World of Kralis

Prax Dun Mountains

Rising in the heart of the Western Realms like a giant serrated shield above the grassy plains, the Prax Dun Mountains are a magnificent view with high ridges, snow-capped peaks catching clouds and catching rain and snow to quench the thirst of the shadowy forests, meadows and hundreds of lakes, ponds, streams and rivers that call Prax Dun their home waters. It is filled with wild flowers, wild animals, horrific beasts and the occasional dragon or two.

These mountains have had a deeply natural and cultural effect on the Western Realms. Their intimidating slopes, dark impervious woods and the numerous amounts of caves that they hold gives the mountain range an air of dark mystery. It conjures up images of deep, dark crevasses whose vertical sides are sheer and sharp. A vertical landscape, bristling with precarious keeps, castles and towns perched atop improbable crags, where swirling mists shroud the depredations of monsters and man alike.

The Prax Dun mountains, once called the Curiza Mountains, are among the youngest of Ta Los’ mountains and are the longest known volcanic mountain range in the world. The mountains themselves are a region unto themselves, an eighth kingdom.

Springtime brings the sounds of bells, yells, whistles and barks to the slopes of the mountains as shepherds and their dogs guide cows, sheep, and goats to various pastures. Summer finds the flocks migrating to higher alpine meadows, where their guards camp ancient huts and make cheese, sausage and hard, cured meats. They fend off monsters and beasts that come hunting their flocks and tell their stories around their fires. In the fall enormous, powerful draft horses dressed in heavy armor pull wooden carts along dust roads, stacked with bricks of hay, bundles of wood or filled with young harvesters bound for some of the thick grass fields.

In the winter, the same horses are pulling down cut logs to nearby villages which are filled with the scent of burning wood, heating oils as well as the sounds of clucking chickens, mooing cows, rutting pigs. And sometimes in the night, the horrific sound of some distant monster makes its way through the villages, causing the din of noise to calm for a few minutes, until the residents both mortal and animal feel at ease that the monster is not at their door.

It is home to some large populations of gray wolves, worgs, brown bears, cuth sith, barghest, and dragonets, which hunt not only the herders cows, sheep and goats but also the wild boars, hares, and red deers. The largest predators in these mountains are the numerous fire dragons and earth dragons.

It is also one of the few mountain ranges that are predominately ancient volcanic ranges filled with hundreds of thousands of tunnels, numerous gigantic caverns and one of the only ranges that has massive ice caves.

The Prax Dun Mountains are home to many species that have mined deep into its roots: humans, Chovah, and Trolls dominate this list, though Rhakas and Acries are also commonly known to setup mining through out the region.

It is widely known that these mountains are the “birth” mountains of the Troll species as well as the giastor. The ancient caverns and tunnels under this range have long been called their homes.

These mountains are also well known for their large population of Chovah that have established many large citadels through out the range. The most well known is Mazdarrow which is high above Rilldarrow in the foothills on the edge of Kraz Nal Tyr.