A Guide to Tower Mountain

The Tower Mountain Guide is copyright © 2000 by Hydra's- Head Press, and is printed here with permission. Permission is hereby granted to make copies of this document in any medium for the use of current contributing members of Tower Mountain/New Hope.
 

Contents: 

I.  The Tower

    1.  General description
    2.  Interior maps
    3.  Geology and Plant life
    4   Gemstones and Mineral Resources In and Around the Redrock Valley
    5.  Exterior maps
 

II. Inhabitants

    1. Elves
        A. General information
             a.  Magic Talents
             b.  Fashion Through the Ages In Tower Mountain
             c.  Technological Development
             d.  Favor Trading
        B. Magic
        C. Hawkriders and the Declared
            a. Becoming a Hawkrider
            b. Interview With the Hawkmaster
        D. Descendants of Ketsal's Band: a Geneology  (Really, really big image.  I mean, REALLY big.)
    2. Humans
        A. The Redrock Valley Mraal
        B.  Other Human Tribes (Coming soon)
    3. Trolls
        A. The Redrock Valley Trolls
        B. Other Troll Kingdoms
    4. Preservers
 

Geography

Tower Mountain and the surrounding Redrock Valley are volcanic in origin. The Tower itself is a lava butte, similar in appearence to the Devil's Tower. It is approximately 1,000 feet tall and eight hundred feet across at the base. The top of the Tower is approximately four hundred feet across. Part of the volcanic cone remains, forming a shield-wall of aproximately 170 degrees along the south rim of the caldera. Early in the Ice Age, the Tower was an active volcano which suffered an explosion at ground level; much of the upper rim of the volcano was left intact, but the explosion leveled a corridor area which was smothered in ash. Later glaciation of the area and subsequent erosion wore away much of the cone, leaving only the shield-wall and the granite plug which became Tower Mountain. The volcano has been dormant since.  .  The volcano itself was one of the Basalt type, with a high temperature, low acidity magma.  This has resulted in an exeptionally fertile surrounding area, due to replenished potash and posphates.  Also, the area immediately around the Tower is rich with ferromanganese minerals.  There is also the potential for fumerols and boiling springs that can provide heating for the Tower.  (Steam vents can provide steam with temperatures of upwards of 200-300 degrees F. at 60-175 PSI.)  The naturally forming hot springs are used as both laundries and baths.

The Redrock Valley does not lie directly in any major storm tract, but will come under the influence of storms that pass along the coast.  Its climate is, therefore, relatively mild or temperate, generally free from extremes or sudden changes.  It has a large annual range of temperature, and the seasons are well marked.  Summers are relatively long and warm.  Temperatures as high as 100 degrees F. are possible, but the temperature rarely rises above 95, with 90 degrees being the summer norm.  The nights are cool and pleasant.  The winters have an average daytime temperature of about 40 degrees for the coldest month.  Average snowfall in winter is about 10 to 11 inches, with snow rarely staying on the ground for more than a few days at a time.  Zero temperatures occur about once or twice per year in the lower elevations, though they are more frequent in the mountains.  The period between the last killing frost in the spring and the first in the fall constitutes a growing season of approximately 220 to 250 days.

The most striking view of the Redrock Valley is seen when approaching from the north. From this angle the valley can be seen as a great tilted bowl, approximately ten miles from rim to rim east to west and fifteen miles across north to south. The corridor area, comprising twenty square miles of low-lying, green, and fertile bottomland, is the home of the native human tribe, the Mraal. The valley is heavily cultivated, but stands of old- growth forest remain on the upper slopes. The Tower itself, an upthrust pillar of red granite, forms the centerpiece. Behind it rises the most rugged part of the valley, heavily wooded and showing many outcroppings of the red rock which give the valley its name. Above these slopes looms the shield-wall. The veiw from other directions is not nearly so picturesque; from the south, in particular, only the shield-wall can be seen, which from that angle is a featureless rocky ridge. There is a deep freshwater lake slightly to the west of the Valley.

The surrounding terrain is a country of rolling hills, the southernmost extension of the range of high, snowcapped mountains which runs north-south in this part of the continent. To the east, the land slopes downward into heavier forest and swamp before arriving at the seacoast; to the west, into a large, shallow river basin.  The area has rich soil and a favorable climate for agriculture.  Among the potential crops for the area are;  cotton, tobacco, corn, wheat, strawberries, white and sweet potatoes, tomato, cabbage, beans and hay.  The abundance of pasture and water, combind with a mild climate, long growing season and suitable conditions for the production of a variety of grains, makes this an excellent area for the raising of livestock, both cattle and goat, as well as poultry.  The main impediment to agriculture is the steepness of the terrain (see below, "Farming".)

Including the higher elevations outside the valley, there is a wide variety of tree and other plant life.  Some of the more important varieties are ash, beech, maple, chestnut, cypress, cedar, cottonwood, yellow pine, hickory, hemlock, red gum, tupelo gum, white pine, yellow poplar, oak, basswood, buckeye, elm, sycamore and walnut.

The area is crossed with several geological provinces, providing a good base of various mineral resources, including; coal, cement, phosphate, clay, sand and gravel, lime, coke, copper, ferro-alloys, marble, sulphuric acid, and zinc, as well as by-products, pig iron, barite and manganese.  See also Gems.
 

Maps of the Redrock Valley and Environs

Warning: the map files are large and may take some time to load.
  • A map of the entire continent -- Shows Tower Mountain in relation to other tribes.  Warning, very large file!
  • A map of subcontinent, showing Tower Mountain in relation to other tribes.
  • A closeup map of the southern Redrock Valley
  • A map of the entire Redrock Valley
  • A map of the territory around the Redrock Valley, showing the major hawkrider patrol routes

    • The Inhabitants

    The elves of Tower Mountain have a comparatively high cultural level in comparison to the other elf communities nearby. Until recently, they were governed by a single ruler, Lord Tyaar. The current rulers are Lords Shadaln and Erik, cousins of Tyaar's. Most of the elves in the Tower are no more than five generations removed from the Firstcomers, and there are many surviving Firstborn. Though there have been a number of Recognitions and births in the last few hundred years, most of the Tower's inhabitants are several thousand years old.

    Hair and eye color range through all the shades commonly found among elves on the World of Two Moons. Skin color is rather pale, especially among those elves who seldom venture outside the Tower. Average height is dependant upon generation, but it should be noted that even among the younger elves it is rare to find one shorter than 4'6" as there has been no reason for them to shrink to Wolfrider size.  Tower elves tend to be slender.

    Clothing is one of the Tower's passions, and styles become very elaborate and beautiful. Fabrics available include cotton, wool, leather, fur and silk, with linen available in small quantities through trade. Feathers, gems, beads and fine embroidery with silk or metallic thread are the usual decorations. Jewelry is also common and finely crafted.  For an overview of Tower fashion through the ages, see Fashion.

    The diet of Tower elves is mainly supplied from the gardens and herds of the Mraal: corn, squash, and beans are the staple vegetables. Goats provide milk, meat, and cheese, and chickens provide meat and eggs. There are also a number of fruits available--apples, pears, grapes, various berries,  plums, as well as walnut, pecan, and other nut trees. More exotic foods may be grown in the Tower greenhouses, and the cultivated diet is supplemented by wild game and wild produce provided by the hawkriding Declared. The Tower has food storage areas in the lower levels.

    Many arts and crafts are practiced by the elves of the Tower, including brewing, herbalism, weaving, embroidery, music, dance, glassmaking, sculpture, clothesmaking, and many more. Weapons skills, save for those elves in the Declared, tend to be sporting ones such as fencing or target archery. Among the Declared, more practical weapons skills are taught, most commonly the spear, javelin, bow and sword. Some among the hawkriders are also proficient at tracking and scouting.

    Tower elves customarily have sound-names rather than descriptive names, and do not use soul names. There are very few true lifematings in Tower Mountain due to the extreme length of time involved in the relationships.

    The most common magical talents among the elves of the Tower are gliding, animal bonding, rockshaping, and sending. Many elves have these talents at high levels, though due to a series of unpleasent events during the later centuries of Lord Tyaar's reign, most of the powerful rockshapers are not active during the Third Millennium--most of them were turned into Functionals (i.e. "Doors") for the duration. These same events were the cause of the current lack of healers in the Tower; at present only two elves have that talent, and both were born after Tyaar's death. Other talents, such as treeshaping, finding, magic sense, hypnosis, firemaking, metalshaping, watershaping, weather sense, etc. crop up very occasionally.  For a more detailed description of magical talents, see Magic.

    Though many Tower elves possess the potential for animal bonding, the great hawks are not available for casual bonding--to bond with a hawk, an elf must first go through a rigorous training course and several series of tests. No other bondbeasts exist. Before and after the Third Millennium, some elves may have small pets--dogs, furkits, ferrets, and the like. During the Third Millennium, pets tended to die mysteriously and became rare.

    Meditations on Magic: Essays on elven magic in the Tower Universe

    Healing Other Speciesby Margaret Dean

    Soul names by Barb Cummings and Gene Breshears

    Soulbonding by Barb Cummings, Margaret Dean, & Ree Pruehs

    Forced Recognition--Threat or Menace?by Barb Cummings

    The Declared:

    In origin similar the Chosen Eight of Blue Mountain, the title of Declared (pronounced in three syllables) has a somewhat wider application. In essense, the Declared were Lord Tyaar's elite, those who had sworn oath to him. The Declared were the aristocracy of the Tower. Though all hawkriders were Declared, not all Declared were hawkriders; the mark of honor could be given for excellence in other fields than hunting and fighting. Beliel, Lord Tyaar's second in command and a highly skilled rockshaper, was among the Delcared, as was Mikail, Tyaar's nephew and the premier dancer and choreographer of Tower Mountain.

    This is an example of a Declared badge, a piece of jewelry traditionally commissioned for a newly Declared elf by the Lord of the Tower. Though a hawk is always included somewhere in the there are no other constraints on the artist who creates the badge. This particular badge belongs to Tanyel, the Hawkmaster.

    After Lord Tyaar's death, the institution of the Declared fell into disrepute, as the excesses of a few of its members had tainted the whole concept. During the Fourth Millennium, some Declared elves renounced the title; others retained it, though much of the old prestige was gone. Lord Erik has not, to date, created any similar institution. Declared or not, however, there continues to be a certain status attatched to the position of hawkrider. For a more detailed look at the hawks and hawkriders, try

    Becoming a Hawkrider

    An Interview With the Hawkmaster.

    Humans:

    The humans of Redrock Valley, who call themselves the Bakhansha-urd-Mraal or simply the Mraal, worship the Tower eles as "spirits" and vie for the privilege of served theminside their mountain, which the humans regard as sacred. Human servants perform most of the menial tasks in the Tower. There are also "cults" of humans attached to particular elves, who have special duties and practices; the most prominent of these are the warrior elite originally chosen to serve Lord Tyaar, the "Great Spirit." The Mraal's cultural level is late neolithic. They farm the rich volcanic soil of the Redrock Valley, and domesticate chickens and goats. Their main settlement is a village located amid the fields and groves of the north side of the valley, but thee is also a smaller settlement of Tower servants near one of the two entrances to the mountain. For a more detailed description of Mraal culture, take a look at Humans .

    Trolls:

    A small clan of trolls dwells in the lowest levels of Tower Mountain. Lord Tyaar found them useful and kept them fed; he also made sure they stay subdued. After Tyaar's death the trolls' situation changes drastically; some of them leave the Tower, and the remaining ones begin to realize that as the Tower's weaponsmiths they weild considerable economic power. Most Tower elves have no direct dealings with them until the Fourth Millenium. The trolls mine the metal-rich rock beneath the Tower (silver, gold, and iron ae all found there, as well as gems), and do much of the metal crafting of functional items such as door latches and weapons.  For a more detailed look at the trolls' history and culture, take a look at Trolls and Other Troll Kingdoms.

    Places to See and Things to Do:

    Tower Mountain has numerous features of interest, among them the Great Hall and the Grand Stair. This vast central cavern reaches from ground level to the top of the Tower, and his capped with clearstone. The Grand Stair is a huge spiral staircase shaped into the walls of the cavern. With its many ornamented balconies and landings from which passages lead to all part of the interior, it is the main thoroughfare of the Tower.

    Other places of note include the throne room with its ornate stonework, the Sculpture Maze, and the Feast Hall, used for formal banquets and theatrical performances. The latter hall also contains a standing exhibit of tapestries depicting the long and varied history of Tower Mountain. There are many outstanding examples of various arts throughout. We hope to provide a basic map of the Tower's layout here in the future.

    PUBLIC AREAS OF TOWER MOUNTAIN

     Making a  complete "final" design of Tower Mountain is a futile effort, because its inhabitants change their habitations all the time.  But some guesstimation can be made as to the general purpose areas.  "Level" in this essay refers to a group of floors dedicated to more or less one purpose.  Contained on one level may be lots and lots of floors.   Some common  areas on all levels, regardless of the main occupation of the level in question, will be bath rooms, toilets, and small eating places.  These small common areas will have a couple of full time attendants to start the hot water in the tubs (hot springs in the largest of the public baths on the lower levels, water heated by fires in the smaller baths on the upper levels), mop out the potties, fix a quick bite to eat.  These are not extremely luxurious accomodations; for the most part they will be quite basic.  They will be used most often by the human staff, though the elves will make plenty use of them as well.
        Garderobes should be spotted at regular intervals along all corridors.  There are a number of wings (mainly the "guest" quarters) which do not connect to the sewer mains and are provided with chamberpots.   Public baths are fairly simple affairs, with hot tubs and a  sauna, plus a small plunge pool.   Plants--"house plants"--should be on all sides to help oxygenate and refresh the air, as well as provide a spot of green in the unrelieved red granite.  All gardens should contain food plants as well as decorative ones.

    Starting at the top, there is the Eyrie level.  It features the eyrie itself, the Declared training and practice rooms, private workout rooms, and a few small apartments for hawkriders who don't feel like crawling downstairs to their own homes after a long patrol, plus some spartan living quarters for the permanent eyrie staff, plus storage and work areas for maintenance and upkeep of equipment and birds.  Mindar's training rooms are here, along with his armory.  The main rain and snow catchment system will be here, with some tanks and the topmost of the Water Gardens.  There are some smallish meeting areas, used for staff meetings, and a small public bath for hawkriders coming off duty.

    There is a very small kitchen on this level, on par with a glorified lunch counter.  Good, hot, solid meals at any hour may be requested.  Of course, if somebody decides they absolutely have to have a real party up here, the kitchen can be used to prepare food for it, but the facilities are limited.  There is also a small garden on this level supplying not only fresh produce, but whatever curative herbs the hawkriders might need for their birds.  There are a few Declared hawkriders who live on the lower floors of the eyrie level, because of the status involved, but persons who live at this level are viewed as ascetics or having more dedication than sense.  It's a LONG way to go to just visit.

    Below the eyrie level is the living level, where most of the Tower elves have their living quarters.   There are numerous small workrooms and meeting areas, as well as halls for casual entertainment, galleries and other spaces for public art, and a few of the workshops.  The spinning and weaving workrooms are in theis level, taking up almost an entire floor.  The common facilities here (bath, toilets, kitchen) are larger and more commodious, needing to handle a heavier usage demand.  The permanent staff is larger.  Shadaln probably keeps her office here, where most of the staff works.  Housing for those servants who live in the Tower full-time will be on this level.  Most of the working gardens are here.  The Water Gardens at this level are large and elaborate, resembling a stream outside, with many alcoves, pools, plants, fish, etc.  This is probably where Rhesa installs the results of her fish experiments.

    The main public dining hall is on this level, directly over Dantum's kitchen on the lower level.  There are also a number of smaller dining halls adjacent, which may be used by parties wishing a more intimate meal. There is a small public kitchen, connected to the main kitchen via dumbwaiter; it can prepare food but is used mainly in conjunction with the main kitchen.  Normally the main kitchens provide three meals a day in the dining hall, at eastablished times.  People coming in at odd hours can generally cadge a snack, or place an order for take-out, but won't be able to expect a gourmet meal immediately.   The public baths more closely resemble the main baths down in the lower level, though they are still hot tubs fired by boilers rather than hot springs.  This facility can handle up to thirty participants. There is a generous massage area, and roomy sauna cabinets.  The plunge pool is unheated, but is probably the size of a backyard pool on Earth Prime.  The bath atmosphere is more "family"; parents may take their children there with impunity.

    Since this is the level where nearly everybody lives and everybody keeps some sort of apartments to be close to major population center, this level's atmosphere is friendly, sociable, homey, congenial, all the things one might associate with home.  This is home!

     The lowest levels of the Tower are the main entertainment level--where all the main museums, recital halls, dance halls, major party areas, formal entertainment areas, and decorative gardens are.  There are a few apartments for whoever needs to crash here after a performance, housing for the permanent staff, residences belonging to persons who actually live here, practice areas and workshops associated with entertainment, plus all the usual storage areas.   Tyaar's main audience hall, the Feast Hall where formal banquets are held, and the Declared's private dining and meeting rooms are on this level.  Tyaar likely maintains his own residence here, mostly for entertaining and state occasions.  This is the bottom of the central shaft of the Tower, the Great Hall, the foot of the Grand Stair and other Major Public Areas.  Dantum's main Kitchen is on this level.  Most of the Functionals are stationed on this level.

    Dantum's Kitchen is not strictly speaking a public area though  there is a small short order kitchen and dining area attached to the main kitchen.  This is so people can get something to eat without having to interrupt whatever Dantum's doing in there.  Food in the cafe is even more up scale, because of its association with the main kitchen, but simple foods can be had as well.  There should be a garden of some sort associated with Dantum's Kitchen, as well as the major food storage areas.  Dantum's Kitchen deserves an essay all to itself, I think.

    Many elves have a "kitchenette" but in the majority of cases this is a facility suited to heating up and doing last minute touches to pre-cooked meals which have been sent up from the main kitchens--the Tower equivalent of a hot plate.  (It's just not practical for everyone to have a full kitchen in their rooms.)

    For those elves who wish to eat in their rooms, Dantum and his staff take orders like so: every moon or so, a member of the kitchen/dining hall staff takes a given family a wooden tray with a set of small clay tiles.  The tiles are marked with various symbols showing what Dantum has planned for meals for the next moon--usually just a simple picture of the kind of food it is, but this may be modified by the addition of other marks to indicate how the food will be prepared, etc.  Each tray is marked with a symbol indicating what family or individual elf it's for.  (i.e. Taywar's family, when they were all living in one suite, was sent a tray with Taywar's Declared symbol on it, as he was the most senior/important person in the family.)  This is one of those famous proto-writing notation systems we were talking about a while back.

    If the elf wishes to eat in the main dining hall, the tray is sent back unchanged.  If the elf does not intend to eat in the main dining hall for a particular meal, but wishes to have the food sent to their rooms, they can turn the tile for that day over, leaving it blank.  If they do not intend to eat that meal at all, they remove the tile from that day's slot and send it back seperately.  This way Dantum can get an idea ahead of time how many people he has to cook for, how many meals are to be sent up and how many to be eaten in, and the rest of the elves can plan to be there for their favorite meals. (The majority of the elves do eat in the main dining hall most of the time; it's just that special occasions when they eat in their rooms are more likely to get mentioned in stories.)

    If an elf wishes a special meal, or to get food or use of the kitchen to do their own cooking, they need to arrange it directly with Dantum.  It is most likely easier to get one of the smaller kitchens for a day than the main one.  Any elf who wishes to provide specialty foods (such as wild game from any of the hunters, Piri's candies, Tiirz's drugs-made-yummy, etc.) can most likely arrange to display or market their wares through the tile method--notify Dantum's staff that such and such special item will be available, and he'll include a tile for it when he sends the menu staff to take orders.  Anyone wishing to commission something special or unusual would of course go directly to the elf who produces it.

     The public baths on this level are much more oriented toward entertainment, with smaller private cubicles, a generous plunge pool with smaller heated lounging pools, private saunas, and a larger and well staffed massage area.  This area is a decadent and sybaritic as anyone could ask for.  It is not just a bath, but a display area, where one can show off one's *er* natural assets in public.  There are separate, smaller, basic bathing facilities with physical therapists close to the main theater so performers can clean up and relax a bit before meeting their public.

    The Water Gardens on the entertainment level are far more elaborate and decorative than on any other level, abounding with plants, fish, alcoves, pools, plunges, you name it, it's there.  The place is as much a collaborative work of art as the Great Hall is and as such is for admiration, rather than contemplation, as the Gardens on the other levels may be.  Branches of the Water Gardens may be incorporated into the main entertainment halls, and of course, Tyaar's chambers.  Since there is not quite the demand for water here as there is on the residence level, the catchment tanks are not as big.  In the lower parts of the level, underground springs may supplement any loss.  This level is at or near outside ground level, so this is where the main septic tanks are.  In the interest of simple hygiene, both tanks are widely separated and regularly inspected for leaks.  This is one area of the Tower safe from Widget's fun--he may screw around with the plumbing to annoy Beliel and Tyaar, but he knows better than to crack the sewage tanks into the drinking water.

    The Grand Stair has  been described elsewhere.  Since it is a LONG way to go, note that there be landings at every possible interval.  These landings are not just flat spots in the stair, but fitted with alcoves and rest benches for tired and aching bodies.  At some points in the main levels, there are wider balconies, set up like a sidewalk cafe, with tables and chairs so one can sit and drink tea and watch the passers by.  For convenience, the balconies are just outside or closely associated with the public kitchen of that level.  The Grand Stair is also a good place for plants and little waterfalls and bric a brac and such.

     The atmosphere of the entertainment level is just what you would think it to be--exciting, anticipatory, full of movement.

    The fourth level is the work level, basement and dungeons, and closely below that--technically attached--the mines.  This is where all the heavy industry workshops are, the smelter, the foundry or any other shop involving heavy labor and messy work.  The hot springs are on this level and so is the main bath.  There are places to spend the night, though the only permanent residences belong to the trolls, who may prefer to occupy abandoned mine shafts.  The major storage areas and some of the sewage tanks are down here.  The small kitchen specialises in solid filling worker's food, and food to go (as it were).

    The bath, on the other hand, is the Main Bath.  It is huge and roomy, with hot and cold running water, hot and cold plunge pools, hot and cold showers, saunas, hot tubs, massage therapy, physical therapy, private alcoves, party alcoves, you name it, they got it.  This is a small business in itself.  The Main Bath can accommodate the entire population of the Tower at once, though each species has its own section--yes, the elves practice segregation--and has a large and well trained staff in attendance.  That is to say, the Mraal serve the elves and themselves and the trolls serve themselves and whatever elf decides to Inspect the Premises.

    The infamous dungeons of Tyaar's later rule are simply converted store rooms, and after Shadaln and Erik's ascension, they were turned back into store rooms, which are far more necessary than dungeons.

    The atmosphere of the work level is more quiet and contemplative.  It's subtle, but dynamic and to some extent repelling to most elves, especially after Byern's banishment.  The trolls' resentment of their situation certainly adds to the disunity.   The trolls' quarters most likely resemble a group home, since they are all one family.  Trolls have no set schedule, so a troll sleeps, eats or works according to his or her own needs.  There is likely a common sleeping area--with alcoves for pairs wishing a little private time--and another common area that serves as dining room and meeting room as needed.  They have their own kitchen, private gardens, private workshops, direct links to the mines.    They are as self sufficient as they can be, depending as they do on the elves for the bulk of their food.  The trolls tolerate the elves in their private places, but this is not a very willing tolerance.

    INTERIOR MAPS
     

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