Earthspur Mountains

The Earthspur Mountains, or simply the Earthspurs, and sometimes named the Giantspike Mountains or the Dragonspike Mountains, was a great mountain range in north Faerûn that bordered Damara, Vaasa, and Impiltur in the east with the Vast in the west.
==Geography==
The range ran roughly from the northwest, near the Moonsea and the Galena Mountains, to the southeast, at the Sea of Fallen Stars. It had two arms: the smaller Troll Mountains and the Earthfast Mountains. In the mid–14 century DR, the West Galena Mountains were sometimes considered a northern extension of the Earthspurs.
===Geographical Features===
The Earthspur Mountains were high and imposing; the range's tallest peaks were nearly 4 miles (6.4 kilometers) high. There were few trails through the mountains, making them very dangerous. One was Three Trees Pass, a long cleft between the Earthfasts and the Troll Mountains. There was a gap in the mountains where the High Country of the Vast jutted east; rumors told of hidden passes through the mountains into neighboring Impiltur. Further east was the High Pass west of the River Icehilt.
At the center of the range, at its highest point, was the Glacier of the White Worm, from which cold winds continuously blew around the peaks. It covered an area of approximately 1200 square miles (3100 square kilometers). To the east was the Earthwood, and Lake Icemelt was to the south.
The mountains were rich in iron and silver, in apparently limitless lodes, with some bloodstone veins and deposits of whitesteel. There were also small but highly pure deposits of gold within the Giantspike Mountains. Thus many tunnels had been burrowed into the heart of the mountains in search of these metals.
===Underdark ===
In the Underdark, the domain of the Deep Wastes stretched to the Earthspur Mountains in the east.
==Notable Locations==
* Brikklext: This goblinoid community sat beneath the southern foothills of the Earthspur Mountains, on the eastern side.
* Dargrath's caverns: Located deep beneath the peaks, this vast tunnel system was last remnant of the ancient realm of Haekrukkha.
* Laviguer: Located within the stretch of the mountains that wrapped around the Uplands, this mining town provided a great amount of wealth to the nation of Impiltur.
* Monastery of the Yellow Rose: Also known as the Citadel of the White Worm and home of the Disciples of St. Sollars the Twice-Martyred, it was positioned on one of the mountain range's highest peaks, beside the Glacier of the White Worm.
* Vordric Dun: This rough and wild mining hub was often highly competitive with the nearby settlement of Laviguer.
In addition to the larger settlements, there were a number of mining communities that lay scattered across the lower slopes of the mountains, beside the tunnel entrances.
There were a number of shield dwarf settlements within the mountains. They left behind a number of abandoned mines.
===Watcher's Mounds===
The Watcher's Mounds were a series of campsites constructed and maintained by monks from the Monastery of the Yellow Rose, and by local rangers. They were found throughout the mountains south of the monastery, being situated along the trails running down from it. There were thought to be well over a hundred of these sites; their exact number was unknown.
They could take many forms, not only mounds, such as a simple lean-to or a fire-pit with a small cave and an overhanging boulder. They were defensible campsites with shelter where a traveler, a ranger, or a monk might spend a night in safety, or a goblin or orc band might rest and defend themselves. Each site also contained a hidden cache of preserved food, water, and tools. The monks and rangers of the mountains regularly restocked these caches.
===Bandit Lair===
In the late 1350s DR, a large force of bandits had a hideout in the foothills of the Giantspikes, east of Maskyr's Eye. The bandits numbered about forty, mostly well-armed deserters of Zhentil Keep's forces and fugitives from the defeated army of Lashan Aumersair, and they were led by a drider wizard. Their lair was an old mine surrounded by piles of tailing overgrown with noxious weeds. In its shallow tunnels, they stored foot and loot, including a wand of wonder, and they secured it with one or more rockfall traps. These bandits attacked travelers on the North Road north of Maskyr's Eye, targeting small bands of merchants, messengers, minstrels, and pilgrims, while ignoring large caravans and companies of mercenaries and adventurers. They ambushed and mercilessly murdered their victims with hails of arrows, leaving none alive to tell of them, then seized everything of value, even food, but took no beasts or prisoners. Never taking the bait to any trap and never caught red-handed, it was supposed the bandits kept keen-eyed lookouts along the road and spies in neighboring communities. Circa 1357 DR, the Council of Maskyr's Eye sought adventurers to track the bandits down and deal with them. Any who took up the task would find the bandits followed a maze of side trails back to their hideout.
==Inhabitants==
The Earthspurs were inhabited by orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears, while drow could also be found. Cave trolls were common in the mountains west of Impiltur, as were other monsters.
The mountains were also home to shield dwarves, such as the Ludwakazar clan. There were many hardy human and dwarven miners and prospectors working the mountains, as well as bandits who preyed on them.
There were signs that mind flayers occupied the caverns that were found deep beneath the mountains. However, the adventurers that led expeditions into these subterranean corridors were not heard from again.
==History==
In the Year of the Wyvernfall, 512 DR, the orc kingdom of Vastar rampaged out of the Vast and threatened other lands with war. Swarming through many small passes in the Earthspur Mountains, the orc chieftain Ulbror and his horde invaded the uplands of Impiltur.
As Vastar descended into civil war in the Year of Writhing Darkness, 572 DR, dwarves from the north and east expanded their mines under the Earthspur Mountains and into Vastar. The dwarves let no orc who'd seen a dwarf remain alive, to prevent any word reaching orcish chieftains of the nature of their enemy. The unexplained deaths of large numbers of orcs in the mountains were blamed on the civil war.
After defeating the orcs and bringing down Vastar, the dwarves founded the kingdom of Roldilar in its place. But Roldilar fell to resurgent orcs in the Year of the Bloody Crown, 649 DR, and many surviving dwarf clans escaped into the Earthspur Mountains.
From the mid-1350s DR, prosperous new deposits of ore were discovered in the Earthspur and Earthfast Mountains, inspiring prospectors to brave the harsh conditions and hobgoblins, hoping to strike it lucky. These new mines were predicted to fuel the Impilturan economy.
In the Year of Wild Magic, 1372 DR, an Earthspurs mine broke into an old temple of Laduguer, and miners discovered more tunnels leading into the Underdark. They sought adventurers to follow the tunnels and see if they led to duergar settlements. A local merchants' guild even prepared a trade expedition to the gray dwarves.
Miners were still working the Earthspurs by 1479 DR. However, the retreat of the Great Glacier in the 15 century had defrosted a number of undead creatures, and possibly something worse, prompting an increasing number of humanoids and monsters to travel south.
==Activities==
Mining was lucrative here but conditions were harsh and dangerous. Miners endured a lot of hardship to pursue their wealth, and the mining communities suffered high death rates.
The mining communities of Dunfee in Impiltur and the Arcatan towns of Sudrav and Tomrav existed thanks to the mines here. On the other side of the mountains, King's Reach in the Vast grew wealthy off trade and smelting of the metals that came out, and by supplying the prospectors who found them. They went via secret routes to protect their claims and hide their finds.
==Rumors & Legends==
Some folk told horror stories of human and dwarven prospectors, lone and "gold-crazed", who attacked anyone who came too close to their claims and finds, and who lived like animals high in the mountains. Others told of so-called "gold caves", caverns with great stacks of lost dwarven gold and guarded by dragons or wyverns or by gold-crazed prospectors who'd slain those beasts and seized and guarded their hoards themselves. A few such stories turned out to be true. Supposedly, Lashan Aumersair of Scardale had once led his followers to locate one of these gold caves and took its wealth to fuel his conquests.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
* There is some disagreement about the name of these mountains. Although most sources, including the original Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1st edition), name them the "Earthspur Mountains", the later The City of Ravens Bluff uses the "Giantspike Mountains" in a location and context apparently identical to the Earthspurs, and once mentions the "Dragonspike Mountains", apparently in error for the Giantspikes. The similarly named Dragonspine Mountains lie on the opposite side of the Moonsea, and the Giantspire Mountains are on the opposite side of Impiltur. This may be solved by comparing the map given in The City of Ravens Bluff with the map from the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (3rd edition). The latter shows a range of foothills where the Giantspikes would be, suggesting that the Giantspikes/Dragonspikes are in fact these foothills.
* Some sources may mistake the Earthspurs with the similarly named and neighboring Earthfasts, such as the dwarven city of Earthfast being located beneath the Earthspurs in the Player's Guide to Faerûn. This is apparently solved by the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (3rd edition) confirming the Earthfasts as an arm of the Earthspurs.
===Appearances===
:;Video Games
::
::Neverwinter Nights: Tyrants of the Moonsea
===References===
FR:Contreforts de la terre
Category:Mountains
Category:Locations in Damara
Category:Locations in Impiltur
Category:Locations in the Vast
Category:Locations in the Bloodstone Lands
Category:Locations in the Cold Lands
Category:Locations in the Unapproachable East
Category:Locations in North Faerûn
Category:Locations in Northeast Faerûn
Category:Locations in Faerûn
Category:Locations on Toril
Category:Locations