Sternwall

The **Sternwall** is the tallest mountain range on the Ship, making up the southern or rearmost member of the Bulkheads. It stretches over five hundred miles from the Porgunnels in the west to the Tarburds in the east.

## Etymology

The Sternwall is referred to as such in the oldest extant records and histories, and appears to have been named such even before the Ship took flight. As such, it is one of the few features of the Ship to bear a name granted on the World That Was.

## Geography

### Physical divisions

The Sternwall is effectively divided into five areas: the eastern section, which is considered part of the Quarter, the central section, which is generally ungoverned; the western section, which is claimed by the elves of the Girwood; the southern uplands, which are inhabited by dragons and their acolytes; and the vast underdecks reaches, which is the natural home of dwarves and various other dwellers in the dark.

### Western Sternwall

The western Sternwall, locally referred to as the Wizard Peaks, is a region of steep cliffs and arid valleys. It is popular with brass and copper dragons, as well as magical researchers in need of an isolated place for their specialised - usually explosive - research.

### Central Sternwall

The central belt of the Sternwall is mostly uninhabited, as the high peaks are both hot and airless - while not impossible to breathe up there, it does take considerably more effort than in the lowlands. Creatures that don't need to breathe - including warforged refugees - have built small settlements in the region.

### Eastern Sternwall

The eastern Sternwalls are called "Oronti" by the elves of the Girwood, and they are claimed by those elves as their own territory. Relatively treeless, the elves rarely enforce that territorial claim, but the Oronti remain populated only by prospectors, rebels, and either the desperate or the unhinged.

### Southern Uplands

Beyond the central peaks of the Sternwall lies the Southern Uplands, called by the dragons who live there simply "Obbs". Obbs is a semi-mystical place, since reaching it means crossing the Sternwall, a notoriously difficult task. Unlike the mountains behind it, however, Obbs is a lush, fertile plateau, comfortable and - if it had access to the rest of the Ship - prosperous.

Dragons and dragonborn are the only inhabitants of Obbs, and the paths in and out are ferociously guarded. Few indeed are permitted to leave - almost none are permitted to enter.

### Sternwall Underdecks

The underdeck region of the Sternwalls is both huge and crowded. The great dwarven fortress-capital of Lannettcrag lies there, a vast and sprawling underground complex inhabited by millions of dwarves and their allies, and it is far from the only dwarven settlement down there. Following the Delving Disaster of 4553, the dwarven settlements beneath the Sternwalls were almost entirely depopulated, and the rebuilding has taken centuries. While it is not difficult for surface dwellers to find a route into the great delves, moving between them is extremely challenging and, even for a dwarf, a dangerous exercise once one leaves the most-travelled highways.

## Geology

Like most of the Ship, the Sternwall is made of the magically-reshaped rocks of the World That Was. The central core of the mountains are granite and gneissose rocks, while the upper layers are limestone and siltstone.

Under the Sternwalls are considerable and reliable sources of a wide variety of minerals: coal, diamond, gold, silver, platinum, copper, tin and iron are only some of the materials dragged out of the underdecks by teams of dwarven mining engineers.

## Landscape

Conspicuous features of Sternwall scenery are:

* the absence of great lakes or other significant bodies of water
* the rarity and relative high elevation of usable passes, particularly through the central section on the road to Obbs.
* the large number of the mountain torrents, which often form lofty waterfalls
* the frequency with which the upper end of a valley assumes the form of a semicircle of precipitous cliffs, called a cinch.

The largest body of water in the Sternwalls is the Fisher-King's Pool, one of the stations on the road to Obbs, and therefore a religious site for dragonkin. The exact location is held secret, but it is believed to be part of the course of the Ossau River, which emerges from its underground course in Engineering, near the town of Courtenay.

## Climate

The Sternwalls are generally described as "hot and dry", and this summary is generally applicable wherever in the range one finds oneself.