The Mistvales
Millennia ago, dozens of rogue spellcasters, warlords, dragons, and stranger beings fled the Inquisition of Principius Maximus based in the old Kingdom of Benevolence, settling high in the mountain ranges deep within Quinternia’s main continent. Each claimed a remote valley for themselves, digging deep and shaping it to their liking creating dozens of hidden vales, some well-known, some lost to history.
As the centuries progressed, the concentrated presence of so many powerful forces of Chaos threatened to speed up the Cycle of the Great Devourer, a danger divined by the druids of the Circle of Circles. To prevent this calamity, Saelin Silverleaf, elven leader of the Absalom veil, sent gifts to her neighbors, seedlings that would grow into resplendent silver willows, magical plants of the Feywild meant to help hide them from the Inquisition.
Once bloomed, however, their trap spring. A thick magical fog billowed out from all of them, cloaking the Mistvales, but putting any of its denizens without fey origins into a deep, slumbering magical stasis, with a reprieve only during the light of the Midsummer’s Day Sun.
A century later, adventurers looking for loot and plunder stumbled across a way to cut down the trees and roll back the mists, freeing the inhabitants, but inadvertently setting in motion events that would lead to the rise and slaying of the Great Devourer and the Reordinance of St. Dumon.
Over a millennium of peace after the Reordinance, the great Deluge struck the world, wiping out nine out of every ten souls. However, most of the Mistvales, being protected by their location high inland in the mountains, survived.
A few of the more well-known Mistvales include:
Cinderton Vale
The largest and most populated of the Mistvales, Cinderton Vale boasts broad plains hundreds of miles across, lush with winter wheat and livestock. Once claimed by Pyroclandaxan as the breadbasket of his realms, it now holds itself as an independent city-state. The Cinderton river flows down north from the Ungart lands, through the City of Cinderton, before heading West to Thunder Run. See Cinderton for more information on the city.
Crystal Vale, the
One of the highest and coldest of the vales, located to the East of Cinderton Vale, the Crystal Vale once held the Crystal Palace, a stunning spire of solid ice amidst a frozen waste and home to a great fey lord. Once banished by heroes of the Second Eidolon War, it remains a cold and inhospitable place, where only the most hardy beings endure.
Golden Ziggurat, The
One of the smallest and well-hidden vales, this tiny desert located somewhere to the North of Cinderton Vale hides a lone stone edifice, home to the Maester of Golden Marionettes, a powerful but benign necromancer and member of the Arcanum said to predate the Mistvales itself.
Grove of Absalom, The
Built originally as a secluded hunting lodge retreat complex for rich nobles and merchants, this vale was taken over by the druidic Circle of Circles when the original owners were wiped out in the Deluge. Since then, it has been the center of druidic life and effort in Quinternia, the origin of the Silver Willows, the heart of the Reclamation after the Deluge, and training ground for the Eidolons during the Eidolon wars.
Thunder Run
Claimed throughout the millennia by a line of red dragons, Thunder Vale is nearly as large as Cinderton Vale to its East. At the South end, the Cinderton River enters the vale at the scenic city of Thunder Run, spilling through the city in a series of locks and waterfalls down into the dinosaur-filled jungles that fill it, winding north to Pyroclasm Peak at the North end, an active volcano and seat of the dragons’ power for millennia. Originally claimed by Pyroclandaxas, then her son Pyroclandaxan, and now his daughter Pyrannea, the volcano holds not only the dragon’s massive lair, but also a colossal citadel full of loyal followers.
Shelter of the Martyrs, The
Located not within the Mistvales, but rather beneath them, an enclave of stone giants maintains a community here deep under the peaks. It takes its name from its primary underground chamber, a huge domed cave sealed against the waters of the deluge long ago by elder stone giants that gave their lives to cast themselves into stone, sealing the dome and preventing the flooding.
Ungart Vale
The southernmost Vale, this area stretches North from the high mountain pass of Khazad Ungart. The rocky foothills of the area house mines and grazing area for livestock, though only limited farming opportunities. Its here the headwaters of the Cinderton river originate.