The Tor
The great tor on which Whitewall? stands is a gray limestone. The outside is weathered but you can still see traces and signs of the sea creatures whose bodies formed the tor. Helamakt created the tor when he battled the waves, piling one defeated sea monster atop another to have someplace safe to stand. Finally he stomped his foot in victory and turned the mound into limestone. Later it is said the arm Destor tore from Lant Ulfar at Larnste's Table struck the top of the tor and turned it into the purest marble. Drops of the giant's blood were turned into crystal. Others say that it was Sestarto the Artist who turned the top of the tor into marble so he could build Whitewall. Either way, whether the crystals are crystalized giant's blood or the remains of sea creatures they can still be found.
After the great battle Helamakt was weary and he lay down for a rest. He lay his body down on the great plateau and rested his head on the Tor. Shepherds can point to the dents in the plateau and tell you which part of his body made them. There's a small lake where his divine posterior rested. Legends swear that the entire Tor once show the marks of his hair but Sestarto is supposed to have erased most of them except the spot where he had a cowlick (a spiral patch of hair) which forms the floor of the Orlanthi temple.
On Black Rain Day the cliffs of the tor and even the shining marble of Whitewall itself is made from seem to swirl slowly - perhaps imperceptibly, until one is attuned to the mythic currents - as the half-evident bodies of the denizens of the deep twirl in hypnotic repetition of the battle. The charged atmosphere stings of ozone and brine and only the most insensitive cannot hear the sea and the storm battling. Deep within the tor Sestarto carved cisterns and storerooms, though some say that he only used existing cavities within the rock formed by the spaces among the jumbled carcasses of the sea monsters. The water collecting system is elaborate and sophisticated and stores enough water for years of use. All water must be periodically tested for salinity as sometimes the innate magic of the tor overcomes the wards in the cisterns ruining the water for humans. There is a system for draining any of the 12 individual cisterns but it requires an elaborate magical ceremony.
Within the tor the signs of the sea creatures are much more obvious and many people say that they can hear and smell the sea. Most people feel uncomfortable in the caverns and prefer the pure, open spaces of Whitewall. Others seem drawn to explore and at least one person has come back with a magical pearl. Others have not returned at all and some say that as you go deeper you start to see things out of the corner of your eye. Things best left alone. The first Shargashi? assault on the tor left a tunnel in but after the assault was repelled the tunnel filled with saltwater. Rumour suggests that the tunnel holds more than just water but no one has been motivated to check. Seams of meerschaum run through the Tor and craftspeople mine what's exposed to carve into highly valued craft objects.
Story Seeds
- Something is stirring up the sea in the tor. Someone needs to do something!
- One of the cisterns is contaminated and the purification ceremony must be performed. Only problem is that no one can remember what it is. Fortunately there's a bit of a library in the citadel.
- It's pearl hunting time! A friend of a friend knows someone who found one and gained great power.
- The sea is calling. Someone important has vanished down into the tor. Guess who gets to go after them?
- A thin seam of sea metal is found in the Tor. One of Helamakt's hairs? The remains of a monster? Can it be fashioned into a mighty weapon to be used against the Lunars?
Ways In And Out of the City
The Goat's Path (see also: A Hero Approaches)
The Snake's Path
Catching a Wind
The Tunnels?
- Return to The Physical Setting