The elevated heart of Venalthier—a vast icy plateau rising 5,000-6,000 feet above sea level, forming the source region for the glacial flows that define the continent's frozen character. Selengreyb is where the cold is born; the winds that scour Pale Death and Morelous originate here, flowing downhill from this frozen highland.
Geography
The Selengreyb Plateau stretches roughly 250 miles east to west and 150 miles north to south, occupying the central-southern portion of Venalthier. The surface is predominantly bare ice—ancient glacial accumulation compressed into a solid mass hundreds of feet thick. Snow falls here but doesn't stay; the constant wind redistributes it to lower elevations.
The plateau is not flat despite its name. Broad undulations create a rolling terrain of gentle rises and shallow depressions, with elevation variations of 100-300 feet over distances of several miles. These variations are invisible from ground level—the uniform white creates the illusion of flatness while travelers constantly climb and descend without realizing it.
The ice surface is dangerously smooth. Centuries of wind polishing have created zones where the ice is nearly frictionless—what the Nabuhe call "mirror ice." Travelers who step onto mirror ice often can't stop themselves from sliding; some have been carried hundreds of feet before friction finally slowed them. On slopes, the slides can reach terminal velocity.
Elevation Effects
The plateau's altitude creates conditions more extreme than anywhere else in Venalthier:
Temperature: Averaging -40°C to -50°C year-round, with extremes reaching -70°C during polar night. The altitude adds perhaps 10°C of additional cold compared to the lowlands.
Pressure: The thin air at 6,000 feet causes altitude sickness in those not acclimated. Combined with cold and wind, this creates a triple threat that exhausts travelers rapidly.
Isolation: The plateau is further from help than anywhere in Venalthier. An emergency on Selengreyb is almost certainly fatal; no rescue is coming.
Why It Matters
Selengreyb's practical importance is minimal—no resources exist, no settlements are viable, no trade routes cross it. But the plateau shapes everything around it:
Climate Control: The cold air produced here drives Venalthier's weather patterns. Understanding Selengreyb means understanding why Venalthier is what it is.
Glacial Source: The ice mass of the plateau flows slowly outward in all directions, feeding the glaciers that eventually become the Whitewalls. Selengreyb is a frozen reservoir, constantly replenishing what calves off the coastal cliffs.
Barrier: The plateau effectively divides Venalthier into western and eastern sectors. Traveling around it is long; traveling across it is nearly impossible.
The Depression
Near the plateau's center, a shallow depression perhaps 20 miles across marks where a fragment of the lost third moon struck Alaria during the Ezz Rift, 12 million years ago.
Before the Rift, Alaria had three moons. The cataclysm that created the planar stack also shattered the third moon, scattering debris across the world. Most pieces burned up or struck the oceans. One major fragment—perhaps a mile across—hit the Selengreyb region when it was still temperate land, burying itself deep in the bedrock before the glaciers formed.
The lunar fragment is still down there, preserved under hundreds of feet of ice. The material that composed the lost moon was different from ordinary stone—it contained concentrated planar resonance, crystallized connections to the astral and elemental planes. That material is still active. The compass anomalies come from its magnetic properties. The headaches and nausea come from exposure to low-level planar radiation. The dreams of drowning in ice are memories leaking from the fragment—the moon's final moments as it fell.
The Nabuhe know what's buried there. Their ancestors witnessed Riin scholars attempting to excavate it, two thousand years ago. The expedition went mad; the survivors described seeing through the ice into the astral plane, experiencing time in random order, and hearing the moon speak to them. The Riin abandoned the project and, shortly after, began their merger with Eyendra—possibly as a direct result of what they learned from the lunar fragment.
The material is immensely valuable if it could be extracted. Concentrated planar resonance would revolutionize magical research, enable new forms of planar travel, and potentially restore connections to planes that have grown distant since the Rift. No one has successfully extracted any. The ice is too deep, the conditions too harsh, and the psychological effects too severe. Those who stay too long stop wanting to leave, convinced the moon is about to share something important—if they just listen a little longer.