [[Angarta Ang'arta]]. From its mountain perch Ang'duradh was all but invincible; even if an army had marched into its mountains to assail the Baozites in their stronghold, the fortress itself was impossible to take. Ridges of pillared basalt and the killing blades of the obsidian Shardfield protected its northern face, while a gaping chasm, threaded only by the divinely guarded Spearbridge, blocked access from the south. There was no power in the region strong enough to challenge Ang'duradh at the peak of its strength, and only one mad enough to try.
Six hundred years ago, as near as historians can guess the date, a band of cowled monks sought shelter in Ang'duradh from a late winter snow. While it was unusual for travelers to voluntarily subject themselves to Baozite hospitality, Ang'duradh was accustomed to hosting foreigners who wished to hire its companies as mercenaries or pay tribute to avoid the armies' wrath, and it permitted the monks to enter after the usual bribes were paid.
This proved to be a costly mistake. The monks were Maolites, though historians differ as to whether they were willing cultists or had been unwittingly infected with the Mad God's taint. Some say it was [[AghorThal Aghor Thal]] they sought. Why they came, and who sent them, are mysteries lost to time; what they did while in Ang'duradh is likewise unknown. What is recorded is that the fortress' gates were closed after the monks arrived, and did not open until well after spring warmed into summer.
The stillness of Ang'duradh meant the southern passes stayed closed, for the Baozites controlled them with spell-touched gates. That spring, they stayed shut and silent late into the season. When a caravan finally risked a visit to Ang'duradh to learn why the passes had not opened, they found the fortress eerily quiet. The spring's tribute lay uncollected on the Shardfield. After much debate, the merchants forced a sentry gate open and ventured cautiously inside.
What they discovered was a charnel house. The inhabitants of Ang'duradh had slaughtered one another to a man. None of the soldiers survived, nor did their whores or servants; the halls stank of rotting flesh, and the courtyards were painted in blood. The monks were as dead as the rest, and from what little the merchants could tell, had been among the first to fall to the sword.
Without staying to explore the entire ruin, the merchants fled. They sent word back to the Twelve Kingdoms, and eventually a delegation of Celestians from Langmyr made the long journey east to Ang'duradh. The details of what they found there are sealed within the records of their faith, but the Celestians remained in the mountains for months, calling upon their goddess to purify the fortress and bind its malign influences inside. They left Ang'duradh sealed behind them.
Since then, the place has become known as Duradh Mal -- the Doom of Ang'duradh -- and it is shunned by locals, who believe it to be a cursed place. There may be something to the rumors; those who have tried to settle in the shadow of Duradh Mal have universally come to grief, and madness seems to stalk the region. All that survives of Ang'duradh's former power is the tiny hamlet of Carden Vale, situated at the southern end of the valley below the dead fortress, which produces nothing of note and is generally rumored to be a poor, superstitious backwater.
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>>{{image url="http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z62/ZamahLand/Wiki/DuradhMal.jpg"}}>>====__**Duradh Mal**__====
Ages past, the southern tip of the Irontooths was dominated by the Baozite fortress of Ang'duradh, the eastern equal and rival to [[Angarta Ang'arta]]. From its mountain perch Ang'duradh was all but invincible; even if an army had marched into its mountains to assail the Baozites in their stronghold, the fortress itself was impossible to take. Ridges of pillared basalt and the killing blades of the obsidian Shardfield protected its northern face, while a gaping chasm, threaded only by the divinely guarded Spearbridge, blocked access from the south. There was no power in the region strong enough to challenge Ang'duradh at the peak of its strength, and only one mad enough to try.
Six hundred years ago, as near as historians can guess the date, a band of cowled monks sought shelter in Ang'duradh from a late winter snow. While it was unusual for travelers to voluntarily subject themselves to Baozite hospitality, Ang'duradh was accustomed to hosting foreigners who wished to hire its companies as mercenaries or pay tribute to avoid the armies' wrath, and it permitted the monks to enter after the usual bribes were paid.
This proved to be a costly mistake. The monks were Maolites, though historians differ as to whether they were willing cultists or had been unwittingly infected with the Mad God's taint. Some say it was [[AghorThal Aghor Thal]] they sought. Why they came, and who sent them, are mysteries lost to time; what they did while in Ang'duradh is likewise unknown. What is recorded is that the fortress' gates were closed after the monks arrived, and did not open until well after spring warmed into summer.
The stillness of Ang'duradh meant the southern passes stayed closed, for the Baozites controlled them with spell-touched gates. That spring, they stayed shut and silent late into the season. When a caravan finally risked a visit to Ang'duradh to learn why the passes had not opened, they found the fortress eerily quiet. The spring's tribute lay uncollected on the Shardfield. After much debate, the merchants forced a sentry gate open and ventured cautiously inside.
What they discovered was a charnel house. The inhabitants of Ang'duradh had slaughtered one another to a man. None of the soldiers survived, nor did their whores or servants; the halls stank of rotting flesh, and the courtyards were painted in blood. The monks were as dead as the rest, and from what little the merchants could tell, had been among the first to fall to the sword.
Without staying to explore the entire ruin, the merchants fled. They sent word back to the Twelve Kingdoms, and eventually a delegation of Celestians from Langmyr made the long journey east to Ang'duradh. The details of what they found there are sealed within the records of their faith, but the Celestians remained in the mountains for months, calling upon their goddess to purify the fortress and bind its malign influences inside. They left Ang'duradh sealed behind them.
Since then, the place has become known as Duradh Mal -- the Doom of Ang'duradh -- and it is shunned by locals, who believe it to be a cursed place. There may be something to the rumors; those who have tried to settle in the shadow of Duradh Mal have universally come to grief, and madness seems to stalk the region. All that survives of Ang'duradh's former power is the tiny hamlet of Carden Vale, situated at the southern end of the valley below the dead fortress, which produces nothing of note and is generally rumored to be a poor, superstitious backwater.
