The Troyan Mountains form the southern wall of the Dalizi Highlands, a range of broken peaks and deep valleys that separates the highland interior from the lowlands of the Dalizi Confederation. Named for an ancient Dalizi hero who allegedly died fighting giants in these peaks, the mountains are best known today for the ogre clans that make the Ogre Hills their home.
Geography
The Troyan Mountains extend roughly sixty miles from the Chalaari River in the west to the approaches to the Elder Mountains in the east. The range is lower than the Jackal Mountains to the north—most peaks fall between 8,000 and 10,000 feet—but covers more area, sprawling across a width of twenty to thirty miles.
The terrain is complex: multiple parallel ridges separated by deep valleys, with numerous side canyons and box ends. Unlike the relatively uniform Jackal range, the Troyans are a maze. Travelers who enter without guides rarely find their way out by the route they intended.
The southern slopes descend gradually toward the Dalizi lowlands, becoming progressively more hospitable. The northern face is steeper, dropping sharply into the valleys that separate the Troyans from the Jackal Mountains.
The Legend of Troyan
According to Dalizi legend, Troyan was a warrior-chief who lived in the early days of the Confederation, when the highland ranges were home to giants rather than the scattered monsters of today. The giants raided the lowland settlements regularly, taking cattle, crops, and people.
Troyan organized a coalition of Dalizi states to push into the mountains and break the giants' power. The campaign lasted three years and cost thousands of lives, but it succeeded—the giants were driven from the southern ranges, their strongholds destroyed, their numbers reduced to scattered survivors.
Troyan himself died in the final battle, fighting a giant chieftain on a peak that still bears no name. His body was never recovered. The Dalizi named the entire range for him, though they lost track of which specific mountain saw his end.
Whether the legend is accurate remains debated. Giants certainly existed—their bones occasionally surface in the mountains—but whether they were organized enough to conduct raids, or whether a single campaign broke their power, is less certain.
The Ogre Hills
The eastern Troyan Mountains contain a distinct subrange of lower hills occupied by ogre clans. These are the Ogre Hills, home to perhaps a thousand ogres divided among several competing groups.
The ogres are not the giants of legend—they're smaller, less powerful, and considerably less organized. They raid the lowlands occasionally, but their attacks are opportunistic rather than systematic. The Dalizi have learned to coexist with them through a combination of armed patrols, fortified villages, and the occasional punitive expedition.
The ogres prefer the broken terrain of the hills, where their strength and knowledge of the ground give them advantages. They don't venture into the higher Troyans, possibly due to territorial disputes with whatever occupies those peaks.
Current Status
The Troyan Mountains mark the practical northern boundary of Dalizi settlement. The lowland states extend to the mountain's southern slopes; the peaks themselves are empty wilderness. Shepherds graze flocks in the lower valleys during summer; hunters pursue game as high as they dare; no one stays year-round.
The mountains are crossed by the Chalaari River valley to the west, which offers a route into the central highlands. This is the most traveled path through the Troyans, though "traveled" is relative—perhaps a dozen parties per month in good weather.
Ogre Hills
A distinct region of broken, lower terrain in the eastern Troyans, home to the ogre clans. See the dedicated entry for details.
Giant's Fall
A cliff in the central Troyans where, according to legend, Troyan slew a giant by pushing it off the edge. The cliff drops nearly a thousand feet to a boulder field below. Giant bones have been found in the area, though whether this confirms the legend or merely indicates that giants lived here is disputed.
The Empty Temples
Several structures in the high Troyans appear to be temples of some kind—stone buildings with pillared entrances and interior chambers. They're empty now, stripped of any contents, with no indication of who built them or what was worshipped. The architectural style doesn't match any known Dalizi or giant construction.
GM Information: These temples were built by the Vetharak civilization as dream-shrines—places where priests could enter the titan's dream-space and attempt to guide its sleeping thoughts. Each temple sits above a node in the leyline network that channels the titan's dream-energy, and the interior chambers were designed to induce trance states.
The temples are empty because the civilization stripped them before fleeing (if they fled) or because the dream-connection preserved the spaces from the decay that claimed everything else. The interiors still function as entry points to the titan's dream—anyone who sleeps in the inner chambers may find themselves dreaming the titan's dreams, experiencing fragmentary visions of a consciousness older than human memory. This is not safe. The titan's dreams can be overwhelming, addictive, or maddening, and some dreamers don't wake up at all.
Related Locations
- Ogre Hills — East, ogre territory within the range
- Jackal Mountains — North, the central spine of the highlands
- Chalaari River — West, route through the mountains
- Elder Mountains — East, the ancient range beyond
- Cerulean Crests — Southwest, visible from the western peaks