User:GoldenYak/Ignaris Mountains

Related to the Emerald Dream Expansion Concept

The Igarnis Mountains are covered with ancient evergreen forests, growing from the colossal forms of sleeping mountain giants.

History
The lands of the Ignaris Mountains solidified out of the ephemeral strata of the Dream in its earliest ages. From this unreal substance, the first Dream Giants were born, colossal beings of living stone, counterparts to their giant kin created on Azeroth by the Titans. The Dream Giants strode across the still-forming Emerald Dream, their passage shaping the unformed geography into rolling plains, deep gorges, or towering mountains. The sculpted the peaks of Frostholt and dug out the great valleys of the Forevergreen. When they had completed their work, they all lay down to rest in the rocky land of their birth, forming mighty chains of mountains with their own craggy bodies. Settling into a long slumber, the Dream Giants became the Ignaris Mountains themselves. Their unmoving bodies gathering earth and soil, great forests of evergreen trees sprouted, concealing the sleeping giants under a sea of green leaf and rich dirt. For eons the Dream Giants have slept thus, few amongst their number ever rousing to move about the Dream as they once did in the oldest ages.

Geography
All throughout the region, the sleeping Dream Giants can be seen, a rocky visage half-glimpsed in a weathered cliff-side or half-buried in tree-covered hillocks. Their slumbering bodies form the very geography of the land. The actions of the Nightmare's servants in the region have caused several Dream Giants to be stirred to waking, leaving great fissures and chasms in the landscape where they have uprooted their massive bodies. Some Dream Giants have been driven to unspeakable rage by the corruption of the Nightmare, which has caused their stone bodies to erupt and spill forth burning molten blood, creating volcanic regions. To the east, the great Dream Giant Sartan, largest and mightiest of their race, still lies in sleep, his titanic body forming much of the area.

Dungeons and Raids
- The Riven Forge - A mighty stronghold built by the Deviaan Host beneath the peaks of the Ignaris Mountains. The brutal Deviaan have populated their fortress with twisted monsters and races plundered from the ancient depths of the Dream. The stronghold houses countless forges and foundries, stealing fire from the molten hearts of the sleeping Ignaris giants to create weapons of terrible power that the deviaan will use to conquer the Dream.

- Sartan's Maw - The great Sartan is a massive mountain giant slumbering in the Ignaris Mountains. The insidious satyr who serve the Nightmare have bound elementals into their service and now burrow into the stony body of Sartan, seeking to awaken his burning molten heart. With a giant of Sartan's size under their vile control, the satyr will be able to lay waste to the entire Dream.

Patyran, Son of Sartan
One of the children of the great mountain giant Sartan, he has been driven to madness by the agents of the Nightmare and rampages through the Ignaris Mountains..

Land of Giants
The heroes arrive in the Ignaris Mountains to rendezvous with a bastion of the Emerald Guard that has been established in the south-western region. From there, the heroes lead the Guard north to a battlefront against the Order of Thorns, who are attempting to awaken a slumbering mountain giant in the region. Corrupted by the Nightmare Weavers of the Order of Thorns, the giant awakens and tears itself free from the earth, transforming into a rampaging Nightmare Giant. The giant inflicts grievous losses upon the ranks of the Guard before the heroes can bring it down, forcing the Order of Thorns to withdraw. Knowing that the servants of the Nightmare will seek to awaken more giants, the Emerald Guard send the heroes after the Order of Thorns. Further into the region, larger and more powerful giants still slumber, and if the Order of Thorns succeeds in awakening even a small number of them, the Nightmare will gain an overwhelmingly powerful new army.

Hosts of the Dark Below
As the heroes search the Ignaris Mountains for more signs of the Order of Thorns, they discover a tribe of native furbolg under siege from hordes of Blighted treefolk. Desperate for assistance, the normally taciturn furbolg welcome the heroes into their territory. The spirit of Ursol, the bear god, is summoned to commune with the heroes, warning them that the Nightmare has begun to manifest itself in regions across the realm. Investigating one of these Nightmare sources in the north, the heroes discover that the Order of Thorns has broken open the earth to expose more slumbering mountain giants, and their efforts have also uncovered ancient Titan ruins built in the earliest ages of the Dream.

Before long, the Order of Thorns break through ancient seals placed upon the Titan ruins, unleashing hordes of the deviaan who turn upon and slaughter the servants of the Nightmare. Soon the violent deviaan have overrun the north, exposing canyons and gorges that flow with magma. The deviaan begin cutting into the sleeping giants in the area, extracting their elemental energy to open more Titan vaults and unleash more of their imprisoned kin. Deviaan slavers oversee the digging and mining operations from their fortress of Volca'Gan.

The Great Boar, Agammagan
In the southern low-lying valleys of the Ignaris Mountains, great bramble-patches grow that act as dwelling places for the hostile quillboar. In the greatest of these thorn-choked gorges dwells the great progenitor of the quillboar race, the wild god Agamaggan the boar. The mighty deity has thus far resisted the pollution of the Nightmare, but many tribes of his children have not been so lucky, and their numbers are growing. Soon they will overwhelm the uninfected quillboar, and the corruption of the Nightmare will endanger Agammagan himself. As one of the mightiest of the wild gods, the loss of Agammagan to the Nightmare would be a grievous blow, and likely spell doom for the defenders of the Emerald Dream in the region. The heroes are able to convince Agammagan and the quillboar to reluctantly accept their aid, and together push forwards into the Nightmare-corrupted barrows of the infected quillboar. A hideous eruption of Nightmare pollution is found in the tainted thorn-burrow, overseen by the dread faceless ones, eldritch heralds of the Nightmare and servants of the Old God N'Zoth. With Agammagan's divine blessing, the Nightmare geyser to sealed and the faceless ones are driven away. However, the danger of a resurgence is very real. Agammagan bestows his grudging thanks upon the heroes, and promises the support of his quillboar children against the Nightmare in the future.

Giants of Nightmare
Though the presence of the deviaan in the north is a cause of grave concern, they remain largely immune to the Nightmare and have driven its influence from the region. Of greater concern to the Emerald Guard is the presence of the Nighmare in the east. The greatest number of dream giants can be found slumbering in the eastern reaches, and the Nightmare is growing stronger in that region. The Order of Thorns is in force, and have bolstered their ranks with the shadow satyr, creatures born of the Nightmare itself. Many sleeping giants have been unearthed and corrupted. Those too powerful to turn have gone mad or been destroyed, their stone bodies shattered and their molten blood pouring into the land, turning it into a volcanic hellscape. The elements in the region have been driven into a violent frenzy, with earth and fire elementals taking form and lashing out in a mad rage at all living things. All throughout the region the corruption of the Nightmare grows steadily stronger.

Sartan, Father of Giants
The greatest concentration of the Nightmare's forces lies in the far east, surrounding the great slumbering father of the dream giants, the mighty Sartan. The Order of Thorns have cut into his colossal stone body, spilling his molten blood into the surrounding region. The shadow satyr use dark sorcery to pollute the wounded giant, slowly filling his mind with the darkness of the Nightmare. His broken flesh twists and spawns corrupted elementals of earth and stone, while his molten blood spawns corrupted elementals of magma and flame. Incarnations of the Nightmare take shape as hideous faceless ones, a dark sign that the power of the Nightmare is reaching its apex.

The servants of the Nightmare have opened a great rent in Sartan's body, exposing the cavernous interior of the giant to corruption. The mountain giant's exposed head is frozen in a silent scream, unable to keep the corruption of the Nightmare from poisoning his spirit. If Sartan rises as a nightmare giant, there will be little hope of stopping him or the Nightmare. The only way to prevent Sartan's fall to the Nightmare's influence will be for the heroes to enter his immense body themselves, through the giant's great gaping maw, and purge the corruption at his heart.

Questlines
The Sleeping Giants - Throughout the Ignaris Mountains, dream giants slumber in the earth. Many of them are menaced by the forces of the Nightmare. Spell-casters of the Order of Thorns and wicked shaman of the satyr seek to waken these great beings and turn them to evil purpose.

The Earth's Blood and Flesh - The slumbering giants stir fitfully as the Nightmare invades their dreams. Their fear and pain have stirred the elementals in the Ignaris Mountains into a violent frenzy. Earth and stone uproots itself and goes on a rampage, while molten magma and fire burn out of control, devouring the forests. These elementals must be pacified before they cause further devastation.

Scurriers in the Dark - The quakes wracking the region have broken open underground burrows and caverns, unleashing hordes of maddened kobold into the area. While their fear and panic are understandable, the kobold are not open to diplomacy and their rioting must be ended with force.

Emanations of the Old One - The Nightmare's pollution has sunk deep into the earth, and ancient evils are being stirred to waking by it. Emerging from the dark mists of the Nightmare are the faceless ones, the servants of the Old God N'Zoth. The blight of their presence can be felt upon the souls of all those who dwell in the region.

Children of Agammagan - In the low valleys of the south, huge forests of thorns and vines shelter the quillboar. Hostile quillboar tainted by the Nightmare are attacking their uninfected kin, who grudgingly accept aid. A geyser of Nightmare corruption lies at the heart of the swampy thorn-valley, expelling pollution and oozes into the region.

The Blighted Groves - Many treefolk glades in the Ignaris Mountains have been tainted by the Nightmare, with those nearest to the volcanic regions having suffered especially badly. Ashen treefolk driven to madness are attacking Emerald Guard encampments, who cannot afford to deal with the fallen treants while the Nightmare runs rampant.

X.1 - The Dark Ancients
When the Nightmare unleashes its Dark Ancients upon the Emerald Dream, Vikaragg the Boar God rampages through the Ignaris Mountains. The colossal mountain-sized boar causes horrible black thorns and vines to spring up in the wake of his rampage, choking the life of anything that survives the Dark Ancient's passage. From out of these tainted thorn-patches come the skiverine, boar-like humanoids spawned in twisted image of the quillboar race. Vikaragg was formed by the Nightmare in mockery of the great boar deity Agamaggan, and he bears a special loathing for his counterpart.

Vikaragg will spawn as a world-boss and his presence will greatly increase the power of the Nightmare and its servants during a Nightmare Incursion.