A map detailing the location of the Middle Mountains in the northern Empire.
The Middle Mountains, called Mitteberge in Reikspiel, are a desolate mountain range located in the north-western region of the Empire, which acts as a natural border for the lands of Nordland, Ostland, Hochland and Middenland. This range of mountains is notorious for being highly devoid of valuable resources and mineral deposits, to such an extent that the Dwarfs who had previously colonised the mountains have all but abandoned them and returned to the domains of the more resource-rich Worlds Edge Mountains.
Nonetheless, this range of mountains has in the past provided adequate shelter for the Empire's people, resulting in the creation of cities such as Middenheim and Wolfenburg. Due to the harsh and inaccessible terrain of the region, the mountains have also been known to harbor a large population of the Empire's foes, ranging from the occasional Goblin tribes living within the caves to Chaos warbands occupying the fortified citadel of Brass Keep.
In centuries long past, these great mountains held another grander purpose, for during the horrific time of the Great Catastrophe, when the the forces of Chaos first entered the mortal world, this mountain range held within it a third Chaos Gate of the Old Ones, and it was this gate that Grimnir himself personally held shut and guarded for many centuries, fighting hordes of Daemons until the day finally came for Grimnir's heir to inherit the powers and responsibilities of his predecessor and hold back the Daemonic tide that seeks to end the domains of Mankind during the apocalyptic age known simply as the End Times.
History[]
The Middle Mountains have a long and storied history, one that stretches back far earlier than that of the Empire which now claims it. Before ever Sigmar walked the Old World, the Dwarfs made homes there admitst the tall, unforgiving peaks.[4a]
Karaz Ghumzul[]
The earliest accounts of the Middle Mountains come from the Dwarfs who settled there during the expansion of the Golden Age. They called this realm Karaz Ghumzul, and the Dwarfs of the Middle Mountains declared their independence from the Dwarf heartland of Karaz Ankor during the War of the Beard (–2000 to –1600 IC).[4a]
The reasons for this are disputed: some scholars (mainly Elven and Human) claim that the Dwarfs of Karaz Ghumzul were uncomfortably aware of their isolated position and their proximity to the Elven community of the Laurelorn Forest. The Dwarfs themselves maintain that they had larger concerns than a quarrel between two distant kings, for their prospectors had discovered a Chaos gate beneath the mountains, and the realm needed all its strength to contain it.[4a]
In addition to these dangers, the mountains did not yield the expected mineral wealth. When the Time of Woes (-1500 to -108 IC) began and the Greenskins and Skaven fell on Karaz Ghumzul, the Dwarfs abandoned their holds and fled the Middle Mountains to return to Karaz Ankor. They sealed the doors, buried them under rock, and destroyed the roads that led to them.[4a]
To this day, the Dwarfs will not say what drove their people from Karaz Ghumzul, but as they left the mountains near where Castle Lenkster now stands, the Dwarf priests pronounced a curse on the mountains and everything within them. Since then, many prospectors and adventurers have searched for the lost Dwarf mines, but none have succeeded. When Karaz Ghumzul was abandoned, the Brotherhood of Grimnir were the only Dwarfs who remained behind. These Dwarfen Slayer-Monks became the guardians of the Keep of the First Slayer, honouring his ancient vow to guard the Chaos gate beneath it.[4a]
Human Settlement[]
Centuries later, the expanding Humans had no more success in settling the mountains, treating them instead as a barrier that divided the lands of various early tribes. Ironically, this dangerous and monster-haunted terrain provided those early communities of Men with a measure of protection from each other, for raiding parties could not cross the mountains in safety. This meant that some of the Human settlements nearby could flourish and grow -- the most notable being Middenheim, Wolfenburg, and Bergsburg.[4a]
While it was true that monsters came down from the mountains from time to time, the hardy folk of the region were well able to deal with them. As the centuries passed and the Empire was born, strategically placed fortresses at Roezfels, Castle Lenkster, and Brass Keep protected the settled lowlands, ushering in an age of peace and prosperity for the surrounding provinces.[4a]
Great War Against Chaos[]
That peace came to an abrupt end in 2302 IC, when the forces of Chaos overran Kislev and poured into the northern provinces of the Empire. The Chaos threat was only finally defeated more than 60 years later, but isolated pockets of Beastmen and Chaos Warriors still survive in the Empire's remotest parts from this conflict -- despite all efforts to root them out.[4a]
Brass Keep in the Middle Mountains is one such place. It fell to Chaos in the early days of the incursion and has never been recaptured. The forces of Middenheim, Middenland, and Ostland combined to build a great circular fortification known as "The Picket," which serves to keep the Nurglish defenders of Brass Keep contained, and acts as a base from which private expeditions can set out to try to reconquer the fortress.[4a]
Gold Rush of 2497 IC[]
Despite the Middle Mountains' reputation for barrenness, and the fact that even the Dwarfs had failed to find any mineral wealth there in more than a thousand years of searching, there was a brief gold rush in the Middle Mountains in 2497 IC.[4a]
Thousands of hopeful souls set out into the mountains, most of them woefully under-equipped and all of them completely lacking in outdoor survival or prospecting skills. Hundreds died from accidents, bad weather, and monster attacks -- those who returned came home poorer than when they had left.[4a]
The birth of the gold hysteria was later traced to the Middenheim pamphleteer Oda Fortune, recently returned from a stint at Middenheim Mining Colony and Penitentiary, who had been selling spurious maps at a crown a piece. Authorities found his house burning with an angry mob outside, but no trace of the miscreant was ever found. It was said that he departed for Marienburg the day after the last bogus pamphlet was sold.[4b]
Terrain[]
A map of the rough terrain that comprises the Middle Mountains.
The Middle Mountains' forbidding grey peaks rise abruptly from the surrounding forests, forming a barrier that can only be crossed by a handful of passes. It is a harsh and unforgiving environment, haunted by monsters of all kinds -- including, some say, a small but stubborn community of Greenskins whose ancestors were not entirely wiped out by the Dwarfs of Karaz Ghumzul.[4b]
While the natural terrain of the Middle Mountains is harsh enough, there are spots here and there -- especially the area around Brass Keep -- that have been further warped by the long presence of Chaos in the region.[4b]
These lands are not as bizarrely twisted as those of the Chaos Wastes, but they can still be deadly. Some folks believe the terrain knows the minute a newcomer sets foot on the land. Unwanted visitors will be received with freak and fierce weather conditions: for example, heavy hailstorms pursue travellers, pounding them with chunks of ice the size of a Human head. Mountain streams leap from their beds like great constricting serpents, striving to drag passers-by in to their deaths. Rocky paths are littered with stones as sharp as caltrops, whose wounds fester and sometimes warp into foul mutations.[4b]
For the most part, though, the Middle Mountains' terrain is harsh but natural. Ice and snow cap th peaks, razor-edged ridges divide one precipitous valley from another, and mountain tracks wash away in bad weather, becoming treacherous slides of loose rock and mud that can hurl incautious travellers to their doom on jagged rocks far below.[4b]
Notable Locations[]
Barren though they are, the Middle Mountains are not entirely devoid of settlement. A few exceptionally hardy farmers scratch a living from the foothills, and there are a handful of other places of note.[4b]
- Karak Kazarak - A Dwarf hold that fell in -200 IC.
- Brass Keep - Originally one of three Imperial fortresses protecting the surrounds of the Middle Mountains, Brass Keep was overrun by the forces of Chaos centuries ago and has never been recaptured.[4b] Since then this fortress has been home to a multitude of Chaos Lords seeking shelter from Imperial retribution.
- Castle Lenkster - Another of the three great fortresses of the Middle Mountains, Castle Lenkster lies in the foothills to the south of Wolfenburg. It continues its ancient role defending Ostland from threats coming out of the mountains. It is an important staging-post for expeditions into the eastern arm of the mountains, and for troops and supplies bound for the Ostland depot at The Picket.[4c]
- Roezfels - The third of the three ancient Imperial fortresses in the mountains, Roezfels is said to have been founded on the site of an ancient Jutones stronghold dating back to before the time of Sigmar. Sometimes called "the fort that looks both ways," it guards the entrance to the strategic Death's Door Pass and the road to Bergsburg, as well as guarding against threats from the largely uninhabited western part of the Forest of Shadows.[4c]
- The Picket - Built on the orders of Emperor Magnus the Pious to keep Brass Keep and its Chaos-worshipping denizens contained, this great fortification consists of a ring-wall surrounding the keep and its hinterland, strengthened with wall-forts and supplied by two great depots in Middenland and Ostland.[4b]
- Middenheim Mining Colony and Penitentiary - The Middenheim mining colony and penitentiary called Hope Square lies four days' journey from Middenheim, in an area so remote and dangerous that most prisoners regard the brutal and dangerous existence of convict miners as safer and more comfortable than escaping into the mountains.[4b]
- Middenheim - Middenheim is the great City of the White Wolf and provincial capital of Middenland, located on the south-western tip of the Middle Mountains.
- Mierack - An Ostlander town high in the north-east of the Middle Mountains.
- Morgramgar - An Imperial fort standing upon the foundation of an ancient Dwarf hold.
- Nordberg - Nordberg is the tallest peak in the Middle Mountains,and at its very pinnacle lies the Keep of the First Slayer.
- Keep of the First Slayer - An ancient and powerful shrine dedicated to the Dwarf Ancestor God Grimnir the Fearless. It is said to be the location of a third Chaos Gate that ushered in the Second Chaos Incursion, and with Grimnir's sacrifice, the gate has since lain dormant and been guarded by a Dwarfen order of powerful Slayer-Monks called the Brotherhood of Grimnir.
- Wolfenburg - Wolfenburg is the provincial capital of Ostland which is located in the south-eastern foothills of the Middle Mountains.
- Wolf's Run and the River Drakwasser - The river called the Wolf's Run begins near Wolfenburg, while the River Drakwasser is located a bit further west. Both rivers are tributaries that flow into the River Talabec, carrying dark soil which is later deposited in Altdorf.