Monks of the Mountains

The terrain of central Golnir is cut through by the Thasos Mountains, dividing the coastal plains from the more rugged inland plateaus. Anyone traveling from one end of the kingdom to another would be wise to know of the routes that pass through the Thasos, for it is a land of steep peaks, treacherous cliffs, and wild valleys so isolated from the Queen's rule that tyrants and wild men are free to assail travelers. One of the most intriguing sections of this range, however, is the formation dubbed the Rocks of the Gods.

Around the village of Daphanon rise a series of great pillars of rock, and boulders as large as hills. They have stood here since time immemorial, and local legend speaks that they are all that remains of a mountain shattered in a battle between gods in a bygone age. Whatever the case is, these pillars stood out not only as a geologic curiosity, but as an appealing site for hermits to take up residence. Perhaps inspired by the tradition of the stylites, but seeking something more substantial than a carved pillar to sit upon, monks were drawn to the Rocks as a place of meditation and seclusion. They were, after all, cut off from the outside world - being so high and so difficult to reach from the ground, they would ensure no secular intrusions could disturb the monks' introspection on the divine, and they also proved to be easily defensible in times of strife.

The earliest settlements on the Rocks were those of lone hermits - the stone that makes up the Rocks is porous, and their length is lined by caves. Holy men moved into these caves, and over time, some communities formed among them. Some larger caves would form into small monasteries in which multiple monks dined and slept together, while other times, paths were carved between caves so that monks could travel from one cell to another. Other communities would accept one another as brothers but live in solitude, only descending from their caves on holy days to come together at a chapel built at the foot of the rock.

As the monastic communities grew, it became clear that the caves could not sustain them forever. These days, most of the monks of the Thasos dwell in complexes built on top of the pillars, some of them built to hug the contours of the sheer cliffs. Today there are fourteen monasteries and three convents in total that span the Rocks of the Gods, honoring all manner of gods and practicing all sorts of traditions. The most accessible of these is the Convent of Saint Merope Antigonine, which houses an order devoted to Marseah and accommodates pilgrims traveling the Thasos. In order to better serve the people, it has a winding spiral staircase cut into the cliffs that leads up to the top. The rest of the monasteries, however, are only accessible via ladders, and in some cases visitors must be hoisted to the top in the same rope nets that are used to haul donations. The monks believe that the ropes must only be replaced when the gods show them a sign by causing the rope to break - which means that there is always a very real risk of unfortunate pilgrims dropping to their deaths, should a rope break as they are being lifted.

Though the monks and nuns of the Rocks largely live as ascetics, many monasteries do boast great collections of literature, with their scriptoria meticulously copying texts as old as the Fedreline era - and some of these texts may hold arcane secrets. Then there are the relics - some are valuable for their holiness, others by virtue of the jeweled reliquaries they are housed in, and a few have mystical powers, such as the Radius of Saint Sophos, housed at the Monastery of the Six Holy Veils- this saint was revered for the miracle of producing water from his pores in order to save a village from a drought, and his bones still produce water when cracked. The monasteries, of course, keep these treasures closely guarded - and getting to the monasteries in the first place is a challenge unto itself.

But the caves of the old hermits, and the tunnels between them, still go deep into the Rocks. They may have been abandoned by the orders today, but beneath the eyes of the holy they have been taken over by spiders, goblins, and stranger things yet, some of which make incursions from their lairs into the outside world. And there are always rumors that the monks may have forgotten a few relics when moving out of the cave systems...