History of the Hills of Shade

The earliest records regarding the Hills of Shade are the old dwarven sagas of Kaladim. In these it is called the Land of Steam and Shadow, and is even today often used as ametaphor for death. Interestingly, these sagas also make itclear that even in the dwarves’ ancient history, this landwas already full of ancient tombs and twisted wildlife. Mostof the tales make no effort to explain where the tombs camefrom, but a few references to the “dark lords” has lead Teir’Dal scholars to claim the hills were a common burial ground for their Caerthielian Empire. By contrast, the few dwarven lore-masters who have studied the question claim that the origin of the tombs is not mentioned simplybecause it was unimportant, and thus is the result of some minor kingdom long since forgotten.

Not nearly as old or reliable are the legends perpetuated by the Crushbone orcs. Ancient maps in the possession of the orcs of Crushbone — written in an ancient orc dialect known only to a handful of scholars today (none of whom are among the Crushbone orcs) — call this region the “Land of Hungry Mountains.” These orc maps also show a temple to Rallos Zek, a druid stone circle, and two teleport pyramids, as well as a pictogram of a shissar, although one needs to read Ancient Orc to know this. Crushbone prophets claim the area as forbidden to any but prophets of Rallos Zek and they sometimes journey to the hills to seek guidance and visions, yet they seem to have no real idea about the region’s history.