Fantasy RPG Forum - Standing Trials

To the east of Viden Fortress is the range of mountains known as the Devanti Mountains. No one knows where the name came from, but these are considered akin to a shield for Viden. The westernmost mountain in the range is the one that the Fortress is built into and they stretch as far east as the peninsula goes. The Devanti Mountains are what is seen from furthest afield as they are the tallest mountains in the peninsula in which Viden nestles.

The mountains themselves are utterly treacherous and very dangerous. Only those with extremely well-developed skills and a lot of forward planning would consider venturing out into them and yet, people do. While, for the majority of Videnese, the Devanti Mountains offer protection from attack and the assurance that Yvithia's Fortress City is well-protected, for a small number of people the mountains are something different.

There are, nestled in the mountains, small homes of those who choose to live there. These "Devanti Dwellers" are hardy souls who farm the land in old ways, using traditional techniques which have been passed down for generations. There is - so they say -more to be learned about farming and gardening, about rearing animals and livestock in the Devanti Mountains than in any library on Idalos. To the Devanti Dwellers, these mountains and all their dangers are, quite simply, home.

The second group of people who look at the Devanti Mountains differently than most are those who see them as a challenge. Scaling one or more of them is considered the ultimate test of skill and endurance and there are people who travel to Viden to do just that. Of those who attempt to scale one or more of the mountains in the Devanti range, maybe one in ten survive. Yet, people keep coming. A small number, certainly, but a steady trickle of those who think they can best the elements.