Everfrost Peaks

In the Elder Age, the ogres, giants and goblins conquered much of Norrath and began an assault on the Plane of Earth. This precipitated retribution from The Rathe in the form of a great curse against all of Rallos Zek's creations.

The fertile, northern homelands of the giants were frozen in the wake of the curse, and those giants caught in this epicenter were transformed wholly into immortal creatures of living ice. Those creatures of Zek, orcs and goblins who were not uncommon in this region were struck to the core of their beings, becoming lesser creatures in mind and body than they had been.

This frozen north is now known as Everfrost, and in the centuries following the fall of Zek's races it has become the homeland of the Northmen of Antonica. Linked to the rest of the world by the tunnels of Blackburrow, Everfrost crowns the northernmost reach of Antonica. The thick sheet of ice and year-round fall of snow, make this region the beautiful but deadly white jewel of Antonica.

Goblins, Snow Orcs, and giants alike continue live in the north. When the barbarians settled in this region, they fought valiantly and relentlessly against these monsters in the hopes of claiming a homeland in the name of their then patron deity and attributed creator, Mithaniel Marr. Eventually the barbarians would gain enough advantage over their cursed foes to secure a permanent stronghold named after Halas, a war hero responsible for their victory. To this day, the tension between the tribal orcs and goblins and the barbarians of Halas continues to rage.

In Search of the Wooly Mammoth Second Edition

This is a story about the unnamed author's quest to find the Wooly Mammoths of the Everfrost Peaks.

Ever since I was a child, I remember hearing stories of great beasts that would plod across the snowy plains of the northlands.

These large beasts were very similar to the ones found in the southern plains of the Karanas, but covered in a great mass of shaggy hair.

I vowed that one day I would see these great beasts.

As I grew older, I would venture out to the plains to see these beasts.

The Northlands

Far to the north, Antonica becomes bitterly cold, the land itself frozen and buried beneath ice and snow. These are the Northlands, where few races dare go. Yet one race not only dares but conquers, making its home here amid the ice. The Northlands are home to the barbarian nation.

The Northmen (as they call themselves) are a powerful force in their own lands. The Northern Nation is a loose collection of tribes and villages, in part owing to the harsh conditions of their lands — storms often prevent contact with other groups for weeks or even months, so the Northmen are accustomed to handling their own affairs. This makes the nation less cohesive, perhaps, but its individual components are stronger, and if the nation’s leaders were to fall, the rest of the nation could still survive. History has in fact proven this to be so, and while other nations may scoff at the Northmen and belittle their “primitive” communities, few have attempted to invade the Northlands. and no one has attempted it twice.

The icy, inhospitable lands of the frozen North are filled with unsolved mysteries and potential threats, as well as hidden treasures.

Conditions

The Northlands are cold year-round. Temperatures hardly ever rise above freezing except near the coast and along the southern border, and even in those places it rarely gets that warm. In the interior and to the north, the temperature is often below O degrees Fahrenheit, and water will freeze in an instant. For the most part, summer isa time of clear skies and temperatures just below freezing, while winter is filled with intense cold, bitter wind, and violent storms that can last for weeks or even months. The ground is always frozen, and in most places it is covered by at least a foot or more Of snow and ice. Few plants can survive here: only evergreen trees and small scrub brushes. For further details on the weather and terrain of the North, see Chapter Three.

Cutting up from the southwest and running through the center ofthe nation are the Everfrost peaks, a collection of jagged. rocky mountains, sometimes covered in treacher- ous snow and other times bare to the wind. The rest of the Northlands is mostly plains, cold flat expanses of land with nothing to shield the wind and snow. Some canyons and gulleys exist, worn deep into the rocks over time, and villages often nestle within these for protection from the harsh winds. The city of Halas sits in the largest of these canyons, an actual valley cut into the Everfrost peaks. To the east of Halas lie the Frigid Plains, vast glacial lands which even the Northmen rarely cross.