Glass Plateau

## Geography

It is a vast highland plateau or tableland, composed entirely of glass. Although it is overall a smooth and flat expanse, there are also spikes, spires, peaks, and other formations of sharp and jagged glass protruding from the floor in places seemingly at random. They resemble blown glass and can grow to huge sizes and some are bewildering and incomprehensible in shape. Near the center, the glass is black, being obsidian, but as one gets closer to the edges, the glass starts to get lighter in color and more transparent, becoming pale. At the edge of the plateau are jagged cliffs where the glass is nearly white. These separate the lowlands from the top of the plateau and stand around 100 feet (30 meters) high. Occasionally, deep in the dark obsidian there can be glimpsed fiery flashes of light and liquid glass and even lava can be exuded near the edges. Recently, new lava has begun to slowly flow from the western side, creating more of the treacherous glass and making ascent from that direction almost impossible. If growth of the plateau continues, Darguun border towns such as Gorgonhorn or Olkhaan could eventually be at risk. Obtaining accurate readings on the rate of lava flow is, of course, a hazardous task, but one that may be vital to understanding the cause of the Mourning and whether we need to fear it happening again.

To the north lies the Field of Living Spells, to the southwest is the Field of Ruins, and to the east is the Crimson Water. The Glass Plateau completely cuts the Saerun Road once linking Making to Tronish in the east and Lyrenton in the west.

## History

Some theorize that the Mourning itself began in Making, at the center of what became the Glass Plateau. On the Day of Mourning, 20 Olarune in 994 YK, it appears that something horrible happened within, nearby, or around the city, and from there it spread out to overwhelm and destroy the entire kingdom of Cyre. All around Making, the land of southern Cyre was hugely reshaped by the upwelling of the Glass Plateau. It happened so fast and so abruptly that soldiers fighting sword to sword would be separated in moments, one standing on firm ground, the other atop a 100-foot-high cliff, before both were slain by the Mourning. Weeks of earthquakes followed.

In 997 YK, the tremors were repeated, seeing lava creep from cracks along the plateau's western side, in a manner likened to bleeding from a scab. This made the highland utterly inaccessible from the west. The lava has since cooled into pale gray glass. The plateau continues to grow, perhaps implying that whatever caused it is still going on.

## Inhabitants

It's a desolate wasteland where nothing grows, few creatures roam, and only unnatural things live. The plateau itself is almost devoid of life as we understand it; the sheer difficulty of the terrain makes normal locomotion problematic at best, meaning predators and prey alike avoid the region. Living spells appear to be attracted to the Glass Plateau, or are even still created here. Either way, one of the highest populations of them in the Mournland is on and around this place.

## Notable Locations

At the center of the plateau lies the ruined city of Making, rising above the flat expanse of the Glass Plateau. Making was located near the center of this treacherous upheaval and is presumed destroyed, but no one has been able to negotiate the full extent of the plateau to make a certain determination of the city’s fate.

## Rumors & Legends

Rumors tell of caves both inside and beneath the Glass Plateau. Perhaps it is in these that the truth of the Mourning may be found, though it would be an enormously difficult and dangerous expedition.