by Terry Brooks
The fortress and triple dams of Capaal.
Behind the High Dam, the Cillidellan is a large lake that reaches well back into the mountains. Below the dam, sheer cliffs flank the lower dams and the two small reservoirs that pool behind them. The only way down from the fortress is across catwalks or through underground passages. There are underground passages throughout the entire area to allow access to or escape for those within Capaal if the citadel falls under siege. Tunnels bore through to the mountains on either side, as well as deep into the North, their covers well hidden and locked, their openings rigged to collapse if forced.
Though it was built to be impregnable, Capaal has fallen into enemy hands twice since it was commissioned. During the Gnome Wars—or the War of the Mord Wraiths, as it was also called—the Mord Wraiths managed to take Capaal by summoning a Kraken. The Dwarves recaptured it only a few weeks later, once the Mord Wraiths had been destroyed.
The second time was during the Shadowen War, when Capaal and all the lands around were claimed by the Federation. The Dwarves who ran the machinery were allowed to stay, but most of them were locked in the lower chambers with the machinery they tended.
DUN FEE ARAN
Above Capaal, the Silver River cuts north into the Ravenshorn Mountains, a contested land of Dwarves, Trolls, and Gnomes, before it enters a valley dividing the High Bens from the Ravenshorn range. It is there, along the cliffs flanking the river, that the Gnome prisons of Dun Fee Aran stand.
Dwarves originally built Dun Fee Aran as a deep mountain fortress on their eastern frontier guarding the Silver River. Over the years, as the boundaries shifted and the Dwarf territories waned, it fell under the control of the Gnomes. Lacking the Dwarf compulsion for order, the Gnomes allowed the keep to gradually fall into disrepair. In the years after the War of the Forbidding, the Gnomes converted it to a prison. The cells were always available to those who were willing to pay. There were always slaves and prisoners for sale there as well. Anyone locked up there stayed locked away until they rotted, or until someone paid a higher price to own them. Dun Fee Aran is one of the few places where Gnomes actually live within a stone building. Most Gnomes are more comfortable in primitive huts. They usually prefer to live in structures made from skins and plants, or in caves.
Kraken
A creature from the deep ocean caused the fall of Capaal. The creature, a Kraken, was summoned by the Mord Wraiths and their Gnome army, and set upon the fortress’s defenders. Most Kraken cannot live out of salt water, but this one was mutated by dark magic to enable it to attack the battlements from the waters of the Cillidellan. Measuring over 150 feet in length, the Kraken resembles an ocean squid in shape. It has a barrel-shaped body with four fin-covered legs. Long, grasping tentacles protrude from the front, their surfaces covered with suckers large enough to engulf a man’s face. The creature’s beak is over four feet across and made of sharpened bone. Prey is grabbed by the tentacles and either smashed or drawn directly into the beak, where it is crushed and devoured. The Kraken at Capaal is the only one ever seen outside of the Blue Divide. It was reported killed by Garet Jax.
Gnomes
Unlike most of the other Races, Gnomes have no distinct nation. Tribes of various types of Gnomes can be found scattered throughout the central and northern sections of the Eastland, and even into some parts of the Northland, but their primary habitat is the forests and hill country of the Upper and Central Anar.
Gnomes are the most primitive of the Races. There are several different species, but all of them are descended from people who survived the Great Wars by hiding in the hills and forests in affected areas. The survivors who emerged from this brutally primitive existence were little more than animals. Almost all Gnomes are small and slight of build, with straight dark hair, yellowish roughened skin, and primitive features. All are tribal in nature, with a deeply rooted belief in the supernatural. The more primitive species, such as the Spider Gnomes, are extremely animalistic, wearing little or no clothing and having only rudimentary language skills. Those living in more settled areas tend to wear more clothing and have a more complex dialect, with most Gnomes sharing versions of what is known as the Gnome Tongue. A few Gnomes have even become fluent in other languages, leading scholars to believe that it may be lack of exposure to knowledge, rather than inability to learn, that has kept most Gnomes in such primitive circumstances.
A Gnome Sedt, or chief, rules the tribe.
Extremely warlike, Gnomes will usually raid anyone within their perceived territory who has something they want or need. Their weapons of choice are slings, bows and arrows, knives, and swords, though they will use anything that comes to hand. The Gnomes can and do use horses when available, though they are poor horsemen compared to Elves or even Men. Their Tracking skills, however, are far superior to most of the other Races. Gnome Trackers are always considered the best of the breed. They are excellent hunters and always know where natural foods grow best.
Most of the time, Gnomes are busy raiding each other at least as often as they raid the other Races. Tribes do not ever band together unless forced by a supernatural entity. Each tribe has its own chief, called a Sedt, and its own gods and ceremonies. Tribes come together only at certain preordained ceremonies designed to appease various major gods such as those within the Wolfsktaag. Each tribe is governed by a council—usually made up of elders and respected war chiefs—who advise the Sedt.
Gnomes are nomadic, moving their camps to follow the game, or the seasons or the whim of the Sedt. Some tribes have a fixed pattern of migration, while others simply follow the path of least resistance, almost literally going wherever they are led. They prefer huts and tents but have no qualms about using houses if they are available, though they seldom know how to care for sophisticated dwellings.
Gnomes have always outnumbered the other Races, but until the Warlock Lord forced them to unite, their greater numbers were not a threat because of their lack of organization. The Warlock Lord used the natural Gnome fear of the supernatural to force them to serve him. They believed the Skull Bearers were gods. The fact that Skull Bearers had the abilities of the dark magic reinforced that belief. The Warlock Lord used the Gnomes primarily to fill his lines, since they had neither the skill nor the dedication of the Trolls. They also had no qualms about wandering away if game that was more interesting was on the horizon.
Religion is extremely important to most Gnomes. Each tribe has a shaman who presides over a complex series of rites and rituals designed to appease the gods involved in every phase of tribal life. Some tribes even sacrifice their own kind to appease angry gods. Any power of magic or seeming magic that they do not understand is perceived as a god. Most Gnomes have an instinctive ability to sense magic. It does little to protect them, since they do not understand it or its use. Only the shaman, who is usually a seer, has any use or understanding of magic.
Trackers
All Races have men and women who are Trackers, though Gnome Trackers are considered the best within that elite group. Trackers have the ability to trace the movement of anything that lives by studying the ground and surrounding area. They can recognize the faintest signs and interpret their meaning. Though this often seems like magic, it is actually an almost instinctive skill that comes of being close to nature and understanding the land as few people ever can.
Most Trackers are at home only within the wilderness. They tend to avoid settlements and large towns whenever possible. The only company they truly enjoy is that of other Trackers.
The most famous Gnome Tracker was named Slanter. Often known as the Gnome who was not quite a Gnome, Slanter spoke several languages fluently and lived most of his life away from the Gnome territories. He became a hero during the War of the Ildatch and was the only one of Jair Ohmsford’s protectors to survive the quest. He was also one of the few Gnomes ever to win the respect of the Dwarves.
A Gnome warrior.
Icon worship is very common among Gnomes. Often the more unusual spoils
of a raid or war are treated as holy relics and placed on a wooden platform as part of a ceremony. Unusually crafted swords and knives are more likely to be worshiped or used in ceremonies than as weapons of war.
Perhaps the most feared sound in the Eastland is the sound of Gnome drums. The Gnomes use drums made of hide and wood in all aspects of their lives. All ceremonies involve chanting accompanied by the drums. Long-distance communication, usually used only in time of war or during large raids, is done with drums. War drums are used to invoke the spirits of war before a battle to ensure a favorable outcome. During the Second War of the Races and the War of the Warlock Lord, thousands of these drums sounded their ominous percussion day and night as the Gnomes summoned their spirits to protect them and destroy their enemies.
Gnome women traditionally manage the village and are keepers of the hearth and children. In most tribes, they are not granted equal status with men unless they do something unusual to gain that status. If a woman proves the gods favor her, she may be granted higher status. Women fight only in the final defense of their children, and then only if they cannot run away.
STORLOCK
Not all Gnomes are primitive and nomadic. Within the Central Anar, near the Rabb Plains, the Gnomes of Storlock have very little in common with the rest of their Race. The Stors are a single tribe of Gnomes, founded by a former Druid named Stor Rualitan, who have dedicated themselves to the healing arts with the same intensity that their cousins have dedicated themselves to raids. Stor was part of the Druid Council, but at some point he and his followers decided that gathering knowledge at Paranor was not enough. They wanted to actually use their knowledge to help people. These few Gnomes left Paranor and established Storlock, a village dedicated to healing and exploring the healing arts. The Gnomes who serve at Storlock are called Stors in honor of their founder.
Jachyra
The beast known as the Jachyra was believed to be little more than a legend until Allanon discovered one loose within the Wolfsktaag Mountains near the Chard Rush. Jachyras were Demon creatures from the time of Faerie that had been locked behind the Forbidding since it was first formed in the age of Faerie. The Mord Wraiths managed to use the magic inherent in the Eastland Mountains to bring two of them from their prison. One mortally wounded Allanon before he could destroy it, and the other was set to guard Heaven’s Well, where it killed the Weapons Master.
Almost unstoppable, the huge fire-colored monster resembles a misshapen jackal with huge teeth and rending claws. Both teeth and claws are tipped with a poison that affects the spirit as well as the body. The Jachyra feeds on pain, both its victims’ and its own. There is no known defense other than complete annihilation. They will tear themselves apart to see their victim destroyed.
The Stors live and work in a village that was built for them by the Dwarves. In direct contrast to all other Gnome tribes, they are a people of quiet concentration and calm determination. The finest Healers in the land, they give of their gift freely. All are welcome, no matter the Race, but only Gnomes chosen by the Stors are allowed to work and study with them as Healers. The only exception ever made was for a gifted and determined young man named Wil Ohmsford.
No one knows whether the current Stors come from a single tribe or from different tribes. Once they are dedicated to the healing arts, they never speak of a life beyond Storlock. They practice their arts with herbs and natural remedies, never magic, believing that magic is too unreliable for healing and that the side effects are too damaging.
All Stors dress in the garb of their order, a white hooded robe and sandals. They all live within the village and rarely travel far from Storlock. The other Races keep them supplied with food and satisfy their other material needs. The Dwarves, and many of the Gnome tribes, believe it is good luck to bring gifts to the Stors, who never ask for payment for their services or refuse anyone in need.
Storlock is built within the edge of the forest around a pond of clear waters that are said to have unusual restorative powers. The wooden village consists of a main Healing Center, a number of cabins for visitors and patients, and a village behind the Healing Center with living quarters for the Stors and those Gnomes and Dwarves who assist in the maintenance of the village. The Healing Center itself is a large building with several wings to accommodate private and group sickrooms, a surgery, examining areas, waiting areas, and a large apothecary where herbs and potions are stored and prepared.
WOLFSKTAAG
Though Gnomes have raided throughout the Eastland, there is a place where Gnomes will not go. The Wolfsktaag Mountains, east of Storlock, are believed to be a place of gods and spirits. Twice a year the Gnomes travel to the Pass of Jade, one of only two commonly known openings into the interior of the range, to make offerings to appease the spirits of the Wolfsktaag Mountains. The Dwarves, who are more pragmatic, simply state that there are creatures of old magic living within the ancient mountains. The Wolfsktaag Mountains cover a large part of the Eastland, running north and south between the Rabb Plains and the Central Anar, and are believed to have existed long before the Old World and the Great Wars.
These mountains are the only ones within the Eastland that contain no human habitations. Skilled Dwarf Trackers will cross through them, but even they sometimes fall prey to the tricks and illusions of the area, becoming lost and disoriented. The Druids believed that the Wolfsktaag was a place where the magic from the Great Wars and that of Faerie have “pooled” to create a region where creatures born of such magic find a strong resonance. The magic within the area is not evil, but it is quite strong and not sympathetic to humans. In these mountains, humans are trespassers.
It is the domain of shape-shifters, born of the magic of Faerie—those creatures that can blend their shape at will and seem to have no certain shape of their own. It is also the home of great ur’wolves, wraiths, logworms, gnawls, and even a creature from the time of the Great Wars related to the creepers. These beings seldom leave the haven of their mountains. Most will not attack a cautious traveler. But in places where old magic is strong, nothing is ever certain.
One of the many creatures that lurks within the Wolfsktaag Mountains.
Truls Rohk
There is a legend of a Borderman bewitched by a shape-shifter. In the legend, the Borderman leaves his homeland to live forever with the shape-shifter in her kingdom of magic. Unfortunately, part of the story is true. A Borderman and a shape-shifter once crossed the forbidden territory between mortal and immortal. Both eventually paid the price with their lives. Their offspring, the only man living within the edge of the Wolfsktaag, must pay the price anew each day of his life.
Truls Rohk is both mortal and shape-shifter. Orphaned at an early age, he is a man of two worlds, for shape-shifters are creatures of old magic and have no use for mortals, and mortals fear the things of magic that they cannot possibly understand and control.
The Grimpond
Deep within the wilds of Darklin Reach, in the depths of a forgotten lake, lies a creature neither living nor dead known as the Grimpond. Both Avatar and shade, the Grimpond is an oracle that will answer questions, but never quite as the querist wishes. Though the Grimpond will not speak of its own origins, there is no doubt that it has existed since the time of the Old World. Even the Druids do not know what or who the Grimpond was or how its spirit came to be imprisoned within the waters. Though only a spirit, the Grimpond claims to have seen all of mankind’s rise and fall and all of the tragedies of human existence before and since, with eyes that are more than eyes and ears that need no sound to hear.
Through the thousand thousand years the Grimpond has lain trapped, it has grown bitter. It claims to know what will be as well as what was, but it seems to take delight in misleading with truth that is shaded in half-truths and deception. The only person who ever managed to gain pure truth from the shade was Brin Ohmsford. She used the wishsong to force the Grimpond into giving her the answers she needed to succeed in her quest. The Grimpond never forgave her. It wait
ed for many years until it was able to take its revenge on her descendant, Walker Boh. The Grimpond’s advice led Walker to the Hall of Kings, where he lost his arm and almost his life.
Like other shades, the Grimpond is limited to its domain, but its spectral form can appear to have any face, and usually appears wearing the face of the querist. It will only appear to one person at a time, and always as a cloaked figure rising out of the mist of the lake. Unlike the spirits of the Hadeshorn or those within the well of Paranor, the Grimpond does not require a special summoning or the use of magic. It has the ability to appear when it wishes for as long as it wishes. Such abilities suggest that the Grimpond may once have been a creature of Faerie, though even the Grimpond itself may no longer remember the tragedy that brought it to its eternal prison.
DARKLIN REACH
Northwest of the Wolfsktaag, along the course where the Chard Rush approaches the Rabb, lies Darklin Reach, another haven for creatures of magic and those who wield it. Dominated by the chimney-shaped pinnacle known as Hearthstone at its center, Darklin Reach is a thick wilderness of forest broken by a single quiet valley that contrasts sharply with the wild land surrounding it. The valley was home to Cogline and the Bohs for centuries. It was Walker Boh’s birthplace. The neatly kept stone and timber cottage that used to nestle under the trees is long gone, destroyed by the Shadowen many years ago, but the peace that was laid upon the land by the people who loved it still remains.
Not far from Hearthstone is the lake that is home to the Grimpond, a spirit creature believed to have existed since the time of Faerie. Further to the northeast, several miles of savage wilderness and towering forest away, is the ridgeline known as Toffer Ridge, home of the Spider Gnomes.
