Adlanna

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Adlanna (Elv. the Slope) is the local elvish name for a range of three huge snow-topped mountains rising out of the eastern jungles of Mungodia and helping to define their southern-most extent. That is, they can be found at perhaps 6°S, 10°E. Adlanna's white snowcaps can sometimes be seen through the haze from the jungle edge 100 miles to the south.

Other Elvish names for the mountains include 'the Hills of the Damned', 'the Pinnacles of Folly', and 'Sulphurous Hell of Exploding Rock', for reasons lost in the mists of time. Those few elves from Alfheim who know of people living there refer to them as fools, the Damned, the Lost, or merely Benighted, and often consider them 'Drow in all but name'.

Geography

Adlanna consists of three volcanic cones, Nimgarthiel, Haldir, and Erynion, which collectively tower over the rain-forest and jungles to the north, and the relatively arid plains to the south, shaping weather systems and climatic patterns for thousands of miles around.

Nimgarthiel (Elv. white castle) is the central and tallest of the cones, rising ten thousand feet from the surrounding jungle, or around 11,800 feet above the sea. Above its green-draped foothills, the jungle changes from tall tropical rainforest, to dense luxurious, liana-draped jungle growing in a near-permanent mist, through sub-tropical and temperature growth, and finally wind-swept sub-alpine forests. The top third of Nimgarthiel lies above the tree-line, with alpine grasses and tussocks giving way to year-round snow cover. The very steep and snowy peak is topped by a mile-wide caldera, which is warm and snow-free at times, particularly when the crust is at its thinnest.

Haldir (Elv. exalted) is the eastern-most of the three, and has the steepest jungle-clad slopes. The animals and plants of Haldir are relatively benign and the atmosphere is less muggy and suffocating, but very few people choose to live in its 10,000+ foot shadow.

Erynion (Elv. wooded) is covered with jungle to its very peak, which is a tad under 8,000 feet above sea level, or 6,000 feet above the verdant Mungodian landscape.

Ecology

The closely stacked series of micro-climates and horizontally constrained ecosystems have led to local specialisation of animals, from the three-foot high mountain elephants to the flying snakes of the open rainforest, with many types of monkeys, birds, bugs, and smaller fae that are unique to one valley or water catchment on Adlanna.

Inhabitants

Adlanna is a traditional place for rejects, social outcasts, misanthropes, hermits, wierd cults, and many other isolated elvish communities. While the villages tend to keep to themselves, there are some commonalities of culture over and above those shaped by the volcanic cone, fertile jungles, and tropical heat of Adlanna. In particular, many of the elves life for hundreds rather than tens of thousands of years, and are much more attuned to nature than those from Alfheim. They also tend not to follow either the Old or New Elven Gods, but instead respect the geni loci, or nature spirits attached to locations or events. They also intermingle much more with the other Fae than most elves, both those of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts. The result of these influences is a more inhuman and seemingly arbitrary morality than other elves, closer to that of the Dryads, Sylphs, or Nixies. They will also usually have certain idiosyncrasies associated with the purpose of their communities, whether it is cat-worship, self-mutilation, aesthetic immersion, or contemplation of a particular pattern of leaf fall.