Violet Mountains

The Violet Mountains are a mountain range in western Inecuria running along the Chalparni-Keloruelan and Chalparni-Roulonnais border, from the eastern tip of Keloruela to where the jungles of Kuateoha begin. The mountain range has lain completely inert since the last and seemingly final disappearance of magic at the end of the Civil War, but when magic was active the mountain range was renowned for being an extremely dangerous hotspot of magical disruptions.

Exactly why the area was so disruptive to the Magestream is unknown, but the constant state of unstable flux the Magestream experienced in the mountains resulted in the fabric of reality being extremely weak, resulting in abnormally frequent and large dimensional rifts into the Dreadlands. Some scholars characterised the region as suffering from a mild but perpetual Dreadstorm.

The name of the Violet Mountains derives not from the colour of the mountains themselves, but the hue of the sky around the mountain range caused by the dimensional rifts and unstable magic; these both have an infamous glow ranging from burgundy to violet.

When magic was still active, the Violet Mountains were considered to be utterly impassable, partly due to the possibility of random, uncontrollable and often explosive magical disruptions, but primarily due to the sheer presence of demons who had passed over from the Dreadlands. These demons spent most of their time roaming around the Violet Mountains, but on many occasions did venture out to raid the land below, both north and south.

## The Tunnel

Once the Nesarian Empire unified the continent, many attempts were made to forge a safe route through the mountains, but these all ultimately ended in failure; even those expeditions which were initially successful were eventually overwhelmed by the demonic retaliation. Safe passage between Roulonne and Chalparna was only secured in the 520s AD - over three centuries since the first attempt - when an underground tunnel connecting the two sides was completed, taking approximately 70 years to finish.

The tunnel, which was never named and is known to the locals simply as "the tunnel", came under attack during the Time of Troubles, when several demonic factions attempted to destroy it. The tunnel was partially blockaded for a year in 954, but was otherwise kept safe by the semi-independent army dedicated to protecting it.

Similar attempts to destroy the tunnel were made in the Imperial Civil War by the resurgent demonic forces, but none were successful until Thangor the Eternal collapsed the tunnel himself in late 1846. Reconstruction of the tunnel began in 1854 and continued until 1878, and this reconstructed version stands to this day. The new tunnel is approximately twice as wide as the old, and contains a road and two railway tracks. A ventilation system was added to the tunnel in 1935, but no new additions have been made beyond repairs and improvements to the already-existing road and railways.

Beginning with the reign of Emperor Adrion, several roads were constructed through the mountain passes, which not only expanded the connection between Chalparna and Roulonne, but enabled Chalparna and Keloruela to be connected by road for the first time; previously they had only been connected by tracks left by brave merchants, which were troublesome to traverse even without any demonic or magical threat.