Graveyard of the Tectonics

Airless and lifeless, this blackened scar is a reminder of why the Augural Strand must never again succumb to the drums of war.

For more than 600 years, the Tectonics have been quiet. Generations have come and gone, but there are still a precious few who remember life during the Cataclysm.

The survivors tell of a cruel band of marauders, thieves who sought to wield the power of the ancients. One by one, they destroyed druid camps, searching for knowledge that could lead them to the Tectonics. When the druids were nearly wiped out, one gave in, unable to watch their people suffer any longer. She struck a deal with the marauders, mercy in exchange for secrets. And so the druid led the marauders to a hillside, the slumbering place of the Tectonic Weld, a spirit of iron.

Accounts conflict in describing why Weld rebelled, but stories claim it was Weld’s wrath that ushered in this era of destruction.

As the Tectonics awoke, earthquakes erupted, storms battered the shores and fires raged. The Ironvein lost control of their patron, and the natural world erupted into turmoil as the elements sought to restore balance.

For 2,000 years, the elements waged war, desperate for rest yet unable to find solace.

Hope was all but lost before Caelus, a genasi and descendant of the Northern Wind, gathered a band of champions to strike back against the Tectonic Weld and its loyal marauders. In their final clash, Caelus awoke the spirit of the Northern Wind and together struck the Tectonic Weld in a blow that carved a blackened chasm through the land.

Caelus, the Northern Wind, and Weld were destroyed, leaving behind only the hero’s sword.

That chasm is known by many names — the Scarred Pass, the Restless Valley, the Graveyard of the Tectonics — but most know it as the Mountain Barrows.